"John, have thanksgivin' with us!"

It was a month later and John was over for a barbecue party that was set to have baked beans with bacon in it, mashed potatoes, and fantastic drinks that enticed him into attending the party which was going to have a lot of McCoys and friends.

"I have---"

"Nothing to do!" David insisted.

"I have lots of things to do--"

"Name one that doesn't mean sleepin' in." David shook his spoon at the older man flickering cake batter on to John's face. "Bull shittery doesn't work with McCoys and my bull shittery doesn't work with you." The reminder brought fresh memories over the last few days with David taking John on a joy ride when he hadn't been working. "You're a McCoy through and through!"

John licked off the batter from his face with his finger.

"I will see if Sam wants to be over for Thanksgiving."

"If not, abduct her and brin' her here."

"Doctor McCoy, she is in Internal Affairs!"

"So? Internal Affairs investigations can pause for holidays."

"Abduction is illegal."

"Not for a holiday is it!"

"Okay, okay, okay--fine. I'll pick her up bridal style out of the precinct."

"That's more like it!"

John stared at the younger man.

"Are you okay?" John asked.

"Whatever gets her here is fine by me." David shrugged in response. "You're not gonna lick this bowl with a spoon if you don't bring her for Thanksgivin'," he spun the spoon multiple times in the bowl then raised it up. "immortal man who's hardly had a ENFORCED HOLIDAY WITH FAMILY."

The younger man flicked the spoon repeatedly at John's face then scowled once pausing.

"Go sit in the corner in the guest room and think about what you did--"

"What did I do?" The older man shrugged, confused, generally blindsided.

David leaned forward, his hands on the rim of the bowl, grimly.

"You told me the saddest story, ever."

"No, I didn't."

"You implied it! You never have a holiday with YOUR SISTER! Go into a corner and think about what a stupid duck that you have been."

"Fine, dad."

John sulked off.

"Eleanora will tell you when the bowl is ready!"

It used to feel weird to be calling David 'dad'. David wasn't a replacement for his father, but he was genuinely a caring individual who felt like another dad to him and acted like one. Now? It felt the natural, a different normal, but one that he welcomed being part of a family. John felt that his father would have admired a man of medicine, a bit of a scientist himself as science and medicine worked hand in hand.

Leonard peeked into the guest room, then loudly laughed, just as he had returned from baseball practice with his friend.

John sent the younger man a dark glare.

/////////////////////////

"So, what's your name, Miss Grimm?" Eleanora asked.

John looked toward his sister who was in the middle of getting a large clump of spaghetti on to the plate during Thanksgiving. Sam was tied to the chair by thick rope by John to prevent her escape back to work --"She's a workaholic." was all that was said as they stared at him tying her to the chair--. Sam looked up toward Eleanora then back toward the direction of her brother who gave a reassuring nod that they could be trusted with a smile. It was in the middle of Thanksgiving, everyone's plate full of turkey and healthy related portions on their plate.

"Samantha, but that's not the name I go by right now." Sam said. "I am open to a new name. Going to have to discard my current name and go into a new field by 2257."

She set different portions on to her plate.

"And you'll whisk by that, lickety-split, six ways to sunday."

"When was the last time you became a doctor, John?"

"You know when. How about you become a nurse this time around and see what it is like caring for people who get hostile and don't wanna be treated?"

"Sounds right up my territory."

"Not mine."

"You look like a Chapel."

Sam smiled as she shifted toward Eleanora.

"Nurse Chapel?" Sam said. "That's a pretty name."

"Pretty as you are, young lady." Eleanora said. "You have the envy of the world on your shoulders remaining young forever."

"We do age," Sam insisted. "Just very slowly."

"Oh." Eleanora said.

"The rest is. . . quite unknown. . ." John shrugged as he took a bite off his plate and chewed between each words. "What happens to our bones."

"Those bones will be vacuumed up as dirt in someones house one of these days and thrown into trash without a care in the world." David said, jokingly.

"Better off that way." Sam said, hopefully, optimistic, yet faith that one day it would be as she glanced toward her twin brother and they exchanged a smile over the matter. "C-24 is very dangerous."

"C-24?" Eleanora lifted her brow in confusion as her partner's brows hunched together and Donna, the youngest McCoy at the table, had a slight gasp. "That sounds like a chromosome."

"It is." Sam confirmed with a nod.

"So we're lucky." John said.

"Like angels." Leonard said.

"Not quite like that, but sometimes I see myself as that." Then Sam motioned over toward John. "This man is a bloody angel with broken wings that are in a state of disrepair."

"I have no intention of becoming a pilot." John said. "Remember last time? And the time before that? And the time before that? And the time before that? I was a lousy pilot---"

"That was the 22nd century." Sam reminded him with a roll of her eyes. "Software glitches! You were cleared after every identity was burned."

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. I see no reason to be a pilot after the dozens of crashes."

The family gently laughed at the bickering from the siblings, Eleanora had the loudest laughter so thoroughly amused while Leonard was the one who bore a big smile and Donna's face was the reddest of them all as she tapped her forehead against the edge of the table. The family burst into tears, wheezing with laughter, while the siblings went quiet.

"Why don't you call yourself Christine in the next identity?" Donna suggested.

"It'll be pretty fittin'; it's very heavenly, holy, and good." Leonard agreed with a nod. "Well, the association is."

"We see what you're saying," John said. "No need to clarify."

"Thinking about it." Sam said. "I'll use it."

"One day." John emphasized. "If she doesn't use it next."

"Take your time, dear." Eleanora said.

"Sam had a bad half a century one time and went through hundreds of identities that were a number of names suggested to her." John continued on as Sam stopped what she were doing and froze then glared at him, furiously. "Literally."

Sam nudged John with her elbow, sharply, more so as a jab into his shoulder in protest against the chapter of their lives being shared. John frowned, looking toward her, arguing with Sam not so verbally conveyed in a few looks as the family ate in silence. Eventually, he shifted his attention toward the family.

"She was a con artist!"

John's comment earned chuckles from the family and Donna's laughter after a spit take that landed with some liquid on John's face.

"This is why we don't joke at the table." David whined. "Donna always does this."

John wiped the liquid off his face with a napkin as Donna fell over laughing.

"Lesson learned."

///////////////////////////////

Two years was all it took to get to know Leonard and to become part of the family, unofficially. John was seen often enough that he was mistaken not once but multiple times for Leonard even though they had different eye colors, that sheer difference didn't matter for some reason, Leonard took it in stride and called John his uncle who he bore a splitting resemblance. Two years was all it took for John to be part of what felt to be a family that knew his secret and declined that he not cook for them as the fear of his blood weighed heavily over them.

The young man grew taller and grew more maturer. He watched as the young man grew interested in helping people, providing care, even as his mother commented, "And this baby said he didn't want to become a doctor years ago." as Leonard fueled his passion. They met, again, at a park after David sent a comn that his son was accepted at University of Mississippi with a mad dash of words, letters, things that seemed gibberish in hindsight that expressed the older man's excitement. Some days, John cried with messages like these about Leonard. Not out of sadness, but of happiness that Leonard never lost his parents.

"I need a friend to help me over at Mississippi University."

"Are you a chicken, Len?" John squinted.

"I am NERVOUS is all!"

"You're gonna be a dumb ass and ask me to take your place."

"No, no, no, John, I just like--"

"Like, what?"

"Someone out on campus, pretendin' to be me datin', so when my old man comes, he'll see someone who looks like me at the best opportunity instead of a tired and grumpy youn' man."

John's hand started to raise, preparing to deliver a upside smack to the head, at the sincerely stupid request.

"Dad always mistakes you for me." Leonard rubbed the back of his head as he flinched. "It's the best of both worlds!" the young man spread his arms out with his hands in the air and sported a big smile. "I'll pay you federation credits just for hangin' around campus doin' stupid shit and dad can bail you out."

John stared at the young man, squinting at him, enticed.

"And when you're at medical school after university?"

The young man pouted as he lowered his arms down.

"Uh, um," the next look that the young man made was akin to a fish making a dumb face. "you gonna be off doin' somethin' else."

"Good answer." John pointed at Leonard with his index finger. "I will pick you up. What time do we need to go?"

"Eleven thirty-three tonight."

"See you there." John waved at Leonard and departed.