Title: Impact: The Other Side
Fandom: Company
Rating: High T to low M for injuries, angst, self-destructive behaviour, and some sex
Pairing(s): Joanne/Larry, Joanne/Bobby
Disclaimer: I do not own Company or any of the characters therein.
Notes: This is a companion piece to my other Company fic Impact. This has quite a lot of story in it but isn't a complete fic on its own, so I would recommend reading Impact first. That way you will also avoid spoilers for the original story. Also, all the warnings and notes from Impact also apply to this fic.
I started this around chapter 6 of Impact, after I wrote a scene from Joanne's perspective and realized that even though I really liked it, it wasn't right for the pacing of the story at that point, so it had to go. But instead of getting rid of all of the scenes that I loved or wanted to write that wouldn't fit into the structure of the full story, I decided to compile them into a side story. This also gave me a great opportunity to write some of the same scenes from a different perspective. So here are the little missing scenes and extra bits from Impact. I had a lot of fun writing these, and I hope you enjoy them. You are also welcome to leave suggestions for scenes you would like to see, although I can't promise I'll use all of the ideas I get.
Oh, and like all my fics, this one came to me in the middle of the night through a haze of insomnia.
"Come on, Joanne, we're going to be late. Robert's probably waiting for us already."
Joanne hurried down the stairs, putting in her earrings as she went. She stopped at the foot of the stairs. "How do I look?"
Larry looked her up and down, smiling as he took in the long black dress clinging to her amazing curves, her high-heeled pumps, the diamond drops in her ears, the diamond pendant that dipped into her cleavage.
"You look breathtaking, as always," he said as he pulled her to him. He kissed her and she smiled against his mouth. He began to kiss his way down her throat when she ducked out of his arms.
"We're going to be late, remember?" she said, teasingly. She pulled on her coat and went to pick up her purse from the table in the front hall.
Larry followed her, his arms wrapping around her waist from behind, pulling her back against him.
"Or we could just not go?" He pressed kisses behind her ear and down her neck.
She smiled and leaned back against him, savoring the feeling. "C'mon Larry. Robby's waiting for us."
She pulled away from him, but turned and looked at him coyly over her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll have time when we get home."
Larry smiled and followed her out of the house and into the car. He behaved himself for a little while, but a couple minutes into the drive his hand wandered over to Joanne's thigh and he began to run his fingers upwards. She laughed and pushed his hand away. She turned to him, about to tell him to save it for later, when she saw the flash of headlights. Her eyes went wide with fear.
"Larry!"
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The van plowed into the driver's side of the car. Joanne could hear the metal screech as it was twisted out of shape, could hear the glass shattering. The impact threw her against the passenger door, and she felt pain like nothing she'd ever felt before. She felt her arm break. She felt her ribs snap and her flesh tear, and then suddenly she couldn't breathe. Something sliced into the side of her neck and she saw a spray of red. Her head slammed against the window hard enough to make her see white light. There was a sickening crack, and she couldn't tell whether it was from the window or her skull, or both. The last thing she was aware of before she blacked out was the sensation of warm blood flowing down the side of her face.
The first thing she was aware of was the pain coursing through her body – through her chest, her arm, her neck, her head. Every breath sent another pulse of pain through her. Her chest hurt. Her head was throbbing. Each breath was labored. She could feel the warm blood spreading, soaking into her dress.
She gradually became aware of voices around her. Urgent voices, shouting commands. Her eyes fluttered open. She was in the back of a van – an ambulance. There were people around her. Someone was pressing something to the side of her throbbing head, and another to the side of her neck. There was an oxygen mask over her face. She tried to move, but couldn't. She realized that she was restrained. The effort made her cry out as another wave of pain washed over her, but she was so weak that the sound came out as a tiny whimper. It was enough to alert the paramedics that she was conscious, though. One of them leaned over and began to speak to her, but her mind was still so hazy that it was as though his voice was coming from a long way away.
"Ma'am? It's okay, you've been in an accident. You're on the way to the hospital."
Oh, that was right. There had been an accident. There had been a van. She'd been in the car. With Larry. Even though her mind was fogged with pain, she felt a sudden panic grip her. Was Larry alright? She tried to turn her head to see if he was there with her, but the restraints prevented her from moving.
"Don't move, you've been badly injured."
She had to know if Larry was alright, if he was safe. She tried to speak, but her voice came out as nothing more than a whisper, lost in the commotion of the ambulance.
"Larry…"
The effort of even saying that one word exhausted her and she gave in to the pain, her eyes drifting shut as she sank back into unconsciousness.
"She's crashing…"
A/N: Thanks for reading!