Written by MichaelNovember 24, 2020November 29, 2020

Episode 1051

Previously…
– After being rejected by Jason and Elly, respectively, Natalie and Spencer decided to turn their marriage of convenience into a friends-with-benefits situation.
– Samantha faked a business trip to Idaho in order to visit her grandmother’s house and learn the truth about Therese DeLuca. A furious Claudia finally admitted that Therese was Diane’s biological mother.
– When Diane refused to tell him where he might find Tempest, Isaac visited the hospital and requested his late mother’s records.

The sounds of activity from downstairs float up to Natalie Bishop, managing to infiltrate her consciousness even through the haze of sleep — at least partially. She knows that it is Thanksgiving morning, and that she has to pick up the bulk of her family’s meal from Whole Foods later, as well as tend to her young son and be ready for when Bree comes over later. But she had an incredibly restless night, so when she hears Spencer’s voice talking to Peter elsewhere in the house, she decides that she can sleep a little while longer.

She is fully awoken, however, by a light but insistent knock at her bedroom door.

“I’m getting up,” she says woozily, rolling over beneath her overfilled duvet.

“You’re fine,” her husband says as he slips into the room. “I brought you an espresso.”

Natalie’s eyes pop open wider as she lifts her head from the pillow. “Who are you, and what did you do with Spencer?”

“It’s a holiday. I thought you could use an easy wake-up.” He uses his hip to shut the bedroom door. “Peter’s up and having breakfast with my mother.”

“And that’s supposed to help me relax?”

Spencer laughs. “He’s fine. For all her faults–”

“That’s a list longer than a Lord of the Rings movie.”

“But she loves Peter. All she wants right now is to spend time with him.” Spencer sets the espresso, in a small, white cup on a matching saucer, on the nightstand. “Besides, I’m horny.”

“Spencer!” She grabs the espresso, blows on it, and takes a quick sip. “Who do you think I am?”

“My wife?”

She shoots him an irritated look.

“…who enjoys sharing a no-strings-attached, occasionally sexual relationship while co-parenting?” he adds hopefully.

Natalie drinks the espresso and stares at him over the rim of her cup. The fact that he could be so presumptuous about her being willing to have sex with him any time he’s up for it annoys her — but he does look sexy, even in gym shorts and a KBU sweatshirt.

“Dammit,” she says before tossing the duvet off herself, revealing a short, silky nightgown.

“So is that a yes?”

“It’s a ‘get over here before your mother or our son figures out what’s going on,’” Natalie says, feeling a hot rush of anticipation run through her body as Spencer peels off his sweatshirt and climbs onto the bed.

—–

“See? Nice and moist!”

Tempest Banks stands barefoot in the apartment’s small kitchen, watching as Claire Fisher transfers the small turkey to the rack inside a roasting pan.

“I don’t wanna think about some bird being moist,” Tempest says, with a shake of her head. “That word’s nasty.”

“Better than spending all day cooking a turkey, only to have it turn out dry and tasteless,” Claire replies. “But since we brined it overnight, we shouldn’t have that problem.”

Tempest continues to regard the uncooked bird skeptically. “And now you’ve gotta stick your hands in there and stuff?”

“How about I handle the turkey and you can be on mashed potato and mac-and-cheese duty?” Claire says.

“Fine by me.”

Claire carefully overturns the pot that was used to brine the turkey into the sink, dumping out the remaining liquid.

“This is going to be a nice Thanksgiving,” she comments, “even if it’s nothing fancy.”

“Travis and Rosie are gonna come by for a little, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll have to twist Travis’s arm too hard to get him to eat some food here — even if he also eats at Paula’s.”

Tempest notices the more solemn cloud that settles over Claire at the mention of the big Fisher family Thanksgiving.

“You thinking about Brent?” she asks.

“Not Brent, really,” Claire says before letting out a heavy sigh. “Just the fact that, last year, we were spending the holidays with him and the twins, and I was all ready for him to propose, and now…”

“You’re better off without his trifling ass.”

“I’m feeling a little more confident in that every day.” Claire forces a more positive expression onto her face, but before she can say anything further, there is a knock at the apartment door.

“I’ll get it,” Tempest says, already moving out of the kitchen. “Keep your turkey hands in here.”

That elicits a genuine chuckle out of Claire, who turns on the faucet to rinse out the pot as Tempest answers the door. Claire hears the lock being flipped and the faint creak of the door being opened, but what follows is a still, foreboding silence.

“Tempest?” Claire calls out as she grabs a towel to wipe her hands. “Who is it?”

The next thing she hears is a man’s voice say, “Happy Thanksgiving, sis.”

Claire steps out of the kitchen, rounding the breakfast nook to see a tall Black man standing at the open door. Tempest glowers at him but says nothing.

“Hey,” he says when he spots Claire. “Sorry to interrupt on the holiday, but I needed to see Tempest. I’m–”

“You’re Isaac,” Claire says with surprise.

—–

“Happy Thanksgiving, honey!” Paula Fisher exclaims as she embraces her eldest granddaughter in the entry of the family home.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Grandma,” Samantha says as the two women part. Samantha quickly closes the front door before removing her black down jacket. “I hope it isn’t too early for a visit.”

“Oh, please. Matt and I have been prepping dinner for hours already. I’m just delighted to see you.”

Samantha follows her grandmother into the living room and says, “I wanted to make sure I saw you today, and I’m not sure if there’ll be time later.”

“Jaq must be excited about hosting Thanksgiving at her– their new house,” Paula says.

“They are. Although Trevor and Alex are really hosting. Jaq and Finn just happen to be the tenants who get to benefit from it.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll all have a lovely time. It will mean a lot to Trevor to have you all in the house where he grew up.”

“He’s had a really rough year, with losing his dad so unexpectedly.”

Paula nods reverently before asking, “And how about your other grandma? Are you going to see her?”

“I don’t think Grandma Claudia wants to see me,” Samantha says. “She’s going to Aunt Natalie and Spencer’s.”

“I’m sure she’ll stop taking her anger out on you eventually.”

“You don’t know Claudia Bishop that well, do you?”

As Paula smirks, a voice from the stairs calls out, “Sam! Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Aunt Sarah,” Samantha responds as she moves to the foot of the stairs, where she and Sarah greet one another with a hug.

“I didn’t know if we’d get to see you today,” Sarah comments.

“I wanted to come by early.”

“How’s your mom doing?” Sarah asks her. “She and I are overdue for a lunch date, but things get so busy this time of year.”

“I think she’s okay,” Samantha says. “I’m glad she made it back from her cruise in one piece.”

Sarah shakes her head in amusement. “I still can’t believe she went on a cruise.”

“I don’t know if I’d enjoy one,” Paula chimes in. “I know Roz and Patrick loved them, but you hear so many horror stories about people going overboard and the toilets breaking down and all that.”

Sarah and Samantha exchange a look and then both giggle.

“Those do seem like equally terrible fates,” Sarah teases.

“At any rate, I’m glad to hear that your mother is okay,” Paula says. “Can I get you anything? Coffee or tea?”

“A coffee would be great,” Samantha says. “With just a little almond milk, if you have some.”

“Coming right up. Sarah?”

“I’m okay. Thanks, Mom.”

Paula floats out of the room in the direction of the kitchen. Sarah folds her arms and touches a finger to her lips, contemplating something.

“What’s going on?” Sam asks.

“I’m wondering how to phrase something so that I don’t come off as completely nosy and overbearing,” Sarah says. “You see Tori at work, don’t you? How does she seem?”

“She seems good. Busy all the time. But I think she likes her job. Why?”

Sarah sighs. “I’m being overprotective, that’s all. She tells me so little these days, and… I feel lucky that she’s even coming today, but Zane will be here, and he has this way of inserting himself into everything.”

“I think having this job is really good for her,” Samantha says. “She’s occupied with something other than Zane, and she seems like her old self at the office.”

“Not too much, I hope.”

Samantha lets out a light laugh. “Not usually. But it’s nice to see her seem like Tori again.”

“I hope I get to see more of that,” Sarah says, with a tinge of sadness. “I know patience isn’t my strong suit, but I’ve been waiting for years… and the way Zane seems to have her under his thumb, I’m worried she’ll never fully be herself again.”

—–

Natalie collapses back against her pillow, breathing hard as she gazes up at the bedroom ceiling.

“You might’ve had a good idea there,” she says.

Spencer rolls off the bed and grabs his Calvin Klein boxer briefs from the floor. “Told you.”

“Don’t go getting cocky now.”

“No promises.” He quickly puts on his underwear and moves to collect the rest of his clothes. “But that should take the edge off enough to get through Thanksgiving, yeah?”

“I hope so, but I’m not sure there’s enough of anything to make a holiday with both our mothers peaceful.”

“For real,” Spencer says as he pulls his sweatshirt over his head. “I’m going to go grab a shower.”

“Thanks for the wake-up call,” Natalie says, hating herself for grinning ever so slightly as his athletic body slips out of the room.

“Happy Thanksgiving indeed,” she murmurs as she pulls herself out of bed to head to her own shower.

—–

“Just sit there with your iPad. I’ll be right back,” Loretta Ragan tells her grandson as she shuffles out of the living room.

“You’d think your parents would have a phone charger somewhere within reach,” she mutters with annoyance as she grasps the bannister and begins ascending the stairs.

“I’m going to go grab a shower,” her son’s voice says from overhead.

Loretta is about to say something to him when she hears her daughter-in-law’s muted words coming from inside the bedroom:

“Thanks for the wake-up call.”

She freezes on the stairs. From her vantage point, she can see through the upstairs railing as Spencer, oblivious to her presence, closes the door to Natalie’s bedroom and hurries down the hallway toward his room. Loretta holds her breath until he is gone, his own door closed behind him.

“What in the devil is going on up here?” she whispers with horror.

—–

Isaac’s eyes flicker from Claire to Tempest and back again.

“Yeah, I am. Who are you?” he asks Claire.

“Claire Fisher,” she says in as neutral a tone as she can manage.

“What are you doing here, Isaac?” Tempest demands. “Did that snake Diane tell you where I live?”

“Nah. She actually refused to tell me anything,” he says.

“So, what, you followed me?”

“I went to the hospital and got Mom’s records. Your contact info was in there. Lucky for me, you haven’t moved since then.”

Tempest lets out a loud huff. “Guess I should’ve.”

Claire comes up places a hand on the open door as she hovers protectively behind Tempest.

“I’m not sure Tempest wants to see you right now,” she says.

“I know, and I get it,” Isaac replies. “All I want is to talk for a minute. I’ve been trying to find you for years, Tempest–“

“You wouldn’t have to find me if you hadn’t left my ass with Mom and Hank in the first place.”

“I’m sorry about that. I was a kid, too. I had to get out of there. I thought about bringing you, for real, but kidnapping a little girl and then having to take care of you on my own — there was no way I could’ve done it. If I didn’t wind up in jail for taking you.”

Tempest falls silent as her eyes go to the floor.

“Please just talk to me for a minute,” Isaac pleads. “After all this time, to run into each other by accident… I’ll go if you really want me to go, but there’s so much I don’t know, and–” He looks at Claire. “I want to know about your life. You seem like you’ve got good things going on. I want to know my sister again.”

Finally Tempest’s gaze drifts back up toward her brother.

“It’s Thanksgiving, Temp,” he says. “What do you say? Can we please spend a little time catching up, no strings attached?”

END OF EPISODE 1051

Should Tempest give Isaac a chance?
Will Zane behave at the Fishers’ Thanksgiving?
What will Loretta do with her newly acquired knowledge?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

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