Raj, Leonard and Penny

"Let's play Truth or Dare!" Penny suggested. She and the guys were bored out of their minds. Drinking had lost its previous appeal and even if it hadn't, there was no alcohol in the apartment.

"OK." Leonard agreed. "Whose turn is it first?"

"Mine because it was my idea."

She found an (sadly empty) bottle of beer and placed it on the floor and the three arranged themselves in a circle. She spun the bottle and it landed on Raj.

"Alright, Doctor! Truth or Dare?"

"Um..Truth!"

Penny grinned evilly, making the Indian's heart thump rapidly. What would this woman do to him? "Do you have a secret man-crush on a celebrity and, if you do, who is he?"

"Dude, that's two questions right there!"

"Do you want to play or not?" Leonard smirked.

Raj glared at him. "You are a sadistic little man, Hofstadter..."

"Raj!" Penny called, reminding him of his task.

"OK. Don't laugh! I have a very secret man crush on Robert Pattinson."

"WHAT?!" Penny shrieked. "Gross!"

"Who's he?" Leonard wanted to know.

"He's from those crappy Twilight movies."

"Wait, if he's so gross, how did you know who he was?" Leonard asked.

"Raj bought me the box-set for Christmas." As she finished the sentence Penny remembered Raj, who was looking very hurt.

"..You didn't like them?" Raj asked.

The moment Penny looked into Raj's big, brown sad eyes, she felt terrible. "Aw, no...Sweetie..."

"No, it's fine. It's my turn now." He gave Penny a smile as evil as hers had been and asked, "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." It was the safer option. If she'd picked Dare, he probably would have made her watch the Twilight movies again or made her post on Facebook that she was Team Edward or something.

"Alright, Penny. Seven weeks ago, Leonard was accused by Sheldon of buying out of date YooHoo! As a result of this terrible crime, he was awarded two strikes, yet he swears he never purchased or placed in the fridge, the offending beverage. Now, what really happened?"

"Penny?"

"Well, um, I had YooHoo! and I needed a place to put it because my fridge had broke. So, I put it in your fridge and forgot about it. I was going to tell, I swear, but then Sheldon went all crazy..."

"You let me take the fall?! Penny, how could you? I had to clean out the entire refrigerator with ear buds and I lost my television rights for the rest of the month."

"I'm sorry!"

"Still, it's not nearly as bad as what Leonard did."

"Raj." Leonard warned. "Don't!"

"What did Leonard do?" Penny asked, hoping for just one piece of info to make her feel like a better person.

"Well, my sister Priya had had her underclothes stolen. Don't ask me who did it, I don't know, but they were gone. Anyhoo, as an attempt to win brownie points, he snuck into your apartment and stole your tighty whities."

"Leonard! I'd expect better from Howard!"

"Well, Raj was the one who broke your laptop!"

"You what? Leonard, this is worse than the time you dropped Raj's phone in your toilet!"

"WHY DO YOU AMERICANS KEEP DAMAGING MY TECHNOLOGY?!" Raj shrieked.

They sat, glaring furiously at each other until Penny got up with a snarl of "KKKHHRRR! She went into Sheldon's bedroom and slammed the door. Leonard then got up and went to his own room, also slamming the door. Raj sighed heavily and leant against the couch. So much for Thanksgiving.

Sheldon and Amy

"Amy?"

Amy didn't reply. She wasn't really mad anymore, but she was kinda upset that he'd accused her of having unclean hair.

"Is your uterus causing you discomfort?"

"Sheldon, I have to concentrate on my driving. Shush."

"Is it causing you discomfort?"

"No, but you are."

"I'm sorry. How am I causing you discomfort?"

"You accused me of having poor hygiene."

"Amy, I was just giving you helpful advice."

"Sheldon, it was insulting."

"How?"

"How would you like it if I accused you of having unclean hair?"

"I'd laugh. I have perfectly clean hair."

"Ugh!"

Sheldon glanced at her. She had the wheel in a death grip and was not looking at him. She seemed very tense.

"I don't see how it was insulting."

"Fine! Sheldon, you carry yourself like a bipedal stick insect."

"That's very hurtful."

"As is accusing someone of poor personal hygiene."

"I don't follow."

Amy ignored him. He tried to get her attention, but she was hell bent on acting as though he was not there. They listened to the radio for the rest of the trip.

Howard and Bernadette

Thankfully, the twins had managed to convince their Uncle Joey to give the food fight a miss with the winning argument of, "Grandpa would kill us."

"How do you have Thanksgiving in your family?" Joey asked later on that day. It was 8:39pm, everything had been devoured and the family was watching the football, with the exception of Howard and Joey.

"Well, you know about the Turbriskefil."

"I had nightmares about it last night."

"I've been eating that stuff annually for the past 29 years. Think about how I feel."

"You're a brave man. Anyway, go on!"

"Well, my uncles get drunk. Last year one of them stripteased to the Margarita dance."

"Oh, man! That's nasty."

"My aunt Chlo chases us around with a broomstick for good luck so we have more to be grateful for next Thanksgiving."

"She crazy?"

"A little bit. And my grandparents gather round the piano and sing Hodu Lashem Ki Tov to us."

"Man, that sounds fun. I wish we did that."

Joy turned around and glared at them. "Shh! Have respect for our traditions!"

"Man, this ain't a Catholic tradition. This is the 'family' tradition." Joey snapped.

"What's going on back there?" Mike called, from his seat where he had a beer in one hand and one of his grandchildren sitting on his lap.

"Nothing!" the three chorused. Mike exchanged a look with his wife. He'd been dreading this with Joy and really wished it didn't have to happen right in the middle of the game.

"What do you mean 'family'?" Joy whispered.

"This is more like Hell!"

Joy gasped. "How could you say such a thing?"

"Quite easily. I open my mouth and words come out."

"Hey, guys! Knock it off." Howard whispered

"Go back to Israel!" Joy hissed.

There was a short, shocked silence and then Joey hit his sister on the back of the head. "Don't say that, woman! He wasn't even born in Israel. He's an American, just like us."

"You hit me! Just wait till I tell Kenneth!"

"Oh, I'm so scared!" Joey mocked.

"Sometimes, I wish you weren't my brother!" Joy yelled. She deposited her daughter into Jessica's arms and went out. The television emitted a whistling sound, signifying the end of the game. Nobody moved. There was a very long, awkward silence until Mrs. Rostenkowski got up.

"I'll go and see where she's gone to." she announced and walked the same way her daughter had. Gradually the crowd started to dissipate until it was only Joey, Mr. Rostenkowski, Howard and Bernadette left. Mike picked himself up off his seat.

"I'm going outside." he explained. Bernadette looked at Joey.

"What?"

"Go away!"

"Oh, great!" Joey grumbled. He begrudgingly shuffled away and finally Bernadette had her husband all to herself.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah. Just wondering, can we move to Israel-?"

"No. Howie, I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"You didn't even want to come this year. And I should've remembered how bad Joy is."

She climbed onto his lap and put her arms around him. "I love you, Rocket Man."

"I love you too, Star Girl." He hugged her tight for several minutes and when he let go he gave her a kiss.

"Will you be able to survive till tomorrow?" she asked

"I'll try. Joy is just gonna have to live with it."

Hodu Lashem Ki Tov is a real Jewish song. I'm not too sure about whether or not it's a THANKSGIVING song, but it is a Thanksgiving-y song, if that makes any sense. People, tell me. What can I say and what can I not say? Saying "go back to Israel" was bad enough. HELP ME PLEASE!

Love from Shania. xx