Natalie opened the back door to Llanfair and walked into the empty kitchen at 4:30 on Thanksgiving morning. The light was on and so was the oven, so she knew someone was awake. She set Liam's carrier down on the butcher block table and took off her jacket before she hung it up. She shivered a little in the chilly morning air as she shut the door finally.

She smirked as she picked up her phone and sent Rebecca a text.

From Natalie to Rebecca: I miss Sydney already. Llanview is freezing!

From Rebecca to Natalie: So is Port Charles. I just went outside to pick up the newspaper and Brrr!

From Natalie to Rebecca: Surprised you're up. I thought the Q's always had pizza for Thanksgiving.

From Rebecca to Natalie: They do. I'm at Robin's. We're cooking up a storm. We're having a lot of people over.

From Natalie to Rebecca: We probably are too. I should find out. Happy Thanksgiving, Bec.

From Rebecca to Natalie: Happy Thanksgiving Nattie. Good luck today.

Natalie smiled as she put her phone back in her purse and lifted Liam out of his carrier.

"Let's go see who's awake, okay?" she whispered to her son as they exited the kitchen.

The hallway was dim, but she could see light coming from the living room. She stopped in the doorway and smiled at the back of her mother's head.

"Happy Thanksgiving," she said quietly, so she didn't startle her.

Viki turned around and stood up when she saw her daughter, "Oh Natalie. Honey, you're home!"

Natalie accepted her mother's hug with a smile, "We're home."

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you both," Viki smiled as she kissed her grandson's cheek in greeting.

"I'm glad to be home, too," Natalie smiled. "Are you the only one awake?"

"I had to start the turkey, and I was hoping you'd come home early."

"You got your wish," Natalie smiled as Liam reached out for Viki and her mother scooped him out of her arms.

"We got our wish," Clint said from behind Natalie.

Natalie turned and gave her dad a hug, "Happy Thanksgiving, Dad."

"I am so glad to see you that I am going to forgo the lecture I had planned to give you about running off without a word," Clint smiled, returning his daughter's hug. "Happy Thanksgiving."

"Clint, what are you doing awake?" Viki asked.

"I thought you might need some help with Nigel being out of commission and Lois being off for the day."

"What happened to Nigel?" Natalie asked.

"He got between John and Brody and well…," Viki started.

"Brody hit him," Clint added.

"Is Nigel okay?" Natalie was alarmed. Neither John nor Brody threw a punch halfway.

"He's fine. He's a little bruised. He was disoriented for a while, but he'll be just fine. I think he learned to be a Buchanan by osmosis," Clint smiled.

"Roxie is taking good care of him," Viki said. "She'll be at dinner tonight. I should start making a list so I can figure out a head count."

"Actually, I'm glad you're both awake. I wanted to know if it'd be okay if I had a guest over for dinner tonight," Natalie began.

"Who? I think everyone you'd want to see will be here," Viki inquired.

"When I got off the plane and retrieved my cell phone from the storage locker and powered it up, I found a message from a few days ago. It said that he'd be traveling through Llanview today, and he was wondering if there was room for one more at the table," Natalie gave her somewhat rehearsed speech.

"He?" Clint raised an eyebrow.

"It's not like that, Dad," Natalie smiled. "His name is Drew and to be honest, he's more of a friend of a friend. Mom, you remember Anna Devane, right? Rebecca's mom?"

"It's hard to forget a woman who parachuted into my backyard," Viki smiled.

"Well, the last time I was in London, I ran into Anna, one of her business associates and his son. We got to talking, and we exchanged emails. We've kept in touch. Anyway, he's in the states on business. He can't get a flight out to Salem, which is where his family is and nobody, even a Brit, should be alone on Thanksgiving."

"I'll set an extra plate," Viki smiled.

"Thank you, Mom. I should call and let him know he's got dinner plans," Natalie smiled. "I'll be right back."

Natalie left Liam with her parents and hurried back to the kitchen. She fished her cell out of her purse again and dialed.

"Hullo?"

"Drew? It's Natalie. How was your flight?" Natalie said quietly into her phone as she backed herself into the alcove just behind the stairs so that she could keep an eye out for her family.

"Perfect," the accented voice said. "Yours?"

"Long but fine," Natalie said. "We're all set. Did you find anything else out?"

"I'm looking at the files now. We had the good doctor interrogated by a field agent-"

"Trustworthy?"

"Very," Drew Donovan assured her. "And he admitted that the girl who came in looking to get her old face back was not the woman he performed surgery on."

"So that means that…" Natalie couldn't finish over the lump in her throat.

"That means it is very possible that the woman with Cutter Wentworth is Gigi Morasco and not her sister, Stacey."

"Oh my God," Natalie breathed. "I can't believe this is happening. Rex went through such hell after Gigi died. If we're right it was all for nothing."

"The question is why would Stacey want her sister's face?" Drew voiced.

"I have a couple of theories on that," Natalie said grimly. "They all begin with the fact that Stacey was obsessively in love with Rex for a very long time, and they end with Gigi being the one who died."

"That bird sounds a bit barmy to me," Drew said.

"Okay, I know what bird means. Remind what barmy is," Natalie said after a moment.

"Crazy," Drew said.

"In that case, you're absolutely right. That bird is barmy," Natalie giggled as she adopted an English accent. She looked up when she heard someone coming down the stairs. It was Nigel. "I have to go. Dinner's at five. Come over whenever you want. My dad and the rest of the men folk will be watching the game all day."

"I'll see you then," Drew promised her.

"Bye," Natalie said as she hung up and then made her presence known to Nigel. "Happy Thanksgiving, Nigel."

He turned around, a bit startled, "Miss Natalie. When did you get home?"

"A few minutes ago," Natalie studied the faithful butler's face. "That is some shiner. John owes you one for taking the hit."

"It's all in a day's work, Miss Natalie."

"No, taking a punch from a Navy seal is not all in a day's work," Natalie shook her head. "It is most definitely going above and beyond the call of duty."

"That's what I said," Roxie's hoarse voice said as she came down the stairs.

Natalie turned and smiled at her foster mother, "Hi, Roxie."

"I'm glad to see you, but don't you ever run off like that again," the blonde woman said sternly before smiling and giving her a hug.

"I missed you, too, Rox," Natalie grinned.

Roxie pulled back and studied Natalie's face, "You okay, Baby? You look a little worried."

Natalie smiled, "I am worried. I'm worried about what you're doing up so early. You're not going to try to cook, are you, Roxie? Do I need to remind you of the Thanksgiving when I was twelve and we all ended up in the ER for smoke inhalation?"

"I'm just up to help Nigel with his perspirations," Roxie told her.

Natalie suppressed a smile at Roxie's misuse of the English language, "Okay. Just stay away from open flames. If you want to see Liam, he's in the living room with his grandparents."

"Now you're talking," Roxie pointed a finger at her and then turned to exit the room.

"Please tell Mr. Buchanan and Mrs. Banks that I will bring them coffee and bagels as soon as I can," Nigel told the departing Roxie.

Roxie waved over her shoulder as an acknowledgement.

"Can I help, Nigel?" Natalie offered as the older man began fixing the tray.

"No, I'm quite alright, Miss Natalie," Nigel assured her. "Why don't you join everyone, and I'll bring in breakfast."

"I think I'll go up and shower instead," Natalie said. "Will you tell my parents I'll be back down in a bit?"

"Of course, Miss Natalie," Nigel nodded.

"Thanks," Natalie smiled before she headed upstairs. She walked quietly down the hall so she wouldn't wake anyone up. Just as she reached her room three doors opened and out walked her sister with Ford behind her pulling on a shoe, Brody tugging on a hooded jacket, and John yawning as he rubbed a hand over his face. They all stopped when they saw her.

"You're home," Jessica smiled.

"Where's Liam?" Brody asked.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Natalie froze for a moment before she smiled, "Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I need to take a shower. Bye." She quickly ducked into her room and locked the door. She needed a few minutes to gather her thoughts before she faced the firing squad of questions she was sure everyone had for her, especially John.

Not to mention she had to practice her explanation of how she knew Drew and why she'd invited him to Thanksgiving dinner on the day she arrived home.

Natalie groaned inwardly as she prepared to shower. As much as she'd hated Roxie getting drunk during the holidays when she was growing up, she had to admit the idea of spending the day drunk as a skunk seriously appealed to her right now.