Chapter 36 has been reposted. If you haven't read Putting The Pieces Together, you may wish to read that first.

weeks later

Jon reported for his shift at the fire house. He reached the door at the same time as Joe, so he held the door for the loaded down man. "Where's the turkey?"

Jon fake-glowered at his friend. "That's my girlfriend you are referring too, buster." he growled.

Joe chuckled. "You are such a dufus. It's not Thanksgiving without a turkey and you said you would bring it, so where is it?" Jon smiled and walked inside. When the men arrived in the kitchen, they found the refrigerator stuffed with cranberry sauce, jello salad, green bean casserole, and succotash. Potatoes to peel were on the counter beside bags of rolls. "We are going to feast! Well, we would if we had a turkey."

Colby popped in behind his brothers. "What did I hear about no turkey?"

Nick was right behind Colby. "Did Jon forget the turkey?"

Damien's voice came down the hall. "Jon didn't bring the turkey?"

Jack called from the truck bay. "I know Oracle wouldn't let us starve on Thanksgiving. Did Jon leave it at home? Do we need to make an emergency run?"

Cody joined the jovial group. "How is she doing with the promotion to head Fire Marshall?"

Jon wasn't able to answer as tones dropped and the men ran for the trucks. Someone had tried to fry a frozen turkey on their back porch with disastrous results. From that call, they went to two oven fires and a dryer fire.

Needless to say, returning to their own fire house five hours later, the men were hungry and not looking forward to cooking their own dinner. They were surprised to walk in and smell dinner prepared. All of their wives and girlfriends were there, including Denise and Lexi. A Thanksgiving feast was going on the table as they walked into the room. These women understood the requirements of their job and weren't wasting a moment. "There is a turkey!"

"Jon!" Denise laughed.

As they sat down, they all said what they were thankful for.

"Friends."

"This family."

"Being accepted."

"Being loved."

"Being supported through the worst time of my life. I wouldn't have made it this far without you."

"You guys believing in me."

"All of you."

"Sharing the holidays with you. You are my family."

"Teamwork. We wouldn't have done the things that we did this year without each other. We survived, recovered, and stopped an arson ring because of teamwork. And we are a stronger family because of it."

They knew they had so much to be grateful for. It was celebrated. Then, because they were in a fire house and on duty, the alarm rang again.

Yes, this story is over.

As for the other Guest Review drama - Willow is NOT the Guest Reviewer. She is a wonderful person and terrific writer. She is also an upstanding person who has the intestinal fortitude to speak her mind publicly, not hide behind the guise of anonymity. She posts and reviews under her name so people can see what she has to say. If she has something to say to a person privately, she uses the PM feature because that is respectful. RESPECT. Something some people need to learn.

Updates on other stories will wait until I hear back from the Admin about some questions I had. They will continue, I promise.

Thank you all for your support of this story! It has meant the world to me. :)