Catching up on a lifetime takes a while.

[Juanita Stidham]

The...Stidham/Paramore/Martinez/Bones residence was buzzing with activity. Trista was upstairs packing up all of her things to move into her new flat, Luna was running about the house at top speed looking for her History of Magic textbook because she couldn't find it when she was unpacking her school bag and was convinced it had somehow gotten lost out of her bag in the house. "It wouldn't be in the fridge Luna!" Juanita shouted to her daughter as she saw her poking around in the fridge for her book. "Oh I know, It got knocked under my bed when I dropped my bed. I'm just getting some pudding." her daughter said with a sheepish grin before plucking a book off of the bookshelf and heading back upstairs to her room. Juanita shook her head, amused at her daughters scatterheadedness at times. Just like Juanita herself.

All of her non Hogwarts age children were going to their last day of school before the holidays began and Juanita needed to pick them up in about five hours, no rush though. She was trying to clear up some of the clutter before her newly found half brother got here. She had already spoken with him once or twice since the news had broken out to both families and he seemed decent enough. Juanita wasn't exactly happy with all of the news but there wasn't much to do about it and she wasn't a moody teenager who could just sit and sulk either.

So she figured she should probably get to know the new members of her family a little better at least. She had so far put off meeting the man who fathered her and Isabella, and his wife... whatever her name was, Juanita forgot. She would avoid meeting the wife at all if possible, that would just be weird. She looked at the clock and got herself a 20 Oz bottle of diet pepsi and opened it, taking a drink. He would be here any minute now.She looked over near the fireplace and gave Nyximas little red bouncy ball a kick over into the other room to get it out of the way, why was her house always so cluttered? You have a five year old kid living in it, thats why. she thought, a small smile on her face.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

To say Jonathan was nervous would be an understatement. Never in all his life did he think he would be getting ready to go and meet his half sister, heck he never even thought he would have a half sister. He didn't know why he was so nervous, he had been in correspondence with the woman a few times already and it was a case of so far, so good. Actually they had been no problems between him and his newly found sibling but his parents hadn't taken to the news so well but he knew his parents and they would be fine, all they needed was a bit of time.

Figuring he couldn't put this meeting off any longer he checked the address on one of the letters for the millionth time today he stepped into the fireplace and dropping the handful of green powder he said the address and off he was. Feeling his feet touch hard ground once again he took his wand out of his pocket and cleaned his suit. "Hello?!" he called out, hoping he had gotten the time right and someone was actually here.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita heard a voice ring out in the living room and quickly shut the fridge door, spinning around on her heels to find her half brother standing in the middle of her living room, looking more than a bit out of place in the middle of her living room. This whole situation was still so daunting, what had her mother been thinking? She couldn't be too angry because she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her mothers stupid actions. But to not know half of your DNA your whole life could be downright horrible. But oddness aside the meeting had been arranged and they would get to know each other slowly, maybe getting to know him first would help whenever she finally decided she was ready to face Henry.

She walked into the living room, laying her bottle of pop on a nearby table, "Sorry about the wait, with the kids home this place is a bit hectic." she said, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. "You want anything to drink?" she offered, looking back to the kitchen for a moment, quickly having to take a step back as Kailey and Zazukas cats barreled out infront of her, all six of them and darted up the stairs, soon followed by Juanitas aging papillon. But as quickly as the interruption had happened the main level of the house was calm again. "Once again... Sorry about that." she said, feeling a bit jumpy from the nerves tat she had been to distracted to let get to her before, she was probably making the worst impression on the only part of her newly found family she had met yet..

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan heard a voice coming from another room and he could feel his nerves start again, but he quickly took a few deep breaths, this wasn't going to be so bad was it? He shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot as he waited for his half sister to come into the room. Something that didn't take too long - thankfully. Seeing her walk into the room he walked forward a wee bit, "Just a water please." he said in reply to her question. Although he had to stop fairly quickly when he saw a few cats and a dog come running in front of him. Laughing as he watched them run on up the stairs. "No, no! You're fine. Quite a busy household you have here." he commented, shaking his head as he tried to wrap his mind around the whole other family he knew nothing about until a few weeks ago. "Juanita I presume?" he said walking forward.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Taking a few steps back into the Kitchen Juanita quickly got a bottle of water out of the fridge door and made her way back into the living room, handing it to Jonathan. When he commented on her busy house she nodded, "Well, it's not usually this bad but-" she was cut off as she heard the sound of a heavy box falling to the floor in Kaileys room. She waited a couple seconds and when Kailey didn't yell down she knew everything was fine. "Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, My two oldest girls are in the process of moving at the moment which is causing quite a fuss, I don't see how muggles do it. Movings a pain even with the help of magic." she said, trying to keep the short silences at bay, seeing as this was their first face to face meeting. When asked if she was indeed Juanita she nodded, "I guess there's no need to ask who you are Jonathan." she ended, still wrapping her head around the fact that she was apparently related to the man standing infront of her.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan took a sip of his water and nearly lost it all again when he heard a loud noise come from above them. Of course his initial reaction was to reach for his wand but when he saw his sister seemingly remain calm he just looked at her, curiously. Jonathan wasn’t sure what to say and was finding the moment silence a tad awkward. Breathing a sigh of relieve when Juanita started to talk again Jonathan turned his attention back to her. ”Oh right!” he exclaimed…”Oh sweet Merlin! Nieces! That was another factor he hadn’t taken into consideration but he really should have expected too. ”I’ve probably come at a bad time.” he said, feeling bad about his presence. Moving was bad enough without someone interrupting the process. ”Oh yes, sorry. Yeah I’m Jonathan. It’s good to finally meet you Juanita.” he said with a smile. ”So…This isn’t as awkward as I thought it would have been.” he said with a lame attempt of a chuckle. It’s worse…

 

[Juanita Stidham]

This whole thing was more awkward than Juanita had expected, which was really saying something. Who really expected a meeting like this to go smoothly? Sure they were alright over letters but actually seeing him stamped some kind of finality to it. This wasn't just some sick joke, or a book she had gotten too far into. The man standing infront of her really was her family. "Oh no, Now is as good of a time as ever. They both refuse any help I offer in the process, I guess they figure if they're living on their own now they can pack on their own." she said, this house was always busy to some degree. "Well, Would you like to have a seat?" she offered, motioning to one of the rooms several chairs. "Well it's nice to meet you too Jonathan." she said, a small silence hung over the air as she figured out what to say next. "So you mentioned in one of the letters that you were a professor? Thats interesting, Where do you teach?" he asked, figuring maybe she could get a decent conversation started about a neutral subject, work.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonthan nodded his head with an understanding laugh. He couldn't relate to the fact of his own children packing - he would need children first - but when his younger siblings were moving out the exact same thing was happening. "Children will be children." he said, working with children, of all ages, everyday was a something he felt gave him the right to say that though. When offered a seat Jonathan thanked his sister and took one of the seats. Feeling a bit more relaxed now he standing in the middle of the room he took another sip of his drink. "Yes." he started off in reply as he swallowed his drink. "I teach in Hogwarts New Zealand." he replied, something he was very proud off. "And yourself? Ministry right?" he asked, trying to remember parts of their letters.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita let out a small laugh when he mentioned that children would be children. "Isn't that the truth." she agreed, She was raising eight, she certainly knew that children would be children and there wasn't much you could do to change their minds. As he sat down Juanita decided to do the same thing, sitting in her usual chair nearby, getting her pop off of the table and taking a drink of it. "Oh Hogwarts New Zealand you say? What do you teach?" she asked, so the girls had an uncle as a professor for who knew how long now and didn't even know it. With this thought she decided to add, "My oldest kids go there, all in Ravenclaw." what could a bit of insight into his nieces hurt? His nieces... Ruddy hell. she thought taking another drink of her coke. "Yep, Ministry official... one of thousands." she noted, she didn't like her job much. She was honestly hoping to quit it as soon as possible.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan could feel himself starting to relax more. The atmosphere was starting to lighten. Jonathan didn’t even care that the ice breaker had been children, it was something at least. ”History of Magic.” he replied to her question. It wasn’t everyone’s favourite subject, goodness knows many of his children fell asleep during the class. Despite this Jonathan still loved teaching it and when he had a few students interested enough to always attend the class and do well in it; that was enough for him. Jonathan was glad that he hadn’t decided to take another sip of his water for her knew that he probably would have sip it out or chocked on it or something. Jonathan’s mind started to race, he hadn’t been Ravenclaw Head of House for long but even as his time as a Professor at the school he couldn’t think of anyone called ‘Stidham.’ ”Ravenclaw you say.” he said, figuring he may as well get it out of the way now rather than later. ”Wow…this is awkward. Not only am I your girls Professor…I’m also their Head of House.” he said with an awkward laugh. Taking another sip of his water he swallowed hard, ”It couldn’t be all that bad. Dad was in the Ministry most of his life. He loved it!” he informed her, oddly enough not feeling a weird as he thought he would as he mentioned their father.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita was happy to feel some of the tension leave her and see Jonathan relax, whether it was an act or not she didn't know but either way it seemed good to her. She was amused when he said what he taught, History of Magic wasn't a favorite of any of her children. Juanita herself fell asleep in it during her time back at Hogwarts Scotland. She nodded her head when he seemed to double check that she meant Ravenclaw. She raised her eyebrows at the next words out of his mouth. He was the Ravenclaw Head of House? Oh the girls would find this... interesting to say the least. But with what she heard next, it was Juanitas turn to have the awkward reaction. she was thankful her drink was far from her and she didn't have a hold of anything. Even though she knew they shared a father, the whole reason this was even going on, it hadn't quite sunken in. To her 'dad' was still James, it probably always would be. She supposed part of her thought of Jonathan like The goddess of War, Athena. Sprouted out of someones head fully grown. "Oh he did did he?" she asked, managing to keep most of the dry squeak out of her voice.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan took Juanita’s silence to his news of being Ravenclaw Head of House as an indicator that she too found it weird. It still bugged him though as to whom his new found nieces were. He was almost positive that he didn’t know any Stidham girls in the house, in the whole of the school in fact. Then again he wasn’t expected to know every] student in the school. She did say they were older and they were moving out so they could have been graduates, …no I wouldn’t definitely know that he told himself, still stumped at coming up with an possibilities. Jonathan didn’t realise that he had zoned out momentarily, only to be brought back to reality by the sound of his sisters voice. ”Sorry. Was it too soon?” he asked, cringing lightly as he realised that the topic may still be a sore one.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita opened her mouth to lie and dismiss it as he asked if it was too soon to be bringing up...their father. But after a second she snapped it closed again, she let out a small sigh before nodding, "A bit.", she answered. There was no use to lie, anyone who wasn't in a state of shock after finding out the man that had raised them for 42 years wasn't their father was downright strange. Unless of course they had known beforehand but then you wouldn't really be finding out would you? Wow... Irony really bit me in the ass. she thought, not realizing the words had came out of her mouth as well. She needed something to drink, her throat was dry. She grabbed her coke and twisted the lid off, taking a big drink of it. Definitely better, her voice wouldn't sound like it was about to die out for good now. Their silence was punctuated by another thunk upstairs, Juanitas eyes shot up towards the source of the sound. After a few seconds she figured all was calm and turned her attention back to Jonathan.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan nodded his head in understanding. It had only been easy for him to talk about his dad because, well he was his dad his whole life. He was sure Juanita was still just getting this whole thing around her head too and would need to comes to proper terms with it. Although, even if she would never think of their father really being her father she was taking the whole thing pretty well. "Sorry." he said, making a mental note so as to not bring it up in conversation again just so lightly. Opening his bottle again he took another sip of his water as Juanita spoke again. As he was about to enquire about her statement he heard another noice coming from upstairs. This time he didn't worry so much about it and like last time waited a few moments before continuing. Laughing lightly at what just happened he turned back to his sister, "How so?" he asked in question to her statement about irony.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

When he apologized Juanita shook her head, "It's fine... I'm sure you weren't trying to get that reaction when you said it." she assured him. She took another drink of her coke and couldn't help but wonder just which twin was making all the noise. Trista no doubt, shes never been exactly gentle with her things. she thought, this one staying in her mind. She heard him ask how so and looked at him strangely for a moment, "What? Wait... Oh... Did I say that out loud? The Irony thing?" she asked, seeing as that was the only thing she could think of at the moment. "Well, it's a long story... But it's not exactly a secret, so what the hell?" she decided, trying to figure out how to give a vague summary and still get the point of Irony across. "Well I'm divorced, nasty mess that I won't get into but he was a cheater... A big one at that. This was what caused most of our problems when and before I found out about it. I hate adultery with a passion then after all of that I find out that I am a product of the very thing I can't stand." she said, the fates must get a kick out of screwing around with Humans.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan took another sip of his water so as to avoid replying to Juanita's. He hadn't meant anything he said to come out wrong, so he figured it would be better to get off the subject. Jonathan wondered why his sister was giving him a strange look, had what she said been obvious and he just missed it? Jonathan laughed a bit as he realised his sister hadn't meant to say what she had, out loud. "Afraid so." he told her as he listened to her story. When she had finished the story he sort of felt like laughing, irony had bit her in the back-side something shocking but he refrained from doing so. It was a sensative subject and not one that should be taken so lightly. Clearing hs throat he spoke. "I'm sorry to hear that Juanita! I really am! The fates really aren't smiling on us lately." he said with a sigh. After a short moment her story started to make a few more connections. "Sorry for prying but your children, do tey still have their father's name?" he asked, wondering if he was going to be able to clear up his mis-understanding. "I don't mean to be rude or anything. It's just I've been wreaking my brains trying to think of Stidham's in the school and I'm coming up blank." he admitted with a laugh.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Had he laughed Juanita would have been tempted to whack him over the head with something. It would be amusing to her later but for now it was just annoying to think about. What he next rang so true that it wasn't even funny. "That's definitely the truth." she said, he looked like he had more of a back story to his words like she did hers but she didn't want to pry so she decided to ignore it. At his next question Juanita almost slapped herself, of course he would assume her children were Stidhams! "Oh! Sorry about that, Yeah they have their fathers name. Well most of them, Under this roof resides... A Stidham, Several Paramores, Some Bones's, and A Martinez." she trailed off letting this bit sink in, "You have quite a few new nieces, some biological others adopted. But eight total." she said, she wouldn't admit it but it was always funny to watch the slight jaw drop when people first found out how many children she had, especially as a single mother. But she had gotten the hang of it long ago, russel had never been that much help anyways.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan heard Juanita start to explain the situation about the names. He felt relieved that she didn't seem to be annoyed about his presumption and bringing up the father, Juanita's ex-husband. He frowned his eyebrows when she started to say words like 'most', just how many did she have? As she started to list the surnames of her children Jonathan's jaw dropped slightly. It was understandable though, that many children in one household was quite remarkable. Although the situation of who was who was now cleared up. The names his sister had given him were ones he knew, some a little too well for his liking but knew nonetheless. "Well that definitely clears a few things up." he said in disbelief, still amazed at all the nieces he had. "You're right, I do." he said with a short laugh, shaking his head. "You must deserve some sort of award or something for raising all those children." he commented with another laugh.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

There it was, the famous jaw drop that always came, the one that fell upon her own face often but not for the same reasons, she was quite easily surprised. "What can I say? If I have the means to help a kid out then I'm going to... despite some of the rather... interesting circumstances I happened across them on." she said, her voice light, she would only have five children if not for her large heart but she couldn't imagine not being with a single one of them. "I'm actually still trying to figure out if things will be easier or harder in the house once Trista moves into her apartment and Kailey moves in with her..." Juanita trailed off, she hated the idea but Kailey was a legal adult and as such unless she wanted to alienate her, her hand were tied. "Boyfr-" she cut herself off again, barely getting the next word past her lips. "Fiance." she finally ended, dropping yet another piece of news on him. "Sorry about the rush of news in one meeting. Do you have any kids?" she asked, shifting the focus off of herself onto him.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan listened to his sisters words, a small smile formed on his lips. It was really nice to know that he was related to someone who was so kind hearted as Juanita was. "Fair play to you. I love children...don't get me wrong...but to have so many. I can only handle that amount in a class, and even then I only see them once a week." he admitted with a small laugh, although a tad ashamed. Jonathan listened to Juanita talked, he could only imagine this was a tough time for the mother. He knew his mother had a hard time when all of her children moved out of the house for the first time but as their father always told you can't hold on to them forever! He gave a light sigh as he thought about his current circumstances but didn't let it show that he was thinking about something else.

Hearing Juanita cut off Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows, but figured she was still trying to get over the fact that her daughters both had boyfriends...or at least he figured Kailey did...he never actually saw her with many boys. Trista on the other hand! "Fiance?!?!" Jonathan nearly choked on his water. He shook his head at Juanita's comment, it was going to have to find it out sooner or later, and sooner was supposedly better. Jonathan cleared his throat as Juanita asked a question, one, a few days ago he would have said 'no' too. He wasn't sure if now was the best time to tell his sister that she had a nephew, when Jonathan himself hadn't even met his own son. "I do, actually. One son." he said, his voice cracking a bit. He hadn't actually said that out loud yet.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita joined him in laughing, she did get where most people came from, eight was a bit much. "Oh I get it completely, if anyone told me twenty years ago I would have eight kids I would have thought they were insane. The thought of it is daunting and actually doing it is not easy, but at the end of the day it's worth it..." she started, thinking back for a moment. "Though I will admit, if I had all eight of them here all year long, I'd probably go a bit nuts, though the older ones can help me out with the younger ones. Always nice to have a few extra pairs of hands around the house." she ended, taking another drink of her pop before twisting the bright red lid back on it and sitting it on the table beside her.

Had it not been her daughters engagement he has been reacting to dramatically at Juanita probably would have had to stifle a snicker or two but as it was the situation was too much for Juanita to find any source of humor in whatsoever. At his exclamation she slowly nodded her head, "Yes... Fiance, you think you're shocked. It surprised the hell out of me when I found out. I haven't even met the guy yet! though that is happening at some point over the break whether Kailey likes it or not. I swear if Trista and that Fenton guy she talks about spring anything like that on me anytime soon I'll faint." she said, I just hope the sudden engagement isn't because shes... Juanita couldn't even finish the thought. "So I have a Nephew then, whats his name?" she asked, noticing but ignoring the cracking of his voice, not wanting the tense atmosphere back.

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan took in his sisters words, nodding at them, fulling understanding them. Although he could understand them to the same extent as Juanita did but he could imagine what it was like when he thought back to when his younger sister was growing up. Despite having a child of his own he actually knew nothing of being a proper parent. He gave a light chuckle as he nodded his head again, "If you haven't gone nuts yet, I don't think you will." he said with a smile, believing his words.

If he thought finding out that he had a few new nieces was a big surprise, finding out that one of his newly found nieces was engaged was whole lot worse. He couldn't actually believe what he was hearing, he had always imagined Kailey to be a senisable girl and not rush into things like engagement head first, but it just goes to show you can't always judge a book by it's cover. Jonathan was about to make a comment on the whole situation but when Juanita brought up her other eldest daughter and her current boyfriend he descided to remain quiet, not after recent events between the two. Although he would have gladly remained on the subject of Juanita's children instead of his own, goodness knows he barely knew the boy, having never met him. "Robin!" he said, trying not to stutter or give away the fact he knew nothing of his son apart from his name and possibly his age. Jonathan quickly took another sip of his drink to hide anymore awkwardness.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita smiled back at him, "Well I certainly hope not." she agreed with a laugh. Thinking back to the engagement she shook her head and sighed, "I really wish Kailey hadn't gotten engaged so quickly, but I can't pass judgement... I wasn't much older when I was engaged the first time. But shes always been so sensible... Atleast I have a small consolation, she said they weren't even going to start planning a wedding until after she graduates." Juanita said, more to remind herself and not get into a funk about it than anything. "Oh, Robins a nice name... The birds beautiful too." she commented, picking up her pop and taking another drink of it.


[Sorry Pat =\ This post sucks but I'm being rushed. ;-;]

 

[Jonathan Spenser]

Jonathan had to admit he was relieved to hear that Kailey and her fiance had agreed to wait until after she graduated to start doing any planning, but even then they were both still very young. Then again he wasn't one to judge people who do foolish things when their young and in love. It seemed to be a thing that ran in the family! He refrined from laughing at that thought, so far none of the family's parents had been a very good example for 'waiting until they were old enough' it was hardly surprising that the children were doing things at such a young age.

Jonathan laughed at his sisters comment on the name of his son. He saw it as the perfect way to get out of talking about it. "I suppose it is!" He retorted. He wasn't exactly ashamed of what he did but he could tell how some people would frown upon it and he was determined to first meet his son before talking to anyone about him. He didn't mind so much mentioning him to Juanita but he wanted to meet him before confessing how he only found out about his son barely a fortnight ago.

 

[Trista Paramore]

Trista had been working all day. Moving things, packing as much as she could into boxes, seeing as she only had a few. Magic was a bi ghelp now that she could legally use it ouside of school but shrinking charm after shrinking charm was quite a pain in the arse. But she had finally gotten everything packed up, she contemplated apparating on over to her flat and moving all the boxes out of her room but decided against it, deciding instead to have herself a break. Sliding her wand into it's holder, she plucked a book off of the top of the small stack she had kept out of her boxes seeing as she had already packed up her TV and DVD player, both of which had been charmed to run on magic. There was no furniture in this room anymore so she decided it would make more sense to go strech out on the couch in the living room. She walked out onto the hardwood floor f the hallway and sighed, Sure this wasn't the house she had grown up in but it was the whole idea, she was moving out on her own! She decided to give the old place a bit of a childish last farwell, running and sliding down the hallway. Trying and failing to stop gracefully a her feet lew out from under her near the egde of the stairs. She let out a yelp before getting up and laughing, simply glad she hadn't fallen down the stairs.

Deciding her feet were even less reliable then usual today she decided to slide down the banister, managing to do it without falling. Suddenly she remembered what she had wanted to ask her mom a couple hours ago. Turning around she saw her sitting n the chair, Jonathan escaped her notice for the time being. "Hey mom, can I borrow a few more of the records that won't play anymore to pop in the oven? I need to make some more bowls, Fenton managed to sit on one of mine and Kailey has the others." she said, shaking her head at the end as she remembered the event. "I promise I won't touch your 'The pol-" she cut herself off, finally noticing the two weren't alone in the room. She looked at the other inhabitant, which was Professor Spenser of all people, He wasn't coming here to rat her out for the closet thing was he? Well, her mom didn't look Royally pissed so she threw that idea out. "Erm... Hello Professor Spenser." she said slowly, looking back and forth between the two, questions painted across her eyes. A few seconds later something clicked in her mind and her eyes widened to the size of saucers in horror. "Oh...My...God..." she muttered Mom's dating my professor! My bloody head of House is datng my mother! WHY?! she thought Especially after last month... Ugh. She decided to give the benefit of the doubt anyways as she said "Okay...please tell me this isn't what I think it is." she groaned, all thoughts of Fenton and and broken bowls forgotten.