Bring Him Back [Liz, Don Geiss]
TITLE: Bring Him Back
FANDOM: 30 Rock
CHARACTERS: Liz, Don Geiss
NOTES: thoughtsicles prompt: I'm sorry
SPOILERS: "Succession" through "Cooter"
RATING: PG
SUMMARY:
*****
A month and a half after Jack is exiled to D.C., Liz can't take it anymore. She heads to Saint Vincent's hospital late in the evening, after she's settled the latest Tracy/Jenna crisis (which one gets more screentime -- it was a rather mild argument this time that ended when she threatened to give Josh more screentime than both of them combined).
"Miss, can I help you?" a nurse at the triage desk asks her.
"Yeah, I'm looking for Don Geiss' room."
"No visitors except family," was the probably automatic response from the nurse.
The lie comes out effortlessly. "I'm one of his daughters."
The nurse furrows her brow at Liz, who shifts uncomfortably. "Mr. Geiss has only one daughter."
"Yeah, I meant I'm his biological daughter, but... y'know, he has so many other, um... surrogate daughters, and." She swallows. "And nieces that... think of him as a father. But I'm his biological one." She smiles for effect, holding up one finger. "One and only."
The nurse stares at her skeptically. Blerg. She is so not getting that room number. "Mm-hmm. And your name, Ms. Geiss?"
"Kathy."
The nurse pulls up Geiss' chart, probably looking at his next of kin, and nods. "Fine." She scribbles his room number on a post it and hands it to her, along with a visitor's pass. "Visiting hours end in thirty minutes."
"That's fine, thanks." Liz takes off for the elevators, for the fifth floor where the man she put into a coma resides.
When she reaches his room, she takes a seat beside his bed and just looks at him a moment. She's never liked looking at old sick people in a hospital. It's just creepy. But she needs to do this. So she starts to talk.
"Hi, Mr. Geiss. It's me. Liz Lemon. I'm uh... I'm the girl that pioneered Button Classic and kinda, accidentally, put you in a coma. Listen, um... I'm really sorry I put you in a coma." Liz frowns, realizing that this apology is kind of sucking. "Blerg. Y'know, it's kind of a good thing you're not awake for this.
"But Mr. Geiss, I really need you to wake up. Things have gone bonkers at NBC. Kathy's in charge, and - not that she's not a lovely girl, she totally is - is kind of... sending the company downhill. Devon's kind of running the show behind the scenes and wrecking stuff too. And I know that you were going to make Jack CEO. He told me. I was going to be his successor. He was gonna be great.
"Now he's in D.C., working for that awful president of ours. I mean... you probably think he's the greatest ever, but... D.C. isn't the right place for Jack. He belongs here. He belongs in New York, at NBC, and I really think you should wake up so you can name him your successor and he can come back."
This is the point in the soap opera when the bed-ridden, comatose person's hands start to twitch and their eyelids start to flutter. But Geiss doesn't move.
Blerg.
Liz sighs and scrubs a hand over her face. "Alright. Fine. I miss Jack. Is that what you want to hear? I miss him. Like, a lot." Her voice gets a little softer as she adds, "Probably more than I should. And he misses me too. Or, at least I think he does -- he's flown back to see me a lot." Then, her voice lifts to normal volume. "But that's beside the point. What I did cost Jack his job, and... I want to rectify that. So, here's me apologizing. Now please, please wake up and bring Jack back to New York."
Geiss still doesn't respond, so Liz nods once -- she's said her piece, she's apologized -- and gets up to leave.
Now it's just a waiting game.
FIN
{x-posted to 30_rock}
FANDOM: 30 Rock
CHARACTERS: Liz, Don Geiss
NOTES: thoughtsicles prompt: I'm sorry
SPOILERS: "Succession" through "Cooter"
RATING: PG
SUMMARY:
*****
A month and a half after Jack is exiled to D.C., Liz can't take it anymore. She heads to Saint Vincent's hospital late in the evening, after she's settled the latest Tracy/Jenna crisis (which one gets more screentime -- it was a rather mild argument this time that ended when she threatened to give Josh more screentime than both of them combined).
"Miss, can I help you?" a nurse at the triage desk asks her.
"Yeah, I'm looking for Don Geiss' room."
"No visitors except family," was the probably automatic response from the nurse.
The lie comes out effortlessly. "I'm one of his daughters."
The nurse furrows her brow at Liz, who shifts uncomfortably. "Mr. Geiss has only one daughter."
"Yeah, I meant I'm his biological daughter, but... y'know, he has so many other, um... surrogate daughters, and." She swallows. "And nieces that... think of him as a father. But I'm his biological one." She smiles for effect, holding up one finger. "One and only."
The nurse stares at her skeptically. Blerg. She is so not getting that room number. "Mm-hmm. And your name, Ms. Geiss?"
"Kathy."
The nurse pulls up Geiss' chart, probably looking at his next of kin, and nods. "Fine." She scribbles his room number on a post it and hands it to her, along with a visitor's pass. "Visiting hours end in thirty minutes."
"That's fine, thanks." Liz takes off for the elevators, for the fifth floor where the man she put into a coma resides.
When she reaches his room, she takes a seat beside his bed and just looks at him a moment. She's never liked looking at old sick people in a hospital. It's just creepy. But she needs to do this. So she starts to talk.
"Hi, Mr. Geiss. It's me. Liz Lemon. I'm uh... I'm the girl that pioneered Button Classic and kinda, accidentally, put you in a coma. Listen, um... I'm really sorry I put you in a coma." Liz frowns, realizing that this apology is kind of sucking. "Blerg. Y'know, it's kind of a good thing you're not awake for this.
"But Mr. Geiss, I really need you to wake up. Things have gone bonkers at NBC. Kathy's in charge, and - not that she's not a lovely girl, she totally is - is kind of... sending the company downhill. Devon's kind of running the show behind the scenes and wrecking stuff too. And I know that you were going to make Jack CEO. He told me. I was going to be his successor. He was gonna be great.
"Now he's in D.C., working for that awful president of ours. I mean... you probably think he's the greatest ever, but... D.C. isn't the right place for Jack. He belongs here. He belongs in New York, at NBC, and I really think you should wake up so you can name him your successor and he can come back."
This is the point in the soap opera when the bed-ridden, comatose person's hands start to twitch and their eyelids start to flutter. But Geiss doesn't move.
Blerg.
Liz sighs and scrubs a hand over her face. "Alright. Fine. I miss Jack. Is that what you want to hear? I miss him. Like, a lot." Her voice gets a little softer as she adds, "Probably more than I should. And he misses me too. Or, at least I think he does -- he's flown back to see me a lot." Then, her voice lifts to normal volume. "But that's beside the point. What I did cost Jack his job, and... I want to rectify that. So, here's me apologizing. Now please, please wake up and bring Jack back to New York."
Geiss still doesn't respond, so Liz nods once -- she's said her piece, she's apologized -- and gets up to leave.
Now it's just a waiting game.
FIN
{x-posted to 30_rock}