Group: Living in the Silence
Drabble No. 4: Double "O" SeVen
Rating: PG
Fandom: Joan of Arcadia
Spoilers: Silence and anything before
Pairing: Joan/Adam, Luke/Grace
Disclaimer: Joan of Arcadia and all related elements © Barbara Hall Productions, Inc. and CBS Productions, in association with Sony Pictures Television. All rights reserved.
Author's Note: Started out as comic relief but it's got some serious stuff at the end. Sorry for the delay. I'll try and get the next part done sooner. Sorry this one's so short too.

-----------------------------------

"Luke. Luke what is that?" Helen asked her son has he unsuccessfully tried to sneak up the stairs with a black briefcase.

The boy sighed heavily and backed up until he could see his mother. "It's nothing Mom, just some new... science equipment for an experiment I'm doing." Surely he wasn't telling the entire truth, but then again, he wasn't altogether lying to her either.

Helen nodded. "Alright, honey, you have fun." Luke continued up the stairs, sighing with relief and dropping the briefcase on his bed.

Opening the clips, he surveyed the contents. Gloves, tweezers, a pair of binoculars, a recorder, some blank tapes, two walkie talkies, a laser pen, a wrist watch with compass and of course, a magnifying glass. All for two easy installments of $19.99.

Grinning, he set to work.

---

"Luke. Luke!" Joan screamed as she stomped down the stairs, finding her brothers at the table talking. She glared at the younger one. "Why did Adam say she saw you in the tree next to my window when he came over the other day? What on earth were you doing?"

"I... uh..." He looked at Kevin hopefully, not sure what to say. Finally, after his brother elbowed him, he answered. "I was collecting data, of course. Pollen. Just because we are out of school doesn't mean I've got to lose all my finely tuned skills. I've got to keep in shape if I want to take Chemistry II AP next year, y'know."

He smiled satisfactorily, knowing his sister would believe the lie. As he predicted, Joan raised her hands in the air exasperatedly and stomped back out of the room. "What a loser!" was heard as she made her way up the stairs.

Kevin turned to his brother. "What were you doing in the tree by her window?"

"Collecting data. You should know that all of my lies are somehow factually based. I was keeping an eye on our sister as we decided."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "By watching her in the tree? That's really creepy, man. I think you're taking the spy thing a bit too far. She's already getting suspicious. You might want to lie low for a while."

Luke nodded enthusiastically. The fact that they were already being caught in the act excited him. Walking on the wire of danger made him rather giddy. "Alright. I'll keep it on the down low for the time being. I've got reports to type up anyway. Actual spying can be put off for a bit." He stood and grabbed an apple off the table, going up to his room to type up his findings.

Kevin shook his head. "He is a loser."

---

'A bit' apparently wasn't defined well in Luke's vocabulary. A week later he found himself hiding in a bush, recorder in hand as he listened to Joan and Grace talk.

"You kissed my brother? Why?"

"I wanted to play with his chemistry set." She shook her head, laughing. "I don't know. It just happened."

"You and Luke?"

"Don't make it sound so repulsive, Girardi."

"But... it is."

"That's because he's your brother."

"But he's so... Luke."

"You're reasoning is impeccable Girardi. You should have your own show."

"Really?"

"No."

Luke wondered what all this meant. Joan had said it like they were a couple and Grace hadn't denied it. In fact, she was sort of defending him. So did this mean she liked him? That she would try to... date him? He chanced a look out of the bushes to see the two girls on the bench. He couldn't quite see Grace's face and leaned out a little more, of course falling and knocking over a nearby trash can and startling the girls.

Grace was the first to walk over and see him. She looked pissed. Luke smiled wearily at her.

"What are you doing, geek?" Joan said, storming up behind Grace. "First trees, now bushes? Are you... spying on me or something?"

Luke stood up quickly, hiding the tape recorder behind his back. "No, I'm not I'm just... I told you I was collecting data."

"Well that's fine as long as your data isn't me. I don't know what you're up to Luke, but you better stop now. Or I'll tell Mom." She turned to Grace. "I'll see you later." She walked away, but Grace stayed.

"Dude, what were you doing?" Grace questioned him, still looking pretty angry.

"Um... Kevin and I... well she's been acting so weird that we thought... we should sort of keep an eye on her and see... see if we could figure out what was wrong..."

"Did it ever occur to you two that she would tell you when she was ready? Or that maybe the problem is you two--that you're just so male you can't seem to see that your sister doesn't want you studying her like some sort of science project? She's not an experiment, Girardi, she's a person. Why didn't you just talk to her?" She crossed her arms.

Luke looked at her, feeling stupid and cursing Kevin for coming up with such a terrible idea. "Well she wasn't really talking to us in the first place. This seemed like the most feasible option."

"Oh and listening in on her conversations will help? You've got some serious issues, Girardi. And I wouldn't take anything I said seriously. I can humor people just as well as you can." She walked off and Luke huffed. Well this was great. Now she was going to avoid him more because he had heard all of that.

He threw the recorder into the trash. He definitely wasn't cut out to be a spy.

-end four-