A/N: The characters contained in this story are the property of David E. Kelly Productions; I'm only borrowing them for my own amusement and am making no profit whatsoever. This is just a one shot I came up with after re-watching some old Boston Legal episodes. As always, reviews are as always cherished to the nth degree. Share and Enjoy!
Denny took a contemplative sip of the scotch that swirled around his crystal tumbler. It had been a hard day. That morning he'd received word that his second wife had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The news had not only affected him, but served as a harsh reminder of his own mortality.
"You seem reserved tonight" Alan observed from his position at the balcony of Denny's office.
"How did your wife die?"
"I beg your pardon?" The question had blind sided Alan. He'd been merely trying to ascertain why his normally loquacious friend was so withdrawn. At best, he'd hoped for an explanation, but in reality he'd expected a change in subject. He certainly hadn't expected a question regarding a woman that he'd only mentioned once, six months prior. A woman that, excepting Denny, he hadn't talked to anyone about in over a decade.
"Your wife. She's dead. How?" Denny repeated his question in the blunt staccato fashion he so often favored.
"She … Several years ago, I was appointed to defend a man for the murder of a mother and son. I lost…"
Denny raised his eyebrows. To his knowledge, the younger man very rarely truly lost – on those few occasions where he could not win in the courtroom – he'd find a way to get what he wanted in another and often illegal fashion.
"…The man was unremorsefully guilty to the point of gloating. The judge categorically refused to let me conflict out, which may have had something to do with the fact that the case had been a punishment for my contempt of court. I simply could not, in good conscience defend the man to the best of my personal abilities. I have obviously since surpassed such hang-ups. At that time in my life though, I could not separate my personal feelings from the case after I'd seen his trophy pictures.
"I lost. In retribution, he hired someone to make me pay … two months after the trial, I was away on business. Susan and I had had a fight the previous evening, and we hadn't spoken that day. When I returned to my hotel room, a tape had been delivered to my door … they had struck at me from the one side I never saw coming. Over the previous year we had grown apart, as I said before, I'd come to hate the banality of our relationship – but never realized that she had been my weakest point, for despite the problems in our relationship I truly did love her."
There were a few moments of silence as Denny absorbed what his friend had just revealed to him. "So the night terrors?"
"Are partially due to that tape yes. Generally, they are either chasing me or torturing her. In either case I can not get to where I need to – be it closer or away."
"So – what do you think of the new paralegal?"
"Exceedingly desirable, don't you think?" Alan answered with a small smile, glad of the change in subject.