Reunion

“How could you possibly know that?” she asked.

Mousse just smiled, pushed his hair behind his ears and cuddled her close. “I thought she looked like someone that I once knew, but couldn’t put my finger on who. I didn’t want to intrude by simply asking you as I thought that you would tell me when you were ready” he said and then placed a finger on his lips to silence her explanation and replaced it with his lips for a kiss. “Remember when I offered to be Yoko’s babysitter that time?” he said and she nodded remembering.

Flashback

Mousse had arrived at Ukyou’s house to take her out to dinner and was greeted at the door by the hysterical looking chef. She lowered the phone and said “the chef I hired for the Uuchan’s here in town quit, so I have to try and find a babysitter. Sorry I should have called you to cancel dinner” she apologized.

“Your babysitter is right here my lady” he said with a bow.

She hesitated “you don’t mind?” she asked.

“Of course not, I know what a nightmare it is trying to find a babysitter at the last minute. You just go get into your sexy uniform and go into work. There’s plenty of leftovers in the fridge from the other night that will feed us both” he said.

She blushed that he found her uniform sexy; she insisted that all of her chefs wear a similar uniform to the one that she used to wear when she was a teenager. She examined the sexy man in front of her and drew him in for a hard kiss. He was practically panting when she pulled back “what was that for?” he asked dreamily.

“For being you” she said and went up the stairs to change with a very interesting twitch to her cute caboose that had Mousse mesmerized. His salivations were interrupted by Yoko saying.

“So you’re going to be babysitting me?” she asked.

“Yes, is that okay?” he asked.

“Better you then the one who has her boyfriend over to hump in Mommy’s bed or the other one who talks to her girlfriend long distance all night long” she said dismissively.
Mousse made a mental note to find out who these babysitters were and to let Ukyou know not to use them anymore.

Ukyo came dashing down in her blue shirt, black tights combination looking not a day over twenty. Mousse pulled her into his arms and kissed her again “what was that for?” she echoed him.

“I never got to kiss you back when you used to wear this everyday” he said with a grin. “I love what you wear normally, but somehow this uniform takes me back. Hey you still have your giant spatula!” he said in surprise to see it strapped to her back.

“I stopped carrying it around when Yoko was born, it was too much of a pain to push a stroller around and carry a diaper bag at the same time as carrying it” she explained. She hadn’t realized how much she’d changed. She’d stopped the cross dressing thing a long time ago and hadn’t bound her breasts in years. It was true that she preferred wearing pants and most of her clothes were unisexual, but she looked like thousands of other successful single moms all over the world. Apparently not in Mousse’s eyes with how he was examining her like she was a steak and he a starving man. She was flattered that she still looked good in her uniform and gave the white ribbon in her hair a final pat. “Well, I got to go” she said reluctantly, “my cell is on if she gets violent” she teased Yoko.

“I’ll try not to tie him up and stuff him in a closet” she said sarcastically.

“I’ll try not to do that to her either” Mousse agreed, Yoko just glared at him. He gave Ukyou a final kiss before she departed and then said to Yoko “How would you like meatloaf for dinner tonight?”

“That’s my favourite sort of loaf” she replied. Mousse grinned at her and pulled leftovers out of the fridge to heat up for their dinner. He laughed when she pulled a rubber duck out of her sleeve.

“You’re getting pretty good at that” he commented. As Yoko was being raised by a martial artist, she’d been trained in Ukyou’s style since she could walk, but loved Mousse’s more flashy hidden weapons art. So she’d asked him to teach her some of his techniques like his own children had, he’d agree but exchanged harmless toys for his more lethal weapon, turning it into a children’s game. Yoko pouted about this as she wanted to learn how to use his knives and chains; he’d only allowed her a single rubber knife for this.

Dinner was a relaxed affair as they picnicked on the living room floor. Then it was soon time for her bed, Mousse suppressed a smile of amusement at her bedroom, like her mother Yoko tended to ensue anything girly, instead for toys she had cars, trucks and army type stuff.

“Would you wait outside while I put on my pajamas?” she asked.

He was amused by her modesty “need any help?” he asked.

“What are you some sort of pervert? Get out of here!” the pint sized martial artist cried and shoved him out the room. He waited outside; she opened the door and let him in. She wore a pair of pajamas with cowboys on them “You can come in now” she said and climbed into her sneaker shaped bed.

“Would you like to me to read you a story?” he asked.

“Naw, not in the mood” she said, then hesitated. “Uncle Mousse, are you going to marry Mommy?” she asked.

Mousse’s eyes went wide with shock “I-if she’ll have me, if you’ll both have me” he stammered. “But not tomorrow or anything, adults have to get to know each other first before taking that step” he explained, sitting down beside her.

“Than you’ll take care of her when I leave?” she asked.

“Where are you planning to go?” he asked.

“There’s a martial artist in Nerima that I want to study with, he’s the best martial artist ever!” she said enthusiastically. “He owns the The Saotome School of Anything-Goes, he accepts students as young as seven” she explained.

“Ranma Saotome?” Mousse said.

“Yes, do you know him?” she asked.

“Yes your mother and I were kind of friends with him” Mousse explained, not thinking it appropriate to mention that Ukyou had been one of many fiancées.

“That’s so cool! I’m such a fan of his, I even asked my friend’s older sister to write a letter to him for me and he sent me an autographed picture” she said and pulled it out from under her mattress.

Mousse studied the picture to oblige her, like himself Ranma had gotten taller and filled out. The years had been kind to Ranma, but Mousse had to smile at his ego that he was sending out autographed pictures to fans. Then his smile faded when he noticed that Ranma’s face was reflected in the smaller face before him. He lowered the photo and studied Yoko, then looked at it again. There was no doubt in his mind who Yoko’s father was now. “Has your mother ever talked to you about Ranma?” he asked her.

“No she’s never mentioned him, I only found about him because he was featured on TV” she said.

End Flashback

“That’s how I know” he explained once he told her about their conversation.

“Why didn’t you mention this to me” Ukyou asked nervously, she hadn’t even known that Yoko knew of Ranma in the least.

“I promised her I wouldn’t and I didn’t want to put you on the spot by confronting you about Yoko’s parentage. I figured that you would tell me when you were ready” he said.

She looked down at the floor and mentally prepared herself to tell him the rest, imagining his look of disgust “I wanted to tell you, but was afraid to. I-I made a deal with Ranma the night before his wedding that I wouldn’t interfere or protest his marriage if he spent the night with me, after the last attempted wedding that we ruined he agreed. It was stupid and cruel I realize now. I thought that he wouldn’t want to marry Akane after he slept with me, seeing that I was the cute fiancée and all” she said with bitter humour. “Well, he did his part and the next day married his true love while I stood up with her as a bridesmaid. The next day I moved to another town and arranged the sale of my business. I drifted from place to place for a while until I discovered it was pregnant, so I started another restaurant and built on that until I had a chain of them. I haven’t seen Ranma since his wedding and he knows nothing of Yoko. Mousse, please believe me that she’s his, it was my first time when we slept together” she pleaded and finally looked up expecting to find him sneering at her in disgust. Instead he looked sympathetic.

He cupped her cheek “well, I will admit that the bargain you made was a little devious, but I’m hardly going to hold the actions of a lonely, desperate girl against the woman you’ve become. You’ve got a great daughter no matter who her father is. However, Ranma should be told about her and she should meet him. Just think, she also has siblings and a grandmother and grandfather that she’s never met either. Then he remembered how Genma Saotome tried to profit off his son. “On second thought, perhaps she shouldn’t meet her grandfather; she’d probably have three finances before she was six”

Ukyou laughed at this “yeah that Genma is a jackass. He’s part of the reason I’ve been reluctant to introduce them” she agreed. “I know that it’s the right thing to do, but I don’t want to shatter Akane’s heart that her husband gave away his wedding night”

“Than you should just tell Ranma first and let him decide about the situation. He’s doing pretty well, the dojo is thriving and he got his certification as a gym teacher. Akane became a nurse and they have three children, two boys and a girl” he said.

“How do you know all this” she asked.

“After my divorce I realized what a jerk I’d been to him, so I went to visit him to apologize. I had so much fun getting caught up with them that I ended up staying the weekend and studying his martial arts. Akane’s a great cook and mother now, she’s really happy. Kasumi went to live with her husband, Dr. Tofu and they have a son. Nabiki seems to be a spy for a government agency, not that she could tell me of course. She’s remains unmarried while living with Kuno because they don’t believe in marriage, or so they tell me. Not that that stopped them from having a daughter” Mousse said.

“I wish I could see them, I miss having Ranma as a friend” Ukyou said wistfully.

“All you need to do is break your silence and call him” Mousse said.

“If he agrees to meet Yoko, would you come with me?” Ukyou asked.

“Just try and stop me. I certainly want to be there with my girlfriend when she sees an old flame” Mousse teased.

She smiled at him and felt better that everything was out in the open and he’d was still hers. “So being that you’re an Amazon, does it mean that you have to defeat me before we wed?” she asked.

“Only if you want to” he said with a laugh. “I thought I would just get you a ring when the time was right”

“So then you really do want to marry me after only two weeks?” she asked and wondered why she felt comfortable discussing this with him.

“As soon as you’re ready” he promised.

Ukyou mind went crazy with planning; they would sell both their homes and buy a new one. She liked his condo, but really liked having a yard for children to play in and to plant a herb garden in for her to experiment with her sauces. It would have to be large enough to provide a bedroom for each existing child with room for more. It would have to be close enough to his work, but still in a quiet, residential neighbourhood close to good schools. She imagined quiet family dinners, date night, family night and holidays together. She smiled at the idea of a green eyed bundle of joy, the brother or sister that she’d longed to give Yoko. “What are you thinking about?” Mousse asked, her emotions were flitting across her face faster than he could read them, unaware that she was planning the rest of their lives in her head.

“Nothing Airen” she said, remembering Shampoo calling Ranma that.

His face lit up at that and even more so at what she did next.