CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Thanks for the Memories

Thanksgiving was off to a shit start. Luckily for Vienna, she and her parents had already done Thanksgiving a few days earlier, as her dad was taking her mother on a 'Thanksgiving cruise' seeing as her father wanted as much time with her as he could have, due to her illness which could reoccur at any moment. Vienna didn't even know that was a thing people did. Unluckily for her, she had no excuse to not miss Thanksgiving at Meredith's.

That was how she found herself on Meredith's couch with Cristina, the two watching Burke and Bowie talk with Izzie in the kitchen. The almost-couple had been talking with each other at work for a consult when Izzie approached them and asked Bowie if he was joining them for Thanksgiving dinner ━━ Before Vienna even had the chance to think about asking him. In an attempt to avoid the awkwardness, she'd just blurted out that he was coming and that was that. They still haven't even had their talk, and now it seemed that it was most likely going to happen today.

Meredith had already snuck out to the hospital, and George had been stolen by his dad and brothers to go shoot stuff in the forest. Unfortunately for Cristina and Vienna, no one had brought any alcohol or anything of the sort. Despite the fact that it was only 10:30 am, they were both in desperate need of a drink.

"I think he's going to ask me to be his girlfriend." Vienna whispered to her friend.

"Wait, I thought you guys were already dating."

The blonde groaned, "We're not. Just two adults that sleep together."

"Right. Two adults that sleep with only each other and no one else, and go on dates." Cristina rolled her eyes, "Pretty sure that classifies as dating."

Vienna simply stared back at her with narrowed eyes before huffing and folding her arms.

"Well, are you gonna say yes?"

"I don't know," She groaned. "He's nice. He's like too nice. I'm not used to nice."

That was a lie. Sort of. Her last relationship was nice ━━ Of course that was until he decided to cheat on her just after she finished med school.

"Yeah, well, Preston is ━━ "

"Cristina! Vienna!" Izzie called out from the kitchen. "Come in here!"

The two women locked eyes with each other, dreadful looks coating both of their faces before the Asian woman pulled herself off of the couch, dragging Vienna with her.

When they entered the kitchen, Izzie was on the phone, Burke was holding up a smoking pan, and Bowie was standing at the stove with the sleeves of his navy blue knitted sweater rolled up and an apron covering the front of his body. The two women took a seat at the island, staring at the scene in front of them.

"Oh. He's cooking." Vienna said lowly through gritted teeth as she tilted her head toward Cristina. 

Burke pointed at the pan, "What is that?"

"It was supposed to be my marinade," Izzie answered before speaking into the phone. "Alex it's me again. Just wondering where you're at." She said before hanging up.

"You've never made a Thanksgiving dinner before." Burke stated.

The blonde went quiet, as she nodded slightly.

"You can't cook?!" Cristina asked in disbelief. "Izzie!"

"Well, I'm a baker! I bake. But I've seen my grandmother cook a million times." The blonde attempted to defend.

Vienna shook her head. "Thanksgiving is doomed. DOA, if you will."

"We will not." Bowie replied swiftly, turning to give the blonde a tight-lipped smile. Vienna's eyebrows raised as she shared a glance with Cristina. Since when did he get so sassy?

Cristina agreed. "Okay, that's it. If there's no food I'm going home."

"Take me with you, this is my home." Vienna sighed, pulling her hands down her face.

"Cristina, Vienna. Bowie and I have this." Burke said as he looked to the other man who gave him a nod. "What are you using as a reference text?" He asked Izzie.

Izzie gestured to a book on the island. "The joy of cooking. I also printed up some recipes from the internet but they all seem to contradict one another." She said as she moved over to the sink. "And I can't figure out which side of the turkey is up and which is the bottom."

Cristina opened her mouth to speak but Burke gave her a gesture to be quiet. The dark-haired woman turned to Vienna who was laughing quietly with a baffled look as Burke walked over to the sink and washed his hands.

"Ok. Ok. Um. We're gonna need the basing brush, a bowl, uh a clove of garlic," He instructed as Izzie began to look for the stuff frantically, Bowie going to help her. "And, ah, do you have any fennel?

"Uh, yeah, right here." Izzie said as she brought the item to the sink where Burke was standing as he rolled and cracked his neck. Vienna looked at him weirdly ━━ Why the hell was he acting like he was about to begin a 30-hour surgery?

"Well, let's get this turkey up and running Stevens. Garlic."

Burke said as he held out his hand, the same way he would in the OR. "Garlic." Izzie grinned as she slapped the garlic into his hand. She turned to look at her friends who simply stared back at her with bored smiles.

Vienna snorted, quickly bringing a hand up to her mouth in an attempt to quiet it as she heard Cristina whisper to herself: "I'm gonna need liquor. Lots and lots of liquor."

♱

The two girls had slipped away from the kitchen and were now in Vienna's room, the two of them on the phone with George as they had him on speaker. They had just searched all over the house for any type of alcohol but came up empty, which was surprising seeing as Meredith loved tequila.

"I'm in hell." The male said through the phone.

Cristina grits her teeth, "We're the ones in hell. Burke and Bowie are going all Iron Chef in your kitchen. Get your ass back here and save me."

"I'm in the woods with shotguns, and liquor and car talk. It's like deliverance out here."

Vienna groaned, throwing her head into her hands. "Seriously? George has liquor and we don't?"

Cristina shook her head, "What happened to Meredith's booze?"

"Uh, I don't think she has any."

She looked up at Vienna with a mortified expression on her face. "How's that possible? She's a wasp. Liquor is like oxygen to a wasp."

"Which is why we're out of liquor. Listen, can you guys come and get me?" George asked.

Cristina gripped the phone and pulled it closer to her, "Okay, how am I supposed to get through the holidays without liquor George?!"

"Just come and get ━━ " He was cut off as Cristina ended the phone angrily.

The two made their way downstairs when they heard the doorbell, seeing Joe standing outside with another man next to him. "Happy Thanksgiving!" The bartender grinned.

"Joe, thank god!" Cristina said relieved.

He smiled before gesturing to the Asian man beside him, "Hey, this is my boyfriend Walter."

Vienna smiled at him, "Hi."

"Whatever." Cristina brushed it off. "Tell me you brought liquor."

Joe paused briefly before holding out a pie. "I brought pie. Pumpkin."

Cristina looked at him in disbelief. "You're a bartender!"

"Did you bring scalpels?" Joe retorted, the woman groaning in frustration before she grabbed the pie off of Joe.

Joe, Walter, Cristina, and Vienna then moved into the dining room table where they were watching the other three surgeons cook.

"10 bucks says she dries out the turkey."

"20 says she pulls it off." Walter countered.

Cristina rolled her eyes. "75 says I don't care."

"I'm getting some serious deja vu right now." Vienna said.

All of the betting seemed just like George's appendectomy during their first shift ━━ Vienna just hoped that it wouldn't have the same ending as his surgery and that Izzie wouldn't screw up the food.

They all watched As Izzie opened the oven and pulled out the turkey which was sitting in a metal tray before putting in a meat thermometer. "Okay, Stevens, let's see what you can do." Burke said.

Bowie nodded proudly, "All right. More pressure. Turkey has a tough shell. Dig in."

"I'm in." The blonde grinned as she pushed the thermom further into the turkey.

Joe grumbled, "Damn, she got it in."

"Told you she was going to pull it off."

"What the fuck." Vienna whispered under her breath. Meredith said that same exact thing during George's surgery, and a few seconds later he fucked it up. Cristina looked over at her with the same incredulous look. "I'm going to the bathroom." The blonde said before getting up from the table.

When she returned, Cristina was nowhere to be found. Walter and Joe were still at the table looking amusedly at Izzie cooking, so she rejoined them. "Where's Cristina?"

Joe briefly looked at his boyfriend. "She left."

"I'm sorry, she what?" The blonde asked, dropping her palms onto the table.

Her question went unanswered as she heard the two attendings and Izzie in the kitchen exclaim in shock. "You hit the bone! The pan is filling with juice and you're losing moisture. What do you do?"

Vienna's jaw dropped. Burke was literally acting as if this was the operating room, and it was scary. She looked at the other two guests beside her who didn't even spare her a glance, leaning forward as they watched everything unfold.

As the three of them began to prepare other foods, Vienna walked into the living room and called Cristina. She answered after a few rings, "Where the hell did you go?"

"Look, I just went to the store. Relax, I'll be back in like 15 minutes."

Vienna groaned, slapping her palm against her forehead. "Cristina, why the hell would you not take me with you?"

Shuffling was heard on the opposite end, "You were in the bathroom."

Vienna dragged her hands down her face and perked up when she heard oddly loud ambulance sirens. She gasped in disbelief, "Cristina! Are you ━━ "

"l have to go! I'm not supposed to be on the phone while driving."

"Do not hang ━━ The bitch hung up." Vienna breathed out, pinching the bridge of her nose as she gripped her phone in her left hand.

An hour or so later, the cooks and Vienna were sat at the table as they waited for the rest of their guests to arrive. Vienna was on the verge of just digging into the turkey, after being told by the cooks that they had to wait until everyone was here. Joe and Walter walked back in with their coats on, and the bartender went to Izzie and gave her a sympathetic kiss on the forehead.

"Sorry, Izzie it's after 8. Gotta get to the bar."

Izzie frowned, "On Thanksgiving?"

"It's one of our busiest days of the year. People need a safe haven from the bitterness, loneliness, quality family time. I'm their important store. See you later?"

"Yeah."

"Later, Vee." Joe waved at the blonde, who waved back with a grin.

"Bye Walter. Thanks for coming." Izzie said to the couple before turning to her guests. "You two can leave too if you want."

Burke shook his head as he leaned on his interlocked hands, "I'm not leaving the table until the hostess does."

Bowie nodded. "Ditto."

Izzie sighed. "They're not coming."

"Even so."

Izzie smiled, and everyone at the table's heads turned toward the door where they heard the sound of the key turning in the lock. George and Cristina came into view when they walked into the living room, Cristina sitting down by Burke who was at the head of the table, and George next to Izzie.

George attempted to whisper to Izzie, "Today I committed bird murder and I was forced to touch my Dad's ass. I get extra points for showing up at all."

Vienna looked at him weirdly. "You touched your Dad's ass?"

"Vienna! Shh!"

Cristina reached into her bag and placed some bottles on the table. "I brought booze."

Izzie and Vienna stood up simultaneously, the latter walking around to Cristina's side and grabbing the liquor from her with a glare as Izzie sighed with a small smile. "Let's just eat."

The night ended a few hours later, and Meredith and Alex did end up showing; despite the duo being hours late, and after cleaning off the table and putting away the leftovers, Bowie and Vienna were standing on the porch in silence.

It was a mix of awkward and comfortable ━━ They both knew their long-awaited conversation was weeks past due, and that it was going to happen tonight. Both of them just hoped that whatever happened ━━ it ended well.

A breeze passed over them, causing Vienna to shiver slightly, wrapping her arms around her body. She didn't know why she was wearing short sleeves in the middle of the fall, but she was beginning to regret it.

Bowie looked over and contemplated for a moment, before outstretching his hand to hold out his coat which he had yet to put on. Vienna looked between it and him and shook her head, "No, I'm okay." She smiled.

He chuckled, draping the coat over her shoulders anyway. Bowie didn't mind though, he had a sweater on so he was fine, but even if he didn't, and giving her his jacket meant making her any less cold, he'd let himself freeze.

Vienna smiled shyly as she put her arms through the sleeves. It wasn't common for her to be shy around people ━━ but something about Bowie just made her feel safe. Despite feeling that, she couldn't help but think that if she let him in he'd turn out like her exes. She breathed out, kicking a stray pebble around with her shoe, "So, we should talk."

"We should," Bowie nodded in agreement as he sighed, turning to face the shorter woman beside him. "Look, Vienna. I like you ━━ A lot."

"I like you too, Bowie." She admitted, briefly locking eyes with him. "I really do."

He frowned, "So then why do you avoid me?"

"I — I don't avoid you," She mumbled, knowing full well she did on a few occasions.

"We had plans the other day, but you went to Joe's with Meredith and Cristina instead," He sighed, placing his hands on his hips in a way that Vienna would laugh about, had it been under different circumstances.

She grimaced and nodded. "Yeah — That was shitty of me. I'm sorry about that. Genuinely."

"I get they're your best friends, and I wouldn't mind rescheduling — I just wish you would've given me a heads up in advance."

Honestly, Vienna was scared. The thought of letting herself be vulnerable to someone else scared her. Deep down she knew Bowie wasn't the kind of guy to cheat, but it had only been a few months since that happened, and she was still weary of opening her heart up to someone else.

Vienna inhaled deeply as she glanced at her nails, "The last relationship I was in. . ." She trailed off, "He cheated on me with someone I thought of as a sister."

"I'm not him," Bowie told her honestly. "You know I'd never hurt you like that."

"I know," She nodded. "Believe me, I know."

Deep down, she did know that — But it still didn't do much to ease her fears. Bowie was the type of guy that couldn't hurt a fly. That was true — The two were in the ambulance bay at the hospital one day and Vienna stepped on a spider, and he lectured her about the spiders having families too until the ambulances arrived. And his specialty was literally pediatrics. He had a heart of gold, and while she loved that about him, (Because who wouldn't?), she felt like she would only end up hurting him in the future — And he was too nice of a guy to deserve that.

He stepped forward, gently holding onto one of her hands. Bowie rubbed his thumb on the back of her palm, "So then why don't you let me treat you the way you deserve?"

The difference between Bowie and Vienna was that he loved often — Not in the sense that he was almost always with a different person, just in the way that it was easier for him to love, and to open up. For Vienna, the few times she'd fallen in love — It had a shit ending. That was just one of the reasons why it was harder for her to be as trusting, and to let people in.

"It just scares me, Bowie," Vienna admitted — Allowing herself to be vulnerable in front of the man. "Getting back into the dating thing — "

Bowie looked at her, a small smile on his face. "You don't need to feel that with me. I mean that. I want the public hand-holding, going on dates, the whole nine yards — I want all of that with you."

Vienna laughed bashfully, "I want that with you, too."

She did, truly. She wanted to erase what she could from her past for good, and she knew she had feelings for Bowie that were only growing. She couldn't let her past hold her back from her future — And she wasn't going to.

"So then, Vienna, what's stopping you from being my girlfriend?" Bowie asked with a cheesy grin on his face.

She rubbed her hand against her neck, before looking up at him. "Nothing is," She smiled.

The blonde snorted amusedly, "God, yes, Bowie," She laughed. "I will be your girlfriend."

The man fist-pumped the air, wrapping his arms around Vienna as he planted a kiss on her hair. Internally, Vienna was cringing at the mushyness of all of this. She wanted to make a joke to make things less awkward — although they were only awkward on her end, but decided against it. It was a serious moment, and she'd hate it if she ruined the calm atmosphere just because she wasn't used to this.

Things were settled — Everything was good now.

   note  i feel like the 'talk' is a little rushed and i could def alter it and make it a little better but i think it's kind of okay..  i mean after all it isn't that serious

   anyways i hated this chapter cause it had nothing to do w medicine, and i wanted to skip this episode but by the time i came up w that idea i'd already written all of this and i was like fuck that might as well let it not go to waste 😭

like i've wanted to get this chapter out for so long but i hate it so much lmfao like the only good part abt this is the bowie & vienna talk and that they're together now — i've been wanting to get back into this book so bad that i would skip over this chapter and write the next ones 😭 it legit took me a month to write this so for the time being idec that it's so ass like i'll come back and rewrite it another time, i just had to say fuck it and get this out there lmfaoo

♱ word count, 3244