So here's what happened to me. The "Trial and Error" episode broke my heart. I physically felt it for days (no, really, I did) and that, combined with my then recent forays into the Harry Potter fandom, led me out of fandom. Thing is, I miss it so. I hate having unfinished stories languishing about here. And, honestly, I love my readers. So I've signed up to write 100 JoA fics over at LiveJournal (this being the second) and hopefully, I will finish my stories.
Anyway, as usual I don't own anything JoA related and I hope you enjoy this.
1. December 10, 1996 – The night Aaron left. Aaron had thrown a fit on the fourth night of Hanukkah at the subtle reminder that he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps. At 18, the last thing wanted was to become a rabbi. After an argument the likes of which were never duplicated in the Polansky household, Aaron stormed out of the house, only stopping to kiss her mother and two sisters goodbye. Grace remembers running down the front walk after him, sobbing and begging him to stay. She also remembers how he squared his shoulders and kept going without looking back.
2. March 8, 1998 – The first time Grace saw her mother drunk. The Polansky family had not yet recovered from Aaron's desertion over a year later. Grace had poured her energy into keeping the peace; her older sister Rachel withdrew into her horny boyfriend much to her mother's displeasure. The brewing tensions between Rachel and Mrs. Polansky came to a head the morning of Grace's 10th birthday. By the time night fell, Rachel had followed in Aaron's footsteps and her mother, knowing Rachel's stubborn nature (it ran in the children, you see), spent the rest of the day drowning her sorrows. Grace has never quite forgiven her mother for breaking like this. And it took her a long time to forgive the fact that her father couldn't fix everything.
3. November 11, 2000. The day Elizabeth Rove died. She wasn't there when Adam found Mrs. Rove's body, but she'd heard his anguished scream before she reached the end of the block. She found him in his parents' bedroom, sobbing, shaking his mother and begging her to wake up. She was the one who noticed the fallen, empty bottle of pills. She was the one who called 911 and Mr. Rove and held Adam so that he'd stop shaking his mother. So that he'd stop shaking period. Throughout the parade of police and paramedics, the ride to the hospital, the anguishing wait in the waiting room, she refused to leave Adam's side. She held his hand, shared her warmth (he was so cold), and acted as a buffer between him and everyone else. She didn't leave his side for three days, no matter that there was school and temple and her father's worry. Then Adam gave her a look and she knew it was okay to go home. So she did. She went home and closed herself in her room and allowed herself to cry because she felt like she'd lost her second mother in two years.
4. February 6, 2004 - The first time Grace realized she thought of Joan as more than an occasionally amusing annoyance. After all of her connections had dried up, Grace decided it was easier to keep everyone at arm's length. Then Joan came along and wouldn't go away. But Grace refused to count on her or anyone else for that matter. And she kept telling herself that until she and Joan argued about that stupid debate over metal detectors and Joan had lost her shit in front of the whole school and Grace realized that Joan may be loopy and flat-out crazy sometimes but she almost always there and for the first time, she feared she'd driven away someone who could become a sure thing. A safe bet. A best friend.
5. May 20, 2004 – The second time Grace and Luke kissed. Some things are sacred. They aren't meant to be spread around. This is one of them.
6. October 31, 2005 – The Halloween she'd dressed up like early 80s Madonna. Shut it. It was a dare. There's no way on God's green Earth she'd have dressed like that otherwise. But it's all good. She made sure Adam got his.
7. August 2, 2010 – Her mother's one year sobriety anniversary. With the rift between the family and Aaron and Rachel healing, Sarah Polansky had finally found the motivation to become sober. Grace chose not to be bitter that she hadn't been motivation enough and instead helped the family quietly celebrate the occasion.
8. January 18, 2017 – The day Luke left her. They'd built their relationship slowly. After all, a lot of years had passed since that kiss she didn't talk about. But her distrust, her reluctance to let anyone get too close meant she tended to push people away. Finally, she pushed Luke, who'd spent a large portion of his life feeling invisible and unappreciated, too hard. It took her two weeks to realize he was not coming back.
9. June 23, 2017 – The day her father died. Even she'd been angry with him for years after her siblings left, he'd never been angry with her. Even though they'd never had a relationship quite as perfect as it had been before the family fell apart, it had become pretty damn good. Even though she'd never consciously admitted it to herself, she'd always known he'd be always be there for her. And then he wasn't and Grace hadn't felt so lost or so alone since Rove's mother died.
10. May 20, 2018 – The moment she saw Luke waiting for her at the altar. The only good thing that came out of her father dying was her friends coming to help her through it. Adam held her hand and helped her stand. Luke had come and lent her his warmth. Joan had acted as a buffer between her and everyone else. And once her father had been buried, Luke had led her to her bedroom and held her while she cried. And she realized that no matter what she did, Luke would always be there even when he left her so she could figure that out for herself. It wasn't until she saw him waiting for her that she realized that it had always been that way. The Girardis, after all, were a very tenacious family.