Coffee? 
 
Author: JanetD

Email: jdillon@mail.win.org
 
Rating: G

Summary: Nick meets a girl.

Author's Notes: I wrote this story around the time “Family” aired in answer to a 
friend’s question of “What would Nick be like on a date?” =)

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The characters in this story are borrowed 
from the TV show "The Guardian". No money is being made from this story. Any 
resemblance of a character in this story to any real person living or dead is 
purely coincidental. Likewise, any resemblance between an organization depicted 
in this story and any such actual organization is purely coincidental.

February 2002

Lindsay Solt approached the steps of the Allegheny County Courthouse at an easy 
pace. She was a young woman in her late twenties, about 5’ 7”, trim, with blonde 
hair that fell softly to her shoulders. She was nice-looking, in a 
girl-next-door sort of way, but when she smiled she was truly lovely. And, as 
her friends knew, Lindsay smiled a lot. As she entered the courthouse, she began 
looking for room 112. Lindsay was to meet her mother, Laurie Solt, outside that 
courtroom to pick up the keys to her aunt’s house. Her aunt was going on 
vacation, and Lindsay had offered to pick up her mail, water her plants, etc., 
while she was gone. Her mom had told her to be there about 3:20, which was when 
she expected her 3:00 hearing to conclude, but Lindsay had decided to come early 
to watch the hearing. She had done this a few times when she was younger, but it 
had been years before, and she was curious to see her mother at work again. So, 
she had arrived a little before 3:00 to watch the proceedings.

Lindsay located room 112, and took a seat at the back of the courtroom. Her 
mother was sitting at a table in the front of the room (on Lindsay’s right) with 
a woman Lindsay knew must be the Social Services attorney. At the table on the 
opposite side of the room a young girl sat next to a well-dressed man. The girl 
had long, dark hair, and appeared to be about nine or ten years old, but it was 
hard to be certain of her age from the back. The man had curly, dark-blonde 
hair, cropped short, that tapered down into the cutest little “V” at the nape of 
his neck. It looked like he had a good build, at least from what Lindsay could 
see. He looked very nice from the back, and she found herself wondering what he 
looked like from the front. She knew he must be the lawyer from CLS--no, Legal 
Services of Pittsburgh, she corrected herself--that was going to take some 
getting used to. Her mother had worked with CLS since Lindsay was not much older 
than the girl at the table.

The judge pounded his gavel, and the hearing began. The clerk announced the 
case, and the names of the parties present. When she heard the name “Nicholas 
Fallin”, LIndsay’s interest perked up. So *this* was the infamous Nick Fallin 
that her mother had talked about. “Hmmm.” Amused by her own behavior, she moved 
forward a few rows, and took a seat on the far end of the aisle to get a better 
look at Mr. Nick Fallin. From this angle she could see he was very attractive, 
and about Lindsay’s own age, maybe a little older. “Nice,” she found herself 
thinking. 

----+----

The hearing was just concluding. Lindsay had been quite impressed with Mr. 
Fallin’s performance. He had been very passionate in representing the desire of 
his client to be placed with her older sister, while the Social Services 
attorney and her mom were recommending a placement in a foster home. 
Unfortunately for the girl, the judge had sided with Social Services.

As the judge brought down the gavel to end the hearing, Lindsay moved forward to 
intercept her mother before she left the table. “Mom,” she called out as she 
came forward. She noticed (not at all displeased) that Mr. Fallin had turned his 
head to see who was speaking. 

“Lindsay?” Laurie said, with slight surprise. “You’re early.”

“I know. I decided to see you in action. It’s been ages.” 

“I suppose it has,” Laurie replied, with a smile of welcome.

The Social Services attorney had closed her briefcase, and was saying to Laurie, 
“Well, see you in another hour.” 

“Right,” Laurie said, and the attorney departed.

Lindsay noticed that Mr. Fallin and the girl (Jenny, that was her name) had 
covered part of the distance to her mother’s table, but seemed to be waiting for 
Laurie to finish speaking to her before approaching closer.

Lindsay leaned into her mother, and said in a low voice. “So, that’s the Nick 
Fallin I’ve heard so much about. Introduce me.” Her mother raised an eyebrow, 
and gave her a slightly disapproving look. But she turned to Nick, and said, 
“Nick, Jenny, I’d like you to meet my daughter Lindsay. Lindsay, this is Nick 
Fallin and Jenny McGrath.”

“Hi,” Jenny and Nick said, almost in unison.

“Hi, Jenny,” Lindsay said, bending slightly toward the girl. “It’s nice to meet 
you.” Then she straightened, and turned to Nick, fixing him with a bright, 
though slightly mischievous smile. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Fallin. I’ve 
heard a lot about you.”

“Oh?” said Nick. “Not all bad, I hope?” He glanced at Laurie as he said this, 
clearly amused. Laurie just shook her head, and smiled ruefully.

Lindsay continued. “I was very impressed with your presentation of Jenny’s case. 
I’m sorry you didn’t convince the judge, but you definitely convinced me.”

Nick looked a little taken aback, but recovered quickly. “Well, thank you. It’s 
good to know I convinced somebody.” He shot another look at Laurie, but much 
more serious this time. Turning his attention back to Lindsay, he said, “Well, I 
really do have to be going. It was nice to meet you.” He nodded to her as a sort 
of farewell, and then said, “Goodbye Jenny. Good luck.” Jenny nodded sadly. Nick 
said “Laurie,” and then with a final nod he strode through the swinging gate and 
down the aisle toward the door. He paused right before opening the door, 
however, and took a final look back at Lindsay. Lindsay, who had been watching 
out of the corner of her eye, saw the look, and smiled to herself. 

Laurie looked at her daughter speculatively, and asked “What was that about?”

“What?” Lindsay asked innocently.

“That little performance you just gave.” 

“What performance? I was just complimenting Mr. Fallin on how he conducted his 
case. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” said her mother, skeptically. She looked at her daughter for a moment, 
and then said, “Lindsay, Nick Fallin is not the type of man you want to get 
involved with.”

“Why not?”

Laurie started to reply, and then realized that Jenny was standing right by her 
side. “We’ll discuss this later,” she said to Lindsay. “Here,” she said digging 
in her purse, and retrieving something. “Here’s the key to Melanie’s house. She 
said she left instructions on the kitchen table explaining everything you need 
to know.” 

Lindsay accepted the key, with a nod.

“Well,” her mother said, “I’ve got to get Jenny back to the shelter. I’ll talk 
to you later, honey.” She leaned forward, and gave her daughter a brief kiss on 
the cheek.

“I’ll walk out with you,” Lindsay replied warmly. Laurie nodded, and the trio 
made their way out of the courtroom.

----+----

It was a little before 8:00PM, and Nick was just arriving home. As he put the 
key in the lock, he heard the phone ringing. Opening the door as quickly as he 
could, he dropped his briefcase, and hurried to the phone. “Hello,” he said, a 
little breathless.

“Is this Nick?” a female voice asked.

“Yes, yes it is.” Nick replied.

“Hi. This is Lindsay Solt. We met earlier today?”

“Sure,” said Nick. “How, how are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks. This is a little awkward, I know, but I was wondering if you 
might be free for coffee tomorrow night?”

Nick looked slightly taken aback by this unexpected proposal, but hesitated for 
only a second or two before saying, “Sure. Yeah, we could do that.”

“Great,” Lindsay said. “How about the Greentree Cafe on Houston? Say, 8:00?”

Nick nodded, as he said, “Fine. I’ll see you there then.”

“All right,” Lindsay said, her pleasure showing in her voice, “I’ll see you 
tomorrow night. Bye.”

“Bye,” Nick said, and hung up the phone. He raised one eyebrow as he briefly 
contemplated what had just taken place. Then turning, he began to whistle 
happily as he headed to the bedroom to change his clothes.

----+----

Nick walked into the Greentree Cafe a couple minutes after 8:00PM. He had been 
looking forward to this all day. From their brief meeting the day before he had 
found Laurie’s daughter both attractive and intriguing. Glancing around the 
room, he quickly located Lindsay, already seated at a table in the corner. She 
had been looking toward the door as he came in, and saw him now. He waved to 
show he’d seen her as well, and walked forward to the table.

“Hi,” he said, pausing to unbutton his coat as he reached the table. 

“Hi,” Lindsay replied warmly. “There’s a coat rack right over there,” she said, 
pointing a little further down the room.

Nick nodded, and said, “Thanks.” 

As he took off his coat, Lindsay saw Nick was still wearing his business attire, 
and was glad that she’d chosen correctly in dressing-up herself. Not that she 
was wearing anything extravagant, just a nice dress and heels. As Nick came back 
to the table he gave her a big smile, and Lindsay found herself thinking, “Boy, 
he’s really attractive when he smiles like that. It lights up his whole face.”

Nick took the seat across from Lindsay, and said, “Well....” They looked at each 
other for a few seconds, and suddenly both broke into laughter. Nick was still 
smiling as he said, “I mean, it’s nice to see you. I was glad you called.”

“Were you?” Lindsay asked, pleased. “I’m glad. I was afraid I was going to make 
a total fool of myself.”

“Not at all,” Nick said graciously. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

Just then the waitress walked up. “What can I get you?” she asked, looking first 
to Lindsay. 

“I’d like a cup of Darjeeling tea, please,” Lindsay replied. 

“Coffee, black,” Nick said as the waitress turned his way. She nodded, and left 
the table.

There was a bit of an awkward pause as both Lindsay and Nick tried to decide who 
should speak first. Then they both started in at once. Lindsay began to laugh 
again. Nick, shaking his head, smiled, and said, “You go first.” 

“Well, I guess we could start with the basics. Did you grow up in Pittsburgh?” 
Before Nick could reply she added, “I guess you probably did, didn’t you, since 
your dad’s law firm is here?”

Nick nodded, “Yeah, I suppose you’d say I grew up here, but I was in boarding 
school, so I didn’t really spend much time in Pittsburgh.”

There was something about the way Nick said that, that made Lindsay believe this 
might be a sore subject, so she decided to ask another question. “How about 
college? And law school?”

“I did my undergrad at Princeton. Law school at Yale... Now it’s your turn. You 
grow up here?”

Lindsay nodded, and said with a smile, “From the day I was born! Both my parents 
are from small towns, mid-state, but they met here. I think my dad would have 
liked to move to Philly at one point, but my mom convinced him to stay here in 
Pittsburgh.”

“Your mom,” Nick said meaningfully. “Does she know about this?” He made a small 
gesture with one hand, indicating Lindsay and himself.

“Nooo,” Lindsay answered.

“Uh-huh,” Nick said. “I doubt she’d be too happy about it.”

“Why do you say that?” Lindsay asked innocently.

Nick smiled sardonically. “Come onnn, I know you must know why I’m working at 
Legal Services. Your mother must have told you that.”

“Well, yes,” Lindsay said, then hesitated. “Okay, you’re right. She probably 
wouldn’t be thrilled, but I know she likes you. She’s just...just protective 
that’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” said Nick again, raising an eyebrow.

“No really. I’ve heard her speak about you. She has a lot of admiration for the 
way you’ve dug in at the clinic, the way you go all-out for your clients. You’ve 
impressed her. Really.”

Nick nodded, somewhat surprised, but pleased to hear this was Laurie’s opinion 
of him.

Lindsay continued, “So, do you like working at Legal Services? Is it what you 
expected?”

Nick’s smile showed a trace of irony. He didn’t answer right away, but when he 
did he said, “That’s a hard question to answer. I like it sometimes, when I feel 
like I’ve really helped someone. Other times it’s a pain in the ass..... But, 
tell me about you. What do you do?”

“I’m a forensic accountant at Barnes & Monroe.”

“That’s here downtown?”

“Uh-huh, on 33rd Street, near Jefferson.” 

Nick nodded. “That’s about a mile from where I work. Forensic accounting.... Do 
you like it?” he asked in turn.

“Sometimes,” Lindsay replied. “Sometimes it’s a pain in the ass.” Lindsay 
grinned mischievously, and Nick grinned in return. Just then the waitress 
returned with their order. As she placed a pot of hot water and a teacup in 
front of Lindsay, Nick asked, “Would you like something to eat? Some dessert?”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Okay.” They were both silent for a moment as Lindsay placed the tea bag into 
the pot to steep. Nick stirred his coffee, and looked down in thought.

“So where were we?” Lindsay asked brightly, as she filled her cup from her 
teapot “Let’s see. I told you where I work.... What else?... Do you like 
corporate law?”

“Uh-huh,” said Nick. He noticed that she was stilling looking at him 
expectantly, so after a second he added, “I like it a lot. Some people think 
it’s all contracts and due diligence, but it’s really much more. And it can be 
very challenging, I, I need that.”

“How long have you worked for your father?”

“Almost five years.”

“What’s that like?”

Nick’s expression turned serious for a moment, but then he said lightly, “It’s 
got its pluses and minuses, just like anything else. What does your father do?”

“He, he was a tax accountant. He passed away about four years ago.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Nick said, his voice softening in genuine sympathy.

“Yeah,” Lindsay replied, with a sad smile. “He was a great guy, my dad. A really 
wonderful human being.... I became an accountant because of him.... Guess I just 
wanted to follow in his footsteps.” She looked at Nick for a moment, “Suppose 
that’s something we have in common. We’re both ‘chips off the old block’, aren’t 
we?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, with an quick exhalation of breath, “I guess you could say 
that.”

“So, do you have any siblings?”

“No. No, I’m an only child.”

“I’ve got a sister and a brother. I’m the youngest, so the other two pretty well 
had Mom and Dad broken-in by the time I came along. Guess you had to fight all 
those battles yourself.”

Nick nodded, but looked down at his coffee cup. “Ut-oh,” thought Lindsay. “Did I 
say something wrong?”

“So, have you ever been here before?” she asked, to restart the conversation.

“No I...I haven’t,” Nick answered, looking up again.

“I like it. It’s usually quiet. Sometimes if I have a lot of paperwork, I’ll 
come here and spend most of the evening over my case files and a cup of tea.”

Nick nodded his understanding of those kind of evenings. “So do you travel a 
lot?” he asked. “I can’t imagine there’d be enough here in Pittsburgh to keep a 
forensic accountant busy.”

“You’d be surprised,” Lindsay said laughing. “I do some traveling, but the 
majority of my work is here in the metro area.”

The waitress came back, and filled up Nick’s coffee cup. She looked at Lindsay, 
and inquired, “How ya doing? Would you like some more hot water and a new tea 
bag?”

“No, not yet, thanks,” Lindsay replied with a polite smile.

As the night wore on, Nick and Lindsay found they had a lot to say to each 
other. Their conversation ranged from current events, to politics, to their 
hopes and aspirations for the future. Nick told Lindsay about his time in New 
York after graduating from law school. Lindsay told Nick about how she’d always 
wanted to spent a summer in Greece, but hadn’t made it there yet. For the most 
part, the conversation had flowed smoothly. So much so, that Lindsay was 
surprised to look down at her watch, and discover it was 10:30PM. “Wow,” she 
said, “look at the time. I should really be going.”

Nick nodded, and reached for his wallet to pay the check. As they both got up 
from the table, Nick went to get their coats. “This red one yours?” he asked. 
There were only two other coats left on the coat rack besides his own, and the 
other one appeared to be a man’s jacket. 

“Yes, that’s mine,” Lindsay replied. Nick returned, and laid his coat on the 
chair before helping Lindsay on with her own. The he put on his coat. “That’s 
nice,” thought Lindsay. “He’s a gentleman.”

They walked slowly to the door. As they stepped outside, Nick said, “So where 
are you parked?”

“Oh, my car’s just down here a little ways,” Lindsay answered, gesturing down 
the street.

“He nodded, and they started walking toward her car. They both seemed lost in 
thought.

“Here it is,” Lindsay said, stopping next to a red Camry. She hit the button on 
her keychain to unlock the doors, and heard the familiar chirp of the car alarm 
deactivating. She turned to Nick. “I had a wonderful time this evening.”

“Me too,” said Nick, turning on his most charming smile. “We should do it again. 
How ‘bout dinner Friday night?”

Lindsay nodded, and smiled in return. “I’d like that.”

“Okay. I’ll call you. What’s your number?”

“Oh, here,” she said, as she dug a business card out of her purse. “I’ll write 
it down for you.” She scribbled her home number on the back of the card, and 
handed it to Nick. “There.”

“Thanks,” Nick said, slipping the card into his coat pocket.

Now they had come to the awkward part of the evening. Would he kiss her? Nick 
looked into Lindsay’s eyes for a few seconds, then moved closer. Placing his 
left hand on her upper arm, he leaned forward slowly, tilting his head, as he 
moved his lips to hers. It was a gentle kiss, not over-long, but with a promise 
of things to come.

As he broke the kiss, Nick took Lindsay’s hand in his, and they walked to the 
curb. Checking once for traffic, they stepped off the sidewalk together, and 
Nick walked Lindsay around the front of the car to the driver’s door. He opened 
the door with his free hand, and they moved naturally into the “V” that created. 
He rubbed her gloved fingers gently in his. “Well, good night, Lindsay,” he 
said, placing one more tender kiss on her lips.

“Good night, Nick,” Lindsay said softly, and then climbed into the car. Nick 
shut her door, and stepped back. The road was still completely empty. As Lindsay 
drove away, Nick raised a hand to wave goodbye. He watched until her tail lights 
were out of sight, a contented smile on his face.

The End