Toaster Man

Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine..
Spoilers: None
Pairing: Jack/Liz
Summary: Fights bring out the worst in Jack. Especially if he's drunk.
This fic is based on Maroon 5's song- "Never Gonna Leave This Bed"
A/N: Some portions may be short, some may be long.

"Good god, I'm an idiot," Jack said, when he reached the hotel room. Liz had kicked him out that night since they had a fight. A really loud fight which turned to Liz slapping Jack and telling him never to come back until he turned back to the old version of himself, the one she loved. He had a perfect life, but he threw that all away.
It was a normal day. Jack woke up to the sound of Brooklyn, his daughter, yelling. He remembered the day she was born so clearly like it was yesterday.
(Liz was having contractions all week, so their doctor decided to get them to a doctor in Brooklyn. When they were on the way, Liz said the baby was coming out. Well, the trip to Brooklyn was just a few minutes away, but traffic started. Liz ended up giving birth in Jack's limo on a Brooklyn highway.
"It's a girl!" he yelled.
"How do you know?" Liz asked.
"I don't see anything."
"Brooklyn," Liz panted. "Name her Brooklyn. Brooklyn Elizabeth Donaghy. If it's a boy, name him Jack Donaghy Jr."
Jack smiled.
"It's beautiful."
When Liz woke up, she was in a hospital. She saw Jack holding a child. Their child.
"Oh, you're up," he said.
"Yeah," she said, smiling.
"Meet Brooklyn Elizabeth Donaghy. She's your daughter."
"Our daughter," Liz corrected him.
Jack chuckled.
"You know what's funny?" he asked.
"What?"
"Her initials are B-E-D. They spell bed."
"Well, that's where we made her," Liz joked.
"I'm glad to have a wife as perfect as you," he said, as he kissed her.
"Oh, shut up. I'm not perfect."
"You are to me.")
"Daddy! Wake up!" Brooklyn yelled.
Jack smiled.
"Lynn! How's my little princess?"
"Mommy made you breakfast! See, Mr. Moneybags agrees with me!" Lynn said, as she pointed to her stuffed fox, which Liz called Foxy Moneybags, since it reminded her of the PBS show she gets her information from.
Jack picked up Lynn and began to walk to the dining room.
He put Lynn down on her chair and sat down on his own. Liz came outside of the kitchen with a plate of bacon and eggs.
"Good morning," she said, giving him a kiss.
Jack smiled.
"Mommy! What do I get for breakfast?" Lynn asked.
"You already ate!" Liz said.
"But, Mommy! I'm always hungry!"
Jack laughed.
"She sounds just like you," he said.
"Uh-doyee, Jack. She's my daughter."
"You can't say uh-doyee to me in mixed company, Lemon. We have a child here."
"Uh-doyee, Lemon!" Lynn exclaimed.
"See, Liz?"
Liz scoffed then rolled her eyes.
"Fine. It's been a while since you called me Lemon, you know."
"Oh, I know. I just like to exercise my vocabulary every once in a while."
"How do you---never mind. Well, you better get going, honey. You have a meeting at 10, which means you have half an hour left."
"What about you? When are you going to work?"
"I'm going as soon as Lynn is ready. I told Pete that I might be running late anyway."
Jack finished his breakfast and got dressed.
"Need any help?" Liz asked him.
Jack shook his head.
"Daddy? Do you need Mr. Moneybags? He's a good negotiator! He'll probably help you with your synergy program thing!" Lynn said.
"Whoa there! Where'd you learn all those big words? That's too much for a four year old."
"Daddy taught me! He also told me about that one time when you guys were talking about product integration. It's funny how you didn't know."
"Wow! Your vocabulary is just getting bigger and bigger every day. You're gonna be super-smart once you go to school."
Jack came out of the room with his suit and tie.
"That was from five years ago, right?"
Jack laughed and turned to leave.
"I'll see you two later."
"Wait, Jack?" Liz called out.
Jack turned around.
"Wha--"
Liz gave him a kiss.
"I love you."
Jack smiled.
"And I love you too. What's wrong?"
"I'll talk about it later. Right now, you have a meeting."
Jack looked unsure.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it right now? They don't really care if any one is late."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Now, go! Be our businessman," she said with a smile.
"I love you guys," he said before leaving.
*
The business meeting had gone well, actually. After leaving the business room, he checked his phone. There was one missed call from Liz. Luckily, she left a voicemail.
"Lynn's not feeling too well. I know you're in a business meeting right now, but I would appreciate it if you can get to the hospital as soon as you can. Jack, she's really heating up. I have no one to talk to. So, I'll see you, I guess. I love you so, so much. You know that. Okay, bye."
Jack was getting suspicious. Liz was saying "I love you" a lot now. Not that it was a bad thing, but it just came out of the blue. And with Jack knowing Liz for more than 10 years, he knew something was up.
He went to the hospital as fast as he could.
"Donaghy, Brooklyn Elizabeth," he said to the person at the front desk.
"Are you the father?" the girl asked.
"Yes, I--"
"Jack," Liz said with a sad smile.
"Oh my god. Liz, is she okay?"
Jack went up and hugged her. She began crying.
"Here, let's go to her room so we can talk more, okay?"
Liz nodded.
Jack sat down in a chair with Liz on his lap.
"Okay, so talk to me. I want to know everything," Jack said.
He wiped away her tears.
"I feel like I'm not mom-material, Jack. Look at Lynn. I'm not even deserving of someone that perfect. She's just like you, Jack. Blue eyes, brown hair. She's like a carbon copy of you."
Jack chuckled.
"Lemon, she looks nothing like me. She just has my eyes and nose. She has your hair, curly and beautiful. She has your personality, care-free. She has your talents, writing and making people laugh. She's us, Liz. Me plus you...equals her."
"And a smiley face?" Liz asked smiling.
Jack kissed her.
"And a smiley face," he assured her.
"Mom? Dad? Is that you?"
"Lynn! You're up!"
Jack and Liz ran up to the bed.
"I think I'm feeling better," Lynn said.
"You sure, pumpkin?" Jack asked her.
"I'm sure. As long as you and mom are happy, I'm happy too."
"She's a fighter," the nurse said from outside.
"Excuse me?" Jack asked.
"I think I need to see you two outside for a minute."
"Um, okay," Liz said.
"We'll be back before you know it, pumpkin. Alright?" Jack told Lynn.
Lynn nodded.
Liz held Jack's hand as they went outside.
"What did you need us for?" Liz asked.
"Brooklyn...is amazing, Mister and Mrs. Donaghy. She had a fever of 110 degrees two hours ago, and now...she's normal. I've never seen anybody recover from a fever that fast."
Liz sighed.
"Oh, thank god," she said.
Jack laughed.
"Well, she truly has Donaghy blood in her. Us Donaghys, we don't get sick. At least, not for long anyways."
The nurse smiled.
"Well, you can have her out at eight. Here's the bill."
Jack and Liz went back to the room where they saw Lynn drawing something.
"What are you drawing, sweetie?" Liz asked her.
"I'm drawing a picture of us. See, look. I'm the one in the middle holding both of your hands."
"It's beautiful," Jack and Liz both said at the same time.
"You know what I think?" Lynn said.
"What?"
"I think you and Daddy are the cutest couple in the world."
Jack smiled and kissed her forehead.
"I think you got that right, Lynn. Now, do you want to go to work with Mommy and Daddy?"
Lynn's face lit up.
"Yes, please!"
Lynn went with Liz to the writers' room and Jack went back to his office. There, he saw Geiss and he didn't look happy.
"Jack, I need to talk to you," he said.
From the look on Jonathan's face, he could tell this wasn't going to be good.
*
"You get the toaster ovens now, Jack!" Geiss exclaimed.
Jack looked shocked. This was a celebratory meeting?
"For real, sir?"
Jack began crying.
"This is wonderful!" he said.
Geiss smiled and left.
For the rest of that day, he had a smile on his face.
*
Jack knocked on the door at midnight.
"Babe? Babe, where are you? Answer the door!" he said.
Liz opened the door.
"Well you're late," she said, laughing.
"Babe, guess what?" he said.
"You're drunk?" she joked.
"That and...?"
"You got promoted?"
Jack laughed.
"Babe, I got...the toaster ovens too," he said slowly.
Liz gasped.
"Seriously? That's awesome!" she said, before giving him a kiss.
"Hey. What do you say we...shake the bed a little tonight?" he asked.
"No, I'm tired, Jack. Maybe tomorrow."
Jack still kept kissing her.
"Jack, I said tomorrow."
Jack ignored her.
"I'm serious."
Jack kissed her neck.
Liz went to the kitchen.
"What's wrong, babe? Don't want any action tonight? Don't want any of this?" he asked.
"Jack, stop. I don't like you when you're drunk."
"Oh, yeah? You used to. Before Brooklyn came."
"Hey, you love Brooklyn and you know it."
"Well, you know what? I HATE HER. She won't let us have any goddamn sex. She wakes up in the middle of the night to just want to sleep in the middle of our bed. Whatever happened to the Liz I knew? The one who loved sex because I taught her?"
"Jack, cut it out. Now," Liz said, her voice getting louder than usual.
"What? It's not like anyone can hear us."
"Your daughter can hear us."
"Who the hell cares? What happened to you, Liz? I loved you."
Liz slapped him.
"Oh, really? Well if you don't love me anymore, then why don't you go get your fucking stuff and get out of this house right now!" Liz shouted.
"Oh, it's always me! Haven't you ever thought that maybe it was you? You're the one who's making everything harder for me! I had the perfect life. But that all changed because..."
"Because what, Jack? Huh? Because I came into your life? You're saying that those special things I did for you don't matter anymore? You're saying that after eleven years of friendship and five years of marriage, you just want to throw all that away?"
Jack didn't answer.
"I see. Well, if you--if you don't want this, then I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. When the old Jack comes back, give us a call. If not, you know where the lawyer's at."
Jack packed his stuff and turned to leave.
"Dad? Mom? What's going on? Why is Daddy leaving?"
"Stay away from him, Brooklyn. Jack's not himself tonight."
Jack closed the door.
Brooklyn ran in her room and found the picture she drew earlier and ripped it in half. She started crying. Turns out, she wasn't the only one crying in the house.
Liz went to the bedroom and changed her clothes. She started crying again when she found out she was wearing a Princeton shirt and one of his boxers.
"Goddamn it," Liz said.
*
"Goddamn it," Jack said as he entered the hotel room.
He screwed up everything. Is this how his life was going to end? Alone, with a child he's never going to see grow up?
"Good god, I'm an idiot," he said.
He grabbed his phone and called Liz. It went straight to voicemail.
He didn't even bother to leave a message. He decided to just sleep it off and hope that tomorrow morning would be better.
He called Liz as soon as he woke up. It went to voicemail.
"Liz? Oh, god. I'm an idiot and I know that. I'm sorry and I wish that you could forgive me. I'm sorry. I was drunk last night and it just came out. I didn't mean anything I said. I love you," he said.
All afternoon, he did nothing. He just waited. Waited and hoped for Liz to call back.
When the sun came down that evening, he decided to pack his stuff. He called for his limo to go back home.
He knocked on the door.
"Liz, I--"
Before Jack could say his apologies, Liz hugged him.
"I know," she whispered.
"You do?" he asked.
Liz nodded.
"God, I seem so desperate. But, it was a stupid fight, really. We were fighting about sex," she said, chuckling.
"I'm sorry if I overreacted. I was--"
"Drunk, I know. Lynn forgives you too. I know you didn't mean those things...right?"
Jack smiled, then kissed her.
"Of course not. I would never say those things about the two most important people in my life."
"Daddy?"
"Pumpkin, is that you?"
Lynn ran up to Jack and hugged him.
"Oh, I missed you guys. I can't handle a day without you two."
"So does that mean you and mommy aren't getting a divorce?" Lynn asked.
"Again with the vocabulary," Liz said.
"No, honey. No matter how much me and your mom fight, we'll always be happily married in the morning. Isn't that right, Liz?"
Liz nodded.
"Yay!" Lynn exclaimed.
*
"Liz?"
"No...cupcakes," Liz grumbled.
"Liz." Jack nudged her again.
Liz turned the lights on and faced Jack.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. I swear that I will never...ever walk away like that again."
Liz smiled.
"Okay, Jack."
"And I won't get too drunk."
Liz grinned.
"Are you trying to turn me on?"
"No, I was apologizing. Does apologizing turn you on?" Jack asked.
"Not unless it has Maroon 5's lyrics on it!"
Jack looked confused.
"Come on, Jack. You've listened to my iPod billions of times. You've never heard of them?"
Jack shook his head.
Liz sighed, then grabbed her iPod.
She gave Jack an earbud to listen with her.
"Here, just wait for the chorus."
Jack waited.
"Listen, here it is!" Liz said.
"Wake you up in the middle of the night to say, "I will never walk away again." I'm never gonna leave this bed," Liz sung.
"I've never heard of that song," Jack said.
"Psh. Liar. That was during our wedding."
"Well, I only had my mind on one thing that day."
Liz blushed.
"Alright, fun's over."
Liz turned off the lights.
"Now that I think of it, the song's coming back to me."
"Nope. You are not pretending you know the song just to get some."
"But I do! I just remembered it!"
"No you don't. If you do, then sing the chorus and part of the bridge."
Jack looked puzzled.
"Lemon, you know I don't sing."
"You sung at Gerhardt's party."
"That was an exception."
"Well, we're married. You love me, I love you. Just this once, please?"
Jack sighed.
"Wake you up in the middle of the night to say, "I will never walk away again." I'm never gonna leave this bed."
Liz clapped.
"Now sing part of the bridge."
"Take it, take it all, take all that I have."
Liz kissed him.
"Yeah, you're definitely getting some tonight."

END