On Saturday, it was evening when Dan smiled at Joe and Lucy as they stood on his front step after the cab brought them to West Newbury. "I could have picked you guys up." Dan said, hugging his sister.
"I know, but...we didn't want to be a bother. Joe, this is my brother Dan. Dan, this is my boyfriend Joe Anoa'i." Lucy said, introducing them.
"Nice to meet you, Man." Dan gave the bigger man one of those male bonding hugs, complete with shoulder bumps. "Come on in, the girls are waiting for you."
"Aunt Lucy." A little blonde girl with pig tails, maybe about four years old, came running into the front room, throwing herself into Lucy's arms. "I missed you, Aunt Lucy."
"I missed you, too, Cece." She smiled while holding the girl on her hip as she stood up. "Do you want to meet Aunt Lucy's friend, Joe. Joe, this is my niece Cece Cena. And this is my sister-in-law Christi."
The woman who walked in from the kitchen was kind, and had a big smile on her face when seeing Joe. "The man that makes my sister smile. It's so good to meet you. Are you hungry, did you need anything?" And she was really, really blonde hair. Almost white blonde.
"Um..." Joe started to say. Well he wasn't sure what to say to the woman.
"I'll take your things to Lucy's room. We were just making dinner when you two arrived. I hope you don't mine spaghetti." Dan said, taking two suitcases in his hands.
"That sounds great. I haven't had a home cooked meal in a long time." Joe said as Christi guided them into the kitchen.
Dinner was a nice thing for Joe. He could see how Cece had talked animatedly to Lucy about some of the things she missed out. Like she decided she was going to play soccer during the summer with a group of other kids.
"Grandma says I shouldn't play soccer." Cece said.
"But I told Grandma she's not raising Cece, I am." Christi said as she picked up Joe's empty plate in front of him. "Cece, why don't you go find a book to read before you have to go to bed."
"Can Uncle Joe read to me?" The little girl asked, making the adults stop what they were doing.
"Sure, honey. Joe can read to you." Lucy said, looking at the Samoan.
It was amazing to see how well Joe got along with Cece, Lucy smiled at the sight of Joe reading to the little girl on the couch in the front room. He held the girl under his arm while he read the book to her, and she was falling asleep in her little PJs with a stuffed animal held snugly in her arms. This was what she wanted in the future, to see her husband holding his daughter or son like this, enjoying time together. Was she ready for that, Lucy asked herself as she watched Dan pick his daughter up.
"He's good with kids." Christi said watching Joe put the book back on the shelf. "She's taken a liking to him."
"His younger cousin, a teenager named Simone Johnson, The Rock's daughter, loves me just the same. His entire family has accepted me and all my faults."
"You don't have faults, Lucy. You just behave differently, that's all." Christi told her. "And besides, shouldn't you be more worried about what Joe thinks of you than anyone else?"
"I know but...not when you and Dan are the only ones that think Joe is good for me."
"Is this still about what that Bella girl did? I've had enough of your Ma telling me that you were a liar. I had to shut her out when she came bitching to me about finding out you were with Joe. And trust me, I was not really thrilled about your choice in man for a while until I got the real story from Dan. After that, well, I accepted that Joe made you happy and if he made you happy then I was happy."
"I just wish Ma and Pops were the same way."
"Maybe they will. Tomorrow everyone's coming over for a party."
"What?" Lucy spun around to look at her.
"Lucy, you have to face them some time or another." Christi stopped washing dishes to look at Lucy. "If they see how well Joe is with Cece, and with your other nieces and nephews, maybe then they will get off your back."
"But John will be here, and you know..."
"Forget about John, Lucy. He can't run your life for you, no matter how badly Ma and Pops wants that to happen. You're a big girl, you should start wearing your big girl panties and move on. Let them get all pissed off and mope and groan about it. They'll get over it, eventually. I did."
"Hey." Joe said from the doorway. "I thought we could go for a walk, you know...try to get tired before tomorrow."
"Sure, I'll show you the river where I catch the best looking frogs." Lucy said, smiling.
The next morning Joe woke up first, like he usually did but this time for a different reason. He felt a small body bouncing on the bed, calling out to Aunt Lucy and Uncle Joe. Okay, that caught his attention. Lifting his head up, standing on the bottom of the bed was Cece, still in her PJs and still holding the teddy bear from last night.
"Cece, Aunt Lucy is still sleeping." His girlfriend groaned, trying to get her head under the covers. "It's six in the morning. What are you doing up so early?"
"Go back to sleep, I'll tend to her." Joe said pushing back the covers. "Come on, small fry. I'll give you a piggy back ride to the kitchen. Hop on." He said, presenting his bare back to the girl.
She happily accepted his invitation and hopped on, wrapping her little arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. Then she screech in pure joy as he carried her out of Lucy's room, making sure to close it behind her. Not that it did any good, Lucy was wide awake. She remembered that the family was coming over to see Christi because of some big family news she wanted to share with everyone. First thing on the agenda for Lucy was to get a shower.
When Lucy returned to her bedroom, Joe was sitting on the bed with a shoe box. The shoe box didn't contain naughty pictures, it was a handful of pictures that Lucy managed to salvage over the years. They were pictures of her life before the Cena family came into it.
"That's Mom." Lucy pointed to the picture over Joe's shoulder, making him jump. "And that man is my Dad. I think they were in Dublin in that picture. I looked up that bar name and it's been closed for a while now." She said coming to sit down next to him. "This one is the oldest. It is when they lived in County Kildare, Southwest of County Dublin. I believe that was my grandmother." She pointed to a woman with pepper grey hair that curled around at the ends hugging Eileen Ferguson.
"This was you as a baby?" Joe picked up one of a small swaddled infant in a hospital bassinette.
"Yeah, I was small back then. Five pounds, I was underweight and quiet even as a baby." She mused. "Were you a big baby when you were born?"
"My sisters still say I am a big baby."
She pulled his hair off his shoulder, twirling a strand that was loose and curly around her finger. "At least you are cute, Baby."
Joe could see how antsy Lucy was getting as noon arrived. Dan's brother Matt showed up to help get the barbecue ready. All anyone else knew was that Christi had wanted a family gathering since everyone would be in the area at the same time. Matt looked like a younger version of John, Dan was impressive as a cop, but Matt looked like John in more ways, and body type.
"So, what are your intentions with my sister?"
Lucy had walked out of the house when she heard her brother ask Joe this. Neither noticed her as it was so she decided she was going to hear what Joe had to say.
"My intentions are for her to grow as a person."
"By changing her?" Matt asked.
"I haven't done anything with that. That is all her doing. She's changing because she wants to. Lucy has every right to be what she wants in life without everyone dictating how she is going to live."
"She doesn't have that ability to know what she wants."
"I don't?" They both turned to look at her. "Well then why the hell do I have a boyfriend? Better yet, why the hell do I have the friends that I do?"
"They..."
"Stop, Matt. I mean Mini-John." Lucy walked up to him and actually poked him in the chest. "I've had it up to my eyeballs with everyone telling me what to do and who to do it with. It's been my choice all along. If you don't like my life, get the hell out of it then."
"Dude, I've never seen you this pissed, Lucy. I'm actually digging it." Dan said, appearing out on the deck. "Hey Joe, just a heads up. John's on his way and he's bringing company. Don't go clawing out her eyes, Lucy."
"I don't know how to fight, Dan. And I don't have claws." She held up her hands. "Did you hide the baseball bats."
"Yep, and the golf clubs and all the sharp pointy objects." Dan glanced at Joe. "She may be a timid little thing, but she has a baseball arm and a great swing if you put something in her hand. Her little league team went state several times, thanks to her."
"There's no I in Team, Dan." Lucy said, walking around her brother.
Dan looked at Joe, nodding at him before looking at his older brother. "Fuck, Matt. what have you been doing? Believing all of John's shit all these years?"
"She's autistic, she doesn't know what she wants." He tried defending himself.
"She's not autistic," chorused Joe and Dan together. "She may have symptoms of it but she doesn't have it. And why is that even an excuse anymore?" Joe finished.
"And why does Mom and Dad think that she's been a liar all the times that she came to us when someone hurt her. First Randy and then Dane, the serial rapist she helped catch." Dan had to explain that to Joe. "And then when she said that she was having issues with Nikki, everyone told her that she was lying, that Nikki and Brie were good people. Well look at what happened, it was all real. And here you are, defending your actions against one of the few people that she trusts with her life. Shit...if this didn't mean so much to Christi, your ass would be out the front door. So you better treat him with respect in my house, or you can leave right now."
Joe saw the passion Dan had for his sister, for Lucy. She was his family, even if the others weren't treating her as one. Joe knew that he would honor her in any way, he wanted her to stay in Dan's life, to have at least one family member that was on her side.
"To call her a liar is to call me a liar because I was the one that stopped Randy when she was sixteen. I don't appreciate being called a liar."
They were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Joe followed Dan through the house, glancing at Lucy as she descended the staircase from the second floor as Christi answered the door. Standing there were Lucy's parents, Carol and John Sr., and instantly the happiness left the house it seemed. They looked even more prim and proper than Joe had thought they would look. The pictures of Lucy's real parents were more warm and inviting, not these two.
"Lucina, there you are. Come give your mother a hug." Carol said, opening her arms to his girlfriend.
She had no choice, she had to do it. Lucy walked to her parents and hugged them each, though stiffly but she still did it. Joe stood next to Dan who hadn't said a thing.
"What did that woman do to your hair?" Carol asked touching Lucy's slightly redder hair. "You look stupid."
"I like it, Ma." Lucy defended herself. "And stop calling me stupid."
"I said it makes you look stupid, I didn't say you were, sweetie." Carol replied as if the statement made a difference. "So that's him, isn't he?" Now her blue eyes were on Joe, as was John Senior's as well.
"Ma, Pops, that's Leati Joe Anoa'i. Joe, this is my Ma, Carol and my Pops John Cena Senior." Lucy said moving towards him.
"It's nice to meet you both finally." Joe offered his hand to John Senior, who didn't incline to shake it.
"Joe, could you help me set up the chairs in the backyard?" Dan asked. "I could use the help."
"Sure. I'll see you in a while, Babygirl." Joe specifically ignored Carol's odd noise as he lightly touched Lucy's upper back before he walked out of the room.
"What do you think you're doing bringing that man here?" John Sr. asked, his voice raising. "After what he did to you."
"What did he do to me?"
"He made you...he made you have sex with him." Carol said.
Lucy didn't say anything, just stared at her parents. Did she just say what she thought she said?
"What did you just say about Joe?"
"He forced you into having sex with you." Carol repeated.
"What you mother means is he talked you into abandoning your morals." John Sr. clarified. "I mean, you never wanted sex before marriage."
"That's because you pounded into my head that good girls didn't have sex before marriage. Boys were different, they could do anything they wanted because they were boys. But girls, girls had to be good little girls, they had to obey their parents because that's what they were supposed to do. You dictated my happiness."
"We only wanted what's best for your, Lucina." Carol tried to rationalize for her.
"No, you only wanted what was best for you." Lucy's voice started to raise. "I know what you did with Sophia's letters. I know you made John 'look' out for me when he didn't want to. My happiness was always your happiness, it's what you wanted of me. Your control and when I decided to get control for me, you blame Joe."
"Honey...you don't know what you're talking about."
"I've applied to have my name changed." Lucy suddenly said turning around to head towards the back door. "Soon, I won't be your daughter anymore."
Joe looked up when Lucy burst through the back door. He could see that she was crying and he could hear Carol calling out to her. Dan nodded to Joe, a silent tell that he was letting Joe do his thing. Joe took off into the forest after Lucy, remembering that she had been on the soccer team growing up. He had to take faster strides to catch up with her.
"Lucy!" Joe called. "Babygirl, stop!"
He caught up with her, wrapping an arm around her middle. She fought, she struggled, Lucy didn't want anyone to touch her, to talk to her. It felt like her entire body was electrified and it hurt. It felt like stinging bees, like bass drums in her ears...then she collapsed.
Well, that went well. What do you guys think?