Authors Note: Oneshot written for NewYorkRomance over on LJ, for the prompt 'you are my family'. It turned out to be a little more angsty than I had planned but I don't think that was necessarily a bad thing. You can decide lol, I hope you like it and reviews are loved.

First Impressions

Jess and Don walked into his apartment and he dropped his keys on the table a little more forcefully that was probably necessary, placing his hands on the table and leaning his weight onto them. Jess didn't say anything just hovered in the doorway debating whether or not she should stay there or just go home. It hadn't been a great day, she'd hoped like hell that it would go well, had been nervous and worried all week and while it hadn't been as bad as the numerous scenarios her mind had come up with it could have gone better. She knew Don had expected it to go better, he'd been a little nervous too despite his assurances it would be fine and she could understand why now.

"Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there?" Don questioned and Jess raised an eyebrow at the tone of his voice.

"Actually, I think I'll probably just go," she told him turning to leave and hearing his footsteps quickly come up behind her.

"No, Jess," he said gently grabbing her arm and turning her back to him. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to snap at you."

Jess bit the inside of her lip, still debating whether or not to go home but Don gave her a pleading look and she stepped further into the apartment closing the door behind her. Don pulled her into him, burying his face in her neck and holding her tightly against him. Jess closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around his neck after a moment; she needed to the comfort as much as he did.

"I'm sorry," Jess whispered, she wasn't entirely sure what she was apologising for but she felt that somehow this was her fault and therefore she should apologise for it.

"It's not your fault," Don mumbled against her skin. "It's his," he told her, more venom on the word 'his' than she was used to hearing from Don outside of work. Part of her wanted to cry, she wouldn't, but that didn't stop part of her from wanting to do it. She would never normally let something like this affect her so much but then she wasn't usually so bothered about it, this time it mattered though, it mattered enough to make her second guess herself.

"But maybe if I'd..." she began but Don cut her off pulling back to look her in the eyes and moving some stray hair from the front of her face.

"You were perfect," he told her. "Like I knew you would be."

The phone rang and Don sighed as he went to answer it, leaving Jess to stand there feeling awkward and uncomfortable in his apartment for the first time ever. Even when they'd first started seeing each other she'd been completely at home here but now she suddenly felt like she didn't belong and she cursed that she was allowing today to mess with her like that. She forced herself to move, going to sit on the couch as she waited for him to finish up on the phone. He didn't sound happy and she already knew who he was talking to, had guessed who it might be before he'd even answered it. He hung up and came to sit with her sighing as he settled into the couch next to her.

"Your mom?" she questioned and he nodded.

"She's apologising for him," he told her. "It's not her fault he was an ass. He's got everyone else apologising for what happened, including you, and he's the only one that has anything to be sorry for."

Jess didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say, everything that came to mind just didn't seem right. She thought back over it, what she could have done differently. She'd stood by Don's side as his mother had opened the door, big smile and hugs for her son and the girlfriend he was bringing home to meet the parents. She'd followed him into the house, clinging to his hand like her life depended on it as his sister had come out. She'd smiled and pretended to have never met the detective before while subtly winking at her. Then his father had come in and it had all gone downhill from there. He hadn't liked her that much was obvious, he'd kept it mostly to himself through dinner but Jess had been able to feel it and she hadn't understood why, what she was doing wrong. Don had noticed too, he'd done his best to diffuse the situation, holding her hand and diverting attention to the childhood stories his mother had been telling.

After dinner, Don's father had made a comment about women on the force, it hadn't been particularly bad but it had been aimed at her. Don had called him out on it, on the whole afternoon and in return they'd gotten a lecture on how improper it was for them to be seeing each other, how it could affect their work and somewhere in there Jess was sure there'd been another mention of women in the police but she couldn't be sure of that. She didn't think that women in the police force was really an issue with him, just something for him to pick at. The whole thing had escalated into a huge argument between father and son with Jess caught in the middle and Sam and his mother trying to mediate.

In the end Don had grabbed her hand and walked out of the house, he hadn't even spoken until they got back to the apartment, until he'd snapped at her for loitering in the doorway. She'd stayed quiet, letting him cool down, she might have been the more upset, but he was the far more annoyed, she was pretty sure she'd never seen him so angry away from the job, maybe even on the job.

"It doesn't even matter, I took you there so you could meet them not to get his approval, if he has issues then that's his problem," he stated and she knew he was trying to convince himself as much as her, she wasn't buying it either.

"Of course it matters Don, he's your family," she replied quietly. Don reached out to her and took her hand pulling her to him until she was sat across his lap, his arms around her.

"You're my family," he told her and she smiled slightly and dropped her head to his shoulder. They sat quietly for a few minutes and she could tell from the sound of his breathing that he was finally calming down. "We'll figure something out, he'll get used to it."

She didn't respond, just brought her arms up around him as he settled back against the couch more comfortably. She hoped he did come around but after this afternoon, she wasn't holding her breath, it was going to take more than some time to think to fix this one, a lot more. Any chance she'd had of making a good first impression was clearly out the window now. She closed her eyes and wished that for once things could have just been simple, but life was never that easy.