Considering she had nearly died not too long ago the fact that anything was normal at all was grounds for being thankful. She had her family to thank for that, despite not knowing what the trouble was. Arias had helped, too, by being there for her to talk to and cuddling with her when she had nightmares. He had offered his home to her, being patient and understanding the whole time. Westley had helped, too, though he didn’t know it. He gave her something to be happy about and showed her that she was not alone in being in danger. He was a senshi. It had eased her mind immensely to know he was part of this war, and on her side of it.

That was a happy accident.

And, slowly, things became normal again. If someone had asked her a few months ago she would have told them she would never be normal again, that she would never power up. She would have cursed the whole thing and swore that nothing in this world was worth dying for. Except, her run in with Painite told her the opposite. If she could stop people like Painite that was worth everything, maybe even her life. But thank God she never had to fight alone.

She was thinking about that when she woke up Thanksgiving day.

KD would spend the first part of the holiday with her parents, of course. Her mom was making everything organic which, in her mind, equaled flavorless. It was just part of her mom’s philosophy so she tolerated it for big meals. She was happy to be with them, all things considered, but she also thought about Arias and what he was doing for the holiday. She would have invited him to her house but she had her own family to be with and then Willie's to go to. She didn’t want to have him there and then push him out the door. Besides, he probably had his own family to be with. She thought he mentioned a sister. And, honestly, she wanted to continue to make a good impression on his family.

Boyfriend duties...

But she was totally thankful to have them and happy to be able to spend time among her boyfriends large family. It made her nervous, of course, but she was happy to do it. It was nice to think she had someone to make dates for. Somehow she’d ended up with two people in her life that she could count on and appreciate. It felt good. And, of course, her parents allowed her to be herself and grow in the way she wanted to, and from that she proved she could be trusted. She couldn’t ask for better.

She hopped down stairs to the kitchen and watched her mom bent over the small grass fed turkey. She was stuffing organic cornbread stuffing in its cavity and local yams were bubbling on a lower shelf. KD chuckled and looked over to the certified organic locally sourced pumpkin pie. That part wasn’t too bad, if she liked pumpkin…