Dinner Time 2!

 

Hello there! This is the sequel and conclusion to Juniper's family story! Hope you enjoy, and leave a comment please!

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 Three o' clock. The Time of Reckoning had fallen upon Juniper. The grandmother had never let her age slow her down, but after those past few hours, she had to admit that she wasn't the Bunny she used to be! This was apparent with the struggles she was having with the closet door. With her back against it, Juniper fought against the innumerable magazines, skateboards, and her favorite body pillow that threatened to break free.

"Rrfh! Come on, Juni; kick this junk's ass!!"

With a final push, Juniper sighed in triumph after hearing the closet door click. With her junk stashed away, the illusion of a clean house was complete! Her loving family would be oblivious to all the corners she cut to make it look so good...and not a moment too soon! Juniper's ears perked when she heard the horn of her kid's car! Feeling the energy flare up inside, Juniper hopped up before dashing to the door!

The SUV doors opened up, and her beautiful children shined so brightly from the Charlottesburg sun. First, her son Joe stepped from the driver seat to stretch his body from ears to toe. His puffy, deep brown tail wiggles as he stretched until back popped, leaving him sigh in relief. Despite just hitting his 40s, the tired-eyed and long legged son looked good for himself. Joe had a tank-top underneath his red-plaid shirt, and a pair of jeans, with the right leg's torn at the knee... It's clear where he got his fashion sense. With a buck-toothed grin, Joe stretches out his arms to receive the full brunt of his mother's hug!

"Hey Ma," Joe said as he lifted her up. "Been a while since we seen ya up close. I can see why, this place is pretty bitchin'."

Juniper beams in pride, and gives him a smooch on the nose. She was let down, only to be scooped up by her middle daughter, Harriet. The bunny mom squeals in delight as her big, burly Hyena peppered her face in kisses. As Juniper recovered, Harriet's mouth went a mile a minute. Whenever she got excited, upset, or almost every other emotion, she liked to express it through her words. Juniper could only smile, reminiscing to the time where she picked up Harriet at the orphanage; that spotted little girl had so much to say!

"Omigosh! Mom, you look great! Oh it's been forever! This place is soooo pretty! I know you sent pics but this place looks amazing...!"

Harriet finally put Juniper on her feet as her excited manifesto continued. With a press of her mother's finger upon her large nose, Harriet was snapped back to reality with a giggle. She wasn't the only one giggling, as a child's laugh got Juniper's attention. Immediately, she kneels down, holding out her arms to her grandson.

"Granny June!"

Divine's eyes were as wide as his grin as he bound toward her. This time, it was Juniper's turn to lift as she grabbed her grandchild and gave his face so many kisses! The spotted-and-striped mutt of a Hyena laughed, trying to push Juniper off.

"Agh!" He mockingly complained. "Granny slobber!"

"Sorry DiDi, but Granbun's got unlimited kisses and she's cashing it out!"

The assault of smooches eventually relented. Laying Divine on his feet, he rustled his fur, making it puff out slightly. 10 years of cute fuzzball grinned, showing his sharp teeth, and his Pro-wrestling shirt to his grandmother. Divine always loved Juniper; whenever his Mom told him something was too 'dangerous' or 'not for him', Juniper always vouched for him! Why, if it wasn't for her help he wouldn't have gotten Grand Theft Auto 5! His mom has yet to find out about that one...!

"Granny June! I gotta tell ya how I'm don' in Basketball! I'm kicking a-ah..some butt!"

Juniper could only chuckle, noticing his growing 'vocabulary'. She'll have to talk to him before Harriet scolds him. She ruffles her grandson's mane of head fur before standing up.

"Tell me all about it, bud! But before we head inside, where's-... Oh, there ya' are!"

Juniper grinned as her youngest child came into view. Where Joe and Harriet dwarfed their mother, Cleo was the opposite. The youngest of Juniper's children stretched, and blinked slowly to let her slit eyes look at the grinning Bunny. She steps forward, and opens her green, scaly arms to Juniper with an expression quite neutral.

"Hello, Mom. Nice to see y-OUGH!"

The Caiman Alligator wasn't prepared for the force of her mother's hug. Cleo hisses out, thrashing in her mother's grasp before Juniper puts her down. Smoothing out her jacket, shirt, and her brown slacks, Cleo cleared her throat as she got some control back.

"Yes," Cleo said with no shortage of exasperation. "It's good to see you too."

Juniper was just a grinning fool. Her youngest daughter had always been a quiet one, but she showed love in her own special ways. Just her being here meant she told her job to fuck off just to see her dear old mom!

"...Not to be rude, but are we eating outside or something?"

Juniper's eyes shot open from Cleo's question. Her stomach had moths fluttering inside as she swallowed. It was the moment of truth.

"Ha-ha, sorry! Just wanted to look at all of you guys! Come on in, dinner's waiting!"

"Whoa! This house kicks BUTT!!"

The crass exclamation from Divine was shared equally by the gawking Joe, the wide-eyed Harriet, and the stoic Cleo. Juniper sighed in relief. Her home was pretty awesome; two bedrooms, a cool kitchen with an Island table, sun-roofing and a patio that overlooked the Charlottesburg beachfront. It's the kind of house that could impress anyone...so long as it didn't look like trash.

"Damn, Ma'," said Joe as he plopped his rear right on Juniper's couch. "I gotta take some gigs over here! This beats out any hotel I've been in." Juniper winced, hoping that Joe didn't hear the creasing of old pizza boxes underneath the couch cushions.

"Y-yeah! This city would ROCK with DJ Sage!" Juniper said as she forced herself to relax. Just as Divine was reaching for the closet, Juniper was suddenly there, leaning on the doors to keep it shut.

"Speakin' of, heard your last gig, Joey! Mixin' in some Boyz II Beasts was killer in that last mix!"

Joe blushed from the praise, and laughed. Despite his aloof appearance, Juniper knew that he was just a bit shy. He was far more reserved in his earlier years, but Juniper cuts that thought out of her head. Hearing little Divine's stomach growl, she got up and hopped back into the kitchen to give her hungry family a meal they deserved! With that patented ‘grandmother speed’, she hops over to the kitchen, picking out food from the oven and microwave.

A gorgeous cooked turkey was laid out on the table, cooked to a delicious golden brown. A huge plate of spinach followed that, and was set with a plate full of the gooiest macaroni and cheese that Juniper's family ever did see. Divine's eyes were as wide as the dinner plates, and the only thing stopping him from ransacking the food himself was the strong grip of Harriet keeping him anchored.

"Wow, Mom!" Shouted the grinning hyena mom. "This looks so GOOD! This must have taken you forever to make!"

"Aw, have a little faith in me! I fed you guys for years, so a couple'a days is nothing!" With a big grin, Juniper puffed out her chest in pride.

Juniper's bravado and pride was instantly shattered as a remark from Cleo had her mentally reeling: "Huh. You made it look good too. Kind of looks like a Bistin Market line up."

Cleo was the quietest of her three kids, but that didn't make her shy. When she actually wanted to speak her mind, Cleo's curt remarks left many speechless themselves. Even now, Juniper was sweating bullets trying to determine if that was a playful jab or a proper observation. Internally panicking, Juniper had to target Cleo's weakness.

"H-hey, speaking of! How's the business comin' along, Cleo? Finally got the right ideas for your clothing line?"

The stoic Caiman broke out into a hiss of anger, making Harriet yelped and Joe gulp.

"My designs are AMAZING! But the problem is that I don't have the materials yet! Working in that bakery's giving me mental AND financial stress!!"

Flanked by her elder siblings, they calmed her down by petting her head and scratching her neck. With words of encouragement and financial aid from her siblings, Cleo began to relax with a small rumble in her throat.

Seeing her smart little chomper get so upset made Juniper's old heart sink into a cold pit. The only way she was able to push away that doubt was to assure herself that a 'clean' house wouldn't rouse any yaps from Harriet, or snide remarks from Joe and Cleo. She breathed out, and got a knife to prepare serving the food...But she couldn't shake the feeling something was missing.

"...Huh, hey where's Divine?"

With a look to her mom, Joe answered: "I think he went to the bathroom."

Well, that was a relief. Juniper sighed and started to slice into the turkey. And then her grip went lax, making the knife fall onto the plate.

Divine doesn't know where the bathroom is.

Ignoring her children's concern, Juniper rushes out of the kitchen to find her dear grandson. She was elated to find that he wasn't too far...but also terrified, as his hand was reaching for the closet that held all her crap.

"H-heeey Champ! Ya' looking for the bathroom, right? It's actually a bit further down!"

Divine paused, and looked back at his grandma. His eyes were wide and curious.

"Oh!" Exclaimed the little Hyena boy. "Then what's this?"

"That's my closet, Divine! It's got a lot of old, nasty grandma stuff, you wouldn't be interested…" Juniper's leg began to bounce; her foot was tapping impatiently as she waited for Divine to leave....and to her chagrin, he didn't.

"Old stuff? Like your old Skateboards?! Cool let me- WAAAUUUGH!"

An anguished yelp escaped Juniper as she jumped toward divine, embracing him from the plastic, paper, wooden, and body pillow avalanche. Joe, Harriet, and Cleo all got up from their seat to see why there was so much commotion. To their shock, and Harriet's horror, they saw their mother clutching Divine as she was buried to the knees in junk. The only one enjoying this was Divine, who's eyes were wide as he held a dirty magazine in his hand.

"Whoa! Mom, Grandma has those magazines that you said were ' too sophisticated' for me!"

Joe snatched said magazine before any damage can be done, and promptly hid it in bis back pocket.  Harriet was too appalled to even care about the magazine's content as she was still staring slack-jawed on the mess in front of her.

"M-mom?!" Harriet finally shouted. "What IS all this?! Why's there so much garbage in your closet?! Is the garbage men not coming to your block?!"

Unable to hide her shame, Juniper knew it was time to come clean. Standing up among the garbage, Juniper dusts off her clothes, and sighed.

"...Nah. Ol' Juniper was just a little irresponsible here. All this stuff you see before ya? I had to get all of it in within three hours, so I kinda panicked..."

The truth had everyone feel a bevy of emotions. Joe only gave a soft whistle as he looked over the trash, Harriet looks like she just witnessed a murder, and the stoic Cleo's eyes went wide. Divine was gawking at his grandmother in disbelief.

Juniper's ears drooped. She did all that work, and now it was on the floor in a heap of trash. The weight of her shame was crushing her self-esteem; worse yet it was bringing back some unpleasant memories of her early years as a mother. With nothing else to say, juniper rubs he r left arm with her right hand. She was prepared to be chewed out and taunted by her own children...but that never came.

"Whoooa, Granny June did all this in 3 hours?! You're super fast!" shouted Divine.

"I gotta hand it to ya, Ma'. You always knew how to pack things tight!" Joe chuckled, lifting up some of the trash.

"Enough chit-chat! Divine, Joe, We're cleaning this up on the double! Mom, you take a seat this instant!" Harriet grabs the stunned Juniper and sits her down on her pizza-box supported couch.

Noticing her Mother's confusion, Cleo laid a scaly hand on Juniper's shoulder.

"...You know," mused Cleo. "You could've just said so. If your place was a wreck, we would have just got some fast food if you were too tired..."

Cleo rubbed her mom's shoulders before stepping up, to aid her family in cleaning up. Juniper watched silently, feeling all that shame warp itself into utter embarrassment. She thought too much about making a perfect dinner rather than spending time with her family. Even as they were rummaging through trash, they still talked, smiled, and even shared some laughs. The old bunny's tail twitched as her heart started to warm right back up. With a sudden hop to her feet, Juniper smiled with an all new vigor as she addressed her family.

"Alright, Kids! Momma June's gotta show ya where all my trash bags are, come on, so we can finish this up and watch Stranger Things!"

Everyone agreed with a cheer, barring Cleo. Juniper wiped away a tear as she went into her cupboard to fetch her garbage bags for the mountain of trash. It was going to be a while, but with her awesome family around, it'll take no time at all.