Chapter 4

"Joanne I'm so sorry. You haven't even met my whole family yet and already it's a disaster." Maureen sighed, looking out the window as they drove to the park, "I'll try my hardest not to leave you today, but I can't promise anything."

"It's really okay Maureen." Joanne assured, placing her hand on the diva's thigh, "I wanted to meet your family, so…I'll just deal with it."

"Really?" Nikki snorted from the backseat, "You wanted to meet our family?"

Joanne shrugged, keeping her eyes on the road, "I wanted to get to know Maureen more and meeting her family is one of the perfect ways."

"You're brave Joanne." was all Nikki said.

"Oh God we're here." Maureen groaned, "And the last ones to arrive by the looks of it. I do not want to be here right now."

"Come on Maur, let's go and make mom proud." Nikki smiled, patting Maureen's shoulder, "I'm the daughter who dumped her fiancé three months before the wedding, and you're the struggling artist, who also happens to be a lesbian."

With that being said, Nikki hopped out of the car ready to reunite with her family.

Maureen huffed, turning her head to face Joanne, "Ready?"

"If you are?" Joanne smirked.

"Well I'm not, so let's go home." Maureen said,

"Look it's only for a few hours, then we go back to your house, sleep and we're off back to New York." Joanne said, tucking some loose strands of hair behind Maureen's ear, "It'll be fine, even if your family doesn't approve of me."

"You're being really great about this." Maureen said, leaning in to smell Joanne's breath.

"What are you doing?" Joanne lightly laughed,

"Checking to see if you've already been drinking." Maureen answered. "You are way to calm."

Joanne placed a quick kiss on Maureen's lips before unbuckling herself, "I'm Sober. I haven't had a drop and I don't plan on it either."

Maureen gasped, "You are brave. That's how I used to get through family functions…drinking."

"Well try and do it at least a little bit sober this time around huh?" Joanne asked, finally getting out of the car.

"I can't promise anything…" Maureen mumbled, climbing out of the car as well, Joanne joining her. "Okay, just stay with me, I'll point everyone out to you-"

"Joanne darling come with me." Grandma Johnson said, coming in between Maureen and the lawyer, pulling Joanne away, Maureen trying to follow.

"You stay here dear." Grandma Johnson said, pointing to Maureen, "You know I always have one on one conversation with all of my grandchildren's partners."

Maureen's eyes widen, "But-"

"I'll bring her right back when I'm done." Grandma Johnson said, and soon she and Joanne were walking up the hill, and towards the park entranceway.

"Sorry." Maureen mouthed to a nervous looking Joanne and soon the two had disappeared in the crowd of her family.

Nikki couldn't help but laugh at the situation, stopping when Maureen hit her in the stomach.

"She'll be fine Maureen." Mr. Johnson assured, "Now shall we go see the family?"

"Let's go get this over with." Mrs. Johnson sighed, not at all looking forward to all the gasps and shock from her husband's side of the family, when they found out who Maureen chose as a life partner. Not to mention the fact Nikki had dropped her fiancé not to long ago.

As they entered the park, they all scanned the area, figuring there must have been over thirty-five relatives there, including first, second, third cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, great uncles, and so on and so on.

"Oh great, look who it is." Mrs. Johnson sighed, watching as Mr. Johnson's sister, Betty walked right for them, "Just in time to brag about her daughter."

"Nancy, Eddie." Betty smiled, greeting them with a hug, then moving on to Maureen and Nikki, "Girls."

"Hi Aunt Betty." They both said at the same time.

Right away just like Mrs. Johnson had predicted, the older lady began to discuss her daughter, "Have you all seen the rock on Amy's hand? She's engaged to a doctor you know."

"Yes, for almost six months now." Mrs. Johnson replied, already annoyed.

"How about you dear, did you set the wedding date for your wedding?" Betty asked Nikki.

"Uh no, I um," Nikki stuttered, not wanting to disappoint her mom.

"She's not dating him anymore." Nancy cut in, "Instead she has decided to open her very own restaurant. It's very nice, classy, and has great food."

"Oh…" Betty said, placing a hand on Nikki's shoulder, "I'm sorry dear. I hope the restaurant thing works out for you. If not there are plenty of other men out there for you."

"Yeah, thanks." Nikki sighed, "I'm going to go find the alcohol."

"Right behind you." Mr. Johnson said, catching up with Nikki.

"How about you Maureen?" Betty asked, "You still with that nice Jewish boy Mark?"

"No I'm not." Maureen said with a smile, "I'm dating a-"

"Lawyer." Nancy quickly cut in. "She's dating a lawyer."

"A lawyer?" Betty asked, a little shocked, "Well it's no doctor, but a lawyer is okay."

"Better than okay, she's the best lawyer in New York City." Maureen scoffed.

"She?" Betty asked.

"Yes Aunt Betty, I'm dating a girl, get over it." Maureen snobbishly replied, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned to walk away.

Betty and Nancy shared a small awkward smile, before the both of them turned away from each other, and walked in opposite directions.

Maureen's eyes scanned the park, until finally she found Joanne surrounded by two of her Uncles and her Grandma. Quickly she picked up her pace, so she could save Joanne, but on the journey over her cousin Amy stepped in her path.

"Maureen, so glad to see you." She said her left hand dangled out for Maureen to see.

"Yes, you're getting married to a doctor, congratulations." Maureen said, "If you'll excuse me. I have to be getting somewhere." Maureen replied, ignoring the rude look her cousin was giving her. Her only care right now was getting to Joanne.

As Maureen approached, she noticed the lawyer was wearing a smile, causing her to let out a breath of relief.

"Joanne?" Maureen called out, earning the lawyer's attention, but before Joanne could get to her, her two Uncles did instead, giving her bone crushing hugs.

"Hi Uncle Stuart, Uncle Randy." Maureen breathed.

"Hi Mo, we were just talking to your girlfriend." Uncle Stuart said. "She's not a Lions fan."

"But she is a Jet's fan." Uncle Randy proudly smiled, clapping Joanne on the shoulder.

Grandma Johnson smiled in Maureen's direction, "It seems your Uncles have bonded with Joanne through football."

Maureen playfully rolled her eyes, as she squeezed pass her three relatives and joined Joanne, slipping her hand in the lawyer's, "Yes, Joanne freakishly loves to watch football."

"I grew up watching it with my dad." Joanne shrugged.

"I hope you don't neglect my Granddaughter with that football nonsense." Grandma Johnson jokingly warned.

"Not at all." Joanne smirked,

"The only time she really neglects is when she is working on a big case or when the Jets are playing." Maureen replied.

"You're wasting your time watching the Jets." Uncle Stuart stated, winking in Joanne's direction.

"I guess we'll just see when it's Super Bowl time." Joanne smiled.

"Okay boys, let's give Joanne back to Maureen now, you can chat her up later." Grandma Johnson said ushering the two adults away as they argued about what football team was better.

"So how'd it go?" Maureen asked,

Joanne was smiling, "Pretty well actually. I was scared at first, but then I started talking about what I did for a living and Grandma Johnson couldn't stop smiling. Then I told her my dad owned his own law firm and my mother was a Judge and she welcomed me to the family. Then your Uncles came over and somehow we started talking about football…"

"Thank God you're butch." Maureen joked, poking Joanne in the ribs. "Mark tried talking football with my Uncles and Dad one time…and let's just say he made a complete ass of himself."

Joanne lightly laughed.

"Maureen!"

Maureen's head shot around landing on two identical nineteen year old twin boys, both of them with matching grins.

"Corey, Drew." Maureen greeted with a smirk.

"So is it true?" Drew eagerly asked, his eyes darting from Maureen to Joanne,

Corey popped in this time, "You two are-"

"A couple?" Drew finished.

"Yes." Maureen simply replied.

"Awesome." Drew and Corey said at the same time.

"Joanne this is Drew and Corey, my two cousins." Maureen introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Joanne said.

"Same with you." The both said at the same time.

"Okay, see you two around." Drew replied,

"Yeah, we're going to try and get some beer." Corey added, and soon the two were on there way.

"So far so good." Joanne grinned.

Maureen sighed, "Yeah, you only met the men, Joanne. You like football you're in, wait until they find out you play poker. They'll love you."

"At least I have some family members on my side, plus your Grandma Johnson, who honestly I was scared of the most." Joanne admitted.

"True." Maureen said loving the positive attitude Joanne was giving off. However her smile faded when she looked to her right, watching as her Aunt Betty and Aunt Monica were walking her way. "Now you just have to win over the women."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank You, Jonathan Larson. It's a sad day for all RENTheads, but at least we can keep RENT alive through Fan Fiction. Also by blasting the CD's and movie! Play them loud, play them proud!