I am a true Joan/Adam shipper at heart, as my friend Joey put it so plainly after a brief discussion on the episode this is based on, so you know what to expect from this story. Guest stars are cute boy/ God, my six-year-old niece's six-year-old "secret" admirer/ God, my ever-philosophical "father in-law"/ God (he would be an excellent God, I tell you), and a special appearance by my good friend Joey as (you guessed) God (I'm inserting her in the fic for being such a kick-ass JoA fan-mate).

This is what I would hope would happen, but if it were to happen, it would be so lame, because none of the other stuff that happens later would happen, and I don't want that to happen, so thank God this is just fanfiction… not sure if what I just said made any sense, but I don't care if I make sense or not.

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over anyone or anything. I do this for self-entertainment (yes, all this is apparently very amusing to me).

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Brand New Day – by In the darkNess

You said you heard every word

But I watched you turn away

Your eyes grew colder than winter.

"Love is so intrusive"

I thought I heard you say

And laugh so unconvincingly…

-- Jars of Clay, Famous Last Words --

Chapter two: Famous last words

Joan and Luke always walked to school together. Luke would be discussing some boring scientific matter, and Joan would be making some remark about how she really didn't care. However, the past week, they had walked in silence. Apparently Luke could take a hint and realized that Joan wasn't in the mood for any sort of conversation. She had enough in her mind already, besides dreading getting to school. If there was one thing she dreaded more than Adam not being with her to walk around the hallways as usual, was Adam crossing her in those same hallways and looking through her, as if she weren't there at all. They sat in AP Chemistry with Grace Polk between them, and he never said anything to anyone when Joan was present.

Arcadia High came into view as they turned a corner and walked down the road. It was then that Joan noticed something odd. God hadn't appeared to her in all this time. It had been quite a while since she last talked to Him. He never disappeared for such a long time. Perchance, he didn't have a reason to show up yet. No new mission to give to Joan.

Good, she thought. I don't want to talk to Him anyway. He's the one who ruined my life. Joan frowned miserably as they approached the school building. It wasn't God's fault that Joan was in the mess she was in, but it was much easier than admitting her own guilt. The longer she went without meeting God again, the better.

"Hey, Joan," said a voice from behind her. "What's with the frown?"

Joan and Luke both turned to find a girl about 19 years old, with long brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue jacket with faux-fur lining around the hood. She smiled in a friendly manner, and Joan was puzzled.

"Sorry, do I—" Joan started.

"Can I talk to you for a second? It's sort of important," the girl interrupted.

For a moment, Joan was completely flummoxed. But then it dawned on her. And she glared in anger.

"No, sorry, gotta get to class," she said grumpily. "Come on, Luke," she turned and kept walking, Luke following without a word. But the girl followed too.

"You don't think you can get rid of me so easily, do you?" she asked, keeping up with Joan.

"Go away!" Joan snapped.

"Fine. It's okay with me if your brother hears this, but I'm not so sure it would be okay with you."

Joan stopped in her tracks and faced the girl, who was smiling in spite of Joan's fulminating stare. "Fine!" Joan said a little too loudly. Her cheeks were red. "Luke, you go ahead, I'll catch up."

With a nonplussed expression, Luke walked away, leaving Joan alone with the girl.

"What do you want?"

"A better attitude from you," God said a bit too cheerful. "You've become so sulky."

"You're in no position to ask that from me, I can feel whatever I want to feel, it's all part of free will," Joan retorted, trying not to be rude, though it was difficult.

"But it's not a request; it's a piece of advice. Sulking doesn't suit you. You have a lot to be happy about."

"Like what? Like the fact that I lost a good friend? Like the fact that everyone thinks I'm crazy? Like the fact that Adam will never speak to me again?" The mere mention of Adam brought tears to Joan's eyes. But God was still smiling.

"Adam will stay in school now. You prevented him from making a big mistake."

"Well I feel like I've made a big mistake myself."

God rolled Her eyes. "Is that all you care about? How this all affects you? Don't you care about the fact you saved your friend in more ways than one? You may not see it now, but you did the right thing."

"I pushed him away from me!" Joan said exasperated; God could be so dense sometimes. "I betrayed his trust, I made him believe I'm the worst person, not to mention friend, in the world. I hurt and completely shattered his feelings."

Just when she was on the brink of crying, God stopped smiling.

"I'm sorry it turned out the way it did for you; I'm sorry you came out affected by it." God gave Joan a sympathetic look, but it was quickly replaced by the smile. "However, you learn from your mistakes. And there's always a brand new day to look forward to."

Hadn't this girl been God, Joan would have kicked her. Of all the shapes God had manifested Himself to Joan, this girl was the most obnoxious.

"If this is all you came to say, you can go now. I don't need cheering up, I don't want cheering up. I prefer showing true depression than fake happiness."

Joan was about to walk away, but decided not to, as God seemed to not be done yet.

"Well, yeah, that's pretty much all I came to do."

Joan was a little surprised. "You're not giving me a mission?"

God thought about it for a moment, but then She shrugged dismissively. "No, there's no new mission."

Joan blinked. "Oh… thanks."

"I figured you need time to think; and after the time to think, of course, comes the time to take action."

Joan blinked again. "I don't think I know what you mean."

God started walking slowly, and Joan kept at Her side. "I came to give you advice."

"On what?"

"You know, on this whole thing. You talk about it as if it were over."

With a big sigh, Joan rolled her eyes at God. "You're gonna have to speak more plainly."

"Here," God said, gesturing for Joan to sit with Her on a bench. "Do you know the difference between a problem and an inconvenience? Because what you have is a very good example. On the one hand: you've destroyed Adam's sculpture, apparently along with your friendship. He's angry and hurt; he stays in school in the end, but he acts like you don't exist. For the moment, I repeat, for the moment, it seems like your friendship is ruined."

Joan wasn't sure what made her sadder; God talking about the situation as if it were nothing, or hearing the retelling of what happened and remembering the reason for her misery.

God cleared Her throat. "On the other hand, what could have been: you don't destroy Adam's sculpture, he gets the idea he can live off the money he gets for his art, so he leaves school because he says he doesn't need it anymore; it's a risky decision. You might still be friends with him, but here's a friend who will have a life full of difficulties and uncertainty. And even so, there's still the possibility that you might never see him again."

God paused and pushed Her hair behind Her ear. "So… what do you think? Which one is the problem and which one the inconvenience?"

Joan made a face. "They're both my problems," she said sourly.

"No," God replied, shaking Her head with a chuckle. "The problem would have been if Adam had left school. Now how would you fix that? It's not easy, not very probable. What you have is an inconvenience. Adam's in school, but he's angry at you. It's not easy to fix, either, but much more probable." She paused, realizing Joan still looked disheartened. "You can't turn back time on the mistakes you make, but you can let time run its course and heal the wounds. This too shall pass," She quoted.

Joan, who had been staring fixedly in the opposite direction, turned to the smiling girl beside her. "You say it like it's so simple," she replied unsurely.

"But it's not, and I already said so," God answered. "But just because something is difficult doesn't mean you just give up, right?"

Joan sighed. She was starting to feel a sort of hope rising in her heart. She hadn't felt something like it in a while, and God had given it to her. "No, it doesn't," she said firmly.

"Good."

"But what more can I do? How do I try again and not get the same result? I already apologized."

God blew at Her bangs with a grin. "Well, I guess now you could try and tell the truth."

Not sure if She meant what Joan thought She meant, she looked God straight in the eye. "The truth?"

"The truth," God said, and She winked.

Joan was confused and a bit disbelieving. "Are you serious?"

"There are three reasons why I am serious: one, Adam might not be sure if he can trust you again, but he will, in the end. Meanwhile, you know you can trust him. Two, I make this exception for someone you really care for, just to be fair. I know you don't really think I'm fair most of the time, but… well, you wouldn't understand how it is. Not now, at least. And three… well, I guess it is about time he knew. And same goes for you."

Joan wasn't sure she understood reason number three, but she smiled, for the first time in what felt like a very long time, because she felt that things could (and would) be okay.

"Well, I gotta go. And so do you; you have class soon," God said, standing up, and Joan did the same. "Just remember, don't doubt yourself. You're a whole lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. Especially when it comes to someone you really care about." She patted Joan's shoulder. "Just so you know, I'll be around if you need me."

And God walked away, brown hair bouncing, leaving Joan with a certain relief in her mind and heart, and a renewed strength to face new challenges.

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It does not end here, folks. It might sound like it, it actually could pass off as an ending, but it's not. More to come soon. Sorry it's taking me so long, but I've been busy. Thanks to my good pals, Tough Cookie and Sebastian Melmoth (The Original Chemist), it means a lot that you read this story, I know you're not really JoA fans. Thanks to Joey for the inspiration (and wasn't she great in this episode? She would make a pretty good God).

Does anyone wanna go check my other fic on the making? The Harry Potter crossover with the yet unknown Fool Time (courtesy of the aforementioned Tough Cookie). Maybe you'll like it. Just thought I'd do a little harmless promoting, in case there are any HP fanfic fanatics in this domain too. Who knows, maybe T.C. will finally sign up to her own FF.net account and post the original story once and for all.

Ciao, amicos!!!!

[ In the darkNess ]