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.

Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was reading this story (other than you, drowninmybrain).

Chapter 8 - "Grounded, part 2 - Monday"

On Monday morning, Ryan allowed himself to sleep in a little bit. It was a minor holiday. A rare weekday with no school for him and Seth, but both Kirsten and Sandy went to work. And since he couldn't leave the house, or rather the property, there was no reason to get up early.

When Ryan went into the kitchen to get himself some coffee and breakfast, he found Seth in there eating his own breakfast. Apparently, Seth had let himself sleep in as well. Ryan got his stuff and sat down at the table next to Seth, who was reading a comic book. He looked up when Ryan sat down.

"Hey, man."

"Hey."

"Well, that was fun yesterday."

"Yeah, about that, thanks again. Do you think your parents suspected anything?"

"Nah. They're clueless. I mean, you were able to fool them for weeks, right?"

Ryan looked down. He wasn't very proud of that now. He knew that he was only able to fool them because they had trusted him and not checked at the moviehouse to make sure he worked there. And now he lost their trust.

Seth continued, oblivious to Ryan's discomfort. "So are you ever going to tell me the whole story? I won't tell, I promise."

Ryan looked up at Seth. "Can we just drop it? It's over now, and I just want to move on."

"Sure, man. Whatever you want."

Seth was a little disappointed. And his curiosity was killing him. He figured out pretty quickly last month that Ryan wasn't working at the moviehouse, and Ryan confirmed it when Seth confronted him. But when he asked Ryan where he was going, Ryan wouldn't tell him. Now he knew that Ryan was out partying. Seth knew there was more to it than that. But it looked like he was never going to know. He knew from experience that if Ryan really didn't want to talk about something, there was no way of convincing him to.

Ryan and Seth sat quietly for a while as they ate their breakfasts and Seth read his comic book. When they were done and had put away their breakfast dishes, Seth turned to Ryan.

"You know, since my Mom and Dad aren't here, you could call Joan."

That sounded really good to Ryan. It had been really hard yesterday when Seth had been able to talk to her and he hadn't. But he didn't want to get into more trouble. "I don't know, Seth..."

"Come on. They'll never know. How would they find out?"

"What if one of them came home?"

Seth considered that. "They both went to work this morning. I'd say that if one of them did come home, the earliest would be at lunchtime, otherwise why go in to the office at all? If you finish your call before lunch, you should be golden."

Seth watched Ryan, who still didn't look convinced.

So Seth continued, "If you are that paranoid, how about this. We call Joan and get her to call back on my cell. That way, a long call to her won't show up on my cell phone bill next month. You can talk to her in my room. I can wait on the steps and if Mom or Dad comes home, I can go up and warn you. How about it? This plan is foolproof."

Ryan had to smile at that. "That's what you said about the model home."

"Not the same, buddy, not the same. How about it? Come on, you know you want to..."

Ryan was still torn, but pretty quickly his desire to hear Joan's voice overcame his fear of getting into more trouble. He smiled at Seth.

"OK, yeah, you're right. Let's do it. Hold it. What time is it?" Ryan looked at the clock. It was 9:30. "It's a little early. She might not be up."

"Well, you can't wait too long or else it will be too late. How about we do it at 10 O'Clock?"

"Sounds good."

At 10 O'Clock Seth was sitting on the steps. From where he was, he could hear if anyone came in the front door, but he couldn't be seen from downstairs, so he would be able to get up and go down the hallway to warn Ryan if his Mom or Dad came home.

Ryan was up in Seth's room, sitting on his bed, holding his cell phone. Ryan dialed the Girardis' number. He couldn't believe how nervous he was as he listened to the phone ring and waited for someone to answer.

After several rings, Joan's mother picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Girardi. It's Ryan. Can I speak to Joan?"

"Oh, hi, Ryan. Sure, I'll get her." Ryan could hear Mrs. Girardi calling for Joan in the background.

After a few seconds, Joan picked up the phone. "Ryan?"

Ryan was really glad to hear Joan's voice. "Yeah, it's me. Listen, can you call me right back? On Seth's cell phone. Do you have his number?"

"Seth gave it to me yesterday. He said you couldn't call --"

"I'm not supposed to, but Sandy and Kirsten aren't home, so I'm cheating. I really needed to hear your voice."

That made Joan really happy. "I'm glad to hear your voice too."

That made Ryan really happy. "So listen, we can talk more after you call me back. This way there isn't a long call to you on Seth's cell phone bill next month."

"Right. I'll call right back. Bye."

"Bye."

Ryan hung up and waited for the phone to ring, which it did in just a couple of seconds. The caller id showed the Girardis' number. Ryan answered after just one ring.

"Hey."

"Hey. So, you were saying that you're cheating?"

"Yeah. Kirsten and Sandy both went to work today, so Seth and I figured that I could call without being caught. But if one of them comes home, I'm going to have to hang up quickly."

"I understand."

"So -- this really sucks, you know? Me being grounded? I just met you and started to get to know you and now I'm not supposed to see or talk to you for a whole week."

"Think of me. I can't see or talk to you either. I feel like I'm grounded too and I didn't even do anything!"

That made Ryan feel guilty. "Oh, god, yeah. I didn't even think of that. I'm so sorry..."

Joan was sorry she said anything. She wasn't trying to lay a guilt trip on Ryan. "Hey, we knew this was going to happen, right? It's all worth it, right?"

Ryan chuckled. "Right. I've got to keep telling myself that. Although at the time I got myself into this, I didn't know for sure what it was going to be like to be grounded."

Joan was surprised. "Haven't you been grounded before?"

"Nope. Sandy and Kirsten have only been my guardians for a couple of months."

Ryan was kind of surprised himself that he hadn't been grounded already. Sandy and Kirsten had several opportunities. The trip to Tijuana, when he went after Luke at soccer practice, ...

"Didn't your mother --" At this point Joan realized it was probably a really bad idea to bring up his mother, or any part of his life before the Cohens.

"Uh, no, she didn't do stuff like that."

Ryan felt uncomfortable talking about this stuff, but he figured that if Joan was going to be his girlfriend, he'd have to get used to talking about the personal things with her.

Girlfriend. God. That sounded so strange. He was going to have to get used to that too. He'd never had a real girlfriend before. Just bed partners. Theresa liked to call herself his 'girlfriend' on occasion, but they'd never really been that committed to each other.

There was sort of an awkward silence for a few moments while neither Ryan nor Joan knew what to say after having brought up the subject of his mother.

Joan finally came up with something safe to say. "So my brother wanted me to thank you for helping him out at the party. He realized that he didn't thank you at the time."

And Ryan and Joan continued talking for a while. The whole time Ryan kept an eye on the clock to make sure it wasn't getting too close to lunchtime.

To Be Continued