Ty hadn’t ever given much thought to Thanksgiving before, or at least not since leaving grade school. It was the kind of holiday when everyone else had something to do, so he could spend time catching up on work without fear of being disturbed. Sometimes, if he wasn’t terribly backed up, he went to the cat shelter and volunteered to help out.

This year was different. This year he would be of limited use at the shelter, because his pregnancy excluded him from being able to clean litter boxes and his increasing size made other tasks difficult. Plus, he had Carter. Carter didn’t want to make a big deal out of the holiday, but he wanted to do something. “I’d usually go home and spend the holiday with my folks, but the airlines won’t let you fly right now. And I’m pretty sure if you got off the plane in Nebraska or set foot on a farm you’d explode,” he said, face serious.

“I’ve been on a farm!” Ty put his hands on his hips. “I even took care of cows once!”

“You’re joking.” Carter’s lips twitched. He seemed to be having trouble keeping a straight face.

“Nope. It was a summer job, between junior and senior year of high school, and I did it specifically so I wouldn’t have to go down to Georgia with Beau.” Ty shuddered. “It’s not that Georgia is a bad place. I’ve been there a few times since then, and there are good things about it. But these are the people who raised Beau.”

Carter nodded once. “Yeah, I’ve got a vision of a giant old plantation where they haven’t quite figured out it isn’t 1855.”

“You’re not far off. So yeah - I took a job for the summer on a farm upstate, as a farm hand. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated indoor plumbing and showers more in my life, because that was hard and messy work. Cows are filthy animals, man.”

“I’ve noticed you tend to avoid dairy. I figured you were lactose intolerant.”

“No. I can digest it. I just don’t want people to keep cows. Miserable, nasty, filthy creatures.” Ty made a face. “But you’re not wrong about the airlines letting me fly. And at least cows are interactive. Corn just kind of stands there and corns at you. It’s malevolent. Things hide in the corn, waiting for you.”

Carter burst out laughing, doubling over. “You do understand that it will be late November. The corn will be dead. There won’t be anyplace for the corn critters to hide. Just acres and acres of empty dead corn fields, waiting.”

Ty pulled the blanket up to his chin. “You make it so appealing, Carter. Seriously, though. It’s not like your family would want me there anyway.”

Carter blinked at him. “Of course they would. You’re my husband. You’re pregnant with their third grandchild.”

“Third?” Ty did a double take at that. “What do you mean third?”

“My older sister has two kids. Twins, both boys. They’re five years old and they’re unholy terrors. One reason I try to avoid going back to Nebraska is so I don’t have them trying to climb me and eat my eyeballs or whatever.” Carter pulled Ty into his arms, or at least he tried to. Ty’s baby bump got in the way a little bit. “Anyway, there’s plenty of time to worry about that later on. How about if we worry about it next year, and focus on something that’s just us this year? We’ll invite Keegan, if you want.”

“I don’t. I’m afraid of what he’ll do. One year at my dads’ place he used the turkey as a marionette and made it do a little Rockette routine. I still can’t quite figure out how he pulled that one off.” Ty took a deep breath. “But he’s been an absolute godsend through this whole thing, so maybe we should invite him. Chances are he’ll say no anyway.”

Keegan, much to Ty’s shock, did not say no. He accepted, with enthusiasm. Ty now had the unmitigated joy of having to figure out a way to make Thanksgiving dinner for three when he’d never done anything like that in his life.

Fortunately for him, Bronx Bar and Grill did an episode about how to do exactly that. Well, they expected there to be a few more people, and they expected the kitchen to be a little bit smaller than the one Ty was using, but it was close enough for jazz. And miracle of miracles, he was able to follow the recipes on the show’s website.

It felt good to see someone pregnant up there on the screen, moving around gracefully and being comparatively normal. Ty knew the episode had been filmed a while ago, that Alex was wearing a ton of makeup and that if he had to take a break because of dizziness or fatigue they’d just edit it out. Ty also knew he probably wasn’t as much of a clumsy balloon as he felt like he was. Seeing someone like him on a screen, confident and unashamed, made him feel a thousand times better about himself.

He made a plan and stuck with it, just like Alex counseled. On the TV, Alex turned to his friend and co-host. “Okay, Buddy. I’m going to share something with the audience at home, something you told me when I was still a young kid.”

Buddy gave him an old-fashioned look. “I will give you twenty dollars if anything I told you when you were a kid stuck.”

“Get your wallet out and prepare to kiss them bills goodbye, Buddy. The trick to getting ready for a big event, like Thanksgiving, is doing as much ahead of time as you can. Can you roast the turkey ahead of time? No, don’t be stupid. Can you get the pie ready ahead of time and finish it in the oven day-of? Hell yeah you can, and you look like a rock star when you do it. No one needs green bean casserole anyway, it’s an abomination, but if you absolutely must have it you can fix it months ahead of time, reheat it, and no one will know the difference. Seriously. Roll out of bed, throw that turkey in the oven, make yourselves pretty, and watch your in-laws puke with envy.”

Ty nodded as he leaned toward the TV. He could do that. It didn’t take much extra energy to fix a side dish while he was making dinner, and he could freeze it and reheat it. Thanksgiving dinner was looking less and less like a sweat-inducing source of misery and more like a chance for fun.

Thanksgiving Day rolled around. Ty eased his way out of bed, feeling like a beached whale as he struggled, and got dressed. He preheated the oven, fed the cats, made the coffee, and got to work.

Carter milled around cleaning, not that the place needed much of it. They both liked a clean house, but Carter bordered on obsessive. Ty was more than happy to let him take care of the things that mattered to him, especially while Ty himself concentrated on his own strengths. Keegan showed up at the house at two, by which point two things were clear.

The house was so clean it sparkled, even with three cats running amok and shedding everywhere, and...

Ty might have a problem when it came to preparing in advance. He tried not to look at the table as he set out his dishes. Maybe the table wasn’t as big as he’d thought it was?

Keegan admired the state of their apartment, remarking particularly on how it hadn’t been at all dirty before. “I kind of missed the cat hair, little bro. I wore vinyl specifically so the cat hair wouldn’t stick to me. But you thwarted me.”

“I do live to thwart my big brother,” Ty told him with a straight face. “But I can’t take the credit. Carter’s got a gift for cleaning. I’m good, but he’s the best.”

“You’re not kidding.” Keegan laughed and ambled into the dining room, where he stopped short. “Er, Ty?”

Ty bit his lip. “Is there not enough? I think Fairway is still open. I can run out quickly.”

Carter peered around Keegan’s shoulder and gaped. “Um, Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“Who exactly is going to be eating all of this stuff?”

Ty looked at the spread. “Maybe three dishes per person was a little excessive.” He ducked his head, blushing. “I’ve never done Thanksgiving before. I’m sorry. I’ve never even been to Thanksgiving since I was a little kid, you know?”

To his credit, Keegan managed to hide his laughter behind his hands. “Oh, I know,” he said when it had subsided. He sat down, face as red as a beet. “I know you always managed to avoid coming home whenever you could. But seriously, dude. Did you just lose track?”

Carter ushered Ty to his seat and kissed his cheek. “It’s okay, babe. We’ll just eat leftovers for a while. And if you decide to cook between now and the time we’re done, we’ll freeze it for when the baby is born.” He dropped his hand and caressed Ty’s baby bump briefly, and then he took his seat beside Ty.

“There’s dessert too,” Ty whispered.

“You don’t even have a sweet tooth!” Keegan chortled. “It’s okay, little bro. It’s okay. We can deal with it. I’m sure it’s all tasty.”

Ty squirmed. At least it was all healthy - okay, except for the pie, and the cake. And the pudding. But the rest of it was healthy.

Ty managed to relax a little bit as they got into the meal. His brother and husband had no problems snickering every time they asked for another dish to be passed, so they clearly had no tension to worry about, but soon even Ty was able to join them. Eventually he’d learn to relax, and not to overdo it. Like Carter had said, they could eat the leftovers, and send some home with Keegan. It meant less takeout for them, which could only be good for the baby.

His phone buzzed with an incoming message just as Keegan was clearing the dinner dishes away in preparation for dessert. Carter’s phone buzzed at the same time, and so did Keegan’s. Ty frowned as he pulled his phone out. Carter and Keegan were both members of the Hellion Club, and so they had some intersecting social circles, but Ty didn’t have any friends in common with the two of them. It would be one hell of a coincidence for them to be getting messages at the same time, unless there was an emergency alert or something.

Of course, given that it was New York, and a major holiday that drew a huge crowd of tourists every year, an emergency alert wasn’t exactly out of the question.

When Ty checked his phone, though, he didn’t have an emergency alert demanding his attention. Instead, he had a text message from an unknown number, one that had a link to an article on a major sports news network.

“Baseball MVP Carter Bowman Caught in Gay Sex Scandal,” Keegan read aloud, as Carter paled.

Ty’s stomach lurched. He barely had time to run to the nearest bathroom before everything he’d eaten at the Thanksgiving meal came rushing up. He heaved until he was empty, and then he heaved some more.

He hadn’t thought it would matter if Carter was unfaithful. He’d even worked it into their contract. He knew alphas weren’t usually very good at sticking with one omega. It was just the way they were wired. But somehow now, faced with a major national news organization having caught Carter with his pants down so to speak, he couldn’t cope. How could he have been so blind? How could he have trusted Carter?

Light footsteps padded into the bathroom. Ty recognized Carter without having to lift his head, or needing to turn his head and look. “You know it’s not true, Ty.”

Ty heaved again. Nothing came up, but his body didn’t seem to care. “They wouldn’t have run the article without fact checking.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Carter gave a bitter little laugh. “Have you read the article? The pictures are all a bad Photoshop job.” He rubbed little circles into Ty’s back.

Ty leaned into the touch in spite of himself. He wanted to believe, so badly. He lifted his head and tried to ignore the sour taste in his mouth. When he took the phone Carter passed him, and looked at the pictures from the article, he could see exactly what Carter meant. He could see the bad edits even through his tears.

“What’s going on here?” He looked up at Carter. “I don’t understand this. I just don’t get it.”

“There’s only one possible culprit. It’s Sebastian, with our dads.” Keegan leaned against the door frame. He hadn’t made a sound as he approached, which was surprising considering how much vinyl he wore.

Carter’s phone rang. He looked down at the screen, only to see Tracy’s name and picture pop up. “It’s your coach,” he said, and passed it over.

“Awesome.” Carter pinched the bridge of his nose and stepped away. “I’d better take this. He’s going to be pissed.”

Carter headed off into the bedroom for privacy. Ty was alone with Keegan. “Why would they do something like this? I don’t get it.” Ty struggled to get up onto his feet, but he wound up needing Keegan’s help. Once he made it, he rinsed his mouth out and continued. “I honestly don’t understand. Seb is getting extradited, and I’m not getting back together with him no matter what Beau and Ed do. He doesn’t even really want me. He wants my money, and he wants a good lawyer.”

“Something about it doesn’t make sense,” Keegan agreed. “I don’t know either. I get why Seb’s doing it. He’s broke and desperate. As for our dads, well, that’s another story. I’m going to have to sit down and have a good long talk with them. And as for why they’d need to ruin Carter over it…”

Ty waved a hand. “That, I get. And I’m ninety percent sure it all came from Beau.” He blinked back tears. Beau should have been Ty’s biggest cheerleader. Instead, Beau was the one hurting him the most. “You know how Beau’s family has always been. They’ve got those ideas about who ‘belongs,’ who’s ‘pure.’” He felt his stomach lurching again when he spoke those poisoned words. “Carter didn’t stay in his place. He didn’t listen to his betters, he dared to touch me. They gave him the opportunity to back away and he refused. If Dad were behind it, he’d do something violent. But Beau - he’s vicious, and sneaky, and underhanded.”

“And you’re a lawyer. That’s kind of a pot calling the kettle black.”

Ty straightened his back. “You know what? You’re right. And it’s high time everyone remembered that. I’m a goddamn shark, and Beau is a rabid dolphin with a cheap grill. I’ve been going too easy on them.”

His phone rang. He didn’t look at the screen before he answered it. “Hi, Mr. Clarke.”

“Have you seen this article?” Clarke asked, his voice shaking with outrage. “It’s the worst photo editing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“Isn’t it, though?” Ty swallowed the pang he felt when he remembered that he’d briefly believed the accusation. “And with your permission, I have every intention of going after the publication.”

“You can’t sue journalists, Ty. We have a constitution in this country.”

“This is open slander, sir. But that’s not why I want to sue them. I have a pretty good idea of who sent these doctored photos to the website.”

“And you want to be able to prove it. Do it.” Clarke’s voice took on a steely note of glee. “Make them pay.”

* * *

Tracy didn’t say much. He told Carter to get his ass up to the Stadium, that ownership wanted to meet with him as soon as possible. And that the union would be sending a rep as well. That wasn’t good.

He told Ty and Keegan where he was going, and he drove himself up to the Stadium. On Thanksgiving Day, driving wasn’t such a misery in New York City and Carter needed the alone time. He needed to think. It was obvious that Tracy and ownership believed the accusations. Hell, Ty had believed the story.

Ty had only believed it before he’d opened the article up. And he’d only believed it because he was the single most insecure hotshot lawyer Carter had ever met. Carter had pointed out the issues, and he’d talked him around, but it had taken some doing. Carter had earned a lot of money for the team’s owners, but they didn’t love him. He couldn’t trust them to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The union rep on site turned out to be a player for one of the other teams in town, a guy named Nestor who was getting on toward the end of his career. He wasn’t thrilled to be dragged away from his family on Thanksgiving. Carter got it. He wasn’t thrilled about it either.

Tracy’s face was stone, and he sat at the conference table with his arms crossed. Great. Carter had figured he’d be able to count on at least one person. He was completely on his own here. Well, Ty had been on his own for years. If he could do it and come out as one of the best lawyers in New York, Carter could hold it together long enough to fight for his career.

His phone buzzed with an incoming message. It came from Ty, because of course it did. The firm is behind you. I’m drawing up the lawsuit against the website now.

Carter grinned. Sure, Ty hadn’t believed at first. Ty loved him. If he had Ty, and Ty had his back, the team could do whatever it wanted. They’d take on the world, chew it up, and spit it out. Hell, Ty might wind up owning the team before it was all over.

The senior managing partner, Mr. Lenox, narrowed his eyes at Carter. “I’m sure you know why you’re here.”

“Yes, Mr. Lenox.” Carter relaxed his shoulders. “I’m here because a previously reputable sports news publication decided they needed to slander my good name and publish libel, complete with photo edits my five year old nephews could see through.” He held his head up.

Lenox scoffed. “What, you think there’s some sort of grand conspiracy against you? Get real, Bowman. Don’t blame reporters - who, up until now, have always been pretty sweet on you - because you couldn’t keep it in your pants.

“We took an awful big chance on you, Bowman. The jury is still out on a lot of people on whether or not that alpha gene counts as an unfair advantage for athletes. Now none of us has ever cared what you do with your dick, so long as it’s just your business. This right here?” He thumped his phone, which just went to prove he’d gotten the message at dinner as well. “This makes it not your business anymore.”

Nestor rolled his eyes. “So you’ve already decided he’s guilty.”

“I don’t give a crap if he’s guilty.” Lenox sucked his cheeks in. “I care about this team, and its reputation. We’re a clean team, a clean-cut team. We make our athletes dress up for every interaction with the public and we don’t even allow facial hair. Our brand is built on this team being made up of the kind of men you can trust to expose your children to. If your kids are looking at pictures of our second baseman with his hands down some scantily-clad omega’s pants in a seedy club, how are we different from Boston?”

Carter scoffed and shook his head. This was one hell of a railroad job. “Are you kidding me right now? Tracy, I told you about what happened there when it freaking happened. Are you going to just sit there and keep your mouth shut like someone sewed it, or is that what you’re being paid for?”

Tracy glowered at him. “That’s not fair, Carter. I told you not to go to that place, I told you not to go out alone, and you completely disregarded me. You brought this down on yourself.”

“Way to victim blame.” Nestor gave Tracy a dirty look, and then he turned back to Carter. “Since Coach of the Year here isn’t choosing to speak up, you want to share with the rest of us?”

“I went to the Hellion Club up in Boston to get out for a hot minute. I had exactly one drink. I was chatting with one of the servers about baseball - he’s in A ball. Just as I was getting ready to leave, this other omega comes up and throws himself into my lap. When I won’t give him what he wants, he grabs my hand and sticks it into his pants. It was gross, I told him no, and I left. Unfortunately, plenty of people were recording. Club security bounced ‘em, but obviously the damage was done.” Carter crossed his arms, and then he let them fall. He refused to give off defensive body language, even if he did feel like he was under attack.

“An omega in the minors? Pull the other one.” Lenox scoffed.

Tracy shifted and grimaced. “It’s true. His name is Ron Steele, and he’s a catcher in the Pittsburgh organization. He can hit like there’s no tomorrow. Carter mentioned him to me after this incident, and I did some digging. I sent a file on him to our scouting manager. We could use some better hitting in our farm system, and if we can bring up some young talent that can double as a backup catcher - well, I won’t complain.” He shook his head. “That’s not the point.”

“The point,” Carter said, stabbing one finger into the mahogany tabletop, “is that Ron was there and saw the whole thing. And he would have heard this other guy, Steve, refer to a specific incident that happened when security at the clubhouse was breached.”

“Jesus.” Nestor whistled. “There really is a conspiracy, isn’t there?”

“You have no idea, brother.” Carter gritted his teeth.

Lenox waved a hand. “You think someone conspired to try to make you look like a cheating scoundrel? Get real.”

Tracy rubbed the back of his neck. “His husband’s ex has been trying to get back together with him. I can’t understand why, but he is. He even went so far as to have divorce papers drawn up by a lawyer, break into the clubhouse, and leave them in Bowman’s locker.”

Lenox blinked, jaw slack. “That doesn’t happen. No lawyer would do that.”

“Which is the point of the lawsuit my husband filed in court, which the guy in question settled. And which is the point of the ethics complaint Ty filed with the bar association too.” Carter lounged back in his chair. “Did I mention Ty’s a lawyer? And a good one, too? Tyler Cunningham. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the name.”

Lenox blanched. “I am. He basically beat me up and stole my lunch money a couple of years ago.” He tugged at his collar. “Legally speaking, anyway.”

Nestor snickered. “Even I’ve heard the name. And I wouldn’t piss him off.”

“Oh, he’s already pissed. The only reason he hasn’t already filed suits about this is because the courthouse is closed on Thanksgiving. But let me tell you, he’s sitting in front of his computer right now, drawing up documents. He’ll be at that courthouse tomorrow morning. He is brilliant, he is savage, and he is patient. He’s happy to tie everyone involved up in court until the sun goes out.” Carter smiled the kind of broad, cold smile he’d seen Keegan deploy.

Lenox sighed. “The thing is, Carter, these pictures are already pretty damning. And the team has already been brought into disrepute because of it. We can’t let that stand.”

Nestor laughed. “You’re joking, right? A guy gets convicted of beating the crap out of his wife and all you can say is that it’s ‘a private family matter and doesn’t relate to baseball,’ but a guy gets deliberately slandered with the intention of damaging his reputation and you want to throw him to the wolves. That’s some crap right there.

“The way I see it, you’ve got two choices,” Nestor continued. “You can either stand up and say, ‘Look, these pictures are so fake Russian bots retweeted them, we’re standing by this guy who’s done a lot for us,’ or you can be craven cowards who want to feed into a bizarre conspiracy of people who want to end this man’s marriage for reasons I don’t understand. Either way, after this meeting, the next time someone tries to call this the best organization in all of baseball to work for, I’m going to puke on their shoe.”

“Colorful,” Carter murmured.

“I try. I’ve got an eight year old. They’ve got a lot of descriptive skills.”

Lenox took a deep breath and looked at his fellow owners. “You’ve got a week to make this go away,” he said after a moment. “Maybe it’s a double standard, but here we are. I have a bottom line to consider. This year our clean-cut newlywed put butts in seats. A liar and a cheat isn’t going to bring in nearly as many fans.”

“I ain’t worried,” Carter lied. He somehow doubted that a major corporate news source would roll over and make a proper retraction in one week, during the holiday season. Well, if they didn’t, he could always sue.

This whole being married to a lawyer thing was getting to be handier by the day.

“We’ll meet again in a week, then.” Nestor glowered at the owners, and then he glowered at Tracy. “And we will be ready for that meeting. You want to talk contracts? We’ll talk contracts.”

Carter could barely contain a smirk as they walked away. Nestor all but had smoke coming out of his ears as they moved out into the reception area. “Thanks for your help, Nestor. Our union rep would never have gotten here in time. He’s still off in the DR.”

“Meh. I know Jose. He’s kind of useless anyway.” Nestor waved a hand. “I was kind of pissed until I found out what was going on. Man, I don’t know what’s going on with your family, but it sounds seriously screwed up. Good luck getting it all sorted out. I don’t envy you, bro.”

Tracy appeared on the scene. Carter turned on him. “Wow. That was something else, Coach.”

Tracy held up a hand. “You aren’t the only player on this team, Carter. I have to think of everyone. We can’t have someone whose off the field issues become a distraction for the whole team.”

“Funny how they didn’t seem to be a problem for the team this year.” Carter pursed his lips. “It’s not like we won the World Series or anything.”

Nestor shook his head. “Right? I don’t get this.”

“Look.” Tracy rubbed at his face. “I don’t want to lose you either, Carter. And I want to help you get to the bottom of all of this. Who is it, exactly, that’s been working to help you get to the bottom of all of this crap with that Britton guy? Huh? Who is it who’s been working with Scotland Yard this whole time?”

Nestor snapped his head around. “Wait, what? Scotland Yard?”

Carter rolled his eyes. “Dude killed his husband. Or at least it looks that way. They’re trying to extradite him to England, it’s taking a while.”

“That’s messed up.” Nestor stepped back. “And now he’s after you?”

“Long story,” Tracy said. “I’m not sure I get all of it myself. I think you have to have been born a New York blue blood to understand it. But yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. Anyway, Carter, the article looked legit. I know that reporter. He’s not going to publish something he hasn’t researched. And while you’ve never been the kind of guy to cheat much, we both know this isn’t much of a marriage.”

Carter growled. He balled his hands into fists. He wanted to smash Tracy’s head into a wall, but he got control of his temper. Maybe once upon a time those alpha instincts had been helpful to someone, but those days were long gone. “Maybe we didn’t go about meeting each other, or courting each other, in a way you approve of. But Ty and I are married. We love each other. We’re going to be together forever, and that’s just all there is to it. And hey, both of us have only been married once. You’re on what, spouse four? Maybe instead of assuming an article about me cheating is true just because there are some badly altered pictures, you should think about not assuming everyone does the things you do.”

Tracy turned bright red. Some of it was rage. Most of it was shame. “How do you think I know how tempting it can be when you’re out on the road? Especially when there isn’t any love there?”

“If your marriages have been loveless that’s on you, Tracy. Get some therapy. Ty and I didn’t expect to fall in love, but we did. I think that says something about us, and who we are. We’re good, honest guys. We went into it with an open mind and we were willing to love each other. Try not expecting it to fail, I guess?” Carter shook himself. “I’m rambling. The point is, most of us are loyal. If you can’t make yourself believe other people can be, you should look at yourself and not punish other people.”

Tracy took a deep breath. “Look, Carter, I’m sorry. I just can’t see why you’d want to be with someone who had to do what he did.” He glanced over at Nestor.

“Because he’s amazing. We’re going to get to the bottom of all of this stuff, and we’re going to make it stop. I’m grateful that you’ve been so helpful with that so far. I’d like your help going forward, but if you can’t do that then I have to ask you to stay out of the way.” Carter turned on his heel and headed for the exit. “Happy Thanksgiving.”