Hey kids! Over here in the U.S. of A., we have a quirky lil holiday called Thanksgiving (or Tanxgizin', as we (by which I mean I) call it here (by which I mean my mind), where we celebrate that brief period of time between the time we met the natives and the time we killed them. Holidays always put me in odd moods (and at the moment it's 3 a.m., so that might be part of it), so I tend to write outside of my usual sphere. So here, just for the holidays, is one of the last things you'd probably expect from me: some sappy T/R drabble! Yeah, yeah, I know; I'm as shocked as you are.

This thang takes place…eh…let's say just shortly after…um…Oh, let's say…book…number…mmm…thirty…hmm…six? Yeah; let's go with that. That was after the whole freaky Nertec thang, wasn't it? Yeah, and just before everyone was pissed with Rachel for taking charge. Thirty six it is. Ah no, f that; this is going to be at the end of 35. Do most writers edit this sort of thing out? I'd probably do it if I was up at a human hour. Besides, this is supposed to be a nice, fun one! Enjoy my good mood!

Hmm…let's start by chicking this up.

Rachel's POV (ladies, sorry, but I don't know how you think, so if Rachel comes off wrong, don't blame me. Yeah, yeah, I know; I did fine in book 59. But that wasn't some sappy romance; I'm totally on my own with this one. If I knew how you gals thought, I'd have better things to do than write fan fiction at 3 a.m.)

It was really weird being at Marco's dad's wedding, for a few reasons. I've know Marco for a long time; it's hard not to when you live in this town and he's my cousin's best friend. So it was weird for me to see his dad getting married, even if I had never even met his mother. What was weirder was that I knew his mother was actually alive somewhere.

I'll admit, though that I wasn't really concentrating on the wedding. I was…distracted…by a lot of other things. Trying to keep Jordan and Sara quiet, trying to get Jake and Cassie to take a hint, and all sorts of other little things. But on to top of it all, I was kind of annoyed. Where was he? He said he'd be here. I knew he had to be careful, with the time limit, but still…

Yeah, you guessed it. I was waiting for Tobias like some stupid, helpless girl. I know, not my style; but there really wasn't anything I could do. I couldn't go and leave to find him and I definitely couldn't morph in this dress, though it was tight enough. He and Ax were supposed to show up…

I scanned the sky for most of the service. I probably looked bored; not even close. Every bird in the air caught my attention, even the ones I knew weren't him. Even if he was just a speck in the sky, I'd recognize him even if it was just from the way he flew. And the northern harrier pretending not to follow him would be a bit of a tipoff.

There! In the sky: two specks. I knew it was them. Where have you been? I mouthed.

Sorry, Rach, he said in my head. Wanted to wait 'til the last minute. I didn't want to have to skip out on you during the dancing; I know how much you love to dance. I smiled; yes, I did love to dance. He hated it. We'll be there in a few minutes.

I had hid their clothing nearby. Once they got dressed, it would only take them a few moments to get here. It shouldn't have taken them more than ten minutes.

Twenty minutes later, I heard a faint voice in my head. Rachel, Tobias and I are in need of some assistance…

No we're not, Tobias insisted. I can handle this. I just have to remember how this goes on…

Oh God; what was going on? I wondered with a little dread. At the same time, I was kind of amused. There was something funny about the two of them in human morph. But not if they were left unattended. That was when things got scary.

I made some excuse to my mother and headed off to where they were supposed to be dressed. It wasn't a long walk, but I had to hurry; if I wasn't there when Marco's dad and Nora tied the knot, he'd never let me hear the end of it.

I found the two of them in a little clearing in a strip of woods not far from the wedding. It was ridiculous. How could the two of them not put on suits? Maybe, maybe, I can understand Ax. Tobias had no excuse, and he looked worse. Shirt untucked, vest unbuttoned, tie…just dangling there. Unacceptable.

I tucked in his shirt, buttoned his vest, and fixed his tie in short order. When I was tucking in his shirt, he just couldn't resist saying, "Really, in front of Ax? Try to control yourself, Rach. I don't look that good in a suit…" I slapped him gently. Gently, mind you.

My mom noticed me showing back up with two guys. She gave me a look; you know the one. That look that says, "We'll talk about this later." At the moment, though, I didn't care. All I cared about was that Tobias was actually here.

I won't go into the details of the rest of the wedding. Really, there aren't many details I remember. Just him.

Of course, I remember the end, when he had to go. Jake would come back later and get their stuff. And I remember the car ride home. My mother, even though she was driving, turned to me and said, "So, what's his name?"

"Who?"

"The boy you were dancing with the whole time," Jordan interjected. "When do we get to meet him?"

My mother ignored her. "We'll discuss it later. Right now, I just want to know what his name is."

"Tobias."

She nodded. "I see. And does Tobias have a last name?"

"Uh…no?" I realized then that I had absolutely no clue what his last name was. "I thought you said we were going to talk about it later."

The rest of the ride home was silent. Of course, when we got there, my mom ordered Jordan and Sara out of the car and then locked the doors. Oh God. Not this talk again. I could face Yeerks, Hork-bajir, and Visser Three himself; I could not face this one more time.

"So tell me about Tobias."

Never mind, this conversation as worse. If my mother was a Controller, this conversation could lead to one of us killing the other. "What do you want to know?"

"The obvious things. Where does he live? What's his family like? Does he go to your school? How long have you two been seeing each other behind my back? And don't try to deny that last part, it was pretty obvious that you two have been together for a bit."

I sighed. What could I tell her? That he lived in a tree in the middle of the forest? That his father was a dead alien? That he had to disappear from school because he got turned into a bird? No, not really. But I could tell a little bit of it. "He lives with his uncle in a little place not far from Cassie's," I sort-of-lied. Ax was technically Tobias's uncle, but they didn't exactly live together. Close enough.

"With his uncle? So no parents, then."

"None," I agreed.

"And he goes to your school?"

"He…he used to. He..had to drop out," I admitted. "His uncle needed a lot of help with a lot of important things."

"So he's a dropout."

"Only technically. His uncle knows more than any of the teachers at our school," I argued. That was definitely true. When it came to math or any sort of science, Ax was light-years ahead of the rest of our race. "He's homeschooled."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" she asked. "And how long have you been seeing him?" I hated how she said it like that; like there was no question about it. But I guess there wasn't.

"A few months," I decided. That was counting from the time I thought David had killed him, when I realized how much he meant to me. But really, I guess it started long before that. Really, it started about as soon as this war did. Really, it had been about a year longer than I told her.

She was silent for a few moments. Then she decided, "I think I need to meet this boy. Thanksgiving's tomorrow. See if he and his uncle can come over."

I swallowed hard. It wasn't the thought of Tobias and my mom meeting. Tobias had just recently survived hours in a Yeerk torture chamber; he could handle my mother. What scared me was the thought of Ax around all that food…

Oh my! What will happen? Will Naomi discover their secret? Will Ax eat an entire Tanxgizin' feast by himself? Will Rachel and Tobias up this rating to M? Will I write and post the rest of this before the actual Tanxgizin' (probably not; I've got no idea what my access will be like over my vacation)? Only one man has the answer; he isn't me, though, so don't ask.