“I think that’s everything,” Jim said, looking over the trunk of their Subaru.

They had spent the last hour stuffing it with what Jim was pretty sure was much more than they could ever need for a 3 day trip to his parents’ house.

Typical things like the pack n play and clothes (though Pam had packed a suitcase each for the two of them and a separate bag for Cece, which seemed like a bit much), but also other extra things, like Cece’s door swing, the high chair (it had taken him an hour to collapse that, and he had a feeling it’d take just as long to put back together), and a very large bag of toys.

But Pam had been insistent that they’d need all of that just to be safe, and Jim wasn’t planning on arguing with her before the 2 hour trip to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia. The new location of the ‘Halpert Thanksgiving Extravaganza’ as Larisa had nicknamed it when she was around 12, and had stuck ever since.

Thanksgiving with the Halperts was quite the event. And busy. Very busy. Jim’s parents, brothers and their wives and kids, sister and her boyfriend, as well as the three of them, all in his parents’ new house in Philly.

Last year Jim and Pam had hosted; mainly because Cece was a baby at the time and they didn’t want to travel. And not only had they been hosting Jim's family, but Pam's as well.

After that, they quickly decided they would not be offering to host everyone again anytime soon. Their house was much too small to host 12 people, and it was all to hectic for either of them to want to host again, as much as they loved both their families.

The fact that Betsy and Gerald hosted the whole Halpert clan pretty much every year really was amazing to the both of them, and was something they both had so much more appreciation for now.

Luckily this year, not only had Jim’s parents offered to host, but his brothers and their families were staying in a hotel, so the three of them and Larisa were the only other ones actually staying in the house.

“I don’t think we missed anything, so looks good to me,” Pam nodded in agreement, bouncing Cece lightly on her hip as they both looked into the back of the car.

Turning her attention to the toddler on her hip, she asked “you ready to go, Cece?” to which the little girl reacted to by clapping her hands and shouting “ya mama!”

“That’s enough for me, let’s get going.” Jim said with an over exaggerated expression and sigh of relief, before closing the back hatch and taking the keys to go lock up the house while Pam buckled Cece into her car seat, handing her her stuffed puppy (which had also been lovingly named Puppy) in hopes to keep her happy on the drive.

Cece and car rides were a thing that did not go hand-in-hand. At all. For reasons no one could quite understand, Cece absolutely hated riding in the car. So while the drive wasn't that long, it had potential to feel very long thanks to that.

"Are you gonna be a good girl on the ride?" Pam asked Cece, looking down to buckle her own seatbelt as Jim did the same next to her.

"No!" Cece responded, bursting into giggles and kicking her legs lightly.

"Well, at least she's honest," Jim said under his breath with a quiet laugh, looking over his shoulder as he pulled out onto the street and headed towards the entrance to their neighborhood, before looking back towards the toddler.

"Honesty is good policy Cee, keep it up." he told her, though he quickly added “And behaving in the car. That’s great too.”

"One-is? Cece one-is?" Cece asked back, her eyebrows raising in question.

 -----

They were only 30 minutes into the drive when things started to go badly.

The traffic was absolutely terrible due to travelling on the day before a holiday, Cece was already getting fussy, and now Helene was calling on the phone.

"Hey mom-" Pam answered, moving her hand around the backseat blindly in an attempt to find the stuffed puppy which had been dropped and seemed to completely disappear into the abyss that was the floor of the car. But before she could even finish what she was going to say, Helene cut her off.

"You're going to Jim's family for Thanksgiving again?" She asked with a tone that actually sounded somewhat annoyed much to Pam’s surprise.

"Yeah, we are. I thought we already talked about that?" Pam asked right as her hand hit the puppy and she picked it up, handing it to Cece who immediately stopped her fussing in favor of quietly babbling on to the stuffed animal in her hand.

As she straightened in her seat again, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. They had talked about it, a while ago at that. Pam had even offered to stay home and spend the day with Helene and Penny instead of leaving, but Helene had said no. She’d even gone as far as to encourage them to go to Philly instead.

"I know we did, but... It isn't that great, Pamela. It really isn't great at all. Every time there's a holiday, you three are off spending it with Jim’s parents and I'm just here by myself." Helene said, her tone wavering a bit as she spoke. That, along with the unnecessary complaining told Pam one thing. Her mom was definitely drunk, which was honestly a pretty big surprise. Her mother never got drunk.

"Hey mom? Listen," Pam said, raising her voice a bit to get her mom's attention as she started to go off on another tangent, causing Jim to give her a quick questioning glance before his eyes returned to the road.

"I know you're having a tough time, but we already talked about this.  We're spending Thanksgiving with Jim's parents this year, you and I already talked about that and you said it was okay," she said, being careful to keep her tone steady and patient,

"And we do spend holidays with you. If anything we spend more with you and Penny than Jim's family. We were together for Halloween, and Fourth of July, and Christmas Eve and Day, and Cece's birthday even. So can we just-"

Pam was cut off again by Helene saying something in a voice that sounded like she was crying now. That's when she knew this really was out of her hands.

"Mom, how about we talk about this later? I'll see if Penny can come over for a bit, but let's pick this up again later. Okay?" There was silence on the other end for a beat, but finally Helene agreed and the two exchanged 'love you's before Pam finally hung up.

“What was that?” Jim asked with a concerned tone as Pam dropped her phone into her lap, moving his hand from the gearstick to her thigh to give a comforting pat.

"My mom, just being drunk and sad the day before Thanksgiving," Pam said with a sigh as she went back on her phone to text  Penny, telling her what had just gone on and that she really should go over to their mom’s house.

"I think she's still having a hard time dealing with stuff like that without Dad being there and with Penny not living at home anymore. She definitely knows how to make me feel like crap for not sticking at home, too," she sighed, tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling as she tried to figure out how this would end up.

She knew her mom would eventually calm down and get more level headed and realize how ridiculous that was, but it was still a pretty big mood dampener.

And she really didn't want to go into the weekend like that.

"You didn't do anything, so no reason to feel bad," Jim assured her, shifting his hand again so he could run his thumb against the top of her hand lightly, his eyes still staying on the interstate as they crept along through the traffic, "It's just a big shift from what she's used to, even now that it's been what, two years?" he asked, and Pam nodded, moving her hand to lace her fingers with his.

"That's all it is, so don't worry about it too much. I can promise you she isn't mad at you, it's just her emotions talking. And also the wine, I'm sure," He added, which earned a laugh and small smile from Pam much to his relief.

 -----

They kept on stopping and going through the traffic for what felt like hours but Jim was sure was probably only 20 minutes, before Cece decided it was time to start up her first real fit of the trip.

It started with her throwing her puppy over into the trunk of the car, and then immediately bursting into tears.

"What's wrong, baby?" Pam asked, doing her best to turn in her seat to face her daughter, who was just crying and pointing back towards the trunk in response, kicking her legs against the back of Pam's seat unhappily, "You have to tell me what it is, Cece. What's wrong?"

"Puppy! Go 'dere!" Cece finally got out between sobs, her tiny hands clenching into tiny fists in frustration, and then it clicked in both her parents' minds what had happened.

"Cece, did you throw it?" Jim asked suspiciously before Pam could, his eyes moving to look at the toddler through the rearview mirror, and Cece quickly shook her head.

Throwing was Cece's current phase, much to everyone around her's disappointment. Everything got thrown. Toys, her toothbrush, Pam's phone, food, basically anything she could get her hands on usually went flying.

"We can't get it back now, Cece. You threw it and now we can't reach it!" Pam explained in a playful tone, attempting at getting Cece to finally learn about throwing as they'd been trying to get her to understand for weeks, as well as keep it light so she'd (hopefully) stop crying.

This, of course, backfired and sent the toddler into wails.

"Nice, mama," Jim teased, earning himself a light smack on the arm from his wife in return.

"Guess I'm going back. Sorry babe, you're on your own up here." Pam said with a playful pout towards him as she undid her seatbelt and climbed into the back in an attempt to calm the wailing toddler and track down where Puppy had gone.

"Want daddy!" Cece shouted, kicking her legs again as Pam buckled in next to her, pointing towards the front seat to emphasize her point.

"Daddy's driving, you can't have daddy right now," Pam explained, shifting so she could look over into the trunk.

"NO! Daddy!" Cece shouted again, and started off onto another set of wails.

Yeah, it was gonna be a long ride.

 -----

"You made it!" Larisa called, running down the front steps of the house to greet Jim as he got out of the car, quickly wrapping her older brother up in a tight hug, "mom was starting to get worried you guys had gotten in a fiery wreck or something with how long that took."

"Traffic was hell, baby was hell, the usual," Jim explained with a grin as he wrapped his arms around his sister as well, though he quickly let go and stepped aside as Pam climbed out of the backseat, Cece on her hip with Puppy in hand and her head on her shoulder.

"Cece, look who it is!" Pam said with an excited gasp, pointing to Larissa as she stood in front of them.

Cece's head shot up and she gasped as well, immediately struggling against Pam's grasp as she reached out towards her aunt, shouting "Wissa! Wissa!" as she did so.

"It's my favorite niece!" Larisa grinned, giving her sister-in-law a quick hug before taking the sqiurming Cece from Pam's arms and whispering to her, "don't tell your cousin I said that. It'll be our little secret, okay?" she asked the toddler in her arms, who nodded back and shouted an excited "Kee' Wissa secwe!"

"I'll take her inside so you guys can unpack?" Larisa offered, and Jim nodded, making a small shooing motion towards his sister, which she just responded to with a roll of her eyes and setting off towards the house, talking to Cece as she continued to babble on.

"There you are!" Betsy said as they finally pushed the front door open a few moments later, arms overflowing with everything as they had tried and successfully made it in one trip from the car, "I was starting to think you'd never make it. And when Cece came in, but no Jim or Pam, I started to wonder if she somehow learned to drive!"

"Hey, Betsy," Pam said with a small smile and laugh, letting go of her suitcase to wrap her arm around her mother-in-law as she greeted them, Larisa and Cece appearing in the doorway.

"That two hour drive ended up taking four," Jim explained with a dramatic groan, giving his mother an awkward one armed hug and kiss to the top of her head as he spoke, "day before Thanksgiving traffic seems to get worse every year. And we had to work until five, and pick up Cece, and then we still had to pack when we got home," he explained with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Oh! Cecelia was asking for a snack," Betsy said, eyeing the toddler suspiciously as she just blinked back at her grandma innocently, her thumb stuck in her mouth, "but I wasn't sure if she should have one this late or not?"

"A snack would actually be great," Pam said, reaching down to grab a hold of her suitcase again, "she got dinner before we left but I'm sure she's hungry again. She's gotta be tired too, though, because her bedtime was an hour ago and she still refuses to sleep in the car," she explained, and Betsy gave her a sympathetic smile, before gesturing to the stairs.

"Go unpack! We'll find something for Cecelia," she said, lightly pushing on Pam's back with a laugh, "You guys are in the first room on the left."

As they got to their room and started to put everything down, Pam's phone chimed and she pulled it out, sitting down on the bed and squinting at the small screen to read the rather long text from her Mom.

"Is that your mom?" Jim asked, sitting down next to Pam as she nodded and extending his hand to rub her back gently as she read.

"She said she's sorry for being ridiculous, and that she isn't mad at me. And to tell your mom hi from her, and that she'll call us tomorrow," she said after a couple moments of silence and typing back her response, setting her phone on the bed.

Jim grinned and patted her back as they both stood up again. "See? Just like I said, it's all good."

"I'll unpack everything and set up the pack n play, and you can go get Cece ready for bed?" Jim offered after a few minutes of unpacking, prompted by them both hearing Cece start to fuss from downstairs, but Pam just shook her head.

"She'll much happier for daddy to come get her. So go, make your little girl's whole day."

Jim just grinned and nodded, kissing Pam on the cheek before going back down the hall. Cece was nothing if she wasn't a daddy's girl, and  they both knew that good and well.

"You have to go to bed Cee, it's so late! Mama and daddy wanna sleep too," Pam heard Jim say as his footsteps sounded up the stairs, followed by some unintelligible whining from Cece, and then they appeared in the doorway.

"Look, mama set your bed up next to ours and everything! You get to sleep with us tonight!" He said excited, trying to keep her from having yet another fit. Pam just smiled as she watched the two of them interacting. It really never ceased to amaze her just how good he was with their daughter.

"Daddy Pooh?" Cece finally asked with a short sniffle as he sat her down on the bed and Pam went to change her into pajamas.

"Did you bring Pooh?" Jim asked as he bent down to look through her bag, and Cece just shrugged in response.

"I don't see Pooh in here. Is Bambi okay instead?" He asked, waving her Bambi picture book in the air.

"Bamy! Bamy!" Cece cheered in response, tears forgotten as she started jumping up and down on the bed while Pam tried to pull her pajama shirt over her head.

"Bambi it is," Jim said as he sat down on the bed, Cece immediately jumping back to curl up against his side as he leaned back against the pillows and started to read the Bambi book (which he almost had memorized from reading it so often at this point).

Pam laid back on the bed next to them, listening to her husband read the story as well. And before she knew it, she was out like a light right along with Cece.

"These sleepy girls. Unbelievable," Jim said quietly to himself once he'd finished the book and looked over to the girls next to him; though he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face at the sight.

He set the book down on the bedside table and carefully got up so not to move the bed too much. Luckily, Cece was always a hard sleeper, and he was able to easily lift her up and into the pack n play without her even stirring.

 -----

"Where's Pam?" Betsy asked as he returned downstairs, raising an eyebrow in his direction when he sat down on the chair next to the sofa.

"She fell asleep with Cece, and it's been such a long day that I didn't have the heart to wake her up." He explained with a laugh.

Noticing his dad wasn't around, he looked around questioningly before following Betsy's point over towards the sun room where his dad was snoring away in the chair.

"I should probably go up to bed soon too, if I'm gonna get up and help dad with the turkey in the morning."

"When does he want you to get up?" Larisa asked, looking up from the laptop in her lap for a moment.

"He told me six when we talked this morning," Jim said with a shudder, shaking his head as if that'd make the idea go away.

"Dear lord, then you really should get off to bed!" Betsy said, reaching over to pat her son's arm gently. "Go get some sleep, hun. We'll have time to chat and catch up in the morning. Me and Pam and Larissa are getting up at seven to start on the other dishes, so we'll have time then."

"You sure?" Jim asked with a small frown. They'd only gotten there a little while before, and he hadn't even gotten to talk to his mom yet. It just felt wrong not to stay up with her after that. But she just nodded.

"Go to your room, Jimmy!" She said in a mock scolding voice, and Jim couldn't help but cringe at the childhood nickname.

"Okay, okay! Yes ma'am!" Jim said, playing along as he raised his hands up in surrender.

"Night, Mom, 'Risa," He said as he stood up, bending down to give his mom a full hug as she opened her arms to him, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Tell Pam we said goodnight too!" Larisa called after him as he walked upstairs. 

As soon as he was back in their bedroom and turned on the light in the bathroom just off the room, Pam all but jumped awake, squinting at the clock above the dresser in an awkward half asleep state.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Jim said quietly from the doorway, causing her to whip her head around to look at him.

"How long was I out?" Pam asked as she walked into the bathroom next to him, pushing the door shut quietly as she spoke.

"Only a bit, but now it's bedtime. My mom said so." Jim said with wide eyes, sticking his toothbrush into his mouth before handing her the toothpaste.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they went through their nightly motions of getting ready for bed, brushing their teeth and changing, Pam taking out her contacts as Jim washed his face.

"I heard mom roped you into helping cook tomorrow, huh?" Jim asked in a hushed voice as they settled into bed, trying to remind himself that Cece was sound asleep only 3 feet away.

"She didn't rope me into it, I offered." Pam said with a roll of her eyes, placing her glasses on the bedside table and reaching to turn the lamp off.

"Mhmm," she heard Jim tiredly hum from the dark next to her as she settled down under the blanket.

It was only a moment before she felt Jim's hand pushing her to turn onto her side, so he could do the same behind her in their usual nightly spooning fashion.

"We have a lot to make too, so we have to get started early," she said, and before she could continue, she heard (or felt more than she heard) Jim mumble from behind her, "Cece may out-sleep all of us tomorrow,"

Smiling at his clearly sleepy tone, Pam placed her hands over his on her stomach and leaned back against him more, saying a quiet goodnight before letting herself drift off with him.

For the first time in a long time, Jim Halpert woke up to his alarm, and not his daughter crying and/or calling to Pam and him.

Granted, his alarm was set a lot earlier than he normally had it, but still. It was kinda impressive.

Thankfully, the alarm was quiet enough that it miraculously didn’t wake Cece up, which was mainly what he’d been afraid of.

But it had been loud enough to wake Pam up. Which was something Jim had been hoping not to do.

“What time is it?” Pam asked sleepily from next to him, her hand lightly hitting against his chest in what he guessed was a half-asleep attempt to find where he was.

“Early,” he answered back in a hushed voice, turning over from where he’d ended up on his back to wrap his arms around her for a short moment, burying his face against her neck as he sighed in defeat.

“How early?” She asked, her hand moving back to pat lightly against his hip, though she still had yet to open her eyes.

“Six AM early,” he replied, though his words were muffled against her neck so he tilted his head up again, “I’m going out at six in the morning, in the dark, and in below freezing and snowy weather, to cook a bird for everyone. I hope you’re all thankful for that sacrifice today.”

“Mhmm, very much so,” Pam said sleepily, taking her hand off his side to cover her mouth as she yawned.

“want me to get up with you?”

“No, don’t,” Jim said hurriedly, unwrapping his arms from around her so he could sit up, “Mom doesn’t expect you and Larisa up for another hour or two, so no need to get up with me. I’ll behave.” he teased, leaning over to kiss her cheek before finally climbing out of the nice warm bed that he really didn’t want to leave behind. And his wife too, of course, but… The bed was tempting.

“Mmm, okay,” Pam said quietly, her volume and tone indicating that she was already starting to drift off again.

-----

“Mama? Mamaaaa…” Cece whined, pressing herself up against the side of the pack n play, staring over at Pam as she continued to sleep through it. Finally, Cece just shouted “MAMA!” as loud as she could, which made Pam immediately jolt awake.

“What? What’s wrong, baby?” Pam asked worriedly as she quickly sat up and put her glasses on, sleepy squinting in the direction of the toddler in attempt to see what was wrong.

“Hi Mama!” Cece said with a triumphant smile, bouncing up and down in excitement that she’d finally woken her mama up.

“So bad, waking me up like that!” Pam sighed, but she couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head as she scooted to the end of the bed to lift her beaming daughter out of her bed.

“Mown kiss Mama!” Cece insisted, struggling to turn in Pam’s grasp for a moment before she pressed a few wet kisses to her cheek, then promptly sat back and waited for her to return the gesture.

“Good morning, sweet girl,” Pam said with a smile, pressing a much less slobbery kiss to her daughter’s own cheek, before she got up off the bed to change Cece.

“Where Daddy?” Cece asked as Pam laid her down on the bed, her head tilting back to stare at the ceiling as she sat.

“He’s outside with Granddaddy, getting things ready for today,” Pam explained, reaching for a clean pull-up. They’d been trying to transition Cece towards potty training now, but they hadn’t really gotten past the stage of pull-ups only during the day.

“We’re gonna eat so much good stuff today, and your cousins are gonna be here too!” Pam said excitedly, pulling Cece’s pajama pants back up and picking her up to sit against her hip again.

“Coosin?” Cece asked with a confused tilt of her head, a small pout landing on her lips in the way it always did when she wasn’t quite sure about something.

“Yes, Vanessa and Jeremy. Remember them?” Pam asked, pushing the bedroom door open and walking down the carpeted hallway towards the stairs as they talked.

“Nope!” Cece responded with an over exaggerated shake of the head, her short curls bouncing back and forth against her cheeks when she did.

“Well,” Pam started with a laugh, crossing across the living room and sunroom so they could go out onto the back porch where Jim and Gerald stood, “hopefully you’ll remember them later, because that might make-”

“DADDY!!!” Cece shouted as soon as Pam pushed the back door open and she could see Jim’s face, putting a hard stop to anything else Pam was going to say as she quickly started to squirm away from her and desperately reach towards him at the same time.

“There’s my Cece!” Jim said, raising his eyebrows and grinning widely as he walked over from where he and Gerald had been standing at the smoker, opening his arms to take the toddler from Pam.

“Daddy! Daddy, daddy!” Cece said excitedly, wrapping her arms around his neck and snuggling down against his chest the second he took her into his arms.

“Believe it or not, it was all about Mama when she woke up this morning,” Pam said with a roll of the eyes as she crossed her arms against the cold weather, “though that only lasted a minute, because then it was all ‘where’s Daddy!’”

“I’m just irresistible like that, Pammy. It wounds me that you haven’t realized that by now,” Jim said with a shrug, earning him a jab in the side from his wife in response.

“What’re you guys up to out here?” Pam asked, looking over towards the smoker curiously.

“Dad wanted to try to smoke the turkey this year, since Mom got him this smoker for his birthday. Neither of us quite know how to cook with it though, so this could be the most amazing Halpert turkey ever, or the worst ever too,” Jim said, his eyes widening again - but more in a ‘who knows’ expression, “we’ll just have to see and make a decision this afternoon.”

After a few minutes of chatting with Jim and eventually Gerald after he left the smoker’s side, Pam reached up to take Cece from Jim’s arms again.

“Come on, Cee. It’s freezing and you need to eat so mama and Gangy can start cooking!”

“Nooo! Mama, no!” Cece whined, burying her face against Jim’s shoulder, “stay Daddy!” she said, her words muffled against Jim’s shirt.

“Here,” Jim started as Pam stared at him with an expression that screamed ‘do something!’, “I can take a little break, how about we both go eat?” He asked Cece, tilting his head go look at the little girl who was nodding excitedly.

“It’s freezing Cece, lets get inside! Quick! We don’t want to freeze!” Jim said with false urgency, tightening his grip around a Cece when she gasped in response.

“Come on Mama! Go!” Cece said, pointing towards the back door as Jim pretend to run towards it.

Pam just rolled her eyes, an amused grin spread across her face, and opened the door, letting Gerald file in behind him before she followed along and closed the door.  

“What do you want to eat, my sweet little baby and big baby?” She asked, walking to the fridge while Jim sat the toddler down on the counter.

Cece sat in thought for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin (which was a habit she’d picked up from Jim after he kept doing it with her), before shouting “Yo-yo!”  

“Yo-yo it is,” Pam said, picking up a small yogurt cup from the back of the fridge, “your Mom won’t mind if we give her one of her yogurt cups, right?” She asked Jim, who was at the other end of the counter making coffee.

“Pam, you could give Cece every bit of food in this house, and my Mom wouldn’t mind one bit,” he reminded, snapping the top of the coffee maker down and pressing brew.

Pam nodded, taking one of the baby spoons from the drawer and handing it and the opened yogurt cup to Cece.

“Look, it’s strawberry flavored! I’m jealous!”

“Mmmm!” Cece hummed, stuffing a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth and giving a wide grin towards Pam, yogurt spilling from every corner of her mouth.

“Cece, ew! Don’t show me your food!” She said, picking up a napkin from the counter and carefully wiping around Cece’s mouth, who just sat there pouting.

“Me messy.” She said flatly once Pam left her to toss the napkin in the trash, crossing her arms as she continued to pout.

“Cece, eat your breakfast and don’t be grumpy, please?” Jim asked as he leaned back on the counter, raising an eyebrow towards his daughter, “you’re a big girl, right? Well, big girls eat nicely, so…” he said quietly, before shrugging and looking down at his feet.

Cece just stared at him for a second, before going back to shoveling the yogurt into her mouth.

Jim threw his hands up and shook his head, though he couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out.

“What do you want to eat?” Pam asked, pulling the fridge and squinting into it. The fridge was full of food to be prepped and ingredients to make food for Thanksgiving, but not much of anything else.

Jim poked his head over as well, his eyes scanning the food in front of them.

“Hmm, one single fried egg for the two of us? Or how about a couple strawberries?”

Pam just laughed, and pulled out two more yogurt cups, thrusting one out towards him (which he took gratefully, regardless of his dramatic sigh).

“GANGY!” Cece shouted right as Jim poured and handed a cup of coffee to Pam, causing them to both turn around.

“Cecelia!” Betsy said back, quickly scooping her granddaughter into her arms, Cece wrapping her arms around her grandmas neck the second she picked her up.

“Gangy!” Cece exclaimed again, pressing her head down against her grandma’s chest, and much to everyone’s dismay, dropping her yogurt cup to the floor in the process.

“I got it,” Jim said quickly, grabbing the paper towel roll and bending down before Pam could even react.

——-

“Pam, could you hand me the macaroni noodles?” Larisa asked, and Pam quickly handed the box to her before going back to the lemon pie recipe she’d been scrutinizing.

Pam, Betsy, and Larisa had spent the last 2 hours cooking for the afternoon. So far they’d made stuffing (which was not being stuffed in the turkey, after Larisa’s uproar), an apple pie, sweet potato pie, and prepped some potatoes to be mashed.

Now Pam was listening to Cece quietly singing to herself from the den where she was sitting with Jim and Gerald who were ‘watching the dog show’ (though it was so quiet she was pretty sure they’d fallen asleep) while she made the third pie of the day, Larisa tried to figure out how to make granny Halpert’s fancy macaroni, and Betsy finished her second glass of champagne and started her green bean casserole.

“Hey, you guys need any help?” Jim asked sleepily as he appeared in the doorway, rubbing at his eyes, confirming Pam’s suspicion about him being asleep.

“We’re actually close to done, now,” Betsy said, smiling at her son as he walked over to wrap his arms around Pam’s waist, watching her mix the ingredients for her filling from over her head, “did you know you’d married a master pie maker?”

“Oh Betsy, how you flatter me!” Pam teased, tilting her head back to kiss Jim’s chin before turning back to her mixture.

“DADDY!” Cece shouted from the den, followed by a tired groan from Gerald.

“Sorry,” Jim said, kissing the top of Pam’s head before letting go and walking back towards the den, “Daddy duty calls!”

——-

3:30pm on the dot, everything was done. All the side dishes, the turkey (which had turned out surprisingly well much to Jim and Gerald’s joy), deserts, all cooked and finished.

Everyone was changed into their nice Thanksgiving outfits, and Pam had even managed to tame Cece’s wild curls into little pigtails. Pam and Betsy had been thrilled, since it greatly matched the little dress Betsy had gotten her. Cece was less than thrilled, and was letting everyone know it by her grumping here and there.

“Where the hell are Pete and Tom? I’m starving!” Larisa groaned, throwing her head back against the back of the sofa.

Everyone had gathered around in the den while waiting for the other two Halpert siblings and their families to arrive, and they were still nowhere to be found.

It was 4:10, they were supposed to arrive at 4 and eat by 4:30. Sure, they were only 10 minutes late, but that 10 minutes felt like a long time in everyone’s very hungry minds.

“Language! There’s a baby here!” Jim exclaimed with mock disbelief, clearly joking as he reached over and placed his hands over Cece’s ears (who shrugged out from his hands in with a little hmmph sound)

“There they are!” Larisa shouted a few minutes later, jumping up to answer the door when ‘Tom, Pete, and Co.’ walked past the front window.

“It’s about to get chaotic,” Jim whispered to Pam as he leaned over to her ear, kissing her cheek briefly.

He stood up and scooped Cece into his left arm, and offered his free hand to Pam to help her up.

“Noo!” Cece complained as he picked her up. Her cousins ran through the door and she watched them, her mouth open a little bit. Pam couldn’t help but snicker at the sight of her daughter clearly trying to remember their faces.

They completely ignored Larisa, in favor of “Uncle Jim!!!” as they shouted and ran towards him, throwing their arms around him.

“No! My Daddy!” Cece whined, her hand reaching down to swat at their heads, only managing to actually hit Vanessa on the head.

“Cece!” Pam scolded softly, carefully grabbing her daughter’s hand and returning it to her own side, as Jim wrapped his free arm around his niece and nephew.

“How are you guys?” Jim asked, ruffling Jeremy’s head when he let go of Jim in favor of hugging Pam.

“I’m good,” Vanessa said with a small smile, her voice quiet and shy as ever. As Jeremy peeled off of Pam, Vanessa went to hug her as well, all but whispering “hey Aunt Pam.”

That was one thing Jim was always grateful for, how well Pam had meshed with his family. They’d only been together for a little more than 3 years now, but with how they were with her and how she was with them, it was as if she’d known them for years. It’d been like that ever since the first time she met them.

“We made it!” Pete shouted as he and Tom rushed in behind the kids, their wives - Laura and Kathryn - walking up the sidewalk behind them.

“We’re starving after the drive, can we eat yet Mom?” Tom asked Betsy while both brothers hugged both their parents.

One thing Pam noticed right away (but of course didn’t say anything about) was this : they hadn’t brought any food. Which felt small and insignificant, and Pam was pretty sure she shouldn’t be thinking about it, but it still kinda bothered her… Everyone in the house had spent all morning and afternoon preparing, and they didn’t bring anything, or even come when Betsy had asked them to?

Pam was sure she was just being ridiculous, but when she glanced at Jim she noticed a small frown on his face and knew he was thinking the same thing she was.

-----

Thanksgiving dinner was going great. All the food had turned out great, Jim had been able to set up Cece’s highchair with no trouble, everyone was happily chatting and eating. Exactly what Thanksgiving should be, in Pam’s eyes.

That got cut short though, when Pam heard her phone ring from the other room for the third time in the last 5 minutes.

“I think I better answer that, excuse me,” Pam said quietly, pushing her chair back and quickly walking back to the kitchen.

Jim bit down on his lip as she watched her go. After looking around the table, he winced when he saw everyone had gone quiet to try to listen to what Pam was saying. But she wasn’t really saying much, so the conversation was clearly very one-sided.

At that point, he was pretty certain it must’ve been either Helene or Penny, and from the look on Pam’s face when she walked back, he was even more certain he’d been right.

“You okay?” He asked under his breath when she sat down and the chatter around the room picked up again.

Pam just nodded, placing her napkin back in her lap once she was fully seated again.

“It’s fine, I’ll tell you about it later.”

Jim nodded, scooting  his hand over into her lap to move his fingers across the top of her leg, something he knew usually comforted her.

“So!” Betsy said, trying to steer the mood of the room back to something more cheerful, “Shall we go around and tell what we’re thankful for?” She asked, and everyone nodded in agreement.

It was mostly generic things coming up from around the table as each person stood up.

Tom had said something about being thankful for a good work quarter and a good Phillies season, and ‘oh yeah, Kathryn and Vanessa too’. Pete had said something of about the same measure.

Betsy got really emotional saying about how happy and thankful she was to have her kids and daughter-in-laws and grandkids all under one roof, and Gerald agreed with what she’d said, though he added ‘and also that good Phillies season’.

Vanessa had said something about her friends, and Jeremy said “sports, video games, and my dog.” And after Pam and Jim spent a good 3 minutes trying to explain to Cece what the concept of being thankful for things was, she just shouted “Puppy and Daddy!”

When it came around to Pam, she swallowed hard, but smiled and stood up.

“I’m thankful for Jim, for being my best friend and partner through everything and forever. For Cece, for being my sweet, silly, and crazy little girl who made me lucky enough to be her mom. For all my family here today, and for my mom and sister back in Scranton.”

Jim leaned over and kissed her cheek when she sat back down, getting him a smile from her. But he couldn’t help but notice how she hadn’t mentioned her dad. That could not be good.

Jim’s little speech wasn’t much different from Pam’s, though for some reason he couldn’t quite understand it had make her get all teary.

“You okay, Bees?” He asked as he sat down again, and she just nodded, her lips pressing quickly to his in a small kiss.

“You just make me happy, is all.”

-----

An hour later, all the dishes had been cleaned up, food was put away, and everyone was relaxing in the den.

The guys were ‘watching football’, which really seemed to mean Jim was watching while Gerald, Tom, and Pete had all passed out around the room.

The women (besides Pam, who had opted to just sit next to Jim on the couch) were off in the sunroom talking about who knows what (and Jim and Pam were both fairly certain Larisa was pretty tipsy).

The kids all sat on the floor, a coloring book and crayons spread out between them.

With the occasional complaining from Jeremy about Cece scribbling on his picture, everything seemed to be going well over there.

“Hey,” Jim said quietly, nudging Pam’s shoulder with his, “want to go on a walk? Get out of here for a minute?” he asked, and she quickly nodded.

Pam went to the sun room, opting to ask Laura to keep an eye on Cece instead of Betsy, seeing as she was starting to seem pretty tipsy herself. At the same time, Jim went to get their coats, and in only a few moments they were out on the sidewalk, walking hand in hand around the block.

“So,” Jim asked after a few moments of walking, pausing for a beat to carefully choose what he was about to say, “was that your Mom calling earlier?”

Pam shook her head, her head tilting down toward her feet as she began to speak.

“It was Penny. She said Mom was being a little… Weird, but other than that things were going well. Then Dad called, asking if Penny could come over to his house instead. Of course she didn’t, since she already had plans with Mom, but that still made mom understandably really upset, and totally reset her issues from yesterday.”

Jim nodded understandingly as he listened, squeezing her hand when she stopped, his gentle way of urging her to go on.

“Then apparently Dad got annoyed with Penny for not wanting to come over and…” Pam trailed off, shaking her head again, “Needless to say, Penny was really upset. And she was in tears when she called me. And the whole situation just made me feel so bad for not being there, you know? And also made me really wonder when my Dad is gonna stop being such a jerk through all this. I mean, I love my Dad, but… God,” she said, bumping her head against his shoulder.

Jim sighed, moving his hand up from Pam's to wrap his arm around her shoulder instead. "I'm really sorry, Bees. That really is a lot to have to deal with, especially when you aren't there," he said, pressing his lips to the top of her head in a gentle kiss. 

“Can we please agree to never be like that during Thanksgiving, and not subject Cece and any other future Halpert kids to that kinda thing?” She asked, a genuine laugh following, bumping her shoulder against his.

“Absolutely we can,” Jim said, nodding adamantly as they rounded the corner back towards his parents’ house.

“Also, what the hell was up with my brothers not bringing anything?” Jim asked, his eyes wide as he looked over to his wife, who nodded quickly.

“I know! I would never think to show up to a Thanksgiving thing with no food or drinks or anything, especially if my parents were the ones planning it!” Pam agreed, her eyes widening to match his same look. This, of course, made them both break out into grins.

“Next year, we should just stick around at home for Thanksgiving. You, me, Cece, some food, and no extended family. Which kinda sucks, but also means no family drama, so I think we deserve that for at least one year,” Jim suggested, leading Pam up the sidewalk back to the house.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

This didn’t happen, of course, as they continued to spend every Thanksgiving with the Halperts (and occasionally the Beeslys joined in as well), even as they gradually got bigger, busier, and even more chaotic over the years with the editions of Philip, Gerald and Betsy’s really big dog named Porky, and Laura and Pete’s first kid.

But the whole family would tell you that they didn’t want it any other way. It was the Halpert Thanksgiving Extravaganza, after all.