Rating: PG-13

Summary: Joanie goes to Hartford for the vote and avoids Leo...for obvious reasons.

Dedication: To the ever talented Erin, for being so incredibly supportive about everything. Without her I'd still have writers block.

Note: Wow 10! Can you believe it? Don't worry I'm already planning other series in this universe. : )

Dedication 2: For James O. McIntyre...Happy birthday daddy.

A Mentor for Joanie Part 10: Oh, Of All the Gin Joints

I...HATE...PLANES!

Not to mention the fact that most of my inheritance has gone into plane tickets. I'm serious, I really need to start to cut down on how many times I fly out to Hartford, especially since I'm now flying to Notre Dame as well. I'm the daughter of a rich politician, but I should still manage my money.

I'm sitting on the plane now, slumped in my chair, head in hands. I'm trying very hard not to throw up right now. Damn my sensitive stomach.

My head is pounding. The nightmare I had gone through before I left kept replaying again and again in my head, like a bad dream. God I wish it were a dream. I wish I hadn't run out the apartment, I wish Leo hadn't looked at me like that, I wish I hadn't kissed him...well no, that part I liked.

I'm so screwed.

I liked that kiss, I just told myself that.

Then why did I run out of the apartment like it was on fire? Maybe it was the whole intimacy of the situation. I never had much luck with men. Am I afraid of Leo being anything else?

Oh god, I really am going to throw up.

I hate Lori right now. She's next to me, seating up strait, perfectly fine, reading a magazine. If I tried to read anything right now I would stain the nice blue airplane rug.

"You okay, Joan?" Lori asks.

"Yeah," I lie.

I can't tell her what happened, not yet. I ran out of there so fast I even forgot to take Kennedy with me. I hope he'll be okay, he'll just have to understand I wanted to get the hell out of there.

"You look like hell," Lori shakes her head. ëWhy don't you try to get some sleep?"

Sleep...good idea. God knows I've been lacking it the past few days.

Who knows, maybe it'll get the image of that kiss out of my head.

***********

I'm staring at the ceiling.

Seriously, I'm lying on one of the benches at the airport, staring at the ceiling. I'm trying to make my stomach settle down.

Settle stomach, settle.

I have officially lost my mind.

Suddenly Lori's face disrupts my view of the ceiling. Her wavy black hair brushes against my forehead as she gazes down at me skeptically.

"You dying on me Joan? At least wait till the inauguration ball so we can go shopping for dresses," Lori says, grinning.

"I'm not dying and I learned my lesson shopping with you," I groan, sitting up.

"Aw, I'm fun to shop with," Lori winks. "Not my fault you never wear good running shoes."

"To the mall?!"

"Call your house, Joanie,' Lori instructs me and pulls out my cell phone from my bag.

"Why?"

"Cause we need someone to pick us up."

"Fine," I grumble and snatch the phone to dial. The phone rings once, twice...

"Hello Lyman's residence," an all too familiar voice says.

"Noah!" I grin, feeling a little better now.

"Hey Joanie," Noah says and I can almost see his smile. "What's up?"

"Lori and I are at the airport, can you come get us?"

"Sure! Hey you're early."

"I know, I felt like leaving early," I shrug.

"Where's Leo?"

I pause, my voice catching in my throat. "Home."

Noah's my twin; I can't keep anything from him. He must hear the tone in my voice cause he drops it very quickly.

"Kay we'll be there in a second."

***********

"You know I wonder if they give discounts to miles traveled in the airport," Lori ponders as we exit the airport. We had been wandering around before finding the exit and going outside.

"You'd have to make quite a few runs from Barnes and Noble to Starbucks," I point out as the noise of the outside world greets us.

"We could handle it."

Yes we definitely could.

"They should offer that at the mall."

Lori and I sit on a bench and watch some of the cars roll by.

Finally I see a familiar car drive up. It's my dads old BMW he just won't get rid of, eve though he can afford better. He claims it holds sentimental value...my mom argues that's the only value it could possibly have.

From the passengers' sit a woman jumps out and envelops me into a big hug.

"Joanie!" she laughs. Then she moves on to Lori. "Hey Lor. I hope you guys weren't waiting too long." She's obviously Asian, with her small eyes tan skin and black hair in a ponytail. She looks like a super model, even in a Humane Society tee shirt my brother probably gave her and baggy jeans.

"No, we were keeping ourselves occupied," Lori grins.

"Well we were going to be here earlier except somebody forgot how to get to the airport," Minako shoots a look at the driver who's getting out of the car.

"Don't give me that look," Noah objects as he walks up to us. "You're the one who wanted to stop and get coffee at WAWA."

"I'm addicted to their Irish Crème," Minako admits, shrugging.

"It's dangerous," Noah laughs. He looks at me and grins, "Hey thunder twin."

Thunder twins were a really old cartoon my father apparently watched when he was young because he used to call me and Noah the thunder twins, we were often heard and not seen.

"Hey yourself," I smile and hug him. It's great to see him after so many months. He keeps busy at the zoo in DC and Minako's an environmental lobbyist who can't get out too much.

Noah looks just like me, our face features are identical, same sharp nose, same dull brown hairóalthough his is a little curlierósame mud colored eyes, same stupid dimples when we smile.

After Noah hugs me he moves to Lori, who gives him a scrutinizing glance.

"Well Doctor Lyman, you finally decided to grace us with your presence,' Lori drawls. "Very well...you may put my bags in the car." Lori grins and drops her bag in front of him. Minako giggles as Noah eyes the bag at his feet.

"Well Deloris I see nothings changed with you," Noah comments sarcastically as he picks up her bag and tosses it in the car.

"Isn't that comforting?" Lori grins and slides into the back. I follow and Minako climbs into the front, still laughing.

The trip to my parent's place in Hartford doesn't take as long as expected disrupted only with a short argument because Noah once again didn't know where he was going.

"Oh for gods sake take the next road to the third light turn left and go strait!" Lori had shouted from the back seat and broke up the argument Minako and Noah were involved in. "Honestly, with you driving it's a miracle we're not in Nantucket right now!"

After that things cooled down slightly and before long we pull up in front of my parents blue colonial house.

Lori, Minako and I pull everything out of the trunk and Noah hops out of the car to walk up the driveway with us.

"Oh shoot, I left my purse in the car," Minako suddenly remembers as we're halfway towards the house.

We all turn around...right in time to see the car roll out of view.

You see...my parent's street is on a very steep hill. And cars that my idiot brother forgets to put in to park will roll right down.

I gape as we all run down to the end of the driveway and watch the car roll down the road.

"Well don't just stand there, run after it!" Lori yells at Noah.

"Run after it? Are you nuts!"

"Go Noah!" Minako says and this time Noah listens.

Okay, I won't lie. While I am horrified at the notion of my father's car speeding down the street, the site of my poor brother chasing after the car, giving up and lying in the street as the car rolls on its path is kind of funny. I'm not alone, ether, Lori and Minako think its hysterical.

Noah is less than thrilled.

The whole incident is something out of a bad comedy, complete with Noah trying to stop the car by holding on to the bumper.

By now, Minako, Lori and I are laughing so hard it hurts.

The car stops...eventually. It rolls down my parent's street, across the next road and into a neighbors front yard where it's stopped by a big rock.

Noah looks at it, thinking what the hell he's going to do next and starts trudging back up to where the three of us are still laughing.

"C'mon, I gotta call AAA," Noah grumbles as he walks past Lori and Minako and I. We all follow him, trying to stifle our laughs for Noah's sake. It doesn't really work.

"We should call the neighbor too," Minako says when she gets a grip. "Maybe the police will come and haul the rock off for questioning."

Lori and I start laughing again and Noah glares at all of us. Minako doesn't budge under his look, but smiles, giving a small giggle.

Noah opens the door, obviously mad at all of us for laughing, and we follow him inside to the living room.

I can hear voices as soon as I get inside and they seem to be coming from the dining room. Lori and I dump our stuff in the living roomójust as we did when we were ten and having sleepoversóand then headed towards the voices.

My dad must have decided to take most of the campaign home with him that day because my dining room table was covered in binders and papers. Sitting around the table were Charlie, Toby, CJ, Sam, Ainsley and my mother, talking about some topic. I can't see my father, so I open the door to the room and immediately hear a loud thud followed by an "Ow!"

The staff around the table start laughing and I gaze around the door to see what I'd hit that could say ow.

"Dad!" I roll my eyes and walk into the dining room, Noah, Minako and Lori following me. "How many times has mom told you not to stand behind the door!"

"Well I wasn't exactly planning on people opening the door on me," he grumbles but smiles at me. "What are you doing here early?"

"Felt like flying up," I shrug.

Oh god please, no one mention Leo.

"Hey Dad where's the phone?" Noah asks.

"In the kitchen," my mom says. "Why? You need to make another business call?"

"No..." Noah looks like he's trying to find a good way to say he just crashed the car.

"We had a minor incident involving lack of a parking brake," Lori says.

The men and women around the tableóand my father, of courseóraise their eyebrows and look at my brother expectantly for an explanation.

"I crashed the car?" Noah says meekly.

Safe to say things blew up from there

******************

"Unbelievable," my father says for the hundredth time. He's looking at the banged up BMW.

The AAA guy is hooking it up to a truck to tow it away to a garage near by. Noah's standing next to my dad, and I'm on the other side as we all watch the man work on towing the car away. Everyone else is inside working but my father drafted us to help him settle things outside. Lucky me, its not like I crashed the car.

"Oh great," My dad mutters. I turn around to see a police car coming up. "Noah, try not to trip over anything, they'll think you're drunk on top of being stupid."

Noah bites his lip and lowers his gaze and I grin. Can't help it, Noah's in trouble, not me...suddenly I'm eleven again and Noah broke my mom's vase.

"Mr. Lyman?" the policeman asks.

"Yes, I'm Joshua Lyman," my dad nods.

"Could you tell us what happened here?"

"My son forgot to put the car in park," my dad says and gestures to Noah, who shuffles his feet uncomfortably.

"I see," the police officer nods.

Then it gets worse; my other stupid brother comes running down the street towards us.

"Oh cool," Jed says when he sees the car being pulled away from the rock by the tow truck. "See Dad, you thought I was going to be the one to crash the car."

"Yes, Jed, be quiet," my dad says out of the corner of his mouth and turns back to the police officer.

"Woah! The cops are here? Are they going to arrest Noah?"

"Jed!"

Noah and I both choose that moment to clamp a hand over Jed's mouth.

"Well I see nothing incriminating here," the police officer says, looking at the three of us. "Just remember the parking break next time, okay?"

"Absolutely," Noah promises.

The policeman retreats back into his swat car and only after he drives away do Noah and I release our hold on Josiah.

"What was that for?" Jed frowns.

"You were acting like you were three and never seen a police officer before," Noah says.

ëI was a little disappointed they didn't haul you away," Jed throws back.

"Okay guys, that's enough, go inside," my father instructs. "I have some more work to do."

We start walking up towards the house, Jed and my father in front, Noah and I in the back.

"Hey Noah you wanna go out tonight?" I ask. "You know, me you, Mina and Lori?"

"Sure," Noah shrugs. "You mean like to a bar?"

"Yeah...I need to get drunk."

Noah looks like he's going to say something but instead he bites his lip. He's not stupid he must have made the connection between my desire to get drunk and my earlier short answer when Leo came up.

I'll explain it to him later, I suppose...after I'm drunk enough to do so without crying.

*****************

"Joanie! Joanie!"

I raise my head from the table slowly, very slowly. But apparently not slow enough cause I get a rush of a headache. I look up and wonder when Lori got an identical twin; cause there's two of her in front of me.

"Yesh," I mumble.

"You're drunk," she states.

"No I'm snot."

"Snot?" Minako giggles next to me.

Okay, maybe I'm a little drunk. I've only had, like, two beers. Damn the sensitive system my father gave me.

"Joanie, come on, what's wrong?" Noah asks with a sigh. He's wanted to ask me all night, I could tell. The whole time he was next to me at the bar he was eyeing me, the whole day at home too. All through dinner...it was really starting to bug me.

"What's wrong?" I hiccup and my voice raises a little. "His name starts with L."

"Leo?" Lori's eyes bulge. "Oh god, Joan, did something happen that you didn't tell me?"

"Why Leo?" Noah frowns. He has been left out of the loop with this.

"I followed your advice," I shriek to Lori.

"Okay Joanie, lower your voice just a smidge," Minako whispers next to me. I turn around and see people looking at me, eyebrows raised.

"I don't' give a f***," I grumble.

"You kissed him!" Lori asks, suddenly realizing what advice of hers I must have listened too.

"WHAT!"

"Noah, quiet!"

"It's not fair," I mutter. ëIt was a good kiss, a great kiss."

"What happened?" Minako asks attentively.

"I ran out of the apartment like he was a bomb," I sigh and slam my forehead back down on the table.

"You ran? Of god, Joanie, that explains a lot," Lori shakes her head.

"It ësplains what?"

"Why you've been walking around like you're dead all day."

"Have not, I laughed when Noah crashed the car," I argue.

"I'm never going to live that down," Noah groans.

"Probably not," Minako says and pats him on the back supportively like a girlfriend should.

"I kissed him, I screwed up," I nod. I rest my head back down on the table. ëAnd now he probably hates me."

"He would never hate you Joanie," Lori objects. "Not Leo, you guys have been friends for way too long."

"I hope so," I sigh.

Now we're sitting in a bar, so you'd expect this is the perfect time for a low throaty song to come on the jukebox. A song about heartbreak, a song fitting for the dive we're sitting in right now.

So what comes on?

Time Goes Bye, f***ing Time Goes Bye! That slow song from Casablanca!

A kiss is still a kiss; a sigh is just a sigh.

But fundamental things apply, as time goes bye.

I may be screwing up the lyrics cause I am drunk, you know.

"I'll be right back," I sigh. I get up from the table and hobble towards the bathroom that's just past the entrance.

I'm not going to make it, I realize as I'm in front of the door to outside. I stumble just as someone walks in and I fall flat into him.

"Whoops, sorry," I slur. I look up...right into those startlingly blue eyes past silver rimmed glasses.

Leo looks down at me and I realize he's all that's keeping me from crashing head first into the hard wood floor.

And as two lovers woo,

They still say I love you.

On that you can deny.

The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.

I sigh and look up at him. I'm going to pass out, I realize that now. But before I do I mutter, "Of all the gin joints of all the world you had to walk into mine."

And that's when I pass out.

Damn that sensitive system of mine.

TBC