(no subject)
TITLE: Memories & Dust
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: The Jonas family is falling to pieces...
FANDOM: Jonas Brothers (Joe/OFC)
STATUS: Complete - One Shot
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything. This story is a work of fiction and came from the deepest darkest corner of my imagination.
AUTHORS NOTE: *sigh* I wasn't going to post this - mainly because it isn't really edited and I think its a really personal piece of work that should just not be shown to Jonas fans just because it takes their perfect family, screws it up and then spits it back out - but anyways, here it is regardless of my better judgement.
Type your cut contents here.
*~*
It was one of the most surreal moments I have ever had.
Things like this were just not supposed to happen.
As I stepped into the living room that evening my mouth almost hit the floor. I had one short moment to gape at the spectacle in front of me - Denise sitting on the couch, head in her hands, sobs wracking her shoulders and in front of her an empty bottle of vodka. I goggled before jumping into action. I dropped my bag, and sped across the room to grip her shoulders, "Marie?" I questioned anxiously, "what's wrong?"
She looked up at me and the agony in her eyes pierced my heart. “I’ve been such an idiot,” she whispered her voice slurring together in her drunkenness. I took a quick moment to send a thank you up to whoever it was that hovered up stairs that the boys weren’t here to see this moment. Because this was so far out of character for Denise that it was almost at the opposite end of the world. I knelt in front of her and pushed her hair out of eyes, “Denise, please, you're scaring me. What’s wrong? What happened?”
She looked at me confusion in her eyes. "Where are the boys?"
My heart began to pound at the severity of the situation; she was in a very bad way. “They’re in San Franciso,” I explained patiently, “they’ve been there for two days.”
She looked at me and her eyes flooded with tears, “they’re going to be so upset when they find out…”
“Find out what?” I asked desperately.
She broke down into sobs.
“Denise!” I pleaded. “Find out what?”
But she was lost to my voice.
I cursed and not knowing what else to do, flipped open my phone and dialled Joe. I was halfway through his number before I paused, shook my head and dialled Kevin instead.
“Jas!” his voice on the end of the line was boisterous and happy. “What in the world are you doing calling me? Joe nearly had a jealousy attack when…”
“Kevin,” I interrupted, “you need to come home right now.”
When he spoke again his voice was serious, “what’s wrong?”
I rubbed my forehead and glanced at Denuse who was half passed out on the couch. “Am I on speaker?”
“No, what’s going on?”
“It’s your mum.”
Shocked silence before. “Oh my god, what happened? Is she okay?”
In the background I heard Joe’s voice enquire, “What’s going on?”
“She’s fine,” I assured him quickly knowing all sorts of bad things were streaming through his brain, “she isn’t hurt. Not physically. She hasn’t been in an accident or anything, its just I got home and…” I trailed off.
Gods I really didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to ruin the image of his mum in his mind. Denise was soft, beautiful, kind and gentle. She wasn’t… like this…
“What?” Kevin asked desperately, “Jas, what?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and ran a hand through my hair, “I got home and she was on the couch crying and drinking. I don’t know what happened, but she’s in a bad way. I’ve never seen her like this. I wouldn’t call you if I didn’t think that…”
I didn’t get any further because Kevin was jumping into action, with me still on the line he was yelling, “Pack your stuff, we need to go home now. Chris, can you cancel the rest of our appearances cause…”
“What’s going on?” Joe demanded.
I rubbed my face again as the number of voices speaking on the end of the line each overpowered the other until all I could hear was a flurry of muffled noises. The voices continued for a long time, so I tucked the phone against my shoulder and set to clearing up the bottle of vodka and shot glasses. I poured the remainder of the vodka down the sink and tossed the bottle, shoved the glasses into the dishwasher and grabbed a rag to clean the coffee table where the clear liquid had been spilt.
“Jodie!” Joe’s voice came over the line.
Despite the situation I couldn’t help the small smile that crossed my face at the sound of his voice. I may have called Kevin because I thought he’d handle the situation better, but it was Joe who I really wanted to speak to. “Joe, are you guys coming?”
“We’re getting in the car now. We’re going to head to the airport and we’ll be there in an hour. Is she okay?”
I scanned my eyes over Marie critically, “she’s fine. I’m just worried because I don’t know what happened to…”
“Jodie!” Kevin was back on the line, apparently having snatched the phone from Joe. “We’re on our way. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.”
“Can you put dad on?”
I paused and frowned. “Kevin your dad isn’t here.”
“What about Frankie?”
I shook my head, “no.”
“Joe, can you call dad?” Kevin asked, “He’s not home.”
“Kev,” I asked softly, “should I clean Marie up a bit before you guys get here, I don’t want Nick or Joe to…”
The rest of my sentence was ‘see their mum like this’ but Kevin understood. “Do what you can, thanks Jas... Alright, we got to go we’re about to get on the plane. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
I nodded, “make it quick.”
*
Marie wasn’t in the best state when the boys arrived. I had managed to pull her hair back into a ponytail and remove the mascara streaks from her eyes, but the boys arrived just at the moment she had started to puke up what she drank. At that point the only thing I could do was usher her into the bathroom and let her do her thing.
I was just hovering around the bathroom door when the sounds of the front door crashing open and running feet echoed upstairs.
“Jodie!” Joe called.
“Up here,” I called back, “your parents bathroom.”
Next thing I knew Kevin and Nick were rushing into the room and kneeling down beside their sick mum. Joe was no where to be seen. I frowned and exited the bathroom where I found him standing hesitatingly in the hallway looking as though he didn’t know whether to run in or run away.
His eyes sought mine and the desperation and guilt there swirled so fast I could barely see it. “I didn’t want to see,” he whispered eyes wide, “I didn’t want…” he trailed off and swallowed.
I closed the distance between us in a few quick steps and wrapped my arms around him. He clutched me back, arms tight around me. “Thanks for coming so quickly,” I whispered, “I didn’t know who else to call, I don’t know if it’s serious or…”
“No,” he interrupted, “thanks for calling. We wanted to be here.” He pulled back slightly and looked anxiously towards the bedroom, “is she…”
“She’s just had a bit too much to drink,” I assured him.
*
It was a long night. Denise passed out at some point without giving any answers to the boys anxious questions. The boys hadn’t been able to get on to their dad or to Frankie - that in itself seemed a little fishy to me and I was starting to get a sneaking suspicion on what was going on, but I didn’t voice it.
At some point I collapsed on the couch downstairs in exhaustion with Big Rob sitting quietly across from me. I must have fallen asleep because I awoke to a loud confrentation.
“Where do you think you’re going man?”
“HE CHEATED ON MY MUM!”
“And what do you think you’re going to do huh? Hit him?”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do!”
I snapped awake, my eyes flying open and I jolted up on the couch to find Joe in the grip of Big Rob. It was instantly obvious that he would never get past Big Rob, but Joe was certainly putting up a good fight.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
They both looked at me before Joe took the chance and made a break for it. He didn’t get very far, with Big Rob in pursuit, he was tackled down in the front lawn.
He struggled violently but then without any warning stopped fighting. I didn’t realize he was crying until Big Rob stood and gestured me over to him. When I noticed his shaking shoulders I hurried over, dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into my body.
We sat there for a very long time. Eventually his sobs and tears subsided and he sat there gripping my wrists and leaning into me.
“Joe baby,” I whispered, my voice breaking the silence that hovered around us, “what happened?”
“He’s been cheating on her,” Joe whispered, his voice husky and broken from his tears.
I closed my eyes, very aware how that mere fact crushed the entire structure that the family was built on, “for how long.”
“Ages,” Joe whispered.
I let out a breath and hugged him closer to me, “I’m sorry.”
He sighed and let go of my arms briefly to rub his face, “thanks for being here with me.”
I kissed his temple, “there’s no place I’d rather be. How are Nick and Kevin?”
“I don’t know. I kind of stormed out as soon as she told us.”
I shifted position so that he was sitting between my legs and wrapped my arms around him once more, pulling him back to lean against me. I buried my face into his shoulder and sighed heavily, “how’s your mum?” I mumbled against the fabric of his jacket.
“I dunno,” he murmured softly. “I’m sorry that you had to be the one to deal with everything though. We should have been here.”
“You want to know what the weirdest thing is?” I asked.
“What?”
“I didn’t want to call,” I admitted softly, “I didn’t want you guys to see your mum like that; especially not Nick and especially not you.”
“Why not, me?”
“Because you’re so beautiful in here,” I murmured as I placed my hand over his heart. “Its like, what happened was just too real - stuff that happens to other people, not to you.”
Joe covered my hand with his own. “You put me on a pedestal I’m not sure I deserve.” He paused and hesitated before whispering, “I wanted to kill him when she told me.”
I don’t even want to think of how much guts it took for him to tell me that. I twined my fingers through his and kissed his temple, wondering what in the hell I was supposed to say. “Can you promise me something Joe?”
“What?”
“That when you do see your dad, just… hear him out okay? I’m not saying that there’s a reason or excuse for all this or whatever but… no matter what he did, he’s still your dad and he’s the only one you’ve got.”
Joe sat silently for a long time before finally whispering, “I promise.”
I kissed his temple again and squeezed his fingers, “I dunno about you, but I’m dying to see how Kevin and Nick are doing.”
Joe smiled, “you’re such a good girlfriend.”
I pushed myself to my feet and helped him up, “thanks.” I started towards the house but stopped when I realised he wasn’t following, “are you coming?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged, “I think I might just stay out here for a while.”
I nodded, “okay, I’ll be back down in a little bit okay?”
“I’ll be here.”
*
I stumbled across Nick first. He was sitting in the hallway outside his mums room strumming his guitar in a tune I had never heard before. No doubt he was putting together a song. “Hey,” I smiled softly as I walked up.
He looked up at me, “hey Jodie. Is Joe alright?”
I shrugged, “I think he will be. How are you doing?”
Nick plucked at his guitar randomly, “I’ve been better.”
He looked so small sitting there by himself. I squatted down in front of him, “do you want me to call someone for you?”
I would have continued but he was already shaking his head, “I think I just need to be alone right now.”
I nodded, “okay.” I leant forward and kissed his forehead softly before standing.
I found Kevin sitting by his mum’s bedside, holding her hand as she slept with tear streaks down her face. I crossed the room quietly and perched myself on the arm of his chair. “How is she?” I asked quietly so I wouldn’t wake her.
Kevin shook his head, “I dunno. I’ve never seen her like this before.” He looked up at me, “I’ve called some close family to come and give some support - her sisters, grandma.”
I nodded, “that’s a good idea.” We both watched her sleeping for a while before I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, “can I get you anything.”
“Jas, you’ve done enough,” Kevin smiled, “thanks for looking after her. And looking after Joe.”
“C’mon,” I smiled, “I wanna help.”
Kevin shrugged and looked at me seriously, “just, look after Joe okay? I mean, I’ll be here looking after mum and Nick will retreat into himself but Joe… I dunno what he’ll do.”
“Do you want me to call Danielle for you? Come and give you some company.”
Kevin looked up at me, “that would be fantastic. Thank you.”
I squeezed his shoulder, “I’ll do it now.” I kissed his hair and left the room.
*
I was back in the front yard cradling Joe in my arms when Danielle pulled up. She took one look at Joe in my arms and froze in place mouthing, “what’s happened?” to me. I hadn’t given her too many details on the phone, just told her to get here ASAP.
“I’ll be back in a second, okay,” I whispered to Joe as I moved away from his body. I made a mental note to get him to bed as soon I came back.
“Kay.”
I got up and walked quickly over to Danielle, dragging her back to the driveway so we wouldn’t be overheard by Joe - I didn’t want to upset him further.
“What’s happened?” she whispered once we were out of earshot.
“Paul has been cheating on Denise.”
Danielle blinked. Then blinked again, shook her head and then it finally clicked and her mouth opened in surprise, “what?”
I nodded, ‘yeah.”
She blinked some more, “.. holy crap... I don’t know what to say.” She looked at me anxiously, “I hate to sound one track minded, but how’s Kevin?”
“That’s why I called. He’s doing okay I think, he’s sitting with Denise in her room, she’s in a bad way.”
Danielle reached out and gripped my arms, “are you doing okay, you look pale?”
I smiled, “I’m fine, now please go to your boy.”
She squeezed my arms and hurried away without another word.
I returned to Joe to find him curled up on his side on the grass. I squatted down beside him and rested my hand on his shoulder gently, “Joe, c’mon lets go inside. Its cold out here.”
He didn’t move.
“Please,” I whispered.
That was all it took, his eyes opened and he got to his feet. I wrapped my arms around him and led him into the house. I lifted a hand in goodnight to Big Rob who was now joined in the lounge room by Nick who didn’t even look up as we passed.
*~*
The End