Title: Rude Awakenings

Author: dokushoka79

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Up to Recreation

Category: Angst

Summary: Takes place right after "Wishful Thinking". Cleanup and the morning after. Luke and Grace moments.

Disclaimers: Joan of Arcadia and characters belong to Barbara Hall, CBS and Sony Pictures. This is for pure entertainment. No profit being made.

Dedication: To my muse ^_~ and to AL.

Cheese Factor: 7.5 (I'm just happy to finish this story!)

A/N: I'm trying to piece together how Luke made his way to deciding to take a chance on Glynis. This series is supposed to end with the song fic "What if it all means something" but I got sidetracked and decided to post that story first. I think it came out better as a stand alone don't you think? Well, anyhow, I'm just kinda working backwards here. But, thanks for reading and enjoy!

I have been standing in front of the stereo for I don't know how long, lost in my thoughts. I finally shake myself from my reverie and head over to the kitchen. I pick up stray cups and garbage along the way. When I get there I see that it is already semi clean. I am surprised how quick of a job Grace had made of it all. I see that she's also organized some garbage bags near the dining table. Quick and organized. Something new about Grace to store away in my mind besides intelligent, intriguing, and attractive. I place the plastic cups into the bag and I look around to see what else I can do. Grace has her back turned to me and she is looking down at something on the kitchen table.

"Hey, thanks for doing this, Grace." I tell her as I sidle up to her side.

She jumps back and quickly closes at what I notice is the baby album we had been looking at earlier. She has a guilty look in her eyes which is quickly replaced by her usual smirk. "Whatever." Her cheeks were a bit pink giving her an alluring appeal. Gosh listen to me, I sound like I've been reading romance novels! *ahem* not that I have been, you know!

Grace moves over to the sink, abandoning the photo album. She busies herself by cleaning up whatever dishes were there. I decide not bring up the photo album and I follow her example and start some clean up myself. We work silently side by side until we are finished with the counters and such. As she puts the dishes on a rack to drip dry, I go off to find a broom and a mop. I turn back suddenly remembering to bring a plastic bag with me when I bump right into Grace. She had been about to grab a towel that was on the kitchen counter when we collided. I grab onto her before she can fall backwards and she wraps her arms around me. We stand still as our gaze locks onto one another and it seemed like time stood still as we continued to hold on to each other. I look down at her mouth and I see them slightly open. I look back at her eyes and I begin to lean forward.

The front door opens and I suddenly hear Adam and Joan enter the house. Our moment is shattered and I feel her quickly move out of my arms. She swallows and clears her throat. She motions me to move into the living room and we both walk towards Adam and Joan.

"So how are we going to this?" Joan asks as she surveys the mess we have. "Adam told his father that he was going to stay and help clean up so we have an extra hand."

"Well," I say as I clear my own throat, "Uhm...Grace and I already made some headway in the kitchen. I think if you can get started on the living room then we can finish up in there. That is if you are willing to stay, Grace." I turn and give her a questioning look. I know I'm giving her a way out. I mean after what just happened in the kitchen she would probably want to get as far away from me as possible. But surprisingly enough she shrugs and said "I might as well finish what I started." I stared at her as she made her way back to the kitchen. I looked back at Joan and Adam and they also shrug and went to work on the living room. I don't know how to take what Grace said so I just follow Grace back into the kitchen.

By the time we finish up cleaning it is 2am and I am beat. Kevin hadn't come home yet which was a good thing. But, we still have to tell him what happened because we need to replace a bottle of champagne and one of dad's cheaper wines. It was a good thing we got a handle on things with the liquor cabinet before it got too bad. Those two bottles were our only casualties.

Everything was in order. All the trash was put away, all tale tell spots cleaned up, both upstairs and downstairs. I sat down on the couch with a yawn. Grace sits down next to me. Joan plops down next to Grace and Adam sits next to Joan. Our couch is pretty big so we all fit comfortably. I couldn't enjoy the fact that Grace voluntarily sat next to me because I was too tired and before I knew it I was soon dead to the world.

It was 3am and the door to the house opened quietly. Kevin rolled in as silently as he could and closed the door behind him. He made his way into the house and found that there was no noise except for some soft snoring coming from the living room. Kevin went to investigate and there he found Grace with her head on Luke's shoulder and Joan with hers on Adam's. Kevin smiled and went upstairs thinking that Girardi siblings got pretty lucky tonight. But before settled in for the night, he went back downstairs with two blankets on his lap. He spread it over the two couples and with one last look at them went back up to his room.

I awoke slowly. I heard movements in the distance and I smell something cooking. I begin to remember what happened last night. I had fallen asleep on the couch. But I'm not in the same position that I was in when I fell asleep. I notice that I'm lying down instead of sitting up. There is a blanket over me and with a start, I realize that I have my arms around a body. It is warm and snuggled close to me. I am what I once heard described to me as "spooning" the body. Then I hear Joan's voice breaking through my thoughts say,

"Adam, this sucks soo bad. You know how to cook pancakes better than me!"

Adam's voice follows up and says

"Cha, Jane. It's like the whole flask on the flame thing in chemistry class."

"Ugh, Luke said the exact same thing the last time I tried to cook pancakes!" Joan pouts.

"Don't worry, Jane. Here let me show you." Adam says comfortingly.

I tune their voices out and bring my thoughts back on the body next to mine. It's not Joan's since she's in the kitchen. It's definitely not Adam's because one, I heard his voice in the kitchen and two, he's not this petite. So that left one other person. Deductive reasoning early in the morning, wow my brain is off to a start. Suddenly, I feel the body next to me move. I know it has to be Grace because the back of her blond head just moved closer to my face. She is rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and then I feel her still. I know that my arms are still around her and I feel her touch my left arm. Joan and Adam's voices are floating in once again from the kitchen so I can imagine her thought process is going the same path mine did a few moments ago.

I am surprised when she turns to face me and our eyes meet. I see surprise is also reflected in her eyes. With no concern or care that she might hurt me. I tighten my hold on her and pull her closer to me. I notice that her hair is tousled and it actually looks better that way. It softens the edge that she usually has. And just like how I found myself doing last night, I am losing myself in her eyes and I move forward. Our foreheads touch and I can almost feel her lips meet mine when I hear Joan say

"Hey! No making out early in the morning! I can handle only soo much right now!"

We quickly break apart to find her standing behind the couch with a smile on her face.

"But if you need a moment, that's fine because breakfast isn't ready yet." She says teasingly and heads back into the kitchen.

Grace and I awkwardly sit up and she avoids looking at me as she says "I'm going to the bathroom." I watch her silently as she makes her way up the stairs. I follow her and I see her enter the hallway bathroom. I go into my parent's bathroom to freshen up before going back downstairs. My thoughts are occupied with Grace and all the feelings that I've been feeling for her lately. I really like her. This is the first time I've ever felt this way about any girl. I know how I feel but it's her feelings that I'm not sure about. There is something there but I just don't know if it's the same something that I am feeling.

After I get out of the bathroom, I meet up with Grace who had just stepped out of the bathroom herself, at the head of the stairs.

"Grace." I call out to her.

She turns to me with a guarded look on her face as she crosses her arms.

I open my mouth and say "I think there is something between us..." But before I can finish Graces says angrily

"One kiss done for a political reason and a science fair project does not a relationship make. Now leave it alone, geek boy."

"Grace, why don't you ever let me finish what I want to say?" I ask her exasperatedly "And why don't you ever call me by name?!"

"Well, for starters, I know you're just going to spout something stupid or just ramble on and on without reaching a point. And second, we are not on a first name calling basis although you seem to think so."

"Well, why don't you let me finish first before you jump to the conclusion that I'm going to say something stupid or just ramble on?" I ask her sounding a little distressed

"Oh now you're going to tell me what to do?" she says testily.

"No, I'm just asking you to give me a chance. I've been trying to tell you that I have feelings for you and I want to know if you feel the same as me." I say quickly and with all the emotions I've been feeling inside.

A moment passes as we look at each other.

"Well, see there you go, something stupid." Grace says finally, a little choked. "When are you going to get it in your head that I don't care if you have feelings for me or not. Just forget all it." She sounds cold when she says the last part but she looks at me once last time and what I see in her eyes belies her words. I see emotions in there, fear being one of them. It gives me hope so I move towards her and I plead "Please, Grace, give me a chance."

But my actions and words seem to anger her because she pushes against and says loudly "I said forget it! What part of that don't you understand?! Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to give you a chance because I don't want to?! Leave me alone." And with that said she storms down to the kitchen. I stand at that top of the stairs a little stunned and hurt by what she said. I hear her say good bye to Joan and Adam. Joan protests her leaving because breakfast was almost done but she refuses and says that she has to get home. I'm halfway down the stairs when she passes by and goes out the front door in a hurry. Joan was following behind her but she stops when the door closes. I sit down on the steps with my head in my hands.

"What happened?" Joan asks me

"Nothing." I say to her. I look up at her and shrug sadly. "Nothing." I repeat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N 2: No one really asked for the continuation of "Wishful Thinking" but my muse was being persistent about me writing this story to completion so I can't really argue with her now can I? :p But anyhow, here you have it. Chapter 2: Rude Awakenings of, what I've decided to call "The Course of Emotions". ^_^ Gosh, how corny is that?! _'

A/N 3: Oh, I really don't know how old Kevin is so for my story's sake I made him 21. I also don't know how mobile he is so ... yeah, please excuse me.