Title: What If…?

Author:Sabrinasmom3

Rating:T

Disclaimer:I don't own Joan of Arcadia or the actors, blah, blah blah.

Summary:What if at the end of Silence Grace just walked away Luke let her.

Chapter 3

Thankfully, the next week was uneventful. Externally anyway. Internally, both Luke and Grace were struggling to keep their thoughts in check.

Luke found himself reading the same page over and over and not remembering what he had read. He'd be reading along and come to a word like "revolution" and even though it meant "the rotation of a celestial body on its axis", his mind automatically swung over to "revolution" meaning "rebellion" and hence…Grace. Every conversation they had was replayed and reanalyzed and he couldn't help wondering what the outcome would have been had he said or done something differently.

Grace wasn't much better off. She was pretty good at keeping her mind busy during the day, but nighttime was intolerable. Some nights she got to sleep alright, but was woken up during the night by dreams. In her dreams, she was uncharacteristically cheerful and agreeable. Not to mention affectionate. Dreams like this not only confused her, they made her angry. She hated being so girly, even if it was just in a dream!

Then came the day they had both been dreading. Joan was coming home. It wasn't that either of them didn't want to see her, but they knew that it meant they would end up having to see each other too.

Joan's first day home, she spent with Adam. The second day, she started calling Grace. After almost a dozen phone calls, Grace decided that she was being ridiculous and finally answered the phone. She had always been determined not to alter her life for any man, and that included altering it in order to avoid one. Grace agreed to visit Joan on Tuesday, after subtly pumping Joan for information and finding out that Luke would be at Friedman's.

As long as the coast was clear, Grace was actually looking forward to going to the Girardi's to see Joan. She had been worried about her and wondered how she managed at camp.

Grace arrived to squeals and hugs, as expected. She responded with rolling eyes and snarky comments, also as expected. Then she did a quick recon, just to make sure there were no unwanted male Girardis lurking. "Hello, Grace, over here. It's me, Joan, the purpose of you being here. What on earth are you doing? Maybe its just me, but you seem a little more paranoid than usual."

"Sorry, bad habit I guess," Grace covered. "How are you, anyway?" Grace had pushed the "on" button and Joan started recounting every single detail of her entire summer, once again, as expected. Grace knew she could count on Joan to be predictably self absorbed. Grace settled in on the couch and listened in bored, yet comfortable companionship.

Somewhere around week four, the front door opened and to Grace's dismay, in walked Luke. She had actually been so engrossed in Joan's stories of Crazy Camp that she didn't notice how late it had gotten.

"Grace."

"Geek."

Joan looked from one to the other. Luke hurried upstairs and Joan looked questioningly at Grace. "What?"

"That was the coldest greeting I've seen since like the ice age. What's up with you two?"

"Nothing. Quit looking at me like that and get on with your story, otherwise I'll be here until school starts."

Again, Grace knew exactly how to make Joan switch subjects and she continued with the drama that was her summer.

Later that evening, Joan, finally all talked out, asked Grace about her summer. She prodded and picked. She didn't seem to want to take Grace's "It was OK" for an answer. Grace told her about some of the movies she'd watched and about Rove dragging her to some modern art exhibit in the park. Still, Joan wanted more.

"So, did you hang out with anyone new and interesting while I was gone? Someone like, oh I don't know, a 'special friend'? Come on, you can tell me."

"Girardi, you are so girly. Why would I waste a perfectly good summer letting some dweeb chase after me or worse yet, letting myself chase after some dweeb?"

"I hit a nerve! Come on, spill it!"

"What? There was nothing. Quit smiling at me, Mary Matchmaker! Besides, even if there were possibilities, why would I bother when it would just end badly anyway!"

"Grace, that's not always true. And even if it were, there are so many things that you would miss out on. That's like not really living because you know some day you are going to die anyway."

"What made you suddenly all insightful?"

"I just spent all summer with crazy people and shrinks. I guess I picked up some of their psycho babble. It's true though. Be happy and enjoy it now, cause you never know when you might be told its was all just a hallucination brought on by a lousy tick bite."

"Um…Ok. I think I better get going. It's getting late and you must be tired or something."