Part Nineteen by Rita

Curlly looked at Rita and decided to confess. "It has been much too quiet and the chance came up and I took it. Really I was only going in there with plans to borrow some food."

Rita began to laugh softly, "Borrow some food? How did you plan to return it?"

Curlly looked over to see if Trace could hear. Trace and Emily were talking about all the different side dishes that Christopher had created in honor of Thanksgiving.

"Well, I had some help from Emily. I don't recommend the eggnog."

"Curlly you know that is Op.'s favorite drink." Rita then had to contain her self from laughing. "Ooh this is going to be fun I can't wait till we sit down."

"I know don't forget to bring your camera."

"Don't worry about that."

"Worry about what?" Trace inquired the girls had not realized that Trace and Emily had stopped their conversation. "Are you two up to something?"

Rita and Curlly laughed. "Trace don't worry we were talking about bringing our cameras as to not miss a moment of the festivities. You know you are quite paranoid about us." Rita said as she looked at Trace.

"Well, when you two get together things tend to happen. Like redecorating rooms."

"Not all the time." Curlly protested. "Yeah plus we have to take pictures of us all dressed up." Curlly added.

"Oh that reminds me I have to see if the laundry took care of my outfit." Emily said deciding to take some of the heat off the two girls.

Taking advantage of that Curlly and Rita readily agreed that it was high time to get ready for the meal. They all went upstairs to their respective rooms.

Rita walked into her room and sighed with relief. Then she heard a movement in her room and pulled out her SIG sauer gun. "Who's there?"

"Merely me, Cherie? Why are you so tense?"

Rita looked sheepishly at him and put her gun back in the holster. "Michael, thank goodness. I guess I am still jumpy after that whole fiasco with Sherry and Sophie."

"You have nothing to worry about." He said as he crossed the room. He put his arm around her and walked her to the sofa.

"Yeah, sure, you say that now. I am not too sure. What were you doing sitting in the dark? I could have shot you."

"Waiting for you and thinking. Why don't you lie down and take a nap?" "Maybe I should." He tugged her down and she fell asleep with her head on his lap.

Time passed and the phone wake her up out of her slumber. She groggily took the phone from Michael.

"Hello." She said as she waited to hear who called her.

************

Part Twenty by Sherry

Sherry was ticked. She couldn't believe Operations had pulled her out of bed for a mission on Thanksgiving. Granted, it was a simple one, but that was beside the point. It was hours away from CLHQ and all the festivities. Her teams had just completed the mission and were on their way back to headquarters when the van died. Davenport had just told her that they would have to wait for another van to come get them.

Flopping back down in her seat, Sherry wondered what was going on back at CLHQ. What was everyone up to? Had dinner been served yet? Were they behaving? Had Ops' and Aly pulled it off? She couldn't wait to hear what North thought of the whole thing.

Tired of wondering, she grabbed her cellphone and dialed Rita. She heard the male voice answer the phone. She should have guessed. "Hello Michael. May I speak with Rita?"

Michael handed Rita the phone. "Hello."

"Hey Rita, it's Sherry. Guess I don't have to wonder what you're up to, huh? Anyway, I can't be back to headquarters for a while. The mission van broke down. Give me an update. What's happening? Does North have a hint of anything yet? Are Nabiki and Curlly behaving? Have you convinced DragonLady that she won't gain 20 lbs just by eating Thanksgiving dinner? I'm going batty here in the van with Davenport and Mentz. They keep talking about food ... I'm gonna shoot one of 'em soon. So come on ... spill ... what's happening?"

************

Part Twenty-One by Curlly

"Sorry to hear about the van. Did the mission go well?" stalled Rita.

"Fine. Except for the van breaking down. Rita dish," demanded Sherry.

"Well, North knows that she was fed a false list. But Trace still thinks Ops is behind it. North isn't too sure though. He's kinda pussyfooting it around North. I KNOW Nabiki is up to something, but let's just leave it as a surprise. Curlly said she wasn't going to do anything. But she came out of the kitchen looking rather too pleased with herself for my taste. And I think Dragonlady is planning on joining us." It was all Rita could do to keep from laughing at her own inside joke when she said "taste".

"So I take it you haven't started dinner?"

"Nope. I was just about to start getting ready. Would you like me to get anything ready for you? Anything ironed?"

"Well... you could do a little something for me."

"What is it?"

************

Part Twenty Two by Nabiki

Nabiki came out of her room all dressed up for the celebration. Of course she had taken extra special care on herself tonight because Roy had asked her to be his date. She couldn't believe him when he asked her earlier that day. She could never say no to him.

Everything that she had to do was in place. It had been a long day; but everything was going to turn out great. Now all she needed was to get in touch with Curlly, Sherry and Rita. Where were they? She had heard something going on in the kitchen as she passed by it earlier that day after returning from North's office, but wasn't sure what it was. If her mind didn't play tricks on her, she knew exactly were to find Curlly. She decided to talk with Rita and walked up to her door. Suddenly out of nowhere, Trace and Gray were walking up to where she stood.

"Hey there, Nabiki. You look quite beautiful tonight; ready for the celebration, I presume?", asked Gray, as always very sweet with her. They got along really well, and Nabiki knew she could confide in him any worries she had.

"Thank you very much, Gray. And you're right, I'm ready for dinner. How about you two? When are you going to get ready? Remember that North wants everyone at the dinner table on time. I've heard were going to have something very special".

"That's right, Nab. Gray and I are on our way to get ready. We'll see you and (cough, cough) Roy at the table, I hope?", said Trace already informed of the special relationship that had developed between these two.

"Ah, I hope he'll come but I'm not sure. By the way...why ask me? You should ask Dragonlady, being his sister and all", Nabiki said trying to hide her blushing but not been able to.

"Yeah, sure Nab, whatever you say dear. See ya at the dinning room", were the last words of Trace as she and Gray left her with smiles in their face. Nabiki could never hide these things very well.

OK, now back to business. Let's see if Rita's in her room?

************

Part Twenty-Three by Curlly

Nabiki was almost to Rita's room when she past Curlly's and Grace's doors. She heard a small shriek coming out of Grace's room. Without thinking she opened the door and peered in, "Is everything okay in here?" Sherry wasn't the only one who was still a little jumpy after Sophie. All the girls were more cautious. Well as cautious as a Covert Lover can be.

"Everything's fine. Come on... Gracie, I mean it! Hold still 'cause I'm almost done," said Curlly trying not to laugh. "Wow Nabiki! Roy isn't going to know what hit him."

"I sure hope not!" smiled Nab. Curlly had her back to Nabiki and Grace was in front of Curlly sitting in a chair. As Grace came into Nab's eyesight, "Oh my!" Grace's hair was sticking out every which way and Curlly was wielding a crimping iron. A straighten iron was nearby.

"That's it Curlly. I'm going to look at a mirror!" said Grace.

Curlly put a heavy hand on Grace's shoulder pushing back into the chair. "Just give me 7 more minutes and you'll be ready. I wouldn't make you look bad for thanksgiving," said Curlly in a hurt voice that didn't quite disguise the laughter in her voice. "Don't ya trust me?"

Grace just grunted and under Nabiki's amazed eyes, Curlly's nimble fingers started tucking and twisting Grace's naturally wavy tresses into a stunning hairdo. It was piled on the top of Grace's head in a wondrous array of curls, braids, straight pieces, and crimped ones. "Okay Grace now you can look."

"That's amazing Curlly! Where did you learn to do hair like that?" asked Nabiki.

"When you have as much hair as i do you learn. Well I have to go get myself ready. See ya downstairs," said Curlly. But before she got to the door, grace came up and gave her a big hug. "Thank you so much Curlly, I love it!" Enthused grace.

"Your very welcome my friend." And with that Curlly slipped out the door. But just before the door closed her head popped back in. "Just one more word of advice. I'd stay away from the punch if I were you!" And with a wink she was gone.

"I knew Curlly did something!" exclaimed Nabiki in triumph. "I'm just glad i now what it is. we better pass it on to the rest of the girls, eh?"

"Of course! That's why Curlly warned us. So we could warn Sherry, Sly, and the others."

***

Back in her room, Curlly just grinned to herself. Now only three people knew about the eggnog, and everyone else thought it was the punch! Curlly pulled the dress she planned to wear out of the closet, all the while humming, "... what a happy turkey day!"