”Hat stays on…” Sam said chopping some celery and throwing it into a pan. He wasn’t looking at Alex but he could feel the kid moving towards the hat. ”Apron too!” Sam said as he grabbed a handful of apples and quickly started chopping them. Once the seeds and the core was pushed into the garbage Sam dropped them into the pan and then stirred his concoction. He never made stuffing before but it seemed simple enough. Looking over the recipe he looked over to Alex who was wearing a smaller less important hat than Sam and an apron that said “Son!” while Sam’s of course said, “Dad!”

Sam knew it probably wouldn’t have been the best way for Alex and Juliette to meet for the first time but he never was good at dealing with awkward situations. The fact that this was a family thanksgiving dinner and that Sam didn’t actually have a not-real family anymore. He was feeling conflicted. While he did want them to meet he was using that as an excuse for him to not be alone on thanksgiving. One of the holidays he recalled too fondly when he was being mind controlled.

Sam turned in the smaller apartment kitchen at one of his safe houses and raised an eyebrow to Alex, ”How’s the turkey looking son!?!” Sam asked clearly too loud and too not sober to care. He turned to his glass, which was half empty beer, and he took a sip. ”and the ham?” he said with a quitter voice as the Zeppelin was playing on the old radio in the background. It was his thanksgiving and he was going to have it how he wanted.

”Juliette should be here soon, there is a suit in the smaller bedroom closet for you.” the icemancer said as he slid over to one of the cabinets and pulled some plates from the table.

Thanksgiving was a weird concept for him. While he understood it perfectly well, he had always been on the outside looking in. This was the first time he was actually involved. So he was understandably uncomfortable with the hat and the apron Sam had given him. The hat in particular. While it wasn't as big as his dad's, it still felt like it was wobbling all over the place and generally felt unnecessary. But Sam's pointed command while not even looking at him was enough to at least try to get him not to.

So on the hat and apron stayed. Not that it mattered much, he was nearly done with his portion of the ham and turkey. The mash-potatoes were ready for baking and so was the mac n' cheese. The biscuits was already done and Sam was taking care of the stuffing. It was a little too much food for just the three of them. But these were foods he had asked for and, well, leftovers for days. He wasn't going to complain about that.

"How’s the turkey looking son!?! And the ham?"

"Ham's done and ready for the oven. Turkey's just waiting on the stuffing. Remember the turkey has to be in extra long to bake the stuffing all the way through."he answered, wishing he had been allowed a beer but again didn't complain. Sam wanted at least one of them sober. He opened the oven, hefted the ham up and slid it on to the bottom rack.

"Juliette should be here soon, there is a suit in the smaller bedroom closet for you."

Alex nodded and washed his hands in the sink. "Alright, all go change now since everything just needs to be baked now."he said playfully flicking some water in his dad's direction before trotting off to get changed. He wasn't a fan of suits but apparently that was another thing about this holiday. You had to dress nice, even if it was just three people enjoying a meal together.

Juliette wasn’t entirely sure why she was standing in front of the door to one of Sam’s safe houses on Thanksgiving. She would have voted to just let the holiday pass, or to do something with a little less weight than meeting his adopted son for the first time over a meal which was known for awkwardness and family fights.

She had worn a simple dress. Something that was casual, but still counted as dressing up for the event. For some reason there was a strange feeling deep in her gut that she needed to make a good impression on Alex. There were probably loads of reasons why, many of which Devon could probably tell her, but she didn’t want to look too deeply into them.

She took a deep breath and readied herself, gripping a teetering store-bought pumpkin pie, stacked on top of a pecan one in one hand while the other tried the door. It was open, thankfully, so she didn’t have to stand outside and wait for the door to be answered.

Juliette stepped inside and looked around to see Sam standing in the kitchen. She had been expecting to see Alex there with him, but he was alone. Maybe he had just gone to get something, or he was going to arrive later. In a way, it made it easier for her to enter the kitchen, since there wasn’t the added pressure of having to introduce herself right away.

“Hey,” she greeted somewhat casually, and set the pies down on the counter. ”Smells awesome. Where’s Alex?”

She gave him a good look up and down once she had taken in the rest of the scene. He was drinking already, and it didn’t look to be a small amount. Wonderful. As if the dinner wasn’t going to strange enough. Plus, his apron had a big “Dad!” printed on the front. She was clearly in for something unlike anything else.

Sam could feel his girlfriend’s body heat before she got to the door so when she greeted him he wasn’t too surprised however he acted a little surprised, ”Hey backatcha.” Sam said as he left the plates on the counter to greet Juliette with a kiss. ”Thank you, and you look beautiful.” Sam said with a smirk before he nodded his head towards the smaller bedroom. ”He’s suiting up.” Sam said as he took a step back from her and reentered the kitchen.

Grabbing the plates and setting them out on the table along with the silverware, ”didn’t know the kid knew how to cook. Makes things easier when I want to throw together a fam- a dinner.” Sam said correcting himself and walking back into the kitchen and lifting his beer and taking a sip before he pointed to her glass. ”Not as well stocked as the back of my office but I got a few things. Beer or wine?” Sam asked turning around and glimpsing the oven.

”I need a supervisor anyways while Alex is gone.” Sam lifted the turkey and stuffing and placed it in the oven along with the ham. Sam then set the timer. ”I don’t have an apron for you though… hope that’s alright.” he said gesturing down to his apron then smirking.

(OOC: Sorry for the late reply, work caught me in it's grasp after Thanksgiving.)

Alex fiddled with his tie for a moment before giving up. This was maybe the second time he had to wear one in a long time and he really didn't enjoy it. Always felt too tight around his neck. Maybe that was just the nerves talking. Sam's girlfriend was supposed to show up and they were supposed to meet and have a civil dinner. But he didn't know what Sam told her. Did he tell her about the trial and everything? Or was this just going to be a surprise?

He really hoped it wasn't a surprise for her. He didn't want to feel bad for something he had no control over. People still tiptoed around him if they didn't have the full story. Which was basically everybody...

He heard the front door open and Sam talking to someone; female voice, that must be her. No more time to mess with his tie, it was time to introduce himself. Stepping out and back down the hall to the kitchen he saw her back first. "Uh, hey, you must be Juliette, nice to finally meet you,"he said holding out his hand for a shake, all the while internally begging that she wouldn't freak out, that Sam had told her everything about him.

She moved behind Sam and grabbed three glasses from the cupboard, setting them down in front of the plates. She raised an eyebrow at him as he corrected his slip up, but didn't say anything about the matter. Things were awkward enough as it was, and she wasn't about to dig any deeper into it.

"I'll have a beer," Juliette shrugged, looking behind her to if Alex was coming. There was no movement yet. "Sure, I can supervise. Don't worry about the apron, though. Anything I touch usually burns."

She turned around at the voice of a young man. Juliette had put on the most genuine smile she could possibly manage under the circumstances. The situation was entirely uncharted waters, and she wasn't sure exactly what her body language was supposed to be like. A smile seemed like a good start, though.

"Good to meet you too, Alex," she replied honestly and took his hand. She did mean it. It felt like a huge weight was being lifted off by finally meeting him and getting the awkwardness out of the way.

Juliette studied the boy's face for a second or two. She recognized him from somewhere, but she couldn't place it. Alex... Alex followed by something with an M. Martin? No...

Her mind flashed with recognition. She hadn't really followed the trial, but it had been difficult to avoid talk of it at work. The charges had been murder. Found not guilty, from what she remembered. That was a lot to go through at such a young age. She couldn't help but think of when Sam had told her that Alex needed very little attention. That clearly must have been a lie. There was no way that someone of that age could go through something like that without a few lasting scars. 

Even with everything that she was thinking, Juliette's poker face was still excellent. She had perfected it while giving families the news about their loved ones. A slight shift had slipped through, something that could be detected if Alex was looking closely, but otherwise nothing would be out of the ordinary about their handshake. 

She doubted that he would want her to bring up the trial. Especially not seconds after meeting him. Talking to Sam about the whole situation (namely why he hadn't warned her) afterward seemed like a better option. So, she said nothing about the topic, and moved on as if she hadn't noticed the connection. "So you're still in school at the mansion then?" Juliette began, trying to make some small talk. 

Nodding his head Sam smiled, ”Beer it is.” the icemancer turned to the fridge produced two beers and cracked them both open and placed them on the counter. A few seconds later two tall glasses were next to the beers. With his sixth sense still feeling everything around him he could ‘see’ Alex making his way out of the room and indeed nothing was being burnt. ”I’m the perfect cooking partner for you then,” Sam said as he touched both glasses and produced some frost around them. ”I’m a fire extinguisher.”

Pouring the beers as Alex made his appearance he smirked at the suit. While Sam had no intention of putting on a suit he thought it would be funny seeing Alex in one again seeing as the last time he saw the kid in one he was in court. The thought of having good memories in a suit might help the kid as well.

When the shook hands it seemed to ease them both or at least that was how Sam wanted it to be. He knew that they were both hesitant about meeting each other but it was important to Sam seeing as they were both a part of his life. Alex the adopted son and Juliette the luminous girlfriend. ”He better be.” Sam said with a smirk trying to ease the tension a little with a joke.

”Hope you’re both ready to get to know each other. Thought it was time you both met. I’m sure you were both tired of hearing stories and not putting them to a face.” he didn’t express it but this was important to him that they both got a long. He couldn’t leave Alex and he didn’t want Juliette to leave him.

”We got a few minutes before dinners ready.”

Alex could see the recognition in her eyes and for a moment he feared she'd run for the hills. After all, who'd want to have dinner with a murderer. But she remained, face friendly and accepting and that was really all he could ask for. He still couldn't leave the school grounds without causing some sort of disturbance just by existing, especially in less mutant populated areas. Nothing thrown at his head yet sure but it was only a matter of when.

Still, back to the present, she was asking about school and he smirked at Sam's reply. "Yeah, still in school. When I first got there I was already kind of behind and then some other stuff happened and I'm still behind. Feels like I'm never going to get out."he shrugged.

He glanced over at Sam, still in apron and the like, "What? No suit for you? Am I the only one who got dressed fancy for this?" He was very tempted to at least remove the tie and jacket, if only to make himself more comfortable. The tie still felt too tight around his neck, like it would chock him at any moment. He might have to bring it up to Miss T in counseling, probably had everything to do with his experience with the collars, another trauma to add to the ever growing list. There now more things wrong with him then there seemed to be right.

He tried to push the stress down, think of anything else. His eyes landed on the glasses of beer and then looked up at Sam, "Think I can have one tonight or would that be improper in front of guests?"

Juliette gave him a light smile and picked up one of the beers from the counter. “It’ll be over soon, I’m sure. Believe me, though, it gets better.” The statement was cringeworthy, but it would do. Cliches were always there for you when you really didn’t know what to say to your boyfriend’s troubled adopted son.

She nodded at Sam’s comment, not mentioning the fact that she hadn’t been in a rush to meet Alex, or that she had, in a way, been avoiding him for a time. “I was beginning to think that you were a ghost. It’s strange that we could live in the same place and not have met before tonight.”

She took a sip of her beer. The room felt a little warmer. Had it always been that warm? It felt warm. God, the evening was weird. Sam’s joking helped some, but it didn’t change the fact that there was really no precedent for their interaction. Alex was addressing Sam, who, though we was only ten or so years older, was technically his father. It still took a moment for her to wrap her head around that fact.

Juliette didn’t know how to respond, or if she was supposed to respond at all to Alex’s questions. It was fine with her if he drank, but was she supposed to give her opinion on that? She had no idea. So, she took another sip of her beer to occupy her mouth and looked at Sam instead.

Sam shook his head, ”I don’t need a suit. This is the first time you are meeting my girlfriend.” Sam grinned, ”First impressions are everything Alex.” he sipped his beer further punctuating his wisdom.

”The mansion is a pretty big place, I only know half of the kids there due to classes and detention.” Sam said thinking about it, ”Oh and from greeting but… there are a lot of us so I mean more often than not I have to do a little reading on the paperwork.” the icemance said trying to fill the void of conversations.

When Juliette sipped her beer Sam looked to Alex and raised an eyebrow. ”Look how polite you’re being, asking for a beer.” Sam started to laugh and then shake his head, ”Somebody found some manners.” Sam mocked Alex a little then offered him a beer. ”Starting to think we won’t be able to get through the night if someone isn’t drinking.” Sam said as he sipped from his own beer. ”I know this is weird but… it’s important to me…” for many reasons that he didn’t go into. ”Welp… I’m gonna go get my suit.” Sam said walking to his other room where he had his suit.

”Topics to avoid to prevent things from getting weird…” he entered his room and started to yell out to the others, ”Alex and the law, the time Juliette fell in love with me, and my love for pumpkin pies.” the first one was the only one that would be weird but the other two were meant to be more of an icebreaker because breaking ice was what Sam did.

"I don’t need a suit. This is the first time you are meeting my girlfriend. First impressions are everything Alex."

Alex frowned, then smirked as a thought crossed his mind, "My bet is that she first met you in a drunken stupor, am I close? Or was it a fist fight?" That had to be it, because as far as he knew Sam only went out for one of a few reasons; the bar, his x-men duties, or camping. And that third one really hadn't come up yet. He honestly should get around to asking about camping, he hadn't slept in the woods for so long he feared he was getting too comfortable with all the convenience normal life brought.

"Look how polite you’re being, asking for a beer. Somebody found some manners."

He rolled his eyes, maturity be damned, and took the offered beer, "I only ask because I know now you'll most likely say yes." He opened the bottle, with an opener this time, and took a sip. He glanced over at Juliette and laughed nervously. Right, technically he wasn't legal yet. "Not that I drink all the time. Just one or two and always with him. So it's safe...ish."

At the mention of no one being sober for cooking he merely shrugged his shoulders. Then Sam was off to get his suit on and Alex called after him, "Yeah I thought so, no suit my foot." Sam's reply was of course to limit the topics he and Juliette could talk about. Though one stuck out, "His love of pumpkin pies?" He just had to ask Juli about that one, sounded way more lighthearted than his run ins with the law.

"My bet is that she first met you in a drunken stupor, am I close? Or was it a fist fight?"

“Close. He got in a fight with an angry pickpocketing mutant and was too scared to go see DocProf,” she grinned, remembering the first time she had seen him bleeding on the floor. She was a little thankful for a question that she actually knew how to answer. “I stitched him up.”

Juliette opened her mouth instinctively to object to Sam leaving, but closed it without saying anything. That would have made this worse - so much worse. But then she was left all alone with Alex.

She nodded at Alex’s question and offered him a smile to cover for her own unease. He had chosen the best topic out of the list, and it was definitely a good ice breaker. Much better than his trouble with the law would have been.

“We went pumpkin picking a little while ago and he wouldn’t leave without first getting pie. I made sure I brought one tonight,” she nodded to the pies she had placed on the counter earlier, which looking at them in that moment, felt a bit like overkill for just the three of them. She pursed her lips suddenly as she remembered something, “you’re not allergic to nuts, are you? I forgot to ask.”

“Close. He got in a fight with an angry pickpocketing mutant and was too scared to go see DocProf, I stitched him up.”

He raised a brow at that, "Really? First time I'm hearing about it. Are you a nurse?" He couldn't imagine Sam being afraid of anyone. He hadn't met the Doc yet though. He had heard stories sure, but not anything that was really worrying. "Was it bad?" He had to ask, there had to be another reason he went to Juli instead of the readily available DocProf.

“We went pumpkin picking a little while ago and he wouldn’t leave without first getting pie.”

"I didn't realize dad like pie that much. I'll have to remember that next time I get on his bad side."he chuckled before taking a sip of his beer. He and Juli seemed to be hitting it off. She was friendly enough and wasn't interesting in asking about his past. By his terms she was alright. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad and he might have...good god, a mom? That'd be weird to think, but yeah. If Sam was his dad and if he married Juli, she'd be his mom.

“You’re not allergic to nuts, are you? I forgot to ask.”

He shook his head, "Not as far as I know. I haven't had an allergic reaction to anything really." He shrugged and looked over to where Sam had gone, wondering when he'd get back. The timer on the oven counted down, so they still had a while before they had to take anything out.

“I am. Or, at least, I was. I’m currently… Well, I don’t know, right now. I’m sort of figuring out my place at the mansion,” Juliette trailed off a bit by the end of her statement. It wasn’t exactly how she wanted to go about saying that, but there it was. Her skills weren’t really needed when there was a mutant who could heal any wounds, but she was hoping be able to start teaching some health classes or something. God knew that mutant teenagers living together in a mansion needed a sex-ed class.

“You be surprised by what your… Dad gets up to when left to his own devices,” she joked, managing to keep her hesitation before the word “dad” to a minimum. “It wasn’t too bad, though. It needed stitches and there’s still a scar, but considering his history, it’s hardly a worthy mention.”

She nodded along with his comment about pie. “It’s a good way to turn moods around. Most sweet things are.”

No nut allergy. That was good. Juliette smiled at him and then tried to peek around the corner to see where Sam was. There were things in the oven that she wasn’t sure what to do with, and she wasn’t exactly sure how to keep the conversation going. They’d already discussed pie, and she wasn’t about to bring up the law or her and Sam’s love life.

“So… Are you enjoying your classes? Getting on alright with the other students? I hope Sam’s not being too hard on you with the training.”

Sam took his time tying his tie and clipping it to his shirt, another swig of his beer he silently moved around his closet listing to the conversation as best he could. Eventually they would have needed to be alone and talk to each other and that was one of the reasons Sam was taking as long as he was. This needed to happen. Alex was apart of his life now and Sam was responsible for the kid. Juliette was his girlfriend who he liked a lot. Meaning the two non-dysfunctional parts of his lives needed to meet.

Sam sprayed a little cologne that Juliette liked and finished his beer and exited his room wearing a full suit. His hair still tussled and a fresh eye-patch, Sam felt like a new man. ”He is still in the public eye meaning I have to go easy on him.” Sam said with a smirk as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out another beer. Popping the top with some ice he crafted on his finger Sam smirked and looked to Alex. ”Figure you got another month till I can start the real training.” Sam said lying with ease.

Alex was quick and willing to learn which meant that Sam was more willing to push him more, however he didn’t push him as hard as he pushed Mirror. Mirror needed a butt kicking… often. Alex just needed someone.

Walking to the oven and looking at it for a second Sam smiled and nodded his head. The heat was right and the color on the bird was what he was going for. ”Looking like we are ready to bring out the food… Chef!” Sam said queuing Alex to grab the oven mitts. Sure he could ice his hands but then there would be water everywhere. Looking to Juliette he raised his beer in a cheers. ”Hope you brought the appetite.”