(AN: this may be rough, but I wanted to get it out this week since we just had Thanksgiving. Updates will be sporadic but I'm determined to finish this story. I'm just not motivated to write upstead anymore:()

It took a little bit for Ava to fully recover from her illness, although a slight cough lingered, and by that time, it was time for Thanksgiving. The plan was to go and spend a week in Wisconsin with the Halstead family at the cabin, including some of Will and Jay's extended family. The only wild cards were their fear that Ava would get carsick and how she would react to being around so many people for a few days. Ultimately, they came to the decision that if Ava was really struggling, they would come back home early. Now they just had to tell Ava, pack, and shop for food to take so they could contribute to what the family would be doing.

Hailey was still keeping Ava home from school since she was getting tired easily, so she decided to talk to her about all of it when she woke up from her nap a few days before they were set to leave. Ava had been happy all day, doing crafts with Hailey and having a dance party and working on her handwriting, so the older blonde was hopeful the little blonde would react well to the fact that she was going to have to meet new people.

"Mama!" Hailey was packing for herself when Ava started calling for her.

"I'm coming!" Hailey called out and went down the hall to Ava's room.

She went in and smiled at the toddler who was sitting in her bed, still under her weighted swan, sucking her thumb with a grin. "No thumb when you're happy, kiddo," Hailey gently reminded her and Ava removed it from her mouth.

"I took a long nap," Ava grinned, still so happy. She really was finally feeling better for the most part.

"You did! I'm so glad. Let's get you changed then mama needs to tell you something," Hailey said, getting something clean for Ava to put on.

"Is it bad?" Ava asked, worried.

Hailey began getting Ava's wet pull up off as she reassured her that it wasn't anything bad and Ava nodded but seemed a little worried. Once she was changed, she followed Hailey to her room.

"Why you packin, mama?" She asked, climbing onto the bed with her stuffed animals.

"Well, Ava girl, the three of us are going back to the lake in a couple days for Thanksgiving. Does that sound fun?" Hailey asked, hoping Ava would get excited and not be scared about it once she knew all the details.

"Yeah! But, mama, it cowd out. I don't wanna go swimming in the cowd," Ava gave her a very pointed look with a raised eyebrow and Hailey laughed a little. The kid had a point.

"It is cold out, you're right, we won't be swimming. We're going with uncle Will and Natalie and more of Jay and Will's family. It's for thanksgiving, do you remember what that is?" Ava nodded, she'd learned more about it at school and Hailey and Jay had explained it to her the week before she got sick because everyone was talking about it. "We're going to the cabin for Thanksgiving, to see Jay's family and celebrate and have yummy food and maybe hike if it's not too cold. There may even be snow, but I'm not sure," Hailey explained.

"Are they nice?" Ava asked after a few minutes of contemplation.

"They're nice baby, I promise. There will be several other people there with us and uncle Will and Natalie. But Jay says they're nice, and I've met them and they were nice to me," Hailey tried to reassure Ava, and the little girl nodded and slipped her thumb into her mouth.

"I promise you, I'm not going to take you somewhere unsafe, not on purpose," Ava nodded again and reached up to be held. She was unsure but she trusted her mama and Jay, so she figured it should be fine.

"Okay, mama," she mumbled and Hailey sat down and held her for a little while. She really hoped it would go well; Will and Jay's dad was refusing to go so that took a lot of stress away, he was the one they were worried about having Ava around.

"It'll be okay, baby. We'll be with you the entire time," Hailey sat and held Ava for a little while before she set the girl on the bed and resumed packing. Once Hailey was packed, she took Ava to get a snack and they got started on her belongings. By the time Jay got home from work, the girls were completely packed and they'd done a store run.

"How'd she do today?" He asked, sitting with Hailey while dinner finished cooking and Ava played with some toys.

"Pretty good, she was her normal self most of the morning, took a long nap, and she did well when I talked to her about next week. She got quiet after but she seems okay with it. And she only had 2 bad coughing fits today," Hailey filled Jay in on all he had missed.

"So she didn't freak out?" Jay was a little surprised since Ava hated meeting new people and they both knew they were pushing the limits doing this, but it would only be a few days and this was family.

"Not yet at least. She seems okay with it as long as we keep her safe and no one is mean."

"That's amazing," Jay was relieved, much like his wife. Maybe this Thanksgiving would run smoothly.

The drive up to the cabin went about as well as it could have. They had to give Ava some children's motion sickness medicine before leaving on Tuesday morning the week of thanksgiving. It made her drowsy, so by the time they fully left Chicago, she was passed out and stayed that way until they were almost there. Unfortunately, she'd woken up because of a bad dream and cried the last 30 minutes because no one could hold her. The minute they got there, Hailey unbuckled Ava and lifted her up to calm her down while Jay unloaded his truck.

Will and Natalie got there with Natalie's son Owen as this was happening and Nat went over to Hailey, concerned. "Did she get sick?" She asked, knowing Ava's history with motion sickness, she was her pediatrician after all.

"No, thankfully. She had a bad dream like 30 minutes ago and Jay couldn't find a safe place to stop," Hailey felt terrible but it was true.

Nat gave her a sad smile and squeezed her arm while Hailey worked to calm her little girl down. Ava settled but started to doze off again.

"Jay, I'm gonna take her in and change her then get her some food," she said, grabbing Ava's bag. Jay kissed both girls before they went in.

Hailey quickly waved to Jay's aunt and cousins that were already there before going into their designated room and getting Ava sorted out. The little girl was pretty out of it from the medicine but Hailey didn't want her sleeping yet.

"Ava girl, mama needs you to stay awake for a little bit. Tell me what you want for lunch," Hailey coaxed while she changed Ava into a dry pull up, they'd put her in one for the drive because they knew she'd be sleeping due to the medicine she's taken.

"Wanna napppp," Ava whined, a couple of frustrated tears dripping down her temples.

"I know baby, but we need some food in that belly. What would you like?" Hailey rubbed her tummy before pulling her sweater down and he leggings up then scooped her up.

"Sanwich," Ava sniffled around her thumb, laying her head on Hailey's shoulder.

"Let's go make a sandwich. Jay's aunt and his cousins are here but they're nice and you don't have to talk to anyone yet if you don't want to. We can do that after nap. You are safe," Hailey explained, hoping Ava wouldn't freak out. She was already frazzled.

"Mama stay," Ava murmered.

"Yeah, baby, mama stay."

They went downstairs and Ava hid her face as Hailey greeted everyone and introduced Ava, explaining that the toddler was over tired and not feeling social. Thankfully, they understood.

Hailey got stuff out to make Ava a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but Ava being in octopus mode made it hard. Natalie noticed and came to make the sandwich as Jay came over and took Ava from his wife. Hailey used her time with free hands to go to the bathroom and was relieved that Ava was sitting on Jay's lap, eating her sandwich and some grapes, while Jay talked to some of his family. When Ava finished, Hailey took her back to their room and put her down for a nap in the middle of their bed, they would be setting up her little bed once she was awake.

Ava woke up a little more settled after sleeping off the medicine, but she was very clingy to Hailey and Jay and hardly spoke to anyone other than them, Will, Natalie, and Owen. It was practically bedtime before she interacted with Jay's family members, but they're were proud of her for actually engaging with new people without too much coaxing.

Wednesday, the whole family went on a hike in the morning, then they went out on the boat while bundled up. Ava didn't love how cold it got, neither did Hailey or Owen. The November chill in Wisconsin wasn't great, and Hailey ended up begging to go back before the kids even asked, she couldn't stop shaking. Despite that, they had fun.

The afternoon was spent baking and prepping side dishes for the meal they would be having on Thursday. Ava wanted to help, so she was sitting on the counter by Hailey, helping mix the ingredients for pumpkin pie, scrunching her nose because she thought it looked weird.

"I promise it's good!" Hailey laughed as Ava gave her a weird look, fully displaying that she did not trust what Hailey was saying. Everyone started telling Ava how good the pumpkin pie was.

"Okayyyy, I'll twy it!" Ava finally said, making everyone laugh. She was starting to come out of her shell and it made Hailey and Jay happy.

Jay was outside helping split firewood, but his heart was so happy when he looked through the window of the cabin and saw both of his girls laughing and Ava almost fully relaxed. This was what he'd been dreaming of with Hailey.

The entire rest of the day, the family cooked, then they built a fire in the massive stone fire place and board and card games were pulled out and they played games for hours. Ava learned to play Sorry! and Uno, along with some other card games. It was the perfect quality family time, and having her and Owen there made it more fun for the Halstead family.

Ava woke up before Hailey and Jay on Thanksgiving with a coughing fit that woke Jay. He quickly got up with her and gave her the inhaler they were still using once a day to really help her lungs out after having pneumonia.

"It's Thans-giving," She told Jay, her head still on his shoulder.

"It is, and I am so thankful for you and mama," Jay kissed her head and Ava smiled.

"I'm thankful too. I'm safe now," that statement made Jay want to cry but he didn't let himself show Ava just how much her statement affected him.

"That's right, kiddo, you're safe now. It's still a little early, let's get you out of this wet pull up then go get in bed with mama," Ava nodded and Jay changed her then they laid in bed with a now sorta awake Hailey for another hour.

Finally, Hailey spoke, "I'm so thankful for both of you," Ava smiled and curled herself into her sister turned mom.

They got up and went downstairs to have breakfast and Hailey and Jay needed coffee. It was a slow morning with the parade on, followed by all the thanksgiving episodes of Friends. Everyone eventually got ready and most of the family bundled up and went outside to play touch football. Ava joined a little, but she didn't like that the ball was too big for her to throw, so Natalie got a soccer ball for her and Owen to play with since they were so little.

Everyone was laughing and worn out by the time dinner was ready and Ava's eyes about popped out of her head when she saw all the food. They had ham, turkey, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mac and cheese, green beans, rolls, this thing called Christmas salad (jellow salad sorta) that Ava thought was odd they weren't having on Thanksgiving, and 5 different types of pies laid out. Once everyone was served, they went around and said what they were thankful for, Ava's answer of being safe finally bringing tears to their eyes, then they ate.

Ava loved most of the food and after dessert was done, she was basically asleep on Hailey. She was sooo full, but she didn't want to go to bed yet. So, she joined everyone in playing more games, eventually falling asleep laying across both Hailey and Jay's laps, much like Owen across Will's lap. It was really sweet. Hailey put Ava to bed and then she and Jay went and sat on the porch swing.

"Best Thanksgiving ever," Jay said and Hailey couldn't have agreed more.

"Bring on Christmas."