PART EIGHT: "Thanksgiving"

Previously on 'The Caliente Affairs':
Nina went with Dina to a private hospital and supported her sister when she found out she was pregnant. Dina was shocked to learn she was a month gone, making the father either Mortimer or Ed Wilson. She was even more shocked when it turned out Nina was pregnant too! After some advice from Brandi, who was feeling the stress of motherhood after a long night looking after her youngest child Calvin, Nina felt better about becoming a mother... She just hoped Don felt the same.

"Oh no, We're both just not going to be able to make it today." Nina told the woman on the other end of the phone. She was trying to cancel her and Dina's yoga class. Being pregnant, Dina was online researching what excerise's they should and shouldn't do. "I understand we have to attend a minimum of three classes per month to keep our membership, but surely the rules can allow for.. health related absencies?" Nina rolled her eyes, she was under strict orders from Dina not to tell anyone about their pregnancies. Needless to say, Nina had failed to tell Dina she'd already told Brandi Broke. With a sigh, Nina hung up the phone.
"No luck?"
"She says we have to make it up next month, although I doubt that'll happen."
"It's okay, by that time we can tell her exactly why we can't attend. Hey, do you think it's too early to start lamaze classes?" Dina enquired with her sister.
"Are you kidding me! There's no way I'm going through labour without drugs, what if I have twins?" Nina laughed.
"It couldn't hurt to try..."

In Alex's old bedroom, which was now the study, Dina and her sister found the privacy to meditate. And Dina was in desperate need of relaxation. It was only a few weeks ago when she found out she was pregnant by either her husband Mortimer Goth or Ed Wilson, the man she had had an affair with last month. Nina was also in two minds about whether her pregnancy was an accident or a blessing in disguise. Sometimes she felt like becoming a mother at such a young age meant she'd miss out on a lot of things, and other times she would scold herself for being so selfish. But it wasn't just herself that she had to worry about, it was only three months ago that she found her boyfriend in bed with her sister... She knew things had blown over, but sometimes she couldn't help but worry that raising a baby with Don might turn out to be a huge mistake.

A knock on the door woke Dina and Nina from their meditation, "Can I come in?" Mortimer asked.
"Hold on!" Nina said as she exhaled, standing up to let Mortimer in. "Do you need help getting up?"
"Oh no," Dina said, "my dear step daughter is coming over and I need as much inner peace as I possibly can!" Nina let Mortimer in and decided she'd had enough meditation for one day.
"You will be ready for this evening, won't you?" Mortimer asked.
"Stop worrying, you're going to give yourself a heart attack. It's not too late to call and cancel if you don't feel up to it." The phone rang, Mortimer went to answer the phone. Dina's peaceful composure was disturbed once again when she heard who Mortimer was talking to,
"I don't know any 'Clarence Wing Private Hospital'." Mortimer told the person on the other end of the phone. It was, in fact, where Dina found out she was pregnant. In one swift move she yanked the phone cord out of the socket on the wall. A confused Mortimer looked down as Dina smiled innocently,
"Oops!"

Mortimer couldn't help but linger his thoughts on Dina's 'accidental' removal of the phone cord earlier on as he prepared the turkey for this evening's dinner. In fact, Dina seemed to be doing a lot of strange things lately. Her constant trips to the top floor bathroom, where she would spend what seemed like hours, sometimes felt to Mortimer as if Dina wanted to get away from himself. Not only that but she was distant in bed too and their relationship was not at all like it used to be. Although Mortimer secretly admitted he didn't mind, (not being as 'energetic' as he used to be) he still missed the closeness and the love they shared. Could it be that Dina was falling out of love with him? She had begun to get awfully moody when he asked her the most innocent of questions, sometimes making him feel more like a father than a husband.

As if a mind reader, the object of Mortimer's affections made her presence known as she groaned and walked towards the patio.
"Is something the matter my dear?" Mortimer asked. Dina huffed as she reluctantly answered him,
"No! I just ache from all those stupid yoga positions and I want to go and relax in the hottub before 'she' gets here, if that's okay with you?" She added on the end, letting Mortimer know it was not a question that she wanted answering.
"It's fine! You take care." Mortimer said, puckering out his lips for a kiss. But Dina simply walked right by and out of the door. Sighing, Mortimer placed the turkey in the oven and began to find some onions to chop so no-one would suspect his eyes were welling up with tears.

An hour or so later and Don was absolutely starving. But before he made it to the table to wait for the food Mortimer was about to serve up, the phone grabbed his attention. He picked it up and talked to a formal sounding woman on the other end,
"Private what?" Don asked, confused about who was calling. Looking over at Mortimer, who seemed to be having some trouble bending down to take the heavy turkey out of the oven, Don lowered his voice. "Pregnant? But Dina's not.." Don began, until he was reminded about Nina's random attacks of sickness these past few days. In his mind, Don began to concoct a theory in which Nina would go to a private hospital to find out if she was pregnant, but lie and call herself Dina. Feeling somewhat annoyed at Nina, he claimed to the woman on the phone that she had the wrong number and slammed down the phone before she could argue. Before he sat down, Don removed the phone cord from the wall just in case the hospital receptionist decided to call back.

"Was that Cassandra?" Mortimer asked as he began to carve some of the turkey for himself.
"No, it was a wrong number." Don lied. Watching Mortimer, he suddenly realised why the old man had stopped making the table. "Where do you suppose everyone should sit?" He asked, knowing that the next few hours were going to be very awkward for everyone. Placing the plates back in a stack on the side, Mortimer sat down and began to eat.
"To be completely honest, I couldn't give a damn." He said as Don began to feel awkward already. Mortimer had apparently begun the Thanksgiving dinner before anyone else had even arrived. What on earth was going on with everybody in this house, Don thought.

"Hey!" Dirk said as he went inside the basement den of the Caliente's house. Alex looked up from the TV and smiled,
"Hi! Are you okay?"
"Fine, I guess. So, what are you watching?" Dirk asked as he sat down next to Alex.

Alex could feel his own heart race as Dirk sat next to him. He had known about the big Goth/Caliente/Lothario/Dreamer Thanksgiving Dinner since last week and was told by Mortimer that whilst the adults were having a civilised meal (Mortimer hoped it would be civilised) he and Dirk could hang out in the den. Afterwards, all Alex could think about was being alone with Dirk. He'd never really spoken to him before, most of the time because he was too nervous. When Alex became a teenager he couldn't hang out with his friends because Dirk would hang out with them too. And whenever Dirk was around him, Alex felt.. different. Alex tried to escape these new feelings by hanging out with other people, but it dawned on Alex why he felt the way he did whenever Dirk was around him.. He was attracted to him.

Dirk's laughing distracted Alex from his thoughts. He joined in laughing but it was too late and Dirk simply looked over confused.

"I just got it!"
"Yeah, I've seen it before but it's still a funny joke. I'm bored though, you got any video games?" Alex reached over to grab the only two games he owned.
"Sorry, it's Don who plays it the most and Nina made him get rid of most of his games. He let me have these two though." Alex said as he showed Dirk "SSX 3" and "The Urbz".
"I've played these already." Dirk said as he handed back the games to Alex, who was feeling like a complete geek.
There was an uncomfortable silence, making Alex feel like even more of a geek. Reassuring himself that there was nothing to worry about Alex broke the silence,
"Is it true you were cheating on Lilith?" He blurted out. Dirk looked over at Alex and said nothing. "I mean, I'm sorry that you two broke up. Lilith's nice." Dirk was still silent and Alex wished the ground would open up and swallow him. But a smile found its way onto Dirk's face.
"Yeah, she is. But she deserves someone better than me." He admitted.
"Why do you think that?"

"Well.. I was cheating on her." Dirk said. Alex was unsure of what to say until Dirk said it for him.
"I know what you're thinking but Lilith and I.. I was just too young to be in a steady relationship. I mean, I want to try everything you know, not just stick with the first thing I like."
"You want to try.. Everything?" Alex asked, feeling his heart race again.
"Yeah, I mean I know I shouldn't do it all at once. But once I began seeing other girls, I couldn't stop!" Dirk laughed in what seemed like a disrespectful way, making Alex feel uneasy.
"How many girls have you seen?"
"Four, including Lilith. I know it's not that many but there's two girls I really like and I just don't want too see a repeat of what happened at the Halloween Ball."

"Anyway, what about you? Weren't you getting a bit friendly with someone at the dance?" Dirk joked as he playfuly punched Alex on the arm.
"Yeah! I don't know how serious that is." Alex admitted, feeling shy once again.
"That's the beauty about being a teenager, it doesn't have to get serious!"
"But I'm afraid someone might get hurt." Alex sighed.
"I wish I were more like you." Dirk said.
Alex smiled, "How so?"
"Being considerate of other people's feelings. It shows you're a good person."
"Really? I kind of wish I were more like you." Alex said. 'Did I really just say that?' Alex thought, feeling himself go red in the cheeks.
"Well, I have been told I've got an addictive personality." Dirk laughed.
"I think it might be true!" Alex grinned.

She wasn't happy about it! Already Dina had almost felt like hiding away in her bedroom when she caught Dirk Dreamer ogling her in the hottub. But she knew she had to show Mortimer that she could at least stand to be around Cassandra Goth for a few hours. So tonight she was on her best behaviour.
"I'm here! I hope you haven't started.." Dina began until she saw everyone had already started eating. "Oh, never mind." She replied as she sat down next to Mortimer and noticed he had almost finished his meal. As she started to eat, Dina noticed the lack of conversation going on and thought if she could be the first one to speak, Mortimer might appreciate it. "So.. What's everyone thankful for?" Dina said as she wondered if she just saw Mortimer roll his eyes.

"I know it's corny but I'm thankful for family and friends." Nina said. "This time last year I only had a sister and now I've got a brother-in-law, a fiance and a nephew, or a niece.." Nina said, grinning from ear to ear at the thought of Dina's baby.

She suddenly realised her mistake and quickly tried to cover it up, "I mean and a niece! My nephew Alex and my niece Cassandra!" Nina said as Dina gave her a cold and unforgiving glance.
"We're barely related at all." Cassandra said.
"Cassandra." Mortimer said in a nagging tone.
"I mean, sure! I'm thankful for that too." She added with force. "What about you daddy? I'm sure you've got a lot to be thankful for this year." Cassandra added, in what Dina was sure was a sarcastic reference to her and Mortimer's marriage.
"I am thankful for something.. Laws." He said proudly.
"Laws!" Dina said in a surprised tone.
"Yes! Rules and regulations, the fine law system we abide by in our world today. I will go to bed tonight feeling safer knowing that there are laws protecting me and my.. others." Mortimer added, in a somewhat smug tone.

"Good call Morty!" Don added in a cheerful tone. "I'm afraid my 'thanks' are a little bit more selfish! I'm thankful that me and Nina have had a one-hundred percent, totally honest relationship whilst living here together. Aren't you Nina?" Don asked, wondering if Nina would lie that she had in fact not been honest at all.
"Yeah! I think it's great." Nina replied, unaware of what Don was getting at.
"It is great. Especially considering the amount of lies that took place in order for us to be together." He began, Don's temper getting the better of him.
"Don, I really think it would be better if you didn't bring that up right now. Besides, we still haven't heard what Dina's thankful for." Nina glared at Don, wondering what possessed him to almost ruin what was turning out to be one of the most civilised meeting's between them all.
"You know what I'm thankful for?" A familiar voice said, walking in to the Caliente's house.

"This! The fact that all six of us can sit here today to share a meal with each other, Dirk and Alex too. I'm thankful for this day, the day where eveyone in this family can finally get on with each other." Darren said as he finally arrived to the Thanksgiving meal.

"Ah, that was beautiful Darren." Cassandra said as she kissed her fiance as he sat down at the table. Unfortunately Darren was unaware that everyone was not, as he thought, getting on with everyone else.

"You can't say that about my sister!" Alex laughed, hitting Dirk with a pillow. Dirk defended his allegations against Cassandra Goth,
"I just mean that, and you can see where I'm coming from, I think she manipulated my dad into proposing to her, just like she did with Don." Dirk picked up a pillow to throw at Alex.
"Whoa, okay! Maybe her engagement to Don was one sided, but I've talked to her and she really loves your dad and after my dad moved out she and him kind of stopped talking to each other. Your dad helped them make up." Regardless of his attempt to stall, Alex found the pillow sailing towards him.

"You make a good point. But I still feel uneasy about something." Alex began to suggest what it was Dirk felt uneasy about but stoped himself, not wanting to say something that might upset Dirk. "It's okay, I know you're going to say I just feel this way because Cassandra's the first woman my dad's gotten close with since my mom.." Dirk stopped. Alex kicked himself for letting the conversation get this far,
"I'm sorry, we can change the subject if you want."
"No, it's okay. I don't know what it is but I feel really good talking to you. Lilith was the one who was good at advising me on all this crap about relationship's. I guess now you can take over her job." Dirk laughed. Alex smiled as his heart began to beat faster again.
"You want me to take over Lilith's job?" Alex said, wondering if Dirk realised what he was saying.
"Yeah, you seem to know what you're talking about."

"Oh!" Alex said blushing, "I guess it's just because I know what it's like, you know?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about your mom." Dirk said.
"Thanks!" Alex stared at Dirk and for the first time he saw the generous and caring Dirk that Lilith had fallen for... The one that he was falling for. Alex couldn't say or do anything. He just stood their, staring at Dirk.

"Yo? Earth to Alex!" Dirk said as he whacked Alex over the head with his pillow a little too hard, knocking Alex off his feet. "Crap! Sorry man, you okay?" Dirk asked.

Even on the floor Alex could see Dirk's generousity towards mankind shining through that tough and.. Sexy exterior.
"Let me help you up." Dirk said as he bent down and reached out for both of Alex's hands to pull him up. If Alex had been stronger, he would have yanked Dirk down on top of him, but he was nowhere near as strong as Dirk. Now on his feet, Alex found it hard to concentrate and began to lose his balance.

"Whoa!" Dirk said as Alex began to fall again. This time, Dirk grabbed onto Alex's waist and pulled him closer. Alex knew it was only to stop him from falling over, but his brain wasn't in control at the moment.. His heart was.