Chapter 2

It was almost three in the morning, seven hours until Maureen and Joanne left for Maureen's childhood home and the diva could not sleep a wink.

"Maureen." Joanne groggily groaned when Maureen tossed and turned again, "Go to sleep."

"I can't." Maureen sighed. "Jo, why did I say yes? I don't want to go to my stupid family reunion. I left that place for a reason, so I didn't have to deal with all their close-minded, judgmental…" Maureen struggled to find a word, "Selfish behavior!"

"Selfish?" Joanne questioned with a quirk of her eyebrow, her eyes glowing in the moonlight, shining in Maureen's direction, "Is that were you developed that trait?"

"Shut up." Maureen huffed, kicking Joanne in the shin.

"Okay, ow." Joanne whined, rubbing her leg. She took a moment to bare the small amount of pain, before rolling over to face Maureen. "It will be fine, honeybear." She soothed, running her hand up and down her upper arm. "Remember how nervous you were when we went on vacation with my family?"

"Yeah, but your family is cool!" Maureen stated. "My family…total opposites!"

"Just like we are." Joanne smirked, "And look how well we get along."

Maureen rolled her eyes, not in the mood to be calmed. "Just wait and see, Joanne. I'm nervous for the both of us."

"It's only a weekend. Plus your sister will be there, you two get along." Joanne said, trying to stay positive.

"Yeah, but we haven't talked in almost four years." Maureen said, bringing down Joanne's positive attitude, "What if she turned into one of them?"

"She is one of them. She's a Johnson just like you are." Joanne stated, kissing Maureen's shoulder all the way up to her ear, "So stop being a drama queen and get some sleep."

"Fine I'll try and get somesleep." Maureen sighed, rolling over lying on top of Joanne, nuzzling her nose in her neck to breath in her lavender scent.

"You know this is a king sized bed right?." Joanne smirked, wrapping her arms around Maureen's waist.

"I know." Maureen said, her eyes slowly slipping closed, "I just want to get in as much cuddling and close time with you as possible before we enter hell tomorrow."

Joanne smiled, kissing the top of her head. "Everything is going to be fine Maureen."

Ten hours later, Joanne pulled in a driveway of an average looking house, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson standing on the porch with grins on their faces.

"Look how happy they are to see you." Joanne smiled, putting the car in park.

Maureen rolled her eyes, "Yeah, let the fun loving begin."

Maureen hopped out of the car first plastering a fake smile on her face, "Hi mom, dad." She gave them each a hug, before moving aside so they could greet Joanne.

Joanne approached the two wearing a friendly smile, putting her hand out to shake theirs.

"Oh…" Mrs. Johnson frowned, "You didn't bring Mark."

Joanne's smile fell right off her face, Maureen's not too far behind, gravity pulling their lips to the ground.

Maureen huffed, quickly interlacing her hand with Joanne's, "Mom, I told you-"

"It's nice to have you here with us Joanne." Mr. Johnson intervened, pulling Joanne into a friendly hug, causing Maureen's smirk to slightly reappear. At least he was making an attempt.

"Okay, why don't we all go inside, your sister should be here shortly." Mrs. Johnson smiled. "You two can unpack and then have a small lunch out back huh?"

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson went ahead while Joanne and Maureen walked back to the car to grab their stuff.

"If at anytime you want to go just let me know." Maureen whispered, "I'll even stay in a hotel if you don't feel comfortable."

"Maureen, it's okay." Joanne smirked with a shrug, "I mean at least your dad is nice right?"

Maureen nodded, "Yeah, but Pookie, if she says anything to you-"

"Maureen I'll be okay. I'm a grown woman I can hold my own." Joanne said, tucking a stray curl behind Maureen's ear.

Maureen sighed, locking eyes with Joanne. "Okay."

A few minutes later the two were upstairs; Maureen all smiles now as she bounced into her old room, dropping her stuff on the floor. "This is my old bedroom." She walked over to the window and opened it up, "I used to sneak out of here and climb down the drainpipe to sneak off to rallies."

"Such the rebel." Joanne smiled, walking over to wrap her arms around Maureen's waist from behind, while at the same time checking out the fairly nice sized room, which sported a double bed, dresser, full length mirror, desk, closet, band/musical posters, and any other typical Maureen stuff you could think of.

"I held some of those rallies." Maureen bragged, leaning back in Joanne's arms, her eyes gazing out the window as she shared her story, "One time one of them was broken up by the police. That's when I met Collins; he was older than me and could drive. That's how I got a way with out getting caught."

Joanne couldn't help but lightly laugh, placing a kiss on Maureen's cheek, "I could just picture you and Collins now."

Maureen nodded, turning around in Joanne's arms, wrapping her arms around the lawyer's neck. "It was a lot of fun."

The two were about to share a kiss, when there was a loud knock on the door.

"Joanne," Mrs. Johnson began, "You'll be sleeping down the all in Nikki's room."

"Mom!" Maureen instantly whined, breaking free from Joanne, "That's totally unfair. We're adults you know I think we are old enough to share a room."

"Not in my house." Mrs. Johnson said, "I wouldn't even allow it if Mark was here."

Joanne cringed at the second mention of the filmmaker's name. She wasn't sure how long she would be able to handle being compared to Mark.

"Mark would be to chicken shit to do anything anyways."

All three pair of eyes wandered to the doorway of the room, where another brunette stood leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed, her dark mischievous eyes peering in the room. Joanne could already tell by one glance that that was Maureen's younger sister, who she had never met.

"Nikki?" Maureen smiled,

"It's me." Nikki smirked, finally entering the room to give Maureen a hug. "Long time. I heard you finally picked a team to bat for now?" she teased, poking Maureen in the ribs as she walked pass her to greet Joanne in a surprise hug, "You must be Joanne?"

"Yup, nice to finally meet you." Joanne said, returning the hug, watching Maureen's face light up.

"Where's your boy toy?" Maureen asked.

"Before you two catch up, I just want to go over the sleeping arrangements." Mrs. Johnson spoke up, "Maureen and Nikki will share Maureen's room and Joanne you will be sleeping in Nikki's old room." She turned to walk away, before adding, "Lunch will be ready in half an hour." And with that she was gone.

"Don't worry about her. I'm sure she'll thank you later for getting Maureen to settle down." Nikki winked in Joanne's direction.

"I'm sure she will." Joanne said doubtfully, but with a smile, walking pass Maureen, placing her hand on her arm as she went, "I'm going to go unpack."

"Okay," Maureen said, "I'll come get you on my way down for lunch."

Joanne nodded and left the room, Maureen watching before turning around to face her sister.

"So," Maureen said, "You have a man in your life?"

"Nope." Nikki said, "Don't want one right now. I just got rid of one."

"But I heard you were engaged? That's all mom talked about last month." Maureen said, her excitement falling. "I was actually starting to get excited to meet this guy. It's hard capturing a Johnson's heart you know."

Nikki shrugged, sitting on the bed, "I'm twenty-two. I'm not ready to settle down yet."

"We're really not the daughters mom wanted us to be huh?" Maureen sighed, sitting next to her sister.

"I'll find someone." Nikki said, "I'm just not ready. And at least I have a career. By the end of next year I should own that restaurant I work at in North Carolina." A grin hit her lips, as she faced Maureen, "And you have Joanne. She may not be little Mark Cohen, but if mom likes him so much then she should date him. She should be happy you finally found someone."

Maureen nodded with a proud smile, "Yeah! We're doing great! And Joanne is great!"

"Yeah!" Nikki cheered, and the two suddenly burst into a giggle fit.

"Okay, let's go down for lunch." Maureen said, standing up, "I'm going to go get Joanne." She went to walk away, "Cover for us if we happen to be a little late?" She winked.

"I always do." Nikki smiled.

"Thanks." Maureen said, and skipped down the hall, happy her sister was here to share this horrid family reunion with her.

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Thanks for reviewing!

also I picture Nikki too look like Eliza Dushku. look her up if you want a visual ;)