A/N: So, howdy from my college dorm room guys! T'is here a Lucy and Lindsay story but of course, Daddy!Danny is heavily mentioned. No spoilers and set way in the future - really, it was a little something to pass the time and I hope this hasn't been done yet/before. Hope you enjoy :)
It's so easy to get lost inside,
A problem that seems so big at the time,
It's like a river that's so wide,
It swallows you whole...
While you're sitting around thinking 'bout what you can't change,
And worrying about all the wrong things.
Time's flying by, moving so fast,
You better make it count 'cause you can't get it back...
'So Small' – Carrie Underwood
Lucy Messer sighed as she looked at her unusually tidy bedroom. Except, looking at it, it wasn't really her bedroom. She didn't have the Bronx marble flooring in her bedroom accompanied by her rugs, effectively creating a stepping stone effect across the vast bedroom. She didn't have her brightly coloured walls with hearts and other random drawings done by her and her friends. She didn't have the notice board filled with pictures of her friends.
She sighed as an MSN conversation flashed on her toolbar of her laptop and she mindlessly clicked onto the little button. She smiled at what her friend said, but it didn't make her laugh like it used to.
She hated the fact she was half way across the country, sat in a dorm room at an ungodly hour, desperately trying to catch up with her friends while her housemates slept. Well, said they were sleeping. Lucy had a sneaky feeling they were doing the same thing she was.
She glanced to her window where she saw her mom and dad beaming at her from the portrait picture they had gotten taken specifically for her moving away.
She turned her attention to the little digital clock on the taskbar of her laptop and sighed. She had to be up in mere hours, but she just couldn't sleep. It's not that she didn't want to – because the bags under her eyes presented all the evidence she needed to prove that she needed (and wanted) to sleep. It just wasn't home.
It wasn't her double bed she'd become accustomed to. She didn't have her mom and dad switching the hall light off if one of them had come home from shift after coming into her room, dropping a kiss to her forehead and tiptoeing to bed. She didn't have her mom either waking her up by the smells of coffee and bagels from downstairs in a morning – or, had she been called out – a morning wakeup call... literally to ensure she was up and ready for school or whatever else was on the agenda.
Laying her head down on the desk, Lucy let out a sigh as she heard some of her other freshman class obviously coming home from one of the many events from the social calendar, marking the first week of college.
She'd wanted to go. Really. It was just... she couldn't be bothered. She wanted to sit and just close her eyes and cry for a little while as home sickness set in.
She'd spent the evening shopping for groceries at the local store with her friends before coming home, making dinner and then proceeding to show her new best friends pictures of her life leading up to college. They'd had fun, laughing and giggling. But now, as she sat on her own in her lonely dorm room, it'd begun to sink in that things had definitely changed.
She missed her best friend. She missed just going to her house, lying on the couch, top and tail as they watched absolute rubbish on TV, throwing candy at each other – and then having to get the vacuum cleaner out before they both got grounded for making such a horrific mess.
She sat cross-legged on her chair and held her head in her hands as she glanced at her cell phone. Quickly working out the time difference, she figured it'd be about 8PM in New York. Taking not even a second to think about it, she quickly dialled an all too familiar number and held it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Mommy?"
"Hi baby," Lindsay gushed down the line. "How was today? What was your class like?"
"Fine," Lucy said, desperately trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Are they talking to you yet? The girls in your class?"
"Meh," Lucy sighed. "No, but I figure either way, at the end of the day I'm only here to learn, right? I'm not here for a social gathering in the classroom. I have the guys I live with and that's fine."
"I wish you hadn't told me that the girls in your class weren't speaking to you. I accidentally told daddy and he wants to come up there and knock ten bells out of them,"
Lucy fell silent as she glanced down at her desk, not really taking in what her mother was saying to her.
"Luce?"
"Mommy, I wanna come home." Lucy sobbed.
"Lucy? Baby, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
"I miss you." She cried, tears slipping down her cheek. "I miss the girls, I miss daddy. I don't like it here. I miss you so much. Please come get me and bring me home, mommy."
"Lucy, baby... you were so excited about this. What's the matter sweetheart, what's brought this on?"
"It's Tuesday." Lucy cried. "All the girls will have met up tonight and I'm not there. We always meet on Tuesdays."
"Baby," Lindsay sighed down the phone; her heart breaking for her daughter. "I thought you'd prepped yourself up for this. You're alright baby girl, you're just feeling homesick."
"But mommy, I miss you so much. I hate it here, I want to come home. Please mommy, come and get me and take me home."
"Baby girl, this is totally normal, okay?" Lindsay calmed her daughter. "It is completely normal for you to be feeling like this, okay? I know you don't want to come home, because you've been looking forward to this for months and months. You worked your butt off to get into college, okay? It wasn't easy; but you did it."
"They keep sayin' that; like my tutors and stuff," Lucy sobbed, "But mommy, I just miss you and daddy. I don't care about my classes. I just want to come home."
"Honey..."
"Mom, no one speaks to me. I barely open my mouth for the two hour classes."
"Have you tried transferring into a different group?"
"Mom, I can't do that! Then they'd... I just can't, alright?"
"But baby, you can speak to anyone and everyone. Surely there is someone you can make friends with."
Lucy sighed.
"Lucy, come on. Don't let this spoil your first week at college, sweetheart."
"I just miss you and daddy, okay? I miss you guys."
"Lucy, trust me, Daddy and I – we miss you so much baby girl. The entire lab keeps asking about you, and Daddy and I are finding it hard. Even if we're just saying that you're doing fine; we miss you too sweetheart."
Lucy sniffled down the phone.
"Where are your tissues?" Lindsay inquired. "Did you put them on your bedside table like I told you?"
"Yes, mom." Lucy sighed. "I'm lookin' at 'em now."
"Well go get one instead of sniffling in my ear, baby girl."
"Mom!!" Lucy cried, "Seriously?"
"Even if you're on the other side of the US baby, doesn't mean I stop being your mommy. Do as I say."
Throwing her chair back and stomping across her dorm room, Lucy ripped out a tissue from the box and blew her nose. "Happy?"
"And again..."
"Are you kidding me?" Lucy implored.
"Humour me, why don't you?"
Sighing, but complying nonetheless, Lucy blew her nose.
"There we go," Lindsay said cheerfully down the line, "Better?"
"No. Now I'm just mad at you for being so... you."
"Isn't that better than missing me?"
Lucy growled. "Mom...."
"Would now not be the right time to ask you if you've made your bed?"
"I did make it actually," Lucy scoffed. "Even put those throw pillows on that you insisted I had."
"What about your-..."
"Don't push it," Lucy said, cutting her off. "How's daddy?"
Lindsay fell silent.
"Mommy?"
"Daddy... Daddy's fine."
"Mommy..." Lucy sighed with a warning tone. "Tell me the truth, 'k?"
Lindsay sighed. "Daddy's taking it hard that you're not here, but he's slowly getting better. It's just going to take a few days for all of us to get used to the new chapter in your life."
Lucy could feel the tears burning in her eyes. "He's not cried has he?"
"Lucy.... Come on, we promised that we wouldn't be emotional over the phone and everything. You'll be home before you know it, sweetheart."
"Christmas!" she sobbed. "I'm not comin' home till Christmas, mom!"
"But it's something to look forward to, right?"
Lucy blew her nose. "I don't know, alright? I... I just feel so overwhelmed right now."
"It's a lot to take in sweetheart," Lindsay told her daughter. "You're trying to find your feet and it's totally okay to feel overwhelmed."
"But mom, I wanted to cry today just cause they didn't have the air freshener you get. I wanted one for my room and they didn't have it, so I had to get a different one, and it doesn't smell like my room... I just..."
"Are you really freaking out about an air freshener?" Lindsay teased. "You're more my daughter than I thought."
"Mom!"
"I'm sorry," Lindsay said softly. "I'm sorry you're finding this hard sweet pea. But you know it's gonna be okay. You're only feeling like this because you've sat down tonight and thought about stuff and realised how much your life has changed."
"Um, duh!"
"Hey!" Lindsay scolded. "Watch it,"
"Sorry,"
"I know you're struggling honey, I know that.... But just give it a chance, alright. Just give it a while and you'll see. You won't even want to come home at Christmas."
Lucy scoffed in disgust at what Lindsay had just said.
"Honestly baby, I've been there; sat in a dorm room, crying, clutching a teddy bear because you miss your mommy. I've been there. Along with about ooh... I'd say along with about three quarters of all college students that have ever gone to college."
"I feel like it's just me though."
"You think all your friends aren't going through the exact same emotions?" Lindsay said softly, "You don't think that they've left friends behind – boyfriends – Lucy, you're lucky... you didn't have that problem."
"My mother, ladies and gentleman," Lucy scoffed. "Thanks for reminding me."
"I'm just saying," Lindsay continued, "The only man in your life you had to worry about was your daddy, and he'll always be there. The girls and guys in your dorm have to worry about their boyfriends and girlfriends leaving them or cheating on them because they're away. You don't have that."
Lucy sighed. "I just have my daddy; which hurts even more, mommy."
"I know baby, but he's always at the end of the telephone call."
"It ain't the same." Lucy whispered. "I miss my daddy hugs."
"And he misses his Lucybear hugs, but sometimes, little girls turn into big girls and daddies have to let go, alright. He's always going to be there for you, Luce. Always always."
Lucy sighed. "Mommy, promise me that i'm going to feel more settled by the end of this week. Promise."
"I pinky promise," Lindsay whispered. "I double pinky promise."
"Kiss your pinky." Lucy sniffled as she kissed her pinky. "Did you kiss it?"
"I kissed it." Lindsay assured her. "Go to bed sweetheart, it's late."
"Or early, depending how you're looking at it."
"Regardless." Lindsay laughed. "Go to bed, have a good night's sleep, and I'll speak to you tomorrow, okay? Get daddy to call you?"
Agreeing with her mother that it sounded like a half decent idea, Lucy sighed. "I love you mommy."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
"Tell daddy I love him."
"I will." Lindsay whispered. "Night princess."
Disconnecting the call, Lucy placed her phone on her desk and quickly signed off her messenger before shutting her laptop down. She shuffled over to her bed and turned the lamp off as she climbed in.
She knew that at the end of the day she'd get through college and the transition period. Regardless of how many tears she cried; regardless of the sleepless nights she'd spend trying to hand assessments and papers in on time; regardless of the time she was going to have to spend away from the people she loved the most.
College was her learning curve. Something she was going to have to get used to; which she would. She'd just have to give it a little time. And have a little faith in herself to get through the hard times. After all, once she got through the hard aspects of her new life, the more exciting areas would be coming left, right and centre. Things about her new life that she could go home and tell all the people she loved and missed all about.
And that, she thought as she closed her eyes and slowly felt herself drifting off to sleep, was something to look forward to.
Comments and thoughts are appreciated ;) - Thanks for reading guys and gals!