TITLE: What God Has Brought Together...

DATE: 2/16/2004

RATING: G

SPOILERS: Everything up through "Night Without Stars"

SUMMARY: The connection between Adam and Joan has been there all along, it just took a long time for them to realize it.

CATEGORY: General

CHEESE FACTOR: 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5)

DISCLAIMERS: Joan of Arcadia and all of its characters are the creation and property of Barbara Hall, CBS and Sony Pictures. This story is for pure entertainment and not for any profit at all.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've had the idea for this story for a few weeks, but it took a while to bring all of the right components together to make the story happen. I realize that I may have provided Iris (a.k.a. the JoA character that I most want to leave Arcadia, and who should be written out of the show and just for good measure who should fall off the face of the planet) with some personality traits that have not yet come to light on the show. But this is after all fan fiction and I don't like the character of Iris so there you go. Sorry for the limited Luke/Grace interaction, but this was written to be a Joan/Adam story.

FEEDBACK: I'd welcome your feedback, good or bad (so long as you're nice about it).

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Chapter 1 – Clutter

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Setting: Several months ago, after Joan started work at the Bookstore and before the art show.

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Joan sat on a stool behind the counter at the bookstore. Not the most enjoyable part of her job, but it * was * called a job, so, she thought ya had to take the boring stuff along with the not so boring stuff. She much preferred shelving the new books when they came in to sitting behind the counter. To pass the time she was doing a word search puzzle from a book Sammy kept at the register.

Sammy was in the backroom in one of his "cleaning" moods. Every so often Joan could hear a crash coming from the direction of the storeroom, usually followed by an 'Ouch" or some similar exclamation from Sammy.

As the bell on the front door jingled, Joan looked up and smiled, seeing Adam Rove entering the store.

"Hi there, Adam."

"Cha, Jane. Workin' today?"

"That would be the typical reason for me to be captured here behind the counter. What's up with you?"

"There's this new book on sculpture that just came out. I wanted to see if the store had it in stock yet."

"That's cool, I think we did get a few new art books in, they're over there on the table. I'd help ya look but Sammy says I have to sit here at the register the entire time."

"No problem, I'll just go over and look around..."

"I'll be here."

Adam turned and headed over to the table Joan had indicated. Joan watched him go wondering if she would ever understand Adam and all that went on in his head. Glancing back down at her current word search puzzle, titled "Words Used to Describe People", she thought that there were lots of words she could associate with Adam; creative, quiet, introspective, deep, cute (oops, maybe she wasn't suppose to think that), artistic, sweet....

"Destiny"

"What?" Joan said as she looked up from her puzzle, recognizing God standing in front of her in his "Cute Guy God" image.

"Oh, nothing Joan, just thinking out loud."

"I wish you would stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what Joan?"

"Walking up and catching me unawares."

"Joan, I'm all about awareness and understanding."

"Yes, I suppose you are but it usually takes the rest of us a lot longer to get the gist of the stuff you say."

"Well, perhaps it will get easier as we go along."

"Great, a promise of more adventures to come....Is that why you're here, to give me some other cryptic hint or instruction that I'm not likely to understand?"

"Do I detect a note of reluctance there, Joan?"

"Yeah, I really don't need another task right now, between school, stuff at home, working at making friends and this job, which I might add I have because * you * suggested it, my life is pretty cluttered."

"Ah, clutter, an interesting concept there Joan."

"What? Was that the hint? You want me to become a maid now too?"

As he turned to go, God offered a final comment, "I'm sure you will be able to * sort * through this all Joan. Just remember that what appears to be clutter, unnecessary, usual and ordinary on the surface, may ultimately be a great treasure. The key is to identify the potential in something and be patient for it to develop."

As God left the store and the bell on the entrance door jingled, Joan closed her eyes, leaned back against the wall behind the counter and began to repeatedly knock her head back against the wall all the while mumbling to herself....

"Never understand...hints...clutter...treasure...potential...be patient...."

"Jane?"

Joan opened her eyes to see Adam standing in front of her with a questioning look on his face.

"Cha Jane, what's the matter?"

"Oh nothing...I...um...I was trying to...Oh never mind. Did you find the book you were looking for?"

"Yeah, I did. Um.... Jane, what was that whole beating your head against the wall move there?"

"It was nothing, just me trying to knock some sense into myself I guess."

"I'd think you might find an easier way, yo?"

"Yeah I guess so. Let's see, that'll be $15.95 with tax for the book."

Adam handed Joan the money and she returned his change and then placed the book and his receipt in a bag.

"Here you go. Enjoy the book."

"Yeah, I'm sure I will."

"See you on Monday?"

"Yeah, I'll be there"

Adam started toward the door, and then turned back toward Joan. "Hey, Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't knock your head too hard against the wall; ya might hurt it ya know."

"My head or the wall?"

"The wall of course. Your boss might not appreciate it."

Smiling, Adam turned and left the store. Just as he did, Sammy approached the counter carrying a box.

"What won't your boss like?"

"Oh, nothing to worry about, it was just a comment about me knocking some sense into myself. What do you have there?"

"Just some stuff I found during my cleaning escapade in the storeroom. I can't believe how much clutter collects back there in just a short time."

"I know how it is; my mom says my room is a magnet for clutter."

"In that case, care to add some more? I don't know everything that is in this box, I found it under the bottom shelf in the corner and frankly, I have no idea how it got there. It might contain something interesting, but I just don't have any inclination to sort through it all."

Joan was about to refuse Sammy's offer of the box full of junk, but stopped herself when she recalled her brief conversation with God.

"Um yeah, I guess I'll take it home and see if there's anything worthwhile in there. That is if you're * sure * you don't want that task for yourself."

"No, no, you can have it, and, speaking of home, it's time for you to go."

"Oh yeah, cool, time always flies when you're having fun..."

Joan grabbed her jacket from under the counter, put it on, picked up the box from where Sammy had set it on the counter and started for the door.

"See you next Saturday."

"Sure."

"Enjoy your treasure hunt."

"Ha, ha," Joan replied as she left the store and started for home.

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Later that evening, Joan sat at the Giradi kitchen table with much of the contents of Sammy's box of clutter sorted out into piles on the table around her. The trashcan sat on the floor beside her chair and looked as if it had been the recipient of a number of contributions from Joan's sorting efforts. Helen Giradi entered the kitchen and took notice of Joan's task.

"What do you have there honey?"

"Oh, just some stuff Sammy found in the back room today. He didn't want any of it so I thought I'd bring it on home and see if there was anything worth keeping."

"Find anything interesting yet? I'm not sure your room can contain too many more treasures if you do."

"Oh Mom, that wasn't fair. But no, I really haven't found anything of interest. I was just about finished. Don't worry; I'll clean up my mess when I am through."

"Okay honey."

As Helen moved across the kitchen toward the sink, Joan continued her task, removing the final few items from the box.

Surveying the assortment of junk spread across the table, Joan commented to herself, "Just as I suspected nothing of any great interest or importance here."

Joan stood up and reached for the box to begin cleaning up her mess. As she picked up the box she heard a slight clunk when it tipped. Moving it closer, she peered down into it, noticing something small and shiny in the corner. Reaching in she picked up the object. It was a small ring.

Setting the box back down on the table, Joan took a moment to look more closely at the ring that she'd found. It was a plain, silver band, engraved with a subtle but unique looking scroll work on the outside. Curious who the ring might have belonged to, Joan held it up closer to peer inside to see if there was an engraving or anything. As she tipped the ring toward the light she did notice some faint writing on the inside...

"What God has brought together..."

"What honey?" Helen asked, turning back toward Joan.

"Oh nothing, Mom."

Joan wasn't sure where the ring had come from, or how it might have gotten into the bottom of the box and most definitely she wasn't sure on the purpose of the sentiment engraved on the inside. But neither was she so stupid as to miss the connection between the hints God had given her earlier and her finding the ring in the bottom of the box. Anyway, the ring really did look pretty cool and as she tried it on various fingers, she found that it did fit her right index finger. Well, maybe she'd just keep the ring and wear it. That way, when she needed it, and she was sure she would eventually need it for something, she'd have it with her.

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