Rocky Road Author: Eileen Thomson E-mail: indigotoast@yahoo.com Rating: PG Summary: July Nicfic Challenge story, using the words bohemian, duchess and leech Authors note: I have again made Jake and Nick friends in NYC --+-- Jake sat looking out of the window in Nick's apartment. "Tell me why you live in this part of town again?" he asks, laughing. "Hey! The bohemian atmosphere is good for my artistic side." Nick gets up to answer the door. "Hi, Duchess, come in and meet Jake. Jake, this is my neighbour." Standing inside the doorway was a six foot `person' wearing an evening gown and the biggest wig Jake had ever seen. "Take no notice of him," Duchess says. "I'm a transvestite. I work at a club downtown." "Nick lend me twenty dollars! I don't want to leech off you, but I'm running late and will have to take a cab tonight. I'll pay you back when I come in ." Duchess takes Nick's chin in his huge hand and turns to Jake "Everything for the best effect with this one," he jokes. Once they have settled down and stopped laughing, Nick turns to Jake.. "Okay, this is the serious bit now. I want to know if you have heard of The Stress Club." "Not a thing. Is it some thing I should be worried about? Because I'm telling you Nick with the hours I put in I don't need anything else on the horizon to give me grief." "Jake, Charles Dickens said `The law is an ass and an idiot.' Well, now I think it is a thief and a liar. We want to protect the people we serve, but the law as it stands won't let us. Take criminal law. There are no victims now. Everyone has a reason for their crime. The rapist was abused. The paedophile was raped. It doesn't matter that they are out there doing untold damage, the law wants to mollycoddle them and put them out where they can do more harm. Corporate Law is just as bad. The biggest companies are unscrupulous and down right greedy. It won't be long before some poor lawyer will have to stand up in court and defend himself for doing what `the multi- national boss wanted." "That's the law, Nick. Would you have it any other way?" "Yes! What if there was a place where only lawyers could be, to help one another. To circumvent all these loopholes that allow the guilty to go out and play havoc with people's lives. A place where we were safe to ask for help from our peers. I know it's not within the letter of the law, but it is in the `spirit' of the law. Jake, I heard about this club from Judge Tilson." "Hell! Nick The shark! You scare me some times. She is the most outspoken judge on the bench and does not have the best reputation. Steer clear of her. Nick, I'm serious, this is going beyond your normal quirky and into the realms of weird. Why would she even talk to you? You are way down the totem pole from her." Jake shook his head in disbelief. "We are not just lawyers, but the best lawyers. It is our duty to give the best service we can if we want to go to the top, and deserve to be there. If I do this job I want to be the very best. I want to be able to live with myself." "Nick your sense of fairness outweighs your common sense. Anyway, it is a moot point and I've had enough for tonight." The next day Nick is summoned to Judge Tilson's chambers. "Have you thought about what I told you?" "I agree in principle," says Nick. "How do I get in?" "Sex… It's the great leveller. Everyone has to have sex with a nominated partner. It's not so bad; there are some who `perform' every time there is a nominee! Don't worry, though, you only have to do this once. It ties you to the group, that's all." Nick's blue- green eyes narrowed "I'm not sure I can do this. It seems… tawdry to me." "That is the point. To bring everyone down to the same level. Then no-one can point a finger." Nick is given a card. Written on it is: 11.45 - Office of Judson and Holmes - Start midnight. "Don't dismiss this out of hand, Nick. I know it sounds strange, but it is a force for good." 11.45 finds Nick at the office of Judson and Holmes. He walks in to find Judge Tilson sitting behind a bare desk dressed in a loose robe. Nick shakes his head slowly. "I can't do it . I just don't have it in me. I think the Club is a good idea but the entrance… well... "We need the brightest and the best Nick! Come here and take some of this and relax." "Cocaine? You want me to snort cocaine!" "It wont hurt just the once and you have to get into the Club. You need the Club and the Club needs you. Nick leans forward and takes the bait!! How the rocky road to hell is paved… Again I have to thank Suzanne Moore who always gives me all the help I ask, without rancour. She must be a very good natured person. I'll try to stay away from stories for a while.