Under Pressure

Studio 60 Set after S1 'Pilot'. Coming back to studio 60 was like coming home.

Disclaimer: My Muse, my imagination and my dreams are all mine (but can be rented for a high fee). I'm sure if I owned the cast and characters we would have an enormous amount of fun (but I don't. I'm just borrowing them).

'Under Pressure' – Queen

A/N:- Awesome pilot for 'Studio 60' which could prove to be an awesome show. Here's just a short post-ep. Was pretty tough to write the characters since I haven't exactly got a lot of characterisation to go on. Oh well!

Matt walked into his office and threw down his jacket on the chair. Wes had come back earlier and cleared out the place and now it looked as empty as it had the day he and Danny had packed up and left four years ago. He collapsed into the chair and spun round a few times before pulling back the recline lever, leaning back and closing his eyes tiredly.

The last time he had checked his watch, the LED display had told him it was 3am and that had been at least an hour ago. The last six hours had just been plain crazy he hadn't had time to think about pain or drugs but now the Vicodin was starting to wear off, the nagging pain in his back was starting to remind him why he should have stayed in bed. But then again maybe if he had stayed in bed he would never have won the award or found out about Danny's drug problem or got offered the job at Studio 60. Instead he would be tossing and turning stewing about Harriet. The reality was so much better.

At the sound of footsteps, he opened his eyes and angled his chair at the door, a few seconds later there was a soft knock followed by the door opening and the network's youngest ever president appeared in his doorway.

"Fruit basket." Jordan announced, holding up a large wicker basket containing all sort of exotic fruit covered in cellophane.

Matt stared at her. She was still wearing that trench coat wrapped around her evening gown, giving him her coy smile, trying to cover up her tiredness. He had been in the business for quite some time but he had never met someone quite like her. She really was something of an enigma. "That's nice but I was discharged from hospital last week."

She laughed and then walked over and deposited it on his empty desk. "Actually it's your office warming gift and my way of saying welcome to the team." She said, looking up at him apprehensively.

Matt stood up, hands in his pocket and met her gaze for a minute. It was a long running joke between him and Danny that he was useless at reading women but looking at Jordan now, if he didn't know who she was, he would have thought she looked green and naïve and not the unwavering, strong woman he knew she was. Harriet on the other hand had always had the single-minded 'don't mess with me' determination plastered to her face and Matt had always joked with her about how many people she had to screw over to get to where she was now.

Jordan looked away slightly and gave an awkward smile and Matt realised suddenly that he must have been staring. "Thank you." He said, holding out his hand. "And thank you for giving us this opportunity to run this show again."

"Oh I'm not doing it for you." She laughed. "First day on the job and I needed to cover my ass and quickly and I knew that you two were in town ……… so here we are."

"Yes, here we are."

A silence descended on the room and Jordan was about to leave when Danny burst into the room. "Oh here you are!" he said to Matt happily. "I've just spoke to Cal and-" Then he stopped short when he spotted Jordan. "Hi." He said, shifting on his feet uneasily.

"Hey. Look about the drug thing, I didn't mean to blackmail you with it but-"

"Doesn't matter." Danny said gruffly. "Turns out you probably did me a favour."

"Yeah especially because the script for the new movie …. Well, it wasn't the best thing I've written. Too much Vicodin." Matt added with a laugh.

Danny let the laughter die before looking at Jordan curiously and asking the question which he and Matt had wanted to hear the answer to from the beginning. "We all know that TV is a dangerous business and all about taking chances but getting Matt and I to run this shop …. I mean the Network don't like us, having done this before we already have a tarnished reputation and you want to air the very sketch that caused all this palaver in the first place ……….. it's a pretty big gamble."

Jordan thought about what he was saying for a beat before giving him a glance before focussing her gaze on Matt. "Well, I guess I just thought you two were worth the risk."

Matt held her look and felt something warm inside of him. He wasn't sure whether it was because it had been a long time since he had someone believe in him so much or whether it had something to do with the fact that the woman in front of him was undeniably pretty but whichever one it was, he felt the connection between them. "So no pressure or anything." He said giving her a lopsided smile.

"Nope none at all." She replied with a flick of her head. "Just give me a kick ass show next week and we should be fine."

"We'll sure try." Danny said.

Jordan gave them both a smile before tightening the belt on her trench coat and heading for the door. "Well, I'll see you in the morning guys."

After she left, Danny turned to his partner with a tired smile. "So …."

"So …."

"I think we should get some rest." Danny suggested heading over to the sofa and lying down.

"Definitely." Matt replied, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on his desk. "Because we sure as hell aren't going to get any for the next two years."

A/N:- Thoughts?