Being A Donaghy [30 Rock; Jack/Liz]
TITLE: Being A Donaghy
CHAPTER 20: A Million Reasons
FANDOM: 30 Rock
PAIRING: Jack/Liz
SPOILERS: Through "Corporate Crush"
RATING: PG
SUMMARY:
*****
"Morning, Lemon."
Liz flicked a smile at her husband, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom with her toothbrush and toothpaste in-hand. "Morning."
She silently joined him at the sinks and started to brush her teeth while he shaved, neither acknowledging the fact that she had her own bathroom. Liz was assailed with memories of the morning after their wedding, and continually snuck glances at Jack. After rinsing her mouth and tapping the excess water off her toothbrush, she wiped her mouth on the nearby hand towel and commented, "So I might go in to work today. I can't stand the boredom of hanging around here all day with nothing to do."
"I've got a meeting today," he joined in, swishing his razor clean in his plugged sink before wiping off the leftover shaving cream on his face. He added, "with Bianca."
Liz perked up at this. "Bianca? As in... your ex-wife, Bianca?" Her stomach somersaulted without her conscious consent.
"The one and only," he affirmed, patting his face with aftershave and wincing when he was done.
Liz smirked ever-so-briefly at seeing this and wordlessly grabbed his face, blowing cool air on it gently. So concentrated was she on her task, she took no notice of Jack's eyes on her the entire time... until he touched her wrists.
"Is that okay?"
"Is what okay?" She met his eyes and tried not to suck in her breath too loudly as his thumbs stroked the underside of her wrists.
He lifted his head out of her grasp, but still kept hold of her wrists, and her gaze. "That I'm meeting with Bianca."
Her mouth opened and closed on unformed words briefly, surprised he was almost... asking her permission. "Of-of course," she stammered in return.
"It's only to settle our dispute over that Arby's franchise. Nothing more."
Liz had to chuckle, just a little bit. And he still hadn't let go of her wrists. What the hell? "Jack, it's fine. Why would you even need to check?"
"Like I said, Lemon, I'm treating this like a real marriage. And I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable with that, or... jealous in any way."
She studied him carefully. Did he want her to be jealous? "It's fine," she repeated, just because she didn't trust herself to say anything else. Why was he still looking at her like that? Like she... controlled his universe or something?
Jack flicked a smile, then, and stroked the underside of her wrists once more before letting her go. "Well... good then."
Liz, once again inwardly reliving the morning after the wedding, kind of was expecting a kiss. She kind of wanted to ask for one. And then she kind of wanted to check herself into a mental institution, because seriously... what the hell?
Jack, possibly reading her thoughts, smiled briefly and patted her hip. He then pecked her forehead affectionately and brushed past her, sliding his hand across her stomach as he went. Liz watched him go into his room to change and decided that work might be exactly what she needed to take her mind off her fastly-detereorating mental health.
*****
"Liz! Oh my God, you're back!" Jenna gushed as a greeting, following Liz into her office.
Liz practically had her bones crushed by the force of Jenna's hug, and hugged her back only briefly before Jenna pulled away to ask, "What did you bring me from Hawaii?"
Liz smiled facetiously. "Good to be back, thank you," she quipped, and then replied, "I bought you a couple cute sarongs I saw, but they're back at the penthouse. I forgot them."
"Oh." Jenna pouted. "Fine then, I see how it is."
"Sorry Jenna," Liz sighed. "I've had a lot of stuff on my mind."
Jenna immediately brightened. "You mean, like... Jack?"
Liz kinda wished she was still in Hawaii. The Hawaiians didn't needle her endlessly about Jack. "Jenna, just... cool it with that stuff, okay? A lot of stuff is going on... yes, with Jack... that I'm trying to make sense of."
"Oh, please. This has gone on way too long. You know what it's time for now?"
Liz raised her eyebrows. "A frontal lobotomy?"
Jenna wrinkled her nose. "Ew. No. It's time..." she grinned, "for you and Jack to have some sex! Unless..." She quirked one eyebrow. "Did you guys do it already?"
"No!" Liz hissed, indignant. "Of course not!"
Jenna shrugged innocently. "Well, it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility. You guys are husband and wife now."
"Well we haven't had sex."
"Yet," Jenna chimed in. "And I think it's time."
"Jenna, no."
"Think about it, Liz! If you guys have sex and it's awful... then the answer will be simple that it wasn't meant to be, so you won't have to question whether or not something's there."
"That's not what I'm afraid of, though," Liz blurted, and immediately squinted her eyes shut, damning herself for saying anything.
Jenna caught on immediately, raising her eyebrows. "You're afraid it's going to be really good, aren't you? Because then that means there is something there."
"I just think this would be simpler if sex was left out of the equation. Jack said I won't have long to wait before this whole thing is over, anyway! I think he's got a meeting with Geiss at the end of the week about the microwaves."
Jenna clapped her hands together. "Perfect time to do this, then. I'll run to Victoria's Secret for you on my lunch break. You are going to seduce Jack!"
"Jenna..." This had disaster written all over it. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Or maybe that was something else. Were the butterflies back? Dammit, they were. "Jenna, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to pick out a sexy -- not slutty, mind you, sexy -- nightie, and you are going to wear it when you seduce Jack."
"Okay, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop using the words 'seduce' and 'Jack' in the same sentence." She drew in a breath.
"For now, go talk to Jack and make a plan for tonight."
"I can't, he's in a meeting with Bianca."
Jenna's eyes widened. "Crazy Bianca? His ex-wife?"
"Yeah." Liz bit down on her lip softly. "I kinda wanna go up there and see what's going on."
Jenna grinned. "Jealous?"
Liz rolled her eyes and decided now was the best time to brush past Jenna and leave her in her office. On her way out of the writer's room, she heard Jenna calling, "I'll leave the Victoria's Secret bag in your office when I get back!"
She hoped Jenna would remember to leave the receipt too.
Seducing Jack, she scoffed. What an idea. Completely preposterous and outlandish and insane, and... a million other adjectives. It was so not going to happen.
Even if the idea did give her butterflies.
*****
The elevator dinged cheerfully at Liz when she stepped off on Jack's floor, smiling a greeting at Jonathan. Predictably, he swooped in and blocked her way to the door. "Mrs. Donaghy, I'm sorry, but you cannot go in there. Mr. Donaghy is having a meeting with the former Mrs. Donaghy."
Liz shook her head slightly. "Wow. Jonathan, that was a whole lotta Donaghy's in one sentence."
"He's in there with Bianca and he asked not to be disturbed."
Liz frowned at that, something about the statement getting her hackles up. "What? Why?"
Jonathan shrugged. "I don't know. I know that they're settling a dispute, but normally he likes to leave the doors open for that. He likes it when other people can hear him winning an argument. But... not this time. He asked for privacy."
Liz wasn't sure she liked that idea, and then promptly wondered why it mattered. She twisted her engagement ring and wedding band (which Jack had had welded together -- a move that she thought was way too permanent), and tried to peek over Jonathan's shoulder at the closed double doors of Jack's office... as if they would give her some clue as to what was happening inside. "Well... okay, fine. Then, can you go get me some water?"
"Sure, Mrs. Donaghy."
"And a Chai Tea from the coffee shop downstairs?" she added, figuring that would buy her a little bit more time.
Jonathan nodded with a dutiful, "Yes, Mrs. Donaghy," and set off on his mission.
Liz waited until he was around the corner and out of sight before tiptoeing toward the door. As she got closer and closer, she was able to hear voices clearer and clearer. Jack's was the first one she heard.
"This is not going to work, Bianca."
And then Bianca. "Johnny, you can't be serious. You're actually giving up everything for... for her?"
"I'm not giving up everything, Bianca, I'm giving up the Telluride Arby's franchise."
"But you were so adamant about getting that in our divorce. Now you're just tossing it at me like a piece of garbage?"
"I no longer want any ties to you, Bianca. If you keep the Arby's franchise, you keep your precious Beef n' Cheddars, which is what you wanted... right?"
"I wanted you to treat the franchise how I would've treated it. That's how this whole thing started in the first place, you remember? You were going to shut it down, open it up to let nature tear it apart."
"And I think we both know why I did that."
"Yes, Johnny! To keep me close. Which, I will admit, is what I wanted, too. The longer we dispute this, the longer we can still..."
"Stop it, Bianca, it's not going to happen."
"You're telling me that she is enough for you, Johnny? Elizabeth?"
Liz's ears perked up at the sound of her own name, and she twisted the knob on one of the doors carefully, opening it a crack to see inside. She saw Jack pacing by the desk, and saw Bianca following him closely. Too closely. Unconsciously, Liz gripped the doorknob white-knuckled.
"You and I should not be around each other anymore, Bianca. You know that as well as I do. This isn't a dignified way for us to behave. We have to get out of each other's lives."
"And I suppose she told you this."
"She did, actually. And I'm finally taking her advice. I'm making a clean break."
"For her. What is it you see in her, Johnny?"
Liz opened the door just a little bit wider, and her mouth dropped open when she saw Bianca step right up to Jack, toe-to-toe with him. "You can't tell me what you have with her is better than what we had."
"Liz and I are not spiteful with each other, like you and I were. And honestly? I don't know what I see in her. I mean, she's a terrible dresser..."
Liz frowned and glanced down at her outfit -- her favorite black dress. The V in front scooped just low enough, and the waist was just high enough, to give her a great figure. Jack had checked her out many times in that dress, so it couldn't be that awful.
"She's got the eating habits of a preschooler and she doesn't see the appeal of 'Meerkat Manor' like I do. She has questionable taste in shoes, and sometimes accidentally dates relatives. She's far too intelligent for her own good and uses that intelligence as a weapon to ward off male attention. She's the opposite of everything I always thought a woman should be like, and that's why part of me will never understand my attraction to her."
Liz sucked in her breath. Sure, Jack had checked her out, danced with her, held her close and kissed her, but... him saying he was actually attracted to her was downright shocking.
"But in that same respect, that's exactly why I am endlessly fascinated with her. I have a daily need to try to make sense of her, to try to understand her. Not that I think I ever will, but maybe that's a good thing."
Liz watched Bianca roll her eyes. "Johnny, now you're babbling. Let's just end this meeting."
But "Johnny" wasn't listening to her. For some reason, he'd gone off in his own little world... a world where -- this thought made Liz gasp -- she was the absolute center. "I've made improvements to her life just as she's made improvements to mine. Granted, I've made far bigger improvements to hers..."
Liz made a face, unsure of whether she wanted to kiss him or kick him, and opened the door just a little wider.
"We better each other. I can't make decisions when she's not around, and when I'm not around she has food in her hair."
Liz double-checked her hair. No lettuce.
"And there are a million reasons why, whenever she's near, I should run screaming in the other direction, but... there's only one reason I know of that makes me stay. I've somehow--"
Jack turned then, and caught sight of her in the doorway. Liz was certain she looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she straightened up, and Jack finished his train of thought.
"--fallen in love with her."
Liz gasped, certain the butterflies in her stomach were going to come bursting out at any moment. Bianca noticed her presence, too, and was now looking between her and Jack curiously.
Jack approached her slowly, holding her gaze, as Liz opened the door fully and stood against it. She was almost flattened against it in shock, really.
Bianca took this as her cue to leave. "Well, then sign the papers, Johnny, and I'll have my lawyer pick them up in the morning. I'll take the Arby's off your hands." She nodded to Liz cordially. "Nice to see you again, Elizabeth. Goodbye."
Jack and Liz just stared at each other until Bianca was out of sight. Jonathan reappeared at her side, then, holding her water and Chai Tea and looking highly irritated. "I told you not to go in there!"
She really should've listened. Her stomach wouldn't be hovering in the vicinity of her feet right now if she'd listened.
Looking right at her and ignoring his assistant, Jack told her, "I love you, Liz. I've fallen in love with you."
Then, he brushed past her, looking ashamed of himself. His hand glided across her stomach in its usual fashion, and he whispered, "I'm so sorry," before he exited his office and rounded the corner, leaving Liz holding her water and Chai Tea, staring slack-jawed at his empty office.
Yep. She definitely should've listened.
TBC
{x-posted to 30_rock and jack_liz}
CHAPTER 20: A Million Reasons
FANDOM: 30 Rock
PAIRING: Jack/Liz
SPOILERS: Through "Corporate Crush"
RATING: PG
SUMMARY:
*****
"Morning, Lemon."
Liz flicked a smile at her husband, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom with her toothbrush and toothpaste in-hand. "Morning."
She silently joined him at the sinks and started to brush her teeth while he shaved, neither acknowledging the fact that she had her own bathroom. Liz was assailed with memories of the morning after their wedding, and continually snuck glances at Jack. After rinsing her mouth and tapping the excess water off her toothbrush, she wiped her mouth on the nearby hand towel and commented, "So I might go in to work today. I can't stand the boredom of hanging around here all day with nothing to do."
"I've got a meeting today," he joined in, swishing his razor clean in his plugged sink before wiping off the leftover shaving cream on his face. He added, "with Bianca."
Liz perked up at this. "Bianca? As in... your ex-wife, Bianca?" Her stomach somersaulted without her conscious consent.
"The one and only," he affirmed, patting his face with aftershave and wincing when he was done.
Liz smirked ever-so-briefly at seeing this and wordlessly grabbed his face, blowing cool air on it gently. So concentrated was she on her task, she took no notice of Jack's eyes on her the entire time... until he touched her wrists.
"Is that okay?"
"Is what okay?" She met his eyes and tried not to suck in her breath too loudly as his thumbs stroked the underside of her wrists.
He lifted his head out of her grasp, but still kept hold of her wrists, and her gaze. "That I'm meeting with Bianca."
Her mouth opened and closed on unformed words briefly, surprised he was almost... asking her permission. "Of-of course," she stammered in return.
"It's only to settle our dispute over that Arby's franchise. Nothing more."
Liz had to chuckle, just a little bit. And he still hadn't let go of her wrists. What the hell? "Jack, it's fine. Why would you even need to check?"
"Like I said, Lemon, I'm treating this like a real marriage. And I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable with that, or... jealous in any way."
She studied him carefully. Did he want her to be jealous? "It's fine," she repeated, just because she didn't trust herself to say anything else. Why was he still looking at her like that? Like she... controlled his universe or something?
Jack flicked a smile, then, and stroked the underside of her wrists once more before letting her go. "Well... good then."
Liz, once again inwardly reliving the morning after the wedding, kind of was expecting a kiss. She kind of wanted to ask for one. And then she kind of wanted to check herself into a mental institution, because seriously... what the hell?
Jack, possibly reading her thoughts, smiled briefly and patted her hip. He then pecked her forehead affectionately and brushed past her, sliding his hand across her stomach as he went. Liz watched him go into his room to change and decided that work might be exactly what she needed to take her mind off her fastly-detereorating mental health.
*****
"Liz! Oh my God, you're back!" Jenna gushed as a greeting, following Liz into her office.
Liz practically had her bones crushed by the force of Jenna's hug, and hugged her back only briefly before Jenna pulled away to ask, "What did you bring me from Hawaii?"
Liz smiled facetiously. "Good to be back, thank you," she quipped, and then replied, "I bought you a couple cute sarongs I saw, but they're back at the penthouse. I forgot them."
"Oh." Jenna pouted. "Fine then, I see how it is."
"Sorry Jenna," Liz sighed. "I've had a lot of stuff on my mind."
Jenna immediately brightened. "You mean, like... Jack?"
Liz kinda wished she was still in Hawaii. The Hawaiians didn't needle her endlessly about Jack. "Jenna, just... cool it with that stuff, okay? A lot of stuff is going on... yes, with Jack... that I'm trying to make sense of."
"Oh, please. This has gone on way too long. You know what it's time for now?"
Liz raised her eyebrows. "A frontal lobotomy?"
Jenna wrinkled her nose. "Ew. No. It's time..." she grinned, "for you and Jack to have some sex! Unless..." She quirked one eyebrow. "Did you guys do it already?"
"No!" Liz hissed, indignant. "Of course not!"
Jenna shrugged innocently. "Well, it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility. You guys are husband and wife now."
"Well we haven't had sex."
"Yet," Jenna chimed in. "And I think it's time."
"Jenna, no."
"Think about it, Liz! If you guys have sex and it's awful... then the answer will be simple that it wasn't meant to be, so you won't have to question whether or not something's there."
"That's not what I'm afraid of, though," Liz blurted, and immediately squinted her eyes shut, damning herself for saying anything.
Jenna caught on immediately, raising her eyebrows. "You're afraid it's going to be really good, aren't you? Because then that means there is something there."
"I just think this would be simpler if sex was left out of the equation. Jack said I won't have long to wait before this whole thing is over, anyway! I think he's got a meeting with Geiss at the end of the week about the microwaves."
Jenna clapped her hands together. "Perfect time to do this, then. I'll run to Victoria's Secret for you on my lunch break. You are going to seduce Jack!"
"Jenna..." This had disaster written all over it. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach. Or maybe that was something else. Were the butterflies back? Dammit, they were. "Jenna, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to pick out a sexy -- not slutty, mind you, sexy -- nightie, and you are going to wear it when you seduce Jack."
"Okay, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop using the words 'seduce' and 'Jack' in the same sentence." She drew in a breath.
"For now, go talk to Jack and make a plan for tonight."
"I can't, he's in a meeting with Bianca."
Jenna's eyes widened. "Crazy Bianca? His ex-wife?"
"Yeah." Liz bit down on her lip softly. "I kinda wanna go up there and see what's going on."
Jenna grinned. "Jealous?"
Liz rolled her eyes and decided now was the best time to brush past Jenna and leave her in her office. On her way out of the writer's room, she heard Jenna calling, "I'll leave the Victoria's Secret bag in your office when I get back!"
She hoped Jenna would remember to leave the receipt too.
Seducing Jack, she scoffed. What an idea. Completely preposterous and outlandish and insane, and... a million other adjectives. It was so not going to happen.
Even if the idea did give her butterflies.
*****
The elevator dinged cheerfully at Liz when she stepped off on Jack's floor, smiling a greeting at Jonathan. Predictably, he swooped in and blocked her way to the door. "Mrs. Donaghy, I'm sorry, but you cannot go in there. Mr. Donaghy is having a meeting with the former Mrs. Donaghy."
Liz shook her head slightly. "Wow. Jonathan, that was a whole lotta Donaghy's in one sentence."
"He's in there with Bianca and he asked not to be disturbed."
Liz frowned at that, something about the statement getting her hackles up. "What? Why?"
Jonathan shrugged. "I don't know. I know that they're settling a dispute, but normally he likes to leave the doors open for that. He likes it when other people can hear him winning an argument. But... not this time. He asked for privacy."
Liz wasn't sure she liked that idea, and then promptly wondered why it mattered. She twisted her engagement ring and wedding band (which Jack had had welded together -- a move that she thought was way too permanent), and tried to peek over Jonathan's shoulder at the closed double doors of Jack's office... as if they would give her some clue as to what was happening inside. "Well... okay, fine. Then, can you go get me some water?"
"Sure, Mrs. Donaghy."
"And a Chai Tea from the coffee shop downstairs?" she added, figuring that would buy her a little bit more time.
Jonathan nodded with a dutiful, "Yes, Mrs. Donaghy," and set off on his mission.
Liz waited until he was around the corner and out of sight before tiptoeing toward the door. As she got closer and closer, she was able to hear voices clearer and clearer. Jack's was the first one she heard.
"This is not going to work, Bianca."
And then Bianca. "Johnny, you can't be serious. You're actually giving up everything for... for her?"
"I'm not giving up everything, Bianca, I'm giving up the Telluride Arby's franchise."
"But you were so adamant about getting that in our divorce. Now you're just tossing it at me like a piece of garbage?"
"I no longer want any ties to you, Bianca. If you keep the Arby's franchise, you keep your precious Beef n' Cheddars, which is what you wanted... right?"
"I wanted you to treat the franchise how I would've treated it. That's how this whole thing started in the first place, you remember? You were going to shut it down, open it up to let nature tear it apart."
"And I think we both know why I did that."
"Yes, Johnny! To keep me close. Which, I will admit, is what I wanted, too. The longer we dispute this, the longer we can still..."
"Stop it, Bianca, it's not going to happen."
"You're telling me that she is enough for you, Johnny? Elizabeth?"
Liz's ears perked up at the sound of her own name, and she twisted the knob on one of the doors carefully, opening it a crack to see inside. She saw Jack pacing by the desk, and saw Bianca following him closely. Too closely. Unconsciously, Liz gripped the doorknob white-knuckled.
"You and I should not be around each other anymore, Bianca. You know that as well as I do. This isn't a dignified way for us to behave. We have to get out of each other's lives."
"And I suppose she told you this."
"She did, actually. And I'm finally taking her advice. I'm making a clean break."
"For her. What is it you see in her, Johnny?"
Liz opened the door just a little bit wider, and her mouth dropped open when she saw Bianca step right up to Jack, toe-to-toe with him. "You can't tell me what you have with her is better than what we had."
"Liz and I are not spiteful with each other, like you and I were. And honestly? I don't know what I see in her. I mean, she's a terrible dresser..."
Liz frowned and glanced down at her outfit -- her favorite black dress. The V in front scooped just low enough, and the waist was just high enough, to give her a great figure. Jack had checked her out many times in that dress, so it couldn't be that awful.
"She's got the eating habits of a preschooler and she doesn't see the appeal of 'Meerkat Manor' like I do. She has questionable taste in shoes, and sometimes accidentally dates relatives. She's far too intelligent for her own good and uses that intelligence as a weapon to ward off male attention. She's the opposite of everything I always thought a woman should be like, and that's why part of me will never understand my attraction to her."
Liz sucked in her breath. Sure, Jack had checked her out, danced with her, held her close and kissed her, but... him saying he was actually attracted to her was downright shocking.
"But in that same respect, that's exactly why I am endlessly fascinated with her. I have a daily need to try to make sense of her, to try to understand her. Not that I think I ever will, but maybe that's a good thing."
Liz watched Bianca roll her eyes. "Johnny, now you're babbling. Let's just end this meeting."
But "Johnny" wasn't listening to her. For some reason, he'd gone off in his own little world... a world where -- this thought made Liz gasp -- she was the absolute center. "I've made improvements to her life just as she's made improvements to mine. Granted, I've made far bigger improvements to hers..."
Liz made a face, unsure of whether she wanted to kiss him or kick him, and opened the door just a little wider.
"We better each other. I can't make decisions when she's not around, and when I'm not around she has food in her hair."
Liz double-checked her hair. No lettuce.
"And there are a million reasons why, whenever she's near, I should run screaming in the other direction, but... there's only one reason I know of that makes me stay. I've somehow--"
Jack turned then, and caught sight of her in the doorway. Liz was certain she looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she straightened up, and Jack finished his train of thought.
"--fallen in love with her."
Liz gasped, certain the butterflies in her stomach were going to come bursting out at any moment. Bianca noticed her presence, too, and was now looking between her and Jack curiously.
Jack approached her slowly, holding her gaze, as Liz opened the door fully and stood against it. She was almost flattened against it in shock, really.
Bianca took this as her cue to leave. "Well, then sign the papers, Johnny, and I'll have my lawyer pick them up in the morning. I'll take the Arby's off your hands." She nodded to Liz cordially. "Nice to see you again, Elizabeth. Goodbye."
Jack and Liz just stared at each other until Bianca was out of sight. Jonathan reappeared at her side, then, holding her water and Chai Tea and looking highly irritated. "I told you not to go in there!"
She really should've listened. Her stomach wouldn't be hovering in the vicinity of her feet right now if she'd listened.
Looking right at her and ignoring his assistant, Jack told her, "I love you, Liz. I've fallen in love with you."
Then, he brushed past her, looking ashamed of himself. His hand glided across her stomach in its usual fashion, and he whispered, "I'm so sorry," before he exited his office and rounded the corner, leaving Liz holding her water and Chai Tea, staring slack-jawed at his empty office.
Yep. She definitely should've listened.
TBC
{x-posted to 30_rock and jack_liz}