Catherine's heart dropped. She released her grasp from Jackie.
"Uh, hey, I'm Tommy."
Jackie felt herself about to be sick and ran to the bathroom.
Tommy was in the kitchen getting a glass of water when he looked back at Catherine.
"She's pretty messed up right now." Tommy said.
Catherine couldn't help but notice how comfortable Tommy looked in Jackie's apartment. She wondered if Jackie was lying to her about them not being together.
"Are you friends with Jacks?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm visiting from Bloomington," Catherine replied with a confused face.
"Oh cool! Well, listen. I know a broken heart is something girls help each other out with. So I'm gonna leave you to it."
He handed the bottle of aspirin and glass of water to Catherine.
"Could you tell her I said bye? I'm not good with vomit."
Before Catherine could say a word, Tommy was gone and she stood there frozen while holding the glass of water and aspirin. Did Jackie and Tommy have a fight? Did he mention something about a broken heart? Why was Jackie wearing a bathrobe? She pulled her luggage in from the hall and gently closed the door, still trying to wrap her mind around what she just walked into.
Catherine slowly made her way to the bathroom. She could see Jackie lying on the floor through the crack, so she gently pushed it open. Jackie's elbows were resting on the toilet seat, with one of her hands holding her head up to cover her eye and exposing the knot on her forehead.
"Jackie? Are you okay?"
Jackie looked up and felt embarrassed.
"I'll live."
"Here, take some aspirin."
Catherine removed two pills from the bottle and handed them with a glass of water to Jackie. Jackie leaned backwards and sat on the floor.
"Come here so I can take a look at that head, Jackie."
Catherine closed the toilet seat, making sure not to look inside, and flushed it. She patted her hand on the lid for Jackie to come and sit. Jackie struggled to get up and once she was on her feet, she lost her balance and almost fell into the bathtub. Catherine took hold of her shoulders and sat her down. She grabbed a towel and ran cool water over it. After wringing it out, she sat on the side of the tub. She grabbed Jackie's chin to turn her face towards her. Catherine winced at the sight of it.
"Ouch, what happened?"
"I tripped and hit it on the wall," Jackie slurred.
Catherine looked at her suspiciously, "You know that's what abuse victims say. Did something happen between you and Tommy?"
"What? No! Tommy wouldn't hurt a fly. This was all me. He wasn't even here when it happened."
Catherine was relieved to hear this since she had just let him walk past her out the door.
"So when did you take up drinking?" Catherine asked.
"About one week after I moved here. Stress and depression go great with California wine." Jackie drunkenly laughed at herself.
Catherine couldn't help to smile but this new discovery worried her a bit.
"You know, me mending you face is starting to become a routine."
Jackie let a tiny smile escape her lips. "This is embarrassing. What are you doing here anyways?"
Since she wasn't sure what was going on, Catherine didn't want to reveal that she had completely changed her travel plans.
So she simply stated, "I caught an earlier flight and thought I would surprise you. Clearly this wasn't my best idea."
Jackie flinched as Catherine examined her forehead.
"Sorry!" Catherine apologised.
Jackie closed her eyes. She couldn't face Catherine like this. Suddenly, she felt her dabbing at eyes and wimpier he make up off that had run down her cheeks. It took everything inside of her not to start crying again.
Catherine could see Jackie's face twitching, fighting the urge to cry, so she decided to give her a minute.
"Let me go and get you some fresh ice."
****
As soon as Catherine left, Jackie slowly got up and brushed her teeth. As she was coming out of the bathroom, Catherine walked towards her with ice in her right hand.
"Here, keep this pressed on your head for a while. It will keep the swelling down."
"Thanks," Jackie said softly.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Catherine asked, trying not to pry.
"Don't worry about it." Jackie replied, being somewhat short with her.
"Are you mad at me or something? Just say the words and I can go and get a hotel."
"Just give me a minute, okay?"
Jackie went into her bedroom and closed the door. She collapsed on her bed and buried her face into the pillow. She started sobbing uncontrollably and hoped Catherine couldn't hear.
Catherine was sitting on the couch when she started to hear Jackie's muffled cried. She wasn't sure what Jackie was going through, but thought it was best to give her some space and check into a hotel room.
She headed back towards Jackie's room and softly knocked on the door.
"Jackie? Can I come in?"
"Please Catherine, just give me a minute." Jackie said while trying to disguise her crying.
Catherine gently opened the door. She sat on Jackie's bed and began rubbing her back.
"Jackie, I think it's best that I go and check into a hotel. You clearly need some time to yourself and I don't want to burden you. Can you just tell me that you will be okay if I leave you? I don't want you falling and hurting yourself again?"
"I'll be fine."
Catherine bent down and kissed Jackie on the back of the head.
"I'm sorry that you are hurting, Porcupine. You know that I do have mob connections and can have whoever did this to you killed," Catherine teased.
Just then, Jackie realised Catherine had not idea this was all the result of her. Catherine must had thought Jackie was dealing with heartbreak caused by someone else, probably Tommy given the way it looked tonight.
"Catherine?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't have a hotel room, do you?"
"No, but it's no trouble. I'm sure I can find one."
"Stop. You're staying here."
Jackie sat up and wiped her tears.
"I'm sorry that I'm not the best company tonight, but I'm not going to send you into the streets of LA at 10 o'clock at night with nowhere to go."
"Are your sure?"
Suddenly, Jackie felt a million times better but minus the humiliation...and pounding forehead.
"Yes. Let me get my hot mess together and I'll be out in a second. Are you hungry? We can order take in."
"Starving," Catherine replied.
****
Jackie put on some clothes. She was mortified that both Tommy and Catherine had seen her like this. She went into the bathroom and washed her face, then applied some makeup to help even out the swollen forehead and puffy eyes.
After leaning her head back, she began to spin again. She was still hammered. Once she felt somewhat more put together, she grabbed the ice off of the sink and went into the living room to join Catherine.
She flashed her a smile. Then slumped down on the couch and stuck the ice on her head.
"Good to go?" Catherine asked, sounding half concern and half joking.
"The room is still spinning and my head is pounding, but I'll be okay. I guess you don't have to feel self-conscious about this morning anymore. Jokes on me now, huh?"
"Whatever, you could be wearing a paper bag and still look fucking gorgeous," Catherine laughed.
Jackie took off the ice and looked at Catherine, who then winked at her. She started to laugh but then winced in pain.
"Owww," she cried. "Wade and Matt are going to kill me."
"Matt is your new manager I assume?"
"Yes. Shit! Food. Sorry. I'll go get the menus."
Catherine placed her hand on Jackie's arm and replied
"Let me. Just tell me where they are."
****
After ordering food, Catherine got Jackie a glass of water.
"You should probably drink as much of this as you can, or you're going to feel even worse tomorrow."
"Good idea. Can we just start this night over and pretend you just got here?"
"No, but we can try. I guess we won't be visiting any wineries tomorrow, huh?"
"You're lucky I'm not hungover yet, or I would be vomiting on your lap right now."
"That's attractive. How many glasses did you have anyways?"
"Two and a half bottles..."
"Two and a half BOTTLES?! Jesus Christ Jackie!"
"I know, I know. Trust me. My head is a reminder enough of how mad of an idea it was."
"Speaking of..."
Catherine got up and refilled Jackie's ice. She came around the back of the couch, leaned Jackie's head back and gently laid the ice on the bump.
"On for 20, off for 15."
As Jackie placed her hand on the ice, her fingers brushed Catherine's. She then placed her hand directly on top of Catherine's. Looking into her eyes and said,
"Yes, Professor Stark."
Catherine bent down and whispered in Jackie's ear,
"Good girl."
As she began to lift her head back up, Jackie let go and moved her hands to Catherine's face, pulling her closer. Catherine grabbed Jackie's hands and pulled them away.
"Jackie, you're drunk," she whispered.
Thankfully, the buzzer rang to avoid an awkward moment. The food was here.
Jackie was only able to eat a few bites. She disappeared into the back and was gone almost 15 minutes before Catherine finally came back to check on her.
She found Jackie curled up on her bed and was looking adorable as ever. She kissed the top of her head and whispered,
"Sweet dreams Porcupine."
When she pulled the blankets up, Jackie sleepily turned over and grabbed her arm.
"Catherine...Stay."
Catherine climbed over Jackie and laid next to her, gently caressing her arm. Jackie's heavy eyes opened slightly as she whispered,
"I miss you."
Before drifting back to sleep.
a/n  I legit cried while writing this when she called Jackie 'porcupine.' I remembered the first time Catherine said it in the movieð© ð©
Anyways, thanks for reading my story. Please vote and drop a comment. Comments will help me a lot more than you might think. â¤ï¸