fic: surfacing.
Title: Surfacing
Author: sugarpromises
Fandom: Joan Of Arcadia
Characters: The Girardi Family. Adam. Grace.
Rating: PG 13
Prompt: What happens when Joan doesn't have any more projects.
Summary: The summer after graduation, Joan sleeps for two weeks straight.
Author's Note: For torigates. Day 2 of The 12 Days of Christmas. I hope you enjoy this, I've never written Joan of Arcadia before!
The summer after graduation, Joan sleeps for two weeks straight. She alternates between dreams and memories, wishes and demons. She flips from one side to the next, sinking her head deeper into the next hour, the next day, the next night. Glynis texts her every morning, sometimes twice before noon, while Friedman quotes ancient words to her voice mail.
There are split seconds every now and then that she’s absolutely positive He’s sitting beside her. Like she used to believe Judith was alive before fully waking up. It takes a moment for her head to register that it’s all over now. She’s alone.
It’s dark and she has nothing left to do.
**
"She hasn’t decided on college yet."
“One step at a time, Mom, Joan hasn’t even gotten out of bed,” Kevin reminds her. There’s a hint of worry beneath his nonchalance. He and Luke watch their mother fret around the kitchen, like it’s all foreign to her, like she’s been misplaced and this is not the life she was expecting.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Luke promises, “she just needs some time.”
There’s such a certainty in his voice, a change in Luke and Joan’s relationship that Helen doesn’t recognize. In any other circumstance, she’d be over the moon about their closeness, but nothing about anything makes sense anymore. They fall silent as Helen seats herself between her sons, gearing herself for asking the question that’s been on her mind for some time now.
“Can somebody please explain to me what exactly happened?”
**
When Will comes home every night from work, he kisses his wife hello, and moves to stand outside his daughter’s door. He peers inside, the hallway light shining on her sleeping face, and remembers the feeling he had when he watched her singing as a zombie on stage. He then remembers the look on her face two weeks ago when she came home, silent and weary, and cried in his arms.
He misses the sound of her voice. He should have paid attention to the warning signs along the way.
**
It’s nearing the fourth of July and Joan wakes up from a dream. The digital clock has been unplugged, but her cell phone blinks messages and notices. She hears fireworks in the distance, but that’s not what makes her sit up in bed for the first time in weeks. A crackle catches her attention just before a sparkler lights up the darkness. She reaches out to turn on the lamp.
“You’re here,” she says. Her voice cracks from its lack of use, but the meaning is there. The love is there. She beams at the two people sitting at the foot of her bed.
“We came as soon as we could, Jane,” Adam’s voice tells her, wrapping her heart like a warm blanket.
“Like we would ever leave you alone,” Grace chimes in. “We said till the end, remember?”
“I remember,” Joan whispers. “I remember.”
Fin.
Author: sugarpromises
Fandom: Joan Of Arcadia
Characters: The Girardi Family. Adam. Grace.
Rating: PG 13
Prompt: What happens when Joan doesn't have any more projects.
Summary: The summer after graduation, Joan sleeps for two weeks straight.
Author's Note: For torigates. Day 2 of The 12 Days of Christmas. I hope you enjoy this, I've never written Joan of Arcadia before!
The summer after graduation, Joan sleeps for two weeks straight. She alternates between dreams and memories, wishes and demons. She flips from one side to the next, sinking her head deeper into the next hour, the next day, the next night. Glynis texts her every morning, sometimes twice before noon, while Friedman quotes ancient words to her voice mail.
There are split seconds every now and then that she’s absolutely positive He’s sitting beside her. Like she used to believe Judith was alive before fully waking up. It takes a moment for her head to register that it’s all over now. She’s alone.
It’s dark and she has nothing left to do.
**
"She hasn’t decided on college yet."
“One step at a time, Mom, Joan hasn’t even gotten out of bed,” Kevin reminds her. There’s a hint of worry beneath his nonchalance. He and Luke watch their mother fret around the kitchen, like it’s all foreign to her, like she’s been misplaced and this is not the life she was expecting.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Luke promises, “she just needs some time.”
There’s such a certainty in his voice, a change in Luke and Joan’s relationship that Helen doesn’t recognize. In any other circumstance, she’d be over the moon about their closeness, but nothing about anything makes sense anymore. They fall silent as Helen seats herself between her sons, gearing herself for asking the question that’s been on her mind for some time now.
“Can somebody please explain to me what exactly happened?”
**
When Will comes home every night from work, he kisses his wife hello, and moves to stand outside his daughter’s door. He peers inside, the hallway light shining on her sleeping face, and remembers the feeling he had when he watched her singing as a zombie on stage. He then remembers the look on her face two weeks ago when she came home, silent and weary, and cried in his arms.
He misses the sound of her voice. He should have paid attention to the warning signs along the way.
**
It’s nearing the fourth of July and Joan wakes up from a dream. The digital clock has been unplugged, but her cell phone blinks messages and notices. She hears fireworks in the distance, but that’s not what makes her sit up in bed for the first time in weeks. A crackle catches her attention just before a sparkler lights up the darkness. She reaches out to turn on the lamp.
“You’re here,” she says. Her voice cracks from its lack of use, but the meaning is there. The love is there. She beams at the two people sitting at the foot of her bed.
“We came as soon as we could, Jane,” Adam’s voice tells her, wrapping her heart like a warm blanket.
“Like we would ever leave you alone,” Grace chimes in. “We said till the end, remember?”
“I remember,” Joan whispers. “I remember.”
Fin.