The Guest List

"Okay babe, don't freak out."

Taylor wriggled into a pair of tight jeans and stretched a black bralette over her head. She situated it over her modest bust and grabbed a cute, bright pink t-shirt with the word "BOMB" scrawled in messy black print across the front. The letter "O" had a little bow where it's hair would be.

"She'll be here in a few minutes, okay?" She said to Johnny. She left the bedroom and found him in the kitchen, and she strolled casually up to him. "Everything's been great with Morg for a while now. I think I'm getting better at handling her and stuff, so there's nothing to worry about."

She let her voice fall to a throaty purr as she softly backed Johnny up until he rested against the counter top. She leaned her hips against his, and left him a view of her fit, lithe upper body. Her hard abs, her trim waist, the soft curve of her small breasts held gently by the thin stretchy fabric of her bra, the black necklace that wrapped once snugly against her neck and then hung down with a silver hawk pendant on her chest. Her blonde hair had newly dyed red streaks through her bangs and a thin braid on one side, and it was all tucked back in a messy bun. She put on a coy version of her razor sharp grin, and did her best to melt him with her dark blue eyes.

"Besides, I'm always safe with you around, aren't I? My big, strong, musclehead..." She bit her lower lip and slipped a hand up under his shirt.

Johnny had been in the kitchen, pulverizing carrots into a glass when Taylor called out to him. He smiled and turned to see her saunter in and smiled at her as she pressed against him and pushed him against the counter. "It's cool babe." Johnny said. He wrapped his arms around her when she slid her hand up his shirt. Morrigan had been coming over more and more lately. He had gotten used to it, sot of. When he knew she was coming over, he usually just went and worked out. Not that that was much different than what he usually did but he stayed at home, just in case.

She was coming over today because he and Taylor had decided to throw a housewarming/Welcome home Cassie party. Johnny just wanted it to be small but somewhere along the line, Taylor had called upon Morrigan to help out with a guest list. He didn't mind THAT, he supposed, but he wasn't sure how the kinds of people they knew would get along together in one big party setting. He was a little worried, to say the least. But he wasn't going to ruin the party and Taylor seemed to be having fun with it.

Johnny kissed Taylor and squeezed her, lifting her up off her feet with her big strong her arms. "I am, babe." He said with a grin.

"Helloooooooo~" Came the chirping greeting echoing from the entrance of the house. Junko strode in and stopped in the kitchen and looked at the couple. "I have curtain samples, fufu~" She said and looked the two over. "I'll start in another room since it seems the bedroom will be occupied for a little while, fufufu~" Junko left the two alone, calling out as she stepped into the rest of the house. "I'll make lunch for us in a bit~"

Johnny looked down at Taylor with a confused look. "Uhhh... you invited Ma, too?" He said. He hadn't heard anything about that.

Morrigan stepped in right after, going to the dining table and beginning to set up her things. She seemed to pay the embracing couple no mind other tan to inform them of the situation. "She just showed up. I let her in because, well... she has a key." Morrigan said and took a sip from her bottled water.

Taylor jumped when the door opened with her still half dressed, but it got worse when it turned out to be her mother-in-law. She tried to hide behind Johnny while she fumbled with her shirt.

She returned Johnny's confusion, holding up her palms and shrugging. She wrapped her arms around Johnny's waist and held on tightly, using him like a human shield against her now-public indecency. "Dude, c'mon," her voice came out sounding like Staten Island. "Just because we-" Morrigan cut her off. "Eep!"

She hurriedly stretched the clingy pink t-shirt over her head and pulled it down over her midsection. "Hey, Morg," she said. "How's everything going?"

She leaned around the corner to call after Junko. "Mom, we're just working on doing like a housewarming party and stuff, so we'll be in the kitchen. Ya know, not the bedroom."

She grabbed a tall glass of water and slouched in a chair with her legs propped up on the table. "And what about the other stuff?" She asked quietly, directly to Morrigan, though not entirely out of Johnny's earshot.

"I don't care wheeeeeere it happens, Taylor-chan, just get it doooone~" Junko called out from wherever she was in the house.

Morrigan paid no attention to Taylor as she tried to cover herself up. She pulled out a lap top and fired it up. "Hey, boss." She said, only glancing up to adjust her glasses as Taylor came over to her. She leaned in so she could whisper back to Taylor. "Get Johnny out of the house on Tuesday." She said. "You might want to make at an overnight thing, just to be safe. After that, keep him out of the basement as long as you can. You can cal your mother over to supervise.. and to let the guys in the house." Morrigan added.

She then leaned back, pulling up an invitation she'd been working on. "So, how's this?" She said. "It's nothing fancy." She said as she showed Taylor the monitor. There was a little clip art balloon on one corner and a chibi skull on the other. Other than that, it was waiting for more information. The reason Morrigan was here at the moment.

"So... who all's coming then?" She asked, pulling up a word document so she could start making a list.

Taylor nodded silently, and suppressed a crooked grin. It was going to be pretty awesome.

She leaned in to inspect Morrigan's work, and nodded. "Looks good to me, man, whatever you want. I mean, we're not the White House or anything."

She leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head, uncrossed and recrossed her legs on the table with the other one on top while she thought. "Well... There'd be us three... we can even invite mom, too. And Akashi and Cassie, obviously. Bug, did you want to invite your she-bro?" Referring to Ro. "Or like... Shinobu? I could invite... hm."

Taylor knew a lot of people, but she could call very few of them friends. Still, the basement wasn't so much about just keeping to herself and her inner circle, it was about expanding things to include other people. "I could invite Jess. Haruki Amai," she clarified for Morrigan. "And... Um... Do you think Nikolette would come? I dunno. Eheh..."

"Ok." Morrigan said. She looked at the invitation one more time and then clicked back over to the text document. She heard Taylor lift off some names and typed them quickly. She was still a little surprised that SHE was invited and Johnny turned his head and glanced at Morrigan when Taylor said her as well. He furrowed his brow.

"Yeah, man." Johnny said shrugging. "Might be cool to show him around if he's not too busy." Johnny grinned. He then looked away from Taylor. "Yeah, dude, invite Ro. I gotta have someone to beat up after I get a couple of beers in me!" He said and laughed. Then he downed his carrot juice and began looking for something else to pulverize.

Morrigan typed all the names up but stopped when Taylor mentioned Nikolette. Her lips stiffened. "Why the fuck would you invite that bitch?" She said. The last time she saw that girl, she was clotheslining Morrigan. Granted, she had tased Nikolette for pretty much nothing but still.. Morrigan grit her teeth and lowered her gaze. "Yeah, she'd probably like it."She muttered and added the name tot he list.

Junko walked into the kitchen humming as she heard the girls discuss names. She walked tot he fridge and began to pull out ingredients for cooking the four of them lunch and set them on the counter to get ready. "You're inviting Mamouru-kun to your little party too, right?" She said almost casually as she pulled out a sharp knife and began to chop up some vegetables.

"Or something, yeah." Taylor wasn't exactly what one would call fully comfortable with Johnny's unique relationship with his very busty drinking buddy and sparring partner, but she didn't show it. That was a Pandora's box that didn't need to be opened, at least until the current Pandora's box was wrapped up.

"Well, Morg, it's not-" Her attention snapped to Johnny routing around in the fridge. "You stay the fuck around my nectarines, dude. This is your only warning. I will use lethal goddamn force in defense of my fruit. Nothing in the paper bag." She shook her head and put on a more soothing tone for Morrigan. "Dude. So she hit you. Are you gonna cry about it? You did worse to her. And to me. And my boy. She wasn't even out of line dropping your ass, so just be cool and forgive and forget, a'right?" She added in a brighter tone "Besides, security will be pretty fuckin' tight, man. We've got all the heavy hitters coming. Namely Cassie. In case you don't know, don't fuck with Cassie."

Taylor hardly noticed what Junko had said at first, but once it sunk in she couldn't believe her ears. "Fuck no!" She got loud, and New York-y. "No way is that asshole coming anywhere near this place. He's got a Taylor Erin Fucking Parker Higurashi goddamn restraining order on him. He's not allowed to be within one city of Cassie. May I remind you of the golden rule? Don't fuck with Cassie!"

She held out a hand to Johnny, he'd definitely have her back. "Babe, back me up!"

Johnny sighed when Taylor snapped. When was she going to realize that vegetables and fruit were an awesome combination as a juice? She just wasn't getting the maximum amount of effect with peeling and eating. Johnny could grate a little zest in there, and it would be killer. He grabbed some fruit that he kept out of the paper back and decided to try for something else.

Morrigan clenched her teeth as Taylor scolded her. She turned her head and looked away. "Whatever." She said. She WAS cool. She didn't like goodie goodie's like Nikolette. She did other things too. Like stop her from murdering Annelle DSade.

Junko, on the other hand, was less willing to back down from Taylor. When Taylor was finished, and before Johnny could answer, she stabbed the knife into a daikon and turned to look at Taylor with the brightest smile she had on. "Oh, let me rephrase myself then, Taylor-chan." She said in a sweet tone. "I'm so glad that you would go out of your way to invite my son, your brother, to your housewarming party. You're such a kind, caring and thoughtful daughter." With that, Junko went back to cutting up her daikon.

Johnny looked at Taylor apologetically. What was he going to say to that?

Morrigan added the name to the list. "I'll kick his ass if he fucks around." She said casually not even really knowing, or caring who they were talking about. "Anyone else?" She said, looking at Taylor.

Oh, uh-uh. She was not going to let that shit slide.

Taylor fumed, and when Morrigan spoke she leveled her glare at her instead. "Yeah. You think your buddy would be down to off Mamouru?" She said with all the sarcasm she could muster.

She waved her hands in the air and turned back to Junko. "Mom. Junko. That is so unfair! To everyone! If he comes, Cassie can't, and how the hell are we going to have a 'welcome back Cassie' party without motherfucking Cassie?" She glanced at Johnny, and then at Morrigan. Neither of them were any help.

"So, what, like, you just want everyone to forget about all that shit he did? Like how he totally led Cassie on while fucking every single eligible slut in Japan, including Dark Angel's fucking sister?! How about how he fucked her out of a win she totally deserved? Her career? Do you even care how Cassie feels?" She folded her arms like an irate teenager and seethed. "Fine, put him on the fucking list, but the second he walks through the door I'm gonna break his stupid face."

Morrigan erased the name when Taylor went off. And then added the name again when Taylor gave in. She looked dryly at the screen and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

Junko finished chopping her vegetables and then walked over to Taylor. She leaned forward and hugged Taylor's head against her chest. She then leaned forward and kissed the top of Taylor's head. "Things will work out, Taylor-chan. If he acts up, he'll have to deal with me. Besides, Cassie-chan's a big girl. She'll be able to handle herself."

Junko pulled away and walked back to what she was doing. She put some water on the stove and then began to work on the lunch some more.

Johnny sat down at the table and began sipping his juice. He leaned over and began to rub his hand along Taylor's thigh. "Yeah, babe. I'll kick his ass too. That's, like half the party that will kick his as if he gets out of line." Johnny turned back and looked at Junko. "Have you talked to him lately, Ma?"

Junko sighed. "I try but he doesn't answer my calls very often. I have no idea what he's up to except when I see him on television. Even that's not too often, really." She said, frowning.