Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

"Motor City I'm back!"

"That's your girlfriend." Inuyasha whispered to his brother as they watched Jillian bounce around the taxi like a puppy going for a drive. They just left the hotel and were making their way to the baby shower. She could hardly stay in her seat during the brief ride, too excited to see her family and friends.

Turning into Jillian's old block you could already hear the music coming from a purple house decorated with colorful balloons and streamers. There was a group of young children playing tag all wearing lavender and baby blue ribbon pins on their shirts.

When the trio entered the house it seemed that all the music stopped and all eyes turned on them. Well it actually did… it was coincidental that someone was changing the song just as they walked in. If Inuyasha and Sesshomaru hadn't lived in New York all those months it would have been uncomfortable being two Asians in a house full of black and Hispanics they didn't know.

"Jilli!"

"Mari!" both women ran to each other almost knocking chairs and people in their wake. When Jillian went to hug her best friend Marisol's round belly bounced her right into her place.

"Ah so the tables have turned." Jillian teased. Before Mari got pregnant when they would hug each other she would bounce off her ample chest.

"I got the boobs I always wanted but with a belly to match."

Jillian took a moment to really look at her best friend. There was that light in her eyes again that matched her smile. Her hair was rinsed a deep shade of brown since she couldn't dye her hair while pregnant and styled in big spiral curls.

"You got thick girlie!" Marisol teased pinching Jillian's thigh. The brothers behind her wondered if the friends ever dated at some point.

"You have no idea." It was then she realized that she bought company with her. "Ah! This is my boyfriend Sesshsomaru and his brother Inuyasha."

Neither of them expected to be pulled into a hug.

"I know my baby didn't come back home and ain't say nothin' to her daddy!" the booming voice of Zachariah echoed across the living room. Behind him were Ada Mae and Lucy all with smiles on their faces. The Taisho brothers still haven't gotten used to the idea of all this physical affection between family members.

"Guys I want you to meet some very special people in my life." Grabbing Sesshomaru's hand she looked at the warm faces of her family.

"Its about time." Zach said giving Sesshomaru a hard handshake but the young man was able to squeeze back just as hard.

"Nice to meet you sir."

"Hey! Don't tell me! Your father Toga Taisho? You two look just like him." Both brothers tensed up at the mention of their father. Though Sesshomaru and Jillian had agreed to stop hiding, his father's influence stretched far but it wouldn't keep them apart.

"Yes he is."

"He's so handsome and look at the little one." Ada said warmly pulling the two down for a kiss on the cheek. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at being called little since he was close to 6 feet and already a head taller than the old woman.

"Lets get you three something to eat."

It was nice to see Jillian in her element outside the studio, all loud laughs and smiles and using so much Detroit slang, even Inuyasha was confused. Sesshomaru looked at Zach and Lucy, they were an interracial couple like he and Jillian but it was different. He couldn't explain it just yet but it just was.

"Here ya go."

Looking up Jillian was handing him a plate full of food and a soda. The heavy duty plastic plate was filled with Spanish rice, fried chicken wings a few slices of roast pork and potato salad.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" as soon as he asked that question Jillian rambled on about how beautiful Marisol looked, seeing their high school friends and how much she missed her neighborhood.

"Even though I miss being home I don't think I can leave New York." She turned her attention from her boyfriend to his younger brother who was being doted on and fed by her grandmother and her friends. Inuyasha had a way with older women, especially when they could cook. They fawned over him like he was an adorable puppy. The teen had them eating out of his hand with his bright eyes and his smile sporting one dimple.

"Inu, has a way with the grannies." Jillian mentioned. It didn't take long for Jamal to join him seeing all the food that was being offered. Both teens were handsome tall and lanky and all the older women insisted they needed to put some "meat on their bones", so they gladly accepted all the food. The only thing that stopped them from eating everything handed to them was the announcement that Marisol was going to open the gifts. The happy mother to be was now sitting in her ornate straw chair with various dollar bills pinned to her dress. Sesshomaru didn't understand the tradition of poking sharp pins through your clothing with money but he decided to pin a one hundred dollar bill, earning another awkward hug from the mother to be. After that display and the expensive stroller he and Jillian went half on all Marisol's cousins and uncles decided that the young man earned a spot to drink with them, even though he was only twenty.

"I'm tired…" Sesshomaru yarned sitting on the steps of the front porch.

"That's what you call the idous." Jillian smiled taking a seat next to him. It was the first time she seen him close to drunk. His cheeks were red and he kept nibbling his bottom lip.

"Idous?"

"Its when you eat a lot of good food and get sleepy."

"Like when you eat turkey? So I have this idous?"

"That and you drank all that Henny and Coke."

"I heard a few people mention it at my old job."

"They liked you, back there ya know."

"I'm glad. I wish you could have gotten the same reception from father." the far away look in his eyes spoke volumes. A part of him wanted his father to accept Jillian; though it was nice that his extended family loved her it wasn't the same.

"Its ok. Lets just enjoy the rest of the night. I packed us some left overs." That was another thing he never understood about Jillian. He could afford to have a different meal every day why pack up food that was meant to be eaten the day it was served? Every time he would ask Jillian would just smile and say that it taste better that way.

"Jillibean! Whatchu doin' here?" Sesshomaru looked and noticed a slim woman is ill fitting and dirty clothes who had the same eyes and mouth like this Jillian.

'This is her mother.' Jillian never spoke about her mother often but when she did there wasn't much to say that wouldn't bring back sad memories of her childhood. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious about the woman but it wasn't worth making Jillian upset.

"Momma?"

"Who else would I be?" Rhonda shouted back smiling at her only daughter; Sesshomaru noticed that her teeth were very discolored and her hair was sticking up at an odd angle.

Jillian ran up and gave the woman a hug, not caring about her mother's dirty clothes coming in contact with her clean ones.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you and your brother…I miss you. Ya'll my kids."

"Well Jamal's inside. You know about Mari's baby shower right?"

"Yes and I got her gift." Digging in her worn purse and pulling out small dirty teddy bear. Disappointment and embarrassment was written all over her face when she looked at the gift. Rhonda was so strung out on drugs she didn't even realize it.

"I'm sure she'll love it." Jillian lied taking the toy. Marisol knew about Rhonda's drug addiction and never made Jillian feel ashamed about it. If she were out here know she would have accepted the gift with a smile and made use of it just because Jillian was her friend, more than her friend, her sister.

"Who's the white boy? One of Lucy's kin?" it was almost surprising that Rhonda didn't refer to her husband's second wife as that white bitch. Using the woman's name was defiantly different.

"No. This is my boyfriend Sesshomaru." The young man in question gracefully rose up from his seat as if he wasn't the least bit tipsy. He looked down at his girlfriend giving her a reassuring smile and held her hand.

"Hello pleasure to meet you." Giving the women a slight bow, confusing mother and daughter for very different reasons. Jillian knew Sesshomaru hardly bowed to anyone, and he just did for her mother who wouldn't understand or care about the importance of the action. Rhonda on the other hand thought the tall man was just strange but he looked like he had money so she tried to hold her tongue.

"Hey." The older woman mumbled to herself feeling suddenly self conscious about her appearance for the first time in years. The warm stare the young man gave her daughter suddenly turned cold when he turned back to face her and she felt a cold chill run through her spine.

"Momma, how are you doing?"

"I'm…I…wanted to get Mari a nice gift but the welfare cut me off." Jillian knew exactly where this was going. She used to do this when she was a child even before the got hooked on crack. Rhonda never learned how to handle money and always had her hand out. When it wasn't her and Jamal giving her their allowance from Zach it was a neighbor she lied to saying she was going to buy one thing and spend the money on something she never needed in the first place. Rhonda was the type of woman who wanted to keep up appearances to people who didn't matter which was one of the many reasons she and Zach divorced. The other main cause besides the cheating was that lack of ambition she had, she was an intelligent women but after decades of her talent being ignored she followed in the footsteps of her mother of addiction and living off the system.

"I-." before Jillian could say that she didn't have any money to give Sesshomaru handed her mother a hundred dollars in twenties.

Rhonda was only expecting to get forty dollars off her daughter then make her rounds around the house to Ada- Mae who would give her some money and food. With so much money in her hand at one time she forgot about making her rounds and barely said goodbye to them as she sped off into the night.

"How could she just leave?" Sesshomaru asked looking at the retreating figure turn the corner to do whatever with the money he just given her. His Jilli deserved better than that and it made him angry.

"Her high was coming down and reality hit." She answered. This wasn't her first rodeo with her mother. Her grandmother and father told her all about Rhonda's past. Her mother had a rough life and a lot of the things that happened to her she didn't deserve and she caved into the failure the negative people around her wanted because they were jealous of her.

"I don't understand."

"You wouldn't." then the dam broke, all the emotions she was trying to keep inside came out in fat tears and heavy breathing. Sesshomaru held her close until she calmed down. He did not Rhonda at all and if she wasn't Jillian's mother he would of have her apiece of his mind.

Rhonda didn't ruin the rest of the evening, as if Marisol and Jillian were kindred sprits she sent Jamal outside to bring them in to announce that Jillian was the godmother to her unborn son Malachi.

Izayoi, lounged around the empty house she once shared with her husband, it was too quiet too empty but she could no longer live in the same home with a man who would put his own fears and reputation over his son's happiness. When she found out how far Toga went to keep Jillian and Sesshomaru away from each other she left the high rise condo they shared in New York and went back to Detroit. She wasn't going back to Japan just yet leaving Inuyasha. Izayoi knew her son was in good hands and was happier than ever living with his older brother and his girlfriend. Toga wasn't the only one keeping tables on the boys. She still couldn't go so far away from her son.

Earlier in the week she called Sesshomaru to let him know that she missed both of them but had yet to hear from either of the Taisho boys. She wanted to tell them that she moved back to Detroit and so many other things that couldn't be said over the phone. Right before the silence of the empty house drove her into depression her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom. Sessho told me you called but were in Detroit for this baby shower-."

"I'm in Detroit too! That's what I wanted to tell you! Inu, please I would love to see you and your brother before you leave and bring Jillian with you."

"Really? What happened to you and dad?"

"He…he made me so mad!" Inuyasha had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at the image of his mother sitting in her designer clothes face scrunched up, something she does when she's very upset. Sesshomaru was sitting in the living area of the hotel suite eating his new comfort food oxtail soup. Though he was staring at the television Inuyasha knew he older brother too well not to know he's listening to the whole conversation.

"Tell her we'll be there for lunch." He said turning his attention to the bedroom door where Jillian slept.

I know I took too long to update but so much as been going on with my life. I never forgot this story and the reviews and messages I kept receiving made me get off my behind and do this chapter.