Disclaimer: Still not LMA, for one thing I don't have to wear corsets and enormous skirts.

Jo Meets Apollyon

Jo didn't believe she had ever been quite so contented as she was at present. Curled up on one end of the sofa cradling a battered, but dear, copy of Shakespeare whilst Laurie sat at the opposite reading over one of her latest gory stories. Outside the wind was howling, but over it they could just hear the faint tinkling of Beth playing the piano in the next room whilst she thought no one could hear. A merry fire crackled in the hearth warming her more than supper and good company had already.

Laurie, who hadn't moved much whilst he was reading, suddenly gave a wide stretch, shuffling the papers neatly back into order and handing her the manuscript. "Your best endeavour yet, my dear fellow," he informed the eager authoress with a grin.

"Is it truly? I wasn't sure how the duel at the end came across, whether I had captured the mood quite as I had wanted it."

"No, it's perfect, and the way Carlos dies just after stabbing the Duke of Florence, that's my favourite part!" The excitable boy who had just spent so long sitting still sprang up from his seat and performed a quick riposte across the room, fending off blows from an imaginary duke as Jo laughed.

"You should be an actor yourself Laurie! I can see you now, strutting up and down the boards of some great stage reciting Shakespeare at length!" Her eyes glowed as they viewed this dearly imagined notion.

Ever uncomfortable with overmuch praise or grand social situations Laurie chuckled and shrugged off her remark.

"Perhaps some day, though for now I'd much rather be larking around with you as my only audience. If I was in a theatre I'd be put to much better use playing the piano, out of sight, down in the orchestral pit." Before Jo could protest at such self deprecation her friend ploughed on regardless.

"Speaking of theatre," Laurie plopped back down next to her and Jo shifted her feet to accommodate him, "how would you like to come to the see 'The Seven Castles' at the hall with me tomorrow night? Old Brooks is taking me and as interesting as the play is it'll be dull as paint if you don't go, say you will?" He looked at her so pleadingly that Jo couldn't help but laugh again.

"I would dearly love to, if Marmee says I may of course."

"Brooke suggested I invite Meg too," he informed her with a significance that entirely bypassed poor Jo, who as yet had no time to even entertain the meaning of such things. "We'll make quite a jolly four I should think."

Jo delighted at this prospect and spent the next few minutes gaily chattering about the pleasure Meg would get from such an invitation and how she always longed for more polite society than her boisterous younger sister could usually offer her. Laurie wisely decided not to rib her any further on the subject.

Suddenly a thought of some consternation struck poor Jo. "I shan't be expected to wear anything very formal and dress up, shall I?"

"I shouldn't worry," Laurie chuckled. "I don't care a jot what you wear. You could dress as a Spanish matador for all the difference it will make."

Jo descended into peals of laughter at the very thought and Laurie soon joined her. It wasn't until Amy came traipsing into the room, scowling at their fun, that they sobered up and quietly continued discussing Jo's own play.

When the next evening arrived it transpired that Meg cared very much what Jo wore. "You can't possibly go out in that!" She looked in horror at Jo's burnt dress which she had laid out.

"Why not? It was good enough to wear to the Gardiners'."

"That was months ago," Meg protested, "and what on earth will Mr Brooke think?"

Why it should matter what Mr Brooke thought was beyond Jo, but after some more rather heated discussion on the subject she eventually consented to being forced into an old dress of Meg's which her sister declared suitable. Trouble seemed likely to flare up again on their way out for Amy insisted on coming with them and they left her crying fitfully on the stairs and threatening Jo with the worst retribution for not letting her join in their fun.

The sight of Laurie's smiling face when he met them in his carriage at the bottom of the path was some small balm to Jo's troubled soul, but it didn't stop her mind continually flitting back to Amy's angry, crumpled face as she had shouted tearfully over the banisters at her.

"What's wrong, old girl?" Laurie whispered in her ear.

"Nothing," she whispered back. "Only I had an argument with Amy before I left the house and I'm worrying about it."

"Well, don't take it out on the programme," he reached across and pried the torn up slips of paper from her fingers, replacing them with his hand. "Cheer up," he smiled, giving her hand a squeeze. "I'm sure Amy will forgive you."

Jo made a disbelieving noise and laid her head tiredly on Laurie's shoulder. "You are a dear, Teddy. I do hope you're right."

"I usually am," he smiled teasingly despite the fact she couldn't see his face.

They continued watching the play and Jo eventually sat up, disentangling her hand from Laurie's. For his own part Laurie would have been quite content for her not to have moved for the rest of the evening. As it was he made do with the warm imprint her hand had left in his and the lingering scent of her hair. Over the top of Jo's head he could just see Brooke speaking softly to Meg and the oldest March girl blushing prettily in the gloom. Sometimes, only sometimes, he wished Jo were a little more like her sister. Would there ever be a day when Jo would see him as more than her friend Teddy?

Settling back in his seat he tried to focus on the remainder of the play, the dancing fairy lights, the swashbuckling princes and delicate princesses. When it was done, and they were leaving the theatre, Jo had returned to her worrying.

"Don't fret, Jo dearest," Meg tried to reassure her. "Amy will have gone to bed and everything will be forgotten in the morning. You'll see."

But Jo couldn't see and she had a sinking feeling that something was going to happen, she could feel it in the crisp winter air.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it, I'm trying to get back into writing my Little Women fics and vastly enjoying myself!