Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the mistakes as this is un-beta'd.

Author's note: This takes place the same night as another fic I wrote that is published on this site called 'Doing It Properly'. It's not overly related but if you wanted a little more context to this then please do check it out.

Happy reading.

Patchwork Family

Chapter Three: Joyce and Jane – Being Ready

"Thank god we're finally alone." Hopper murmured as he leant down and brushed his lips against the back of Joyce's neck. He kicked his foot out behind him to close their bedroom door. Joyce dropped her handbag onto the bed and turned to face him, looking up at him and smiling about how dramatic he sounded.

"Was it really that bad?"

She knew neither of them had wanted a big white wedding, they'd both been there before and that's why they'd pulled their little New York twenty-four hour chapel stunt in the first place. But it had meant a lot to the kids that they do it properly – a room full of friends and family, a big cake, a first dance, the whole shebang – and she was glad they had done it. And not just for the kids, she'd had a great night too.

"No it wasn't bad at all…" Hopper replied. He was looking at her as if he wanted to devour her and it was utterly distracting. "I've just been unable to think straight every time I looked at you in that dress. Do you have any idea how good you look in that thing?" He asked her seriously as he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her.

He kissed away the small blush that appeared on her cheeks at his compliment. She was hardly bashful around him anymore but something about the intensity of emotion with which he had been watching her all night was making her feel almost shy. She snorted at the thought of herself as the blushing bride. That couldn't have been further from the truth. And yet still she had unexpected butterflies fluttering lightly in her stomach.

Hopper kissed her soundly, his hands anchoring her face against his. His caresses were passionate but not rushed and with just the right amount of pressure. She smiled into his lips – he really was rather good at this. He had a way of kissing her that made it feel as if nothing else in the world existed expect the two of them. It was the ultimate escapism.

He led her back and onto the bed slowly, still standing himself and towering over her to bestow more kisses to her lips, jawline and neck. He rose and took a couple of steps back as he reached for his belt and started to undo it, watching her all the while with the same hungry intensity in his eyes. Joyce swallowed hard. Something about him really was affecting her tonight – she felt as if she were seventeen again.

"No don't…" He told her softly as she reached for the straps of her dress. "Leave it on."

Her stomach spiked in anticipation at his words. It wasn't what he usually went for – clothes were normally discarded as early as possible and thrown into every corner of the room when they got down to it. She had no intention of denying him though. She was excited at the idea of it, even if the more logical part of her brain argued they may struggle with the practicalities of this particular dress.

Joyce did her best to keep her face neutral, her eyebrow arching suggestively at him.

"This was expensive." She told him coolly but he only smirked in response.

"I'll be careful."

"Really, because you don't seem in a very careful mood."

Hopper closed the gap between them once more, leaning down over her and brushing some of the hair from her shoulder to place a kiss there.

"I promise I'll do my best sweetheart. But I have to have you in this dress." He stated as if it were a clear and undeniable fact. Perhaps it was.

Joyce didn't answer. Instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips onto hers in a crashing, hard kiss, pulling him down even further until he was on the bed with her, on top her and trapping her beneath him. They moved together with practiced ease – kissing, caressing and grinding against each other in all the right places that drove the other wild. They were both still fully clothed, save Hopper's belt, and once again Joyce felt as if she were a teenager again – pushing clothing to one side in stolen moments of intimacy in the back of Hopper's car.

She'd just reached her hand into the waistband of his underwear when their bedroom flew open without warning. They were frozen in surprise for a split second before they disentangled themselves from each other and turned to see who their intruder was.

"Damn it Jane you ever heard of knocking?!" Hopper yelled before Joyce could see who was in the doorway. As her husband moved to the side of her she saw he was in fact correct and Jane stood, hesitantly at the open door. Hopper's voice was angry but not angry enough to garner the reaction it did – Jane burst out crying. "Hey, what's the matter?" Hopper asked, his voice instantly softening. He was up from the bed in a second and making his way to her.

"Mom!" Jane exclaimed, pushing past him and all but tackling Joyce who remained seated on the bed. Joyce responded immediately, wrapping her arms around the younger woman and rocking her slightly as she continued to cry against her shoulder. She caught Hopper's worried look over the top of Jane's head and held the girl even tighter.

"It's okay baby. Shhh, it's okay." Joyce comforted softly as she continued to rock Jane back and forth.

She was trying to wrack her brain as to what might have made Jane so upset. She didn't think she could have been asleep long enough to have suffered a nightmare – a common and totally understandable occurrence considering all Jane had gone through. And she had seemed happy all night at the party. Ecstatic even; she'd organised most of it herself and was seemingly enjoying all of her handy work coming to fruition. She'd been wrapped around Mike the whole night but that was hardly uncommon either recently. But as Joyce thought about it she remembered noticing Jane hadn't been so attached to his hip towards the end of the evening.

"Did you have a fight with Mike?" Joyce enquired softly. Hopper's eyes seemed to harden at the mere mention of the possibility and it only got worse when Jane confirmed this theory with a nod of her head. Hopper took a step towards them, his face murderous at the idea of that punk hurting his little girl, but he stopped in his tracks at the look Joyce gave him. "Why don't you go and make us some cocoa. And close the door." Joyce told him firmly in a tone of voice he knew better than to argue with. He figured it was probably best Joyce dealt with this anyway. He'd no doubt say the wrong thing and make her feel worse– having a fifteen year old daughter was an absolute minefield.

"It's just us now sweetheart. If you want to talk about it?.. What did you guys fight about?" Joyce asked, still speaking softly. She stroked the back of Jane's head and back as she spoke and Jane's tears began to slow. After a few moments of silence Jane took a big breath and answered quietly:

"Sex."

Joyce couldn't help but stiffen in surprise at the reply. Surely Jane and Mike weren't having sex already were they? She'd had 'the talk' with Jane last year before she and Hopper had moved in with them and Joyce had received a rather panicked and hilarious phone call from Hopper begging for help. Joyce had talked to Jane about the birds and the bees frankly and honestly, thinking that was the best way, but it had been a very theoretical, in the future type conversation then. Perhaps the future was now. Joyce gulped slightly – Hopper was going to lose his mind when he found out.

"Are you and Mike… having sex?" Joyce asked gently. She was quite glad she wasn't looking at Jane in that moment. Jane shook her head and Joyce sighed in relief. But just as she did her next thought brought an even bigger sense of dread to her stomach. "Mike didn't try and… make you do it, did he?" She could barely bring herself to think about that possibility but she needed to know. Never mind Hopper she'd wring the kid's neck herself if that were the case.

"No. He wants to but I don't know if I want to or not so he said we should wait until I'm sure." Jane said quietly against Joyce's shoulder. Joyce smiled. She knew Mike was a good kid, and she certainly had to remind Hopper of that enough, but it was nice to hear she was right in that.

"Well I think Mike's right honey. You should wait until you're ready."

"But I'm scared! I just want to get it over with." Jane exclaimed suddenly. Her outburst caused her to start crying again and Joyce hugged her closer to herself, quietly waiting for her to be ready. "There's going to be stuff about it that I don't understand because there's always stuff I don't understand. I won't know what I'm doing. It'll be embarrassing." Jane explained, talking so quickly she tumbled over her words, trying to get them out as fast as she could.

Joyce took a couple of deep breaths, rubbing her hand up and down Jane's back to encourage her to do the same. It appeared to work as Jane calmed down a little. Joyce's heart went out to her adopted daughter – being in High School was difficult enough for anyone let alone someone that had Jane's history. She was constantly insecure about things she didn't understand or get. At least for once she wasn't alone or out of the ordinary for feeling that way, she just didn't know that yet.

"Sweetie everyone feels that way – I promise you you're not alone in thinking like that." Jane pushed her head away from Joyce to stare up at her, complete surprise covering her entire face. "No one knows what they're doing when they start having sex. Mike won't know what he's doing either. You figure it out together, that's the whole idea." Joyce smiled warmly at Jane and to her relief the girl offered a little smile in return. The anxiety was starting to drain from her face. "But only when you're both ready." Joyce added firmly.

"How did you know when you were ready?"

"Honestly?" Jane nodded. She didn't know why she'd asked that question – of course Jane wanted honesty, that's all she ever wanted – friends don't like and all that and neither did family. "I didn't know. But I did it anyway and I ended up regretting it. Especially as a few months later I was in a different situation, a different guy and then I knew I was definitely ready. It felt so different – I was still nervous but not scared, like an excited nervous. Like I couldn't wait to be with him and I wished I had waited until then."

"Was that with Will and Jonathan's dad?"

"Lonnie? No. He came along a little while later." Joyce paused, unsure of whether she should continue or not. But then she had promised complete honesty and it was hardly a secret. "Actually that was with your dad."

"You and dad?.. in High School?" Jane asked, her eyes lit up in surprise and wonder. But then as the idea fully formed in her head her face scrunched up in unspoken disgust at the thought of her parents being together in that way. Joyce let out a little laugh – she was certainly a typical teenager in some ways.

"We were like you and Mike in High School – inseparable."

Jane smiled at the comparison. It was funny to think that Joyce and her dad were once like she and Mike were now. Funny but not in a bad way, actually she found the idea made her smile.

"What was he like back then?" Jane asked quietly, almost secretively as if she shouldn't be asking. She got the feeling he wouldn't be happy about them discussing him as a teenager. Or at least, he'd pretend he wasn't happy about it when actually he liked it.

"He was different – less grumpy. More carefree." Joyce answered truthfully. But then how could he have possibly been as carefree as he had been back then after everything that had happened. "But he was also the same. He still made me laugh when I was feeling sad. And I could talk to him about anything. He looked after me when I needed it. No, we looked after each other." Joyce corrected herself. Neither of their parents had ever been that good at that. Joyce sometimes felt that she and Hopper had raised each other as teenagers.

"Amen to that." Both Joyce and Jane jumped at the sudden voice from the doorway. Hopper stood there, looking a little sheepish at his eavesdropping, and holding two steaming cups of hot cocoa. "Can I come in?"

Joyce waited for Jane to reply. Jane smiled and nodded and so Hopper brought in the drinks, placed them on the side and sat on the bed, the other side of Jane. At once she disentangled herself from Joyce and cradled herself into Hopper's side. Joyce didn't mind in the slightest – she loved seeing the bond between the two of them.

"So do I need to break the Wheeler kid's neck or what?" Hopper asked.

"Dad, no!" Jane exclaimed, pulling back to look at him with pleading eyes. She hadn't picked up on his sarcasm – another thing she didn't quite get but soon caught on when she saw his playful expression. She hit his arm and laughed. "No." She repeated, still laughing. Hopper pulled her in for another hug.

"Fine. But you're okay yeah?" He asked her seriously. She nodded into his side.

Hopper looked over the top of Jane's head to Joyce who smiled and nodded in confirmation, leaning forward to rub Jane's back a couple of times. Hopper couldn't help his brain conjuring up the worst scenarios when he saw her upset like that. But apparently sometimes all it needed was a hug and a chat with your mom to sort it all out. He was so glad Jane had found that bond with Joyce. Even if it meant his wedding night plans had just taken a serious detour. Somehow he wouldn't have it any other way.