J'ACCUSE!

Jackson makes a face at his monitor— "What do they think I am?" —clicks an icon— "Her /secretary?" —more clicking— "'Be a good monkey and file these travel request forms.'" —still more clicking— "Next thing they'll want me to wear a fez." — freezes, finger poised above the mouse.
He leans closer, squints.
That's a disciplinary record, alright.
"Holy shit!"
Chuck's got her headphones on. 
Logan projects 'what's up?'
Jackson points at the screen. "Her record's almost as long as yers!" He glances around for scrap paper. 
Logan comes over. 
Jackson balls up a sticky note and lobs it at Chuck. 
She flicks her wrist, spins her chair around. "What?" 
"Yer a dirty liar."
Chuck pushes herself over and snorts at the screen. "Oh yea. That." And back to her desk she goes. 
"Git down off yer high horse—" Jackson jerks a thumb at Logan. "Yer as bad as him!" 
"I never started them."
"Yea right."
"Ladies don't start fights, they finish them," she sneers, snaps back to her desk, and jabs the play button. 
.
Her pronouncement niggles at Jackson all day and the light bulb, predictably, yanks him from sleep. He scrambles for his leg, skips from his room (dodging the pillow Logan throws), notices the downstairs is a touch less dark in the direction of the kitchen so down he goes, skids around the newel, and bursts through the door— "J'accuse!"
"Wha the fk?" snaps Chuck, mouth full of fresh-from-the-oven cake at three in the morning. 
"It's three in the mornin'."
Chuck swallows. "So?"
"Why're you making cake?"
"Felt like it." 
"Do ye usually make cake at three in the morning?" 
"Is this just for shits and giggles or ...?" 
Or. 
Right!
"You totally stole that line from The AristoCats."
"They swore in a Disney movie?" 
"No, earlier. Yesterday. At the computer-y place—about fighting. You said, 'Ladies don't start fights, they finish them.'"
"Oookay." 
"It's from The AristoCats 'n ye totally stole it."
"I quoted a great line from a movie," she says in that 'I know what I was doing, dipwad, get it right' tone while looking at him like he's nuts.
"Well, yer making cake at three A.M." 
"No, really?" She looks around. "Huh." Puts a hand on her hip. "Did not know what I was doing." Shrugs. "Must've been sleep walking again." Except she says it kinda flat like she's being sarcastic. 
"So now you do, cake-maker movie quoter." He turns on his heel, and with a rather spectacular 'hmph!', stalks out. 
Chuck listens to him thump up the stairs, across the floor, and slam the door to his room.
Followed immediately by a muffled yell that's probably the result of Logan expressing his displeasure with a thrown object.
Business as usual.
She tidies the bowls and pans, sets the dishwasher whirring.
Then she kinda smiles.
And then giggles.
And then sorta collapses onto a chair, face in her hands, trying to keep as quiet possible.
And, when she's dried her eyes and fixed herself up, she downloads the video file to her phone and saves it under the 'feel better' tag.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Pages in need of tags
Category:Ficlets with comments
Category:AristoCats (reference)
Category:Chuck D
Category:Jackson
Category:Chuck D (ficlet)
Category:Jackson (ficlet)
Category:Wash's wonky sleep schedule
Category:Wash's baking at odd hours
Category:Jackson is a nerd
Category:Wash has a record
Category:Maybe