Title: The Truth Will Out.

Summary: Takes place after Silence.  Joan doesn't believe in God anymore, she wants proof, and she gets it. –OK, I suck at summaries. J/CBG eventually.

Pairings: Joan/CuteBoy!God eventually, Joan/Adam references, Iris/Adam references, Luke/Grace references.

Genre: General/Romance

Rating: PG-13

A/N: This is my first ever JoA fic, so please be nice. :D

Chapter: 1/?

"I am real Joan" He whispered, stroking her forehead softly. "You can feel me. I'm real."

Her eyes opened slowly to see him sitting on her bed, staring at her tired face.

"Oh great. My hallucinations are back."

"Joan…"

"And they're talking again. Joy." She said sarcastically.

"I'm not an hallucination Joan. I'm real, and you know I am." He said gently.

"That's exactly what I thought you'd say. Lime disease has hallucination effects. Did you know? Oh, how stupid of me, of course you know. You know everything don't you? Well, I have one question for you oh Lord Almighty: Why? Why did you do this to me?"

"You know I can't answer that." He said slowly

"Yeah, I do know. And I wonder why that is… Oh yes! That's right. You're not real!" She said venomously.

"If I'm not real, how do I know all these things about you?" He asked reasonably.

"You're my hallucination. In my head. I know everything about me!"

"OK, how about everything I know about other people?"

"I have never checked those out. They could be complete bull!"

"You know they're not."

"Right… you want me to believe you? Show me a miracle. Do something miraculous."

"I can't do that." He said quietly, wanting nothing more for her to believe again.

"Yeah. 'Cause, like I said; you aren't real!" You're in my head, I've been thinking that I've been talking to God. The Almighty. The Big Man Upstairs, and all the time, it's been me… me trying to make myself special. Different from everyone else." She said, finishing the last two sentences in almost a whisper.

"You are special Joan. You've had a connection with me for your entire life. Do you know where I was when you were born?" He asked tenderly.

"Sitting on a nice soft cloud, watching the whole thing on your big-screen TV?" She answered, her tone dripping in sarcasm.

"I was right there. I bought you into the world Joan."

"No you didn't. My Mom's Mid-wife bought me into the world."

"Yes, and that was me."

"Yeah, sure it was. Whatever."

"When you were five your Father was teaching you to ride a bike." He continued unperturbed. "You were terrified, but you didn't tell anyone because you wanted to make everyone proud of you."

"I already know that! You're a figment of my imagination, so of course you're going to know that. Why is that simple fact so hard for you to grasp?"

He remained silent at this question, and simply held his gaze upon her as though he was willing her to believe him.

"OK, you want me to believe you?" She said after five minutes.

"I can't perform a miracle Joan."

"Yeah, I know, I'm not asking you to perform any miracles. All I want is for you to tell me something about my Mom or my Dad, or anyone, that I don't know. If it's true…" She shrugged, indicating that she may believe him if he did as she asked.

He studied her closely for a second, trying to determine if she was being truthful.

"Very well" He sighed "Before Kevin was conceived, your Mother didn't think that she could have any children. She had gotten pregnant when she was 14, and she had an illegal abortion without anyone knowing about the pregnancy at all. She was told, after she had gone through with it that due to the… process she would more than likely be unable to have children later in life. Of course I couldn't let that happen so…"

"You did something." Joan finished, temporarily forgetting the reason why he told her this information. "You did something so she could have Kevin, me and Luke."

"Check the facts Joan. When you believe, I'll be back." With that he walked towards the door, and left without giving her a back-ward glance, just as Luke was entering.

"Who was that?" He asked, dropping himself casually into the chair next to his sisters bed.

"You saw him?"

"Uh… yeah" he said slowly "Why shouldn't I have seen him?"

"Um… never mind."

"So? Who is he then?"

"Just a friend." She said answered distractedly.

"From school?" Luke pressed on.

"Yeah… sure."

"He came to the party right? You danced with him."

"Yeah."

"And what party would that be exactly?" Helen asked from the door-way.

"She has ears like a bat!" Luke whispered to Joan

"I heard that."

"I know. For you are Bat-Mom."

"Yeah, right. Are you OK Joan dear?" She asked placing her hand on her daughters head.

"I'm fine." Joan answered "I'm just thinking about something I just got from someone that's going to help me out a lot."

"Something that guy gave you?" Luke enquired.

"Guy?" Helen asked her interest peaked.

"Just a friend. He gave me some info that I really needed."

"And does this 'Friend' have a name?"

"Uhhh… yeah."

"What is it then?" Luke asked, leaning closer, grinning as Joan squirmed under her Mother and Brother's gaze.

"Ummm…" She looked around the room quickly for inspiration. Her eyes landed on a Get Well Soon card from Adam, showing a man on the front, talking about someone called "Jake" She said slowly glancing at the card next to it, showing mountains.

"His name's Jake. Jake Alpine"

"Oh that's good dear. I'm glad your friend Jake could make you feel better. He should come more often. I'd like to meet him."

"Oh you probably already have Mom." Joan answered without thinking.

"Really? When?"

"Umm… at school." Joan covered quickly

"Oh yes, of course. You'll have to point him out to me next time you see him. Is he in my Art class?"

"No. I don't know what classes he's in… I just know him from around."

"Ah, I see."  Helen said smiling. "You like him?"

"As a friend yeah." Joan said staring at the door, wanting nothing more than to run out of it, and into the real world. 

A week later, and Joan was declared fit and healthy enough to leave the hospital, but a nurse would visit her home to make sure that she was coping well.

'Jake' hadn't come back to her since the last time she saw him in the hospital, and she found that she missed him… even if he was a figment of her imagination, she wanted him back, but she didn't want to bother her Mother with asking her about her past.

And so as a result Joan had to continue to miss her friend, and try to carry on with her life as normal as she could.

She knew she couldn't go back to how her life was before she met 'Jake', and she didn't want to.

She had made two amazing friends that she loved more than anything in the world, and if she hadn't have been in AP Chem, she wouldn't have gotten to know them so well, and for that she was eternally grateful.

She also couldn't stop thinking about 'Jake' and how much she wanted to see him; she would sometimes find herself doodling his new name on her books in classes, and daydreaming about him… much the same way that she used to daydream about Adam.

The thought that she might have feelings for an imaginary person never occurred to her, she merely thought that she was missing a friend, and nothing more.