Oh, It is Love: Studio 60
Title: Oh, It is Love
Author: blueeyelinerx
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2201
Pairing/Character: Jordan/Danny
Summary: Because it’s Hollywood and it’s temptation and it’s hard work to be married
Spoilers/Warnings: The Christmas Show
Author’s Note: An outside look at Jordan and Danny. And maybe a little bit of Danny + Aidan father/son-ness. It’s a lot of bit sappy but it’s the holidays so bear with me here!
Oh, it is love - from the first time I pressed my lips against yours, thinking: oh, is it love?
-- Oh, It Is Love, Hellogoodbye
i.
Aidan is two when Jordan finds out she is pregnant again. The pregnancy is easier this time around, even though Jordan is having twins, because she knows what to expect and is comfortable in her job and relationship. She has friends to call who will comfort her when she is having a bad day and Danny indulges her in all her weird cravings. Aidan talks to her tummy and listens with wide eyes as Jordan tells him about responsibility and being a big brother. Danny paints a spare bedroom yellow and they buy two of everything and when Jordan gives birth to identical little girls, Aidan receives almost as many presents as the girls.
Charlotte Marie and Nicole Lynn make life in the McDeere-Tripp household crazy but Aidan doesn’t mind because he is almost three and he is a big helper.
ii.
Aidan is six when Danny gets hit on by a woman at his soccer game. Her voice is scratchy from too many cigarettes and she is already invading his personal space when she asks him which kid is his. There was a time when Danny would have been startled by the question and stammered out an answer about how Aidan wasn’t technically his but those days have long passed and Aidan has been his almost as long as he has been Jordan’s and now he simply points to Aidan proudly. The woman leans closer and Danny is overwhelmed by the smell of her perfume and of stale smoke. There is a chance that she may have been attractive once, a long time ago, but Danny cannot see past her heavy makeup and collagen lips and the way her forehead doesn’t move because of Botox.
He hates LA.
Danny hears Charlie and Cole calling out “Daddy!” from down the field and says a silent prayer of thanks that they have arrived at that moment. He makes excuses and leaves the woman quickly. He kisses Jordan soundly when he reaches them and tells her that he loves the laugh lines forming around her eyes and twirls the girls around in his arms in the way that makes their whole bodies shake from giggling. They all cheer loudly when Aidan scores, and after the game, Danny teaches Aidan a secret handshake.
iii.
Aidan is eight when he hears his parents fight regularly. He hears the word divorce a lot at school and doesn’t totally understand but he comprehends enough to know your parents no longer live together and say mean things to each other and you spend time weekends with one and vacations with another and Aidan thinks it is a dirty, filthy word.
The girls come into his room sometimes when Jordan and Danny think they are all asleep and Aidan lets them climb into his bed because they are still little. If the fighting is really bad, he lets Charlie sing to them because she is practicing to be an actress and it distracts them all. Cole is the quietest of all three McDeere-Tripp children and it is her that Aidan allows to hold his special blanket and he doesn’t even say anything when she falls asleep with it and drools on it a few times.
Aidan asks Jordan if she and Danny are getting a divorce one day when they are in the car alone and Jordan is adamant about the answer. The fighting stops soon after Jordan takes over Jack’s position and Jack takes over Wilson White’s position and Danny begins directing again but Aidan still lets Charlie and Cole climb into his bed sometimes.
iv.
Aidan is thirteen when Danny spends almost a year in Vancouver, filming a movie. It is a rough time for him - he finally is seeing girls in a different light and he grows three inches in the time Danny is gone. His friends learn about your mom jokes and a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t hear about how hot his mom is. Twin jokes - especially about his beautiful sisters - go above and beyond and Aidan’s patience runs out one day but he never tells his mother how he got the cut on his lip and the bruise on his arm.
He would have told Danny but Danny is far away and Aidan is trying to be a man, all on his own.
v.
Aidan is eighteen when he loses his virginity to the pretty girl in his history class. He is at a great university on a scholarship for soccer and feels like king of the world. He has practice every day and is sore every night but he is the only freshman to start and gets named as an All-American defender when the season is over. The girl is not the right one for him but she is a start and they have a fun together.
He brings Claire home one weekend and she is a polite Midwestern girl who tries hard to hide how out of her element she is in LA and how in awe she is of his huge house. Claire knows that Danny is not Aidan’s biological father and as she watches them, she is glad she hates science. Because they have the same walk and the same facial expressions and even tell jokes with the same eagerness and it has nothing to do with genes and everything to do with love and for science to say otherwise is simply ridiculous.
Jordan and Danny take them to a taping of Studio 60 and then out to dinner and Claire listens to the way they bicker in the front seat and falls a little bit in love with Aidan’s parents.
“You were supposed to turn right back there,” Jordan says.
“No, it’s the next right,” Danny says firmly. But they make the next turn and Danny looks to the left and the right and groans. “Don’t,” he warns but Jordan just laughs.
“I told you so,” she teases. “You would think after seventeen years of marriage, you’d know to always listen to me.” She lists her accolades, ticking them off one by one on her fingers. “For starters, I’m always right. And then there’s the small fact that I’m smarter and much prettier and, most importantly, years younger-”
“Oh shut up woman,” interrupts Danny but he is smiling as he makes an illegal u-turn and Aidan shakes his head, embarrassed, but he is smiling too and Claire knows he adores them.
Aidan and Claire break up not long after that and Claire is upset but knows it is the right decision because she never looks at Aidan the way Jordan looks at Danny.
vi.
Aidan is twenty when he goes to the Sundance Film Festival for the first time. He has to buy a winter jacket and new gloves and he looses feeling in his toes ten minutes after arriving but he’s there to support Charlie’s first movie ever and he can’t stop smiling.
He watches the movie and cries at her amazingly realistic portrayal of a teenager who is diagnosed with cancer and has less than a year to live. Aidan stands in the wings as she poses for pictures with Tom Hanks, who plays her screen dad, Matt, who wrote the film, and Danny, who directed her in her big debut. The film wins the Grand Prize and Charlie cements herself as the new talent in the entertainment business.
Aidan reads the newspaper on the plane ride home and devours an article speculating on Oscar buzz. He scoffs because it is entirely too soon but he memorizes the paragraph on Danny’s chances for Best Director and imagines his father’s name being announced and the wide eyed look of surprise on Danny’s face and the way he will stumble through his acceptance speech until he gets to the part where he thanks Jordan and then he will be poetic and heartfelt and perfect (“and lastly, I would like to thank my amazing wife, Jordan, for everything. For my three beautiful children, for being an inspiration to me every day of my life, for not running from my, quite frankly, scary declaration of love twenty one years ago. I believe I’m falling in love with you … more and more every day”). And Jordan will cry and Aidan will clap till his hands hurt and he will never feel prouder.
vii.
Aidan is twenty three when he asks Rebecca Albie to marry him. His friends tell him he is too young and that he is throwing his life away but he is nothing if he is not like his parents and, in the McDeere-Tripp spirit, Aidan goes after something he wants with all his being. Becca says yes without hesitation and they announce their engagement at a week later. The dinner is forgotten as Harriet cries and Jordan calls almost everyone in her cell phone and Matt and Danny take Aidan aside and tell him, in tandem, that if he ever hurts Becca, they will both kill him.
Aidan and Becca marry on a pale winter’s day in December that is unseasonably cold. Most guests stay bundled up inside, straying occasionally to the window to watch the extremely rare flurries. Not Aidan’s parents: Jordan drags Danny outside, allowing a burst of cold air into the reception. They stand close together, for warmth, until Jordan spins away with her arms wide, attempting to catch snowflakes in her mouth. She is thinking of winters in Massachusetts as a child and laughing so hard, she misses most of the snow.
Danny looks at her with a ghost of a smile on his face and gives in to her prodding. Tentatively, he opens his mouth and moves his body to catch a snowflake. He is horribly awkward and looks like a fool and Jordan tugs on his arm. He looks down at her and she molds his body against hers and kisses him solidly on the mouth.
Aidan turns away from the intimate moment and as he dances with his bride, he hopes that their love can age with enough grace to one day resemble Danny and Jordan’s.
vii.
Aidan is twenty five when he and Becca fight frequently enough to consider a trial separation. Danny takes a short break from his latest movie and meets Aidan in a dive bar around the corner from the studio and they sip their beers in silence.
“Charlie’s hosting Studio 60 next week,” offers Danny after a time.
“I heard,” Aidan says and his voice is flat.
“She wants you there.”
“I don’t think I should. I mean, with all these problems with Becca, and they’ll be all these girls at the wrap party - ”
“Listen A,” interrupts Danny. “I know what it’s like to be married young in LA. I married my first wife when I was twenty six and suddenly, it isn’t just cheating, it’s adultery but you’re in Hollywood where everything is so fucked up anyway and it’s easy to just go with the flow. But I’ve seen you and Becca. And I know you. You aren’t Hollywood. Your mom and I raised you differently and we’re holding you to higher standards. If you and Becca aren’t working out, that’s your business. But do not - do NOT - talk to me about Becca and barely legal girls at a wrap party in the same breath because we both know they cannot compare and I will not let you make that mistake.”
Aidan sighs because Danny is right. “How did you and Mom make it work?” he asks quietly.
“It wasn’t always easy,” admits Danny. “There were times I was tempted to just walk away. But you have to ask yourself - where would you be without her? If you cannot picture the answer, then that’s your answer. But if there’s a part of you that can, well, then you have to move on. There was never a day since I married your mother that I couldn’t see us being old and wrinkly together, never a day I let our faults get in the way of sitting on the porch with her in complete silence because we don’t need words to speak. Love is an amazing thing. One of the best things in life. But it has to be true love, for both of you.”
Danny finishes his beer and puts down some money on the bar. “I have to get back to the set,” he apologizes. He’s halfway out of his seat when he puts a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “No matter what you decide,” Danny says, “I just want you to know - it’s just - I’m proud of you son.” He squeezes Aidan’s shoulder and walks out of the bar.
Aidan orders another beer and stares into it forlornly. He isn’t sure how much time has passed when he pulls out his cell phone and dials on autopilot. “Hello, Becca? It’s me. Can we talk?”
Because it’s Hollywood and it’s temptation and it’s hard work to be married and Aidan is finally old enough to understand that what Danny and Jordan have is unique and rare and special and worth everything because it is love.
Author: blueeyelinerx
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2201
Pairing/Character: Jordan/Danny
Summary: Because it’s Hollywood and it’s temptation and it’s hard work to be married
Spoilers/Warnings: The Christmas Show
Author’s Note: An outside look at Jordan and Danny. And maybe a little bit of Danny + Aidan father/son-ness. It’s a lot of bit sappy but it’s the holidays so bear with me here!
Oh, it is love - from the first time I pressed my lips against yours, thinking: oh, is it love?
-- Oh, It Is Love, Hellogoodbye
i.
Aidan is two when Jordan finds out she is pregnant again. The pregnancy is easier this time around, even though Jordan is having twins, because she knows what to expect and is comfortable in her job and relationship. She has friends to call who will comfort her when she is having a bad day and Danny indulges her in all her weird cravings. Aidan talks to her tummy and listens with wide eyes as Jordan tells him about responsibility and being a big brother. Danny paints a spare bedroom yellow and they buy two of everything and when Jordan gives birth to identical little girls, Aidan receives almost as many presents as the girls.
Charlotte Marie and Nicole Lynn make life in the McDeere-Tripp household crazy but Aidan doesn’t mind because he is almost three and he is a big helper.
ii.
Aidan is six when Danny gets hit on by a woman at his soccer game. Her voice is scratchy from too many cigarettes and she is already invading his personal space when she asks him which kid is his. There was a time when Danny would have been startled by the question and stammered out an answer about how Aidan wasn’t technically his but those days have long passed and Aidan has been his almost as long as he has been Jordan’s and now he simply points to Aidan proudly. The woman leans closer and Danny is overwhelmed by the smell of her perfume and of stale smoke. There is a chance that she may have been attractive once, a long time ago, but Danny cannot see past her heavy makeup and collagen lips and the way her forehead doesn’t move because of Botox.
He hates LA.
Danny hears Charlie and Cole calling out “Daddy!” from down the field and says a silent prayer of thanks that they have arrived at that moment. He makes excuses and leaves the woman quickly. He kisses Jordan soundly when he reaches them and tells her that he loves the laugh lines forming around her eyes and twirls the girls around in his arms in the way that makes their whole bodies shake from giggling. They all cheer loudly when Aidan scores, and after the game, Danny teaches Aidan a secret handshake.
iii.
Aidan is eight when he hears his parents fight regularly. He hears the word divorce a lot at school and doesn’t totally understand but he comprehends enough to know your parents no longer live together and say mean things to each other and you spend time weekends with one and vacations with another and Aidan thinks it is a dirty, filthy word.
The girls come into his room sometimes when Jordan and Danny think they are all asleep and Aidan lets them climb into his bed because they are still little. If the fighting is really bad, he lets Charlie sing to them because she is practicing to be an actress and it distracts them all. Cole is the quietest of all three McDeere-Tripp children and it is her that Aidan allows to hold his special blanket and he doesn’t even say anything when she falls asleep with it and drools on it a few times.
Aidan asks Jordan if she and Danny are getting a divorce one day when they are in the car alone and Jordan is adamant about the answer. The fighting stops soon after Jordan takes over Jack’s position and Jack takes over Wilson White’s position and Danny begins directing again but Aidan still lets Charlie and Cole climb into his bed sometimes.
iv.
Aidan is thirteen when Danny spends almost a year in Vancouver, filming a movie. It is a rough time for him - he finally is seeing girls in a different light and he grows three inches in the time Danny is gone. His friends learn about your mom jokes and a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t hear about how hot his mom is. Twin jokes - especially about his beautiful sisters - go above and beyond and Aidan’s patience runs out one day but he never tells his mother how he got the cut on his lip and the bruise on his arm.
He would have told Danny but Danny is far away and Aidan is trying to be a man, all on his own.
v.
Aidan is eighteen when he loses his virginity to the pretty girl in his history class. He is at a great university on a scholarship for soccer and feels like king of the world. He has practice every day and is sore every night but he is the only freshman to start and gets named as an All-American defender when the season is over. The girl is not the right one for him but she is a start and they have a fun together.
He brings Claire home one weekend and she is a polite Midwestern girl who tries hard to hide how out of her element she is in LA and how in awe she is of his huge house. Claire knows that Danny is not Aidan’s biological father and as she watches them, she is glad she hates science. Because they have the same walk and the same facial expressions and even tell jokes with the same eagerness and it has nothing to do with genes and everything to do with love and for science to say otherwise is simply ridiculous.
Jordan and Danny take them to a taping of Studio 60 and then out to dinner and Claire listens to the way they bicker in the front seat and falls a little bit in love with Aidan’s parents.
“You were supposed to turn right back there,” Jordan says.
“No, it’s the next right,” Danny says firmly. But they make the next turn and Danny looks to the left and the right and groans. “Don’t,” he warns but Jordan just laughs.
“I told you so,” she teases. “You would think after seventeen years of marriage, you’d know to always listen to me.” She lists her accolades, ticking them off one by one on her fingers. “For starters, I’m always right. And then there’s the small fact that I’m smarter and much prettier and, most importantly, years younger-”
“Oh shut up woman,” interrupts Danny but he is smiling as he makes an illegal u-turn and Aidan shakes his head, embarrassed, but he is smiling too and Claire knows he adores them.
Aidan and Claire break up not long after that and Claire is upset but knows it is the right decision because she never looks at Aidan the way Jordan looks at Danny.
vi.
Aidan is twenty when he goes to the Sundance Film Festival for the first time. He has to buy a winter jacket and new gloves and he looses feeling in his toes ten minutes after arriving but he’s there to support Charlie’s first movie ever and he can’t stop smiling.
He watches the movie and cries at her amazingly realistic portrayal of a teenager who is diagnosed with cancer and has less than a year to live. Aidan stands in the wings as she poses for pictures with Tom Hanks, who plays her screen dad, Matt, who wrote the film, and Danny, who directed her in her big debut. The film wins the Grand Prize and Charlie cements herself as the new talent in the entertainment business.
Aidan reads the newspaper on the plane ride home and devours an article speculating on Oscar buzz. He scoffs because it is entirely too soon but he memorizes the paragraph on Danny’s chances for Best Director and imagines his father’s name being announced and the wide eyed look of surprise on Danny’s face and the way he will stumble through his acceptance speech until he gets to the part where he thanks Jordan and then he will be poetic and heartfelt and perfect (“and lastly, I would like to thank my amazing wife, Jordan, for everything. For my three beautiful children, for being an inspiration to me every day of my life, for not running from my, quite frankly, scary declaration of love twenty one years ago. I believe I’m falling in love with you … more and more every day”). And Jordan will cry and Aidan will clap till his hands hurt and he will never feel prouder.
vii.
Aidan is twenty three when he asks Rebecca Albie to marry him. His friends tell him he is too young and that he is throwing his life away but he is nothing if he is not like his parents and, in the McDeere-Tripp spirit, Aidan goes after something he wants with all his being. Becca says yes without hesitation and they announce their engagement at a week later. The dinner is forgotten as Harriet cries and Jordan calls almost everyone in her cell phone and Matt and Danny take Aidan aside and tell him, in tandem, that if he ever hurts Becca, they will both kill him.
Aidan and Becca marry on a pale winter’s day in December that is unseasonably cold. Most guests stay bundled up inside, straying occasionally to the window to watch the extremely rare flurries. Not Aidan’s parents: Jordan drags Danny outside, allowing a burst of cold air into the reception. They stand close together, for warmth, until Jordan spins away with her arms wide, attempting to catch snowflakes in her mouth. She is thinking of winters in Massachusetts as a child and laughing so hard, she misses most of the snow.
Danny looks at her with a ghost of a smile on his face and gives in to her prodding. Tentatively, he opens his mouth and moves his body to catch a snowflake. He is horribly awkward and looks like a fool and Jordan tugs on his arm. He looks down at her and she molds his body against hers and kisses him solidly on the mouth.
Aidan turns away from the intimate moment and as he dances with his bride, he hopes that their love can age with enough grace to one day resemble Danny and Jordan’s.
vii.
Aidan is twenty five when he and Becca fight frequently enough to consider a trial separation. Danny takes a short break from his latest movie and meets Aidan in a dive bar around the corner from the studio and they sip their beers in silence.
“Charlie’s hosting Studio 60 next week,” offers Danny after a time.
“I heard,” Aidan says and his voice is flat.
“She wants you there.”
“I don’t think I should. I mean, with all these problems with Becca, and they’ll be all these girls at the wrap party - ”
“Listen A,” interrupts Danny. “I know what it’s like to be married young in LA. I married my first wife when I was twenty six and suddenly, it isn’t just cheating, it’s adultery but you’re in Hollywood where everything is so fucked up anyway and it’s easy to just go with the flow. But I’ve seen you and Becca. And I know you. You aren’t Hollywood. Your mom and I raised you differently and we’re holding you to higher standards. If you and Becca aren’t working out, that’s your business. But do not - do NOT - talk to me about Becca and barely legal girls at a wrap party in the same breath because we both know they cannot compare and I will not let you make that mistake.”
Aidan sighs because Danny is right. “How did you and Mom make it work?” he asks quietly.
“It wasn’t always easy,” admits Danny. “There were times I was tempted to just walk away. But you have to ask yourself - where would you be without her? If you cannot picture the answer, then that’s your answer. But if there’s a part of you that can, well, then you have to move on. There was never a day since I married your mother that I couldn’t see us being old and wrinkly together, never a day I let our faults get in the way of sitting on the porch with her in complete silence because we don’t need words to speak. Love is an amazing thing. One of the best things in life. But it has to be true love, for both of you.”
Danny finishes his beer and puts down some money on the bar. “I have to get back to the set,” he apologizes. He’s halfway out of his seat when he puts a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “No matter what you decide,” Danny says, “I just want you to know - it’s just - I’m proud of you son.” He squeezes Aidan’s shoulder and walks out of the bar.
Aidan orders another beer and stares into it forlornly. He isn’t sure how much time has passed when he pulls out his cell phone and dials on autopilot. “Hello, Becca? It’s me. Can we talk?”
Because it’s Hollywood and it’s temptation and it’s hard work to be married and Aidan is finally old enough to understand that what Danny and Jordan have is unique and rare and special and worth everything because it is love.