30 Rock- Certainty, and the Occasional Lack Thereof
Title: Certainty, and the Occasional Lack Thereof
Prompt: Jack/Liz, Misgivings
Rating: PG-13
Community: Thoughtsicles
A/N: Possibly entirely nonsensical, slightly off-kilter, or just plain dumb. Have it anyway.
All in all, it hasn’t been easy. Fun, yes. Worth it, definitely. But easy?
Jack supposes that, with a woman like Liz, very little is ever exactly easy.
Mostly, it’s been dealing with her freak-outs. Not that he minds them, or hadn’t expected them, because, well, it’s Liz. But, even after two months, sometimes her neurotic insecurities get the better of her, and she ends up drowning in far-fetched doubts about the two of them being together. (Seriously far-fetched, mind you. As in, one of these doubts revolved around a hypothetical scenario involving a Ferrari and a King Cobra that had escaped from the zoo. He still doesn’t know precisely what that was about.) Anything from a snide comment from Jonathan to a slightly windy day can fill her creative mind with a whole slew of misgivings about their relationship, and he will suddenly find himself being avoided by her for no particular reason, until he corners her in her office and drags her out to her favorite sub shop with him so she can explain whatever it is that’s made her think “this whole thing is probably not going to work out“.
In a weird way, Jack finds that this exasperating habit of hers has become one of her more endearing traits. He’s also beginning to develop the most inexplicable liking for those horrid meatball subs she eats.
On the other hand, Jack can honestly say he’s never had any misgivings after he decided to pursue a relationship with her. Once a Donaghy makes a decision, whether it involves corporate matters, or swindling family members with watches and fake deaths, it’s a safe bet that there will be no reconsidering the choice once it’s been made. And Jack has never once rethought his decision to be with Liz, because he knows it‘s the right one. Even during the times she has food in her hair.
Sometimes, that’s when he’s even more certain about it all, because he still wants to kiss her or do notably more risqué things to her, even with lettuce dangling from her bangs. It’s both odd, and arousing. Jack doesn’t really question it.
He does worry about Liz’s misgivings, though. Not because he thinks she’s right, or even because he thinks that she’ll convince herself she’s right, and try to leave him --which will in turn cause a whole new mess of unnecessary drama-- but because it causes a lot of unnecessary stress for her, and says a lot about her own lack of self confidence and trust in the relationship.
It shows itself in other ways, too. Like how she still tries to hide the fact that she TiVos every episode of Top Chef, like it’s going to be a deal breaker for their relationship. Or how, sometimes, she just assumes he’s mocking her when he tries to flirt with her, like she doesn’t believe he’d ever be doing it sincerely, even though it should be pretty apparent that he's genuinely attracted to her, since they’ve already had sex. Great sex. Quite a bit of it, actually.
Or, how every time he’s started to tell her he loves her, she’s gotten this terrified deer-in-headlights look on her face, and blurted out the first random thing she can think of to stop him from finishing his sentence. The last time it was something entirely distasteful involving Frank, three chili dogs, and a belching contest, which disturbed Jack so much that he’s going to wait awhile before he tries it again. It doesn’t really bother him so much, though, because he already knows she loves him too, and he can be an exceptionally patient man when he wants to be, which isn’t often.
But for Liz, he’ll wait.
As he lies beside her, watching her sleep, and the clock creeps ever closer to three a.m., he knows that when she wakes up, she’s probably going to have a quiet panic over the fact that he’s wearing pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, and she’s still naked. She will likely demand that he close his eyes while she goes to find her own nightclothes. No peeking whatsoever allowed. Still, he finds no misgivings within himself, either about the relationship, or his ability to calm her down and make her happy.
He runs his hand up the warm, knobby line of her spine, and tries to ignore the faint misgivings he has about her ability to make herself happy. Because after all, she’s already made the choice to be with him, and Jack knows himself to be the ultimate step towards total satisfaction in one’s life.
Her body shifts against the sheets when his fingertips start tracing absent patterns over the light dusting of freckles on her left shoulder blade, and then her dark eyes flutter open to look at him in the dim quiet of his bedroom. She smiles at him drowsily, without pretense or self-censure, and asks in a sleepy slur, “’Sup, Jack?”
This is when he loves her most.
“Nothing at all, Lemon,” he murmurs back, playing with the hair at her nape, absurdly pleased when it makes her eyes slip shut again, and a hum of pleasure escapes the back of her throat. It is simply bizarre, the things that delight him when he’s with her. It’s never really been this way with anyone else.
“’S good,” she sighs, and then after a moment, one eye slides open again to peer at him, lazily. Accusingly. “’M still naked.”
“You are,” he agrees in resignation, and waits for the order to close his eyes. Instead, he is quite startled when she shifts herself across the bed to curl up against his side, her head resting on his chest, right above his heartbeat.
“No funny business,” She mumbles warningly against his t-shirt, her words warming through to his skin, and then her breathing evens out again, and she is once more asleep. Still naked, and with a faint smile on her lips.
Jack finds himself trying not to grin like an idiot, even as he shifts himself to tuck her more tightly against his body, and closes his eyes, ready to drift off to sleep. Eventually, she will stop her worrying over every little aspect of the two of them together, and believe his sincerity when he tries to hit on her, although it will probably always irritate her, especially if they are at work. She will let him tell her he loves her, and she will even say it back. And he will finally get her to admit the sex is, in fact, superb. Or ‘awesome’, as she will say instead, much to his eternal chagrin. As he fades drowsily into slumber, his chin brushing the top of her head, Jack has no doubts about any of it.
But especially not that last part.
fin.
Prompt: Jack/Liz, Misgivings
Rating: PG-13
Community: Thoughtsicles
A/N: Possibly entirely nonsensical, slightly off-kilter, or just plain dumb. Have it anyway.
All in all, it hasn’t been easy. Fun, yes. Worth it, definitely. But easy?
Jack supposes that, with a woman like Liz, very little is ever exactly easy.
Mostly, it’s been dealing with her freak-outs. Not that he minds them, or hadn’t expected them, because, well, it’s Liz. But, even after two months, sometimes her neurotic insecurities get the better of her, and she ends up drowning in far-fetched doubts about the two of them being together. (Seriously far-fetched, mind you. As in, one of these doubts revolved around a hypothetical scenario involving a Ferrari and a King Cobra that had escaped from the zoo. He still doesn’t know precisely what that was about.) Anything from a snide comment from Jonathan to a slightly windy day can fill her creative mind with a whole slew of misgivings about their relationship, and he will suddenly find himself being avoided by her for no particular reason, until he corners her in her office and drags her out to her favorite sub shop with him so she can explain whatever it is that’s made her think “this whole thing is probably not going to work out“.
In a weird way, Jack finds that this exasperating habit of hers has become one of her more endearing traits. He’s also beginning to develop the most inexplicable liking for those horrid meatball subs she eats.
On the other hand, Jack can honestly say he’s never had any misgivings after he decided to pursue a relationship with her. Once a Donaghy makes a decision, whether it involves corporate matters, or swindling family members with watches and fake deaths, it’s a safe bet that there will be no reconsidering the choice once it’s been made. And Jack has never once rethought his decision to be with Liz, because he knows it‘s the right one. Even during the times she has food in her hair.
Sometimes, that’s when he’s even more certain about it all, because he still wants to kiss her or do notably more risqué things to her, even with lettuce dangling from her bangs. It’s both odd, and arousing. Jack doesn’t really question it.
He does worry about Liz’s misgivings, though. Not because he thinks she’s right, or even because he thinks that she’ll convince herself she’s right, and try to leave him --which will in turn cause a whole new mess of unnecessary drama-- but because it causes a lot of unnecessary stress for her, and says a lot about her own lack of self confidence and trust in the relationship.
It shows itself in other ways, too. Like how she still tries to hide the fact that she TiVos every episode of Top Chef, like it’s going to be a deal breaker for their relationship. Or how, sometimes, she just assumes he’s mocking her when he tries to flirt with her, like she doesn’t believe he’d ever be doing it sincerely, even though it should be pretty apparent that he's genuinely attracted to her, since they’ve already had sex. Great sex. Quite a bit of it, actually.
Or, how every time he’s started to tell her he loves her, she’s gotten this terrified deer-in-headlights look on her face, and blurted out the first random thing she can think of to stop him from finishing his sentence. The last time it was something entirely distasteful involving Frank, three chili dogs, and a belching contest, which disturbed Jack so much that he’s going to wait awhile before he tries it again. It doesn’t really bother him so much, though, because he already knows she loves him too, and he can be an exceptionally patient man when he wants to be, which isn’t often.
But for Liz, he’ll wait.
As he lies beside her, watching her sleep, and the clock creeps ever closer to three a.m., he knows that when she wakes up, she’s probably going to have a quiet panic over the fact that he’s wearing pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, and she’s still naked. She will likely demand that he close his eyes while she goes to find her own nightclothes. No peeking whatsoever allowed. Still, he finds no misgivings within himself, either about the relationship, or his ability to calm her down and make her happy.
He runs his hand up the warm, knobby line of her spine, and tries to ignore the faint misgivings he has about her ability to make herself happy. Because after all, she’s already made the choice to be with him, and Jack knows himself to be the ultimate step towards total satisfaction in one’s life.
Her body shifts against the sheets when his fingertips start tracing absent patterns over the light dusting of freckles on her left shoulder blade, and then her dark eyes flutter open to look at him in the dim quiet of his bedroom. She smiles at him drowsily, without pretense or self-censure, and asks in a sleepy slur, “’Sup, Jack?”
This is when he loves her most.
“Nothing at all, Lemon,” he murmurs back, playing with the hair at her nape, absurdly pleased when it makes her eyes slip shut again, and a hum of pleasure escapes the back of her throat. It is simply bizarre, the things that delight him when he’s with her. It’s never really been this way with anyone else.
“’S good,” she sighs, and then after a moment, one eye slides open again to peer at him, lazily. Accusingly. “’M still naked.”
“You are,” he agrees in resignation, and waits for the order to close his eyes. Instead, he is quite startled when she shifts herself across the bed to curl up against his side, her head resting on his chest, right above his heartbeat.
“No funny business,” She mumbles warningly against his t-shirt, her words warming through to his skin, and then her breathing evens out again, and she is once more asleep. Still naked, and with a faint smile on her lips.
Jack finds himself trying not to grin like an idiot, even as he shifts himself to tuck her more tightly against his body, and closes his eyes, ready to drift off to sleep. Eventually, she will stop her worrying over every little aspect of the two of them together, and believe his sincerity when he tries to hit on her, although it will probably always irritate her, especially if they are at work. She will let him tell her he loves her, and she will even say it back. And he will finally get her to admit the sex is, in fact, superb. Or ‘awesome’, as she will say instead, much to his eternal chagrin. As he fades drowsily into slumber, his chin brushing the top of her head, Jack has no doubts about any of it.
But especially not that last part.
fin.