Author's Note: Here is the epilogue! I debated about when to post it and ultimately thought this was the best time. Even though it is being posted months after I posted the last chapter, I decided to wait because the epilogue also takes place in the story's setting months after the last chapter ends. I thought that it would help the readers to have a deeper understanding of the passage of time. I chose today specifically, because the epilogue has a lot to do with Thanksgiving (spoiler alert!), which is this tomorrow. So Happy Thanksgiving (to those who celebrate) and please enjoy this epilogue!

~KITTY FORMAN~

I stare down blankly at the two lonely pork chops in the frying pan in front of me. Even more depressing was that the sizzling of the cooking meat was the only sound inside my giant and noticeably empty house.

I hear Red – and I know its him because he's the only one around – come into the kitchen from the sliding back door. He comes and stands next to me. "Why are we staring so intently at our dinner?"

I pull my gaze from the frying pan and look up at Red. I wave my hand dismissively at the food. "Look at that. It's so pathetic. Two pork chops. Two!"

"Yeah." Red nods, oblivious. "One for me, one for you."

"Exactly!"

Red clears his throat and rocks back on his feet. "Okay, I' sorry Kitty, but I just don't see the problem."

"The problem is," I start. I pause as I flip the two pork chops over and then look back up at my husband. "That I have no kids to cook for anymore. I can't remember the last time I cooked only two pork chops. All the kids loved my pork chops!"

"Oh."

"Red, I miss the kids," I say bluntly.

"Well, I know Kitty, but they're all starting school this week or are busy with work," Red says, trying his best to be reassuring.

I slump, feeling defeated. I knew Red was right, and that's what bothered me the most. I knew the kids were busy and had their own lives, but for some reason I thought I would still be cooking them dinner every night. I knew that didn't make any sense, but it still made me sad. Taking care of those kids gave me a lot of purpose…and them all growing up together and all at once? That was proving to be a tough transition for me.

"Kitty," Red says softly, noticing my sadness. He pulls me over to the kitchen table and sits next to me. "I know that this has been really hard on you. But the kids aren't gone forever. They're always going to come back."

"You think?" I ask, daring to be hopeful.

Red laughs outright. "Absolutely, Kitty. I've been spending the last fifteen years trying to kick them out with no success. Take Thanksgiving, for instance. I always told them to go home to their families, but they always insisted on eating our food."

"Thanksgiving…" I repeat. Suddenly, something dawns on me. "I forgot all about Thanksgiving!"

I jump out of my chair, clapping excitedly. Red of course, looks less than enthused, but a glint in his eyes tells me that he's happy to have cheered me up.

"I better start planning now!" I rush to the notepad by the phone, barely sparing a glance in the direction of the long forgotten pork chops.

"Planning now?" Red rises. "It's only the beginning of September."

"I know!" I say, excited to have renewed purpose. "That only gives me less than three months to plan the perfect Thanksgiving dinner to bring our family back together again."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

~JACKIE BURKHART~

"Happy Thanksgiving!" I say cheerfully to Mrs. Forman as Steven and I sneak up on her in the kitchen.

Mrs. Forman whirls around, wipes the flour on her hands onto her apron, and claps excitedly. "Jackie! Steven! You're here!"

We both give her a hug and a kiss, and Steven hands her the bottle of wine we had picked up for her on our way here. She insisted that she do all the cooking and baking for today, but Steven and I felt weird showing up empty handed.

Mrs. Forman graciously accepts the bottle and I take a quick opportunity to glance around the kitchen. It looked like an organized bomb had gone off in here. Every inch of counter space was covered with food and kitchen tools, but there was a very detailed and precise nature to it, and I just knew Mrs. Forman was loving it. She always put on a big production for Thanksgiving, but I couldn't ever remember her doing anything this grand. It made sense though; after all, this was the first dinner that our family and friends were all spending together since school started.

"Need any help in here?" Steven offers.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Forman says, grinning from ear to ear. "Everyone is down in the basement waiting for you two."

And with that, we were dismissed to the basement. As Steven and I descended the stairs, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. We'd been back to the Forman's house a couple of times for dinner since moving into our apartment, but this was the first time we'd been back down in the basement. I half expected Red to have dumped all our childish stuff and Kitty to have remodeled everything with new furniture. I was pleasantly surprised to see that not a single thing had been changed, which made me feel oddly nostalgic, but as I sat on Steven's lap on his chair, it also felt right. It felt like home.

"Hey, guys," Eric says by way of greeting.

He was sitting closest to us on the couch. Next to him was Donna, then Brooke, and the two of them were giggling with Betsy. Kelso was in the lawn chair and was playing cards with Fez who sat on the stool. Laurie was searching for something in the deep freeze. Just like old times.

"Hey, man," Steven returned. "How's school?"

Eric grew serious. "Oh Hyde, it's great. I tell ya, I'm learning so much in my Jedi class."

"Okay, but have you decided what you want to do yet?" I butt in. I'm not trying to sound rude, but I knew that with Donna around him, she wasn't just letting him slack off.

"Not yet," Eric says. "But my advisor got me into this class next semester called 'Discovering Professions' that gives you background and real life experience in all different job areas, so I'm looking forward to that."

I nod, surprised by how earnest Eric sounds. I glance over at Donna and find her beaming as she watches Eric. A few years ago this would've made me gag, but now I can't help but get swept up in the emotional euphoria. Even little Betsy is smiling wide and when she goes to clutch her mother's hand, I notice something.

I don't know what surprises me more; the fact that Brooke is wearing an engagement ring or that it took me this long to notice said engagement ring. Nevertheless, the moment that I notice it, I am squealing as I hurry over to Brooke's side.

"Excuse me, but when were you going to mention this?" I take Brooke's hand.

She gives me a sheepish grin. "Donna said I should wait and see how long it would take you to notice."

I admire her ring. It was small and dainty but is sparkled brilliantly in the dim basement light. Without letting go of her hand, I grill her for details. Apparently, Michael proposed just this past weekend, but he'd had the ring for quite a while and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity. They planned to have the wedding early this summer, and my god-daughter was going to be the flower girl. Brooke was grinning from ear to ear as she explained all this, and when I glance over at Michael, his smile mirrors Brooke's.

"Hey, Kelso. Do my parents know yet?" Eric asks. He shakes his head and then Eric lets out a sarcastic chuckle. "Word of advice? Don't try to tell them over Thanksgiving dinner. I know from personal experience that it might take a turn for the worse."

We all laugh at the memory of Eric's feeble attempt at a declaration of love to Donna a few years ago, and how it rapidly spun out of control when Red found out Eric had forged his name. Well, we all laugh except for Brooke.

"What's going on?" She says it lightly, but there's a hint of nervousness in her voice. Michael butts in, eager to tell the story. Finally, Brooke nods. "Um…anything else I should know before we go eat?"

I'd almost forgotten. This was Brooke's first Thanksgiving with the Forman family. "Nothing that out of the ordinary." I jump in, trying to reassure Brooke. "Just stuff like..." I shrug, thinking. "Red always cut's the turkey and Bob always cuts the pie."

"Yeah, and no matter what, Bob always cuts himself the biggest slice," Fez pipes in. He scowls. "No matter how much you offer him to drink."

"Oh, and when we have a lot of people over for Thanksgiving, my mom always sets up a 'kids' table.' That's where we'll be sitting," Eric adds.

"Except me!" Laurie says proudly. She glances over at Fez. "Sorry, Fez." He shrugs, not too bothered.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter that you're engaged or that you have a baby. You sit at the kids' table. Red's rules," Eric tells Brooke, reinforcing the significance.

Brooke doesn't seem to be bothered by the kids' table, but I notice Steven's knee start to bounce. I rest my hand over it. "What's wrong?" I murmur.

"Nothing," Steven says. "It's just…it doesn't really have to be a kids' table. We're not kids. We are all adults who have moved out and started our lives. It's just a table."

The basement is silent for a moment, and then Donna clears her throat. "I don't know, I kind of like the idea of sitting at the kids' table." She looks at Steven. "I mean, you're right Hyde, that we're not kids anymore. But being an adult can be really hard sometimes, so why not hold onto this one piece of our childhoods?" Donna is met with more silence.

After a moment, I come to Donna's defense. "Donna's right. Growing up is hard, especially now that we don't all get to see each other every day. I mean…" I pause, searching for the right words. "It's not like we can run down here to the basement anymore and forget the rest of the world like we used to."

"This is getting really depressing," Fez says morosely.

"It doesn't have to be," I interject. I take Steven's hand and squeeze it as I try and gather myself so that I can get my point across.

Surprisingly, it's Eric that speaks next, and he articulates what I'd been struggling to explain to my friends. "Let's promise ourselves that no matter how hard life gets and no matter where life takes us, we can all always come back here, to the basement and be kids again."

I lean back against Steven and take in everything around me. I look at each of my friends and realize how much we had all grown. Eric, once scrawny and unable to find his own voice, now spoke with assuredness and a confidence unique to himself. Next to him sat Donna, and while she'd always fiercely held her own for as long as I 'd known her, she could now accept her vulnerabilities and allow others into her life. When I catch Michael's eye, I flash him a proud smile. Despite our rocky, immature past, he had found it in him to be a dedicated father and soon-to-be husband to someone he truly loved. And although we still had no idea where Fez was from, he was living up to his potential by becoming an knowledgeable advocate for his folks back home, something I didn't think he realized he needed until he'd done it. And Steven, well. Steven was once an intimidating boy who'd I believed had no heart, and yet some part of me had always felt connected to him. So, it both did and didn't surprise me that I now held his heart, which I cannot not believe I once thought did not exist. As for me, all I know is that I am thankful for the day all those years ago that I chose to follow Michael down into this basement to meet all his friends. Because these people changed my life. I am so glad I could always call this place home.

Despite how much my friends and I had changed, not much of this home had, and for that I am grateful. Sure, the couch was basically being held together by duct tape at this point, and the handle on the door by the shower had been changed at least twice after all the times it had been slammed open and shut throughout the years. But our same Monopoly board sat on the shelves under the stairs, the same posters hung on the walls, and all our yearbooks were still stacked in the corner. So much of our past in one place, with many more memories here to be made. Together.

Author's Note: As always, thank you for reading!