A/N: This just came to me after a night of humoring my father's obsession with Bruce Willis films. It was write and suffer or just suffer, so I chose the lesser of two evils.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the four Die Hard movies although technically they're my father's.
Warning: Contains some language and subtle sexual innuendos.
A Bigger Set of Balls
-M-
Matt really wanted to go over to Lucy right now and ask her out. She was only across the room for heaven's sake! But something was keeping him from walking that short distance and it wasn't just the nurse bustling around his right side.
Maybe right now wasn't such a good time to start a relationship. After all, it had been a rough two days what with being kidnapped, shot at, and basically threatened within an inch of their lives.
Of course he had just saved her from some serious shit. Well, technically her father had, but he'd shot the guy that was holding her hostage hadn't he? Didn't he deserve a little praise?
Besides, he was sure he'd felt a little vibe back there.
Sure, there was always her father to think about. Matt wasn't a fool by any means. He'd seen what those muscles could do. And how much John loved his daughter. Were a few broken bones and possible loss of limb worth risking just on the off chance he might hit it off with her?
Matt had almost decided against asking her out, when he remembered something she had said earlier: "Will you just take a minute and dig deep for a bigger set of balls, 'cause you're gonna need 'em before we're through."
This advice seemed to have worked well in a situation involving several loaded guns and a genius psychopath. Could it also possibly apply to a situation involving an overprotective father with seriously big muscles and a high threshold for pain? The third situation this advice might pertain to was a bit too dirty to think about. (He blamed that mental image on the morphine.)
He might as well try. What else did he have to lose? His apartment was blown to smithereens, his cell phone was still dead, and another bullet hole or two wouldn't matter much in the long run.
Shooing off the still bustling nurse and squaring his narrow shoulders, he made his way purposely across the emergency room.
-L-
Lucy was sitting on one of those hard plastic beds awaiting the doctor's okay that meant she could go and visit her father. Really, she was fine. Tomorrow she would have a few bruises, that was all. In the meantime, she had nothing to do.
Her bored eyes came to rest on the bed opposite hers where Matt was being tended.
He had been surprisingly brave for a computer nerd. Her father had told her on the way to the hospital about how Matt had figured out what the terrorists were planning and how he had volunteered to come rescue her.
He really wasn't too bad looking, in a geekish kind of way. He was in obvious need of a bath, but the shaggy look he had going on suited his thin frame. He was a little on the short side too, but perhaps that was because he slouched. With a little help he might actually be a guy she wouldn't mind introducing to her friends.
Besides, he had saved her life. She could have overpowered her captor easily of course, but at that moment she had been a bit distracted. Who knows what could have happened if he hadn't fired the gun when he had? She'd probably just be a smear on the concrete.
She really should thank him for that. Maybe she would even give him a kiss. That was the going rate for saving a damsel in distress these days wasn't it? Not that she would ever be a damsel in distress. Goodness knows he wasn't a knight in shining armor.
She enjoyed a silent chuckle at the thought of Matt decked in glistening armor. He would probably fall flat on his face.
Still, he was better than all the bozos she had met recently. He had a conscience and some bravery deep down. He certainly wouldn't try to feel her up on their first date. He would probably take her to a nice restaurant— not too nice, but not McDonald's either— and then they'd go to movie where….
What was she doing thinking about their first date? For that matter, why was she even thinking of geeky-Matt anyway? Her father would kill her if he could hear her thoughts. Well maybe not her, but certainly him. Besides, her father had said Matt didn't like her like that. Apparently he hadn't felt the vibe she'd felt in the car. That or he needed to grow a bigger pair.
No, she should just let it go.
Just then she registered that Matt had abandoned his nurse and bed and was currently making his way over to her.
He really was quite handsome now that she had a better look at him.
-M-
Matt cleared his throat nervously. One would think that after being face to face with a homicidal maniac like Thomas Gabriel and living to tell the tale, asking a girl out would be nothing. The fact that she was the daughter of one of the toughest men he'd ever met really shouldn't matter, should it?
He could feel his air pipe closing up. This was worse than any asthma attack he'd ever had. Bring on Gabriel and all his goons; they had to be less scary than this.
Matt had to summon all the remaining air in his lungs just to squeak out a cramped, "Willyougoonadatewithme?"
From the puzzled expression on her face, he assumed she hadn't understood.
Taking a deep breath, he repeated, slower, "Will you go on a date with me?"
Lucy just looked at him for a bit. She seemed to be deciding if his offer was genuine. After a minute, she replied.
-J-
John McClane was not an idiot, contrary to what bad guys usually thought. He had seen the looks exchanged between his daughter and that hacker. And he wasn't pleased in the slightest.
What right did that little prick think he had that would allow him to even speak to someone like his Lucy? Lucy was special. She was brave, talented, clever…. Everything Matt…
Finishing this sentence, even in his thoughts, would be wrong and John knew it. For all Matt's outward displays of inadequacy, he really wasn't that bad of a guy.
He may have pretended to be scared of guns, but when needed, he had proven himself a relatively good shot. He'd also had the foresight to encrypt those files. If Matt hadn't done that, then there was no doubt that he would just be a puddle right now. It had also bought John and the FBI more time. And as much as John hated to admit it, he was good at computers. There was no way John could've done even a quarter of all the shit Matt had. Of course it was that shit that had gotten them into this situation in the first place, but he was willing to let that slide in favor of all the good it had accomplished in the end.
Matt was not a bad guy, that much was certain. He could have just run off with all the encrypted files and no one would have known, but he hadn't. Instead he had chosen to stay and face Gabriel. There were men on the police force that wouldn't have done that; they'd have hightailed it out of there.
Would it really be so bad if he let Matt date his daughter? What could possibly happen?
John shook his head wildly to get those traitorous thoughts out of his head. This turned out to be a mistake as he felt the twenty or so stitches in his neck and head stretch to near breaking point.
"Hold still, John! Do you want me to stick you in another vital organ?" cried the doctor currently attached to his abdomen by a very long needle and an even longer line of forest green string. He held the needle up threateningly. "Do you need more anesthetic?"
"Only if you have some for the mind," John grumbled.
The doctor didn't look up as he replied, "If you need to talk to someone, I have a skilled colleague up in the psych ward. God knows if I had just been through something like you have, I'd need some serious psychiatric help." He gave a rueful chuckle.
"It's not like that," John growled darkly. Why was everyone always trying to get him into therapy? He was fine, god dammit! "I can handle thugs like Gabriel. It's them I'm worried about." He made a broad gesture towards the general vicinity of Matt and Lucy.
The doctor followed his hand and nodded knowingly. "It is scary to realize that your children are growing up. One minute they're dancing around half naked in the living room, the next they're graduating from college, and before you know it, they're married with children."
The image of Lucy in a wedding gown came unbidden into his mind. He pushed it roughly away only to have it replaced by an even worse image: a little boy with Matt's stick-straight black hair and his daughter's chocolate brown eyes.
He would be an effing grandpa!
No, there was no way he would let Matt anywhere near his Lucy.
"Of course, they look rather good together don't they?" continued the doctor, absently.
John looked back at Matt and Lucy, who were currently standing rather close together, apparently talking.
He had to admit, the doctor had a point. They did look okay together. A tiny bit like he and Holly had looked way back when. Admittedly they had ended up getting a divorce, but the time before that had been the best of his life.
What kind of father was he to deny his daughter a chance at happiness? Goodness knows there was little enough in the world as it was. Those two deserved it after what they had been through.
They might just make it. Provided of course Matt grew a bigger set of balls.