Runaway - Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction

Chapter 23

It is in the evening and both Jessica and Tom are about to leave their hotel room to mingle with the rest of the cast and crew of the Night Manager. They are sharing a hotel room but there are two double beds as they haven't even started to share a bed at home yet, she does not want to rush. Jessie is wearing a mauve dress which comes down to mid-thigh clearly showing her prosthetic, there is no shying away tonight. As it is a temporary prosthetic it clearly looks artificial and Jessie is hoping that there is no staring tonight. "Okay ready." She beams at Tom who is looking very dapper in a tux.

"Don't you need your chair?" He raises his eyebrow which for some reason makes Jessie feel weak at the knees; especially when he is in this suit.

"Nope." She pops the 'p', "I will not look an invalid tonight in front of all those famous people."

"But J, we are going to be down there a while...you might get tired." He phrases carefully which earns a glare from his girlfriend.

"There will be chairs and please Tom just let me be Jessie tonight not the mystery patient which you were visiting in hospital." Reluctantly Tom nods and both people exit the hotel room letting the door slam shut. They have their arms hooked and it feels right. It feels like they are the couple who can power through everything. The couple who support each other (in this case rather literally). It feels right. They enter the lift and wait patiently for it to take them to the bottom floor. They stand in a comfortable silence as the doors to the lift screech open dramatically revealing a crowd of people dressed in suits and dresses. It is all very fancy.

The pair begin to meander through the group of people to find a more suitable place to stand and Jessie feels nervous. "Tom!" A voice calls and soon the owner of the voice comes into view, it is Hugh Laurie. The two actors share a brief greeting with huge grins on their faces obviously psyched to be filming soon. "And you must be Jamie?" He questions and Jessie laughs while Tom blushes in embarrassment.

"No it is Jessie or Jessica or whatever." She giggles, "He calls me J sometimes so people assume but that is fine."

"Oh I am terribly sorry." Hugh apologises, "Oh this is my wife, Jo." The two women greet with smiles and Jessica cannot believe how comfortable she is feeling in these people's presence. The four of them chat for a moment with a glass of champagne in their hands that was past to them moments ago.

Soon later, they are joined by stars Olivia Coleman and Tom Hollander so everyone starts to hug each other and shake hands which does not at all get exhausting. A couple of glasses of any type of alcohol later and everyone is on the verge of tipsy whereas Jessie — because she is bad at holding her liquor — is definitely tipsy and is swaying all over the place. Tom [Hiddleston] has to hold onto her arm to steady her but she almost trips over her prosthetic forgetting it was there. Awkwardly she stands up straight and mumbles, "Sorry about that I am not very confident walking because-"

"Don't worry lovey." Olivia smiles sadly, "Tom has told us all about you and how you met so you don't need to explain yourself."

"Thanks..." She replies reluctantly and a slightly awkward silence falls within the group until Jessie speaks up once more, "It is so weird being here and all these famous faces." She signals to the surrounding celebrities with her hands. "Tom and I watched you Olivia in err...Broadchurch recently! I loved it! Obviously I had to watch the last series before this one but it was amazing!" She praises and Olivia nods her thanks with a ginormous grin. "Oh and Tom — wait there are two Toms!" The group laugh hysterically, could be the joke but it is most likely due to the alcohol pumping through their systems. "Tom [Hollander] we watched you in About Time, it was hilarious but also did make me cry at the end. And lastly but in no means least I watched you Hugh back in my teen years!"

"Don't." Hugh joshes, "You are going to make me feel old."

*Flashback*

A young Jessica Morrissey of fifteen years is lounging around on the sofa in her living room after her morning training. The television is switched on and a rerun of Blackadder Goes Forth is being shown — Jessie loves this show. She laughs at Rowan Atkinson, Stephan Fry and Hugh Laurie who are being idiotic yet comical on the screen in front of her completely ignoring the rapping on the front door. "You could get that you know Jess!" Her brother, Leo shouts from his room and she rolls her eyes before moving towards the front door and swinging it open to reveal a furious looking woman. Her mother.

"What took you so fucking long?!" She yells at Jessie and clambers through the door. She has obviously forgotten her key again. The door is slammed shut. "You are meant to be training to be an athlete you little shit." She claps Jessie around the ear hard before shoving her into a nearby wall.

"Please let go." Jessie cries with tears streaming down her face. Her mother's hand is grasping at her throat so she can barely get a note out. "Leo!" She calls painfully and her brother scampers down the stairs looking horrified.

"Mum let go!" He pulls her off his little sister who is now coughing and dry heaving while gripping onto the wall.

*End of flashback*

"Blackadder right?" Hugh asks but is confused when he does not get a response immediately.

"Jessie?" Tom [Hiddleston] questions and shakes Jessica out of some dreary thoughts who hums in a perplex manner. "Blackadder that is where you have seen Hugh right?" Jessie looks at Tom's expression, he looks baffled and sad at the same time. She snaps out of it once again and nods with a fake smile plastered on which only Tom [Hiddleston] can decipher as pretend.

"Excuse me." She excuses herself before lying, "My leg is starting to hurt so I am going to sit over there. Please continue with your conversations." She unhooks her arm from Tom's and waddles to a bench in the corner leaving her drink with her boyfriend. She sits carefully and sticks out her bad leg while pondering over her thoughts; it is weird. She forgot all about those 'incidents', this is the first time since her return that she has even thought about her mother being abusive. How did she forget and why?

The music is turned up and people start to dance or attempt to except for Jessie and Tom [Hiddleston]. She just sits on the bench staring at her the palms of her hands like they are going to tell her the answer and Tom is watching her with a worried expression etched in his facial features. He knows Jessie to well to know that she does not want to be disturbed but his apprehension takes over so he decides to wander over and take a reluctant seat next to her. She does not look up. "Jessie." He alerts her back to existence once again and she peers up at him with glassy eyes. She then lunges forward and grasps onto to him like he is someone who is just going to disappear in a puff of smoke. Tom accepts the hug and grips onto his girlfriend. "What is wrong darling?" He mumbles into her hair.

"Can we go?" She sniffles in return and he nods. They both depart rather suddenly and the other actors notice that something is not quite right. When the pair are safely and privately in the lift Tom hugs her tightly not caring what is wrong but worried that something is wrong in the first place.

"I love you Jessica Morrissey." He gushes.

"I love you too Tom." She blubbers.

A/n hey guys! I am not too happy with this chapter...I don't know why. I hope it was not too bad! Thanks for all the support so far ^.^