This fic is set post finale and takes place in the summer of 1995. It's not something I believe would have ever happened on the show but I hope it's a concept that's still entertaining.
It wasn't shocking when Jordan's father finally kicked the bucket. Years of smoking, drinking until he blacked out, and obesity had taken their toll and he died at the age of 35, leaving behind his teenage son.
Jordan Catalano being on his own wasn't new to him. What was new was that he had nowhere else to go. His father had been terrible but even at his worst, he had managed to keep a roof over their heads. He knew he had no more than a week before the rent was due and the money he made working at the local auto body shop wouldn't come close to covering it.
Jordan decided to leave that night. He wasted no time lingering in the house and he quickly put his clothes in a garbage sack, grabbed his guitar, and left in his Plymouth. Red had been his shelter more times than he could count and she hadn't failed him yet, always keeping him safe and warm from whatever was outside.
He managed to spend two days living in his car before Angela found out. She insisted he stay with her.
And that's how Jordan found himself in the Chase family's kitchen late one night. Patty and Graham allowed it reluctantly, just for the night and Jordan was given a blanket and a pillow to sleep on the sofa.
Angela had told him that her parents had been fighting recently and from his place on the downstairs sofa, Jordan heard them arguing long after Angela had gone to sleep. He pulled the blanket closer to his body and tried his best to go to rest in what felt like the most surreal experience of his life.
The first thing Jordan saw when he woke up that morning was Angela's sister looking directly down at him.
"He's awake!" announced Danielle, earning her a angry glare from her sister.
"Danielle, leave him alone!" scolded Angela. She was in her nightgown and Jordan realized that he was still in his jacket and jeans.
"Whatever." Said Danielle, leaving to grab her breakfast cereal from the pantry.
Angela bent down by the sofa and looked at Jordan, unsure what to say. She remembered when Sharon's father almost died but Jordan's father was actually dead. She couldn't help but feel woefully unprepared for whatever she was supposed to do and she was terrified of saying the wrong thing.
"Hey." She whispered softly
"Hey." He replied quietly.
Neither said anything for a few moments and Angela just kept looking at him again silently, not sure if she should try to fill the space or if she should wait for him to say something.
He looked rough. It had been a couple days since he had been able to shower and his wavy hair was starting to clump with oil. Dark circles hung under his eyes and he was clearly dazed. Angela had taken a psychology class before and learned the five stages of grief. She knew the first stage was denial but Jordan seemed to be a state she couldn't quite figure out.
It wasn't very long before Patty and Graham came downstairs and Patty asked Jordan to sit with her at the dining room table. Graham, on the other hand, had come downstairs fully dressed and had barely rattled off "good morning" before walking out the front door. Angela said he'd done that last week and Jordan had a feeling that wasn't the first time either.
Jordan pulled out his chair from the table and Patty turned on the coffee pot in the kitchen. She was clearly exhausted and Jordan noticed she had lost weight since he had last seen her.
"Do you like coffee, Jordan?"
Jordan nodded.
"Yes mam'." He answered politely.
"Great."
A minute passed before Patty poured two cups and set them on the table, pulling out her own chair on the opposite side. He took a sip of coffee, savoring it. It wasn't his usual black coffee but the taste of mocha still made him feel more awake. He watched as Patty stirred a little sugar in hers, trying his best to figure out what she was thinking. Unfortunately for Jordan, Patty Chase was just as hard to read as her daughter.
Jordan had both his hands on the kitchen table, one holding his coffee mug while nervously toying with a piece of loose skin near his thumbnail on the other. The tension felt thick enough to cut with a knife and Patty sat across from him silently, still drinking her coffee. Jordan felt her gaze on him, though he didn't lift his head to make eye contact. He felt like she was trying to stare inside him, attempting to find his true intentions.
He must have passed, because Patty reluctantly agreed for him to stay until the end of the summer.
Neither said anything more until Jordan asked if he could use their shower.
Angela was in earshot and showed him where the towels were upstairs and pointed down the hall to the bathroom. Jordan thanked her and as he locked the bathroom door, he felt like he was sleep walking. He felt like nothing around him was real and as he turned on the shower, his own body seemed like a stranger's. The Chase's bathroom seemed like another planet and seeing Angela's toothbrush or Patty's silk flowers in a vase felt strange in a way he couldn't figure out.
He scrubbed his body, rinsing off the grime before drying off with his towel. He had to leave for work soon and he realized his uniform was in Red. He slipped back on his old clothes and walked downstairs to his car. As he passed by the kitchen, he could feel Patty Chase still watching him and he didn't know what to make of it.
He changed into his uniform in the hall bathroom and the familiar feel of the blue fabric made him feel slightly more at ease.
He looked at the digital clock on the Chase's microwave and knew he had to leave any minute.
Patty was no longer looking at him but he still felt the tension in the air.
"I have to leave for work, Mrs Chase."
Patty looked back at him.
"Drive safe." She warned him.
Jordan just nodded.
Work offered a sense of stability for Jordan. Working on cars was easy enough and he could immerse himself in it for hours, getting lost in repairing engines or fixing broken parts.
The pay for a part time job was decent and the other guys kept to themselves. No one asked questions and Jordan finished his shift late in the afternoon.
He took a deep breath before putting the key in the ignition and driving back to the Chase house.
The drive from Pittsburgh to Three Rivers took time and Jordan watched as the industrial landmarks of inner Pittsburgh turned into well kept yards with comfortable looking homes. The neighborhoods he passed were picturesque and Jordan couldn't help but feel he was intruding. It wasn't a new feeling for him and it didn't fade when he eventually reached the Chase house and parked outside the blue craftsman.
He noticed Grant's car in the driveway as he walked towards the house and as he took off his shoes and left them outside, he caught the smell of pasta wafting through the front door.
Angela was reading a book on the couch when he walked in and she got up to greet him.
He knew she knew that she didn't know what to say and he pulled her into a kiss, doing his best to put her at ease. He could feel Patty and Graham watching them but when Angela pulled away, she smiled.
Graham, on the other hand, made himself known by clearing his throat.
"Dinner's ready."
Jordan could feel himself still being scrutinized but grabbed a plate from the kitchen island and served himself. Dinner was pasta cooked in a rich sauce and as Jordan sat down at the dining room table, he felt like all eyes were on him.
He felt relieved when Danielle broke the tense silence.
"Mom, can I have an advance on my allowance?"
Patty looked at her daughter skeptically.
"What for?" she asked
Danielle looked sheepish.
"Library fines."
Patty looked exasperated. "Danielle, I told you to turn in those books weeks ago!"
"Dad was supposed to take me."
"Graham!"
"I was busy, ok?"
Patty looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.
Graham spoke up instead.
"We need to have a talk about ground rules."
Patty seemed caught off guard but agreed.
"Yes we do."
Graham looked squarely at his oldest daughter and her boyfriend.
"No one is allowed to be in any room with the door closed and under no circumstances are either of you allowed to sleep in the same bed. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes." Replied both Angela and Jordan.
"Perfect. Now if you excuse me, there's somewhere I have to be."
Graham got up to clear his plate and Patty looked like she wanted to say something but chose not to once again.
He rinsed the plate off in the sink and moments later, walked out the door and started his car. As they listened to the sound of him driving away, Jordan could see the anxiety in Angela's eyes. It was one of her few emotions he could recognize instantly.
Danielle looked Jordan directly in the eyes.
"Dad's been real cranky recently."
He expected either Angela or Patty to scold her but neither did. Instead, Patty was the next person to get up from the table and rinse her plate.
"I'm going to bed." She announced.
After she went up the stairs, only Jordan and the Chase sisters remained. Angela continued to pick at her pasta and Danielle seemed to be taking him in with a wide eyed curiosity that made him feel uncomfortable.
"Do you mind if I smoke on your porch?" He asked Angela.
"No, not at all."
"I can take your plate." He said to Angela, already holding his own.
"Thanks."
He took both plates to the sink and rinsed them off before returning to the dining room, standing next to Angela.
"Will you join me out there?"
Both teenagers stood on the back porch leaning against the railing. It was an unseasonably cool evening and Jordan was glad to have Angela standing close to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
Neither said anything and that was fine by him. He liked that they didn't have to speak, that they could just be together and understand. Sometimes, words only seemed to make things more complicated.
When he finished smoking, he stubbed out his cigarette and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.
Even with everything that had happened, they brought each other peace. But he knew that there wasn't much peace to be found anywhere else and he reached into his pocket for another cigarette.
"Don't ever start." He warned Angela as he lit up.
He took a puff and thought back to just a few days earlier when he'd been called into the principal's office on the last day of school. Getting called in wasn't unusual and he thought he was going to be punished for truancy again.
Instead, the guidance counselor was standing next to the principal, both looking at him solemnly.
The counselor put her hand on his shoulder and Jordan could smell the menthols on her breath as she looked down at him.
"Jordan, we received a call that your father was in the hospital today."
Jordan sat there and looked at both of them, not sure what to do with the information.
The counselor continued. "They told us your father suffered a heart attack. By the time he got to the hospital, he was gone."
Both watched him carefully, trying their best to gauge his reaction. But Jordan knew this had been coming for a long time.
"Catalano, I'm sorry." Said the principal.
"Don't be."
Jordan looked at both of them.
"Can I go now?"
Neither answered and no one stopped him when he walked out the door.
The room had felt like it was spinning and Jordan left early that day, hiding out in red until he could leave the parking lot. He drove to get a burger and waited until he had to go to work, finishing his shift that evening. And then he threw his belongings in a bag and left, never wanting to be in that house again.
"Jordan?"
Angela broke his reverie and looked at him concerned, reaching up to comb his hair out of his face. Jordan managed to give her an affectionate grin with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth, more for her sake than his.
"Jordan, I'm sorry."
Jordan exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Don't worry about it."
He sighed. "Don't worry about it at all."