ok, Jo is reunited with Milliardo and Lucrezia here. Just for reference, Jo calls them zechs (not to his face though) and Noin. Noin asked her to be called that, and she calls Milliardo Zechs due to her dad's influence- not surprising really when you think of Heero and Zech's feeling to one another?!
Jo stepped back after she pulled away from her 'cousins' and sat back down on the sofa, watching her aunt and uncle with a contented smile on her face. Trowa glanced over at her out of the corner of his invisible eye, hidden by his hair, and the ghost of a smile appeared on his face, a smile that didn't go unnoticed by Quatre, who found that the scene in front of him caused him to turn and secretly wipe away the tiny glisten of tears collecting in his eyes. Trowa had never married or had any children, and instead had been like a second parent to Jo when she was growing up. All of her uncles were adored by her, especially duo, yet quatre had always known that deep down, she saw Trowa as her second dad. Duo was more the older brother than the uncle, which is probably why he and jo had always been extra close.
Turning back to look at everyone, quatre saw that jo had moved again, this time to join daemon who had finally managed to untangle himself from his dad's hugs and was now sitting on the windowsill, watching the cars speed down the road. Duo and Hilde had disappeared upstairs for some 'alone time' and no one else had decided to stop them as they all knew the temper hilde had, especially when it was aimed at someone coming between her and her husband.
Jo sat down next to daemon with a soft thud, and he turned to grin at her. She smiled back and leant next to him, and he wrapped one arm over her shoulders in a soft embrace. She relaxed against him, but straightened up slightly as she noticed a movement coming from up he drive, but as she turned to look properly, it had gone. She turned back to the boy sitting next to her.
"hey daemon?" she asked. He sent her a warm smile, that almost made her blush. Almost.
He turned to look at her, and also noticed the movement up the drive. He called out to let trowa know they had guests before responding to jo.
"yeah, what's up?"
"you've really changed. you look good." she said, and looked away blushing.
Daemon smirked and gave her a gentle push to hide his own embarrassment. She retaliated with a smirk and a punch to his arm.
"ow. Well, you look bloody amazing if you want my honest opinion." he answered.
Jo didn't quite know what to say to that, so she said the only thing she could think of:
"you're voice is weird."
"what? My voice? Are you on something? My voice is normal jo. Well, last time you heard it I still had a kids voice but you've got to admit, I'm pretty damn sexy now" he joked, trying to ignore the twitching of jo's lips as she fought back the laugh.
Daemon put on a look of mock hurt and insult as jo lost her battle against trying not to laugh, before joining in with her. Soon the pair were leaning on each other for support, neither one of them noticing the sudden quiet that had taken over the remainder of the household population. Even duo and hilde who had returned from upstairs were unusually silent. Finally jo stopped laughing for long enough to notice the silence and immediately sobered up, elbowing daemon's ribs to alert him of the situation. It took him a bit longer to calm down than it had taken jo but eventually he quietened enough for the new guests of the house to appear and make their presence known to jo. Her eyes opened wide as two adults, a man and a woman, gracefully and almost regally entered the room, and her jaw dropped of its own accord. As much as she didn't want to, she found herself crying yet again, as she flew into the awaiting arms of her last living relative: Milliardo Peacecraft.
Her uncle seemed hesitant at first to return her embrace as it was common knowledge that the pair had never really been close, as heero's influence had been strong in the young girl and she was so observant that she could sense the tension that was always present when her dad and uncle were together, and because of that she had always had trouble trying to form a relationship with him. However, at that minute just seeing a real blood relative, the last one she knew of, made her happier than she could ever have imagined possible and she just needed that comfort that can only be found through a relative.
Once she felt she had enough of love from her uncle, she pulled away and sent him a small smile, that was a borderline smirk. Duo almost laughed out loud at that, but his experiences with the lightning count had made him wisely choose the decision to keep his mouth firmly shut and silent. Jo then looked over to her aunt lucrezia, and launched herself. Lucrezia laughed as she pulled the girl into her embrace, burying her face in Jo's hair. The last time she had held jo like this jo had barely reached her waist, and now, her she was standing in the same embrace, now fully reaching the same height as her aunt, possibly even being slightly taller. Lucrezia had to try and get her head around that one. Unlike milliardo, jo and lucrezia had a close relationship, not close enough for jo to pour her heart out, but close enough so that jo could go to her knowing that no awkward questions would be asked and that the minute she left the room lucrezia would pretend the whole incident never happened.
She pulled away from her aunt, and was pushed in front of a teenage boy, around about the same age as her and daemon. No, he looked a bit older actually. There was another boy too who looked younger, and jo groaned as her memories reminded her that the two boys were her twenty year old cousin Jurei and her sixteen year old cousin Maxy. She was pulled into a hug by maxy and she wrapped her arms round him, giggling as he did his favourite trick from their childhood of him trying to tickle her as he knew that her only ticklish spot was the side of her ribs. She immediately tried to dodge his fingers, but as she moved, he was able to just catch her with one finger, and she let out a small yelp of laughter, causing everyone to look at her as if she had grown a second, possibly even a third head, before the whole room was once again laughing.
Jo glanced over to the only person not laughing, and surprise, it was jurei. It was no secret that there was no love between the two cousins, in fact jo blatantly despised him. Even now, seven years after she last saw him and lost her memory, she still felt the animosity towards him. He looked down at her with a disapproving glance, before sneering at her and causing her to bristle. She held her hand out in greeting, and after he looked at her hand as if it was a vicious beast, he reluctantly forced himself to shake it, but only because both his parents and all of his 'aunts' and 'uncles' were in the room. Not to mention the fat that daemon was giving him a weary look. Just as with jo and jurei, daemon and jurei also harboured a deep hatred for each other, each one baring a grudge against the other. Every time the pair were alone together, someone always ended up having to rush into the room to pull them apart. The testosterone levels between them were through the roof and both had a tendency to be quick with their fists, something that for daemon, was very unusual. Jurei was a cruel person naturally, and had always tried to make Jo's life miserable, especially as she was the only person other than his parents that he had never been able to intimidate, and it infuriated him. Even now, he was determined to make her afraid of him and do as he wished, especially as now, she didn't have her daddy there to pick her up again when he upset her.
Jo let go of Jurei's hand and stepped away from him, trying to move her hand and return the feeling back to it. His grip had suddenly tightened and caused her hand to go numb. Daemon noticed how she discreetly tried to hide the fact she was in slight pain and discomfort and glared at jurei, who returned the glare with a smirk, unnoticed by anyone. As much as he hated to admit it, jurei scared him. Only just, but enough to make him wish that he could well and truly take the guy out. He just wished that everyone would stop barging in every time they started fighting and let him prove himself. The only reason they stopped him was because of the fact there was a two and a half year gap between them, and that jurei might hurt daemon too much. Huh, as if. Daemon wasn't one to back down that easily.
Milliardo watched his son and Jo's reaction to each other and found that he wasn't surprised, but secretly disappointed to see that the pair still showed a dislike to each other. He sighed and shook his head slightly, before clearing his throat to attract Jo's attention. She looked up at him, giving him a questioning look, wondering what he was wanting.
"Joanne, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" he asked.
Jo rolled her eyes. 'same old uncle' she thought to herself. She followed him into the kitchen and sat down, grabbing an apple from out of the fruit bowl on the breakfast bar counter as she did. She bit into it, carefully watching her uncle close the door and locking it behind him. She raised an eyebrow at this, still munching the chunk of apple, wondering what on earth he was up to. What did he want to talk about so much that couldn't wait until later? He turned back to her and sat down opposite her, declining the offer of a piece of fruit. The level of seriousness shown on his face made jo feel nervous and she threw the half eaten apple into the bin, letting a small smile appear when it landed straight into it with a crash.
"What happened?" Milliardo asked.
Jo couldn't help but smile at that. He certainly hadn't changed; always straight to the point, never taking any sidetracking. Jo sighed, not wanting to tell him what happened but knowing that she had to, so she told him everything, only leaving a couple of things out, such as how she cut her neck on the day her dad died, and how the last moment she remembered sharing with her father had been him dying while holding her and then having him being ripped away from her. Once she had finished, milliardo moved round to her, and hesitantly put his arms round her, not sure if it was the embrace she wanted, but was surprised when she allowed him to hold her and actually put her arms round him. She didn't shed any tears, just needed to feel the comfort of being loved.
