Another chapter done! I am on fire this week!

Enjoy this possibly cringe writing.

Everyone was now gathered in the living room of the house, with Luz standing near where Camila was sitting in the recliner.

"Alright everyone. This is VERY important, so make sure you're fully listening... That means you too, Hooty!" Luz exclaimed, glancing at the bird tube... Who was currently listening to something with headphones on, not paying attention at all.

Lilith smacked the headphones off of him, much to the surprise and annoyance of the bug demon.

"Hoot! Hey, it was just getting good!" Hooty complained. "It's my new favorite soap opera!"

King (who was now wearing a shirt and pants that had been cut to fit him, along with sunglasses) picked up and listened to what was playing on the headphones.

"This is a bird sound playlist." He flatly pointed out.

"You don't understand it! You need to listen to the first season to get it! Hoot-hoot!" Hooty defended.

"Guys! Can we just focus on what Luz wants to tell us?" Amity exclaimed, wanting to get everyone's attention back on her girlfriend.

"Right, right..." Hunter regained his focus, "So, what's the problem Luz?"

Luz exhaled, "My abuela is coming for Thanksgiving." she announced. "She'll be here in an hour or two."

"Oh, that's cool!" The Collector smiled, before blinking. "...What's an abuela?"

"It means grandmother in Spanish." Vee answered ("Ohhh!" The Collector murmured in understanding).

"What's so bad about that?" Gus questioned.

"She doesn't KNOW about all of you, or about the Demon Realm... And we don't think she'd take it very well that demons and witches actually exist" Luz explained.

"Plus, she isn't exactly the most wonderful person to be around... If you're me, of course." Camila added, frowning a bit. "She constantly nitpicks everything I do whenever she's around. Drives me nueces."

"So, we have two issues we need to deal with..." Luz exhaled. "The fact abuela CANNOT know about you all being witches and demons, and also the fact abuela might end up driving mamá insane with her nitpicks and condescending wording."

The group all murmured and talking amongst themselves, thinking as they did.

"Well, that first one we can manage!" Willow remarked.

"Yeah, we've passed for human before already!" Gus pointed out.

"Some of us may find it harder to do that than others..." King commented, taking a small glance at Hooty.

"...We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Luz clicked her tongue. "But the main thing we gotta focus on right now, is trying to make this Thanksgiving go as smooth as possible so my abuela doesn't have much to nitpick about!"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Eda shrugged from her spot on the couch.

"Well, things aren't really going the smoothest right now... I mean, we don't even have a table anymore." Vee pointed out.

Hunter looked down in slight shame and embarrassment, as Willow patted his back comfortingly. "I tripped." He mumbled under his breath.

"Hm, good point... There's a few things we need in order to fix this situation up a bit." Luz murmured.

She thought for a few moments, before first pointing to Gus and Hunter. "Alright, you two go out to the furniture store across town and get us a new table. Maybe one that's slightly bigger than the old one." She ordered.

"We can do that!" Gus smiled.

"Can't be too hard!" Hunter added.

Luz then turned to Willow and Amity, "Willow, Sweet Potato... Can you go out to a store and get some decorations for the tabletop? Try and find a good cornucopia!"

"No idea what that is, but we'll try our best!" Willow nodded.

"I remember a store nearby that sells decorations like that, we can go there!" Amity suggested.

"Good!" Luz smiled, before turning to Eda and opening her mouth to say something..."I'm gonna stop you right there, kiddo. I already had plans to go and get some drinks from the store. Because apparently, there's NO alcohol in this house anywhere!" Eda claimed, slightly annoyed.

Camila mumbled something under her breath that was along the lines of "didn't look hard enough". Luz thought for a few moments.

"...Alright fine. But take King with you so he has something to do." Luz turned to her Titan brother figure, whispering to him. "Make sure she comes back sober please."

"You can count on me, Luz!" King replied.

Luz nodded, having faith. She then turned to Raine and her adopted basilisk sister.

"I need you two to head to the store and get the last of the stuff we need for dinner." Luz said, tossing a list to them, which Vee caught.

"I'm sure we can manage that!" Raine claimed.

"Can do!" Vee smiled. "Looking forward to meeting my new abuela!"

"I'm sure she'll love you..." Luz assured, "We also need someone to go and get the turkey-"

"I can do that Luz!" The Collector grinned, quickly holding his hand up.

"Thanks Collin! That'd be really helpful!" Luz smiled at the star child's excitement to help.

"Seeing as everyone else is going to be somewhere, I'll also be heading over to the library to pick up a few more books. I'm very interested in the history of this holiday." Lilith explained.

"That's fine, just keep a low profile, bueno?" Camila asked, to which Lilith nodded.

"Don't worry, I will." She replied, "It'll just be a quick trip there and back with Hootsifer."

Luz smiled a bit, before turning to the entire group.

"Remember! When you guys get back, WHATEVER you do, just make sure you hide the fact that you're not human from my Abuela. She'll freak out if she finds out about all of this in the wrong way." Luz pleaded. "Okay?"

Everyone from the Boiling Isles sitting or standing around nodded, or murmured variations of "got it".

"Alright! We can do this guys, I would give a pep talk, but we really don't have time for that!" Luz remarked. "Now get a move on!"

The group got up from their spots around the living room, and began to file out of the room to head out and get what they needed to get. Gus stopped as he was walking.

"Wait, so what are you two going to be doing here?" Raine questioned, curious.

"We're gonna make sure the last of the cleaning around here is done, and wait for abuela to arrive." Camila replied, seemingly hesitant to even explain what the next couple hours were going to be like. "So we can greet her, catch up, and make sure she's settled in."

"Ah, so you got the hard job?" Eda joked, trying to lighten the mood for the clearly nervous Camila.

"You don't know the half of it." Camila muttered, as everyone left.

Camila and Luz had been patiently waiting for the door bell to ring for about an hour now... And the suspense was beginning to stress them both out.

"She's running a few minutes late, isn't she?" Luz questioned, looking at the clock on the wall.

"Y-You know, maybe she missed her bus!" Camila reasoned, feeling a little hopeful. "Maybe she will have to cancel, and not come at all-"

She was cut off when the doorbell rang. Camila exhaled deeply.

"...Do you want me to get it?" Luz offered, clearly seeing her mother's hesitance.

Camila was silent, before she eventually nodded. Luz walked over towards the front door, as the doorbell rang again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Hold your horses." Luz called out, before answering the door.

Standing on the porch was a Hispanic woman in her seventies. She had long brown hair with gray streaks in it, and brown eyes. The woman was wearing navy jeans, a blue long sleeve shirt, and a brown jacket. Luz smiled widely at the sight of her, which the woman returned.

"Abuela!" Luz hugged her grandmother, and the woman chuckled as she hugged back.

"Oh, it's good to see you Luz!" Miranda greeted, "How has my favorite nieta been?"

"I've been great! It's good to see you too, Abuela! It feels like it's been ages!" Luz remarked.

"Well, it has! You've gotten so tall, estimada!" Miranda noted, chuckling at the growth Luz had gone through since she'd last seen her.

"Yep! Had a big growth spurt last summer!" Luz smiled.

"I can certainly see that." Miranda smirked, "Mind if I come in? My back's killing me from how uncomfy those bus seats were..."

"Oh yeah, come right on in abuela!" Luz allowed her grandmother to walk inside the house, closing the door behind her.

As Miranda walked inside, she noticed Camila walk up. Her smile slowly turned to a neutral expression at the sight of her.

"Hi Miranda..." Camila managed a smile, trying to keep a positive attitude while greeting her. "Glad you decided to come! Hope the bus ride wasn't too bad."

"Hm, hello Camila." Miranda greeted flatly, looking at her daughter-in-law's fall sweater and jeans. "Interesting choice of clothing."

Camila instinctively covered up her sweater in a moment of self-consciousness, frowning a bit as she did.

"I've only had this sweater for a few years..." Camila replied, with a slight defensive tone to her voice.

"That long? Hm..." Miranda murmured, which made the Noceda mother's eye twitch.

Miranda walked past Camila, and into the living room. She sat down on the couch, making herself comfy.

"I can see you two decorated." Miranda glanced around. "Is it a special Thanksgiving this year, or something?"

"Yeah! We're actually having some other friends over for this Thanksgiving, so we decided to go all out." Luz explained, hoping her abuela wouldn't question it much.

"I can see your mother only got the very best from the thrift store." Miranda flatly commented, which made Camila's eye twitch for a second time.

"Where is the table?" Miranda had looked to her side and noticed the dining room was lacking said furniture. The wood remains of the broken one having been 'humanely removed' by Hooty. "Surely we're not eating on the floor, Camila?"

"I'm getting a new one. The old one was beginning to rot. It'll be here in a bit." Camila answered.

"It wouldn't have rotted if you used that cleaner I suggested you use..." Miranda nitpicked.

"I DID use the cleaner." Camila claimed through gritted teeth.

"Well, clearly you didn't use it the right way." Miranda commented.

Luz saw her mother clearly getting agitated by the conversation, so she decided to try and change the subject.

"So! How have you been, abuela?" Luz questioned, which thankfully took Miranda's attention away from Camila.

"Oh, I've been fine estimada. Just haven't got out much recently. What about you?" Miranda responded with her own question.

"I uh... Went to a camp this summer." Luz answered, only half lying.

Her form was technically there when Vee was using it as a disguise. So it pretty much counted, right?

"Oh really? How was it there? Nice place, or was it a dump?" Miranda asked, "It's always one or the other these days."

Luz decided to tell Miranda what she probably wanted to hear. "It actually wasn't too bad... Nice lake, nice activities, and nice people-"

"Meet any cute boys at that camp?" Miranda asked, curious and smirking a bit as she cut Luz off before she could finish.

"Well, I uh... Um..." Luz stuttered out, not sure what to say, or how to go about saying it.

"You're too pretty to be single still, you know that nieta?" Miranda commented, "You need a boyfriend."

Camila and Luz were silent for a few moments, giving each other looks. Camila's look was seemingly silently asking Luz "Do you wanna tell her, or should I?"

"...Yeah, I've been thinking about it." Luz lied with a hint of nervousness, "But I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, you know?""Ah well, it's important you take your time..." Miranda claimed, pausing. "But I would like some bisnietos sometime soon." Luz blushed red, while Camila sighed heavily at her mother-in-law's usual insistence.

"Miranda..." She lightly reprimanded in a tone that barely got the point across that she was even being reprimanding in the first place.

"What?" Miranda asked defensively, "I'd just like some more niños to visit sometime! It's not like you've been doing me much favores, only having one niño and all."

Camila scowled and clearly was about to refute, but Luz quickly spoke up.

"Actually! She recently adopted!" Luz quickly claimed, to quell any tension before it could begin.

"¿Qué? She did?" Miranda questioned, taken aback.

"Y-Yes!" Camila quickly went along with Luz's claim. "Four niños, in fact! Three boys, and one girl!"

"Well, color me surprised..." Miranda murmured, feeling a twinge of excitement about her new grandchildren. "Though, it is extraño that you never mentioned these new family members to me? I would have LOVED to hear that I had new nietos to spoil earlier, Camila."

"Well, that backfired." Luz thought to herself, wincing a bit at Camila's eye twitching slightly once again.

"Guess I was just too busy, Miranda." Camila managed to say through her gritted teeth.

"Yes, yes... Always far too busy, heard it a millón times." Miranda waved it off, with slight annoyance. "So, where are these niños?"

"At the store, getting a few things I need to make dinner." Camila quickly answered. "They'll be back soon, and then you can meet them!"

"Ah, what a surprise... You put things off till the last minute. As usual." Miranda flatly murmured, unamused.

Camila inhaled heavily. "It's only a couple things I forgot. Like the canned cranberry sauce-"

"Oh, you STILL use canned ingredients?" Miranda tisked, "See, that's just lazy. You should be using-"

"HEY! Abuela, you wanna see some photos I took from my trip to camp this summer?!" Luz quickly cut off her abuela for her mother's sake, picking up a nearby laptop.

Luz couldn't thank Vee enough for thinking ahead and taking pictures to 'blend in' more at the reality camp she had stayed at for a good chunk of the summer. It gave her the perfect distraction to keep the peace between Miranda and Camila until the others came back.

She just really hoped Vee didn't skimp out on the picture taking.

Before you ask, yes, the reason I know how to write an annoying family member so well is because I've dealt with them COUNTLESS times on the holidays. It's pretty much become a tradition at this point.

Next chapter will be out today or tomorrow at some point. Maybe even the day after that.

Remember to leave kudos and a comment if you enjoyed! I love reading your thoughts in the comments, and may even take your ideas or requests! :D