Glorified G // Eddie Vedder

Chapter 32

As soon as Eddie had left Joanne had a huge sinking feeling moving from her heart to the pit of her stomach, why did she have to be so stubborn, couldn't she just tell him what he wanted to hear? Then they'd be back together and at some point, she'd tell him she loved him and it wouldn't be to feed his ego, it would be because she meant it. She knew that deep down she loved him, but telling him that made it real and she didn't want to give herself away to someone by giving them everything and simply hoping they don't fuck you over.

When she was dating Theo she was guilty of letting herself be manipulated by him. He'd picked her up and taken her on the most unthoughtful date she had ever been on, he took her to a crappy restaurant where you were more likely to leave with food poison than a smile. Then he made her go to his 'office' because he had some errands to run for work, when they'd gone up to his office he had essentially cornered her and tried to force her to have sex with him on the desk while there were other people around on the same floor, he'd told her that if she loved him she would, she'd compromised and on the way home they pulled over into some layby. She hated herself for it and felt dirty for weeks when he'd proposed he had told her it was only so no one else would get to have her, that if they were married she wouldn't be working as much because she'd adapt to the housewife duties. A major red flag that she missed. The first time she said she loved Theo, the two were out at a small bar and Theo had told her his tragic story about how his best friend had died a few years ago, and that he hadn't loved anyone since then- which made Jo feel bad for him, and return the comment saying that she loved him too. After the split it came about that actually Theo's best friend was alive and well, he was at university in Scotland, and everything Theo had said to manipulate her had worked. The woman with a degree in criminology and psychology managed to be completely manipulated and didn't even notice it.

Since Theo Jo feared commitment, she feared giving little pieces of herself away. Theo was her first relationship, her first everything, but she'd managed to let herself be blindsided by her perception of love. Deep in the back of her mind, Jo was relieved when Theo gave her an ultimatum that gave her an out of the engagement, of course, it hurt to end her first relationship, but as soon as she did she felt liberated.

The wine Jo had bought seemed to go down like juice, and soon she found herself trying to fall asleep without thinking about Eddie. Her therapist had told her to think of a happy place to reduce or get rid of nightmares, so she had stared at the ceiling, picturing her happy place. The only problem, however, was that her happy place was wherever Eddie was. After an hour and a half of tossing and turning Jo managed to drift into a light sleep.

Eddie sat beside Christine in the living room, drinking tea and chatting like a pair of old friends. Joanne had just returned from work, her hair was a mess and she had no makeup on and felt like shit. Weeks of no sleep were beginning to catch up to her, and her obsessive coffee drinking didn't help matters- so when she stumbled through the door carrying a stack of files she nearly fainted,

"Hey grandma, what's he doing here?" She asked nodding her head in Eddie's direction,

"He came for you Jo, go with him- I'll make a casserole for when you get back." Christine innocently replied, offering Jo a small smile which Jo didn't return. Eddie strode up to Jo before roughly grabbing her face and pulling her into a kiss, one she didn't return initially.

"Where are we going?" Jo whispered Eddie, didn't reply instead he took her hand in his and took her out to his car. She got in while cautiously eyeing Eddie who seemed to be acting out of character, "Eddie, what's going on?" She questioned,

"Just shut up. Can you do that?" He snapped and Jo winced, she didn't reply and instead stared out of the window watching the buildings pass them by.

The car came to a stop beside a bank, Eddie abruptly got out of the car and Jo followed, he led her inside, where there was what seemed to be a robbery in progress- two masked assailants were pointing guns at the clerks screaming about money, Jo reached for her gun out of habit- it wasn't there.

"What the fuck Eddie?" She whispered, when she turned to look at him, he was gone- in his place stood Theo, "What the fuck?" She mumbled, she attempted to sneak up on one of the robbers only for them to spin around and punch her in the jaw, leaving her temporarily stunned,

"Shit! You scared me, Baby! I'm so sorry, you good?" The robber pulled their black balaclava off, revealing their face.

"Oh for fuck's sake! Can you piss off please!" Joanne groaned to her dad who simply laughed, "I'm serious, leave. Stop doing this stupid shit and leave me the fuck alone!"

"Don't talk to your father like that Jojo!" Theo called from the door, Jo turned to face him and glared at him, ice in her eyes.

"Theo you can fucking fuck off too!"

"You don't mean that Jojo! You love me, remember?"

A thud sounded in the apartment, a thud that was caused by Jo falling out of bed. She groaned as she sat up quickly looking for the time, it was only four, she had three hours before she had to be at work and there was no way she was gonna sleep in the state she was in. So she got ready for work before calling Stone and Jeff asking to meet for coffee, she needed to see some friendly faces.

The trio had met up at a coffee shop central to the studio and the FBI field office, Stone and Jeff were the first to get there and grabbed a table and some coffees before waiting for Jo. When she walked in the two looked at her before exchanging a glance, Jo made a beeline to order her drink which gave the guys a few minutes to discuss the zombie they had just seen walk in.

"Fuck me, she looks like crap," Stone mumbled Jeff hit him on the arm,

"Wow you're a charmer, but I know where you're coming from." The two observed Jo's puffy, red eyes and her slouched appearance. Neither of the two could say that Jo wasn't an attractive woman, but today she didn't look like the Jo they knew, she was like a shadow of their Jo. When they noticed Jo walking to the table their conversation ended.

Jo thought of Jeff and Stone as brothers, well she thought of Mike and Dave as brothers too but she was somewhat closer to Stone and Jeff, she'd filled them in on the situation with Eddie and they had tried to offer advice, but they didn't really know how. Talking to them lifted a huge weight from Jo's shoulders and they had invited her to meet them and the guys at the off ramp in the evening,

"Don't worry Eddie won't be there, he's working again tonight." Jeff had assured her which filled her with relief. Eventually, Jo had to head off to work, she just needed to get through the day, then she could see her boys.

Another day, another case- today's case wasn't a murderer on the loose, but it wasn't much better, it was an arsonist. Lovely. Joanne groaned when the huge case file was dropped on her desk by Eleanor who was baffled by the pattern of the fires, arsonists scared Joanne, sometimes more than murderers- the whole thought of fire generally scared her, being burnt alive would be the worst way to die, and whenever she was working an arson case she feared that they'd throw a molotov cocktail her way or something- irrational, that she knew, but it didn't make the fear disappear.

After work Jo had gone home to get ready, the case wasn't closed yet so as she drove her mind was purely on the case. She grabbed a bottle of beer out of the fridge upon arriving home, a little pre-drink to take the edge of the case off a little. She got ready and decided that she was sick of feeling shitty, so she wore a black denim mini skirt with a Motley Crue top and her leather jacket, she left her hair down because she could not be bothered to try and tame it today. She wore quite a lot of makeup to cover the sleepless nights and the crying from last night, she opted for a dark red lipstick and heavy eyeliner. When she arrived at the bar Stone greeted her with a hug and commented on how much better she looked,

"Well, you look a lot more alive tonight." She smirked at his comment,

"Ever the charmer, Stone." He let out a laugh before throwing an arm around her shoulder and guiding her to the table where the others were sitting.

The drinks were flowing and the conversation was jolly, Jo had almost completely forgotten about her problems until the main on walked through the door.