A/N: Here is the part 3.
I do not own Sailor Moon. I am merely a fan.
Song: Every Other Weekend
By: Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney
Song lyrics in italics.
Normal story will look like this. (Is this side note getting redundant yet?)
Side Note: Reba's part should be read with the intent that it's Saeko's point of view and that Kenney's should be read with the intent that it was made to fit Ami's father's point of view. Also, since the man has no actual given name, I've taken the liberty of giving him a name so I don't have to keep says things like "the man" and "Ami's father" every three seconds. Even if the lyrics are to be taken as the parental points of view, the story will still be told mostly from Ami, Makoto, and Jadeite's points of view
Chapter 10: The Mizuno Family: Part 3.
The weekend went off without a hitch and it was now time for Ami to head back to the apartment with her mother. What Makoto didn't realize was the fact that the Mizuno family had little get together when this took place. It was as if for just a short time they would pretend to be a real family. Ami had described to Makoto that her parents were trying to do it to save face with each other, but on a deeper level they still had that spark. There was still some level of passion between Ami's parents. They were just at different points of their lives and weren't willing to resume a relationship, yet at the same time it was painfully clear that was what both really wanted. Ami's family was complex like that. Instead of their friends who had a different level of complexity, for Ami's parents that complexity included the things that went unsaid.
This had apparently become a sort of tradition as Makoto and Ami hopped out of the truck at a local family diner that the Mizuno family liked to frequent. In front of the doors Saeko stood tense as she greeted her husband and Makoto noted that Jadeite was also keeping his distance as the two adults talked briefly.
(Reba)
Every Other Friday
It's toys and clothes and backpacks
Is everybody in?
Ok lets go see dad
Same time in the same spot
Corner of the same old parking lot
Half the hugs and kisses
There are always sad
We trade a couple words and looks and kids again
Every Other Weekend
"Taro." Saeko greeted him. "How have you been?" She asked softly.
"Alright, I guess." He said as he turned to look the three standing by the truck. "Coffee?"
"Yes." She nodded to have they're usual check in with a cup of coffee before their kids would join them for lunch.
"Does that normally happen?" Makoto asked as she looked on at the scene.
"Yep." Jadeite spoke up. "Every time we switch off we come here afterwords. Give them time we'll go in after a while." He went to go sit up on the brick wall. "Sis and I normally sit out here before we go in with them. That's how it's always been." He started striking a match to light a cigarette that Ami quickly apprehended. "What the hell was that for?"
"Don't do that with me around." Ami sighed as she put it out. "Just because dad doesn't care you think you can light up that stuff anywhere. That's just not the case, and I refuse to watch you smoke your life away." As she sat down between Makoto and Jadeite she sighed. "Besides, Mother would kill me if she saw I was letting you do it. You know better." Looking to Makoto she smiled softly. "This had become a routine for us ever since Twerp over here decided to move in with dad."
"Watch it Geekoid." He said giving his sister a small shove on the shoulder. "But yeah. I remember when we used to do this. The look on mom's face always had been something out of some stupid romance novel. I dunno though. I don't believe someone as smart as her swoons over him still, but, eh whatever." He shrugged.
(Kenny)
Every Other Weekend
Very few exceptions
I pick up the love we made in both my arms
It's movies on the sofa
Grilled cheese and cut the crust off
"But that's not the way mom makes it daddy" breaks my heart
I miss everything I use to have with her again
Every Other Weekend
"You do care about Mother. Even if you act like such a jerk." Ami gave a glare and then sighed. "About this time they'll be exchanging notes about us. Their worries, side things we may have not told the other person. Things like that. I remember how hurt dad felt the first few times we switched off. I think he did the best he could. I was angry with him at that point though. There wasn't really anything that he could have done to appease me. He tried everything, I thinking trying to get me to relive the youth that he had missed. It never worked but you get the general idea. I finally forgave him, but, it did take a little bit of time."
"Well, shall we crash their little party now?" Jadeite asked as he stood up brushing himself off.
"Yes we might as well." Ami said as she too stood up, Makoto following suit. "Time for a family lunch."
(Kenny)
But I can't tell her I love her
(Reba)
I can't tell him I love him
(Kenny)
Cause there's too many questions and
(Both)
Ears in the car
(Reba)
So I don't tell him I miss him
(Kenny)
I don't tell her I need her
(Both)
She's(He's) over me, that's where we are
(Kenny)
So we're as close as we might ever be again
(Both)
Every Other Weekend
Makoto sat amused as she looked on at the family she had been brought into. For that hour she watched as they played pretend. As if they were still a real family. Ami laughed as her father, Taro, cracked jokes. Jadeite kept bugging his sister and Saeko played referee as Taro continued to egg his children on. For those all too brief moments it looked like a normal Sunday lunch. A goofy father, a strict mother, and two siblings who were simply that. Makoto wondered idly if her and Zoisite could have been that way as she took the time to laugh at the uncouth banter and occasional under the table swats that made up this rather odd gathering. Perhaps it was then, that Makoto really understood what Taro had meant. Ami was happy. She was smiling, blushing, name calling, and acting childish. It was rare. It was a gift.
(Reba)
Every Other Saturday
First thing in the mornin'
I turn the TV on to make the quiet go away
I know why, but I don't know why
We ever let this happen
Filling for forever was a big mistake
There's so much not to do, and all day not to do it in
Every Other Weekend
Saeko's apartment was so quiet, so calm and orderly. Taro's home was messy and unruly. It was clear that no one really cared about the overall appearance. It gave you a come as you are feeling instead of a feeling of needing to have proper use of manners like in Saeko's household. The two worlds were vastly different in so many ways. When the adults were together it balanced each other out. Makoto could only wonder idly if Saeko missed the havoc that Jadeite and Taro could induce at any given moment. Ami must have, it explained so much about what drew her to Makoto. The need to be unglued, to let her hair down and just be herself. Makoto wasn't nearly as rough around the edges as either of the Mizuno family males, but, perhaps that was another positive for Ami. Makoto had been toned down to a level that was at the very least controllable. Makoto could still get out of hand, but, Ami could pull her back. Is that what Saeko couldn't do with Taro on a regular basis? Makoto wondered that.
(Kenny)
Every Other Sunday
I empty out my backseat
While my children hug their mother in the parking lot
We don't touch
We don't talk much
Maybe goodbye to each other
Then she drives away with every piece of heart I've got
I reconvince myself we did the right thing
Every Other Weekend
For Makoto one thing was clear. Taro was working so hard to maintain a relationship with his kids. The man was so far from perfect. He had missed so much and he looked like now he was struggling to keep the pace of his kids, and in effect his ex-wife. He cared about her. He really did. You could see that in his eyes. The tension while the lunch continued seemed like it had melted away as soon as they had been joined at the table, a cup of coffee each. Smiling and laughing. The thing was, they weren't talking about themselves. They were talking about their kids. That was the glue. Makoto noted that people often say kids make love harder. That may have been true, and yet, Makoto noted that for them, it's what kept the family strong any more. Taro was a loving father, one that Makoto would be content to say that if hers had been the same way, she would still be proud of him, despite the many shortcomings and downfalls.
(Kenny)
So I can't tell her I love her
(Reba)
I can't tell him I love him
(Kenny)
Cause there's too many questions and
(Both)
Ears in the car
(Reba)
So I don't tell him I miss him
(Kenny)
I don't tell her I need her
(Both)
She's(He's) over me, that's where we are
(Kenny)
So we're as close as we might ever be again
(Both)
Every Other Weekend
(Kenny)
Yeah for fifteen minutes we're a family again
(Reba)
God I wish that he was still with me again
(Both)
Every Other Weekend
As the family finally said their goodbyes and took their leave home Makoto thought about what she had seen. The other side of the world Ami hardly spoke of. For the first time Makoto really had felt like part of the family and took what Taro had said too heart. She really thought long and had come to a decision. Sure she wanted to talk to Ami about it. Perhaps too much so, she felt it weigh on her mind. It called out in the back, that little voice that really makes you wonder a few things.
"Hey Ami?" Makoto asked as she continued to drive. "I've been wondering something." Her eyes were on the road, one of the places she liked to think.
"What is it?" the shorter girl turned to look at Makoto. The concentration in her eyes something of a mystery. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." She paused, wondering how to word this. "You're mom and dad they…today was something I hadn't expected."
"I didn't figure you would." Ami spoke knowingly. "That's out little world. Our bubble of momentary happiness where family is actually our definition."
"If you ever wanted that…you'd tell me…right?" Makoto had seen what family was to Ami now. How her want to be a mother could be so true.
"I would…I do Makoto. You know that." She turned to look at the woman in the driver's seat. The concentration was more than that Ami knew.
"Do I really know…do I even have a clue how badly you want what I saw today? Could I ever understand how much you want something like that? A happy family. A little bubble of peace of your own. Could I even begin to understand that Ami?" She smiled ruefully. "I don't think I ever could. You've got to remember, I never knew what a family was, not a real family like I saw in there today. I never understood how really fragmented your family was until I saw all the pieces click into place. It was something I can't even describe to you, the air lifted and it was like the world was better than ever. I never knew that. The only family I ever had was Zoisite. Then your mother tells me I'm a part of your family, and I have been for a long time, your father gives me his blessing without a single threat. It was then, only just today, that I saw what a family has a possibility to be. It has its faults, its ups and its downs, but I never really know the extent of any of that. I need you to tell me. I need to hear it from your lips. How badly do you want that?"
Ami sat there quietly. Why was it Makoto become such a far deeper person while driving, or out in open areas? It was something that still astounded Ami. She wasn't sure herself. "I don't know Makoto. That's my problem. Yes, when the fragments are in place everything is the way it should be, the way it should have been my entire life. It didn't happen that way though. I'm afraid to do that to my kids. I want a family so very much, but at what cost? Will I be my mother? Will you end up being like my father? That's what I'm afraid of. That we will make the same fragments in our lives. That honestly scares me more than I could ever say."
Makoto closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You don't think I'm afraid?" Her voice cracked lightly. "God, Ami. I grew up without anyone for so long. Foster home after foster home, I was moved constantly. Makeshift parents who said they loved me but just ended up giving me back because they couldn't handle me. Then, Zoisite came and got me. He said to me that he's taking me home. I swear to god, I never thought I'd have him back when he was adopted out. To me, he was the only family who ever cared when I was little, and the only one who came back for me when he could. Then you and the others came into my life and I was at peace again. We started to love each other and I swore to myself I would never have children. Ever. Because I wouldn't let fate take me away from them. I wouldn't be my parents to my children, leaving them on this earth alone. While I had said that to myself over and over I thought about something, we aren't them and we're still here. That's what I told you long ago. I'm here, and I still am. You're here right by my side, and if nothing else in my life is a guarantee this one thing is: right now, right here, I'm at your side. Personally I think that is all we need to know. We'll make it through life somehow, if we decide to raise kids, they'll be just fine, because in the grand scheme of things, they'll have to be, just like we had to be."
Ami let those words sink in. The heavy yet somehow comforting weight of those words speaking volumes more than a voice ever could. They drove the rest of the way to the apartment in a comfortable silence, both left to think about what had just been discussed.
TBC-
Well this is the third part of that really long chapter. I'm glad I broke it up into segments like this, even if it leaves this chapter ending up a little short. Please leave a review.
