Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: THE missing scene of Just Say No is of course the talk between Helen and Joan, but I honestly didn't feel able to write about such a topic without feeling too bad about it afterwards. For some strange reason it's easier for me to write about all the other things happening than about this serious issue. So I'm not. This scene takes place after the talk and I'm afraid it's not my best chapter, but the best I could come up with for this ep.
Please let me know what you think anyway. Thanks!
Just Say No Company(Takes place after the talk between Helen and Joan.)
Joan still sat in her room, on her bed, when her mother had long left to join Will in the living room again. They had talked for quite some time, but still Joan couldn't get the thoughts out of her head. When God in the bus had said "evil" he'd meant it.
She turned her music louder and tried to get rid of all the thoughts spinning in her head, when she realized that the thoughts wouldn't go away while she was sitting here, brooding. Being alone now obviously wasn't good for her, so she stood up and went to Kevin's room, where the lights were still on.
Luke and Kevin were playing with their games console and to her it seemed as if they were part of another world. Part of a world without pain and sorrow, where everything was just fun and laughter. She knocked at the doorframe and her brothers turned around.
"Hey," Kevin said smiling. "Wanna join in?"
Joan looked at the game they were playing and shook her head. "No, car racing is not really my thing. And you've only got two pads anyway, don't you?"
Luke nodded but Kevin said, "We could play one after the other. But if you don't want to…"
Joan shook her head again. "No thanks. But I'll stay for rooting, okay?"
The guys nodded and continued their race while Joan sat down on Kevin's bed next to Luke, crossing her legs Indian style and watching her brothers.
It didn't surprise her that they were equals on the console, Luke because his affinity to computers in general and Kevin because of the hours of training he'd had after his accident, trying to kill the boredom.
For a while she got lost in the race, cheering for Luke or Kevin more or less alternating and had almost forgotten about her mother's secret, when the race was finished and her brothers relaxed. Luke had won tightly and was raising his hands and celebrating.
Kevin instead turned around and looked at Joan. "You okay?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, sure," but her eyes and the sound of her voice belied her words.
Her older brother scanned her face, but didn't press the issue.
"You're up for a jump-and-run game?" he asked instead, skimming through the games under the TV and pulling one out.
Joan smiled and nodded. "Sure. Luke, you're in too?"
Luke nodded and Kevin started to click through the menu. "Who starts?" Kevin asked.
"Age before beauty," Joan commented grinningly and leaned back, only to have her older brother start tickling her, so she came back up again with a start.
Watching his older siblings teasing each other, Luke grinned widely, "Guess that leaves me as beauty queen. By the way, have you ever heard that beauty…?"
He wasn't allowed to finish his sentence, because Joan and Kevin exchanged a glance and stopped their fight only to start tickling their younger brother, who didn't have a chance against the two of them.
Luke, being smart enough to realize that pretty soon, was searching for other ways to end the fight and lucky enough for him he was able to grab the game pad from Kevin's lap and press the button to start the game.
When Kevin realized what his brother had done, he let go of him, reached for the pad and sat up straight with so much impetus that he almost fell out of his chair. He was able to save his on-screen character from loosing the first of his three lives and himself from landing on the ground, but the face he involuntarily made during this effort made Joan laugh so hard that she got a hiccup. "Kevin," she said, shuddering from laughing and hiccupping, "Don't kill yourself. It's just a game."
"But one in which he'll never survive level three," Luke added, which earned him a short but killing glance from Kevin.
Kevin did indeed not survive level three, at least not with his first life and handed the pad to Joan.
"See," Luke grinned. "Level three."
Shrugging Kevin said, "So what?" He hesitated a moment, then grinned and asked, "But do you know the difference between a hoodie and a poncho?"
Luke frowned and asked, "What?"
"A hoodie and a poncho."
Joan grinned too, but didn't take her eyes of the TV. "Come on, Luke, are you telling us you don't know the difference between a hoodie and a poncho?"
Luke continued to frown and looked at Kevin. "What happened to you? It's obvious that girls know things like that, but you?"
"Hey," Kevin answered, raising his hands in a played gesture of defense, "I'm a fact checker, I have to know that kind of stuff."
Joan, whose character had just died falling into an abyss in level two, handed the game pad to Luke and asked, "How is it you can tell about all these science things and not know about clothes? Does Mom still buy you your pants?"
He tried to ignore her and started the game, but Kevin kept nagging, "Yeah, does she? And your shirts?"
"Honestly, Luke, isn't there a mathematical explanation for fashion? Maybe you could figure it out and make loads of money in Paris?" Joan continued and fell back on Kevin's bed, giggling like crazy when she saw that Luke had actually killed his character in level one.
Kevin grinned too. "So who isn't getting past level three, huh?"
Luke turned to face his siblings but didn't hand the game pad to Kevin. "So about the hoodie and the poncho?"
"Argh, Luke, forget it, he was just making fun, okay?" Joan said, sitting up again.
"I know," Luke sighed, "But it's not so funny for me."
"Come on, Lukie, just smile and it'll all go away." Joan said and hesitated.
Yeah, it had gone away. Playing games and making fun of Luke had made the thoughts about her Mom go away. Even now that she was realizing this she felt better about it all than earlier alone in her room.
Luke had checked the clock and stood up, "It's time to go to bed anyway, so I'll let you two continue with whatever you're doing."
"Nah," Joan said, "I'm going to bed too. Sleep well, guys."
"Night Joan," Kevin said.
"Night Kevin," she answered and earned a "Good night, John-Boy," from Luke, before he left the room.
Smiling she followed him out of Kevin's room, finally able to find some sleep.
