Title: Ryan and Joan

Summary: Ryan meets Joan from Joan of Arcadia.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C. or Joan of Arcadia.

Chapter 5 - "Talking with Joan"

When Ryan and Joan got to Joan's room, Joan went in and sat down on the bed. Ryan closed the door and leaned against it with his back.

Joan reminded him, "The door is not supposed to be closed..."

"I think your Dad will understand."

"Why? What happened downstairs? What did he want to talk to you about?"

Ryan sighed and looked over at Joan. Was she really that clueless? Or maybe she just wanted him to say it. Or maybe she didn't want it to be true.

"He knew I'd been in trouble before. He wanted to know the details."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

So Ryan repeated the conversation he had with her father. He told her about being on probation and the two arrests. He also told her about his Mom throwing him out and abandoning him, and the Cohens taking him in. At this point, Joan had tears flowing freely down her face.

"Oh, my god, Ryan. That's terrible."

She got up from the bed and walked quickly over to him and pulled him into a tight hug. He put his arms around her and hugged her back. They both had their eyes closed. Joan continued to cry, and it took everything Ryan had to keep himself from crying too. Ryan and Joan didn't know how long they stayed that way, just comforting each other. Joan had finally stopped crying when her Mom knocked on the door.

Helen opened the door, saying, "Joan, the door's supposed to be open..."

She wasn't able to open the door all the way because it bumped into the back of Ryan since they'd been standing right inside the door while they hugged. Joan and Ryan quickly released each other. Ryan didn't want Joan's Mom to see him like this, so he moved further into the room, crossed his arms, and continued to look away from the door. Joan just stood where she was and looked at her Mom.

Helen wasn't blind. She could see that her daughter had been crying and that Ryan was really upset. She had seen them hugging when she first opened the door.

Helen asked Joan, "What's the matter? Why are you crying?"

Joan didn't answer. She looked back behind her at Ryan and could see that he needed some more time to compose himself. So she moved forward out of her room and closed the door behind her, leaving Ryan some privacy.

As they walked down the hallway, Joan asked her mother, "Have you talked to Dad? About Ryan?"

"No. Why? What does this have to do with why you were crying?"

"I was crying for Ryan, Mom. He's been through a lot. I don't want to go into it. You should talk to Dad."

Helen reached out and pulled Joan into a hug. She looked like she needed it. She was such a compassionate girl, Helen knew that Joan was feeling all of Ryan's pain, whatever it was. Joan appreciated her mother's hug and hugged her back. She felt herself starting to cry again, and moved quickly to squash it. Joan let go of her mother, who released her in response.

Will came upstairs to find Ryan since he finished talking to Sandy Cohen. He found his wife and daughter in the hallway. He also could see that Joan had been crying. He figured that Ryan told Joan everything that he had told him. Knowing Joan, Will figured that she was crying about Ryan's mother. He put an understanding hand on Joan's shoulder.

He asked her, "Where's Ryan?"

"In my room."

While the Girardis were in the hallway, Ryan was in Joan's room pulling himself together. He took some deep breaths and made sure there were no tears on his face. When he was ready, he opened her door and walked into the hallway, where Joan and her parents were.

Will spoke up, "Ryan. I talked with your guardian. I'm going to give you and Joan a chance. But if you hurt my daughter..."

Ryan put his hands up defensively and said, "I would never do anything to hurt Joan."

"Good. I'm going to hold you to that. By the way, Sandy had no idea that you were in Arcadia tonight."

Ryan groaned and lowered his head. He didn't even think about that.

Will continued, "So you have some explaining to do when you get home. Which is where you should be headed right away. It is getting late and Sandy told me that your curfew is midnight and you have a long drive ahead of you."

Ryan looked at his wrist to check the time on his watch. He forgot that he wasn't wearing his watch because he always takes it off when he goes to his Saturday night parties, since it is too expensive for someone who is supposed to be from Chino. He reached into his pocket and took it out and put it on his wrist. Then he could see that it was 10:30. Wow, it was later than he thought. It was time to head home.

Ryan said to Will, "Yeah. I'm going. Thank you."

Will gave Ryan a smile and nodded. Ryan looked at Joan and said, "Walk me out?"

Joan smiled, took his hand, and led him past her parents, down the stairs, and to the front door. They went out and closed the door behind them. They stopped and talked on the front steps. Ryan took out of his pocket a couple pieces of paper and a pen. He unfolded one of the pieces of paper and handed it to Joan.

"I wrote down my information for you. Here's my name and address. The names of my guardians. My phone numbers. I put down the main house and the pool house."

"Pool house?"

"Yeah. I live in their pool house. Didn't I mention that?"

"No. What's a pool house?"

Ryan laughed. "I didn't know what a pool house was either. It's a small building in the back yard next to the pool. It's like a little studio apartment. It has a mini kitchen and everything, although I never use it. As far as the phone numbers go, I'm usually in the pool house, but sometimes I'm inside the main house, you know like for meals or to watch TV or play video games with Seth."

"Seth?"

"My guardians' son. My best friend. I'll tell you all about him later."

Ryan unfolded the other piece of paper and took out the pen. "Now I need your phone number and how do you spell your last name?"

Joan spelled out her last name and gave Ryan her number. After Ryan finished writing it down, he folded the paper back up and put it in his pocket. He gave her back the pen, since it was hers from her room.

"I'll call you when I can. I'm not sure when that will be since I'm probably going to be grounded when I get home. I don't know for how long."

"Grounded? Why would you be grounded?"

"You heard your Dad say that Sandy didn't know I was here? Well, I've been lying to them about where I've been going on Saturday nights. So I didn't exactly have permission to go to that party here in Arcadia tonight."

"Hold on. Why was my Dad talking to your guardian in the first place?"

"After hearing about my past, your Dad wasn't sure if he was going to let us go out together, so he suggested talking to Sandy about me and then decide. I figured that Sandy would tell him that I was a good guy, and this way he'd let us date."

"But you knew that my Dad would tell Sandy that you were here, in Arcadia, right? And you let them talk anyway, knowing that you'd be busted and you'd get grounded? All so that maybe my Dad would let you go out with me? Wow."

Ryan didn't want to tell her that he didn't even think about all that, he just wanted to date her. Well, maybe it all amounts to the same thing. Because if he had thought of it, he'd still do it. So he smiled, and put his hand on her neck, and leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss.

"You're worth it."

Joan beamed with pleasure. She gave Ryan a quick hug. Then he went down to his car and headed home.

To Be Continued