~ A short break ~

Thanksgiving break came quickly, as everyone was busy studying for classes, they were all kinda surprised it was already there. Blaine and Chris and Danny's sister, Jamie, all piled into Danny's car to head back home. They stopped at the gas station on their way out of town to fill up when a car pulled up behind them and honked. It was Zane and Thi and Jenn in Zane's mustang.

"Hey guys!" Jenn called out through the open window.

Zane slid his card and started filling up and walked over to Danny's car.

"Headed home, I see."

"Yeah, looks like we both got our cars full..."

"Is that your sister in the back there? Wow, I haven't seen her in years..."

Zane then smiled and waved, and Jamie, shocked at first, smiled slightly and waved back.

"Hey, you wanna drive there together, just in case something happens to one of our cars?"

Danny finished pumping his gas and gave a curious look to Zane.

"It's like four hours away, how much trouble could we get in?"

"Oh, famous last words, my friend."

Danny laughed, "Ok. If we'll do it, but only if you can keep up. If you run into any problems, you have at least my phone number, right?"

"Yeah, and you've go mine?"

"Sure do."

Danny got back in the car, started it up, reset his trip odometer and mentally calculated how many miles to the gallon he got on this last tank, and then didn't go. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw Zane get in his car, and wave that he was ready to go. So Danny pulled out and got on the highway with Zane following close behind.

"What was that all about? Are you and Zane planning on driving us out into the woods to brutally murder us all?" Chris asked from the back.

"You know me too well. I really want to kill my best friends and my sister all in the same day. That would be something positive..."

"So...?"

"So, he's following us just in case one of us has car problems, the other can help out."

"Because it's so far from here to there..."

"See, that's what I said, but really, I feel safer knowing he's back there, just in case."

Chris then muttered "I bet you would" under her breath, and Danny shot her a look. Chris had developed this thing where she could mutter anything under her breath and no one would ever hear it or understand. Except for Danny. He always could hear what she said. It rarely was directed at him, and often got him in trouble for laughing inappropriately. So no one else but him understood what she had said, but he shot her the look anyway. For good measure.

At one point, Danny's phone rang, so he tried to answer it, but it was promptly grabbed by Chris who answered it.

"Hey!"

"No phone talking while driving. I'll communicate."

She then talked on the phone, and it was readily apparent that the conversation wasn't an emergency, but just a conversation between friends; probably with Jenn.

Danny looked in his rear view mirror to see a concerned look on his sister's face. He knew what she was going to ask, and instead of waiting for her to gather the courage to speak, he took a preemptive strike.

"Yes, Jamie?"

"I...didn't say anything..."

"No, but you certainly look like you have something to say."

"This is Zane we're talking about here, right?"

"Yeah."

"The one who beat you up pretty regularly; shoved you in lockers and the like."

"The one and only."

"And now you're carpooling and Chris is chatting with them?"

"Yeah."

"So, y'all are friends now?"

"Yeah."

"Huh."

"What? Why is that so hard for people to understand?"

"Because I tended to your cuts and bruises. I know how he hurt you."

"He's not the same person anymore. He's changed a lot since coming to college. We all have..."

"Well, I'm glad. I was kinda worried when I found out you were all here together again. I was hoping you would get a break from that and start fresh. Get a good fix on who you are and who you want to be."

Danny thought about that for a while on the way home.

The rest of the trip was fairly standard, with a stop for bathrooms and snacks halfway home. Once they reached the edge of their suburban town, Zane and the others pulled off in the direction of their homes. They all waved. Zane lived close to Danny, but both Jenn and Thi lived on the other side of town. Chris and Blaine both lived near Danny too.

After dropping everyone off, Danny and his sister headed towards home.

"Danny, I really am glad that you and he got past whatever it was and can be friends..."

"Are we still on that?"

"Yes we are! I'm really proud of you, and I want you to know that. Most people harbor stuff like that forever. Or at least have a passing disdain. But you actually seemingly forged a friendship out of it."

"Yeah, well, we're still working on him."

"He still picks on you?"

"No no no... He just doesn't talk about stuff much. It kind of worries me sometimes..."

"Danny, he's a boy. That kind of comes with the territory." Danny rolled his eyes. "But when it does come, make sure that you're there to listen."

"Alright."

"Anyway, how is your first semester going?"

And the rest of the trip was talking about classes and essays and finals, which professors to avoid, the best places for coffee and study time and things like that. Danny and his sister had always had a close relationship, but it kinda had been put on hold when she went to college, simply because she wasn't in the next room anymore.

They finally pulled up to their house and pulled out their stuff and headed into their house. They were instantly overtaken by hugs from their parents. They finally battled their way through to put their things in their rooms.

Danny shut the door behind him and looked around the familiar room, set his bags down, and fell on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was good to be home again, even for a short while.



Thanksgiving in the Elliot family was always a huge production. And it always happened at Danny's house. They were centrally located, and had enough space for his moderately large family. Danny used to hate it, but now he didn't mind so much. In fact, it was becoming one of his favorite times of the year. Though, this year was filled with all of his relatives asking Danny what his five year plan was and about his major and why he hadn't gotten married yet. It was the first time this had happened to him and he was a little bit overwhelmed by it all. At one point, his sister came to save him and pulled him back into the kitchen.

"Sorry... I forgot to warn you... Our relatives are vicious about future plans if you don't have them. Your best bet is to just make something up, and then once you get it all figured out, you can change your mind."

"They are vicious!"

"They really are. I remember my first Thanksgiving back. I had a major, and they were still giving me crap about not being married or having a job yet. Anyway, it's probably too late for you now, but next holiday, you'll know what to do."

"Any suggestions on surviving this one?"

"Um, just lay low for a while. They'll get into a political argument and forget all about you. Or dessert will be served and they won't care about anything but pie."

And true to her word, dessert was served and immediately afterward, a fight broke out amongst the warring political sides of the family. Danny used this to slip away outside undetected. It was already dark, which caught Danny off guard a little, and cold. The cold felt good from being in the house that had been perpetually warmed by all the ovens warming casseroles and the influx of people throughout the day.

He had been sitting out there avoiding being called back in for a while, when he noticed someone walking by his house. He instantly thought of Zane, and then was taken aback by why his thoughts would go straight to him. But then he realized that it was because it was Zane who was walking by. Danny hopped up, probably a bit too quickly, hopped over the rail on his porch, and walked to the edge of his yard.

Zane, who noticed something flying over the rail of a house, stopped to see what was happening. He was pleasantly surprised to find he had wandered by Danny's house, and it was actually Danny who was coming over to him, smiling.

"Hey Zane."

"Hey Danny, what's going on?"

"Just avoiding relatives and their annoying questions about my lack of a future. You?"

"Oh, just out for a stroll..."

"You trying to avoid relatives too?"

"Well, it was just me and my parents, like always, and yeah, I needed to get out of there."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing... My mom burned the turkey, and my dad got drunk and passed out..." and then continued under his breath, "amongst other things."

"So, you didn't really have a Thanksgiving..?"

"Nah. It's generally how holidays go at my house though..."

Then Zane's stomach growled loud enough for both of them to hear. Zane blushed. Danny smiled.

"Dude, c'mon. Let me show you a proper Thanksgiving feast."

"Oh no. I couldn't impose on you and your family."

"Entirely not an imposition. They're already done. And it'll save me from having to talk with them."

Zane looked down the street before letting his hunger getting the best of him. He smiled and started following behind the dark haired boy into his house.

Danny found his mom and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and he waved him over to the kitchen. Most of the food was still out. Others had been covered in plastic wrap and put in the fridge. Danny picked up a plate and handed it to Zane who had a look of what was a combination of being lost and overwhelmed and being really really hungry.

"Go for it man." And with that, Zane started putting stuff on his plate.

But, he was only putting a tiny amount of stuff on there. Danny saw, and looked at him.

"Look, we've all eaten. This is going to be sent home with crazy people if you don't eat more. You're not taking from anyone. Go to town, man. You know you want it..."

So Zane started putting more stuff until it was a nice pile on his plate. Danny then took the plate from him and Zane gave a really sad look as his food went away. But he was only putting it in the microwave to warm it up.

"Now, what would you like to drink? We have regular tea, peach tea, lemon tea, lemonade, and any kind of soda you can think of, and water. But I'm not going to let you get water. So don't even try that."

Zane laughed. "Uh, ok. How about peach tea?"

"Good choice. This is an Elliot family secret recipe and it is world famous."

"Really?"

"No. Not really. But it is dang delicious."

Danny poured a glass, and the microwave dinged. Zane got his plate, and Danny led the way into the family non-formal dining room and set his glass down and sat in the place across from it. Zane sat down.

"Silverware." Danny said, before getting up, and returning with all the utensils and a napkin.

"Thank you, Danny."

Zane ate and Danny just smiled at him and let him eat. About the time he was finishing, Danny's mother came into the room.

"Oh, well here you boys are! Hiding from everyone... Now, William, did you get enough to eat this evening?"

"Oh, yes ma'am. And thank you so much, everything was delicious!"

"Oh, you are so welcome. Now I would be remissed if I didn't offer you some dessert."

"Oh, no ma'am, I couldn't..."

"Nonsense! You must try Danny's grandmother's world famous chocolate mousse pie."

Zane looked at Danny and raised an eyebrow.

Danny looked at him, "No, really, this one is. She won some contest back in the 50's for it. She met some famous chefs and stuff. It was even featured in some famous cookbook. And my mom won't take no for an answer. And it is really delicious."

"Ok, sure, I'll try it then." And Zane stood up.

"Oh, no, let me get that for you. You finish eating."

So Zane sat back down and finished the bit that was left on his plate.

Then a voice came wafting out of the kitchen, "Now, William, would you like whipped cream on top, dear?"

"Uh..."

"Yes he would, mom." Danny called out to her. "It's better that way," he said to Zane.

Danny's mother came back in and set down a smaller plate with pie and a fork and asked if Zane was finished with his other plate. He said yes, so she took it for him. He looked like he had violated some manners law, but she was already gone, so he couldn't really protest.

"Try your pie." Danny said to get him to focus on something else.

Zane took a bite, and his eyes got huge. He then took several more bites. Danny just laughed.

"I told you it was good. But you should slow down before you choke."

Zane then mumbled something, muffled by the pie.

"Swallow first, then speak."

Zane swallowed. "Sorry. But this is the best pie I've ever had!"

"I wasn't kidding. And no one yet has made it just like hers."

About this time, some of Danny's relatives wandered through and noticed someone new in the house and started asking questions. Danny answered most of them efficiently, and they wandered off to their original destinations.

"Oh crap, they've begun to notice you."

Zane's eyes got big as the plate he was eating off of.

"Finish your pie first..."

Zane pulled the fork out, chewed, and smiled.

After he was finished, Danny took his plate and put it in the sink. He motioned for Zane to follow him. They went up the stairs and into Danny's room that faced out towards the front of the house.

"You know, your house is deceptively large. It really doesn't look this big from the street."

"Yeah, we get that a lot."

Zane walked in and sat down on the couch Danny had confiscated and stuck in his room from the last time his parents remodeled the house.

"I don't think I've ever been in your room..."

"Yeah..."

"I like it. It's pretty much exactly how I imagined your room to be."

"Um, thank you?"

Zane just chuckled to himself.

They were startled to hear a knock at the door.

"Uh, come in?"

The door opened to reveal Danny's sister.

"Hey Danny, they're about to... oh, hey... Zane..."

"Hi Jamie."

"I...didn't know you were here..."

"He kinda snuck in when no one was looking."

"Huh. Anyway, they're about to start playing their card game and wanted to know if you wanted to play. You're invited too, Zane."

"Uh, not a chance."

"Can't say I blame you. See ya!"

Jamie walked down the hallway leaving Danny's door open.

"Um, you sure you don't want to play cards with your family?"

"I'm sure. They don't actually play cards. That's just a ruse; a clever disguise. Basically, it's an annual excuse to have a rivalry that ends with everyone furious at everyone else. If you value your life, stay away from the card game."

"They seem harmless to me..."

"They only look harmless so that they can use that to their advantage. I'm telling you, they are vicious."

Zane chuckled.

"Anyway, you wanna go play a game or something? I mean, I know how much fun sitting in my room can be..."

"Ha ha. Sure, what do you got?"

"C'mon."

Danny got up and left his room and headed down the hall. Zane followed behind until they got to what looked like another den. It had an old couch, a few mismatched chairs, an entertainment center with an old, small-ish television in it. Danny pointed to a shelving unit that had some video games on it. Zane walked over to examine and to choose one while Danny found the proper controllers and unwound the cords and plugged them in. Zane picked out a game and crawled over on all fours to plug it in. Danny couldn't help but stare at the boy, slack-jawed. He caught himself, cleared his throat, and tossed down the chord ends for Zane to plug in to the unit. Zane looked back at Danny and chuckled to himself. He plugged them in and turned on the television, which instantly popped and the screen went black. Both boys eyes got huge as they looked at their darkened reflections. Zane then turned around and looked at Danny with the most guilty of look. They both got really close to the TV to see if anything they could do could fix it. Once they realized how hopeless the situation was, they both started laughing.

"I'm so sorry man..."

"Oh, hey, it's not your fault. This thing is about as old as I am. I salvaged it when my parents got their new one downstairs. Actually, everything in this room is salvaged from when they got new stuff for themselves."

"Yeah, but..."

"Not your fault. And I'm so rarely in here anymore. Don't worry about it."

"You know I'm going to feel guilty anyway, right?"

"And I will keep reminding you that it isn't your fault. Anyway, I guess... you wanna go back to my room?"

Zane laughed, "I guess..."

They walked back to Danny's room, and Danny looked around and got an idea.

"Hey grab your coat, and meet back here."

"Um, ok?"

And they both took off down the stairs. Zane found his coat in a coat closet downstairs amongst an overabundance of what he assumed was Danny's family's coats. He ran back up the stairs and walked into Danny's room, but no one was there. But a chair was now directly under the window, and the window was open.

"Uh, Danny?"

Danny's head peeked around the corner of the window from outside.

"Hey, I'm out here! C'mon!"

Zane got a half-smile and climbed up on the chair, put both hands on the window panes and leaned out to see Danny sitting on a flatter part of the roof not far from the window. Danny was smiling at him and holding out his hand to help Zane out the window. Zane took it to steady himself on unfamiliar ground. He then sat down next to Danny, who smiled and passed him a black mug of something that had whipped cream on the top.

"What is this?"

"Try it"

So he tried it, and his eye lit up and he looked back at Danny.

"What IS this?!?"

Danny laughed and said, "It's my family's mulled cranberry apple cider."

"It's delicious!" Zane then tried to take a big sip, but then quickly realized just how hot the beverage was. Zane tried to recover, but failed, and sheepishly looked over at Danny, who was just watching. Zane tried to look away, but realized it's futility, and looked back. Danny then laughed a little, and reached over and wiped off some whipped cream off of Zane's nose, and Danny instinctively licked it off his finger. Zane's face turned a dark shade of red, and he rubbed the rest of it off with the cuff of his jacket. Both of them would take a moment to realize exactly what had just transpired, but neither of them said anything of it.

They sat up there for a while, when it began snowing. Danny noticed it, and stuck out his hand to catch some falling snow, to see it instantly vanish into a small amount of moisture in his hand. Danny then stood up to stretch his legs, and Zane shifted a little, but neither boy spoke, just trying to absorb this exact moment as it was happening, to remember, and to savor later.

After the snow picked up a bit, Danny sat back down, and saw that his extended family was all leaving.

"Hey, goodbye all of you!" He called out from the roof. They all turned around and looked up to the roof and Danny waved. Zane tried to shrink away from being noticed.

Some of the family waved. Others called out their goodbyes.

Danny's grandmother, who was being helped to her car by Danny's uncle turned and said "Goodbye Danny! Goodbye Danny's friend"

Zane then, without really thinking about it, said, "Goodbye Danny's family." To which he was instantly mortified, but got a good round of cheers from Danny's family and Danny chuckling.

After all of them piled into their cars and left, Danny looked over at Zane who had begun shivering after finishing off his warm beverage.

"C'mon, let's go back inside." Danny said.

"Actually, I should probably get back... Not that I'm particularly missed, but they will get mad if I stay out too late..."

"You sure?"

They climbed back in his room and shut the window and continued their conversation as they descended the stairs.

"Yeah. But thank you so much for everything... This evening has been... wonderful..."

"Hey, anytime."

Zane then stopped in his tracks, thought for a moment while looking at the floor, then looked back at Danny, who was caught a tiny bit off guard and was anticipating what was coming next.

"Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Uh, well, in the morning, I've got to help my dad hang Christmas decorations, but nothing that night. Why?"

"Um, you wanna, uh, get dinner or something? ...with me?"

"Yeah, sure. Um, you want me to call you when we get done tomorrow?"

Zane smiled and said "sure." Then he looked around a bit. "Hey, where's your mom?"

"Uh, I don't know... MOM!"

"What is it, Danny?" Danny's mom said as she came around the corner from the kitchen.

"Iunno... He was asking where you were..."

"Oh!"

"Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for everything tonight... It was really great... Thank you."

"Oh, sure thing darling..."

At this point, Danny's father came into the room. Danny's father was large in both height and in weight, and frightened most people. Until they heard him speaking. Then everyone loved Danny's dad.

"Zane, my boy! I heard you had snuck in but I hadn't seen you yet! How are you?"

"I'm good! Danny and I were just hiding out upstairs... How are you?"

"Great! I won!"

"Oh, congrats..."

"Actually dad, Zane's gotta get home..."

"Oh! Well, don't let me keep you..."

"Oh, it's no problem. And again, thank you so much for everything this evening."

"You are sure welcome."

And Danny and Zane walked to the door, and Danny opened it for him.

"Danny, thank you."

"Hey, no problem..."

"No really, I mean it."

"I know." And Zane smiled at him and Danny continued, "now get home before you get in trouble..."

Zane smiled, and walked out and Danny shut the door, smiled, and went to help his family clean up.