AN: Hey guys, so I'm way ahead in writing, so you're going to get two or three chapters today. Also, if there are parts that don't seem to make sense, please let me know. A lot of these were written during NaNoWriMo and word wards and I did my best to take out confusing parts and elaborate on certain things, but I may have missed things. Also, I never said when Cassie's birthday was because I never decided and I did in the part that I'm working on. So her birthday is December 3rd! Which means I'm going to be posting more than usual as a gift to you guys as well. Hopefully getting up to her birthday in my writing. You're at least going to see some...supernatural things. Squaw- If I die young.

Thanksgiving day started out quietly. I woke up and turned on the TV, really quietly so that I didn't wake Reyna or Hazel, who were sharing the king-sized bed with me. Alice, my half-sister, was asleep in one chair.

I watched silently as Scooby and the Gang tried to find the monster.

Batman slowly climbed up so that he could lick my hand and beg to come all the way up.

I snapped as I pointed away from the bed.

He backed off the bed and sat beside it with his head resting on it, tail still wagging.

I scratched behind his ears. "Good boy."

I turned off the television after about ten minutes and slipped out of bed. I made sure Reyna was covered, then slipped out of the room and down to the bathroom to make sure I didn't look absolutely terrible then down to the kitchen.

Jacob was up. "Hey. You're up early for having had such a late night."

I shrugged and hugged him. "Turkey in?"

"Yup, it should be good. Happy Thanksgiving." He smoothed some of my hair back and tucked it behind my ear. "I know you don't want to talk about work."

"But?"

"There's a teen empowerment conference this Saturday and they want you to speak at it. The woman running it wants to speak with you beforehand."

"You said yes without asking me?"

"You promised that you would do one more even this year outside of your book release and your mother's book release."

I scrunched up my nose. "Why do you have to remember these things?"

He smiled. "Cassie, you've been through a lot and shown yourself to be strong, you've shown yourself to be someone driven to make a difference, regardless of your age and what others say. Everything posted about you lately has been very positive and your tweets read as motivational. Why are you always writing such deep thoughts on Twitter?"

"What deep thoughts?" I asked, taking the plate of chocolate chip pancakes from him and going to sit on a barstool.

Jacob pulled out his phone and cleared his throat. "'Excited to spend time with the family I've made this year' which got a bunch of amazing press."

"That's not deep," I argued.

"You made a family. That alone made a huge impact. Then an article was released about your case, and the fact that you made a huge donation to a bunch of charities, including ones that help people who went through similar things. Your comment when someone shared it with you was 'I made those donations in my mom's name, also, now boycotting news source because of how downplayed the case subject was' then also tweeted, 'Some issues are too important to downplay' and shared an article about rape statistics. Your picture of your dog and kitten with hashtags about how much you love your pets and that people should adopt pets from shelters."

I shrugged. "Little things."

"When someone asked you about having your book published at such a young age, you responded, 'Anyone can get their book published, I saw the talent of a bunch of writers this summer with the competition and we're working on a surprise for those writers' which was partially a good hint to the work you started of the publishing company we're starting and the fact that you want to do writing workshops next summer, starting with the first one you're doing over spring break."

I shrugged. "That's not exactly a big deal."

Jacob looked at me, then shook his head. "Kid, you've got issues and they're not exactly bad. There are about twenty other things that I could use for examples. Anyway, you're doing a teen empowerment conference because you were a popular request from the teens that were polled. You meet with Theresa Briggs tomorrow to talk about the event and to figure out what they expect from you and what you're okay to do. Alright?"

I took a deep breath. "Theresa Briggs, Teen Empowerment Event, Speech. Got it. No more work."

He nodded.

I dug into my pancakes.

Everyone was finally up around ten, and we were playing Apples to Apples while we waited for Jacob to deem the Turkey done and my mashed potatoes were done. Plus we had apple pie, and other snack things that we could eat. It was a little bit of a hesitant Thanksgiving since we weren't entirely sure what we wanted, so we had said that we would just do some traditional stuff like the turkey, ham, apple pie, and mashed potatoes and then figure out what else we would want to do.

Hazel ended up in the kitchen with Malcolm and Jacob, trying to figure out how to make beignets, and I'd made Challa Bread last night.

Will was losing because he was distracted looking at recipes, and he was talking about making bacon, cheese and onion pinwheels.

I shrugged, looking at Travis, Connor, Nico, and Frank. "I think Will's done playing."

Travis nodded and slipped Will's green cards away, spreading them to each of us. "Will, you've been voted off the island. You are the weakest link. Goodbye."

Will looked up. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "Go make your pinwheels. They're better when they're cooled anyway. We should have everything you need."

He nodded and meandered into the kitchen with Nico's school tablet.

We kept playing our game until Frank bowed out to throw the ball for Batman outside.

Nico was starting to fall behind in his green cards as the battle between me and the boys grew more heated. It was literally a battle to see who knew the others better. I pretty much always got Nico's, and I was pretty good at Travis and Connor as well. Now those two were trying to tag team, without cheating because they knew I'd kick their butts.

Finally, Nico shook his head. "Okay, whoever has the most cards right now wins."

We started counting while Nico kept shaking his head.

I had one less than Connor, which meant a lot of jeering and triumphant laughing.

Nico rolled his eyes then elbowed Connor and nodded toward the back deck. "Spar me?"

"Sure."

They went to grab their coats and gear to spar outside.

I looked across at Travis. I wanted to say that it didn't feel like Thanksgiving.

He seemed to understand that I was kind of conflicted, because he got up and pulled me away from everyone else, to the other sitting room. "It's not the same, I know."

I nodded a little, sitting down. "Don't get me wrong, I like that we're doing this with friends and making our own traditions. But I miss my mom, and I don't feel like it's Thanksgiving. It's just another day. Which doesn't exactly make me excited for Christmas."

"We'll have a more intimate Christmas. You, me, Connor, Will and Nico. My Grandpa might crash as well."

I smiled. "I think I'd like having him there."

He smiled gently, putting an arm around my shoulders. "We should turn on the fireplace. Give this place a cozier feel. Turn down the heat, so we can wear sweaters and stuff. Maybe turn on some music or something that's more holiday like."

I shrugged. "I don't want to push them into something they don't want."

"You and your care for people, stop it. It's a big house. If they don't like it they can hang out somewhere else. Or we can turn the fireplace on in here and the heat down. Make our own cozy corner."

I thought about it. It was appealing. I loved curling up in front of a fire and watching a movie or reading with blankets and sweaters. It was one of the things I used to do with Mom. We always watched the six hour version of Pride and prejudice, quoting the movie. I wouldn't subject Travis to that, but the fire and blankets and movie was something.

He smiled at me. "Yeah, you like that. You go check on the food and everything and I'll get things set up in here."

I nodded slowly and went to go see how they were doing with the beignets and Will's pinwheels.

Nico was already back inside, Will cleaning a nasty scrape on his elbow.

I glanced at Connor, who looked apologetic.

"He tripped. Ripped his coat and everything," Connor explained, nodding toward the destroyed coat.

I frowned at it for a moment. "We'll get him a new one. I'd try to patch the elbows, but the type of coat that is would make it really difficult. It'd be different if it wasn't winter coat, but it is. I'll find someone who repairs coats like this and get it fixed, donate it to a shelter." The last part was so that Nico didn't think I would waste the coat so he wouldn't protest. "It's not like I can't afford it. I have some other coats that can be donated as well." Clothes…what if we started a second-hand clothing place for halfbloods? When clothes are outgrown they get donated, and then when kids come to camp with just the clothes on their backs they can get more from the storage. We could also use that for the safehouses instead of buying new clothes for all of them. Plus coats would be helpful in those as well.

"Cassie, you have that far off 'I've just had an idea' look that you get whenever you think of another way to help out halfbloods," Connor said as he waved his hand in front of my face. "Do us a favor and don't make us feel like even bigger heathens for not being as charitable as you."

I smiled. "So don't share?"

"Not today," He kissed my forehead. "Just write it down and make us feel like we're awful people later, okay?"

I nodded. I could also work with Magnus, Blitzen, Alex and them to provide some clothes for the kids that might pass through their place.

Nico gave me a questioning look. "He's gone. What were you thinking?"

"Clothing stuff. It was partially because of the coat, and partially something I think I said to Reyna earlier this summer."

"So we're back to clothes. Dang Cassie, you really…" Reyna didn't finish. I don't think she knew how to finish.

"Think too much? Yeah, I know."

Frank came back in with Batman. "Dang this dog is awesome. You guys are getting him certified as an aid dog?"

"For my anxiety, yeah. He's already certified. His vest is in on the coat rack."

"Nice."

"Yeah, it meant he got to stay up in the plane with us which meant he didn't need to be in a crate the whole flight. He does well on the plane, by the way." Jacob's apron was covered in powdered sugar.

Reyna gestured toward him and mouthed that he was cool.

I smiled. "Awesome, that might be useful later."

"When you talk to Theresa you should see if having Batman there would be okay. It'll be good for him, keep him in practice and help you."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Now no more work."

"Sorry," He apologized then backed away from the plate. "That looks like a beignet. Hazel, your judgement?"

She was smiling. "I think we might have gotten it. We won't know until we try it."

They waited while she tasted it, looking hopeful.

She nodded. "I think we've figured it out. More powdered sugar, but otherwise we've got it."

They high-fived and continued in earnest.

I smiled.

Will finished taking care of Nico's scrape and then washed his hands so he could continue chopping bacon.

I watched all of them interact, waiting to see what would come of it. Was I supposed to tell them what Travis was setting up? Or Should I keep my mouth shut?

Travis came out. "Hey, what movie do you normally watch?"

I shrugged. "Pride and Prejudice, but I don't want to submit you to that torture."

"The one with Colin Firth or the one with Keira."

"Colin."

"Awesome, you have it here?"

"No, but it's on Amazon…Travis, really, we don't need to watch Pride and Prejudice."

"We are watching Pride and Prejudice," Travis said, looking amused. "I've got some good memories with that movie."

"Girlfriend?"

"Mom," He corrected, killing my teasing comment like our Thanksgiving turkey. "She would watch it on days when it was nasty outside, and we weren't feeling good. She'd wrap us in a blanket and let us sit with her while she knitted and that movie played."

I nodded slowly.

He nudged me. "Guys, we're watching Pride and Prejudice in the other sitting room in about fifteen minutes. Heat is turned down, fire is in the fire place, and it's blanket and sweater temperature in there and there will be no complaints about the show."

I hugged him. "I'm going to grab the fluffy blanket and put it in there."

"Wait a bit. I've got a window open for a bit to cool it off." He rubbed my bad arm, a habit he had picked up recently. It usually helped because it helped blood flow or something.

Nico shrugged. "Cassie said I should see that anyway. Will?"

"Sounds like an opportunity to cuddle. I'm in. What's Pride and Prejudice?"

"Classic literature turned movie, well, episodes. It's based in the regency period," I explained a bit. "I consider it a classic love story."

"And we're watching it on Thanksgiving?" Frank asked, looking a little concerned or maybe confused.

"So you can be thankful when it's over," Travis told him, clapping him on back and grabbing a soda from the fridge. He then disappeared back to the sitting room.

I putzed about, talking with Will about the recipe quickly, then went to grab my blanket and go to the room.

Travis and Connor were messing around in there, moving the furniture and setting up some sort of decorations that they had found. It smelled like apple-cinnamin in there, and the fire was crackling in the fireplace. There was a nice little chill in the air, perfect for curling up under blankets.

I looked at the pumpkins and squashes, and the cornucopia that they had found and were decorating the room with, trying to figure out where they had found them.

Connor looked up and grinned at me. "What do you think?"

I saw that there were some apple-cinnamin candles were burning on the side tables, explaining the smell. "Where did you get the decorations?"

"Box in the closet," Travis said. He was arranging the corn and squashes in the cornucopia. "We thought this might make it feel more like a holiday."

I grinned at them. "You guys!" I hugged them both at once, squeezing them tightly.

They hugged me back, both kissing one of my cheeks.

Jacob poked his head in. "All the food is done. Ready to eat?"

I nodded, releasing the boys.

"Always," Connor responded, heading right toward the door.

I made sure my blanket was covering at least two spots on the couch.

Travis nudged me. "That's for me, right?"

I nodded.

He smiled, then gestured for me to lead the way.

I already felt a little better, my heart a little lighter. Sure, the day was still young, but it was looking a little more promising now.