Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of it's characters
A/N: Please enjoy this fic, which I did and am still working extremely hard on.
Chapter 1:
Jack woke up unexpectedly as the door to his house was slammed open. He looked up from the couch where he had fallen asleep and turned to the door to see that his father had just entered in a drunken stumble. Jack got up to help his dad into a chair.
"Jesus dad, you're really drunk this time. I know grandpa just died, but you were never that close to him. His death isn't worth your health. What else went wrong?"
"NOTHING! My father just died! I can't deal with the world any longer Jack! It's overwhelming me. I just came home to tell you that I'm signing myself into rehab, and I'll need you to attend your grandfather's funeral, and the reading of the will. I'll come out to visit you the day after. I should be out by then." He finished his sentence, stood up, tottered a little, and then stumbled out of the door. Jack moved to help, but figured, why bother that man isn't going to get any less drunk. Jack walked into his bedroom and collapsed on his bed, laying there for hour upon hour brooding in his own bad feelings.
Jack stepped off the pier and onto the sandy beach of Flowerbud Island. It was hot, so he took off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and slung his suit jacket over his shoulder. He trudged slowly up the beach and onto the path that led to the village.
Jack sat down in one of the chairs that were assembled in the village for his Grandfather's funeral. He sat down and listened to everyone speak about his grandfather, and then listened to the local pastor eulogize his grandfather's life. It seemed like Jack's grandfather (ironically named Jack) meant a lot to everyone. He was glad that the village had been such a good place for Jack.
Finally the funeral was over, and everyone departed, save for the few who were mentioned in the will. The pastor stood at the podium, picked up a piece of paper, and began to read.
"If this is being read, it means I am deceased, but do not falter in your actions because of this, for God shall lead you through the good and the bad and shelter you in his arms." Jack mentally scoffed at this comment. "I shall leave all of my animals to Mr. Green of the Green Ranch. All except my dog, which I leave to my grandson Jack. I leave any plants or seeds that I may have left to Lillia, whom I'm sure could use them. And last but not least, I leave my farm, and everything else on it, to my grandson Jack. I hope that you will lead it through the hard times it has had, to a great and glorious future, just as God will lead you through these hard times and deliver you in Final Victory." Jack's jaw dropped.
Jack looked at the ground as he trod down the path to his grandfather's farm, or rather, his farm. He couldn't believe what grandpa had done. Him, a farmer? The thought alone was nearly unbearable. He was training in college to be a writer, this would be practically the opposite of what he had intended on doing with his life.
Jack reached the farm and surveyed the territory. There was a mailbox by the entrance gate, a doghouse, a box of some sort, a cabin, a weed-laden field, a barn, and a chicken coop. He looked up at the sky. It was far too early to go to sleep. He decided it would be better to go into town and see what's around.
He began to make the trek back into town. Still looking at the ground.
Maria looked from her table as the bar doors opened. The stranger that had come to town for Jack's funeral entered. She noticed as he looked around for an empty table, and found none. She smiled and waved him over. He noticed her, and proceeded in her direction. She smiled and brushed some of her light blue hair behind her ear, "Why don't you have a seat?" He graciously accepted. Maria held out her hand in greeting, pulling back the overly long sleeve on her black velvet dress, "I'm Maria, I work over at the library. What's your name?" Jack took her hand and raised his eyebrows at the thought of there being a library in such a small town as this. He sat down, "I'm Jack, Jack's grandson." He looked up and met her eyes. Wow, she's hot, he thought, quickly feeling guilty at thoughts such as these so soon after his grandfather's death.
She frowned, although at the time she was thinking, I'm surprised that Jack's grandson could be so attractive. Although, I'm sure for the moment he's still grieving... and she pushed those thoughts aside. "I'm sorry for your loss. Jack was a great man. You should be happy for him. He lived a good long life." She turned toward the bar, where a waitress was leaning. "Hey Karen! Can you get me and Jack a beer?" Karen looked up at them, and with a scowl on her face, poured the beers and brought them over.
"So, you know, I just don't get why life is so against me right now, you know?" Jack said as he looked drunkenly into the eyes of Maria before his head flopped down onto the table.
Maria frowned. She stood up, "All right, I think you've had enough. Time to get you home." Maria, although she looked rather petite, was actually quite strong. She brushed off the front of her black velvet dress, walked around the table, picked Jack up by his shoulders, and dragged him out of the bar.
Once they were on the porch of the bar, Jack caught a breath of fresh air, and was able to lift himself unsteadily to his own feet. He looked down at Maria with a drunken glaze over his eyes. "I... I d-don't th-think I can m-make it back to m-my house." He stumbled slightly. She looked annoyed, "All right, fine, I live just down the end of this path. You can sleep at my house for the night. But don't make it a regular thing!" She said as she shook her finger at Jack.
Jack looked down the path and started stumbling down it. Maria walked ahead of him, so he would know where to go. Although there weren't many options. The village was so small that there were only three other houses to pass by before they reached Maria's house. Two houses that had no markings, and the library, which was right behind Maria's house. Her house appeared to be the largest house in the whole village, which at the time, was not odd to Jack, because he was severely drunk.
Maria opened the door and led Jack inside. She placed him on the couch, where he collapsed, part from drunkenness, part from exhaustion. She sighed, but she wasn't upset, he was too cute for her to be upset at him. She looked at him sleeping there for a moment, placed a blanket over him, and went into her room to go to sleep.
Jack woke up on an unfamiliar couch. He was frightened at the thought of not knowing where he was, so he quickly threw the blanket off of himself and stood up. Jack cringed in pain as he suddenly felt an enormous headache. He mumbled, "Holy mother of God that's painful." He opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings, trying to bear the pain he felt. He noticed a girl in black pajamas sitting at a table in a room across the hall, eating cereal. He recognized the blue-haired girl to be Maria, the girl he met in the bar, but he couldn't remember how he had come to be in her house.
Jack winced through the blinding pain of his headache and walked out of the living room, across the hall, and into the dining room. Maria looked up from her cereal and smiled at Jack, "Did you sleep well?" Jack flinched when he entered the sunlit room. The light made his headache much worse. "Headache..." He sat down at one of the chairs and put his head down on the table, "Owwww..."
Maria laughed, "You've got a hangover. You were so drunk last night you could barely walk. I took you back to my house because you never would have made it back to the farm," She felt sorry for him, his headache must have been really bad. She got up and reached into a cabinet and got out some pills. She pulled a glass from one of the cabinets and filled it up with water from the tap. She set the glass and the pills down next to Jack, "Take those, you'll feel better." She sat down again and continued eating her cereal.
Jack lifted his head up, took two of the pills, and downed the glass of water. He put his head down again and waited for the pills to kick in. Jack heard footsteps and assumed that someone else was entering the room. He purposely kept his head down.
Maria looked up from her cereal and saw her dad walk towards the dining room. When he entered and saw Jack sitting at the table with his head down, a wave of anger overcame him. He turned towards Maria and she knew she was going to have to wade through her dad's misconceptions again.
"Who is this? You know, you can't just bring home every visitor who comes to town!" Maria's dad yelled.
She breathed in slowly, and responded in a calm voice, "What are you talking about? I've never brought anyone home."
He was just as angry as ever, "Why are you so rebellious?"
"I'm not."
"Well then what happened to the shy little girl you used to be?"
"That 'shy little girl' is gone dad. But just because I'm not hiding myself from the world doesn't mean I'm a bad person!"
"Then why do you insist on breaking rules?"
"I don't!" Maria looked up at the clock and noticed it was the library's opening time, "You know, I really don't have time for this right now. I have to go to work." She got up from her table, cleared her dishes, walked into her room, walked out 30 seconds later, and left the building.
Jack lifted his head from the table as soon as Maria left. The pills had kicked in, and he figured there was no time like the present to leave. He turned to Maria's dad, introduced himself, explained why he was there, apologized, and walked out of the door.
As soon as he left, he realized that Maria's house was also the house of the Mayor. He had just been the cause of an argument between the Mayor and his daughter. He hoped that this wouldn't affect him negatively in the future.
Jack turned around the corner of the house, and looked at the paths that led in front of him, and to his right. The right path led to a house, and the clinic. Past that, he didn't know where it led. He look at the path and vaguely recognized that the rest of the town was in that direction, and he'd know how to get back to his farm from there. He started walking forward.
As he reached the back of Maria's house, he noticed that the library was located behind it. He remembered that that was where Maria worked. He decided to go in and talk to her. After all, she was really the only person in the village that he knew.
Jack opened the door to the library, and saw Maria organizing some of the books on their shelves. She was wearing black velour sweatpants, and a tight, very short sleeve, cotton v-neck shirt. He walked in, and closed the door, leaning against it with his hands behind his back, "Hey."
She turned around and smiled a nice, warm smile, "Hi."
Jack pointed at one of the chairs, "Mind if I sit?"
She laughed once and softly at the absurdity of his request. "By all means, have a seat."
He sat down in the chair nearest the door, and smiled at her. "So, I really can't remember much from last night, I pretty much only know your name.
"It's okay, you were doing most of the talking anyway."
He blushed, "Oh. Well. I'm sure that was a little more than embarrassing... What'd I say?"
"Not much. Just a bit of your past nothing bad."
"Good," He looked down at the ground and looked up at Maria again with a slight look of apprehension on his face, "Listen, I don't want to intrude, but what was that with your dad back there?"
Maria looked down at the ground, slightly uncomfortable with the subject. "I… used to be really shy. I never talked much. I never stepped even the slightest bit out of line. One day, I was talking to Popuri about when she died her hair, and she talked me into dying my hair too. I've haven't been shy since. My dad thinks there is something wrong with that. I guess he just misses me being 'perfect'."
Jack sympathized. "I'm sorry."
Maria looked up at the ceiling, and Jack could tell she thought the whole situation was ridiculous. "It's okay. He doesn't even know what he's talking about." She looked back down at the ground, and leaned back against the bookcase, crossing her arms across her chest. She leaned on just the wrong spot on the bookshelf and it started to tip over, and, because she was leaning against, she began to fall with it.
Jack noticed and leaped out of his seat and over the low table in his way and caught Maria. Unfortunately, he was too late to help the bookcase. It slammed into the ground with a loud whomp. Jack winced at the sound as he helped Maria to her feet. She look up into his eyes, a look of gratitude on her face. She felt safe standing close to him. "Thanks..." she said softly.
He looked down at her, smiling a very small smile, happier than he had been in a while. "Your bookcase fell."
Maria stepped back, looked at the bookcase, and laughed. "I know." She walked around to the other side of the bookcase to try to lift it up. Jack realized that there was no way she was going to be able to do this.
"I'll get it." He walked around to the other side of the bookcase and lifted it from the ground slowly and gently until it was standing again. He looked down at the books that had spilled down and out of the bookcase, then looked at Maria. She was looking down at the books too, looking disappointed. "Can I help with these too?" he asked. She looked up at him, even more grateful than before. "By all means, please do." She said as she smiled.
Jack was glad he had come in here. He began to pick up the books and put them on the shelf, one by one. He was lucky that they had mostly fallen in order. He noticed on book, a book of Shakespearean soliloquies. After putting all of the books back on the shelf, (along with Maria's help, of course) he picked the book off the shelf. "Do you mind if I rent this out?"
"Go ahead. That's what they're there for." She paused for a moment as if trying to remember something. "Oh. Right. That reminds me. Your grandfather left something here for me to give to you. He said you would need it."
Jack looked confused. Why would he leave something with Maria for me to get? She went behind the desk, pulled out a book wrapped in newspaper, and handed it to Jack. "Thanks." He looked down at his watch, saw that it was 9:30, and figured he'd better get out of there and get a start on picking up his farm. "Actually I'd better be getting out of here. Got a farm to take care of, you know?" He smiled, thinking about the experiences he'd just had with Maria. "I'll see you later, k?"
She smiled back. "Yeah, come back later today, maybe I can take you on a tour of the village."
"Sure thing. Bye." He winked at her as he walked out of the library and closed the door behind him.