This is for @meeraaverywalker‘s November prompt challenge day 22: Thanksgiving
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,497
ES/TRR Crossover: The Cordonian crew comes to surprise Jake and Taylor without realizing it’s Thanksgiving! Oops! Will they be able to make dinner for everyone in time or will this be a disaster?
Check out the prequels to this Double Trouble, Family Vacation, and Boy’s Day Out
A/N: This also has characters from my fic Love at First Gazpacho
“Maxwell planned a surprise; a Maxwell surprise usually isn't a good thing.” Drake moaned as he and Emma packed their suitcases. The court was going on another tour and it would be stopping in the states. Emma had asked if Drake wanted to try and make a trip to see Jake and Taylor, but he declined, they'd seen each other a lot over the past few months, and even though Drake had a sort of respect for him, he still wasn't his favorite person.
“It's Maxwell, he always means well. I'm sure it's some little excursion he planned for the group, I wouldn't worry.” Emma wrapped her arms around Drake and kissed his shoulder before finishing her own packing. This would have been her first year not in the states for Thanksgiving, a little odd but then again, since her parents had died it had never been that special to her. She usually ended up picking up a shift for a co-worker or going to a friend's Thanksgiving dinner with their family.
Ironically, they would be in the states for Thanksgiving, but no one at court even thought about it, it was an American holiday and none of them celebrated it, not even Drake even though he was half American.
*************
Tay and Jake planned on having a quiet Thanksgiving with just the two of them, Raj wasn't doing a feast this year, most of their friends would be doing stuff with their own families, they had decided not to fly to Louisiana this year, they just wanted a peaceful Thanksgiving.
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Maxwell had spoken to the pilot before they departed and was practically bouncing out of his seat trying to contain his excitement. Drake sighed pinching the bridge of his nose, Maxwell was driving him insane, everyone else had been fortunate enough to tune him out.
“Since no one else is going to ask, I will. Why are you so excited Maxwell?” He burst into a grin and waited until he had everyone's full attention.
“You do seem more excited than usual about your surprise.” Liam mused.
“We're going to San Diego to visit Jake and Taylor!” Drake's eyes widened, and he looked accusingly at Emma but saw she was just as surprised as he was.
“That's very gracious of them to entertain the whole court.” Maxwell's smile faltered for a moment, Olivia the only one who seemed to catch it.
“What did you do, Maxwell.” She narrowed her eyes at him, his smile fell, and he fidgeted uncomfortably under her icy gaze.
“You spoke to Jake or Taylor, right?” Maxwell's cheeks turned bright red and he looked away from the group who was now staring him down.
“Maxwell! It's Thanksgiving! You can't just show up unannounced with six people!” Emma snapped at him.
“Why didn't you ask us first, Maxwell? He's my cousin.” Drake dragged a hand down his face and everyone felt suddenly guilty for snapping at Maxwell because he was just trying to do something to nice for the group.
“We should do some damage control. Drake or Emma, I'm assuming you have a number for Jake and Taylor?” Emma nodded and pulled out her phone, one of the perks of being a noble was having private jets with Wi-Fi enabled. Emma took a deep breath and dialed Taylor's number.
*******
“Babe, your phone is ringing!” Jake called into the kitchen and Taylor came out, wiping her hands on a dishtowel, surprised to see Emma's name popping up on her screen.
“Hey Emma! What's up?” Jake looked up when he noticed Taylor had been quiet for a while. He watched her facial expressions going from a gentle smile to a frown, to surprise, to panic.
“No, that won't be a problem! We can definitely make room for you all.”
“Oh! Um okay, we'll see you then!” She hung up and Jake glanced up at her.
“What's going on princess?”
“The entire Cordonian court is going to be here for Thanksgiving in six hours! Get up! Help me start cooking!” She threw an apron at Jake, the panic in her voice clear, she was going to be stressing over this. So much for a quiet Thanksgiving.
“So how many people are we expecting exactly?” Jake knew he would probably regret asking, but he needed to know what he was up against.
“Eight people including us.” Jake looked at Taylor in disbelief.
“Did you say eight?”
“Yes!” She had thrown her hair up in a wild bun, digging through the fridge to see what else she could dig up for dinner.
“Start looking up recipes and tell me what ingredients we need!” She snapped at him.
************
“Now you've made me feel bad. Why don't we just take them to a nice restaurant for dinner or something?” Maxwell interrupted the silence that had fallen over the group. Emma weakly smiled at Maxwell, his attempts at fixing things were always meant well, just like the thing that started the mess in the first place, but they often never worked out well.
“Maxwell, Thanksgiving is a holiday in the U.S. The kinds of places you're thinking of for dinner would probably be closed, besides, they've already invited us, and it would be even ruder to not eat after they cooked presumably all day for us.” Maxwell sighed and slumped into his seat on the plane.
“Maybe we can get them something? A pie or dessert maybe? A nice bottle of wine?” Olivia huffed and rolled her eyes.
“What even is the point of this holiday? I understand it’s called ‘Thanksgiving’ but it seems like all you do is sit around, eat turkey, get drunk, and avoid nosy family members.” Drake snickered beside Emma because the last time he had celebrated Thanksgiving that’s exactly what he had done.
“While that is part of it, some people do actually enjoy the time together with their family and toast to everything they have to be thankful for.”
“How do you celebrate Thanksgiving, Emma?” Liam asked, genuinely curious.
“I uh...um.” She trailed off, not really wanting to explain that she hadn’t celebrated it more than once or twice in the past ten years.
“You don’t have to tell us if it’s some kind of special family ritual.” Hana tried to be encouraging and helpful, but Emma’s smile faltered, Drake seemed to notice squeezing her hand.
“Well, I don’t think it’s going to be anything like Olivia said, we’re all friends and we all like Taylor and Jake!” Maxwell grinned.
“Did you ever consider Maxwell, that they may not have been in town, or that they may already have other people coming?” Drake mused, Maxwell’s face falling again. It was going to be an interesting dinner, that was one thing that everyone could agree on.
************
“Jake! Your pan is on fire!” Jake was supposed to be prepping something for dinner, but instead, he had gotten distracted trying to help Taylor find something, burning the food to a crisp. Emma immediately removed it from the stove throwing a lid on top of it until the flames went out. Both were breathing heavy, stressed to their wit’s end trying to plan this dinner. They shared a look and nodded in agreement, it was time to call the professionals.
“Raj!” Taylor was desperate at this point, some relief flooding her voice when he answered the phone.
“What can I do for you, Tay-Tay?”
“Jake and I are having some unexpected company and need help preparing food, you and Sofia are welcome to join us if you don’t have plans!” He could sense the urgency in her voice and looked back to the kitchen where Sofia was just getting out the ingredients to prep their own Thanksgiving dinner.
“How many people are you talking?”
“Eight. If you and Sofia stay, then ten.” Raj’s eyes widened in surprise and he stopped Sofia before she could make the first cut on the vegetables.
“We’ll be right over,” he hung up then turned to Sofia, “We’re going to Jake and Tay’s for dinner! C’mon, we have some last-minute shopping to do!”
Raj came over about an hour later, bags of groceries in his hand, taking in the sight of a clearly frazzled Tay and even Jake who was stressed which was highly uncommon for his laid back demeanor.
“Okay. Let’s see what we’re working with.” Raj looked everything over, throwing out almost everything because it was burned, and tossing the dishes in the sink, assigning Jake to dish duty. As Taylor, Sofia, and Raj cooked, Tay noticed that Raj kept snagging samples of the food, she eyed him suspiciously.
“Raj, what are those Cheetos for?” She looked back at the table, a giant bag of Cheeto puffs ripped open.
“Those are for my munchies.” He grinned, Tay shaking her head at him, ready to explode from stress while Jake just chuckled sitting down because he had finished the dishes. Digging through the bags, he found some brownies and decided to help himself to some early desert, there were no rules on holidays, so it was okay. As Jake finished his last bite of brownie Raj turned around, slightly frowning.
“Aw man, don’t tell me you ate a brownie.” He tried to whisper, but he was too loud, Tay heard and spun around to look at Jake, chocolate on his lips.
“Why?”
“That was one of my special brownies!” Tay’s face grew red and Jake jumped up and hid behind the opposite end of the table, ready to run, that look on his wife’s face was murderous, he’d only been on the other end of that gaze one other time, it was a scary one.
“Babe, Taylor, I didn’t know they were special brownies.” She didn’t even notice Raj had started to eat another one of the brownies.
“It’s okay, he’ll just get the munchies is all,” Raj said between mouthfuls. Taylor turned her murderous gaze on him.
“We’ll get it done, without their help. Don’t worry.” Sofia gently placed her hand on Taylor’s arm and Jake let out a breath he had been holding in, he was safe for now.
**************
Once they landed, the group found the nearest grocery store and split up to look for things. Maxwell and Hana were in charge of the alcohol, Drake, and Emma were in charge of finding a pie, and Liam and Olivia were in charge of getting some apples and side dishes. Once they all had their necessary ingredients they collected them and arrived at Jake and Taylor’s house. They walked up, and everyone inhaled a deep breath, it smelled amazing, they knocked and a man they didn’t recognize opened the door. He had dark tan skin, long curly black hair, his belly protruding in front of him, and a big grin on his face.
“You must be the fancy friends, I’m Raj! Come in!” They all entered and took in the appearance of the house, it was small but not quite a shack. The living room was just off to the side of the front door, the dining room and kitchen all connected, and there was a small hallway that led back to the three bedrooms.
“Oooh are those apples for apple pie?” Olivia nodded and whipped out her knife, Raj jumping back.
“Yes, I planned on peeling them to help.”
“Ice queen, Simba, Agent Breakdance, Charming, Queenie, know it all, good to see you again!” Jake grinned, Cheeto grime all over his fingers.
“Jake.” Drake greeted him gruffly, amused at his behavior, taking note of his bloodshot eyes.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Liam politely asked. Taylor nodded and began tossing out instructions. Liam and Drake were assigned to move furniture, Jake was supposed to start making everyone drinks, Liv was peeling apples for pie while Sofia helped. Maxwell had become so enthralled with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on that everyone advised Taylor to just let him stay there and out of the way, while Hana skipped outside to pick some flowers to make beautiful centerpieces and Raj supervised to cooking. Once the furniture was moved to accommodate everyone, the guys wandered into the living room and outvoted Maxwell to put on the football game. It was a few hours before dinner and they had learned from Jake that it was best to sit down, shut up, and stay out of the way unless you were asked to do something.
Once dinner was ready, everyone took a seat at the table, plates filled high with delicious, mouthwatering food, and a custom drink in hand. Everyone looked to Jake and Tay at the head of the table for a cue on how to proceed. This was only Tay’s third Thanksgiving, so she was still kind of new to this.
“Um, instead of a toast, why don’t we all go around the table and say one thing we’re thankful for. I’ll start by saying, I’m thankful for Raj and Sofia coming over and help cook dinner!” She raised her glass, and everyone followed suit, looking to Jake to go next.
“I’m thankful for reconnecting with family this year.” he looked at Drake who gave him a small nod, everyone raising their glasses.
“For this meal in front of us!” Raj grinned, everyone raising their glasses.
“To Raj’s friends for becoming mine,” Sofia said with a heavy accent, smiling around the table, raising her glass.
“To my beautiful wife and childhood friend, I married this year.” Liam leaned over and gave Liv a gentle kiss on her lips, the table cheering before raising their glasses.
“To time away from court, mostly.” Olivia smiled, and everyone raised their glasses.
“To my friends who have inspired me to start my own fashion line!” Hana giggled, everyone raised their glasses.
“To our generous hosts!” Everyone clapped and raised their glasses to Jake and Taylor who had since relaxed to a non-murderous level.
“To my incredible friends and family who have given me a reason to celebrate Thanksgiving again.” Emma fought the tears in her eyes as everyone raised their glasses, finally settling on Drake who was last but not least.
“To my amazing, incredible, beautiful wife Walker who is going to be an amazing mother to our child.” Drake grabbed her belly and grinned as Emma hid her face, everyone, congratulating them and cheering at the reveal.
Jake cleared his throat and raised his glass one last time, standing up.
“We all have a lot to be thankful for clearly, including that we are all healthy and able to be here, but most importantly we should be grateful for our ever-growing group of friends that become family and the family we already have!” Everyone raised their glasses and finally took a drink, Emma sticking to just water, passing her fancy cocktail over to Drake. Taylor was the first to dig into her food, the rest of the group shortly following, a dull but pleasant chatter filling the room as they ate.
A/N: This is for Endless Summer Appreciation Week, and it takes place in the Love at First Gazpacho universe, catch up here if you haven’t already read it!
Word Count: 1,207
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters beside Sofia are owned by PB.
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Raj sat in hair and makeup stealing excited glances over at Sofía who was sitting next to him, also getting her hair and makeup done. Since Raj’s cooking show left Spain, she had decided to come with him and get to see some of the world, her abuela encouraged her to go. She was going to be appearing on the show today as a special guest rather than just sitting behind the camera with the rest of the cast and crew watching silently.
They found themselves in Barcelona for that week and Sofía was grateful to be back home in Spain, she loved Raj, and she loved seeing the world, but nothing compared to being back in the country she loved, even if it wasn’t the little island she called home.
“Raj! Are you sure you know what the plan is?” Someone from his team yelled. He jumped out of the makeup chair and stretched, flashing Sofía a lazy grin.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
What about Sofía?” Raj chuckled and Sofía wrung her hands nervously in her chair as the hair and makeup team put on their final touches.
“Of course, I don’t think either of us could ever forget this recipe.” Sofía’s nervous gaze met Raj’s in the mirror and he gave her an encouraging smile before she focused on her own reflection. Raj always seemed to look the same when the team was done with him, he was just made to be in front of a camera, teaching recipes he loved to the world, Sofía, on the other hand, didn’t feel that way. She hardly recognized her own reflection, of course, it was her, and it still looked like her, but it was also different, she struggled to make sense of it. Her brown cheeks seemed to glow, and her long dark brown hair looked silky and smooth as it cascaded down her back. The copper eyeshadow they had put on was barely visible, but it made her brown eyes sparkle like she’d never seen before.
They were doing a gazpacho recipe today though, there was no way she could mess this up, after all, it was the very first thing she had taught Raj how to make, it was how they had met, kind of. After she saw him picking up all the wrong ingredients and stepped into his rescue, though to this day Raj still swears to her that he knew what he was doing all along.
“Are you ready?” Raj could feel the nerves rolling off his girlfriend, he wished that hair and makeup hadn’t taken so long so they could go smoke before the show, help calm her nerves, but he knew that she’d be incredible once she got into her element.
“I feel silly, I don’t even recognize myself.” She gestured at her hair and makeup, they had at least let her pick out her own outfit, a simple pair of jeans, a maroon t-shirt and some black converse.
“What’s bothering you about it?” Raj frowned.
“You always look the same after makeup, I look different.” She groaned in frustration, trying to explain to him without sounding conceited, the makeup made her more beautiful and she felt like an imposter.
“I think you look the same, beautiful as ever.” He kissed her gently on the lips, feeling a smile form against them. When he first started dating Sofía, Raj called a few of his friends for advice on relationship advice, he didn’t know the first thing about it. Jake and Taylor, Zahra, and Craig, even Grace and Aleister always seemed so happy together, each of them in their own way though, and Raj wanted to know that secret. They had all basically told him the same thing, make sure she never forgets that he loved her, and to always try and put a smile on her face. He’d figured it out finally, she didn’t need roses, and stolen moments, she wanted to relax, make smoke some, and then eat some good food. It was the simple things that made her happy and that’s what Raj loved most about her, he couldn’t have asked for anything else himself.
“¿Sí?”
“Yes, I’m glad you finally see what I see every time I look at you.” Sofía let out a sigh of relief, some of the nerves leaving her body. She could do this, it was just like cooking with Raj any other day, all she needed to do was focus on him.
“Raj let’s go!” Someone waved him in front of the camera and he smiled one last time at Sofía before running off to the stage. They counted down for him and in seconds he put on his big smile, looking right at the camera.
“Thanks for coming everyone, today we’re in Barcelona, Spain, home to some of the most delicious Spanish food known to man. We are going to be having a very special guest joining us today, as we make a special Gazpacho.” Sofía waited behind the camera, off to the side, waiting for her cue to enter.
“So, without further ado, please welcome my beautiful girlfriend Sofía.” She carefully walked on stage, slipping her apron on as she shyly smiled and waved at the camera, joining Raj’s side.
“Gracias.”
“So, this recipe is actually very special to us, it’s the recipe Sofía first taught me, it’s an old family tradition that her abuela taught her.”
“Sí. I found him wandering in el mercado, grabbing all the wrong ingredients,” She shook her head playfully as Raj chuckled shaking his own.
“I would have been hopeless without you.” Sofía looked at him surprised and laughed, playfully hitting his shoulder.
“You finally agree, I told you Abuela!” She looks right into the camera, the crew stifling their own laughs behind the camera. As they got out the ingredients and Sofía explained the process step by step, their playful banter continued until it was ready to go in the fridge. They had already made a batch before the show, so they could demonstrate what to do after, without having to wait for it to cool.
After they both ‘tried’ a bite for the cameras, it was time for Raj to sign off. Thank you for coming to this very special episode of Raj Bhandarkar’s Cooking Extravaganza and thank you to my beautiful girlfriend Sofía for making this a very special episode, see you next time!” The camera’s signaled they were done and Sofía finally relaxed, Raj grinning at her.
