Fic: From the Perspective of
Title: From the Perspective of
Fandom: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Pairing: If you must, Hallie/Jordan... but not really...
Rating: G.
Words: 661.
Author’s Notes/Disclaimer: Characters aren’t mine - except for Jamie.
For wizened_cynic.
I suck because I couldn't keep it to a drabble.
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It’s Jamie’s fifth birthday when Hallie leaves.
He’s full of cake and faded laughter, and he’s so tired he could sleep forever.
What keeps him up is the loud shouting downstairs, and usually he puts up with it because he knows they think he’s sleeping and can’t hear them. He’s also a little bit scared of telling them to be quiet because they usually sound very angry, and Jamie doesn’t like being yelled at because it makes him red in the face and his nose and eyes get leaky. Only girls cry, and even though there’s another girl in his class named Jamie, Jamie McDeere is not a girl. Besides, his real name is James, and that’s definitely not a girl name.
But tonight he’s less afraid, because it’s his birthday - and his mommy’s always told him that good boys get what they want on their birthdays. He’s been good all year just for that reason, and even though he’s already got presents from Hallie and his mommy, he thinks that maybe he can ask for one more thing, because it’s just one little thing that even the three-year-olds at his school can do. And Hallie and his mommy are grown-ups, and they’re both very smart, and Jamie thinks they’ll be able to do it.
So he slides out of his bed and onto the floor, then tiptoes out of his bedroom and onto the stairwell that overlooks the foyer. He takes a deep breath and starts to open his mouth, summoning the remaining wisps of strength left over from this tiring, wonderful day, but then Hallie leaves, slamming the door shut behind her.
This has never happened before. Jamie is so stunned he forgets he was just about to yell at them. Instead his mouth is hanging open, the shout stuck in his throat.
He turns around and stomps back to his room, slamming the door loudly behind him.
A few minutes later, his mommy is knocking on his door, but he refuses to answer except for a hostile, “Go away!”
She comes in anyway, and Jamie buries himself deeper under the covers.
He feels the side of his bed sink to accommodate the weight of his mommy, and he turns away from her.
He doesn’t know why, but he’s very, very angry.
“Go away,” he murmurs, his face in his pillow.
He hears his mommy sigh, and he feels her hands play with his hair. He lets her, because it feels good, and suddenly his anger gives way to sadness. He feels like he’s done this before, and maybe he has, because he always gets this way whenever his mommy and Hallie have a fight.
“Where’s Hallie?” he asks after a few minutes of silence, just as his mommy thinks he’s about to drift off to sleep.
His mommy doesn’t lie to him a lot, except that time when she told him it was vanilla ice cream when it was really banana. He didn’t like that. This time, when she answers, Jamie isn’t sure whether she’s lying or not, but either way he doesn’t like it. Because what she says is, “Hallie is going away for a while.”
Jamie sniffs. “When is she coming back?”
It’s dark in his room except for the light from the hallway, and Jamie can’t really see his mommy’s face, but he can tell by the pause that she’s sad, too. He knows she’s sad because Hallie left, and that makes him an infinity times sadder.
“I don’t know, Jamie,” says Jamie’s mommy.
When his breathing gets heavy, she kisses him on the cheek and says good night before she leaves the room, shutting the door and taking with her the last sliver of light.
“Good night, mommy,” he whispers after she leaves, and buries his head in his pillow again, thinking that maybe when he got up in the morning, Hallie would be back, and everything would be okay again. “Good night, Hallie.”
- - - - - - -
Fandom: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Pairing: If you must, Hallie/Jordan... but not really...
Rating: G.
Words: 661.
Author’s Notes/Disclaimer: Characters aren’t mine - except for Jamie.
For wizened_cynic.
I suck because I couldn't keep it to a drabble.
- - - - - - -
It’s Jamie’s fifth birthday when Hallie leaves.
He’s full of cake and faded laughter, and he’s so tired he could sleep forever.
What keeps him up is the loud shouting downstairs, and usually he puts up with it because he knows they think he’s sleeping and can’t hear them. He’s also a little bit scared of telling them to be quiet because they usually sound very angry, and Jamie doesn’t like being yelled at because it makes him red in the face and his nose and eyes get leaky. Only girls cry, and even though there’s another girl in his class named Jamie, Jamie McDeere is not a girl. Besides, his real name is James, and that’s definitely not a girl name.
But tonight he’s less afraid, because it’s his birthday - and his mommy’s always told him that good boys get what they want on their birthdays. He’s been good all year just for that reason, and even though he’s already got presents from Hallie and his mommy, he thinks that maybe he can ask for one more thing, because it’s just one little thing that even the three-year-olds at his school can do. And Hallie and his mommy are grown-ups, and they’re both very smart, and Jamie thinks they’ll be able to do it.
So he slides out of his bed and onto the floor, then tiptoes out of his bedroom and onto the stairwell that overlooks the foyer. He takes a deep breath and starts to open his mouth, summoning the remaining wisps of strength left over from this tiring, wonderful day, but then Hallie leaves, slamming the door shut behind her.
This has never happened before. Jamie is so stunned he forgets he was just about to yell at them. Instead his mouth is hanging open, the shout stuck in his throat.
He turns around and stomps back to his room, slamming the door loudly behind him.
A few minutes later, his mommy is knocking on his door, but he refuses to answer except for a hostile, “Go away!”
She comes in anyway, and Jamie buries himself deeper under the covers.
He feels the side of his bed sink to accommodate the weight of his mommy, and he turns away from her.
He doesn’t know why, but he’s very, very angry.
“Go away,” he murmurs, his face in his pillow.
He hears his mommy sigh, and he feels her hands play with his hair. He lets her, because it feels good, and suddenly his anger gives way to sadness. He feels like he’s done this before, and maybe he has, because he always gets this way whenever his mommy and Hallie have a fight.
“Where’s Hallie?” he asks after a few minutes of silence, just as his mommy thinks he’s about to drift off to sleep.
His mommy doesn’t lie to him a lot, except that time when she told him it was vanilla ice cream when it was really banana. He didn’t like that. This time, when she answers, Jamie isn’t sure whether she’s lying or not, but either way he doesn’t like it. Because what she says is, “Hallie is going away for a while.”
Jamie sniffs. “When is she coming back?”
It’s dark in his room except for the light from the hallway, and Jamie can’t really see his mommy’s face, but he can tell by the pause that she’s sad, too. He knows she’s sad because Hallie left, and that makes him an infinity times sadder.
“I don’t know, Jamie,” says Jamie’s mommy.
When his breathing gets heavy, she kisses him on the cheek and says good night before she leaves the room, shutting the door and taking with her the last sliver of light.
“Good night, mommy,” he whispers after she leaves, and buries his head in his pillow again, thinking that maybe when he got up in the morning, Hallie would be back, and everything would be okay again. “Good night, Hallie.”
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