Title: Wanna Smuggle in a Pizza?
Summary: Leona was supposed to be invincible. She said so herself that she was going to live forever. Charlie couldn't bear the possibility of Leona being seriously injured, or worse...dead.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13. Warning for character injury.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I don't own The Newsroom or any of the characters; those belong to Aaron Sorkin and HBO.
Author's Note: I haven't written any fic at all in like 4-5 years so this was my way of dipping my toes back in the waters of fic writing. I hope it works and that you enjoy it!
* * *
"At six o'clock tonight, Leona Lansing, owner of Atlantis World Media, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital along with her driver, a Ronald Adams, after the limousine they were travelling in was rammed by another car at the intersection of 5th Avenue and West 23rd street. No further details are known at this time."
Charlie stood outside News Night's control room, watching Will report the news that his boss, Leona Lansing, had been in a car accident. Leona, who owned the company that, helped Charlie and the New Night team create and produce news stories, now was the story. Leona was supposed to be invincible. She said so herself that she was going to live forever. Charlie couldn't bear the possibility of Leona being seriously injured, or worse...dead. No, he couldn't think about that. He and Leona had had their fair share of conflict and disputes over the years but underneath it all, he deeply cared for Leona. In fact, he loved her. They had known each other for a long time; they had a history together. Charlie was married of course but he and Leona had been carrying on a...emotional affair I guess you could call it, for the past couple of months. Nothing physical had occurred between them yet, besides kissing.
Charlie was broken out of his thoughts when he saw Maggie Jordan walking into the control room, holding a piece of paper. He could only pray that it contained an update on Leona's condition.
"Reese Lansing made a statement about Mrs. Lansing," Maggie said to Mackenzie and Jim.
Mackenzie nodded and started speaking into her headset to Will.
"Reese made a statement on Leona's condition," Mackenzie said. "It's going up on the prompter now."
Will nodded in understanding and turned his attention to the teleprompter.
"Reese Lansing, Leona Lansing's son and president of Atlantic Cable News has given a statement on his mother's condition. He says, 'My mother has just come out of surgery and is resting comfortably. She is expected to make a full recovery. Our family is grateful for the doctors and nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital for their wonderful care. We thank everyone for their concern and support but we ask that you respect our wishes for privacy at this time.'"
* * *
Outside the control room all Charlie could do was sigh in relief.
"Be right back," Mackenzie said to everyone in the control room as Will took the show to a commercial break. She removed her headset and walked out of the control room, into the hallway over to where Charlie was standing.
"She's okay," Charlie said.
Mackenzie smiled, "She's okay."
She rubbed Charlie's shoulder. "You should go to the hospital.
"But Reese—," Charlie protested.
"Screw Reese," Mackenzie said.
Charlie weakly smiled for the first time in hours. Mackenzie and Will were the only ones who knew how close Charlie and Leona really were. Charlie suspected that Reese had figured it out, too.
"Go to her," Mackenzie said, squeezing Charlie's hand before she disappeared back into the control room.
Taking Mackenzie's advice, Charlie went to his office, grabbed his briefcase and his coat and left the Atlantis World Media offices. He hailed a cab outside and headed towards Mount Sinai.
Charlie could feel his heart pounding as he approached Leona's hospital room. He had no idea what to expect. He hadn't yet learned the full extent of Leona's injuries. Leona was so strong and healthy that Charlie assumed she probably hadn't been a patient in a hospital since giving birth to Reese years ago.
As he got closer to Leona's room, he saw Reese exiting it. Poor guy looked exhausted. His eyes were red and tired looking, his hair was all over the place and his suit was wrinkled. Leona's accident had given Charlie quite the scare but he couldn't imagine the pain that it must have caused Reese. Charlie locked eyes with him as they passed each other in the hallway. Reese was too worn out to be mad that Charlie was there so he just nodded at him, acknowledging Charlie's presence. Charlie nodded back. The two shared a look of mutual understanding before Charlie continued onto Leona's room. It felt like the longest walk Charlie had ever taken in his entire life.
He soon arrived at Leona's private hospital suite. The door was closed. He hesitated for a moment. He was nervous about what he was about to see. He took a deep breath.
You can do this. She needs you, he thought as he opened the door.
Leona appeared to be sleeping when he entered the room. A nurse was in the room with her, checking Leona's vitals.
"Oh, Lee," Charlie quietly said, more so to himself than to Leona. Leona, who was usually an amazingly strong presence and force in any room, looked small and vulnerable in her hospital bed. She was covered in cuts and bruises, hooked up to IV's and monitors. She had a cast on her right arm. Charlie waited for the nurse to finish up before he went over to Leona's bedside and gently took his hand in her free hand. He tenderly kissed her cheek. Then he turned on the TV in Leona's room, surfed the channels until he found ACN, and left the volume turned down low so as not to wake Leona.
He stayed like for a while, watching ACN while holding Leona's hand and stroking her hair. Fearing he had overstayed his welcome he turned the TV off, gathered his things and started heading towards the door. He would come back tomorrow when Leona was awake he decided.
"Charlie."
Charlie stopped walking away and turned around. Leona was awake.
"Leona!" Charlie said, surprised.
"I was awake the whole time," Leona weakly said. "Come back."
Charlie went back to her bedside and gave her a kiss on the forehead, letting his lips linger for a few seconds.
"You scared me so badly," Charlie said.
"I'm fine," Leona insisted, her voice starting to sound more like the strong, authoritative one Charlie was used to.
Charlie shook his head, this was typical of Leona.
"You got pretty banged up," Charlie said.
"I noticed," Leona responded, frowning.
"Are you in pain?" Charlie asked, worriedly.
"I'm fine," Leona repeated.
Charlie sighed. Leona always did have a freakishly high tolerance for pain though.
"Where did Reese go?" Charlie asked.
"I sent him home. Poor guy was exhausted," Leona answered.
Charlie nodded.
Leona slyly smiled, "come here."
She patted the empty space beside her on the bed. Charlie combed into the bed with her and wrapped his arms around her. There was just enough space for the two of them to fit.
"You really didn't have to come," Leona suddenly said after a few minutes.
"Don't be silly, Lee," Charlie said, kissing her head.
This kind of reaction from Leona was normal. Charlie both loved it and hated it.
Leona smiled to herself. She secretly loved that Charlie had come to the hospital.
Leona sighed, "This is such a pain. I have a million things to do."
"Shh," Charlie soothed. "Reese and I will take care of everything."
"You better," Leona said, getting back to her regular self. "I'm going to find the idiot who did this."
"Just go to sleep, Lee," Charlie said. "You need rest."
Leona sighed again, "I hate this. I need to be working, doing stuff."
"Don't worry about any of that right now. Jus focus on recovering," Charlie said.
"I'm going to sue the asshole who rammed into us. I mean it. Get Rebecca on the phone right now," Leona demanded.
Charlie couldn't but laugh. "No, I'm not going to phone Rebecca. You can talk to her tomorrow."
Leona just gave Charlie an annoyed "tsk" even though she knew he was right. She felt completely drained of all her energy. She cuddled up closer to Charlie.
Charlie rubbed her back, "Go to sleep, my sweet Leona."
Leona nodded and closed her eyes.
After a few minutes Leona started to stir in Charlie's arms.
"Charlie?" she said.
"Yeah?" Charlie asked groggily. He had started falling asleep himself.
"Wanna smuggle in a pizza?" Leona asked.
Charlie smiled to himself and he had to laugh. Leona was going to be just fine. She'd be back on her feet and running AWM again in no time.
THE END