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Law & Order fic: "Motion for a Continuance"
Alright, because mccoylover requested more Jamie Ross fic...

This was originally a What If rp for lawandorder_siu that myself and makeitstopjamie did. In my own canon (as you know if you read any of my Jamie fic), Jack and Jamie had a thing when she was at the DA's office. The premise for this story started out as "What If...Jack told Jamie how he really felt before she left?"

Title: Motion for a Continuance
Fandom: Law & Order (The Original Series)
Characters: Jamie Ross/Jack McCoy
Rating: pg-13 for language
Word Count: 1,319
Author's Notes: As I mentioned, makeitstopjamie and I originally rp'ed this together, so all words and actions of Jack McCoy are hers (basically, she's my co-author here!) Also, thank you to neojess who is my beta and who I do not thank often enough for her always-enthusiastic corrections to my grammar and word choice :)



She had known the time was coming. She’d expected that he’d have some clue. You didn’t have an affair with your assistant and not realize there would be repercussions. Then again, he was Jack McCoy and he’d done it before without consequence. Which was, of course, the problem. She couldn’t do it any more. Not the job, not dealing with him. Her relationship with her daughter was suffering, her pocketbook (not that she was in this for the money) was dwindling (despite the generous alimony). Maybe it had all been a phase, as her ex-husband called it. All phases came to their ends.

Jamie Ross walked out of Adam Schiff’s office, still unsure about her decision but resolving that she would stick with it all the way through. She wiped her hands on her suit jacket and let out a breath. The easy part was over.

“Jamie?” Jack McCoy was on his way to his own office when he spotted the Assistant District Attorney coming out of Schiff’s. She looked…lost? He couldn’t immediately pinpoint it. “Is everything alright?”

She looked up, momentarily startled. She knew she’d have to face him eventually. She just hadn’t realized it would be this soon. “Yes, everything is fine, Jack.” She gave a small smile.

McCoy glanced her over. “You just came out of Schiff’s office and you look nervous. Everything is not fine.”

Damn him for being so observant (and nosy).

Jamie pursed her lips and then exhaled. “It’s nothing.” Quickly, she moved down the hall, toward his office where her case files were waiting.

“I know you too well to believe that crap,” Jack said as he followed her.

She remained silent until they reached his office. As soon as they were both inside, she closed his door and then turned to face him.

Her words were crisp, blunt.
“I handed in my two-week notice.”

His reaction wasn’t what she’d expected; McCoy was shocked. After a few moments, he finally managed to speak.

“Why on earth would you do that?”

She blinked. “Are you serious?” She almost snorted. “I’m in a dead end job, the negative aspects of which are beginning to far outweigh the positive.” She let out a short, bitter laugh. “Not to mention the dead end relationship with my boss.” As an afterthought she added, “Besides, Katie needs me.”

Jack walked across the room and sat down behind his desk. “So you’re just backing out on everything?”

“Backing out?” Jamie repeated. “It’s a job, Jack. I used to make double my current salary with better benefits and more flexible hours.”

“So you’re taking the easy way out.” He didn’t even look at her as he said it, dismissively.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why? Because I don’t want to spend the next twenty years in a thankless public servant’s job like the great Jack McCoy?” She crossed her arms, standing in front of his desk, and looked at him, almost smugly. “Unlike you, I have a daughter to think about.” It was a low dig, she knew, but she was pissed.

His words were angry, deliberate. “Fine. Leave. You’ve already made up your mind. Who am I to make you stay?”

“I have no reason to stay,” she said pointedly. “You’ve certainly made that clear on more than one occasion.”

“You didn’t try to change my mind,” he shrugged.

“Oh, so once again, it’s all about me.” She should have known this was going to happen. “You’ve been very blunt, Jack. You gave me no reason to try and persuade you of anything. Why would I when you’ve constantly said that you and I—our relationship—is nothing but sex? You pushed me away, for god’s sake!”

He still looked unaffected. “There’s no way it could go any further than that. You know it as well as I do, Jamie.”

“Yes.” The bitterness creeped back into her voice. “I know that.” All the hurt that came along with his repeated rejections was suddenly evident again and she felt cold inside. “So I’m leaving. In the long run, it won’t matter for you. You’ll just find another assistant to fuck.”

Her jaw clenched, she grabbed her briefcase, shoving case files into it before going for the door.

He could see the look of rejection in her eyes and he swallowed, the feelings he’d been careful not to show suddenly getting the better of him. He got up and walked over to her. He stood close, closer than he knew she wanted him to be at the moment, and spoke.

His voice low, he said, “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

She shook her head, breathing slightly harder, trying not to fall apart. “You want to have your cake and eat it too. It doesn’t work that way, Jack. I’m not going to keep sleeping with you and working for you. I can’t limit my relationships, my chances at happiness, my time with my daughter…my career…”

She’d started to ramble but his voice was steady.

He put a hand on her arm. “I’m not saying it has to limit you; you have a future here, too, if you want it. I don’t want you to give that up because of what’s happened between us.”

“A future here?” She scoffed. “Give it up, Jack. Like I said, I need to be thinking about my daughter. I need to spend more time with her.”

He faced her and they stood between his desk and the door. “And you’ll be able to do that when you’re spending 60 hours a week billing your clients? Money isn’t going to make Katie a better person.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Like you don’t spend as much time or more in your office every week. Like you don’t chastise me every time I try to go home early.”

“That’s different and you know it!” His voice grew angry again.
“How? How is that different?” She demanded.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you that! Or maybe you always preferred letting the criminals go rather than locking them up.”

She outright laughed. “Oh, that is rich. Every person is innocent until proven guilty and they have a right to a fair trial. Or did you forget to read that part of the Constitution, Jack?!”

“They always get a fair trial and it's out job to prove them guilty.” He raised indignant brows at her. “Or did you forget that some of them are actually guilty? That one of these "people" you defend might actually be a murderer and that they might not kill some stranger next time?!”

She shook her head, ignoring the fuss. “Fair trial, Jack. Meaning they have to be defended just as well as they are prosecuted.”

McCoy’s voice was frustrated as he moved closer, hands animated. “They can be defended by other people and still get a fair trial! This office doesn’t want to lose you.” He paused, then amended his words. “I don’t want to lose you.”

She blinked, not immediately sure how to take his words.

“But if that’s what you want, I can’t stop you.” He looked at her expectantly.

She was a bit caught off guard, and then realized what he’d meant. She pursed her lips together as she readied herself again to go out the door. “Your cases are backed up and you don’t want to lose another attorney. That’s all this is.” She checked her watch, trying to hide the disappointment in her eyes. “I have to go pick up Katie.”

She turned the knob on the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll be here.”

As she was about to exit, he grabbed hold of her arm again. She tensed under his grip but turned to look at him.

It took him a moment to find his voice, but he knew that if he didn’t say it then, he’d regret it later.

“It wasn’t just sex.”