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#1: The Reunion - Complete Author: Gerrie, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:35 am
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Hi

I got the idea for this drabble from Pat's drabble about the CS in Guernsey and wondered what Joey and Jem's reunion after the flight from Austria was like.

***Warning*** This is a rather pro-Jem drabble - you still have time to back away slowly....

....too late, here it is

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Jo paced up and down the garden, waiting for the sound of the car. Jack eventually found her there. She looked up at him ruefully.

‘Is he home yet?
’
‘Soon. He’ll be here as soon as he can Joey. I would imagine that he is as anxious to see you as you him.’

Jo continued her agitated pacing, Jack watching her with anxious eyes.

‘I really think you should go and lie down Jo. It has been a tough journey’ said Jack, master of the understatement. ‘You need to rest.’

‘I will, I promise. I just don’t want to be asleep when he gets home.’

Jack nodded. He knew Jo was afraid of sleep, as the black smudges under her eyes attested and he also knew she had reason to be. Having comforted her through these almost constant nightmares, he knew that much as she loved him, he couldn’t reassure her. Only the person she was waiting for could do that. Maybe once she had seen him she could start to recover.

Joey knew Jem would be home as soon as he had dealt with whatever had held him up at the San. She realised she badly needed to see him, for him to make everything all right again. If she had been able to think about it it would have made her laugh to think how important Jem had become to her peace of mind. In the course of their terrible flight from Austria, it was Jem she had longed for, not Dick, or even Madge. Jem’s quiet authority, which she had for years kicked against, and his unfailing confidence was what she really needed now.

He eventually arrived later that afternoon. Joey, pretending to rest in her room so that she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone, heard his deep baritone voice speaking to Jack in the hall. The two men looked up at the sound of her door slamming. Joey took to her heels and flew down the stairs into, for all intents and purposes, her father’s arms.

‘Oh Jem!’

Jem, his face buried in her jet black hair, spoke, his voice not quite steady.
‘How many times, Josephine, do I have to tell you not to race about in that mad fashion?’

Had he but known it, he had said just the right thing. His words had brought Jo straight back to Die Rosen. She clung to him like the child she had been when they first met.

Eventually he gently put her back from him. ‘Let me look at you Jo.’

What he saw shocked him. Jo’s eyes were feverish, she looked exhausted and had lost weight she could ill afford. But more she looked defeated. There was no spark left in her. Jem was suddenly furiously angry for what she had had to go through. He knew better than most that Jo had no filter through which to protect herself. He had always thought that was what made her a good writer. But the empathy that made her Jo, could also destroy her in the world they now found themselves in.

Wordlessly he put his arm around her shoulders and led her into his study, the few words he had had with Jack in his mind. Jack left them alone.

Jem poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one to his sister-in-law.

‘I hate whiskey.’

He grinned. ‘Well if you prefer a dose and hot milk it can be arranged.’

Joey took the glass. Jem sat down beside her on the couch.

They sat for a while in silence. Then,

‘Jack tells me you haven’t been sleeping?’

Jo shook her head.

‘Or eating?’

‘I can’t.’

‘I want you to tell me everything that happened Jo. From the moment I left you in the cave.’

There was no response.

‘Please Joey. Take your time. I have all day.’

Jo looked up at her brother-in-law. ‘I don’t think I can Jem. I don’t think I have the words to tell you.’

‘Yes you do’ came the implacable reply.

And haltingly Joey took him through the details of the terrible flight from Austria. She poured out her fears for the Robin and Miss Wilson and her desperate fear that something would happen to Jack.

Jem heard her out in silence. Then she spoke about Gottfried. ‘He saved our lives Jem, what is going to become of him? Of them all, the Mensches and Maranis, Herr Braun, all our friends?’ And then the tears, long overdue, began to flow. Jem pulled her to him and she buried her face in his shoulder and cried as she had never done before.

When the storm had passed, Jem spoke again.

‘Tell me what happened in Switzerland.’

Joey spoke with difficulty. ‘I don’t remember much. I slept.’

‘Oh you can do better than that Jo.’

‘Switzerland’ she said slowly, ‘was worse - the worst part of all. But it wasn’t that anything bad happened. It was me.’

‘Go on.’

‘Everyone was so strong. Everyone else was. We were so grateful to get to Tante Anna’s house and they were so hospitable to us. Even Jack and Gottfried relaxed. Robin, once she got some sleep bounced right back and Miss Wilson really needed the rest. Corney and Evvy and co seemed fine once we got there.’

‘And you?’

Jo shook her head, bewildered. ‘I’m not sure. I collapsed I suppose. I thought I was losing my mind. Jem, if Jack hadn’t been there I don’t know what would have happened to me. I behaved so badly. I can’t believe he would still want to marry me. And then I just wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep and when I did…when I do, I have the most horrifying nightmares and they won’t go away.’

Jo’s voice had risen and she started to shake uncontrollably. Jem let her for a while until it looked like she wasn’t going to stop.

‘Enough. Stop it Jo.’

But she continued. ‘I said stop. Now.’

Jem’s quietly authoritative voice worked as he knew it would. Joey, with tremendous effort, got herself under control.

‘Joey Baba you have been through a terrible time. I don’t think you have told me the half of it. But I hope you will, when you can. But now I need you to hear what I am saying to you.’

Jem put his hand under her chin and made her look him in the eye.

‘You are not losing your mind. You are having a completely reasonable reaction, as I am sure Jack has been telling you.’

She nodded, her eyes fixed to his face.

‘You feel that you weren’t as strong as the others. That’s just not true Joey. Did you hold them up? Did you endanger them? Did you in anyway jeopardise their safety?’

‘No’ came the whispered response.

‘We all respond differently Jo. After all it would be a very boring world if we did not. It doesn’t make one person strong and the other one weak. For what its worth, you are one of the strongest women I know. Seeing and responding to horror doesn’t make you weak Jo. It makes you you. Don’t change. And as for Jack, you know you are talking complete rot. Jack would walk over hot coals to marry you Jo and he could not do better.’

Jo smiled for the first time.

‘You are going to get better now. You are home. I’m going to make you better. Do you believe me?’

Jo nodded, mutely. He pulled her back against his shoulder and sat with her until she eventually slept.

#2: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:37 am
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Awwwwwww how lovely. I do like nice Jem! (yes really) Thanks Gerrie Smile

#3: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:39 am
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Thanks, Gerrie. That was so powerful. I'm glad that Jem was able to find just the exact right words.

#4: Author: KathrynW, Location: London

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 1:37 pm
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Thanks Gerrie, that was great.

Kathryn

#5: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 1:54 pm
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Thanks Gerrie Very Happy

#6: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 2:31 pm
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That was so lovely - I could see that happening Very Happy

Thanks, Gerrie

#7: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 3:36 pm
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Jem was marvellous there, a true SLOC. Thanks, Gerrie.

#8: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 5:48 pm
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That was lovely. How nice to see Jem as a father, able to reassure his eldest adopted daughter that she was alright. Ok, for the mostpart he's a brother to her, but when it counts he can take this father role on so well - like when Jo had comforted the Balbini twins at the end of 'New' and he sent her to sleep. This fitted in very well with that relationship.

Thank you Gerrie

#9: Author: Róisín, Location: Galway, Eire

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 5:53 pm
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Gerrie that was SUPER. Thank you so much for filling in that missing scene for me. It makes a lot of sense, given what came before and came after it and you have their voices down pat. Very Happy

#10: Author: ibarhis, Location: London and Hemel Hempstead

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 6:58 pm
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I like 'nice Jem' but oh! how the SLOCs infantilise their women... It might be appropriate occasionally but as a 'lifestyle choice'?

#11: Author: grover, Location: Dublin

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:06 pm
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That could have been in Exile,you've captured the characters so well.

Thanks ,Gerrie! Smile

#12: Author: Lizzie, Location: A little village on the Essex/Suffolk border

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:15 pm
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Yaaaaaay! A pro-Jem story! I do understand why people find Jem annoying but I really like him, Jack too.

That was lovely, Gerrie.

#13: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 2:09 pm
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That was really powerful Gerrie, thanks.

#14: Author: alicat, Location: Wiltshire

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 2:21 pm
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why is Jem only lovely when people are ill? then he's a human being but the rest of the time.....

#15: Author: Josie, Location: London

Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 12:49 pm
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That was fab, Gerrie. Fits into the EBD universe perfectly.

Thanks.

#16: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 6:08 pm
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That was great. I couldn't post before as I've been on Guernsey, but realy enjoyed it. Thanks Gerrie.

#17: Author: Gerrie, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 9:49 am
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Thanks very much for your comments everyone - and thanks for the idea Pat!

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