FIC- GH: The Next Generation (Jake, Jake/Lana) 1/1
Oh, sweet, sweet internet. My one, my only, my darling, don't ever leave me again.
Well, first thing's first. Birthday fic for empressearwig, Jake and Lana, the darlings of the TNG-verse. I've never tackled them before and they're quite lovely.
Title: A Long December
Rating: g
Word Count: 1,246
Summary: I guess the winter makes you laugh a little lower, makes you talk a little slower about the things you could not show her….
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Author's Note: Part of empressearwig's awesome TNG 'verse, and a belated birthday present for her!
There’s something hugely wrong with listening to Christmas carols and looking out the window to see palm trees.
So far, it had been a really crummy Christmas. After the rush of studying for his finals, sleepless nights, surviving on caffeine and nachos, his dorm emptied out and Jake was alone for the holidays, for the first time ever. It was his own fault, really, there was no reason he couldn’t have gone home, even on Christmas Eve, Nikolas had given each of them ‘emergency’ black American Expresses for a reason, and chartering a private plane to get home seemed as good an emergency as any. Both his father and stepfather had hit the roof when he’d said he wouldn’t be coming home for winter break this year, both little sisters had pleaded with him on the phone. He could practically see the fat crocodile tears from three thousand miles away. Cameron had tried, and even Spencer, in his own way, expressed his disappointment and hurt that Jake had chosen sun and fun in L.A. over Port Charles and family.
Only his mom didn’t try to persuade him to come home, and Jake knew that she was the saddest of all. It was something unspoken between himself and his siblings, and although each was special to her, Jake was Elizabeth’s favorite. He thought it might have been because he was the child that she shared with his father. Cameron was her first baby, and their mother was fiercely protective of him, even though he was now six-foot-two and broad-shouldered, and Spencer was her lost lamb, perhaps the child she worried about the most. Audrey was the strong, beautiful daughter she had longed for forever, but Jake, he was the child she had dreamed of when she was sixteen and in love for the first time, with the bravest, most wonderful boy she ever knew.
Jake wondered if she saw that boy when she looked at him.
But no amount of his sisters tears, no blustering and yelling from either of his fathers, no bribes from his stepmother or his mother’s stoic silence could convince him to go home. He’d gotten a taste of what Christmas without Lana was like last year and he was not anxious to repeat it.
Falling in love with Lana wasn’t like Cameron locking his eyes on Molly when he was seven and never looking away, or Spencer with his wild obsession with Lila Alcazar. Lana was his best friend. No one could make him laugh like she did, with her funny, sweet way of looking at life, her smile- he lived for it. She was the smartest person he knew, she could make sense of anything. And it seemed like what God took away from her in her tiny stature, he more than made up for with her huge personality. Lana had been the ‘boss’, the leader of their little group since they were kids. Oh, he loved her.
He thought he was doing the right thing, breaking up with her when he left for college. They were both so young, they needed to experience life, and they were heading in two opposite directions- two clear opposite sides of the country, in fact. He didn’t want her tied down like that, and he wanted it to be fair for everyone. He knew she’d be upset, but he’d been unprepared for the way she’d burst into tears and cried that he was making the biggest mistake of their lives, and she hated him, she never would speak to him again. And then she kissed him with all she was worth and ran away.
And when he’d gone home for Christmas break last year, every time he looked at her, his lips burned with that kiss.
Oh, he loved her.
And he just could not go through that again. He knew she was dating someone else. Spencer had told him, on one of their transatlantic skype sessions. While Cameron stayed supportively neutral throughout their break-up, his other brother was more vocal about his disapproval. When Spencer and Jake were little, they were jokingly called twins, because they were the same age, even though they couldn’t have been less alike, in looks or manner. Spencer and Lana were never particularly good friends (Spencer wasn’t really particularly good friends with anyone, though, except maybe his cousin Morgan), but he did seem to agree with her that Jake made the biggest mistake of his life by breaking up with her.
“You’ve got a gorgeous little girl who’s crazy about you and you love her with all your heart, and you don’t want to be with her…why?” It was more or less the sentiment that carried all of their conversations about Lana.
So, here he was, Christmas Eve and eighty-five degrees out, driving around Los Angeles with a Big Mac for supper.
Stopping at a light, he could see up ahead St. Vincent’s Hospital. They had a flashing marquee proclaiming ANNUAL CHRISTMAS EVE CHILDRENS WARD PARTY in flashing red and green like at a movie premiere. Jake chuckled to himself. Nothing happened in LA without a show.
He pressed his foot to the gas as the light turned green, and thought ruefully to himself. He couldn’t recreate the family Christmas tree at Wyndemere or his dad’s homemade egg nogg. He couldn’t recreate the smell of his mother’s cookies baking or Spencer and Cameron good-naturedly arguing over the dinner table. He couldn’t recreate Lana’s sweet face, pretty with the glow of anticipation, waiting under the mistletoe for him. But Christmas always started with the children’s party at General Hospital, and in this, it seemed that fate was throwing him a bone.
He drove around until he saw an open drugstore and bought matchbox cars, coloring books, and plastic baby dolls and wrapped them right there at the counter. There was no one else in the store and the clerk seemed bored and even offered to help wrap.
When he stepped out of the elevator at St. Vincent’s, he didn’t expect it to be exactly like General Hospital, but it was sure close enough. A friendly nurse in a Santa’s hat took the presents he brought with him- nobody asked who he came with or anything, it seemed all were welcome- and pointed him in the direction of the food and candy. Teenagers helped hand out presents to the little kids, and young girls skipped around the room in funny little elf costumes that looked so similar to the ones the girls always wore at General Hospital, that he was tempted to find out if they were bought from the same retailer where his Grandma Audrey had found the hospital costumes all those years ago.
Best of all, of course, were the children. Some were so frail-looking, cradled on the laps of their parents, and they all were sicker than any child should be on Christmas, but the wonder, the joy in their eyes was purely life-affirming. For all he’d been feeling sorry for himself earlier, he knew he had a lot to be thankful for.
After the Christmas story had been read (and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that it was his stepfather reading the old story, rather than the kind-eyed doctor in front of him), Jake ducked into a quiet corner and flipped open his cell phone, dialing a familiar number.
“Hello?” Musical, feminine voice, tinged with happiness he could feel.
“Merry Christmas, Lana.”
Well, first thing's first. Birthday fic for empressearwig, Jake and Lana, the darlings of the TNG-verse. I've never tackled them before and they're quite lovely.
Title: A Long December
Rating: g
Word Count: 1,246
Summary: I guess the winter makes you laugh a little lower, makes you talk a little slower about the things you could not show her….
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Author's Note: Part of empressearwig's awesome TNG 'verse, and a belated birthday present for her!
There’s something hugely wrong with listening to Christmas carols and looking out the window to see palm trees.
So far, it had been a really crummy Christmas. After the rush of studying for his finals, sleepless nights, surviving on caffeine and nachos, his dorm emptied out and Jake was alone for the holidays, for the first time ever. It was his own fault, really, there was no reason he couldn’t have gone home, even on Christmas Eve, Nikolas had given each of them ‘emergency’ black American Expresses for a reason, and chartering a private plane to get home seemed as good an emergency as any. Both his father and stepfather had hit the roof when he’d said he wouldn’t be coming home for winter break this year, both little sisters had pleaded with him on the phone. He could practically see the fat crocodile tears from three thousand miles away. Cameron had tried, and even Spencer, in his own way, expressed his disappointment and hurt that Jake had chosen sun and fun in L.A. over Port Charles and family.
Only his mom didn’t try to persuade him to come home, and Jake knew that she was the saddest of all. It was something unspoken between himself and his siblings, and although each was special to her, Jake was Elizabeth’s favorite. He thought it might have been because he was the child that she shared with his father. Cameron was her first baby, and their mother was fiercely protective of him, even though he was now six-foot-two and broad-shouldered, and Spencer was her lost lamb, perhaps the child she worried about the most. Audrey was the strong, beautiful daughter she had longed for forever, but Jake, he was the child she had dreamed of when she was sixteen and in love for the first time, with the bravest, most wonderful boy she ever knew.
Jake wondered if she saw that boy when she looked at him.
But no amount of his sisters tears, no blustering and yelling from either of his fathers, no bribes from his stepmother or his mother’s stoic silence could convince him to go home. He’d gotten a taste of what Christmas without Lana was like last year and he was not anxious to repeat it.
Falling in love with Lana wasn’t like Cameron locking his eyes on Molly when he was seven and never looking away, or Spencer with his wild obsession with Lila Alcazar. Lana was his best friend. No one could make him laugh like she did, with her funny, sweet way of looking at life, her smile- he lived for it. She was the smartest person he knew, she could make sense of anything. And it seemed like what God took away from her in her tiny stature, he more than made up for with her huge personality. Lana had been the ‘boss’, the leader of their little group since they were kids. Oh, he loved her.
He thought he was doing the right thing, breaking up with her when he left for college. They were both so young, they needed to experience life, and they were heading in two opposite directions- two clear opposite sides of the country, in fact. He didn’t want her tied down like that, and he wanted it to be fair for everyone. He knew she’d be upset, but he’d been unprepared for the way she’d burst into tears and cried that he was making the biggest mistake of their lives, and she hated him, she never would speak to him again. And then she kissed him with all she was worth and ran away.
And when he’d gone home for Christmas break last year, every time he looked at her, his lips burned with that kiss.
Oh, he loved her.
And he just could not go through that again. He knew she was dating someone else. Spencer had told him, on one of their transatlantic skype sessions. While Cameron stayed supportively neutral throughout their break-up, his other brother was more vocal about his disapproval. When Spencer and Jake were little, they were jokingly called twins, because they were the same age, even though they couldn’t have been less alike, in looks or manner. Spencer and Lana were never particularly good friends (Spencer wasn’t really particularly good friends with anyone, though, except maybe his cousin Morgan), but he did seem to agree with her that Jake made the biggest mistake of his life by breaking up with her.
“You’ve got a gorgeous little girl who’s crazy about you and you love her with all your heart, and you don’t want to be with her…why?” It was more or less the sentiment that carried all of their conversations about Lana.
So, here he was, Christmas Eve and eighty-five degrees out, driving around Los Angeles with a Big Mac for supper.
Stopping at a light, he could see up ahead St. Vincent’s Hospital. They had a flashing marquee proclaiming ANNUAL CHRISTMAS EVE CHILDRENS WARD PARTY in flashing red and green like at a movie premiere. Jake chuckled to himself. Nothing happened in LA without a show.
He pressed his foot to the gas as the light turned green, and thought ruefully to himself. He couldn’t recreate the family Christmas tree at Wyndemere or his dad’s homemade egg nogg. He couldn’t recreate the smell of his mother’s cookies baking or Spencer and Cameron good-naturedly arguing over the dinner table. He couldn’t recreate Lana’s sweet face, pretty with the glow of anticipation, waiting under the mistletoe for him. But Christmas always started with the children’s party at General Hospital, and in this, it seemed that fate was throwing him a bone.
He drove around until he saw an open drugstore and bought matchbox cars, coloring books, and plastic baby dolls and wrapped them right there at the counter. There was no one else in the store and the clerk seemed bored and even offered to help wrap.
When he stepped out of the elevator at St. Vincent’s, he didn’t expect it to be exactly like General Hospital, but it was sure close enough. A friendly nurse in a Santa’s hat took the presents he brought with him- nobody asked who he came with or anything, it seemed all were welcome- and pointed him in the direction of the food and candy. Teenagers helped hand out presents to the little kids, and young girls skipped around the room in funny little elf costumes that looked so similar to the ones the girls always wore at General Hospital, that he was tempted to find out if they were bought from the same retailer where his Grandma Audrey had found the hospital costumes all those years ago.
Best of all, of course, were the children. Some were so frail-looking, cradled on the laps of their parents, and they all were sicker than any child should be on Christmas, but the wonder, the joy in their eyes was purely life-affirming. For all he’d been feeling sorry for himself earlier, he knew he had a lot to be thankful for.
After the Christmas story had been read (and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that it was his stepfather reading the old story, rather than the kind-eyed doctor in front of him), Jake ducked into a quiet corner and flipped open his cell phone, dialing a familiar number.
“Hello?” Musical, feminine voice, tinged with happiness he could feel.
“Merry Christmas, Lana.”