the first time sierra sees chris, she just. Freezes. Her smile falters, her fingers start shaking because, oh, oh that’s him. That’s Chris McLean! And she should be excited, hell, she was excited right up until he walked out onto set but now she just.
Something wells up inside her, some untouched pool of rage and hurt and lonliness and suddenly Chris is the envoy of that loneliness, the man at the center of her mother’s focus, the man who, for lack of a better word, stole her mom’s attention and affection and time. He ruined her fucking life, whether he knows it or not.
And she just fucking flies across the room and socks him in the jaw before anyone can react and she’s sobbing and shaking and screaming something about how she just hates him and how it’s his fault and like. They have to cut the cameras and everyones like “um….ok….” and Chris is just fucking Bewildered for a good few minutes because what the FUCK just happened did someone just HIT HIM!!!
BUT!!! The clutch is that after everyone’s sort of cooled off a little Chris takes her into his. Office. Computer area. Whatever. and sits her down and is like “uhhh. what… what was that. about. Are you– are you good. what the fuck, kid.” And she’s sitting there, mortified and still sniffly, and Chris can’t even be mad at her and like
Long Story Short he gives her some awkward stilted comfort and lets her stay on because THE RATINGS OF THAT SCENE ARE EXCELLENT and also he feels bad for the poor kid and Sierra comes to terms with some stuff over that season and learns to love and appreciate herself and uhhhh