Attention

10: Thanksgiving

Puck awoke in a cold sweat. He had a flashback from WW2. The fairy sat up and steadied his breathing. I guess taking history class wasn't the best idea, he thought. The day prior, they were learning about WW2, something Puck hadn't thought about in decades. They had to write an essay from the point of veiw of someone in the war - whether it be a nurse, soldier, or bystander. Puck decided to write an essay from his point of view. He told his teacher he was writing it from the point of view of a kid who had been abandoned, which was technically true.
 
He looked around and saw that the stars were still out. Puck layed back down and exhaled. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep again, but couldn't keep his mind off of the War.

Eventually the morning rolled around and Puck joined everyone else at the table, also joining in on their conversation.

"I already told you, I'm busy today. I'm going to Serenity's for Thanksgiving dinner with her family." Puck said, swallowing his mouthful of cereal. Henry had asked him to babysit Basil, as nobody else would be home. Henry clenched his jaw and looked down at his plate.
 
"I could ask the guys and Bella to come over here instead and we could look after hi-"
 
"No boys over while you're home alone. We've talked about this, Sabrina." Henry interrupted her.
 
"Well, Bella would come over, too."
 
"I said: no boys."
 
The room grew silent. Everyone looked down at their feet or their plates. Sabrina exhaled.
 
"Fine, then. I'll just go to Logan's with Ryan and Bella. Have fun finding a babysitter," she said, standing up and setting her plate on the counter. Before Henry could argue, Sabrina was already up the stairs.
 
"I could look after him. I was thinking of staying home anyway." Red offered.
 
"I thought you were coming to Rosie's with me and Pinocchio." Daphne whined. Red shrugged and Daphne frowned.
 
"Thank you, Red." Veronica said, making the girl smile.

After breakfast,  everyone got ready for the day and made their way to the front door.

"Thank you again, Red." Veronica smiled and kissed her son goodbye.
 
"No problem, Veronica." Red smiled. Veronica followed her brother-in-law out the door and closed it behind her. Daphne said goodbye to the house and rushed down the driveway. Elvis pouted and whined.
 
"She'll be back soon, big boy. Don't worry," Red said calmly. Elvis looked to her.
 
I want her to be back now though, he whined. Red tensed up; she still wasn't used to being able to understand dogs, even though it happened all the time. With random dogs on the street, Rosie's service dog, and even that one stray dog they always passed when walking to the bus stop.
 
I don't remember Tobias ever saying he could understand dogs. I'll have to ask him about it when him and Granny get back from helping Mr. Charming and Mrs. White, Red thought.

Daphne knocked on the door to Rosie's house. It was very big and fancy, making the little yellow house look like it was run down. A short, curvy woman answered the door. Her hair was a mess and her pyjamas were covered in stains of all sorts. She smelled of cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol.

"You little buggers must be Rosie's friends," the woman belched after she spoke. Daphne and Pinnochio were hit with a smell of three week old pizza and beer.
 
Rosie stepped into the living room and spotted her friends outside the door.
 
"Caroline, go upstairs. Dad said you had to get dressed before my friends got here," she said, walking over to the woman. Caroline whipped around.
 
"Don't tell me what to do, ya little rat, or I'll cook up your dumb mutt for dinner," she snapped. Rosie looked shocked, but didn't reply. She folded her hands in her lap and looked down on the ground.
 
Caroline pinched Rosie's arm as she passed and trudged up the stairs. Rosie looked to her friends who were still standing out on the front porch.
 
"Sorry about my step-mom, her and my Dad are in the middle of getting a divorce," she said, stepping aside and letting her friends enter. Rosie closed the door behind them. "Turns out she's been stealing his money for drugs. She's also been sleeping with ten different guys a week, but that's another story for another time." Rosie explained.
 
Daphne frowned and hugged the girl, Pinocchio did the same. "Sorry you have to go through this," she said. Rosie smiled and hugged them back.
 
"It's okay. I just hope Emily doesn't have to live with her once they do get divorced."
 
Emily was Rosie's little sister, who was no older than seven. She had been receiving the better of Caroline's behavior. At the age of two, she had been bottle fed alcohol and had been locked in the same room as Caroline while she smoked. But Emily turned out fine.

Rosie, on the other hand, was scarred both physically and mentally. She still had deep scars from when her mother beat her with a beer bottle because she had walked in on her with another guy. Now Rosie had a service dog named Chip and Caroline wasn't allowed to be home alone with the girls anymore.
 
Pinocchio and Daphne followed Rosie into the living room where Emily was watching TV. The seven year old turned around.
 
"Hi Parker! Hi Daphne!" she waved before turning back to the TV. Rosie's father walked in from the dining room. He was dressed in black jeans and a plain blue button up.
 
"Hello, Parker, Daphne. How's your day been?" he asked.
 
"Good," Pinocchio replied.
 
"If you need anything, just ask me." Rosie's dad said.
 
"Thank you, Dan," Daphne smiled. Dan smiled and nodded before walking upstairs. He started talking with Caroline, and their civil discussion quickly turned into a screaming match. Rosie looked to Emily, who pretended not to notice.
 
"Hey, let's go to the park!" Pinocchio suggested. Rosie and Daphne nodded.
 
"Em, you wanna join?" he asked. The little girl jumped up excitedly and followed the pre-teens out the door. Daphne ran ahead with Emily and Rosie stayed behind with Pinocchio.
 
"Thank you," she whispered, stepping to the side so they were standing a tad bit too close than normal. But Pinocchio smiled anyway.

Now, let's check in on our favourite couple.

Serenity led Puck to the front door. Their house only had one floor, but looked quite nice. There was a willow tree out in the front yard and little flower boxes on the windows. Serenity opened the front door and was instantly met with her family standing in the foyer.
 
"Mom, Dad, Sebastian, Seth, Senton, this is Robin," she said. Serenity's parents were the most inviting, but her brothers were the opposite. When it was time for dinner, they motioned for Puck to have a seat. After everyone had sat down, he noticed that the chair at the head of the table was empty. Sitting on the table in front of it was a small diamond ring. Serenity's father sighed.
 
"That's Sierra's seat..." he whispered. To Puck, it looked like the old man was blinking back tears. He didn't want to ask who Sierra was or what happened to her, because he knew what it was like to lose a loved one. Briar's death was hard on him because it was the first time someone he actually cared about had died. His father? Didn't care. But Briar treated him like family, and he treated her the same.
 
"I'm so sorry." Puck whispered, choking his words out.
 
The rest of the night went well, but Serenity's brothers still weren't too fond of her boyfriend. After dinner, Puck, Serenity, and her brothers played cards. And thanks to Puck's hearing, he won every round. Serenity and her brothers thought out loud, but whispered so quietly that no human could hear them.
 
"How can someone be so good at cards?" Seth snapped, irritated. Serenity chuckled at her brother's anger.
 
"I don't know, but I for sure thought I was gonna lose." Puck lied. He knew he was going to win, but he couldn't exactly say well, I have superhuman hearing and heard you whispering to yourself, now could he?
 
Later that night, Serenity's family waved goodbye to Puck as he left. He walked out of town and into the woods. The fairy unfurled his wings and flew the rest of the way home. He hadn't been flying in a while, since the only time he was in his room was when he was asleep or facetiming Serenity. Puck took a deep breath in and exhaled.
 
Gotta love that cool night's bree-
 
Then he flew straight into someone. Both of them stumbled backwards, but caught themselves before they could fall.
 
"Hey, watch where you're...wait, Mustardseed?" Puck looked at who he had bumped into. "What are you doing here?"
 
"Puck, Mother is sick. I didn't know who else to get for help." Mustardseed explained. He then looked his older brother up and down.
 
"Wow, you've grown a lot," he remarked.
 
"Thanks, but, you said Mother's sick? What kind of sick?" Puck asked, brushing off his younger brother's compliment.
 
"She's not eating or drinking. She usually just sleeps all day, as she can't leave her bed. The nurses have tried almost everything, but we're still not sure what happened. She always complains of headaches, but again, we don't know what's going on." Mustardseed told him. Puck nodded.
 
He grabbed his brother's wrist and flew off towards the Grimm house. Puck knocked on the door and waited impatiently for someone to unlock them all. Relda opened the door with everyone else standing behind her. She took a few seconds to take in what was happening
 
"Liebling, what's going on?" Relda asked. Everyone else looked to Puck and Mustardseed for a response.
 
Mustardseed sighed. "Mrs. Grimm, the fairies need your help."