I love this show. I love this couple. No one asked for this AU but here I am
Part I
Ginny meets Mike in his *Private* dressing room
Her first day on the job, Ginny was welcomed by the sight of Mike Lawson's bare ass.
She'd been rushing down the streets of San Diego, sweaty and panting against the heat of one of the city's famously bright and sunny mornings.
It was her own stupid fault really, her only pair of heels, read: only pair , had been buried under a heaping pile of shit that she really couldn't even attest to bringing to her new apartment in the first place. And because she couldn't very well show up to her first day as an actual news anchor in her Vans, she'd been looking for them like a madwoman for what felt like an eternity but in real time only converted to about 45 minutes. She'd even called Ev thinking that maybe they'd slipped into one of her boxes when they moved out of their shared apartment in Boston. They hadn't, and she only ended up getting the why in the world do you only have one pair of heels lecture
Ev was right, of course, fat lotta good that did her now. She'd resigned herself to showing up in sneakers, failing to bring literally the only thing that had been requested of her, Appropriate, professional footwear, the memo had said and she doubted that it included worn out canvas sneakers.
She ended up finding them after, and only after, she'd tripped over one of the many cardboard moving boxes labeled "Ginny's Shit"
How fitting
And then she was rushing, ramming past entire crowds of commuters, eyes locked in the direction she needed to go, down two blocks and then a left.
Ginny tried to comfort herself with the idea that this was the new normal, elbowing past crowds of disinterested people all trying to get to a different destination as quickly as possible. This was the city life, time is money sort of thing. Besides, who doesn't rush on their first day at a new job in a new city?
Right?
That's what she told herself at least, as she finally made it to the studio and then down an unfamiliar hallway, her heels spanking the tiles in their haste.
The numbers nailed to the doors passed her by in a scramble of gold plated plaques
"233, 234, 235" her eyes scanned the doors, murmuring the passing numbers under her breath in an effort to remember which one Amelia had said would be her dressing room.
A quick glance at her watch told her that if she didn't get dressed in the next fifteen minutes she would miss her first screen test at Good Morning San Diego.
So in the end it all boiled down to a jolt of panic.
Her hand shot out and gripped a doorknob, the door flung open, and her eyes all but popped out of her face.
The first thing she noticed were the freckles that peppered the skin of his back.
The second thing she noticed was that door 236 was definitely not her dressing room
And so naturally, she shrieked
"Oh my god!" it wasn't loud, more for herself really, but it was enough to startle Mike into almost toppling over the pair of boxers that he had been able to get halfway up his legs before her intrusion
"What the fuck-" They were checkered, his boxers, and when he managed to get them over the shapely ass that had just been on full display, the fabric clung lovingly onto his thighs.
In retrospect, there was a good way to handle this situation and a bad way
She should have shut the door immediately, she should have apologized profusely to her new co-anchor, only one of the best in the country, only the Mike Lawson. She should have cracked a joke, said something smooth and contrite
She should have
but instead she stared, her eyes drinking in every inch of freckled skin.
She also could have been more subtle with her gawking
But of course she didn't do that either
He turned, made eye contact, and before she could begin to deliver any sort of apology, it was too late, he was already towering over her, leaning against the doorframe of his dressing room, his chest eye-level and his beard smirking as if beside itself with amusement.
"Look what we've got here, Ginny Baker in the flesh" His eyebrow tilted upwards as if expecting her to say something.
I'm sorry I barged into your room and ogled your naked ass, oh and I also use to record all your segments on Wake Up USA when I was a teenager, I have them all on VHS tape
Ginny opened her mouth but it was dry, far too dry to actually say words
"You've been the hot topic around here for weeks" he continued, not missing a beat despite her apparent inability to construct a sentence.
His eyes trailed over her face in a not-so-subtle once over. He studied her unblinkingly, as if trying to determine if she lived up to the hype. Youngest anchor on prime time T.V, Ivy league grad, top of her class, and the latest addition to the cast of Good Morning San Diego. Some said she was a miracle for morning slot news, the look on Mike's face was inconclusive as to if he agreed.
With a final tilt of his head, Mike pushed off of the door frame, leaving the door open in invitation
Ginny's feet felt cemented to the threshold of his room, she didn't think she could move, not even if she would have thought it appropriate to do so, seeing as it was her Co-anchor's private dressing room.
Not that it was so private with her still staring at his muscles as he moved about the room.
"That's not easy for me, you know, not being the center of attention- they tell me I'm a narcissist" He said it with a covert hand covering the side of his mouth as if he were divulging her a secret. it was a joke, obviously, a let's put the fact that you saw me buck naked behind us sort of thing
Oh god, he was throwing her a bone
He slid on his shirt in a swift movement and without breaking eye contact, his sinewy back disappearing under the fabric of the white button-down
Ginny laughed, a sound that she herself didn't recognize as an actual laugh and then she cringed, actually cringed at how ridiculously awkward she was being
If Mike noticed any of that crippling awkwardness, he didn't mention it, instead sitting on one of his padded chairs and reaching out for a pair of socks
Ginny cleared her throat and Mike looked up at her from where he'd been sliding on the second of his black socks
"I should tell you- I used to watch you every morning before school, you've been my favorite anchor since-"
"Don't" he stood on his newly sock clad feet and began working to pull on his trousers
"It makes you look stupid" he explained, doing the zipper and then the button
"Makes me feel old" he continued, scrunching his face as if physically pained by the thought
"I-"
a dismissive wave of his hand and then he's making his way back to lean against the doorframe, this time fully clothed and only missing his signature yellow tie.
"Get dressed, Rookie. Wouldn't want to miss your first screen test with the one and only Mike Lawson, now would you?"
Wow, they weren't kidding about the ego
She'd had her suspicions, having read countless articles about Mike Lawson the Premadonna of morning news. She'd be lying if she said that she hadn't defended his honor in her own head against those accusations. But seeing it now, reflected in his hazel eyes, twinkling in the form of self-assurance, there was no doubt left in her mind that Mike Lawson had a very healthy ego.
Ginny scoffed and turned on her heel, intent on leaving before remembering what had gotten her into this debacle in the first place.
She stared down the hall of identical looking doors realizing that she had no clue which one belonged to her
As if reading her mind, Mike chuckled, turning to fetch his tie, swinging the door closed but not before throwing the answer to her unspoken question over his shoulder
"Room 243, Baker"
"Thanks" she murmured, more petulantly than she would have liked, moving towards the door which opened with an almost judgemental screech of its hinges.
Once in the safety of her own dressing room, Ginny let out a long sigh
"Well how about that for first impressions"
From across the hall, down a couple of rooms, and behind a closed door, Mike chuckled, smiling despite himself as he fidgeted with the knot of his tie.
"This is gunna be fun" he said, giving it the last pull.