Author notes: for the purposes of this story, it takes place a few years ahead of the show's present.
Moxxie and Millie were on their way to the home of Millie's Parents. Moxxie was not looking forward to this because it would be the first time in almost two years that he'd be face-to-face with any of Millie's family.
He thought he'd made some progress with Millie's father after the incident where Striker tried to assassinate Stolas while masquerading as a ranch hand working for Joe but it only took one little slip up on his next visit for things to backpedal between them. After that, Moxxie told Millie that since her family were never going to like him, it would be best for him to stay away from them.
Millie didn't like the idea of keeping Moxxie and her family separate from each other but Moxxie made a strong case for not wanting to deal with their crap anymore and he was right about how they made it clear they were never gonna like him. Recent developments made them realize that this arrangement was no longer viable.
Moxxie and Millie walked through the door of her childhood home. Millie ran over to hug her parents who had been waiting for the two of them. Sallie May was off to the side and observing.
"So what brings ya over to see us, Moxxie?" Sallie May asked. "Ya finally grow a spine and decide to stop runnin' from us?"
"Millie and I have some news to share that should be done in person," Moxxie answered. "I expect you're not going to take this news as well, so you should know that I'm armed." Moxxie moved his jacket to the side to reveal that he had a gun, grabbed it and let his arm rest on his side. "It's loaded with rubber bullets so I can defend myself without risk of killing anyone."
"And what is this news that ya think we'll take so poorly?" Joe asked. Millie took a deep breath as she prepared herself.
"I'm pregnant," Millie answered.
"That's fantastic," Lin responded excitedly.
"It's also the end of the good news," Millie continued and then faced Moxxie. "I'm not gonna be the messenger for ya on this one."
"I'm worried," Moxxie began, "that if you, which is to say all of Millie's family, are going to treat my kid anything like you've treated me then being a good father means I have to protect them from you. I imagine that you'll also be looking to punish my kid for their existence being the result of us being together. Point is, the best way to protect my kid is to keep them away from you."
There was a very tense silence in the room as Joe, Lin and Sally May absorbed Moxxie's words.
"Millie," Lin began as she faced her daughter, "you can't really be on board with this?"
"I'm not," Millie answered. "Moxxie and ah talked about this before comin' here and I think a fair compromise is that you have supervised visits with our kid."
"With us being able to revoke your visitation privileges," Moxxie interjected, "if anything happens and not re-evaluating that for at least one year."
Lin looked at Millie and wordlessly asked her to disagree with Markie.
"Look ma," Millie began, "ah accepted that there's nothin' ah could do to make ya all like Moxxie. By respectin' that decision, we are all now in a situation where tryin' to make mah new family and mah old family be the same family is a lot harder than it should be."
"If ya really respected what we thought," Joe spoke up gruffly, "you'd have broken up with him long ago."
"Now Pa," Millie began to counter, "talkin' like that makes me think you're gonna take your frustrations with me and Moxxie being together out on our kid."
Joe had nothing to say as he glared angrily at Moxxie, blaming Moxxie for Millie showing him such disrespect and the little twerp thinking he could keep Joe away from his first grandkid.
Moxxie raised his gun and fired, hitting Joe in the shoulder with a rubber bullet.
"Moxxie!" Millie yelled at her husband. "Did ya really have to do that?"
"Yes," Moxxie answered with a hint of panic in his voice. "He was going to attack me. I could tell because he had the same look in his eyes that my…" Moxxie paused and had an awkward look on his face. "The point is, I panicked and thought it would be a great idea to dissuade him with a warning shot."
"Ya call that a warnin' shot?" Sally May asked.
"Considering," Moxxie began to answer, "that I'm confident I could've hit his head if I wanted to, yes. I may have overreacted but I don't think it was by a lot: especially since I'm sure he's fantasized about ending our marriage by killing me."
"Only a few times," Joe blurted out and then widened his eyes in realization that he should have kept that to himself. Millie walked over to her father and punched him half as hard as she could in the bruise that Moxxie just gave him. Joe grunted in pain. "I deserve that."
"Now Moxxie," Lin said, "I give you my word that despite the issues we've had with you in the past, we will not take them out on your kid."
"Based on how you've treated me like shit since we first met," Moxxie countered emotionlessly, "your word means absolutely nothing to me."
"Right," Lin said awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her head.
She hated to admit it but she understood that what this boiled down to was a matter of trust and that Moxxie had no reason to trust them. This was made worse by how Moxxie's cold response made it clear that his lack of trust was fact-based as opposed to coming from a place of hatred. While she and Joe could force the issue with Moxxie, things would get complicated since Millie made it clear that she agreed with Moxxie in regards to his trust issues.
"Supervised visits," Lin resumed, "with you havin' the right to revoke our visitation privileges sounds fair. Ah'll accept that rather than you keepin' mah grandchild from me and sharin' him with your family with no restrictions."
"I cut ties with my family years ago," Moxxie snapped back. "Considering one of the results of that was meeting Millie, it was the best decision I ever made. So in addition to the matter of how I see you as a potential threat I need to protect my kid from, I also don't agree with the idea that more family is always a good thing."
"Is that true about him and his family?" Lin asked Millie who nodded yes. "How did ah not know that?"
"I would have explained that to you," Moxxie began, "if you'd asked why none of my family were at mine and Millie's wedding if you'd come to it."
"Ya didn't invite us to your weddin'."
"Because you gave me reason to believe that if I had invited you, you'd have voiced your disapproval by trashing the venue and possibly kidnapping Millie to ensure the wedding didn't happen: a sentiment Millie completely agreed with me on."
Lin looked at Millie who once again nodded in confirmation.
"We probably would've done that," Sallie May spoke up. "Minus the kidnappin' part. Maybe."
"Whose side are ya on?" Millie asked.
"The truth's," Sally answered matter-of-factly.
"So Moxxie," Lin began. "What made ya cut ties with your family?"
"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?" Moxxie yelled. "You've treated me like shit ever since I came into Millie's life and you really expect me to open up to you about that." Moxxie abruptly shifted his gaze to Joe and then raised his gun while taking a few feet back and pulling out a second gun he had on him..
"Why are you pullin' those things out?" Joe asked irritably.
"I'm sure you've beaten guys to a pulp for less than talking to your wife like that," Moxxie began to explain. "The thought of any of you rushing me makes me nervous and being prepared to pelt you with rubber bullets if I have to makes me less nervous." Moxxie took several more steps back while he swayed the guns back and forth to make it clear that he was ready to shoot anyone who came after him.
"All right," Joe conceited his point. Moxxie was right about how he's beaten guys for less and he was actually somewhat impressed with Moxxie being ready to stand up for himself even if it was less from a place of bravery and more him acting like a cornered varmint ready to lash out.
"Moxxie," Sallie May spoke up, "the main problem here is one of trust. There's nothin' we can say to make you trust us but maybe there's somethin' we can do. "
"Like what?" Moxxie asked venomously.
"We can kill your pa for ya."
"What makes you think I want that?"
"Because he used to beat the shit out of ya a lot growin' up."
"What?" Moxxie said in surprise and then immediately dialed that back, "would make you say that?"
"Your awkward reaction just now for one," Sallie May smugly answered. "Yellin' at my ma when she asked ya to go into detail about your family for another reason. And you givin' my pa a warnin' shot when ya thought he was gonna beat your ass cause ya see that as normal dad behavior."
Moxxie stood silently for a while as he thought of his next response.
"Even if what you said were true," Moxxie began to retort, "what would my dad have to do with our trust issues?"
"You're worried about what we might do to your kid," Sallie May began. "Seems to me like ya have even more reason to worry about what your pa might do to your kid so we can prove we're not a threat by gettin' rid of a different one. Plus, there seems to be a bit of poetic justice or whatever the right term might be in workin' on all our," Sally gestured with her hands to indicate that she was talking about all of them, "current family issues by takin' care of your past ones."
"My dad is a semi big-time mob boss in Greed," Moxxie replied. "Whatever you're planning to do to deal with him, it likely won't be enough. And if you come at him underprepared, you won't get a second chance." Moxxie lowered his head in sadness. "Mom found that out the hard way."
Lin gasped in shock as she connected the dots that Moxxie's mother died as a result of his father's cruelty. Joe gave no audible reaction but his eyes did widen and he did feel somewhat bad about compounding Moxxie's dad issues.
"Well it sounds to me," Sallie continued, "that your pa has had his death comin' to him for a while now: all the more reason to kill him. As for what we need to do to deal with him, we'll round up my brothers and some members of the extended family. They all cause several big distractions around him while ah slip in and kill him. Ah can be very sneaky when I wanna be."
"What do you have to say about this?" Moxxie asked Joe and Lin as he lowered his guns.
"I'm on board with this," Joe said. In addition to seeing violence as his preferred method of conflict resolution, Joe also thought this would be the most simple and direct way to deal with Moxxie's uncomfortably fact-based trust issues.
"Same here," Lin piped in.
"There is one more slight problem," Moxxie began. "My dad is already dead. He caught up to me about a year after Millie and I got married. He tried to rope me in to helping him with a business deal. It fell apart because the person who was making the deal was offering more than he could deliver."
Moxxie decided to keep the embarrassing details to himself, such as almost being forcibly married to Chazz, wearing a dress and once again needing Millie to rescue him.
"Fast-forward to about three months ago," Moxxie continued to explain. "Dad catches up to me again. He is pissed off because he blames me for that deal falling through as well as a few other things that happened after that. He backed me into a corner and I didn't see anything wrong with getting out of it by murdering my way through him. I made my escape from any of his guys who knew what I did. I contacted Millie, Blitzo and Loona and I begged them to help me kill a whole bunch of people in my dad's gang as a sort of preemptive retaliatory strike."
"You're gonna have to explain that part," Sallie May said.
"I needed to send a message," Moxxie resumed, "that coming after me had already cost the mob quite a bit and it was gonna cost them more if they didn't leave me alone. We all went to a bar frequented by my dad's guys and we killed about twenty of them. We also swiped a bunch of stuff from my dad's place because I'm sure he didn't leave me anything in his will. With the windfall we collected from that, having a kid seemed a lot more affordable and that brings us to now."
"And ya didn't mention your pa being dead earlier," Sallie May began, "because ya wanted to see how far we'd be willin' to go to get rid of him."
"Yes," Moxxie admitted. "I'm sorry for the deception but you being willing to help me permanently resolve my dad problems is exactly the kind of show of good faith that makes me want you to be a part of my kid's life instead of seeing that as a problem to be closely monitored."
Moxxie took a deep breath. He was close to being choked up about how he finally got Millie's family to give him a fair shot. He held his arms out wide and looked towards Sally May.
"Hug?" Moxxie asked.
"Don't push it," Sallie May said dismissively.
"I'll take you up on that offer," Lin said.
"Even after I yelled at you like I did?" Moxxie asked.
"Considerin'," Lin replied, "that your past with your family is a very sore subject and ah struck it hard without knowin' about that because ah gave ya no reason to be open with me, ah'd say that you overreacted but not by a lot. The important thing is that we move forward from here on out."
Lin walked over to Moxxie and the two of them embraced. Moxxie let out a few tears from his eyes, immensely happy about the progress he just made with Millie's family. This meant that both him and his unborn child would have some first-hand experience with what a family is supposed to be like.
Authors notes: so you might think it's disappointing that I didn't go the route of having Millie's family help Moxxie kill Crimson as their show of good faith but I didn't really have the vision to follow through on something like that.
So you may think that Moxxie seems out of character here but keep in mind that permanently resolving his problems with his dad has made him more confident in general. Plus, he thinks that being able to threaten to keep Millie's family away from their future grandchild/niece or nephew puts him in a strong position to call them out on how they treated him.