fic: still crazy after all these years (the nanny did it remix)
Title: still crazy after all these years (the nanny did it remix)
Author: empressearwig
Characters: Jack Hodgins, OFC
Summary: Jack’s earliest memory is of Donna, his nanny.
Spoilers: To be safe, all aired episodes.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1192
Link to the original work: still crazy after all these years by torigates
Author's Notes: Thanks to cashewdani and normative_jean for reassuring me that this was okay. And fixing my mistakes.
When Donna was eighteen years old, she married the love of her life, a tall, beautiful boy named Bobby Taylor. On their wedding day, she was full of hope and dreams of what their life together would be like. She learned very quickly that reality was nothing like dreams. At twenty, she watched Bobby enlist in the Army, and six months later he was sent to Vietnam. She kissed him goodbye and tried to smile, but somehow she knew that it would be the last time she ever saw him.
Less than nine months later, there was a uniformed officer standing on her front steps, telegram in hand and pity in his eyes.
Her dreams had died two days before, in a jungle an ocean away. She invited the officer inside and she did not cry.
She never cried again.
***
Donna went to work as a nanny out of necessity, not a passion for raising other people's children. She had wanted her own children, true, but that would have been different. They would have been hers, hers and Bobby's, and she would have given them all the love in her heart. After Bobby's death, there wasn't any love leftover for anyone else.
She interviewed with an agency and the first thing they told her was that she looked too young, too easy to take advantage of. She didn't get the job. When she got another interview, she scrapped her hair back into the harshest bun that she could and put on a pair of glasses she didn't need, and this time she was hired on the spot.
The first family that she worked for had two children, John and Meg, and they were spoiled brats. John threw a tantrum every night before he was put to bed and the first time Donna saw him behave that way, she gave him a good, hard spanking. She wouldn't be taken advantage of by a four year old.
But his parents were horrified and Mrs. Montgomery said, "Never do that again. We don't believe in spankings," and so Donna was forced to come up with other ways to punish John. The one she used most, the one John hated the most, was being forced to stand, nose to the wall, hands behind his back, not moving a muscle.
She worked for the Montgomery's for six years, until John was ten years old and his sister, Meg, was eight. When she left them, Donna didn't feel the slightest bit of regret. She moved on to the next family without looking back.
***
It was 1976 when Donna went to work for the Hodgins family, and her new charge, Jack, was just two years old. By then she had seen all types of parents -- the hyper involved ones and the ones that pretended to care and the ones that didn't pretend at all, but she had never quite seen parents like Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins.
Even the most disinterested parents could name their childrens' ages, usually to the day, but when Donna asked at her interview, Mrs. Hodgins just waved her hand and said, "About two? I'm really not sure."
It made Donna apprehensive, but she took the job anyway. The Hodgins were offering more money than she'd ever been paid before and while she didn't like to think she was a greedy woman, the money was nice.
The first time she met Jack, he was playing in the mud, digging into with a look of absolute concentration on his face.
"Oh dear," said the housekeeper, Mrs. Bates, from beside her. "I'm terribly sorry about this. Jack!" she called out, raising her voice. "This is your new nanny, Mrs. Taylor."
"Donna," she corrected. Even after all these years, she didn't like the reminder of her husband's name. It was a hurt that would never completely heal.
"Donna," Mrs. Bates repeated. "Well, that's certainly different. Jack, come and say hello."
Obediently the boy rose and toddled over to them, and Donna got her first proper look at her newest charge. Unruly curls that looked like they'd never seen a com. Bright, intelligent eyes. And mud everywhere, covering him from head to toe. "Well," she said, schooling her face into the no nonsense expression that was hardly any effort any longer, "we're going to have to get you cleaned up."
Jack frowned, and Donna braced herself for a tears or a tantrum or both.
"Now," she said, and to her surprise, he did neither. He held out his hand and she took it, gingerly. Hand in hand, they walked back to the house and up to the nursery.
She helped him strip off his clothes and put him into the bathtub, keeping a watchful eye as he splashed in the water. The first thing they were going to have to do, she decided, was make it clear that there was to be no more digging in the dirt.
It was a rule that was doomed to failure from its very conception. Donna just didn't know it yet.
***
By the time Jack was five years old, Donna was certain of three things:
1. Jack Hodgins was smarter than any other child she'd ever looked after, and far too smart for his own good.
2. His parents were the worst of any she'd ever seen.
3. If any child was ever going to tempt her to abandon her cardinal rules of being a nanny, do not get attached and never forget that you are not their parent, it was going to be Jack.
Knowing that, only made Donna more determined not to let it happen. It wasn't that she was heartless -- she could see, every day, how much Jack just wanted to be loved. But he wasn't -- would never be -- hers, and she was never going to let herself get hurt like she had been when Bobby died ever again.
Donna wanted to love Jack. She knew that she couldn't.
But Donna did her best by him, in the only way she knew how. She taught him manners and how to behave. She helped him with his homework and took him to science museums as a reward when he did well in school. She kept him away from his parents so that they couldn't disappoint him.
Of course, they disappointed him anyway.
***
Jack was ten years old when his parents decided to send him to boarding school. Donna was given a large severance check and a stellar reference. When it came time to say goodbye to Jack, the boy held out his hand, and said solemnly, "Goodbye, Donna."
She ignored the hand and did something that surprised them both; she took the boy in her arms and she hugged him. Her eyes were damp when she stepped back, but there was no evidence of it in her voice when she spoke. "Goodbye, Jack," she said. "Be good."
And then, as she'd always done, she started to leave. Only this time, Donna looked back.
Jack stood there, alone, surprise still written all over his face. He saw her looking at him, and he raised his hand to wave goodbye. Donna waved back.
She walked out the door. She never forgot the sight of his face.
Author: empressearwig
Characters: Jack Hodgins, OFC
Summary: Jack’s earliest memory is of Donna, his nanny.
Spoilers: To be safe, all aired episodes.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1192
Link to the original work: still crazy after all these years by torigates
Author's Notes: Thanks to cashewdani and normative_jean for reassuring me that this was okay. And fixing my mistakes.
When Donna was eighteen years old, she married the love of her life, a tall, beautiful boy named Bobby Taylor. On their wedding day, she was full of hope and dreams of what their life together would be like. She learned very quickly that reality was nothing like dreams. At twenty, she watched Bobby enlist in the Army, and six months later he was sent to Vietnam. She kissed him goodbye and tried to smile, but somehow she knew that it would be the last time she ever saw him.
Less than nine months later, there was a uniformed officer standing on her front steps, telegram in hand and pity in his eyes.
Her dreams had died two days before, in a jungle an ocean away. She invited the officer inside and she did not cry.
She never cried again.
***
Donna went to work as a nanny out of necessity, not a passion for raising other people's children. She had wanted her own children, true, but that would have been different. They would have been hers, hers and Bobby's, and she would have given them all the love in her heart. After Bobby's death, there wasn't any love leftover for anyone else.
She interviewed with an agency and the first thing they told her was that she looked too young, too easy to take advantage of. She didn't get the job. When she got another interview, she scrapped her hair back into the harshest bun that she could and put on a pair of glasses she didn't need, and this time she was hired on the spot.
The first family that she worked for had two children, John and Meg, and they were spoiled brats. John threw a tantrum every night before he was put to bed and the first time Donna saw him behave that way, she gave him a good, hard spanking. She wouldn't be taken advantage of by a four year old.
But his parents were horrified and Mrs. Montgomery said, "Never do that again. We don't believe in spankings," and so Donna was forced to come up with other ways to punish John. The one she used most, the one John hated the most, was being forced to stand, nose to the wall, hands behind his back, not moving a muscle.
She worked for the Montgomery's for six years, until John was ten years old and his sister, Meg, was eight. When she left them, Donna didn't feel the slightest bit of regret. She moved on to the next family without looking back.
***
It was 1976 when Donna went to work for the Hodgins family, and her new charge, Jack, was just two years old. By then she had seen all types of parents -- the hyper involved ones and the ones that pretended to care and the ones that didn't pretend at all, but she had never quite seen parents like Mr. and Mrs. Hodgins.
Even the most disinterested parents could name their childrens' ages, usually to the day, but when Donna asked at her interview, Mrs. Hodgins just waved her hand and said, "About two? I'm really not sure."
It made Donna apprehensive, but she took the job anyway. The Hodgins were offering more money than she'd ever been paid before and while she didn't like to think she was a greedy woman, the money was nice.
The first time she met Jack, he was playing in the mud, digging into with a look of absolute concentration on his face.
"Oh dear," said the housekeeper, Mrs. Bates, from beside her. "I'm terribly sorry about this. Jack!" she called out, raising her voice. "This is your new nanny, Mrs. Taylor."
"Donna," she corrected. Even after all these years, she didn't like the reminder of her husband's name. It was a hurt that would never completely heal.
"Donna," Mrs. Bates repeated. "Well, that's certainly different. Jack, come and say hello."
Obediently the boy rose and toddled over to them, and Donna got her first proper look at her newest charge. Unruly curls that looked like they'd never seen a com. Bright, intelligent eyes. And mud everywhere, covering him from head to toe. "Well," she said, schooling her face into the no nonsense expression that was hardly any effort any longer, "we're going to have to get you cleaned up."
Jack frowned, and Donna braced herself for a tears or a tantrum or both.
"Now," she said, and to her surprise, he did neither. He held out his hand and she took it, gingerly. Hand in hand, they walked back to the house and up to the nursery.
She helped him strip off his clothes and put him into the bathtub, keeping a watchful eye as he splashed in the water. The first thing they were going to have to do, she decided, was make it clear that there was to be no more digging in the dirt.
It was a rule that was doomed to failure from its very conception. Donna just didn't know it yet.
***
By the time Jack was five years old, Donna was certain of three things:
1. Jack Hodgins was smarter than any other child she'd ever looked after, and far too smart for his own good.
2. His parents were the worst of any she'd ever seen.
3. If any child was ever going to tempt her to abandon her cardinal rules of being a nanny, do not get attached and never forget that you are not their parent, it was going to be Jack.
Knowing that, only made Donna more determined not to let it happen. It wasn't that she was heartless -- she could see, every day, how much Jack just wanted to be loved. But he wasn't -- would never be -- hers, and she was never going to let herself get hurt like she had been when Bobby died ever again.
Donna wanted to love Jack. She knew that she couldn't.
But Donna did her best by him, in the only way she knew how. She taught him manners and how to behave. She helped him with his homework and took him to science museums as a reward when he did well in school. She kept him away from his parents so that they couldn't disappoint him.
Of course, they disappointed him anyway.
***
Jack was ten years old when his parents decided to send him to boarding school. Donna was given a large severance check and a stellar reference. When it came time to say goodbye to Jack, the boy held out his hand, and said solemnly, "Goodbye, Donna."
She ignored the hand and did something that surprised them both; she took the boy in her arms and she hugged him. Her eyes were damp when she stepped back, but there was no evidence of it in her voice when she spoke. "Goodbye, Jack," she said. "Be good."
And then, as she'd always done, she started to leave. Only this time, Donna looked back.
Jack stood there, alone, surprise still written all over his face. He saw her looking at him, and he raised his hand to wave goodbye. Donna waved back.
She walked out the door. She never forgot the sight of his face.