11 | Thankful

"You're kinda cute and I would say all of this, but I don't wanna ruin the moment."

~ Lizzy McAlpine, Ceilings

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It's now officially been one month since Cillian had been dropped off and things were going surprisingly well. He still had night terrors most nights, but Sophie was able to deescalate them now that she knew careful touches seemed to do the trick.

Their walks became a daily thing. They slowly transitioned them from night time into day time over the course of a week. He was a lot more hesitant during the day initially, but slowly settled into it. In fact, he seemed to rather enjoy himself.

He was comfortable enough to sit on the couch without being asked to, ate at the table, and even washed his hair. Thankfully, showers were an everyday thing for him now.

Since he was comfortable in her house now, that meant they'd have to venture further outside her house soon. This had been the longest she's gone without calling her parents or brother. Soon enough, they'd get suspicious on why she was only texting them and not calling. Especially with Christmas around the corner, they'd be expecting to see her. Thanksgiving was touch and go, but they hadn't gone a Christmas without being together her whole life. With it only being about one month away, she had some work to do.

With too much on her mind, Sophie woke up fairly early. She ate a quick breakfast, started prepping for their big thanksgiving dinner, and decided to give her mom a call while Cillian was still asleep upstairs.

While she was at it, she decided to start baking. It always seemed to put her in a better mood. She dug through her binder of recipes until she found one she was in the mood for. She pulled it out and put her phone on the countertop and leaned it up against the wall.

She found her mom's contact and FaceTimed her. She was always an early riser. After a couple rings, her mom's face popped up on the screen. "About time you return your mother's calls!" Angela teased, with a wide smile to match her daughter's.

"Happy thanksgiving to you too." Sophie greeted with a chuckle. "Sorry about that. I've been swamped with all this stuff going on."

"Happy thanksgiving, honey. Works been rough?" Angela asked with an understanding look.

"Umm..." she drawled as she pulled out her container of sugar. "Kinda."

Her mom shot her a knowing look. Of course her mom would already be on her case. "Come on, Sophia. I'm your mom, you can tell me anything."

If only that were true. She sighed and set her mixing bowl on the countertop. "Things have been crazy recently and... it's just been rough. I have to tell you and dad something kinda important. Is he home?"

"No, honey. He's out on a run." She explained and took a sip of her morning coffee. "You can tell me though and I'll let him know."

Maybe that would be better. "Right, okay. That should be okay." Sophie decided. "Mom... you trust me, right?"

"Of course, honey."

"And you trust me enough to know I'm an adult and can make my own decisions, no matter how crazy they can seem."

Her mom's eyes narrowed, skeptical. "Sure..."

Not exactly the response she was hoping for, but Sophie continued anyway. "So I may have... kinda... did this thing... please don't be mad, because I know it sounds crazy- but I know it's for the best. Just please prepare yourself okay? You know what, have you gotten your heart checked recently? I don't wanna give you a heart attack or anything-"

"Spit it out, Sophia!"

"I'm married!"

Absolute silence.

Sophie winced and nervously wrung her fingers together. "I know it sounds insane, but I can explain."

Sophie kept her story the same as to what she told Darcy, all while she stress baked. The whole time, her mom's face remained neutral. Not an eye twitch, not a raised brow, Sophie doesn't even think she blinked. When she was all done rambling on, she looked at her mom expectantly, preparing for the worst.

After a long, long sigh, Angela spoke. "Are you happy?"

Her eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"Does he make you happy? Your husband." Angela clarified.

"He does." She nodded, readily. While she felt horrible for lying to her mom, she'd do anything to keep her safe. "I love him." She lied again.

Her mom nodded, quiet for a pause while she processed. "While I'm disappointed how you went about this, I'm happy for you Sophia."

Her eyes widened. "You are?"

"Course I am." She confirmed with a smile. "I think it's incredibly stupid how you went about it, but if you're happy, I'm happy. But you do have to make it up to Darcy."

She released a long breath and rested her elbows on the countertop and her head in her hands. "Believe me, I know."

"Does this mean I get to meet him at Christmas?" Angela asked, hopefully.

"Umm, I'm not sure." Sophie replied, honestly. "He's still recovering emotionally and physically from being overseas and all. I'd let you see him now, but he had a rough night. I told him to sleep in."

"I can only imagine." She replied, earnestly. "Welp, let me see it!"

Her rose a brow. "See it?"

"Your ring!" Her mom exclaimed, excitedly. "I want to see your ring he got you."

Crap. She laughed and did her best to match her mom's enthusiasm, "sorry, mom! I just took it to the jeweler to get it sized." She lied. Thankfully, she had the money to get one before she sees her family again.

"Well at least tell me his name!"

She smiled and responded, "Cillian."

"Cillian..." she drawled, a thoughtful look on her face. "Kill-Ian... sounds dangerous." She teased.

She has no idea...

•••

Cillian woke up today with the most pleasant smell coming from somewhere downstairs. Upon further investigation, he found it was coming from the kitchen. The little metal box in the wall, to be more specific.

Sophie popped up after taking something out of the box, a smile gracing her lips. "Oh, mornin' Cillian!" She greeted and placed a tray on the countertop. "And happy thanksgiving!"

Her hair was up in a messy bun, face framing pieces brushing the sides of her face. She wore an apron over her clothes that read, "currently stress baking" on the part that covered her chest.

Cute, he decided.

"Hope I didn't wake you." She smiled, apologetically. "I woke up craving chocolate chip cookies. It's my mom's recipe." She babbled, but he didn't mind.

"Want one?" She offered, gesturing to the pan, taking one for herself. She blew on it before taking a bite. "They're really hot, but they cool down pretty fast." She said through a mouthful of cookie.

His brows furrowed at the circular objects, never eating something that looked quite like this before. It wasn't meat, that he was sure of. It smelt far sweeter.

He picked up a cookie and gave it a cautious sniff before taking a bite. Sophie watched with a hopeful expression, waiting for some kind of reaction.

Of course, there was no reaction. "Well? Do you like it?" She wondered.

He chewed some more and swallowed before asking, "cookie?"

She nodded, her vibrating phone in her back pocket alerting her another batch was ready to be taken out of the oven. She normally used the alarm on the stove, but she wasn't sure if the loud noise would startle him. "Yeah, chocolate chip cookies. It's like, a bunch of sugar, chocolate chips, butter, flour, stuff like that." She explained, bent over the oven.

She was so caught up to tending to the cookies, she didn't see him eat three other cookies. "It's okay if you don't care for them. They're not everyone's cup of tea." She brushed off, only a tad hurt he didn't seem to like them.

He ate a fourth.

With a spatula, one by one, she placed the cookies on a cooling rack. "They're my personal favorite, so I'll definitely eat them all if you don't- OUCH!"

He nearly choked on his fifth cookie from flinching so hard. His eyes darted around the room, in search of the threat.

Sophie cursed under her breath and placed the empty pan down in the sink. She turned the water on and let the cool water run over the burn on her finger. Her finger hit the corner of the hot cookie sheet by accident when placing the last one on the cooling rack.

After a couple seconds, she pulled it out to take a look. "Ugh, it's probably gonna blister. Man, that hurt." She complained and turned around.

Cillian just stood there, eyes wide and startled, half a cookie in his hand.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" She winced, sheepishly. "The oven makes the pan hot and I accidentally touched it. But I'm okay." She told him, inspecting her finger some more.

Oven. The metal box in the wall. He glared at it before turning his attention back to her.

She wandered over to the window and broke a leaf off her plant. "Nothing a little aloe and cookies can't fix- hey, where did all the cookies go?"

He ignored her and reached under the sink for the first aid kit. Just as she had the other night, he held his hand out to her, expectantly.

Touched by his concern, she told him, "it's okay. I just need to put some aloe on and a bandaid." That, and she was the kind of person that was weary of other people treating her injuries. Even when she was a child, she didn't even like it when her mom gave her a bandaid for a paper cut. She always wanted to do it herself in fear of her mom accidentally hurting her.

He gently took the leaf from her hand and wiggled the fingers of his already stretched out hand.

With an amused huff, she hesitantly placed her small hand in his big one. A low growl rumbled in his chest, making her tense. Did she do something wrong? She peeked up at his face to see what he was so suddenly mad at. His eyes flickered between the oven and her burn. She couldn't help but bite back a laugh at that.

Though his hands were scarred and rough, his touch was quite the opposite. As he began to carefully rotate her hand in his gentle grip, the little ball of fear in her stomach returned.

Unbeknownst to her, he could hear her quickening heart rate and shorter breaths. "I won't hurt you," he promised as his honey colored eyes softened ever so slightly.

"I'm sorry," she offered an awkward chuckle, suddenly seeming rather pathetic for being scared of something so small. "I just don't do well with stuff like this." To other people tending to her injuries, that is.

However, if he, a veteran with PTSD can get through an inexperienced girl in wrapping up and tending to his injury, she can sit through this.

He knew exactly what to do with the aloe and applied it to her burn. He declined her apology, as it wasn't necessary, and bandaged her finger. "Anywhere else hurt?"

She nearly cracked a smile at his concern. It was.... almost cute to see such a giant, intimidating werewolf-man, with a deep baritone voice, being so concerned for something as small as this. "No, I'm good."

His jaw clenched and he nodded his head. She could tell he so desperately wanted to say more, but chose not to.

As if her body moved on its own, she shyly shuffled closer to him, her small arms winding around his waist. Shocked initially, he returned the embrace after a beat.

"Thank you, Cillian."

His arms tightened.

•••

"If you don't like it, there's a whole uncooked turkey in the fridge." Sophie said as she sat down at the dinner table.

This woman put on quite the feast. A huge bowl of potatoes, peas, a dozen rolls, carrots, gravy from scratch, and of course, turkey- a 20 pounder to be exact. When Cillian ate, the man feasted. She made as much food as possible. Maybe wasn't the smartest decision now that she thought about it because if he didn't like it, she'd have leftovers for days.

With her table decorated and food set all out in her fancy dishes she used only for special occasions, everything looked incredible. While he did prefer to eat his food raw, he would never reject her homemade food she worked so hard on. He didn't know how to tell her that, so instead, he nodded in thanks.

She bowed her head, closed her eyes, and folded her hands. He followed suite as she prayed, "Lord, thank you we can be here together. I thank you for this food and I pray you bless it, in Jesus's name, amen."

He mumbled a quiet, "amen," and waited to see what she would do next. To his surprise, she grabbed his plate and stood up. She stabbed the turkey with a fork and told him, "tell me when," and piled on the food.

He timidly protested at first, insisting he could get his own food and she most definitely didn't have to serve him. She politely ignored him and moved onto the mashed potatoes next.

It took a long time for him to say when with each of the options, his plate piled as high as she possibly could. Of course, it was gone within minutes too. To her delight, he had seconds too. He definitely preferred his usual food, but her cooking was very good too. That, and she gave him the bones.

"So, do you remember any of your thanksgivings growing up?"

His brows furrowed as he thought, finishing the food in his mouth before he spoke. "I think one... we all sat at a table like this, ate a bunch of food. One by one, we went around the table and said what we were thankful for."

"That's sweet." She replied, poking at her potatoes as she thought.

Secretly, she couldn't help but think about how thankful she was for a certain lycanthrope in her life.

•••

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