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Marlene is excited as she knocks on the door of Remus and Sirius’s house. She’s been so busy with work lately that she hasn’t had much time to spend with the people she loves and Friendsgiving is the perfect excuse. Being a paramedic is so rewarding and it keeps Marlene on her toes, but sometimes the work hours are outrageous.
James answers the door and gestures inside with a grin. She heads towards the table already piled with potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, Lily’s famous carrots, and sweet potato samosas and sets down a pumpkin roll and pumpkin pie she spent hours slaving over the night before. Marlene is no great cook, so hopefully the pumpkin pie doesn’t taste like the sea because there’s a slight chance she might have added salt instead of sugar. Oh well.
Marlene turns and examines the room, finding Remus and Sirius curled up together on the end of the couch, the former reading a book and the latter drooling on his husband’s shirt while he naps. Through the window she can see Mary and Lily playfully chasing their son Harry across the backyard as he laughs cheerfully, his four year old cherub cheeks rosy with laughter. James is anxiously waiting by the door, twisting his fingers painfully as he waits for the others to arrive.
Marlene heads over to him and lightly sets her hand on his shoulder, frowning when he jumps. He smiles sheepishly and sighs.
“I know, I know Marls. I have nothing to be afraid of, but this is the first time he’s meeting you all. And what if he and Sirius don’t get along? I can’t give either of them up, I can’t!” He chews on his thumbnail anxiously.
“James, James. Calm down. Sirius and Regulus will be fine, Regulus was literally a groomsman at Sirius’s wedding not even two weeks ago. And your boyfriend will love us, we’ll all be on our best behavior, promise.”
“I know that, I do, but some of Regulus’s friends have… difficult personalities, I’ll put it that way. I’m just worried everybody will clash and the day will be ruined. This is everybody’s first time meeting, I want it to go perfectly. Maybe this was a mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake. It’s understandable that you want to meld your two worlds together and what better time than a day people are focusing on loved ones and gratitude. It’ll all work out and by the end of the day we’ll all be dancing around in a circle singing kum ba yah.”
“I hope so.” James furrows his brows anxiously and continues wearing down his thumbnail to the quick. Marlene frowns.
“It will. Actually, I’ll make it so. I promise to do whatever I can to make this day as seamless as possible for the blending of your and Regulus’s friend groups. Scouts honor,” Marlene holds up her right hand.
“Marls, you’re amazing and I’m totally going to take you up on that offer. You’re the best.” James pulls her into a tight hug. After a few seconds of having the air squeezed out of her, she pounds on his back until he releases her.
“Yeah, no problem. Just don’t worry too much, okay? Enjoy Friendsgiving, you spent so much effort putting it together, you deserve it.”
“Yeah, okay. Love you Marls.”
He continues waiting by the door but appears considerably more relaxed and releases his poor mutilated thumb. Marlene heads over to the back door and leaves it unopened, choosing instead to watch her two best friends exist happily together. She really is thankful, when she was younger she would have never dreamed of having so many people she cared about who loved her right back.
Marlene had grown up in a very strictly religious Catholic household and had wholeheartedly believed in her faith until she realized that she was one of the people it was against. She struggled with her sexuality all throughout her childhood because of it and hated the part of herself that was so natural but deemed evil by those who were supposed to cherish and support every aspect of her.
She attended a private Catholic university for two years to get a degree in education so she could be a primary teacher just like her mother, but realized halfway through that her life was on a trajectory she didn’t even remotely want. She wasn’t attracted to men and she most definitely didn’t want to marry one. She didn’t even like kids or want any, why would she want to be a teacher? And the thought of attending the same church in the same small town in a life just like her mother’s made Marlene want to vomit.
She dropped out of school and moved to Washington state, working as a waitress for about nine months as she saved up to go back to school and actually figure out what she wanted to do. She attended a small university to become a paramedic and worked hard to succeed in the life she chose for herself. She eventually graduated and started working at a low ranking hospital where the staff was overworked and underappreciated, but later transferred to one of the best hospitals in the state where she met James.
Meeting James opened up Marlene’s world. Marlene had known she was a lesbian since she was old enough to understand attraction, but she hadn’t actually dated anyone until James set her up with Grace. They hadn’t lasted long but Marlene learned and grew a lot. She met Mary through Remus because they both worked at the same high school and Lily through James because they were dating at the time, and before them Marlene had never experienced unconditional female friendship untarnished by differences in sexuality or faith.
Marlene was gifted a group of people who cared for and accepted her for who she was and she loved them right back. She has not once taken their friendship for granted and at every turn has done her best to show her appreciation in every way possible. So if Marlene has to keep two packs of rabid humans off each other for the night then so be it. Marlene would cut herself into pieces for the people she loves, that’s just the kind of person she is.
The doorbell rings and Marlene can hear the door being hurriedly pulled open. She can faintly hear a humph of air being pushed out of a body and James’ sigh of relief. So, Regulus then. She’s only once met him before briefly when he came to James’ birthday party but left soon after when he got in a fight with Sirius.
Marlene heads towards the door where James is still strangling his boyfriend and Regulus’s face has started to turn purple from lack of oxygen.
“James,” Marlene groans. “Let him go, you’re killing him.”
James releases his boyfriend and Regulus sends her an appreciative look. James looks between them and smiles.
“Marlene, Regulus. Regulus, Marlene. You remember each other, don’t you?”
“Yes, James. I remember your boyfriend.” Marlene extends her hand and Regulus shakes it.
“Lovely to see you again Marlene. Do you know where the food table is?” He gestures to a bench where a platter of deviled eggs sits.
“Oh, I can take that for you. I don’t mind.” After Regulus gives his permission Marlene grabs the dish and makes her way to the table, setting it down where the appetizers are situated.
The doorbell rings again and Marlene once again makes her way to the front of the house. There she finds an uncannily blond couple with a young silvery haired daughter. The adults are shaking hands and Marlene inserts herself, waiting for an introduction.
“Marlene, this is Pandora, Xenophilius, and their daughter Luna, and guys this is Marlene.”
“It’s lovely to meet you,” Marlene shakes hands with the pair.
“Please, call me Xeno,” the blond man corrects, and Marlene smiles.
“Do you know where we can set this down?” Pandora asks, pointing to her daughter who is holding two containers of what looks like tofurky and what Marlene can assume is meatless stuffing.
“Here, I can take it for you.” Marlene is handed the containers by the little girl and heads to the dining room, situating the food in the middle of the table. She then heads upstairs to go to the bathroom. While she’s relieving herself, she hears two more parties arrive and even more chaos downstairs.
As she walks down the staircase she spies Peter and his new girlfriend Emmeline, and two men who she assumes to be Barty and Evan, Regulus’s friends. Remus and Sirius have also risen and are mingling, and Mary, Lily, and Harry have come inside. She heads over to Remus who looks like he’s being introduced to Peter’s girlfriend.
After meeting the sweet girl and talking some about her two sons who are with their dad for the holiday, Marlene heads to the daunting pair lurking in the corner and half ignoring Mary as she struggles to make conversation.
Mary gives her a thankful look as she settles in beside her, Barty and Evan sparing her one dismissive glance before returning to their silent vigil.
She and Mary make stilted conversation with the couple before giving up and heading to the drink table to fill up two glasses of white wine.
“Tough crowd,” Mary comments, taking a long drink out of her glass.
“Very,” Marlene agrees, taking an even bigger swallow.
She mingles for a while, getting to know the more approachable members of Regulus’s friend group. Pandora is truly a lovely woman and her daughter is very unique but wonderful as well.
The doorbell suddenly rings again and Marlene frowns. She thought everyone who was coming had already arrived tonight? She’s the closest person to the door so she answers it, pausing in shock when she sees who’s on the other side: a beautiful dark skinned woman with chocolate eyes and box braids to her waist, the tips a metallic silver.
“Um, Hi.”
“Hi,” the other woman smiles, her dimples on display. “Um. Are you going to let me in?”
“Yes! Yes, come in.” Marlene moves to the side to hold the door open and let the woman slip through the entrance. Once they’re both inside, the other woman sets down her load, turns to Marlene, and holds out her hand.
“Hi, I’m Dorcas.”
“Marlene,” she shakes Dorcas’s hand. “So, what brings you here?”
Dorcas chuckles. “I’m Regulus’s friend. Did you really let me in without knowing that?”
“Maybe.”
“I could have been a murderer. You could be dead right now,” Dorcas laughs incredulously.
“Then I would die happy looking into your pretty eyes.” Marlene replies and smirks.
“Smooth. Very smooth.”
“Thanks,” Marlene replies. “So how did you meet Regulus?”
“We met at our first job, we both worked at the library. How did you meet James?”
“We’re both paramedics, work at the same hospital.”
“A paramedic? I’m a resident. What hospital do you work at?”
“Oh, the UW Medical Center in Seattle. What about you?”
“I work at the same one! It’s crazy we’ve never met.”
“Who says we haven’t? Locked eyes over the same patient, sat across from each other in the cafeteria.”
Dorcas smirks. “Trust me, I would have remembered. Besides, I’m an anesthesia resident, we wouldn’t have met in the ER.”
Before Marlene can reply, they’re interrupted by Luna who runs up and hugs the other woman’s legs.
“Aunt Cas!” The little girl squeals. “I missed you.”
Dorcas leans down and envelopes the blond in a proper hug.
“I missed you too, Munchkin. Would you mind putting something on the food table for me?”
The little girl nods and runs off after being handed a large carrot cake. Dorcas picks up a bottle of red wine and turns back to Marlene.
“Do you know where I would put this?”
“Oh here, I’ll show you.”
Marlene leads Dorcas through the entryway and to the bustling room that is filled with people at this point. She shows her the drink table and the other woman barely has time to set down her bottle before a pale hand is wrapping around her wrist and pulling her towards the kitchen.
Dorcas glances back apologetically as Regulus pulls her out of sight and Marlene frowns at her sudden departure. Oh well, she’ll just have to talk to her again later. That is one woman who will be hard to forget.
Marlene mingles until the smell of turkey fills the air and everybody is called to sit down. She takes a seat next to Emmeline on her right and Lily on her left. She looks up and notices that Dorcas has sat directly across from her and she smiles at the woman.
It isn’t long before Sirius is standing up and tapping his spoon against his glass, causing the table to fall silent. The man clears his throat and begins.
“I thought we could all go around the table and say what we’re thankful for. I’ll begin. I’m thankful for my husband,” Sirius emphasizes, smirking at his use of the new title. “I love you babe. I’m also thankful for my brother and how we both escaped that god forsaken house alive, wasn’t looking up for a while there.” Regulus face palms. “To my friends, you quite literally saved my life. I love you all.”
Sirius sits down and gestures for Remus on his right to stand up. He does this begrudgingly and quietly clears his throat.
“I suppose I’m thankful for my husband,” Sirius preens at the word. “My mother’s good health, and my friends. I’m very thankful for you all.”
It continues like that down the table: James, Regulus, Dorcas, Barty, Evan, Pandora, Luna in a long unintelligible monologue, Xeno, Harry, Lily, and finally Marlene. She stands and takes a deep breath.
“I’m thankful to my friends, you guys are my family. I don’t know where I’d be without you and I’m so thankful I’ve found you guys. I’m grateful for my work and I’m looking forward to new opportunities,” she quickly glances at Dorcas. “I’m so thankful to be here and I don’t take any of it for granted.”
Marlene sits and Emmeline and Peter give their thanks before the table digs in. Pandora’s tofurky has a surprisingly good flavor and tenderness, and James’ sweet potato samosas are as tasty as usual.
When everyone is stuffed and even the slow eaters are finished, they move on to dessert. They dig into pumpkin roll, carrot cake, and pecan and pumpkin pie. (Marlene is embarrassed to admit she did indeed use salt and everyone did indeed spit out her dish after one bite)
Marlene only has to interrupt one lively ‘debate’ as they call it, between Mary and Barty which she considers a win. Sirius and Regulus get into it but the latter seems to take pity on James when he notices him panicking and ends the argument. Overall, the two groups seem to be assimilating well and Marlene starts to see how one day she could consider some of them lifelong friends.
After eating, everybody collapses on the couch in satisfied heaps and Sirius pulls out his guitar and begins lightly strumming it and humming under his breath. Marlene gets up to go to the bathroom but when she gets back she finds her spot taken by James’ outstretched legs.
She pushes his legs with her hands but he only groans and buries his face further in his boyfriend’s shirt. Marlene sighs and looks around, noting the absence of free couch space and the woman seated on the ground. Marlene approaches Dorcas and settles in beside her, folding her legs to match the other woman.
“Hey,” Marlene whispers. “What did you think of today?”
“It was great. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a big gathering like this, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s nice.”
They settle into each other’s company and enjoy the companionship in silence. Marlene’s eyes are just starting to flutter shut when she hears a soft sigh and feels a heavy weight land on her shoulder.
She looks over and sees Dorcas peacefully sleeping while nestled against her and all the lingering fatigue leaves her body. The other woman’s mouth slightly parts in her slumber and a soft snore fills the air.
She looks so peaceful while she rests and Marlene feels an uncontrollable urge to protect her. She smiles and lightly lays her head down on top of Dorcas’, quickly falling into sleep, her body unconsciously nestling closer to the other woman in their slumber.
Marlene wakes to someone lightly tapping her shoulder. She opens her eyes and finds Evan waking her and the one her body is entangled with. Somehow in their sleep Dorcas had ended up half on top of Marlene and half underneath her. If she didn’t know their position was entirely sleep induced she would have blushed, but unfortunately their situation wasn’t anything other than innocent.
Evan once again taps on Dorcas’s and Marlene’s shoulders but the other woman only groans and buries her face farther into Marlene’s chest.
“Cas,” Evan whines. “Come on, you took an Uber here. Me and Barty are your ride, we have to go.”
“Just go without me,” Dorcas mumbles.
Evan glances at Marlene. “You’re going to hate me in the morning and you don’t have a car.”
“I don’t care. I’m comfortable.”
“I can drive her in the morning, I don’t mind.” Marlene suggests, not particularly wanting the other woman to move either, rather liking the position she’s found herself in.
“Okay,” Evan sighs and stands. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The man walks away and Marlene drifts back to sleep, grasping the other woman tighter in her arms.
It’s not until morning when Marlene’s eyes flutter open and squint against the bright morning sunlight does she remember the night before and realize the magnitude of the situation. She spits out a lock of her own blond hair and groans as she pulls herself onto her elbows, noting the lack of human blanket formerly covering her chest.
Marlene rises off the floor and makes her way to the kitchen, not spying the other woman but noticing an almost full pot of coffee left on the counter and the back door cracked slightly open. She grabs a mug, fills it with black coffee and then adds a great deal of cream and sugar.
She peeks out the door and finds Dorcas perched on the porch swing smoking a cigarette. Marlene approaches softly and plops beside the woman, making her jump slightly.
“You smoke?” Marlene asks, for some reason she wasn’t expecting that.
“Not much, only when I’m… I picked up the habit from Regulus I mean.”
“Oh? Can I have one?”
Dorcas glances up at her surprised, but hands her a cigarette and a lighter nonetheless. Marlene struggles but eventually gets it lit, placing it in her mouth and inhaling smoothly.
“You smoke? Dorcas questions, sounding surprised.
“Not much. I picked up the habit from Lily, James calls them death sticks.”
Dorcas laughs. “Regulus calls them the same thing. Doesn’t stop him from doing it though.”
Marlene chuckles in reply and they fall into a contemplative silence. They both sip on their coffee and when she’s done Marlene prepares to rise from her seat when a hand against her wrists halts her.
“Wait. Just- I’m sorry for last night.”
Marlene frowns. “Sorry? For what?”
“For falling asleep on your shoulder and refusing to leave. It’s just- I feel like we were getting along and then I went and made it awkward.”
“Trust me, I didn’t mind last night at all. And it doesn’t have to be awkward now if you don’t want it to.”
“Yeah, okay.” Dorcas releases Marlene’s wrist and leans back in the porch swing.
“Do you-” Marlene clears her throat. “Can I have your number?”
Dorcas glances up at Marlene surprised. “Yeah, okay, sure.”
Dorcas pulls out her phone and opens contacts, handing it to the other woman. Marlene puts in her number and name, snapping a photo for the profile picture. She hands it back and Dorcas smiles at the screen.
“So, who’s all still here?” Marlene asks.
“Well, Sirius and Remus obviously because it’s their house, and Regulus and James might have stayed the night in the spare bedroom but that’s it. Remus left for work a while ago but other than that no one’s been down.”
“Yeah, Remus is a teacher, that makes sense. What time do you want to leave? I’m driving you, right?”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I can just wake up Regulus, but either way I’m in no rush.”
“I don’t mind, I’m already up. I’m going to get more coffee, do you want some?”
Dorcas hands Marlene her mug and the latter heads inside, filling up both cups but leaving the second black like she had noticed it was before. When Dorcas is handed her mug she smiles bashfully into her drink.
They eventually rise and Marlene drives Dorcas to her apartment, bidding her goodbye with a chaste kiss on her cheek. All throughout the next week they text and call constantly, talking about anything and everything. They soon meet for coffee, and then a movie date and then dinner. By Christmas they’re officially girlfriends and by Easter they’re moving in together, perhaps a recipe for disaster but neither of them caring much. The next Thanksgiving Marlene thinks back on their time together.
Marlene lays on the roof with her girlfriend beside her, staring at the stars and holding hands.
“Do you remember how exactly a year ago we didn’t know each other?”
Dorcas chuckles. “Mm, no. I don’t remember.”
“And now I can’t imagine my life without you.”
Dorcas squeezes Marlene’s hand tight. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll always be here.”
Marlene turns her head so that she’s staring into the other woman’s eyes. “I want that to be true. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Dorcas’s eyes widen and her breath catches. “Is this- are you proposing?”
Marlene smiles. “No, not right now. But soon, if you want that?”
“Yes,” Dorcas laughs and kisses her girlfriend. “Yes, I want that. I want to spend the rest of my life with you too.”
“Okay then.” Marlene pulls Dorcas into her chest and nestles her head into her hair. She lets the feeling of safety and contentment fill her and a smile overtakes her face. Yes, she is so undeniably irrevocably gone for this woman. Yes, she’s one of the lucky ones.