Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I last updated this one. But life has been crazy. When I had the time to write, nothing would come out, so I have been working on one of this year's Christmas stories. It wasn't until I thought about taking what I wanted to start with and putting it at the end that it all came together.

I don't know when I will get time to write the next chapter, but I am slowly working on it. I just want you all to know that I haven't abandoned this story.

Enjoy!

"I thought we agreed that for Thanksgiving we'd be going to celebrate with my family," Lena stated, watching her boyfriend pack his bags to head back to his small town to spend the long weekend with his family. "They were excited to see you again," she pressed, not getting a response from her boyfriend of the past year and a half. They had talked about it a little over a week ago.

"That had been the plan," Jack shared, looking at his girlfriend. "But for one reason or another, I need to be in Bluebell on Thursday," he told her, explaining what little he knew about the situation. He does know that no one is hurt, and it's not a huge emergency. Just something that happens to be going on at his Grandpa Earl's old place. He can't fathom what that is, since it's been years since his grandpa has been around. He didn't want to fight with her over their holiday plans. He had tried to cancel going home for Planksgiving this year since everything went down with him dropping out of school, but he was informed that he needed to come home for an undisclosed reason and that he would find out once he got there.

"Then why don't I come with you," Lena suggested, a smile painted on her face. "My parents won't mind and I will finally be able to meet your parents and your sister," she told him, her smile growing. She has been trying to make it work to go with him when he goes home to visit, but it has never worked out on her end, so she has yet to meet his parents. Whereas he has met her whole family numerous times.

"I would love that, honestly," Jack smiled. He wants his girlfriend to meet his family. He doesn't think this weekend is the time for that. The last thing he wants to do is toss her right into the deep end of the crazy that is Bluebell with Planksgiving, instead of them celebrating a normal Thanksgiving dinner with family like she is used to doing. "But with not knowing what is really going on, I don't want to risk leaving you alone with a town full of strangers ready to pounce on you," he sighed, shaking his head, not wanting her to deal with that. They would wait until she was alone to strike wanting to make sure she was good enough for him. He wasn't worried about the stories they would tell her about him growing up, he was worried they'd scare her off. A more laid-back time for her would work best.

"You act like they're a bunch of vultures," she joked, taking a seat on the bed. He looked up sharing a look with his girlfriend, telling her that they really are like that, to everyone. He's used to it because he grew up knowing nothing else, whereas she grew up in a pretty big city.

"That's because you don't know them," he stated, shaking his head. "In Bluebell, everyone is in everyone's business, and frankly there's a better time for you to visit and meet my family," he told her, shutting his suitcase. "To be honest, I don't even know if I will see much of them," he told her. "My parents will be busy with making a treasure hunt for the kids, and my sister will be busy with her friends, and I'll be back Saturday afternoon."

"Sometimes I wonder if you even want me to meet your family," she sighed, getting up. She knows that up to this point she was the one that couldn't it together to make the trip to his hometown, between school and work, it never worked out for her. But now she can make the trip and she wants to see where he grew up, wants to know how much of his parents are in him. Wants to see the places and the people he talks about.

"You know that I do," he told her. "Just this weekend isn't the weekend for it, and I would hate for your parents to get upset with you for canceling on them last second," he told her. "Why don't you get time off for Christmas and we can go spend Christmas and the New Year in Bluebell," he suggested. Christmas in Bluebell would be easier to digest than Planksgiving will be, and he can slowly work up to her spending the more outrageous holidays and ongoings of Bluebell.

"Okay, but I am holding you to that," she told him, leaving the bedroom to let him finish packing. She was a bit upset that he didn't want her to go this weekend, but she got it. And she'd rather have a bit more time to get to know his family, so she can wait until Christmas. It is only a little over a month away. She'll make sure she has the time off to go, she's not missing her chance. She has put it off long enough, scared of them not liking her, and convincing Jack that he can do so much better than her.

He hated that he had hurt her feelings by not having her come with him this weekend. But it's not the first time they have celebrated the holiday without the other one. The only time he has ever celebrated Thanksgiving was the first year he was with Lena and she brought him home, he hasn't gone back since, nor have they celebrated the holiday together since, so he didn't think she would mind that he was going home to Bluebell while she was going home to Burbank.

When he landed in Mobile, he toggled his phone from airplane mode, as he walked through the airport, to retrieve his suitcase. He had one message waiting for him, and that was from his parents telling him to head straight over to his Grandpa Earl's old place. With his suitcase in hand, he headed over to rent a car for the next few days. Keys in hand he headed out to the parking lot, waiting until he was in his car to send a text to Lena telling her he made it safely. He wasn't expecting a reply from her, as she would still be on the road heading to her parent's house, as he had left hours before she had.

When he pulled into his Grandpa's rundown shack, he spotted his sister walking in circles around the yard. He frowned watching her keep checking her phone. He is curious as to why she keeps looking at it like she's waiting for a call or a text. It's something he will get to the bottom of before he leaves for California in a few days.

Lynn didn't even look up when the echo of shutting the car door sounded around them, nor did her eyes leave her phone, when the gravel crunched under his feet. Maybe the situation with whoever was a bit worse than he had previously thought. He left her be, as she is clearly in a world of her own. Instead, he looked around the place, being careful of where he stepped, remembering the stories he was told as a kid about his grandfather having boobytraps around his house.

"Why did mom and dad want us to meet them here?" Jack asked, taking a seat on the porch, after spending a good half hour waiting on his parents to show up. He'd much rather be in Bluebell celebrating Planksgiving with his friends, than in the middle of the woods at a house no one has lived in for several years now. They never come out to his grandpa's abandoned house after he passed away. So to make them come out here now, it doesn't add up. The grass and the weeds have taken everything over. He checked the porch to ensure it wasn't rotten before he sat down upon it.

"They didn't actually say," Lynn sighed, stuffing her phone in her pocket. "I've tried calling them to see why they're not here yet, but they refuse to answer," she informed her brother, pulling her phone right back out from her pocket to look at the screen to see if she somehow missed a call or text from one of them. Much like her brother, she also plans to spend time with her friends, and Tommy.

Things with Tommy have been good since she cleared things up with him. They've been spending a lot of time together. They haven't defined what they are yet, despite the handful of dates they've been on. She wants to be his girlfriend, and she thinks that he wants the same. The one day they were going to spend it together, is the same day she's stuck waiting on her parents to show up in the middle of the woods at her grandfather's run-down shack.

Hearing tires crunching along the dirt driveway, they share a look with each other, like they somehow manifested their parents to finally show up. Jack got up, dusting the dirt from his jeans, joining his sister in front of where his dad parked. He frowned when it was just his dad getting out of the car, his mom not even with him.

"Emergency at the clinic, " Wade said, explaining why Zoe wasn't with him. "I've got to make this quick," he told them, handing over a folded piece of paper that has yellowed over the years.

"What is this?" Jack asked, slightly confused, unfolding the piece of paper he took from his dad, to see a good amount of tiny red x's sprinkled over the paper some more faded than others, but still noticeable. He did hold his laugh in at how his parents waited until Planksgiving to give them a treasure map. He did hope that it wasn't going to be a waste of his time.

"That is a once-in-a-lifetime real treasure hunt," Wade smirked. "Your grandpa Earl was a bit crazy once upon a time," he chuckled. "And he's left you guys a treasure map. We weren't supposed to hand it over until Lynn turned 18, but we discussed it, and we figured it won't hurt to hand the map over a few years early, as what he has hidden around his yard, is something you both can use now, save it and even invest some of it, if that's what you so wish to do, as it's yours to do as you please with it," Wade told them, walking back to his car. "Have fun," Wade told them, getting into his car.

"Let's get a start on finding this treasure, I don't want to be out here after sundown," Lynn told him, taking a look at the map, happy to see that he had also marked where the traps are at, so they can avoid getting caught or worse hurt because their grandpa wasn't all there back in the day.

"Right," Jack nodded, getting the map the right way, he didn't want to be out there after dark, digging for some weird kind of treasure. "We better make sure there are shovels in the tool shed," he told his sister, heading to the small shed, pulling the door open, hoping that the door doesn't fall off, or that a wild animal doesn't jump out at them.

Shovels in hand, they set out on an adventure of a lifetime.