Mad Men fic: Visitation
Title: Visitation
Fandom: Mad Men
Author: tigerlily0
Rating: G
Genre and/or Pairing: gen
Spoilers: 4.10 Hands and Knees
Warnings: none
Word Count: 626
Disclaimer: Mad Men and its characters are property of its copyright owners. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is taken from this story.
Summary: Don has an upsetting visitor. Alternate universe episode tag to 4.10 Hands and Knees.
Don smiled when he saw who his visitor was. He sat down at the table across from her.
"Stephanie. Good to see you. I wasn't expecting you." Don's smile faded when he saw how upset Anna's niece was.
"Oh, Dick. I'm so sorry!"
Don shook his head sadly. "No, Stephanie…"
"No, you don't understand! I'm the reason you're in this terrible place!"
Poor girl was practically crying now. Don really wanted to reach out and take her hand, to comfort her. But, unfortunately, physical contact was forbidden. He glanced at the guard. No dice. He sighed, then ran his hand through his newly-shorn hair, returning it to his lap afterwards. He would have to settle for trying to calm her with his voice.
"What are you talking about, Stephanie?" He asked, softly.
"I'm the one who ratted you out to the cops!" Stephanie blurted out, before she started crying in earnest.
Don was taken aback. "What?"
Stephanie took a deep breath, then said in a rush, "Oh, god, I didn't mean to! Those men came from the Defense Department, you know, to Aunt Anna's house. They said they were looking for her, as Don Draper's ex-wife. I told them about how she passed a few months back from cancer." She paused then, overcome with emotion.
Of course. They'd talked to Betty as his ex-wife. It made sense that they'd want to talk to Anna, too. Oh, god.
Stephanie continued after wiping her eyes. "I'm so sorry! When they asked about Don Draper, I didn't even occur to me that they were talking about you. I said something about how Uncle Don died in Korea. They asked if I had any photos of him. I dug out some pictures from Anna and Don's wedding."
Don looked down and shook his head to himself. And of course the Don in the pictures didn't look anything like him.
"Then they showed me a picture of a man and asked me if I recognized him. It was a picture of you. Without thinking, I think I said something like 'yes, that's my aunt's friend Dick'. I'm so sorry. I didn't even make the connection. They asked if I knew what your last name was and I told them. Then they left. Oh, god, oh, god. I didn't even realize until later what I'd done!"
Stephanie by this time was crying profusely. Don really had to hold himself back from reaching out to her. He ran his hands through his Army crew cut again and adjusted his new ill-fitting prisoner's uniform.
So that's how it happened. Not that it mattered, really. They were going to find out one way or another, since he hadn't been able to stop their background check in time. It was unfortunate, though, that Stephanie had to be the one. Don sighed and looked at Anna's niece sympathetically.
"Stephanie. Stephanie, look at me."
When she finally got a hold of herself and looked up at him, he leaned across the table and told her earnestly. "Steph, this isn't your fault. Please don't feel guilty or blame yourself. I'm the only one responsible here. I put myself here, not you. This is not your responsibility. At all. I don't have any hard feelings against you. None. Not one. Please believe me."
Don held his breath. After a few long moments of studying his face, during which time he tried to look as sincere as possible, she finally nodded. He released his breath and gave her a little smile.
He stood up and stepped back from the table. "Stephanie..." He trailed off. What could he say to her at this point? 'I'm sorry'? What good would that do? After a moment, he finally settled for, "Have a good life."