"Cranberries, Football, and Family"
Tori goes to Jade's for Thanksgiving. It's the most people Jade has ever had over for the holiday especially since her mom got remarried, and it was a nice one for a change.
AN: Well here we are in November, folks. An election has happened, and well…*sigh*. It is what it is, I guess, but I will not be addressing it in fics going forward. I want my work to be a happy and safe space.
The prompts for "iPrompt iCarly" will continue after "Jori 2024" is completed.
Also, my friend Nweeks3 is looking for a cover artist that works for cheap, if you know anyone, feel free to reach out to him. I know he would appreciate the help.
Anyway, we're all here a Thanksgiving story, so here you are, I hope you enjoy your holiday.
It is currently Thursday morning in the Vega home, and the smell of a turkey roasting fills the kitchen as another Thanksgiving has arrived. Tori and Jade have spent the night there in order to help Holly with whatever she needs in the morning.
When the alarm went off, Tori woke up in her old bedroom, rolling over to jostle Jade awake. She cracked her eyes open, rubbing the sleepiness away, before looking at her wife with a smile. If Jade were to tell her younger self about this moment, she'd think she was crazy. This was the first time in a long time Jade was actually looking forward to the holidays, and spending time with family. In the past, Jade would spend Thanksgiving at her Aunt Susan's house, which mostly consisted of conversations about school. They were mostly questions she didn't want to answer about her dating life, and some were about her classes. Although her mom's side of the family seemed supportive of Jade's dreams, nobody really knew what to say about her writing or directing.
While Jade's mom and Step-father were cooking at their house, she and Tori were helping Holly cook their meal. The vegetables were all peeled and cut up, Tori made up a pot of mashed potatoes, and Holly had the turkey in the oven by 11am. Tori felt it was the least she could do for her mom, since this year she wasn't eating at home.
"Mom, are you sure this is okay?"
Holly placed both hands on her daughter's shoulders, kissing her cheek, "Yes honey, for the hundredth time it's okay. We'll see you here for dessert ."
After Tori and Jade got married, they agreed to alternate the holidays with their families. This year they were going to Jade's family for Thanksgiving, and to Tori's family for Christmas. Jade's family was wonderful, and have been welcoming to Tori since the two of them first got together. She was looking forward to seeing everyone, and to tasting her mother in law's green bean casserole, but a big part of her was going to feel funny not being at home.
Being here with Jade made Tori feel like the two of them were in high school again. They've only been in college for three months so far, but already, their time at Hollywood Arts seemed like a lifetime ago. She stared at the childhood pictures of her and Trina on the mantle, wondering how time got away from them so fast. One day the two sisters are at Thanksgiving dinner arguing over whose year it was for a drumstick, the next, both girls are grown up, starting their own families, and now everything is different. Tori knew Trina would also be here late with her new boyfriend, and his son, so at least someone else was showing up after dinner.
By 3pm, the Vega's first guests arrived, and It was David's older brother, Gus with his new wife, Marcia. Gus is two years older than David, and is living in Southern California where he and Marcia got married last year. He has two grown children with his first wife, a 21 yr old daughter, and an 18 yr old son, who recently moved out after starting college. Gus's son is at his mother's this year, and his daughter is living in Michigan with her family. Fortunately, he was able to video chat with her this morning, and she wished him a Happy Thanksgiving, telling him they would all see him for Christmas. Even though Gus was divorced, he and his ex wife are still friends, which has made things much easier on the kids. Their mother still lives near LA, so sometimes Tori and Trina are able to see their cousins when they come to visit.
Gus and Marcia came in with a bottle of wine, setting it on the table, and greeted Holly, Tori, and Jade. Marcia stayed in the kitchen, while Gus sat on the couch with David.
"Hey, little brother. Ready to watch the Giants lose?"
"I don't know about that. I think they have a good team this year." David told him.
"Ha, we'll see." Gus answered, grabbing a handful of chips.
Meanwhile, Marcia was talking to Tori and Jade. Marcia so far has been very nice, but the family was still getting to know her. Jade only got to meet her new in-laws briefly at the wedding, so this is the first time they're getting to sit down and talk. So far all they knew about Marcia is that she met Gus at their car dealership job, and she doesn't have kids of her own. Overtime she has gotten to know her step-children, and loves them very much.
Marcia hugged Tori when she saw her, and that was another thing the family learned about her is that she is a hugger. Jade was at first caught off guard when Marcia approached her, but she has come a long way from highschool in that she has been more willing to show affection. It is still a little weird for Jade to hug new people, but admittedly she does enjoy it sometimes. The smell of all the food, including the cinnamon sweet potatoes, was putting everybody in the holiday spirit. The ladies popped open the bottle of wine, and sat at the table to talk.
"So did your mother like to cook?" Marcia asked Holly.
"Oh, yeah. She cooked everything, especially for Thanksgiving. There was so much food, that everyone ended up having to take something home."
Marcia laughed while she talked about her Italian family, and all the food they had at a family meal. There was always pasta, and everything else that would normally be on a Thanksgiving table. Her Nona wanted to make sure everyone got plenty to eat, even when they've eaten enough already. Before long, the ladies were shocked when Gus was getting excited about the football game.
"Oh bullshit!" Gus shouted. "How is that play up for review?"
"It was out of bounds." David said.
"No way, he was in!"
The two brothers watched the replay, and as the player on the Cowboys caught the ball, he in fact did not have both of his feet in bounds. Gus huffed, slamming his fist on the arm of the couch, while David silently giggled next to him. Marcia and Holly laughed, turning to face each other.
"This is what I deal with every Sunday. I can't wait until football season is over." Marcia said.
"I know what you mean. It's all David has been able to talk about for the past few months." Holly added.
Meanwhile Tori and Jade were placing the last of the vegetables on the table, before sitting across from Marcia.
"So Jade, does your dad watch football?" Marcia asks.
"Uhm, not much. I know bets on the football pool at work, but I don't think he's really into it. My step-dad watches it though; he likes the Seahawks."
"Oh, my brother likes them, too." Marcia says, and Jade nods, before they are interrupted again.
"Are you kidding me? He caught that!" Gus yells, pointing to the TV.
"But it also hit the ground." David argued.
"It's in his hands."
"Doesn't matter." David said.
Tori pours herself a drink, while wrapping her arms around Jade's shoulders. She leans into her taking a deep sigh, and Jade squeezes her arms. Both Holly and Marcia laugh at the guys who are engrossed in the game.
"Well, at least there's one good thing about eating somewhere else. I won't have to listen to my dad and uncle argue about football all day."
Jade turns, kissing Tori's cheek. "Yeah, instead you get to listen to my brothers argue about video games."
Tori hugs Jade tighter, while Marcia and Holly continue talking about things their mothers would cook in the past. Jade slips an arm around Tori's waist, pulling her close to whisper in her ear.
"I'm sorry, I'm not very good at small talk."
"You're doing great, don't worry." Tori assures her.
David and Gus have worked their way through a bowl of chips, with Marcia urging them to save their appetite, and wait for dinner. The game was currently near the end of the 2nd quarter, with a score of 14 to 6 in favor of the Giants, and the Cowboys have the ball. Gus is confident that the Cowboys can pull ahead, but David still enjoys teasing his brother.
"Okay, well we have the ball now, so you're in trouble."
"Yeah, if they can manage a touchdown. They haven't been lucky so far." David said.
"They still have a timeout left." Gus told him.
The oven timer finally goes off, and the turkey is ready to come out. Holly opens the oven calling to her husband, but Marcia offers to help her instead. Marcia is enjoying getting to know her new family, after having lived by herself for five years, and she is excited to be a part of these people's lives. Tori checks her phone, indicating to Jade that they have to leave.
"Hey Mom, are you sure you don't want us to wait until Aunt Sonja gets here?"
"We'll be okay, Tori. I promise."
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll be here to keep your mother company with these jokers." Marcia told her.
Tori kisses her family goodbye, and the two of them head over to Jade's family's house.
Jade opens the door, and they walk in to the family playing Monopoly. Board games have often been a tradition with Jade's Step-father, and his kids. This also gave everyone something to do while waiting for dinner to be ready. Irene was pulling her green bean casserole out of the oven, when she saw Jade and Tori, and went over to greet them.
"Hey, Happy Thanksgiving." Irene says, hugging Jade and then Tori.
The ladies make their way to the table in time for Jade to hear her brother, Henry celebrate getting to buy another two hotels. Courtney runs up to them, hugging Jade around her waist, and escorting them to two seats together. Russell pours two glasses of apple cider for Jade and Tori, bringing them to the table.
"Hey you two. The turkey is about to come out, and their Monopoly game should be through soon, so we'll be ready to eat."
"Yeah, after everyone runs out of money." Henry says.
"That's because you have to buy every property you land on." Ethan interjects.
"Hey, it's allowed."
Jade takes a drink of her cider while leaning into Tori.
"See, this is why I don't play with him." Jade whispers.
Tori laughs, while they continue to watch the game. Courtney sat on the other side of Jade, telling her about how even though Henry was winning, she was close behind. She owned the electric and water company, which helped her earn enough money to catch up to him. While the game was going on, Jade's Aunt Susan and her cousin Shaina talked about her prom last year, and showed them pictures. Shaina wore a light purple dress with an orchid corsage. Her boyfriend had a matching boutonniere, and he was a good sport while Susan took a bunch of pictures by the stairs, and outside. They have been together a long time, and are enjoying getting to go to college together.
"Okay, you win." Courtney huffed, handing Henry the last of her money.
Irene comes up to Courtney resting her hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, dinner is ready anyway."
The kids cleared the game away, and Russell placed the turkey on the table. Everyone passed food down the table, filling their plates with turkey, sweet potatoes, Irene's green bean casserole, and cranberries. They decided to serve both real cranberries, and the kind from a can, so that everybody got what they wanted. The whole "which cranberries are better?" argument was always a hotly debated subject in this house.
"I just don't understand why you wouldn't want the real thing." Henry said.
"Who wants to eat those awful cranberry skins? The jelled is better." Jade argued.
"It's garbage. You don't get enough of the flavor from the canned stuff."
"I swear, Mom only makes this stuff for you. No one else likes it."
Henry points to his step-father's plate, "It's not just me. Russell likes it, too."
Jade looks at Russell, waiting for him to finish chewing. "Well, I like both really, so I'm okay with either one."
Jade rolls her eyes with a smile, and Tori hides her laugh behind another sip of cider.
"Oh well, is that why the real cranberries are almost gone?" Henry pointed out.
"Yeah dude, cause you are the one who ate it all." Jade said, turning to Tori for her to weigh in. "Babe, what do you think? Real or jelled?"
Tori nervously straightened up while everyone at the table looked in her direction, waiting for her to answer.
"Come on, Tori. Talk some sense into her." Henry said.
"I'm sorry, Henry, I have to go with the jelled." Tori confirms.
"Ha!" Jade laughs, tossing a dinner roll at her brother.
Henry tosses it back, before their mother stops them.
"Hey you two, we don't need a food fight, especially in my dining room." Irene reprimands, but then laughs at her children.
The family continued to eat, and some were already onto a second plate. Irene's green bean casserole was of course a big hit, as it is every year, and Tori was thoroughly impressed. She can remember having it once before at her grandmother's house when one of her friends brought it to Easter dinner, but Irene's was much better. Now that everyone has had their fill, it was time for the dreaded cleaning up process. Irene, Russell, and Susan worked on the dishes, while Tori, Jade, and Shaina put the food away. The kids all rinsed their plates off, putting them in the dishwasher, so at least that part would be easy. Once the pots and pans were all cleaned up, everyone made their way out to the den.
The three boys all set up a game of Mario Kart, while Courtney sat on the couch with Tori and Jade. Jade's Step-sister turned nine a few days ago, and it was nice for Courtney to get to see her big sister for dinner twice this week. She has been talking throughout the evening about how much she's missed Jade living with them, and how it's been having to be stuck home with two boys.
"These guys giving you a hard time?" Jade asks.
"Well not really, it's just that all they want to do is play video games." Courtney explained.
"Do they ever ask you to play with them?" Tori chimed in.
"Yeah sometimes, but they don't like to play games I'm good at."
Jade laughs, "That's cause Henry never likes to lose."
"What was that?" Henry asked, leaning in.
"Nothing, play your game."
Courtney laughed, while Jade looked back at Tori who nuzzled into her. It was nice for Jade to see her family today after not living with them for a few months now. She has missed the times she and Courtney would team up against the boys, playing a game or otherwise.
"Oh, they have the Excitebike track! Can we switch to motorcycles for this?" Max asked.
"Yeah, I was literally thinking the same thing." Henry said, as the three of them changed out their vehicles.
After Courtney leaves the room momentarily to get a drink, Tori leans into Jade pressing a kiss to her temple. She couldn't help but notice Jade not attempting to hide the smile on her face.
"You look like you're having fun."
"I am." Jade answered, laying a kiss on Tori's lips.
After the boys made their way through three cups in Mario Kart, Tori and Jade were getting ready to head to their second location, as well as Henry who was on his way to spend a little time at his father's house. Jade meets her brother at the door while he shrugs his coat on, and gives him a small punch in the arm, noting the half hearted smile on his face.
"Going to see Dad?"
"Yeah, I told him I'd stop by for a little while."
"Is everything okay with you and him?"
"Kinda." Henry said. "I haven't been going there for the weekend as much anymore, so it's been a little weird. At least the girls won't be there at the same time."
"That's good, maybe you'll get to spend some time with Dad alone."
"Maybe ." Henry nods.
"Well, tell him 'Hi' for me, and that we'll see him after Christmas."
"I will."
Jade and Tori make their rounds saying goodbye, and thanking her parents for dinner. Courtney wraps Jade in a big hug, with Jade promising to see her soon. So far this holiday has been really great, and there was still more to come.
Dessert was already spread out on the table, when Tori and Jade returned to the Vega house. There were four different kinds of pies, along with a big plate of cookies, and creme puffs that both Tori and Trina look forward to every year. As soon as they made their way to the kitchen, Tori was immediately greeted by her Aunt Sonja, who hugged both her and Jade. Both of them then sat at the table next to Trina and her boyfriend.
"Tori, this is who I've been telling everybody about." Trina said, standing behind him.
"Oh yeah, you must be Michael." Tori said, shaking his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you." Michael said, greeting both Tori and Jade.
A little boy about 8 yrs old, came and stood next to Michael. He had his father's same dark brown hair and brown eyes, as the boy clung to his arm. Michael turned to him, picking the little one up onto his lap.
"And this here is Ben. Ben, say 'Hi' to the ladies."Michael says, and Ben waves.
"Hi Ben." Tori says, with her and Jade waving back to him.
Tori moved onto dessert, serving herself and Jade a slice of blueberry pie, and a few creme puffs. They talk more to Trina about how she and Michael met, when Trina was stranded with her car. The battery was dead, and Michael offered to hook it up to the charger at his shop, while the two got to know each other over a cup of coffee.
Trina sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder while listening to Michael talk about how funny and sweet he thought she was when they met. He also talked about how it's been a long time since they met someone who really listened to them, and Michael couldn't get enough of seeing how much Ben adored Trina. She now had Ben in her lap, and he sat listening while eating a few cookies. This is the happiest Tori has seen her sister, and she is grateful to see that Trina has found love.
Later as the family was working their way through more slices of pie, and Holly was discussing her Black Friday shopping plans with Marcia, Gus came to the table, plopped down in a chair, and opened his beer while idly twirling around the bottle cap in front of him. He saw one piece of Apple pie left, and pulled it over, covering the slice with whipped cream. Tori looked over to her dejected Uncle, laying a hand on his arm.
"Do I dare ask how the game went today?"
"Eh, it was close, but the Cowboys couldn't quite get there." Gus told her.
"They lost 8 to 27." David interrupted.
"Okay well, you don't have to keep rubbing it in." Gus grumbled, with his wife rubbing his shoulder.
Although he was disappointed, that still didn't spoil Gus's holiday. He had a great Thanksgiving, getting to spend some time with his younger brother's family, and see them welcome his wife with open arms. Besides that, a hot cinnamon apple pie could distract him from just about anything.
Gus looks across the table at his two nieces remembering them as little girls, and how excited they were when he gifted them a swing set for Christmas that he and David put together. Now seeing them start their own families, he looked forward to more memories with them, and any future children to come. Wanting to push football aside for now, Gus turned his attention to Tori.
"Let's talk about something better. Tori, how was dinner with the in-laws?"
"It was nice. The food was really good; Jade's parents really outdid themselves this year."
"That's great. Are you two going Black Friday shopping with your mom tomorrow?" Gus asked.
"Oh no, we've mostly ordered online, so I think we're just gonna stay in together." Tori said, leaning into her wife.
"I'm with you there." Gus said.
Marica was next to him, giving his shoulder a playful shove as she was listening.
"Yeah, you just want to sleep off all that food."
"Hey that's what Thanksgiving is for. If you don't eat your weight in turkey and stuffing, then you're not doing it right." Gus laughed.
Tori turned to see Jade smiling along with everyone, and it made her feel good to see that they've had a great first Thanksgiving as a married couple. She leaned in to kiss her wife, as Jade held her close, and just enjoyed the atmosphere of everyone around them.
The evening was finally winding down with Holly and Marcia doing their final clean up, Sonja was at the table with David and Gus, where the three of them have started a poker game, and everyone else was on the couch watching a movie. On one end was Trina leaning into Michael with Ben snuggled up on the other side of her, and on the other side was Tori and Jade, sitting with a blanket wrapped around both of them. Forty minutes into the movie, Tori was asleep with her head resting on Jade's shoulder. Jade held Tori close, taking in the scent of her hair as she placed a kiss on top of her head. She glanced over at Trina to see she was also enjoying the closeness of the one she loved. Jade always hoped that someone would come into her life, and make her feel special, but this is so much more than she could have imagined. The way the Vega's have supported hers and Tori's relationship, and have welcomed her as one of their own has given Jade more than she could ever have hoped for. She gave Tori a tight hug, feeling so thankful to be a part of a family that was a little crazy at times, but in the end always had each other's backs. And they were all hers.