Family's Family

Taylor smoldered at Johnny. That was low. She stood perfectly still, as if any little disturbance might send her sobbing, or make her explode. When he was interrupted by his mom, Taylor shoved him with both hands. How could he be such an asshole?

She rolled her eyes and looked around the rest of the kitchen, but didn't try to interrupt Junko. But she inevitably got around to trying again to put Taylor in her place, and Taylor glared at her. Don't start anything, she told herself. Don't do it.

"You..." She began in a low voice. The pause hung heavily in the air. "Can try."

Junko watched as the air tensed up and Taylor growled out her threat. Junko shook her head. "Is that what you're going to do? You're going to fight me in my own home?" Junko said and turned to look at Taylor. "I'm sure that's exactly what you want, isn't it? That you would love to get your hands around my neck? Beat me up? I'm sure it will make you feel like a real tough girl, won't it? A real adult coming at a lady twice your age in her own home. In front of her son. Is that the kind of girl my Junichi-kun married?"

Junko took a step toward Taylor and lifted up her chin. "Taylor-chan. If that's how you think you can solve all of life's problems then go ahead and take a swing at me. Are you going to do that when things get to rough with Junichi-kun too?" Junko stared at Taylor, not budging an inch. "Your children? At what point do you stop? Or DO you stop?"

Junko lifted up her hands and turned her head. "But no, Taylor-chan wants to fight. I have a wrestling ring if you want to go a few rounds. Or are you worried that I'll just try and grab your ass since that's apparently the only thing I like about you."

Taylor couldn't believe what she was hearing. She threw up her hands in exasperation more than once, and looked at Johnny to see if he was going to let this woman talk to her like this. Of course he was, it was his mother doing the talking, but Taylor didn't have to stand for it.

"Who," she started, like a pot on the stove just about to boil over. "The fuck are you, to talk to me like this?! You're not my mom, and you don't even know me! You don't know a thing about me. Well, here's a fun fact. I don't like being pushed, and I don't like it when people get up in my face, and I definitely don't like being made fun of by my husband's mom!"

It was too much. She felt the urgent, volatile tingling of adrenaline coursing down her arms and making her legs quiver. Her fists were clenched tight. She needed to get out before she ended up knocking out her mother-in-law on their first day.

"Forget this..." She muttered under her breath, and flung open the front door. She hurried out and around the corner, where at least they wouldn't be able to see her, even if the neighbors could see everything.

Junko weathered the storm as Taylor went on a tirade. She remained stoic and watched as her daughter in law stormed off. Johnny had been bewildered during the whole ordeal. Pretty much everything that he feared happening had come true... except Johnny figured they might actually come to blows. When Taylor was gone and after a moment of silence, Johny turned and looked at Junko.

"What the FUCK, ma!?" He barked.

Junko immediately furrowed her brow. "Ju-nichi-kun! Watch your mouth! You do not talk to your mother like that!"

Johnny remained rigid other than the simple head tilt to acknowledge his mothers words. Still. He wasn't going to back down. He also knew he had to go to Taylor but as he turned to leave, he saw a gleam in Junko's eyes.

"Uuuuufufufufufufufu!" Suddenly the elder woman broke into a fit of laughter that made Johnny stop and stare in confusion. "So THIS is what it's like to have a teenage girl. They are much more feisty than you boys ever were. I like it."

Johnny furrowed his brow. "Dude, she's in her twenties, man. Whatever, I need to go talk to her and fix what you did." Johnny took off but Junko grabbed his arm.

"Tell her attitude that she's in her twenties. I don't think it got the memo. Anyway, I'm the mom around here. I'll take care of it. You just worry about what kind of apology you're going to give and how you're going to make things up with her."

Johnny balked and when Junko gave him a sly, 'I know what I'd do' look and turned around to walk out of the door.

Junko made her way out of the house quietly and looked around. She didn't see Taylor at first and thought she had run away. That thought alone made her smile. Her boys tried that once and after an hour they were back home in tears.

Junko turned in one direction and saw Taylor out of the corner of her eye. She paused and took a step back. Not because she wanted to hide from Taylor but because she just thought it was better to talk like this. "Taylor-chan. Whether you want to admit it or not, I am your mother now. Not because of flesh and blood but because you swore that you would love my son as long as you lived. That means you're part of my family now."

Junko paused for a moment. "That means that my love for you is unconditional. I don't need to know who you are. I don't need to know anything about you other than the fact that you want to be with my son forever. That is good enough for me. If you want to hate me. Fine. If you want to fight and go a few rounds, fine. But that's not going to change how I feel about you. It's not going to stop me from doing whatever I can to make sure the two of you are happy. That's what it means to be a mother and if you ever have kids, I am certain you'll understand."

Junko pulled up her hand to her eyes. She was feeling a little misty eyed. "My boys have grown up into men. I barely know who they are anymore. I can barely recognize them. It doesn't mean I'll stop loving them either. Mamouru-kun's been chasing girls as long as I can remember. Sometimes I think he visits me just to humor me because he's never really been around. I lost him so long ago. But now Junichi-kun is yours. He's not mine anymore. It's just hard, I suppose." Junko blinked and turned her body. "Anyway, I'm sure you don't really care to hear about all this, so I'll send in Junichi-kun. I made sure to tell him to apologize to you."

Taylor blinked once and the damp rim in her eyes was gone. She folded her arms tightly under her chest and stiffened when Junko spoke. She wasn't the one she wanted.

Any normal person would've felt pretty good about the whole thing, about unconditional love and family and acceptance, but not Taylor. Her soul braced against the idea, it offended her. A part of her beyond her control smoldered with disbelief, and refused to accept that someone, a mother, could say those things to her and mean it.

But she knew she was nuts. That much was obvious.

"Yeah," she said quietly, barely above a whisper but loud enough for Junko to hear. "We'll see, right?"

When Johnny emerged, she faced him head-on. She put her hands on his biceps and leaned into him, diverting her eyes downward. She couldn't look at him. "Sorry," she said, the word like a gasp, burdened heavily with remorse.

She straightened up and let go of him before she could get too emotional, and folded her arms again. She looked around and spotted an older woman three houses down pretending like she wasn't watching them. She sighed. She might have been nuts, but if she knew anything at all, it's that there was always room for more crazy.

"Dude, I think I have to fight your mom."

Junko heard Taylor's words and smiled. She turned and left and strolled back into her house, letting Johnny know everything was alright. He moved quickly out of the door and was instantly besieged by Taylor.

"I'm sorry babe." Johnny said quickly in return and watched as she pulled away before he could hug her. He listened to his words and laughed.

"Why do you say that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well..." Taylor said. It was a fair question. "Because I wanna?" She laughed awkwardly. "Well, really... I dunno. Your mom doesn't know me, and I don't think she respects me. Well, I don't think she doesn't respect me, but I don't want her to just not, not respect me. I want her to like... Ya know. Know what's up."

She started to become animated as her bravado warmed up, fueled as much by the ludicrous situation as by her need to redeem herself. She stepped back and gestured wildly with her finger. "Your mom's gotta know what time it is, a'right? And I promise I'll go easy on her, but she's all about stepping in her full size wrestling ring, so I might as well make her day and probably the rest of her year by showing her exactly why I'm not going to be popping out grand kids like your garden variety dropout."

Johnny didn't believe that Taylor was actually serious. Then again, maybe he should have. He listened to her speak and smiled at her. "Uhh... I don't know if she doesn't respect you or whatever, man." Johnny said. "And yeah, she's got a full sized wrestling ring because she used to be a trainer and manager. She's fit and she wrestles but she's not really been in the ring all that much."

Johnny looked at Taylor as she started getting revved up. "You're not really gonna fight my mom, are you, babe?" He asked finally.

"Junichi-Kuuuun..." Taylor gave Johnny a look that was not quite a smile, not quite a warning, not quite devious, and not quite a dismissal. She wasn't even quite sure what it meant herself.

She leaned back inside and called to her mother-in-law. "Hey, do you still want to show me this ring of yours?" She said. "Tell you what, I promise I'll call you okaa-san forever if you can kick my ass. If I win, you don't get to harass me about grandkids. You can still harass Johnny, though." She smiled at Johnny. She wondered in what form this would come back to him, or if she'd just be physically thrown off the property. "Girdle up and let's go, Granny-Panties, while I'm still young and desirable and in my prime and all the things you wish you still were."

Johnny didn't think this was a good idea but it seemed like Taylor was hell bent on it.

Junko poked her head out of the door and smiled at Taylor. "How about I show you the ring, and if you really want to keep acting this way, I'll spar with you. If you win, I congratulate you, you call me Okaa-chan anyway and I keep getting to tease you and Junichi-kun until my hearts content. And if I win, well... Maybe you'll be a little more respectful to your Mother-in-law and visit me more often." Junko giggled. "Fufufufu~ Those are my terms, Taylor-chan. This is my house after all. I don't care how you feel about me, You're going to respect me, here."