For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

I'm very thankful for my dear, sweet, wonderful Jellie gals. My life wouldn't be anywhere near so much fun without you ladies. May your Thanksgivings be bountiful, and your holidays be bright.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Casey, Ellie, and Downy enjoy Halloween in the courtyard with their friends and family. A little bit of normalcy in Ellie and Casey's otherwise hectic life.

Thankful

Holidays were notorious for ER visits. Thanksgiving had proven to be no exception. She'd helped treat minor and major burns from turkey fryer accidents to yams gone awry. There had been a few broken bones and jammed joints from "touch" football games that hadn't stayed that way. It seemed every time she turned around, a patient was thankful for her.

And she was glad for that. Really. Except, when her replacement couldn't make it, when she had to pull a double-shift, the longer she was there, the more all she could think about was how her turkey was waiting to be roasted to a moist golden brown. How her bread dough was still rising in the refrigerator. How her sweet potatoes were neglected. How her cranberry sauce was still in berry form, not yet processed.

All of her traditions were gone.

The cold turkey sandwich someone had grabbed from the cafeteria for her looked so completely unappealing. It was supposed to have been for lunch, which had been hours ago, and now it just looked limp and lifeless.

She sighed heavily when her phone buzzed with a text message from Chuck.

Coming home anytime soon?

Ellie looked at the sandwich again with a deep sigh. Hopefully, she responded.

He'd overseen any number of more difficult operations, so he thought he'd have no trouble commanding this one. It proved more trying that he anticipated, however, even with the addition of two kitchens to the mix.

All three ovens in the apartments spread around the courtyard were going. Morgan and Alex manned the one at Chuck's apartment (so Casey could keep an eye on them). Chuck and Sarah were in Ellie's place, and Casey worked solo. Well, Downy was there, making laps in his delectable smelling kitchen, but she wasn't exactly a very good sous chef.

He had the turkey and was glazing on schedule. On his stove top, he steamed broccoli and corn.

Alex and Morgan were in charge of desserts—both pumpkin and pecan pies—as well as the sweet potatoes with mini-marshmallow topping.

Chuck and Sarah baked up the bread dough from Ellie's fridge, followed by Ellie's recipe for homemade cranberry sauce.

They were in the process of accomplishing probably a day and a half's worth of cooking in a matter of hours. And Casey wasn't sure how well they were going to do.

"Well?" Casey barked into his watch.

"ETA, 30 minutes, big guy," Chuck reported.

"Status updates," demanded the Colonel.

"Cream whipped, pies cooling and marshmallows are gooing," Morgan said happily.

"On time," added Alex.

"Bread in final bake," radioed Sarah. "On time."

In the background, however, Casey could hear the blender whirring.

"Cranberry sauce is... well, it's in progress," Chuck said. "Should've bought a can, just in case."

"That's cranberry jelly, not sauce," Alex clarified.

Casey laughed, looking at Downy and smiling with pride. "That's my girl." Clearing his throat, he radioed again, lifting his watch to his lips. "Walker, what's the table situation?"

"Cloth down, places set. Just need people."

"Roger that. Alex, Grimes, commence move to Ellie's."

"Copy," radioed Morgan.

No one had met her in the courtyard. And there were so many excellent scents from the complex. It made her heart hurt and her stomach growl. Could turkey and dressing be the same the day after Thanksgiving? She was pretty sure it couldn't.

She slipped her key into her lock and opened the door. Before she could hit the light switch, however, someone deeper in the apartment did.

Her table was set and filled with mouthwatering bounties. Most importantly, it was surrounded by the people who cared for her most in the world, and for whom she was eternally grateful.

With everyone in their finest, she felt out of place in her scrubs. "John... Guys..."

"Welcome home, Ellie," said Casey.

"This... I..."

Downy jumped from Casey's arms and raced toward her.

Ellie dropped her purse and her keys on the door by the table, and stooped to scoop Downy up. After the world's longest day, after the most amazing gesture from everyone in the room, all she could do was fight the tears that threatened to slip from her eyes.

As Casey crossed to her, Alex linked her arm with Morgan, and Sarah smiled at Chuck. They'd done something wonderful that day, even if they had been completely inexperienced Thanksgiving rookies.

She couldn't verbalize how thankful she was for him, for any of them. But when Casey got close, she rocked up on her toes, kissing his lips tenderly.

Alex smiled, resting her cheek against Morgan's shoulder. It was nice, to see her dad happy.

Chuck, however, wasn't sure what he thought about what was unfolding before them. All he'd thought about was doing something nice for his sister that he'd neglected to think about the fact that he was helping the interloper who'd destroyed his sister's marriage... But, the interloper was Casey, who he'd always respected and had quickly learned to trust.

As Ellie pulled back, Casey whispered, only loud enough for her and Downy to hear: "I'm thankful for you, too."

Stay tuned...