November
Olivia was working on her DD5s when Elliot asked, "Are you and Casey coming over this year?" Kathy wanted to know how many people were going to be there this year. When you have four kids and in laws, it's easy to get a full house.
The detective wasn't sure what they were doing. "Um, I have to check with Casey."
Elliot frowned in confusion. "Did you two just want to have couples' time? That's cool, just tell me about it."
Olivia threw a pen at him. "I know there are some other ADAs without families and they might be doing a group thing. I don't want to crowd your house."
"You two are always welcome."
"I know," but Kathy and Elliot weren't getting along right now, and Olivia didn't want to watch it if she didn't have to.
Casey hadn't given any thought to Thanksgiving either. "What's Alex doing?"
This is what sucked about a secret relationship. They didn't want to leave her and go to Elliot's, but if they tried to bring her, he'd want to know why.
"I don't know. She didn't mention her family having a thing."
The Bureau Chief had been so busy working that "I forgot about Thanksgiving."
"Do you know what your family is doing for it?"
Alex didn't. She called her brother who informed her that he was going to San Francisco with Vivian to her parents' house and father was likely going to stay at home and watch football.
The blonde had to formulate a plan. "I could go home and spend Thanksgiving with my dad, if you want to go to Elliot's."
Olivia wanted her with them. "I want you with us."
"Me too, but I need to tell my Dad the truth and I'd like to do it before we all come over for Christmas, in case he needs time to process."
The brunette kissed Alex on the lips. "Don't stay away too long."
"I won't." Alex would catch the train on Wednesday and be back on Friday. "It will go so quickly, and think about how much you'll want me."
"You're so full of yourself."
"Only when I'm not full of you."
Alex called her father and suggested that she come home for Thanksgiving. "We can have steak frites and you can watch football while I drink wine and pretend to know the rules."
"I'm not taking you away from anything in New York?"
"No. Everyone here's scattering about."
"I'd love to have you Princess."
The situation proved to be quite ironic. The Cabots had a huge house for a tiny Thanksgiving and the Stablers had a huge Thanksgiving they were trying to fit in a normal sized house.
Elliot's brothers had said they weren't coming but then they changed their mind. Of course, this was the same day that Elliot said Casey and Olivia were coming.
Now Kathy had to cook for twelve people, many of whom had big appetites. She was already frustrated with her life generally. This Thanksgiving made her want to riot.
Knowing how much these people eat, I'll need a 16lb turkey. Oh this will take forever to cook, and all the sides. Kathy thought about running away. Instead she snapped at her husband. "Why does your family cook nothing and eat so much?"
"I could pick up some pre-made food from the store."
"Oh no. They got premade pies one time, and I never heard the end of it. I'm ready to just serve them rice and beans, just so I can say they're homemade."
Elliot could tell his wife was cracking. Maybe inviting Liv and Casey was a mistake. He didn't want them to see chaos.
Monday before Thanksgiving
Alex was trying to get all of her paperwork done before she was to go to Boston on Wednesday. She didn't want anything waiting for her when she got back.
She planned on working through her lunch break when she got a phone call.
"Cabot."
"Cabot." The voice parroted at her.
"Hi Dad. What's going on?"
"How set are you on coming to Boston for Thanksgiving?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, but I have to come to New York tomorrow, and I didn't see the point in going down and then rushing back for you to come up. Why don't we both spend Thanksgiving in New York this year?"
"Sure. Do you need to stay with me?"
"The firm has a hotel room for me. I'm sure you want your privacy."
That is preferable. "I'll see you soon Dad."
Alex waltzed over to Casey's office and gave her a kiss. "I'm not going to Boston after all."
"What?"
"My dad's coming here."
"Maybe we should spend Thanksgiving with you."
"You can, but I don't want you to cancel your plans if you want to go."
Casey didn't want to tell Liv this, but the last time they had dinner at the Stablers, it gave her a headache. The kids were all arguing and she felt like everyone was staring at her. A quieter meal at Alex's sounded like paradise.
"I'll talk to Liv. When are you shopping for food?"
"I'm going to call the butcher today, and see what he has this week." She didn't want to go too early and serve old meat, but she didn't want to have to shop for scraps either.
Meanwhile the situation with the Stablers had gotten even crazier. Now Elliot's parents were coming, making the count 14.
"NO!" Kathy yelled when Elliot told her the news.
"What?"
"I don't have room. I can't make that much food. I won't hear that many complaints. They should have said something earlier. NO!"
"But they're my parents."
"Then why don't you make them Thanksgiving dinner? I'll buy burgers and hotdogs and you can grill it!"
She started tearing into him for never being home, for showing up just to eat, and for dropping his family from hell on her like anchors that just fell on her foot and broke her toes.
This was going to be a lovely holiday.
On Tuesday, Olivia asked Elliot if she and Casey should bring anything to Thanksgiving.
"Um, you might not want to come this year. You're welcome to, but Kathy's really mad at well everyone." She thought he saw enough of his coworkers and didn't need them at Thanksgiving in an already crowded house.
Olivia had felt bad about cancelling on him, but if he was going to give her an out. "I don't want to add to your stress. Casey and I will make our own dinner. Steaks, football, I think we can make it work."
"Now I'm jealous."
"Aw, sad panda!"
When Olivia told Casey that they weren't going to Elliot's, the redhead sighed in relief.
"You didn't want to go?"
"His house is a madhouse. It makes me anxious."
"Why didn't you say so?"
"He's your best friend. I didn't want to be a bad sport about it."
Olivia kissed her. "We spend our holidays as we want to. We're a team."
They went to Alex's to tell her the news.
"Can you get two more steaks?" Olivia questioned. "If not …"
"I already bought four. I figured you and Casey would eat them on Friday if you didn't come over for Thanksgiving."
Olivia kissed her. "You're the best."
"Remember this after I tell my father."
Casey was scared. "When are you going to …"
"I was going to get it over with tomorrow. I didn't want to spend all Thursday wondering when I should say it."
"What if he gets mad and doesn't want us to come over anymore?"
Alex rejected that flat out. "My father loves both of you. Even if he did get mad, he'd never turn his back on either of you." Alex's parents raised her to believe that family was the most important thing of all. No matter what, families stick by each other. He readily accepted Casey after her parents disowned her. Real parents don't do that as far as he was concerned.
When it came to parents, Casey was used to love with strings attached. As far as the Cabots concerned, that kind of love wasn't love at all.
Wednesday
Alexander Cabot commanded a presence when he arrived in One Hogan Place. He was tall, had broad shoulders, and had a distinguished walk to him. You could hear him walk with perfect cadence.
He got a guest pass and then went up to the fourth floor, where his daughter had her office.
Alex's secretary knew him by sight. She had not seen him up close before, but he had a photo on the Cabot Corporation's website, and she had google stalked him a little bit.
Like his daughter, he had blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and wore dark-rimmed glasses. He left many women a combination of turned on and terrified. Alexandra definitely inherited her sexiness from her father.
"I'll let Ms. Cabot know you're here."
Alex opened the door to let her father in. "I just need to grab my coat."
He took a look around. The place could use some artwork. "How do you spend so much time in a place with blank walls?"
"I haven't gotten around to it yet."
When they left the office, Alex's underlings only saw the back of her father's head. They mistakenly thought he was her lover.
"Who's that guy?" Rachel asked Jim.
"My guess is a rich, society fucker."
"He's got a nice stature."
He glared.
"What, he does?"
Alex and her father went to a sushi house and were promptly seated, despite the busyness of the restaurant. No one in his right mind keeps Cabots waiting for a table.
"So what's new?"
"I came to New York to finish an acquisition. We just bought a tech startup based in California."
"What do they do?"
"Data protection and encryption." With everything going online and into cloud storage, the corporation was concerned about the safety of its own information and thought it could make money securing the information of others.
The corporation had come along way. Back when the Cabot family business started, they were shipping granite from New Hampshire to Massachusetts. They helped build the city of Boston.
"Is the deal done?"
"Ink is drying right now. What's going on in your life?"
Alex was possibly going back to court in January. "One of my ADAs had to take medical leave, so I am a man down right now." Alex would be the one going to trial if they did not reach a deal.
"How exciting. Have you missed it?"
"Yes, but it's been so long. It's hard to know if I still have it before I get to court, and what happens if I don't got it?"
"It's like riding a bike. It will come back, but if you want to be extra sure, I'm sure you could get into a training class hosted by a firm or Columbia's law school"
Not a bad idea. "I'll see if I can find something for December."
Alex waited for the food to come before she announced, "I'm in a relationship."
"Oh, how wonderful dear. Is she someone I know?"
"Actually, she is … well they are."
"What do you mean by they?"
"How familiar are you with polyamory?"
He made a face. "Isn't that when those crazy Mormons from Utah have a bunch of wives?"
"That would be polygamy."
"What's the difference?"
"Polygamy involves a multiple marriage commitments with one focal point. Polyamory also involves multiple people, but the structure of the relationship is more freeform."
"You're losing me Alex." What the hell is she talking about?
"Let's say you had three wives, but those wives had no relationship to each other, that would be polygamy."
"Okay got it."
"Now say you had a wife who had another boyfriend, and the three of you lived in one house as one unit, that would be an example of polyamory."
Alexander nodded even though he was baffled by the suggestion.
"Polyamorous relationships are more open-ended. You can decide what all the relationships are between the people involved. You could deem yourself in a relationship with just the wife or the wife and the boyfriend or …
Whereas polygamous marriages are anchored around one person and the wives have no relationship to each other. (They might be friends but they aren't lovers) They also often have religious/spiritual components that polyamorous relationships don't have."
"I'm confused. What was this conversation about again?"
Alex took a breath. "I am in a relationship with two other women. Each one of us is in a relationship with the other two."
"You have two girlfriends?" he squeaked.
"Yes, Father. I have two girlfriends."
"And I know them?"
"You do. You remember Olivia and Casey."
"Of course, they're …" My daughter is with Olivia and Casey? "You're …"
She nodded.
He was silent for a while, but then a smile broke on his face, and he hugged her. "Oh that's wonderful."
"It is?" Alex squawked. "Well, I think it is but …"
"My three favorite girls have all found each other."
That is one way of putting it. "Thanks Dad."
"For what?"
"For being the best Dad." He really was as far as Alex was concerned. No matter what she decided, when she was happy, he was too. Alexander considered that a given. In Alex's world, it often wasn't, especially for her LGBT friends.
"Are they coming over for Thanksgiving?"
"Yes."
"Oh great."
Maybe I should have just said, I'm dating Casey and Olivia. That probably would have been easier.
They finished lunch and then Alex had to go back to work.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Princess."
"Bye Dad."
The team drew straws and Finn lost, so she had to ask Alex about her boyfriend.
"What boyfriend?"
"The tall, handsome man that was with you earlier?"
"My father?"
Christina turned bright red. "Awkward!"
The others were cracking up when she told them.
"It was not funny. She looked at me like I was crazy."