Title: Thankful
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Michael Cutter
Fandom: Doctor Who/Law & Order
Rating: PG-13
Table: 100_tales
Prompt: 32, Thanksgiving
Warning: ongoing story, past non-con
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Michael Cutter, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***


"It's a little strange to be spending Thanksgiving on our own, isn't it?" the Doctor asked Michael, looking at his lover across the table in the restaurant they'd decided to go to. "There are a lot of other people here, but they all seem to be with family."

Mike glanced around the place, then looked back at the Doctor with raised eyebrows. "I see plenty of people who just seem like they're couples out for a romantic evening by themselves," he said, his tone slightly defensive. "Not everybody spends this day with their family."

"I haven't had a family to spend Thanksgiving with for a very long time," the Doctor said softly, looking around the restaurant at the other people there. Mike was right; most of them seemed to be couples hwo were having a nice dinner alone, just the two of them.

But there were also a few families, something that the Doctor found a little strange. Didn't families usually spend this holiday at home? He wasn't really familiar with all the Thanksgiving traditions; it was such an American holiday that he'd rarely celebrated it.

It was a holiday that Michael was used to, but somehow, he had the idea that his boyfriend's experiences with this holiday hadn't been very good ones, given some of the things Mike had said about it. He wanted to ask more, but he was a little hesitant to bring the subject up.

"I might as well not have had a family," Michael said with a shrug. "My parents were never home on Thanksgiving. They were always out at some fancy restaurant, and they got the cook and the nanny to make sure I had dinner and went to bed early."

"It doesn't sound like you have very good memories of the holiday," the Doctor said, feeling as though he was walking across a minefield. This day had been a good one so far; he didn't want to ruin it by bringing up a subject that might make Mike uncomfortable.

"I don't," the other man said, shaking his head. He leaned back in his chair, sighing softly. "I've always liked the idea behind Thanksgiving," he said slowly, "but I think people should find something in their lives to be thankful for every day, not just one day out of the entire year."

"I'm thankful for you every day that we're together," the Doctor murmured, his eyes meeting Mike's across the table. "Not just every day -- every minute, every second. Even more so since you asked me to marry you," he added with a smile.

"I try to be thankful about something in my life every day," Mike said softly, not taking his gaze from the Doctor. "And every day, the first thing that I'm thankful for in my life is you. Loving you, being with you, and knowing that we're going to be bonded."

"Why do I have the feeling that you didn't think you had much to be thankful for when you were younger?" the Doctor asked, watching his boyfriend's face in the flickering candlelight. Mike looked relaxed, and he didn't want that expression replaced by one of tension.

"Because I didn't," the other man answered with a sigh. "I had a lot -- a good home, a good school, a lot of freedom. All the things that most kids want. But you know something? I would have traded that in a second if my parents would have cared more."

"I'm sure they cared," the Doctor said, wondering if his words were true. He'd known people whose parents hadn't really given a damn -- or who had pushed their children too hard. It seemed that some things on Gallifrey were quite a bit like those on Earth.

"Oh, they cared," Michael admitted with a soft sigh. "But I was more of a showpiece than a kid to them. I was something they could show off to their friends, brag about my achievements, and tell people what a perfect little kid they'd made. It was about them, not me."

"That must have been hard," the Time Lord murmured, glad that his parents hadn't been like that. Well, if he wanted to be completely honest, his father had been -- but then, he had a skewered view of his father. They'd never gotten along very well.

"What about your family?" Mike asked, one brow raised. "You've told me a lot about them, but not about what their expectations of you were. I shouldn't be asking now, though, should I?" he added, looking around them. "It's not a subject for this time and place."

"Not, it's not, but it's something that I'd like to talk about sometime," the Doctor told him, his eyes not leaving Michael's face. "I know your family is a sore spot with you, and I'd like to know more about them in case I get to meet them someday."

"I hope you won't ever have to meet them," Mike told him, wincing. "It's not that I don't want you to see what they're like -- and you know that I'm proud of you, so I don't have a problem with them meeting you. But I don't think you'd like them. They're too wrapped up in themselves."

"Then there's something else we should both be thankful for," the Doctor said, his voice soft and husky. He had to speak around a lump that had formed in his throat; he'd known that Mike's relationship with his parents was rocky, but not this bad.

"And what's that?" Mike's voice was soft, his tone gentle. "Let's not talk about my family, okay? It's not a subject that's going to make either of us happy, and I want to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate the day with the man I love. The man I'm going to marry."

"I've celebrated Thanksgiving a few times in my life," the Doctor told him, reaching across the table to take his lover's hand and squeeze it gently. "But I can't remember any time when I felt that I had so much to be thankful for -- and that's all due to you."

"I can't either," Michael told him, returning the gentle pressure of his hand. "My family never made me feel like I had a lot to be thankful for, so I never thought much of Thanksgiving. But you're my family now -- and I'm more thankful for you than I can put into words."

"I've had a lot to be thankful for in my life -- even though there's been a great deal of it that I haven't been thankful for until I didn't have it any more," the Doctor mused. "But I can say that I've never been more thankful for anything else than I am for you."

"Well, thank you," Mike said with a laugh, leaning back in his chair. "It's good to know that the man I'm going to marry is thankful for having me in his life. If you didn't say things like that sometimes, I might start to get a little worried that you took me for granted."

"I'd never do that!" the Doctor exclaimed, his dark eyes widening. "I'm thankful for you every day of our lives together, Mike, not just on this one day of the year. Every morning when I wake up next to you, my hearts leap for joy, just knowing that you're there beside me."

"And I intend to be there for a long time to come," Michael told him, his eyes sparkling. "It's kind of hard to believe that we've found each other, isn't it? After all that time that we both spent looking for the love of our lives -- and we've finally each found it."

"Hard to believe that I've searched for the person who would complete me for over nine hundred years -- and when I finally find him, he's a human," the Doctor laughed, relaxing into his chair. Looking up, he saw the waiter coming towards them, and hoped that his words hadn't been overheard.

It seemed that they hadn't -- the waiter put their drinks and entreés in front of them, and then left again without another word. It was typical of this restaurant and the good service here, the Doctor thought to himself, looking across the table at Mike again.

His lover was watching him with a slight smile curving his lips; the smile grew as their gazes met and held. "I don't think I've ever been as thankful for anything in my life as I am for you -- and for this moment, right here and now," Mike said softly, his voice low and husky.

The Doctor had no words to answer him; he merely nodded, reaching across the table to take the other man's hand again. The love that they shared was indeed something to be thankful for, and the Doctor knew that he would be -- for the rest of his life and beyond.

***