Chapter Text
She wakes up with zero will to move—but she has to pee and drink some water.
She turns her head and sees him, sound asleep on his stomach, hands under the pillow, completely uncovered. She chuckles softly, gently touches his ass, and pulls the sheet up over him. He doesn’t move.
She gets up and immediately feels that faint headache you get after drinking too much the night before. She looks for her robe.
The bed is a mess, clothes scattered all over the floor—clear evidence of a great sex session.
What a night!
She goes to the bathroom, then to the kitchen, and drinks a full glass of water.
It’s still quite dark. The first hints of light coming up.
Exhales. Thinks about last night… and grins. That was… fun.
She’s heading back down the corridor when she hears him groan her name.
“Meryl.”
“Coming,” she answers softly.
She enters the bedroom. He’s in the same position. She chuckles, climbs back into bed with her robe still on, and starts kissing his arms, his shoulders, his back.
“Come back to bed,” he murmurs sleepily.
She laughs. “I’m already back.”
She snuggles into him and he spoons her, pulling her close. It’s really early, she’s still sleepy. They fall asleep again.
A couple of hours later they both stir. He reaches for his phone on the nightstand to check the time. It’s not there. He frowns—then remembers how they made it to the bedroom and smiles.
“I have to go pee,” he says, slipping his arm out from under her.
He goes to the bathroom. She rolls onto her back and stretches. She feels amazing—headache gone, more energy, sexy memories from the night before bubbling up.
He comes back, face washed, hands clean, hair ruffled. Fully naked, as always. He climbs back into bed and into her arms.
“Good morning,” he says softly.
“Good morning,” she smiles.
Her robe is slightly parted at her chest. He leans in, nudges it open a bit more with his nose, and kisses the top of her breasts.
Then lower.
She laughs quietly, stroking his hair. He hums against her skin.
“Are you cold?” he asks.
“No. Why?”
He runs his tongue over one taut nipple. “This one is cold,” he teases, making her chuckle.
He looks up at her, smirking, then goes back to kissing her nipple.
She exhales, enjoying the warmth of his mouth, the slow movement of his tongue, her fingers still threading through his hair.
He hums again.
“Did you like our night?” he asks in a low voice, looking up without lifting his head.
Her eyes stay on his face—on his mouth. “Mmhm.”
He was hoping for more.
He stops kissing her breast, closes her robe gently, and moves closer to her face, holding her in his arms.
“Everything?” he whispers.
“Everything.”
He smiles, pulls her down the bed away from the pillows, side by side. Fingers intertwine. Whispering.
“I loved touching you. I got so turned on.” His voice is low, rough.
“Me too.” She shakes her head, smiling. “It felt so good.” She leans toward his ear. “You gave me an orgasm there.”
His eyelids flutter with arousal.
“God… I thought that’s what happened, but I wasn’t sure. Really?”
She nods. “Yes.”
“Fuck, Meryl… I’m so happy you liked it and that it gave you that much pleasure. I almost came just doing that to you. Seeing you… touching you… fingering you. Fuck, it was amazing.” He breathes out hard, his eyes closed for a second. “GOD.”
She presses her lips together. “You wanted to fuck me there, didn’t you?”
He looks caught for a second.
“Yes,” he admits. “I’m sorry, but it’s just that—”
She covers his mouth with her hand so he won’t say anything else.
“Please don’t apologize. It won’t happen.” She chuckles. “But… after the way you touched me yesterday… I’m kind of glad you wanted it. That you want me.”
He laughs softly. “Okay.”
He kisses her.
“We’ve talked about it. I don’t miss anything. And I would never want something that made you uncomfortable, or hurt you, or that you simply didn’t want.”
“I know.”
There’s a brief silence.
“But I’m in love with your ass, Meryl.”
She bursts out laughing.
“It’s going to be platonic!” she says between laughs.
“First base!”
They both laugh.
Then he stills, looking at her, and kisses her neck, letting out a low groan.
“It was so good. Touching you like that and then slowly making love.”
She smiles, her lips brushing his.
“Mmhm… it was so good. I love making love with you.”
They kiss.
“Breakfast?” she asks.
“Yes.”
They get up.
“When is Henry arriving?” he asks.
“Oh, late afternoon.”
“Okay. So you’ll have lunch and then leave?”
“Probably not. Before lunch. I asked my assistant to have someone put up all the decorations because of the little one, and I want to check that everything’s fine. Besides, I still have a few presents to sort out.”
She nods as they head to the kitchen.
“So you’ll be coming back when?”
“Probably on the 22nd.”
“What? That late? But that’s after you’re hosting. No.”
“Baby, I have rehearsal the day before, and then I’ll be there all afternoon on Saturday.”
She exhales and turns her back to him, starting to prepare things.
He comes up behind her and places his hands on her arms.
“What?” he asks softly.
“I want to be with you before you’re hosting,” she says, her voice upset.
He leans into her. “Okay. Sorry.”
She turns to face him.
“Besides, my daughters are going to see you.” She presses her lips together. “Maybe I will too.”
He freezes. “What?” Shocked.
“I don’t know… I haven’t decided yet. Maybe.”
“You know we have to tell Lorne if you’re going, so they can arrange things for you.”
“What? What things? See, this is exactly why I’m having such a hard time deciding. I don’t want it to be about me.”
“Baby. You’re Meryl Streep. If they don’t do it differently for you, they don’t do it differently for anyone.”
“What do you mean, do it differently?”
“I told Lorne that Grace, Lou, and Mark are going. Plus my son and Haylen, but they’ll be seated in the audience. Lorne gave instructions not to film people who are standing. I’m going to be moving while singing, and we’re rehearsing with that in mind.”
“Oh. Then just tell him someone else might be going. That’s it.”
He stares at her in silence.
“Are you going?” he asks softly, hope in his voice.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
A maybe.
After they finish breakfast, they go back to the bedroom and climb into bed again, still in their robes, holding on to the last moments before he showers and leaves. She plays with his fingers.
“What did Christine tell you last night?” she asks shyly.
He strokes her face, her hair.
“That I had nothing to worry about with him. That she’s never seen you this happy.” His voice is gentle, tender.
“Uhmmm… just that?”
He looks at her in silence.
“Just about.”
“What else did she say?”
He hesitates.
“Mmmh… she said she thought your marriage, back then, was already coming to an end.”
She makes a strange face.
“Why were you talking about my marriage?” She shakes her head and sits up, bending her legs and leaning on them.
He hesitates again. Something Christine said on his mind.
“I didn’t know you married Don six months—” He pauses, watching her expression change, close, because she knows what he’s about to say. “After…” he continues.
“After Jon died. Yes, I did,” she says coldly. She inhales and looks away.
He keeps watching her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Why did you talk about that?” she interrupts, sharp, looking back at him briefly.
He thinks for a few seconds.
“She was saying that you seem happier than ever…”
“She didn’t know me when I was with Jon. Few people did. Bob—” She stops. “I did my best,” she says quietly. “I loved Don.”
“Of course you did. Meryl, I’m not saying anything. It’s just that I know what it’s like to lose someone you love and—”
“And you’re not healed after six months. But are you ever?”
“No. Of course not. It stays with you forever. Please don’t get defensive…”
“My brother introduced us,” she continues. “He was kind to me. Sweet. Did I fall for him on the rebound? Sure. But I loved him. And he was there when I needed it most. He gave me everything I wanted. And yes, only a few months after we met, he proposed. And I said yes. I wanted someone in my life. After that, everything happened so fast. We got married. I got pregnant. I won an Oscar.”
She exhales, shaking her head.
“The rush of happiness. I was high on it. Everything happening at once. And we never fought. We didn’t have money problems, sex problems. He gave me all the time I wanted. Supported me through everything. He’s a great man. A wonderful father. A wonderful husband.”
She swallows.
“I started playing another role… Mrs. Gummer. And I was brilliant as Mrs. Gummer.”
She pauses.
Marty can’t say a word. He has the feeling he’s hearing things she’s never said out loud before.
“I spent forty—well, not forty… I spent my whole life trying to be happy. Keeping my family happy. Keeping the illusion of happiness. He knew why I needed to be away sometimes. Even when I wasn’t filming. Then, he started to spend hours at his studio. Sometimes he wouldn’t come home at all, sleeping there when he was working on a piece and didn’t want to stop. I knew he wasn’t with another woman.”
She pauses, then whispers, “But sometimes… I wished he was. So, he could come home and tell me it was over. Women don’t need a new man to leave, you know. But men do.”
She mutters the last part, eyes closed.
“He was silence,” she says softly. “I was sound.”
She pauses.
Tears fall down her cheeks.
“I like silence… when I know it will be broken by laughter and music… sounds of sex.”
“Meryl…” He wipes the tears from her face.
“You had a perfect marriage. Mine was smoke and mirrors.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not being fair. It wasn’t just that. It was love too. But you don’t understand.”
He sits up on the bed as well. Trying to look at her.
“Meryl, my marriage wasn’t perfect. I had to make a lot of concessions. We met young—very young. Nancy was marvelous, but we fought a lot in the beginning, until I changed. And she was right about many things. She made me see them, and I grew up. Still…” He exhales. “I made a lot of choices for our family that meant I didn’t pursue my career the way I wanted. That brought frustration. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it again—I probably would—but I wanted to make some of the plays and movies I turned down. For our family. And maybe I think Nancy could’ve supported me better in that. Or maybe she was right.”
She turns to look at him, hearing the shift in his voice.
“It wasn’t about fame,” he continues. “It was about success. Fulfillment. I wanted to do more, and I didn’t. And then the opportunities stopped coming. And I became this loud, funny guy with too much energy. Waiting for a break. Working on everything that came around.”
“You’re not that,” she says softly.
He smiles, thinking a moment before going on. “Marriage, as you know, isn’t about having everything you want. It’s teamwork. Concessions. Taking a lot of deep breaths. And when you marry young, you don’t even know yourself yet—let alone what you’ll need from another person. Then you grow into who you are, and suddenly… you need different things from the person you’re with. More things. And when you don’t get them… well, you stay or you don’t.”
He pauses.
“If Nancy hadn’t died, I’d still be with her. Forever. I loved her. She was wonderful. But it wasn’t perfect, Meryl.” Pauses again and takes a deep breath before continuing “I’ve never told anyone this. The unspoken things you carry alone… I missed things. I needed more. I wasn’t sure then. I am now.”
He looks at her.
“You make me feel things I’ve never felt. About myself. You make me feel sure—sure that I’m good at what I do. And yes, for the first time I’m on a hit show, and it started before you. I thought it was because of Steve. Or Selena. But you make me feel it’s also about me. Those doubts that always crept in… they’re gone.”
She smiles, shaking her head. “I’ve got nothing to do with it. It’s all in you.”
“But you let it loose and make me believe in that. Really believe. I don’t know why. You make me feel different. You make me feel More. You give me More”
She leans back against the pillows and he leans back with her.
“I’ve never felt this kind of pull toward a woman, Meryl. It’s not just sex or desire—though it is that. It’s so much more. You’re so much more. You make me feel so much more.”
“Oh, Marty…” She caresses his face. “I love you so much.”
They kiss.
She studies him for a moment. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Of course not.”
“Well… don’t answer if you don’t want to.” She pauses. “How was the first time… after Nancy?”
He inhales deeply and lets it out with an embarrassed laugh.
“Terrible! Some friends set me up with this woman. God, I feel for her…”
He covers his face, dragging his hands down.
“She was beautiful. Nice. I was attracted to her. We went out a few times. Then she invited me over, and I was nervous—which was normal. But the second we got naked… fuck. Everything felt like I was cheating on Nancy. It was awful. I did it, but it was really bad. I never saw that poor woman again.”
She frowns, feeling bad for him.
“Second time—second woman. Gorgeous. Wonderful. I really thought it could work. Sex?” He laughs. “Terrible. She was very shy. Not shy—conservative.”
She laughs with him. “What?”
“She didn’t like me touching her breasts. Just a little.”
“Oh boy!”
“Yeah. It was like, we’re here, let’s just get naked and do it. No foreplay. She wouldn’t let me go down on her. And then I started talking—simple stuff—telling her how much I liked her, how beautiful she was, how much I loved her tits and her pussy. The second I said that?” He laughs harder. “She shut me up.”
Meryl presses her lips together, laughing.
“So the first two experiences were pretty bad.” He states.
“The First two—fuuuck.” She widens and rolls her eyes. “I don’t even want to know how many!”
“Oh, come on!”
She leans onto his chest.
“Your sex talk turns me on so fucking much.”
“Does it?”
“So fucking much. You get me wet just by talking. That was one of the things I liked most when we started…”
He chuckles.
“We’re very good with words.”
He gently flips her, pushes the covers down, and starts lifting her robe.
“Marty, what are you doing?”
“You know what I’m doing.” He leans to her ear. “I’m going to eat you a little, baby.”
He moves down between her legs, and she arches her back the moment she feels his tongue.
“Oh fuck… I like this so much…”
He grins when he hears it.
Her fingers slide into his hair.
He licks her slowly, knowing how sensitive she is after last night—his mouth moving like a healing balm.
“Oh, Marty…” she pants, her heart racing, her breath quickening.
He begins to suck gently on the little nub, and her moans turn high and breathless. It’s going to be fast.
He slides a finger, barely there, teasing her entrance.
She comes.
Not a hard one—but this morning it feels like heaven.
“Oh, baby…” he murmurs, his eyes closed, just hearing her, his finger still teasing as the aftershocks ripple through her.
Normally, he’d keep licking, draw out that easy second orgasm. Not today.
Today he wants to leave her pulsing for him for the next two days.
He lifts himself up and moves higher, kissing her while she’s still gasping for air.
She tastes herself on his mouth.
“Marty…”
“I’m going to take a shower.”
He gets up and leaves her sprawled on the bed, hopeless.
She exhales hard, calming herself down.
She’d actually thought, he was going to make her come again.
Still—this, after that conversation, is exactly what she needed.
She stretches her whole body for the second time that morning, smiling when she hears the water start running.
On Thursday, Marty goes on Fallon, then out to dinner with his son and family before heading home.
He opens the apartment door, walks into the living room, and finds her sprawled on the sofa, already dressed in her silk pajamas.
“Hi, baby!” she says with a grin, making him chuckle, anticipating his signature greeting.
He walks over, leans down, and kisses her.
“Don’t steal my line.”
She laughs.
“Your nose is cold!”
“It’s freezing outside.”
“I really can’t stay…” she starts to sing softly. “Baby, it’s cold outside.”
He leans in for another kiss.
“Come to bed.” He offers both hands.
She takes them, gets up, and they hug tightly, holding on for a beat longer than usual. Missing each other.
Then they pull apart.
“How was it?”
“What? Oh—Jimmy. Usual. Fun. I got to play a theremin!”
They walk toward the bedroom, arms wrapped around each other’s waists.
“A what?”
“A theremin! I had no idea what it was either. It’s an instrument that makes sound without you touching it. You just wave your hands near it.”
“Weird.”
“Yeah… and I was terrible!” He laughs.
“And dinner?”
“Wonderful. They send their love.”
“Thank you. That’s so sweet.”
She gets the bed ready while he undresses and changes. When they finally settle in, she snuggles close.
“I like having you home.”
“I like being home.”
They kiss, then each picks up a book.
The next day they spend the morning together, have an early lunch, and Marty leaves for rehearsal.
He comes back for dinner, and turns in early.
She stays up a bit to watch him on Fallon, laughing at the way he always needles and roasts Jimmy—and laughing even harder when he tries to play the theremin. She’s also quietly pleased with herself for recognizing Chloe Fineman. She’s from SNL too, and Marty has already shown her clips of Chloe impersonating her. She’d laughed so hard she cried.
She loves how much of his world she already knows. She presses her lips together, still unsure what she’s going to do tomorrow.