Chapter Text
The fire alarm in the kitchen is going off, but Janis is unfazed as she walks down the stairs.
“Really?” she says, hands on her hips, when she enters the room. Sharon, coughing, bats the smoke away with a hand towel. The cookies on the pan are burnt to a crisp.
“Don’t give me that look, you burned a grilled cheese last month,” Sharon gripes.
“Yeah, but I didn’t set off the alarm.” Janis grabs the stick they keep in the corner for this very purpose, raising it to the ceiling to press the alarm so it’ll stop wailing. Then she opens up the window above the sink, cold air swooping in.
Sharon dumps the blackened cookies into the trash can. “Well,” she says, dropping the pan in the sink. “I hope Mrs. George baked some. At least I can say I tried.”
Janis pats her shoulder. “Uh-huh. A for effort, Mom.”
She mostly calls her that as an ironic joke, but Sharon gives her a soft look regardless.
“You look cute, by the way,” Sharon tells her, cleaning up the mess. Janis touches her dress, a sleeveless, flat red thing with one of Sharon’s leather jackets on top, long legs clad in fishnets, Doc Martens on her feet. She feels pretty.
“What time is it, anyway?” Sharon glances at the time on the stove. “Oh, shit, I gotta get ready. Disinfect the counter for me, would you?” Her and her disinfectants.
Janis does it, though, because—and she’d never admit this to anyone—she likes cleaning.
Sharon doesn’t take long to get ready, maybe forty-five minutes, but Janis grows restless while she waits. She checks the clock, watches the sky grow darker outside. She wanted to be there before the others showed up. A kind of reverse surprise guest.
They literally don’t know she’s coming. Stephanie and Alex do because Sharon set this up, but Regina has no clue and neither do Cady and Damian.
Janis would be worried about Cady and Regina having to socialize if they weren’t already. She was relieved to find out Cady invited the Plastics (and Damian) to her birthday party—they got manicures and facials and had a sleepover at Regina’s. Like old times.
Janis wasn’t jealous. She couldn’t be there, so she was just glad Cady wasn’t alone. Regina is also happy to be in Cady’s good graces again; she texts Janis pictures of them hanging out all the time. They’ve been rebuilding their friendship over the summer, bit by bit. Regina even told Cady the full truth just recently to further explain her actions; Regina told Janis that, while hard, both she and Cady felt better afterwards.
Regina has yet to attend a club meeting, but progress is progress.
Sharon comes downstairs as Janis is locking up the windows. She is about to poke fun at her for taking so long when she sees the folder in Sharon’s hands.
Sharon smiles lightly and jerks her head towards the couch. “Come sit with me, kid.”
Heart in her throat, Janis shuts off the kitchen light and goes to sit down on the couch. Sharon takes a deep breath and hands her the folder, then kneads her hands nervously.
“Was gonna wait until tomorrow,” she says as Janis merely looks at the blank cover. “Tie it with a bow or something. But tonight is special. So, here you go.”
Janis slowly opens the folder, where several unsigned documents are tucked inside. She looks at them for a minute, pulling them out to read the letters at the top of each one, trying to make sense of their significance, of what they are.
“No pressure,” Sharon murmurs. “I sent in the application before we moved. I have to sign and give it back before the first of the year. Which I’m now realizing doesn’t give you much time—”
“I don’t need time,” Janis interrupts breathlessly, gently sliding the adoption papers back inside the folder. She hugs Sharon tightly, and the woman hugs her back twice as hard, and they just sit there on their couch, in their house, hugging for a long time.
Janis wasn’t back at the orphanage for very long. Once her therapist suggested she live in an environment with less stress and loud noises, Sharon herself applied for a placement, and she got it. Janis moved in with her on Cady’s birthday, as fate would have it.
The only reason Janis gets to see everyone tonight is because Sharon got transferred a month ago, directly back to Chicago, now working for a higher-up adoption agency. She only took the job because Janis said she felt okay with leaving her therapist.
After all, she could always find someone here.
“Are you sure?” Sharon asks, holding Janis’s grinning face.
Janis nods. “So sure.” If anyone was ever destined to be her mother, of course it’d be Sharon. Maybe Sharon has been her mom this whole time.
No, not maybe. She undeniably is.
Sharon kisses her cheek. “Merry Christmas, daughter.”
Of course it’s begun to snow when Sharon pulls up to the George’s. Luckily, they’re the first ones here, and Janis is shaking with anticipation as they exit the car.
Stephanie answers the door and Janis gets the first hug as Sharon bends to pet Henry, who is sporting his Christmas sweater once again.
Alex comes to say hi when they finally come inside, Stephanie trying to dry her eyes. Alex tells Janis she looks beautiful, giving her a characteristically gentle hug.
There’s chatter for a few minutes, then a door bursts open upstairs and Regina runs out of her room. Janis only knows it’s her because she screams her name, and Regina all but jumps into her arms when she reaches the bottom of the stairs.
She nearly knocks Janis off her feet because she’s so heavy now. Or maybe she just feels like it because she was so thin the last time Janis held her.
Either way, when they squeal over each other, Janis is delighted to see how healthy she looks compared to this same day a year ago. She’s wearing a different outfit, and just glows with the actual confidence she had been feigning for so long.
Regina drags her upstairs to her room, which looks totally different. Less pink and more calm, pastel tones, her canopy gone, and there’s now glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling that Cady gave her for her birthday. She always wanted them but felt they were childish, but takes a lot of comfort in them now on nights where she’s having trouble sleeping.
She donated a lot of her clothes, things she’d both grown out of and would never wear again. Her wardrobe is also less pink and in your face, more toned down and casual. (She still loves skirts and high heels. You can pry them from her cold dead hands.)
“Mom didn’t tell me you were coming,” she laments, squeezing Janis again.
“Sorry,” Janis laughs. “Merry Christmas, I guess.”
“No, absolutely. I missed you so much. How is this even possible?”
They sit on Regina’s new bed and Janis tells her everything. When Regina asks about school, Janis says she’s studying at home per doctor’s orders. Her grades have actually gotten better; not that they were bad before, but the lack of distractions and peer pressure make it easier.
“I’m really happy for you,” Regina says when Janis shares the good news. “That’s awesome.”
Janis feels a flash of guilt then, realizing she won’t ever be Regina’s official sister. “I’m sorry. It just occurred to me this means your parents can’t—”
Regina puts a finger to her mouth. “Don’t. Don’t apologize. You have something good with her. If your home happens to be with her now, that’s okay. You deserve it so much. At least you’re here.”
Janis exhales, trying not to feel overwhelmed. “Yeah.”
Regina smiles, but then punches her in the arm. “Also, I can’t believe you’ve been here almost a whole month and managed to not tell me.”
“Trust me, it was the hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep,” Janis assures her.
The doorbell rings then, and her gut clenches. Regina gasps.
They run downstairs together, and Janis hides in the sitting room while Regina grandly opens the door. The Hubbards are welcomed inside, and Janis could cry at the mere glimpse of her best friend. He looks handsome as always.
Then she quietly approaches from behind and taps him on the shoulder, and he whips around, and promptly begins simultaneously screaming and hugging her. He hugs her so tight she can hardly breathe. And then Nana joins in and it’s by far the best hug Janis has ever gotten.
Once those initial tears are shed and she kisses his face all but a hundred times, they go to sit on the staircase, elbows linked, her head on his shoulder.
“I’m not even gonna question how you’re here right now,” he says. “I’m too happy.”
Janis laughs. “Well. Don’t worry about me leaving ever again.” When he gasps in delight, she tells him, and he starts crying again, saying “oh my God” over and over while he hugs her.
Him and Regina are also friends now, apparently, and share their excitement for Janis. They’re all on the steps talking about it and what Janis has been up to when there’s one last ring of the bell, and Janis feels her soul detach from her body then reenter in the same moment.
“Go upstairs and hide in your room,” Regina hisses, and Janis bounds up the steps.
Her room is still intact, just more bare. The lights strung on her headboard are on, illuminating the otherwise darkened room. It’s cozy and warm. She goes to sit on her old bed, shaking by the time she hears footsteps approach the door.
“Wait, this is Janis’s room,” Cady’s voice points out, and she inhales at the sound.
Janis stands and smooths her dress and hair, heart racing a mile a minute. I’ll Be Home For Christmas drifts softly up the stairs from the stereo in the living room.
The people inside the places are what makes them a home. And no matter where she goes, they’ll be with her. She never thought she’d have a family with so many members, but each of them are a gift she feels maybe she does deserve.
No, not maybe. Right now, there is no more doubt.
The knob turns, and then the door slowly opens.