Meg Knows

By rese (onyxzeconqueror)

Summary: Meg is excellent at reflection and observation and when she puts the two together on the subject of Jo, you just know she'll figure out what's best. jo,laurie

Disclaimer: L.M.A. owns Little Women, I clearly do not.

A/N: Challenge or 'contest' if you will response for littlewomenfans lj community. Write a short love story for Jo (300-500 words). This line was meant to be used or as inspiration and I chose the latter: "We should all be so lucky to have someone who will never let us go. The ultimate legacy is to leave behind someone who will love you forever."(Ally McBeal)
Apparently it's also important for you to know this is set in the novel fandom. More scope for the imagination and what not.

"Jo, please put the kits out!" Meg cried over her shoulder, wondering what possessed the old cat to go and mate after twelve long years of solitude and spawn a bumbling mess of disasters which she never seemed to cease tripping over.

"I love you," she said sweetly when her sister tucked the rascals under her arm and marched out. Meg smiled at the knowing nod her sister gave before Jo continued her solitary wander about outside.

And it was only then Meg realised as she watched with one eye still on her needle, that slender, awkward, boyish Jo might one day 'go and mate' just as old, grey, one-ear-missing Penny had. It was a frightening and hopeful thought.

Her sixteen year old sister walked briskly across the lawn, pausing only to spin about and skip over to fall in a flower bed, laughing in a loud barking (and decidedly unlady-like) manner as she, from what Meg could tell by her moving lips, spoke to herself in verse.

Who would ever have Jo? She was everything she shouldn't be – blunt, clamorous and entirely unbecoming in her whole disposition. It was especially, thought Meg, inappropriate for her age. She should be shaping herself to be a mother and wife and no one, not one man in any proper circle would have… that - the creature that was bounding about yelling Shakespeare to the tree by the fence.

And then in an almost freak event, and in highly dramatic lighting to Meg's indoor eyes, a young lad strode up the path to the front door, his coat tails swirling in the air created by his powerful stride. But her surprise at such a timely moment turned to mere appreciation of coincidence as she recognised the dark locks and the fidgeting stance. It was Laurie.

Only Laurie.

She lowered her needlework, anticipating his knock but before he could lift his arm Meg saw his attention waver. She turned her head to see what had literally caught his eye, which he now covered with his hand in mock mortification, and Meg rolled her eyes to see it was only Jo.

Her younger sister laughed and bounded forward to great their neighbour with her arms open and head thrown back, still cheering about her successful shot.

And as before, Meg's brown eyes narrowed with realisation. Jo was still attached via arm to the Laurence boy and they now strolled leisurely over to the tree Jo had previously used as a companion. Meg saw what her sister, for all her passion, could not yet see. Laurie, her dearest friend since that pass year, was the one. He would have Jo!

It was all there, in the way he watched her intently, even when she wasn't speaking. In the way he let his hand linger after patting her arm chummingly. In the way he hadn't stopped smiling since Jo made her presence known.

Meg shut her eyes. It was right. Indeed perfect. But she was her sister and with the understanding she had fortunately gained, Meg would no longer be able to see her sister as the foolish girl who wasted time on boy's books and pranks.

She would be the sister their neighbour would very likely take away one day.