Glee: Back to the Top (the third book in the Glee series)

Chapter 40: Always

There are A LOT of musical numbers in this chapter. I actually ended up cutting like five of them (some of which were postponed and others just completely eliminated). So I hope that's a good thing and that you all can enjoy it! :) 
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"Amen," said Veronica as she opened her eyes. Her son lifted his head, as did her husband and their guests, but she could tell that Julie and Cory had not been praying. After sighing, she said, "Ok, let's begin shall we."

The Vasquez-Roberts family had a tradition now, and that was that they'd open their doors to anyone and everyone during their holidays. This year, this consisted of their three kids, plus Kitty and John.

"Mmh, this is great, Tony," Kitty said as she dug into her turkey slices. 

"Thank you," Mr. Vasquez grinned at her. Cory gave everyone funny looks.

"Since when is the cheerleader on a first-name basis with our dad?" he asked Julie. She responded with a simple grin before stuffing her face with mashed potato.

"Hungry much?" John asked her, laughing.

"I love mashed potatoes," she stated with a shrug as she continued.

"Ok, how about we go around and say why we're thankful?" Kitty offered up blissfully.

Veronica grinned and said, "That's an excellent idea, Kitty!"

Kitty smiled at her, glad to receive her approval. "I'll go first," she said. "I am very thankful for this family. You're all very kind to me and I appreciate how much you do for me... Oh and Bree! She's also like family and I'm so glad she's getting help."

Veronica put her hand to her chest and then turned to Dan, who added, "Umm, I'm thankful for my faith. If not for it, I don't know who I'd even be..."

Cory cleared his throat and said, "I guess I'm thankful for having the opportunity to be here this week. Getting to see Julie shake it in front of a sophomore was quite—"

Although John and Julie were laughing, Veronica was not pleased. She frowned, so Mr. Vasquez glared at his children and forced them to settle down. 

John cleared his own throat now, ending his chuckles as he said, "I'm really thankful for a lot this year. The band, my friends, Marley, all of you... And I'm thankful that my parents can enjoy their three-week cruise and feel completely fine about not inviting me to it. Good for their consciences. Good for my band's rehearsals."

Julie pressed her lips, repressing a smile, as everyone turned to her. She opened her mouth but nothing came out, as she couldn't come up with a single answer to what seemed like a pretty easy question to answer.

***

"And then we tried to tell them that we had enough yachts already but they insisted," Tammy Montgomery said as she patted the corners of her mouth with a folded napkin. "So now we have our fourth beauty. This one's all for our baby." She turned to Stefan and gave him a smile, which he forced himself to return. Across the table from him, Alex was giving him a funny look. As soon as his parents had announced that they'd be spending their dinner at the Zimmermans' house, he knew it wouldn't be a fun experience.

"We have resisted the urge to buy Alex anything that requires such responsibility," Mr. Zimmerman responded, glancing briefly at his son. "Kids are fickle. Fallible... Irresponsible... We barely allow Alexis to drive a car."

"I thought your name was Alexander," Stefan muttered to Alex, who shook his head as he creased his brow.

"Nonsense, Walter," Harold Montgomery responded to Mr. Zimmerman's remark. "The kids need to experience these things before we set them free. Make mistakes while they can still fall back into our protection."