Title: The Big Shoulders
Author: Devin
Rating: PG-13 (I'll post if that changes)
Spoilers: everything up to The Harriet Dinner II
Pairing: Danny/Jordan, Matt/Harriet (mostly UST), 
Luke/Harriet
Warnings: If all goes as planned this is going to 
be very angsty, so if you're looking for something 
light this is really not it. Also, this is a 
speculation WIP, meaning it will start out canon 
but probably won't end that way.
Summary: When Matt crashes will he be able to be 
pulled back up? Or will he bring others down with 
him?
Disclaimer: Anything that remotely resembles 
anything on Studio 60 does not belong to me.
Author's Note: Thanks to aaeryn for beta reading 
this story for me!


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Prologue

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He awoke to complete darkness in an environment he 
couldn't place, though he was pretty sure the 
plank of wood he was laying on was supposed to be 
a couch.

All he knew for sure was that his whole body hurt 
and the hushed voices outside the room were too 
loud for his throbbing head.

Deciding whatever hole his mind had decided to 
crawl out of to regain consciousness had to be 
better than this, Matt once again closed his eyes.

***

"How did I not see this coming?" Danny whispered 
harshly, for what had to be the 100th time since 
he'd found him an hour ago, as he tiredly wiped a 
hand across his face.

Jordan watched helplessly as he paced, having long 
since discovered no words were of comfort. So 
instead she tried to help in the only way she 
could think of, by attacking the problem from as 
many angles as she could discover. "Did anyone see 
him like this?"

"No one except Suzanne. I asked her which PAs she 
thought we could trust, they're gonna clean up his 
office before anyone else shows up."

"What about the show? Do you need a week? We can 
fill with a Friday night movie, or something."

Danny glanced towards the closed door with a look 
she couldn't read, except that it made her want to 
draw him to her and shield him from all of this.

"No. We need to keep this quiet for as long as 
possible. The writers will step it up, and I'll 
bring Simon and Tom in so they have a couple more 
hands on deck."

"Hey," she caught his hand and tugged it lightly, 
bringing his focus back to her, "are you going to 
be okay?"

With what she could only assume was suppose to be 
a reassuring smile, he said, "don't worry about 
it," before turning away to head for the front 
door. "Will you sit with him until I get back?"

"Of course. Where are you going?"

"To fix this."

***

Danny was almost to his car when he pulled out his 
phone. His hand shook as he held, barely 
controlling the urge to crush it.

Scrolling through the menu, he found a familiar 
number and waited far too many rings until someone 
picked up. "Harriet Hayes' phone."

"Put her on right now, Luke."

He heard a small amount of shuffling and muffled 
speech before Harriet spoke. "Danny? What's 
wrong?"

"Be in my office in twenty minutes if you still 
want a job on Monday."

Without waiting for a response he snapped the 
phone shut.


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tbc...

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Chapter 1

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Earlier That Night



"Hey!"

Danny turned at Jordan's warm greeting, and felt a 
smile spread across his face as she drew nearer. 
When she was close enough he wrapped an arm around 
her waist and lightly brushed his lips across 
hers, in such a way that wouldn't embarrass her 
should someone happen down the currently deserted 
hallway (something that had happened more than 
once in the weeks since they'd started dating).

"Hey," he returned once they pulled apart. "Did 
you actually get to see any of the show or did 
your meeting run straight through?"

She let out a frustrated sigh, and possibly a 
couple of choice words attached to people's names 
but he couldn't be sure. "I barely escaped with my 
sanity 15 minutes ago. If it had gone on much 
longer there would have been 3 less copyright 
lawyers in the world."

"Are only network presidents allowed to execute 
people who keep them in meetings to long?" he 
asked, unsuccessfully trying to cover his 
laughter.

"Network presidents and the Queen. Now, are you 
going to continue to mock my pain or are we going 
to head to this party?"

"I have to go try and drag Matt out of his 
office." He began to do just that, resuming the 
path he'd paused in when she'd showed up. "Why 
don't you meet us by the front desk?"

The smile on her face was the only real clue that 
she wasn't truly affronted. "You trying to get rid 
of me?"

'She's been hanging out with actors way too long.'

Shrugging, "I just thought you might want to eat 
the sandwich I have for you in my office, since 
there's gonna be very little in the way of food at 
the party. But if you don't want it-"

Catching him off guard, they were both lucky not 
to topple to the floor as she pulled his face to 
hers, in a much deeper kiss than their greeting.

When they were both effectively deprived of 
breath, she pulled back and grinned widely. "Every 
once and awhile, you do okay at this boyfriend 
thing."

"Well, food was a hard call but I thought I'd risk 
it." His tone of mock-sincerity only earned him a 
smack on the back of the head.

He watched as she walked away before turning to go 
find Matt.

***

Present Time


The ride to the studio had done very little to 
dispel his anger. No matter how many times he 
counted to ten, pounded on the steering wheel, or 
found music with the loudest, angriest backbeat, 
his mind kept going back to the scene in Matt's 
office.

Somehow he hadn't managed to catch Matt before he 
fell. Matt had been in pain for weeks and he 
hadn't even noticed. He'd needed him there and he 
hadn't been.

Luckily, he made it to his office without getting 
in an accident. The office furniture was given the 
same treatment his car had been, he had to get 
this out before-

"Danny?"

Danny's body became even more tense, if at all 
possible, at the sound and sight of Harriet 
standing timidly and unsure in the doorway.

And the other thought he'd been trying to suppress 
from his mind came rushing back.

That somehow, this whole series of events led back 
to the night Matt had tried to win Harriet.

***

"Matt! C'mon, how can you satirize life if you 
sleep right through it?" Danny called out as he 
entered Matt's office and saw him passed out on 
his couch, curled around the baseball bat that 
never seemed to be out of his reach. But, as he 
got closer, the lurid scent of hard liquor and the 
presence of previously unseen emptied bottles 
quickly brought him up short.

"What the hell?"

The only good thing about the scene in front of 
him was that most of the bottles had been emptied 
onto the floor and coffee table, presumably when 
he'd been trying poor the liquid in a glass.

How'd he get like this between when the show 
started and now? He tried to remember if he'd had 
anything during the slaughter but nothing was 
standing out. Had he just missed it?

Quickly moving across the room he gently but 
forcefully shook him by the shoulders. "Matt!"

This time he got a response. Matt groaned loudly, 
clutching at his head, and tried to sit up, before 
ungracefully flopping back down.

Sighing in frustration, Danny briefly looked 
around the room before spotting what he needed. He 
walked over to the bucket that now only contained 
water bottles.

Pulling back Matt's collar, he let go of what he 
was holding in his hand.

Matt immediately jumped into the air, doing a 
weird shaking thing.

"Shit! What the fuck was that?"

"An ice cube."

"What the hell, Danny?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth." He picked 
up one of the empty bottles, waving it around for 
emphasis. "What happened here?"

"Nothing," Matt denied sullenly.

"Bullshit," Danny shot back more harshly then he 
meant to, but Matt was starting to scare him.

"I had a couple drinks, what's the big deal?"

"If you'd just had a couple it wouldn't be a big 
deal."

"Exactly. So why don't you just-"

"There are three empty bottle on the floor Matt!"

"I was just- I just- I needed-"

*bang*

Before Danny could react Matt had lifted the bat 
that he'd rested on his shoulder and swung out in 
frustration, with so much force he almost lost his 
balance.

*crash*

The computer, that still had window open, filled 
with a sketch rough draft, went sailing out until 
gravity insisted on working, falling with a 
deafening crunch.

"Jesus!" Lunging forward Danny reached out to grab 
the bat. He got one hand on it before Matt yanked 
it back and swung out again, Danny barely had time 
to duck out of the way as this time it came 
towards him, grazing his temple.

Stumbling backward, Danny stared as his best 
friend continued to wreak havoc on his office and 
yell incoherently.

He was only able to catch a couple key phrases: 
'never loved' and 'burn down the house' were 
repeated several times.

"Oh my God!"

*shatter*

Danny barely heard Suzanne's shocked voice over 
the next swing that went straight through the 
glass of one of the windows overlooking the 
studio.

*thud*

The bat slipped out of Matt's grasp, in what 
seemed like a total loss of energy rather than 
actually being finished.

Looking over where Suzanne still stood, Danny 
tried to make his voice come out calm. "Go."

"I can-"

"Suzanne!"

The young woman skittered out of the room but he 
suspected that she hadn't gone any further than 
the outer-office.

Once she was gone, he once again tried to approach 
Matt. Kicking the bat away, he guided his friend 
away for the shards that now littered the floor.

Sitting him down in one of the chairs, Danny 
crouched down in front of him, trying to maintain 
eye contact, though judging by his glazed over 
look Matt no longer knew there was anyone else in 
the room.

"Matt, I need to get you out of here. I'm going to 
go get my car; you need to stay right here. 
Suzanne's right outside if you need anything."

No response.

"Okay. Be right back."

He was almost out the door before...

"Just wanted to take her to the stupid dinner."

***

"Danny, what's going on? I don't appreciate being 
called in the middle of the night and having my 
job threatened."

Danny gestured to the seats in front of his desks, 
while leaning back in his own, trying to affect an 
air of casualness. Harriet looked unsure but sat 
down nonetheless.

"A man gets a job as a waiter at a Catholic 
fundraiser. When he gets there he finds himself in 
a fabulous hotel ballroom with sumptuous food and 
surroundings. The first priest that passes him he 
can't stop himself from asking, 'How do you become 
a priest?' The priest responds, 'You have to take 
vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.' To which 
the waiter replies, 'IF THIS IS POVERTY I CAN'T 
WAIT TO SEE CHASTITY!'"

Not waiting for Harriet to respond he jabbed at 
the button on the remote, springing the television 
to life and showing Matt attempting to tell the 
exact same joke.

"Matt has been able to tell that joke since he was 
two. So now you're going to tell me what happened 
between this," he threw a page of the 
entertainment section that had a picture of Matt 
and Harriet smiling, their arms around each other, 
and a headline reading 'On Again?', "and this," he 
pointed at the television where Matt had just beat 
a hasty retreat off stage.

***

Earlier That Night


As he suspected Suzanne had gone no further than 
her desk, where she was now sitting, fiddling with 
a pen, and looking anxious.

"I don't want anyone going in there. I don't think 
anyone's left around here but in case there is-"

She nodded quickly in understand. "Is he going to 
be okay?"

He said the only thing he could. "Yes." He started 
to walk out but stopped short. "There were network 
cameramen at that dinner for Harriet a few weeks 
ago. Do you think you could get that tape and have 
it sent over to me as soon as possible?" If she 
thought it was an odd request she didn't say so, 
and just wrote it down. "Also, I know you know 
which PAs we can trust explicitly. Get a couple of 
them together and have them clean up the office 
before anyone sees it, okay?"

***

"So not only did you tell him that it was 
completely over between you two but that the 
feelings you had towards him was a fake 
attachment? That sound about right?"

A single tear that had broken free while Harriet 
was describing her and Matt's fight but she had 
yet to wipe it away. She sniffed, trying to stop 
any more from joining them. "I may have also said 
that I didn't believe that he ever loved me."

Danny stood abruptly, pacing so he wouldn't yell 
at her anymore than he already had.

"And now Luke has been at every show since then, 
not to mention stopping by unexpectedly."

Harriet nodded, no longer able to look Danny in 
the eye.

"Things are going to have to change, Harri."

***

"There you are! I was about to send out a search 
party." Danny stopped short, how had he forgotten 
about Jordan? "Where's Matt?"

"Uh, he can't... come to the party."

"What, is he grounded?" Jordan asked, laughing. He 
could tell that she knew something was off but was 
ignoring it for the moment.

"Trust me, if it would help, he would be."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing. Look, neither of us is going to make it 
to the party. Are you okay making it home on your 
own?"

"Danny, you made me drive in with you so that I 
wouldn't have to drive or leave my car after the 
party. You're my ride." She paused, staring at him 
in a way that made him have to try not to squirm. 
"Okay. What is going on?"

"Nothing."

"Danny! You're bleeding!" She reached up a hand to 
touch his temple but he caught her hand before she 
could actually touch it.

"Don't-"

"Don't tell me not to worry about it!"

Glancing at George at the front desk, he latched 
onto Jordan's elbow and led her out the door.

They couldn't have this conversation in front of 
other people.

***

"Where should we put him?" Jordan asked, unlocking 
the front door to Danny's house, as he practically 
dragged Matt inside.

"Let's put him on the couch in the office," he 
decided, indicating the correct door with his 
head. "His head's gonna hurt enough when he wakes 
up without direct sunlight."

Once they got Matt settled Danny wasn't sure of 
his next step for the first time that night.

"You need to sit down for a minute and take a 
breath."

Without waiting for his answer, Jordan tugged on 
his hand and guided him into the living room. 
Getting them both settled on the couch, with her 
sitting up and his head in her lap, she gently 
began stroking his hair.

He let his eyes slip shut momentarily, 
concentrating only on their breathing and the feel 
of her hand, willing away the images of the past 
hour.


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tbc...

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Author's Note 2: This chapter gave me a lot of 
trouble, so hopefully it was okay...





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Chapter 2

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Monday Afternoon


*bang*

Jordan's office door came flying open, slamming 
into the wall with such a force that it almost 
bounced closed again. On the other side of it 
stood a very annoyed looking Harriet Hayes.

"I want to know exactly where in the line of 
succession Daniel Tripp falls! Because, I swear, 
he had better have just been made the President of 
the United States for all the 'laws' he's laying 
out."

"I can never remember if Executive Producer comes 
before or after the Attorney General."

Harriet didn't seem to see the humor however. 
"Your boyfriend has lost it."

Jordan was a little surprised at the wave of 
protectiveness that washed over her, which she had 
to stop herself from snapping at Harriet, tell her 
that under the present circumstances she thought 
he was holding up pretty well. Instead she simply 
asked, "What's he done?"

Harriet, for the first time since she'd entered 
the office, seemed to pause and consider who she 
was speaking to. "Jordan, I understand that I have 
to be a little careful around Matt right now. I 
even understand that it's probably best if Luke 
and I are little more low-key than we have been. 
But... this is hardly the first time Matt and I 
have had a fight. Yes, this one was a little more 
heated, but I don't understand the need to change 
the entire way the show is run. I don't understand 
why Matt is not attending rehearsals or shows in 
person. And I don't understand why only Danny is 
allowed to run sketch ideas past him!

"I mean this is Matthew Albie we're talking about. 
I had to steal every copy of his keys, his wallet, 
checkbook, and cell phone before I could get him 
to stay home from work on a Saturday when he had a 
103 degree temperature and could barely make it 
out of the bathroom before he needed to run back 
in and puke again. The man is workaholic!"

"Harriet-"

"No! Jordan, I want a straight answer. I'm not 
going to get it from Danny, he's too loyal to 
Matthew, and besides that I'm currently 'on his 
list'. So, I need you to tell me."

"Harriet-"

"I know you know something. You were supposed to 
ride over with Danny on Friday night, but none of 
you showed up. And then I got a late night phone 
telling me to show up to the studio or be fired. 
You were there, for at least part of it."

Jordan was starting to feel really tired. She 
didn't want to lie to Harriet but this was not for 
her to tell. "Harriet, I can't."

"Jordan." Harriett's voice was strong as she tried 
to stare her friend down. "What happened... You 
know as well as anyone," her voice wavered 
slightly but she maintained her challenging look, 
"that I deserve to know."

***

Earlier - Friday Night


Jordan watched as Danny strode purposefully out 
the door, his shoulders squared as if he were 
preparing to go twelve rounds. However, now that 
she stood in the hallway alone, bleakly staring at 
the closed door in front of her, she couldn't 
decide which of them had been assigned the more 
daunting task.

Trying to remember if she'd actually ever had a 
conversation alone with Matt, she kept coming up 
blank. When they'd all first met last fall, she'd 
suspected that she'd have an easier time gaining 
Matt's trust than Danny's. No, the irony wasn't 
lost on her.

But now that she thought about it, she knew next 
to nothing about the man aside from his rŽsumŽ and 
the few stories Danny and Harriet had told her.

And now, when he was in a place he probably didn't 
want his closest friends to see, much less his 
boss, she was supposed to...

'You're probably over analyzing this, the man is 
passed out. You don't have to lead an 
intervention, just make sure he doesn't choke on 
his own vomit before Danny gets back.'

"Is it bad when you can hear your subconscious 
rolling its eyes at you?" she muttered to herself, 
before finally pushing open the door.

***

Shifting in the chair she'd now been in for over 
an hour, Jordan was reminded once again how much 
she hated that simple things like sitting were 
starting to become an issue. She was beginning to 
understand why mothers' guilt their children about 
pregnancy for the rest of their lives, and she 
hadn't even reach labor yet. Actually, when she'd 
talked to her the other day, her mom had sounded a 
little too gleeful when she'd described the lower-
back pain she'd just recently started 
experiencing.

The ringing of her cell phone stopped her mid-
fidget. Digging it out of the bottom of her bag, 
where it always seemed to slip no matter where she 
put it, she quickly pressed the call button. 
Quickly her eyes glanced over to see if it had 
disturbed Matt, "Hello?"

"Jordan?"

Quietly she exited the room, pulling the door 
almost completely shut, before saying answering, 
"Danny?"

"Hey, yeah it's me. I'm sorry. I really thought I 
would be back by now."

"It's fine, is everything going okay there?"

"As much as they can be," he said resignedly. 
"Suzanne must have threatened the P.A.s she 
rounded up, because, other than the missing 
window, if I hadn't been there I would never have 
noticed a difference.

"I called Andy, and he agreed to come in and talk 
to me tomorrow. And I think I convinced Harriet to 
play things my way, at least for the time being."

"Are you coming home soon?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she 
mentally slapped herself upside the head for how 
domestic it sounded. But Danny didn't comment, 
taking it in stride, though she would be willing 
to bet that his eyebrows had just met his 
hairline. "Yeah, I'm leaving now."

After saying goodbye they hung up, and Jordan once 
again returned to the study.

"Harri?"

Matt's voice sounded so lost and raw that Jordan 
almost wanted to let him believe that it was 
Harriet sitting with him, but he was currently 
trying to pry his eyes open so it was no use.

"No, Matt, it's Jordan."

He didn't say anything else for a very long time, 
instead taking in his surroundings, and, by the 
looks of it, concentrating on not losing whatever 
food he'd actually eaten that day.

"Do you need anything?" Jordan finally asked when 
the silence was starting to get to her.

"I could really use a beer right about now."

Jordan's spine stiffened, while her mouth tried to 
form words her brain was not willing to supply.

"That was a joke."

Jordan tried to force out a laugh past the 
tightening of her throat, but she couldn't make it 
sound genuine.

"I'm sorry you got put on drunk-sitting duty."

"I'm not-"

"Sure."

"If you'd rather be alone for awhile, I can go sit 
in the living room."

"Whatever you want, boss."

There was another awkward silence. "Danny just 
needed to take care of a few things," she said, 
feeling the need to explain, "But he should be 
back soon."

Matt snorted loudly, seeming to find a great deal 
of humor in that. "Oh yeah, that's Danny, he's 
never not been there for me."

Jordan tried to come up with a response that 
wasn't completely inane. Something that wasn't: 
'that must me nice' or 'doesn't that make you feel 
safe?'

"Except that's bullshit." Matt's harsh whisper 
brought her up short.

"I know there were a couple years where he-"

He laughed again. "No, no, no. During- no. Why do 
you think it took so long to get him help? I think 
his wife's the only one who noticed the difference 
right away and- let's just say she wasn't exactly 
lucid all the time either.

"No, the first time he was ever really not there 
for me was the night he met you. There was a big 
ol' follow-spot to an empty table to prove it."

"I didn't-" She wasn't sure what she was denying, 
or even that she had anything to deny. Vaguely she 
was aware that normally she would have lain into 
someone who talked to her that way.

But Matt wasn't listening anymore anyway, as his 
eyelids once again began to droop closed. 
"Everything's fucked up."

***

Monday Afternoon


"Harri, there's nothing you can do except stay 
away from this," Jordan finally said. "Go to work, 
do your sketches, and go home to Luke."

Harriet gave her a hard look, trying to decipher 
whether she was going to actually get anything out 
of her, when once again the door to Jordan's 
office flew open. Idly Jordan wondered if it would 
cost more or less to have a bouncer instead of an 
assistant.

"What the hell is going on over there?" Jack 
yelled, using one of his louder tones of voice. 
Shelley was follow closely behind, wearing a sour 
expression.

"You're going to have to be a little more 
specific, we have a lot of 'over theres'." Jordan 
had to resist the urge to massage her temples, 
already feeling a headache begin to build. She 
almost felt bad for whoever had managed to piss 
Jack off so bad that now she was going to have to 
deal with them directly. The grip she had on her 
restraint was tenuous at best for the moment, so 
she'd probably end up ripping whoever it was 
apart.

Jack said nothing, continuing to glower at her but 
Shelley turned on the television set and 
immediately turned the channel to what looked like 
entertainment news. Before Jordan could ask, once 
again, what was going on, a young reporter, who 
looked like she'd had plastic surgery before she 
allowed her body to form naturally, began to 
speak.

"Rumors are once again flying around the NBS hit 
sketch comedy show, Studio 60..."

Jordan felt a twisting in her gut, fearing what 
was about to happen next.

Images of Friday night appeared before she could 
prepare herself for it. An image of Matt passed 
out in his office, surrounded by bottles and 
broken glass. It was then followed by one of her 
and Danny guiding Matt to Danny's car.

"Spokespeople for the show and Mathew Albie have 
yet to comment..."

"Now, I know this can't be what it looks like. I 
know that can't possibly be the President of NBS 
and an Executive Producer of one of our top shows 
supporting another Executive Producer, who is 
clearly drunk. Because there's no way she wouldn't 
have informed us about this latest development! 
There's no way the first place we would have heard 
about this would be on E!

"There's no way, that after everything we went 
through to get past said President's ex-husband 
trying to gain a spotlight anyway he could, would 
she not understand the need to get out in front of 
a story like this!"

Since taking this job Jordan had been yelled at by 
Jack, quite possibly more than her parents had her 
entire childhood, so she was well practiced at 
putting on a straight face, and not flinching as 
the volume of his voice rose.

Glancing over to where Harriet still stood, her 
eyes now glued to the television screen that had 
moved on to a new story, Jordan noticed that her 
friend had gone very pale.

"Harriet, do you need to sit down?"

Her question brought Harriet's attention back to 
the present enough to shake her head and stutter 
out, "No. I- I have to go."

Briefly, Jordan considered following her to make 
sure she was really okay, but a very angry Jack 
still blocked the door.

Squaring her shoulders, she began to speak, "This 
isn't-"

That's as far as she got. "You need to go home."

Jordan felt the air quickly leave her lungs. 
"You're firing me?"

For the first time since he'd barged into her 
office Jack hesitated. "Not at this moment, but 
don't even think about stepping foot inside this 
building until I call and tell you, you can. 
Hallie will take all of your meetings until that 
time." He paused, either waiting for an argument 
or an agreement, but got neither. "I'm going to 
talk to Matt and Danny."

Without another word he turned and left, Shelley, 
having said nothing the entire time but had 
nonetheless stood with a glare that spoke of 
judgment, followed, leaving Jordan standing in the 
quiet of her office.


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tbc...

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