Title: A Very Merry Christmas
Author: ~Dancing~Through~Life~
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Rent
Pairing: Maureen/Joanne
Chapters: 10
Disclaimer: I don't own Rent or the characters. =(
Summary: A little Christmas fic about how Joanne and Maureen met.
Chapter One
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Chapter Two:
Christmas morning, Joanne awoke later than she usually did. Getting up, she quickly readied herself for the day, even though she knew she didn't need to go into work.
She took her time fixing herself breakfast, and giving her cat, Jiji, his cat food. There was no reason to hurry today. She was going to enjoy this time off as much as her boss would let her.
She happily settled into her food, ready for a relaxing day without any cases to worry over. That is, until she saw the light on the answering machine blinking. She groaned aloud as she made her way over to it, dreading the message.
Joanne came into her apartment that evening angry at everything. She was angry at her parents for leaving her on Christmas. She was angry at her boss because he was obnoxious. She was angry at herself for choosing to become a lawyer. She was even angry at Jiji because he had spilled his water on the kitchen floor.
But she couldn't stay mad at the cat for long, and was soon sitting on the couch with him and a blanket in her lap. There was a pot of water heating on the stove for some hot cocoa.
She had planned to just end a lousy Christmas by sitting around with the cat and drinking cocoa all night. She wondered how she had gotten herself into this position. Joanne Jefferson's schedule was never out of whack. But somehow it had ended up that way, and here she was, moping around, alone on Christmas day with only a cat for company.
She found herself thinking about other people who didn't have anyone to spend Christmas with. She wondered what they did. She knew that there were hundreds of homeless people on the streets no matter what time of year is was. They were always there; eventually blending in with the scenery until no one really noticed them anymore.
There were also the people who did have friends, but not much money to live off of. The kinds of people who lived in cheap lofts in the worse parts of Alphabet City. Joanne knew that even if she was alone for Christmas, at least she had somewhere warm to stay where the power wasn't constantly being shut off because she couldn't pay the rent.
She had seen some of these very people last year on her way to her parents' house for Christmas dinner.
She had been walking because she didn't like the subway, and her path had taken her through one of the poorer parts of Alphabet City. She had passes a small café, and paused at one of it's windows. It was called the Life, and was lit up like Christmas itself; open when everything else was closed. It didn't make sense to her. Surely the owner had just left the lights on because it looked festive? No one would really want to spend their Christmas in a café, would they? Even if there were people, it didn't seem as if there would be anyone willing to spend their holiday working there.
She had peered into one of the windows to see that it was, indeed, full. It surprised her quite a bit.
There had been people sitting around some tables that were pushed together in the middle of the room. They were all laughing at one of the men who was standing on the tables and appeared to be making some sort of speech. They all looked so happy; positively glowing with excitement and the strung Christmas lights in the café.
Joanne had watched for as long as she dared, not only wanting to avoid being spotted, but also not wanting to get too drawn in, knowing that if she did, she would find herself entering just to watch the people more closely and feel like a part of the fun. She finally tore herself away from the window, heading on to her parents' house. She told herself to forget the scene entirely, reminding herself that she had a great situation with her parents, and that she was silly to wish that she had no where to go for Christmas.
She had managed to convince herself that she was happy where she was, but she found herself oddly bored for the rest of the holiday. The memory, though, was stored away, and remembered on nights spent alone, wondering if she was really as happy with her life as she claimed.
Sitting at home, Joanne mused over the scene, remembering how genuinely happy they had looked, and how much she had wanted to be included at that moment. She had never felt that way before, and had been confused. She never wanted to be included with other people who were less fortunate than her; she was too happy with her life. But the feeling had been so strong...
"Up Jiji," she said to the cat, gently nudging him off her lap. She grabbed her coat off its hook by the door and pulled it on. She didn't know what had made her decide to head down to the Life, but she wondered if it really was the right thing to do, or if she was getting in too far above her head.
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