When Flowers Blossom

Disclaimer: I do not own Fuller House. I just love this pairing and haven't found many stories out there of decent quality and wanted to try my hand. Enjoy, review, whatever!

Chapter One

It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon when Ramona lazily wandered downstairs for the first time that day in search of food. The first thing she noticed when she reached the bottom was that Max and Jackson were both sprawled out on the couch. They were currently arguing over who was going to get up and fast forward through the commercial of whatever it was they were watching.

"Good morning, weirdos." Ramona muttered as she walked past them towards the kitchen.

"Morning, zombie. When was the last time you brushed your hair?" Jackson immediately retorted. Ramona ignored this completely, knowing he was joking with her, and continued her hunt for something to eat. She reached her destination just moments later. The pantry was always stocked with teenager friendly snacks and such, one thing, among a vast majority of others, that Ramona was extremely grateful for.

"Hey, stranger." Kimmy Gibbler said, chipper as always. "You want me to make you anything? Grilled cheese, vegetable soup, spaghetti, anything you want?"

Ramona loved her mom. She was always willing to go the extra mile for her, even when she was so busy doing something amazing and super time consuming for someone else. She should be offering to cook something for her.

"No, no. Can I make you anything? You need to sit down, get off your feet. I'm sure you're exhausted."

"Quit fussing over me. You forget, when I was pregnant with you, I didn't have you to make me food all the time."

"No, but you had Dad, didn't you?"

"Eh, somewhat. I mostly cooked for him. He did rub my feet an awful lot though." She said in a sing song voice, sitting down and waving her feet suggestively.

"Oh, look at the time!" Ramona said, looking at her blank wrist, pretending she had a watch. "I gotta go get ready for...that thing." Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore and she was barreling through the door back into the living room.

"You okay? You look like you've seen-"

Ramona cut Jackson off immediately and snapped, "I've seen something unpleasant and I'd rather not speak of it ever again." She then took off back to her cave to prepare for the next day. It just so happened to be her and Jackson's first day of junior year. She had somehow managed to publicly humiliate herself on the first day of both freshman and sophomore year. She was bound and determined to not screw it up this go around.

Grabbing her phone, Ramona sent a quick text to her friend Monique. Monique had been her girl best friend since the first day of freshman year. She had been part of the fun that ensued that day. Ramona and Monique both wanted to join the cheerleading squad, and both had been doomed to be the brunt of a cruel joke conducted by the head cheerleader, senior Madison Woods. She thought it'd be funny to pretend to let them in via a trial. They were made to wear 'specially designed' cheer skirts that just so happened to not be sewn together properly and were ripped off in front of what was probably most of the school.

Monique thankfully was a weirdo and had sported a jean jacket on her back and a plaid button up around her waist that day. She handed Ramona her plaid shirt to tie around her and pulled the jean jacket to cover herself. They then tore towards the locker room where Ramona's other now best friend was running towards them with their clothes. Jackson had witnessed the horror show and didn't find it funny at all. In fact, he had been infuriated. Of course, he was a puny freshman then too, so all he could do was help Ramona out the best he could, while staying away from the danger of humiliation himself.

Madison Woods had long since graduated, and Ramona and Monique were excited to be upperclassmen. Top dogs. So of course Ramona asked Monique to come over and help her pick out something to wear. She and her mom had done a little shopping here and there over the summer, so she had tons of new things. She just lacked the coordination for color and flow, that Monique had naturally acquired.

Her friend instantly replied that she was on her way. The two of them had both turned sixteen over the summer as well, and Monique's parents had scrounged up some money for a decent little Ford Taurus. Ramona hadn't gotten a car, but her parents had told her on her birthday that she'd have one by Christmas. That knowledge was a great gift in it's own, so she was content.

DJ had confided in her, knowing that she and Jackson had developed a pretty tight friendship, that she was getting him a Chevy S10 for his sixteenth birthday. It was still a little under two months until his birthday, and she needed to tell someone who wouldn't blab. Kimmy and Stephanie were great she-wolf pals, but neither one was good with secrets like this.

Ramona was happy for Jackson. He'd get to drive to school for most of the two years he had left. He'd get to be the big shot. Honestly, even when Ramona did have a car, she'd be too lazy to drive and just end up carpooling with Jackson.

Sat on her bed, in her own thoughts, the distinct sound of DJ shouting, "It's always open!" informed her of the arrival of her friend, and forced her back to reality. Monique said a quick hello to the Fuller family and made the familiar trek to Ramona's room.

"Hey girl!" She shouted, busting into the room and getting comfortable.

"What's up!" Ramona matched her friend's hyper tone.

"Everything and nothing. The usual. What on Earth happened in here, did a tornado hit?" She said exasperatedly, glancing around the room with a horrified expression on her face.

"Just trying to figure out what to wear tomorrow. Obviously I failed, which is kinda why you're here. Just saying."

"Of course. And I supposed I'm gonna be helping you organize this mess when we're through too?"

"Hadn't thought that far ahead actually, but most likely. Don't worry though, I'll feed you and stuff." They chuckled and spent the remainder of the afternoon sorting through the many piles of clothes and jamming to some of their favorite music. By the time DJ called for dinner, they had the perfect outfit picked out. A simple white tank top, with a purple and blue plaid button up over some dark blue jeans and some simple tan ankle boots. Her room was also much better organized, as Monique had a slight case of OCD.

Ramona was starving by this point, having had to skip out on a snack earlier. She and Monique made their way to the dinner table where there was a delicious feast of vegetable soup and grilled cheese.

"Guess you had a craving, mom?" Ramona joked.

"Actually, yes. Is this not okay?"

"No, it's perfect. I love veggie soup. That sound good Mo?"

"Oh yes. I've had it here before, it's one of my faves!"

"Good. Dig in girls!"

The girls were getting their bowls and settling down to eat when the show started. Jackson stormed into the kitchen, followed closely by DJ. She seemed to be in interrogation mode.

"What happened, Jackson? Why is that little...JERKFACE slapping you?" Ramona's head shot up at that.

"Who did what?" She rose from the table, abandoning her soup. "Jackson?"

"It's nothing. She only did it because you walked in the room, mom."

"Rocki, Ramona. Rocki slapped Jackson in the face and stormed out of the house."

"For the love of fudge, we broke up. On mutual terms."

Ramona was confused. As far as she knew, Rocki and Jackson had been in a steady relationship for...eight months? About as long as her mom had been pregnant.

"Why? You two have been all over each other for a long time. And if it was mutual then why did she slap you?" Ramona demanded to know, looking up at Jackson, who had grown so much over the three or so years they had been living together that he now towered over her by more than a foot.

"She slapped me to keep up appearances. She wants to look tough." He said, averting his eyes. The closer she looked, the more she saw how tired he was. She knew he'd been playing a lot of football over the summer, but that didn't take up that much of his time. It was probably Rocki's fault. She did demand a lot of his time. He was also the type of person to throw himself into his relationship, and give the girl anything and everything she wanted. Ramona wished she could find someone like that. Not necessarily that extreme, because she didn't think Jackson should kill himself for some girl who didn't deserve it, and she didn't want anyone doing that for her.

"Are you okay?" Ramona finally asked the question that should've been the first out of her mouth as his best friend. She felt guilty for prying, because he looked like he'd been through enough. She backed up a little, and gave him some space.

"I'm good. Just gonna go to bed." He said shortly, again looking anywhere but at her. Ramona was a little hurt and taken aback, but she nodded her head, and let him past to the stairs. She also stopped DJ from following him, and just assumed he needed a day or two to recuperate.

The family finished dinner, and Monique went home, with the promise of a mostly uneventful day to follow. Everyone calmed down for the night, and Ramona knew Jackson wasn't sleeping. She took on the duty of cleaning up after dinner, and fixed a bowl of soup to take up for him. Max had long since switched rooms to share with Tommy, claiming Jackson going through puberty was stressful to watch, and that he was the most responsible one in the house anyway. Tommy was in good hands.

Ramona gently knocked on the door, and heard a faint groan. She took that as a sign to enter, and pushed into the room. Jackson was laying facedown on his bed, still fully dressed.

"You sure you're alright? I don't mean to get into your business-"

"Then don't." Jackson said harshly, sitting up.

Ramona was shocked, once again, by his hostility towards her. She was still determined to be there for him however she could, but she didn't have to be nice about it.

Striding to his bedside table, she slammed the plate she'd made for him down on it. "I thought you might be hungry." She muttered viciously, giving him a pissed off look as she turned to leave the room.

"Thank you." He whispered in defeat, all traces of anger gone as she reached the door. She stopped, wanting to turn back but she kept walking. Straight to her room she marched, unaware that her friendship with Jackson from there on forward would be strained, awkward, uncomfortable, miserable, and incredibly upsetting. And she wouldn't understand why for months to come.

A/N: Next chapter to come with reviews, if you'd like me to continue this, leave a comment and let me know! :D
I have many plans for this already stored in my brain!