𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐊𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 [ 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 ] ✘

Be Thankful

Note: In honor of the holiday season, a surprise one shot!! :D Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your families and friends! ^_^

"Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, the United States, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year." Jack read off the phone in his hand, the light from the screen lighting up his angelic features.

I glanced up from my reading, my feet propped up on the mahogany table in our "library" of sorts. Now that Cas was back and Dean was more on board with the idea of Jack being apart of Team Free Will, we had been left in charge of the Bunker while they left to grocery shop. I arched an eyebrow at my nephilim friend and let out a sigh, my head lolling back briefly.

"Jack, you can't just read the summary of Thanksgiving on Wikipedia to understand the holiday," I said, grabbing the phone from his hands as I stood up and set it on the table.

He frowned in confusion and I led him by the hand over to a seat so he could sit beside me. Logging onto YouTube on my laptop, I searched Thanksgiving and showed him a few videos. He seemed very confused about the whole idea of the food, though.

"So...you eat turkey to be thankful for what you have?" he asked simply and I laughed, shaking my head. 

"No, no, the turkey is just the traditional food. See, when the pilgrims came to America-" I started to explaining, turning in my seat to face him.

"-to have religious freedom-" Jack supplied, cutting me off with a beaming smile.

I snickered, "So you were listening. Yeah, to have their religious freedom. But when they came, they nearly starved - they didn't know how to farm or how to do anything really. So the nice Native Americans came and helped them. They taught them how to survive. And in return for all they'd done for them, once they had their first good harvest the following autumn, they prepared a feast which they shared with their Native neighbors,"

He was silent then and for a moment, I thought I'd have to explain again until he spoke up.

"Then why did they take their land? Or murder them?" he asked and I could hear a tint of sadness lacing his voice.

I bit my lip, letting out a long sigh. How did I know we'd get to this question?

"Honestly, I don't know, Jack. That's not really something I can answer you. It...doesn't really have a simple answer," I replied with a soft tone.

My own family had been subjugated to hatred because of their Native American heritage so it was a sore subject for me. I think Jack must have known I was uncomfortable though because I felt a hand on mine at that moment. Glancing up into cerulean-blue eyes, I shot him a sad smile.

"Not all humans are like that," he told me, patting my hand once in reassurance.

I smiled in response just as the door to the Bunker burst open and the sound of several voices filled the air.

"No, Cas, you don't eat chicken for Thanksgiving!" Dean was saying, his voice loud as it reverberated off the Bunker walls.

"Why not?" the angel asked in confusion.

"Because it's just not done! It's not traditional!"

I snorted, rolling my eyes as Jack and I got up out of our seats to walk into the main room. Both brothers were coming down the stairs with the trench coat angel in tow. Poor Cas. This was really his first Thanksgiving as was Jack's. They always seemed to be fighting some kind of evil force before so the angel had never got to celebrate one. The guys held very full Walmart and Target bags in their hands as they made their way to the kitchen, Jack and I following close behind.

Helping to unload them, Jack pulled out all the goodies with wide eyes. I laughed at his expression as I helped Dean unload another bag. After unloading it all, we shooed out the others and together, Dean and I managed to cook the meal. A couple of hours later, the table was filled with food of all kinds - chicken dressing, sweet potato pie, potato salad, fried fish, tuna dip, and of course, the turkey. I grinned, feeling proud of what we'd accomplished. I saw Castiel arch an eyebrow at the fish and potato salad but I shot him a warning glare to which both him and Jack shared a glance before he ducked his head down and started filling up his plate. Kansas boy better not mess with this Louisiana girl, I thought to myself with a smirk.

Cas sat at the head of the table and after we'd all filled our plates, he held out his hands to us. Jack, smiling, understood immediately what he wanted and grabbed his hand before grabbing mine beside him. Sam obliged with a slight smile and nudging Dean once, convinced his brother to do the same. Together, we all bowed our heads and said grace. When he finished, Castiel smiled over at Jack fondly as the young nephilim stuff his face with dressing.

"So Jack...what are you thankful for?" Sam started the conversation.

Jack glanced up, a bite of food falling from his lips, "Huh?"

I snorted before snatching a napkin from the middle of the table to promptly wipe the food from his chin.

"Oh, right! I read about this! I...I am thankful to have Castiel back in our lives," he beamed over at his father before turning to Dean and Sam, "And I am thankful that Dean likes me better now. And...and I am thankful to be here with all of you today,"

I grinned, patting him on the back approvingly, "Well said, Jack. Well said."

Update: So I wrote this a very long time ago - two years ago now - and since, I have kind of received some borderline rude comments imo on the subject of treatment of Native Americans during the colonial period. First of all, I'm descended from Native Americans and I'm very proud of that fact - those are my people and I really don't appreciate any jokes or jabs at their expense. How they were treated then was senseless and cruel - even my own ancestors were being killed, run out of town even just because they weren't white. So all comments here on out joking about how they were unjustly treated will be deleted.

Thank you.