Thanks

"Ok next point wins!" Fate called out launching the ball to Nanoha's side of the court. The ball bounced once before Nanoha sent it flying back with a well timed swing. Fate did the same and returned the ball to her partner. Nanoha put a bit more power into her second swing sending the ball flying straight for the ground on Fates' side of the court. The young blonde barely stopped it with a running swing but slightly lost her balance. Seeing her chance, Nanoha ran forward and slammed the oncoming ball with her racket. Fate tried to hit the ball but missed causing her to topple over and fall down as it continued to bounce giving Nanoha the win.

"Better luck next time sweetie," she said extending a hand to Fate.

Fate stood up with Nanoha's help and brushed the slight bit of dirt off of her pants. "You've gotten much better. I'm impressed."

"It's thanks to you teaching me. Remember when I used to be terrible at this?" Nanoha said running to retrieve the ball.

"Yeah I do. But I'm glad you picked it up so fast. How about we take a breather?"

Nanoha picked up the tennis ball. "Sure. We can sit on that park bench over there." She directed Fate to the bench near a path that cut through the middle of the park. It was a cool, autumn morning and it just happen to be the one day a week that Nanoha and Fate always played tennis in the park that was only few blocks from their home. Nanoha pulled out a thermos from her bag and unscrewed the top letting the aroma of the coffee fill her nose. "You want some coffee babe?"

Fate nodded eagerly as she rubbed her hands together trying to warm up. She was wearing a black hoodie and pants along with a small scarf.

Nanoha poured some into the thermos top and handed it to her. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?"

Fate sipped on the coffee. "Well we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Everyone is coming to our home."

Nanoha sighed. "It's gonna be an interesting day. By the way you did remember to do the shopping right Fate?"

"I'm sorry what?" Fate answered.

Nanoha shot her a furious look.

"Relax Nanoha I remembered. I mean you gave me a full page list of things to buy. It was basically my marching orders."

"Don't scare me like that!" Nanoha said jabbing Fate with her elbow. "We're going to have our hands full preparing food today and tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry I bought everything you asked me to." Fate said finishing the coffee and handing the thermos top back to Nanoha. "I got the turkey and it's sitting in the freezer at home. All of the ingredients for the stuffing are in a grocery bag on the kitchen table and I made sure to get all of the miscellaneous things including the corn, yams, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and dessert."

"Oh what did you grab for dessert? I didn't specify on that."

"I got an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and a multi flavored cheese cake," Fate said with a smile.

"A cheese cake? Sounds tasty."

"It will be. And people better eat it this time because it wasn't easy to obtain," said Fate leaning back against the bench.

"And why was it hard to get?"

"Because law enforcement can move surprisingly fast when they are chasing a thief," said Fate grinning.

"I really hope you're kidding."

"I am." Fate said. "Come on Nanoha why are you so tense all of a sudden? You were as playful as ever just a few minutes ago."

Nanoha let out a heavy sigh and rested her head on Fate's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I guess all the tension from work is getting to me. The other day I had to sit through a 3 hour meeting on civilian defensive measures. Not to mention that today, I have to take a class of recruits through all the basic drills."

"Oh yeah I forgot about them. How are they doing by the way?"

"They're doing subpar at best," Nanoha answered.

"Wow, you're being unusually critical. Something else on your mind?" asked Fate.

"Well they can't do basic things right Fate. I explain and explain and explain the same things but it's like they ignore me. I even demonstrate things and they still mess up."

Fate gently brushed her fingers through Nanoha's hair. "Well they're kids honey. They are going to mess up. You just have to be patient with them. I mean you were like them once. Can you honestly say that you were always as good with all of your skills as you are now?"

"I know that," said Nanoha.

"So cut them some slack. I remember a certain red haired mage who had to learn as she progressed." Fate put her arm around Nanoha which made her smile. But while Nanoha couldn't see, Fate reached into her backpack to grab her phone and quickly sent a text message. "How about I take you home, you can take a nice hot bubble bath and afterwards I can give you a sensual massage before we start cooking for tomorrow?" she said sliding her phone back out of sight before Nanoha could notice.

"That…would actually be really nice Fate." Nanoha sat up and turned to face Fate on the bench. She took her partner's hand in her own and softly kissed it.

"Um…Nanoha?"

"Fate…I have something to tell you."

Fate watched her partner's beautiful eyes well up with tears. "Nanoha what's wrong?"

"I just…in the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd just like to take this time to tell you a few things." She wiped her eyes with one hand. "I'm thankful for a lot of things Fate. I mean a lot of things. I'm thankful for Raising Heart. Thanks to it, I have the strength to protect and fight for what's important to me. Even though it's been a long time since I first acquired it and so much has happened, I'd do it all again if I could. There isn't a single thing in my life that I think I would change."

"Nanoha."

"Hold on Fate let me finish." Nanoha closed her eyes. "I'm also thankful for my family and friends. I have so many great friends that I know I can depend on. I also have a family now with you and Vivio. You know, I honestly wasn't sure if I would make a good mother to Vivio. I wasn't sure I could do it. I mean could I really balance my kind of job with being a mother? It was a bit much for me at first I admit," Nanoha said with a small laugh. "But one thing helped me. There was one thing that made everything ok; made everything seem far less frightening."

"Nanoha."

"Please Fate let me finish." Clearing her throat, Nanoha continued. "Can you guess what that one thing was?"

"Banana nut muffins?" Fate answered.

"N-no!" said Nanoha. "As much as I love those, the one thing that made everything better in my life was you Fate."

"Oh Nanoha."

"It's true. Through all that we've been through you've become my best friend in the world. I can tell you anything. I can ask you for help at anytime and you always show up to help. You've even saved my life before." She squeezed Fate's hand tighter. "I'm so glad to have you in my life Fate. I could never have done half of what I've accomplished without you."

Fate shook her head. "Stop it Nanoha. You've done all that you've done on your own. You're an amazing mage, an amazing mother, and an amazing woman. I don't think there's anything that you can't do. And besides, I still haven't figured out a way to counter Starlight Breaker."

Nanoha laughed. "Well regardless, I still want to thank you. I could never do this job by myself."

Fate smiled. "You don't have to. I'll be here. I'll always be here for you."

Nanoha quickly threw her arms around Fate embracing her tightly. "I love you Fate."

"I love you too Nanoha." The two sat there holding one another until a beeping sound emanated from Nanoha's coat pocket. They finally separated and she reached into her pocket taking out her cellphone.

"Hello? Yes this is Nanoha. Hey!" There was a brief pause. "Oh really? Thank you! Yes I'll be sure to have them there tomorrow for you. I owe one on this." She laughed. "Ok thanks. See you tomorrow!"

"What was that about?" Fate asked.

"That was Teana. She said another officer is going to train the recruits today so I'm off the hook."

"Oh really? Why the sudden change?"

Nanoha smiled and put her phone away. "She said another officer volunteered to take my place. They were pretty adamant about it too."

"You don't say," Fate said holding back a grin.

"Yeah it's kind of weird but I'm not complaining. Now we have the whole day." The redhead smiled. "That being said we should really get home and start preparing."

"Ok but there's just one thing that I want to say."

Nanoha attentively watched her partner. "What is it?"

"I'm thankful to have met you all those years ago." The young blonde smiled. "You may not be aware of this, but I am very proud of you. I'm proud to call you my girlfriend. Hell I'm proud to know you Nanoha."

"Thank you Fate. That means so much to me. Probably more than you'll ever know."

"You're welcome. Now let's get home and begin preparing for our guests tomorrow." Both of them stood up, grabbed their things and started down the path back through the park.

"You know Fate," Nanoha said, "I could give you a tip on how to deal with Starlight Breaker if you wanted."

Fate held Nanoha's free hand with her own. "You're really going to tell me?"

Nanoha nodded.

"Well what is it?" Fate asked excitedly.

"Well my dear Fate, the only to deal with Starlight Breaker is that…you don't. Starlight Breaker beats everything. Even you," she said laughing out loud.

"Oh that's hilarious Nanoha. Just hilarious."

"Oh Fate," said Nanoha giving her a quick kiss. "Why so serious?"

Fate rolled her eyes and showed a faint smile while Nanoha laughed her ass off as they headed home hand in hand. She felt her cellphone vibrate in her pocket and discreetly pulled it out just enough to see the screen. It was a new text message. I owe you one Teana, Fate thought silently to herself.

This will be my last update for a couple of weeks. I need to focus on finals which are coming up so this one was meant to be the little Thanksgiving special kind of thing.

Well as usual enjoy, review, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! See you with another update soon!