Title: A Tale of Two Cities

Author: Mackenzie

Email: .

Genre: Beauty and the Beast

Spoilers: Classic

Disclaimers: All the recognizable ones don't belong to me, I do, however, own Lauren Maxwell; Credits to Dickens for the title.

1/

Joe Maxwell sighed quietly as he sat behind his desk, his head propped against his left hand and his other hand busily scribbling away on a yellow legal pad. To the untrained eye, Maxwell's desk appeared to be the disaster area from a tornado, but the experienced legal eagle knew exactly where each piece of paper was and the contents of said paper.

"All work and no play makes you a very dull man, Joe."

The district attorney looked up and grinned at his colleague and friend, "The same can be said for you too, Radcliffe. What? No hot date tonight?"

Catherine Chandler smiled as she walked further into her boss office and sat down in the visitor's chair, "Nope," she said, "not tonight."

"You know," Joe started as he stood up and walked over to his filing cabinet, "some people may think that this Mr. Wonderful who occupies all of your free time is just a figment of your imagination, since nobody has ever seen him, or even heard his name before."

The woman thought of Vincent briefly and was suddenly filled with a warm happiness, which radiated through her smile, "Trust me, he's far from a figment of my imagination, Joe."

Joe looked up at his friend and smiled as he remained squatted in front of a low drawer, "Come on, Cathy," he said, "it's me. Its Joe. Your old pal. Give a guy a bone here... whats his name?"

Catherine looked at him for a moment. It was the same song and dance the two always did regarding her love life. She took a deep breath and then decided that a first name wouldn't hurt things, "His name is Vincent."

"Vincent?" Joe stood up, file in his hand, "Vincent what?"

"Van Gogh." Catherine grinned.

Maxwell rolled his eyes, "Very funny, Cathy. So what? Is he a doctor? A lawyer? Judge? Politician? Celebrity?"

"None." She smiled at him as she leaned against his door jamb. "I know that you are just trying to look out for me and make sure that I'm okay, Joe, and I love you for it, I really do. But this is one part of my life that I want to keep private."

Joe sighed inwardly and rose his hands up in defeat, "Fine. I give up."

Catherine grinned at him and kissed his cheek, "You always do."

The man opened his mouth for a smart rebuttal when the phone on his desk rang, "This is not over yet, Counselor." Walking over, he picked it up and held the receiver against his chin as he started perusing contents of the file, "Maxwell." Joe's head whipped up as the papers fell out of his arms, "How badly is she hurt?" He closed his eyes as he listened to the other person, "No, no... that's not necessary. I'll be right there, I'm leaving now. Tell her on my way." Quickly hanging up, Maxwell started to grab his coat.

Catherine watched as Joe's demeanor quickly changed. She looked at her friend in concern, "Joe? What is it? What's wrong?"

Joe stopped and looked at her, taking in a deep breath, "Catherine, I, too, have my secrets. One of them is that I have a sister, she's eight years younger than I am. Her name is Lauren. That was Presbyterian Hospital... she was attacked."

"Oh god..." Catherine watched as Joe furiously looked for his car keys. Walking over to her friend, she put a calming hand on his shoulder, "I'll drive you," she offered quietly.

Joe's eyes met hers and he nodded, whispering softly, "Thanks."

Cathy nodded as she left his office to grab her things so they could leave.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mouse studied the bubbling concoction carefully as he took the dropper and carefully added a drop of a different formula. Within seconds, the liquid bubbled over the beaker with a loud boom which shattered the beaker, followed by a sizzle as it settled on the floor. It only took a moment before Father and Vincent were standing in the doorway.

"Mouse,"Father said as he walked in, "what happened?"

The man regarded Father simply, "Mouse working on experiment," the blonde headed man looked around and then looked at Father sheepishly, "it failed."

Vincent chuckled quietly from the doorway as Father looked around at the massive mess and sighed quietly, "Yes, Mouse, I would say that it did, indeed, fail." He turned his attention back to Mouse, "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

Mouse shook his head, grinning, "Mouse okay."

Vincent entered the room and ran a gentle finger down Mouse's cheek, which was smeared with blood, "You are injured," he observed quietly. "It should be looked at. Hard to tell whether it was glass or other debris from the beaker exploding."

Father moved closer to Mouse to have a better look at the injury in question and then let out another sigh, "Come along, Mouse," he said, "lets get you cleaned up. Vincent is right, there could be some glass in there."

Mouse looked around quickly for a moment, "Where's Gulliver?" Ever since his beloved raccoon was found dead a few months prior, Mouse had taken on to loving another creature, a bat. Everybody was horrified when he brought the black winged animal down to the Tunnels, but after a thorough examination by Father, the rodent was deemed harmless.

"Perhaps hes traveling," Vincent quipped quietly. Sensing Mouse's apprehension, he quickly added, "I'll get the children to help find him, and well clean up the mess for you, Mouse. You just go and get taken care of with Father."

Mouse nodded as he went with Father. As the two embarked through the chambers, Vincent could hear Mouse telling Father of his latest experiment and what he had intended on accomplishing with it. Vincent shook his head in amusement as he went out in search of volunteers to help clean up the mess.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"So what exactly was it that you were trying to accomplish, Mouse?" Father asked as he carefully pulled out tiny shards of glass out of Mouse's cheek.

Mouse winced softly in pain and tried to remain still, though it was proving to be a difficult feat, "A perfume," he said, "for Catherine. A gift. For Winterfest."

Father lifted a brow at him in curiosity, "Winterfest? Mouse, its only June. You've got quite a while till Winterfest, I'm afraid."

"Mouse knows," he said, "Mouse wanted it to be perfect so Mouse was practicing. Practice makes perfect, that's what Vincent says. Mouse wanted to be perfect."

Father chuckled quietly as he pulled the final shard of glass from Mouse's cheek. Grabbing the bottle of antiseptic, he pulled the cork stopper out and carefully applied it to Mouse's face, "Well, than might I suggest you and I go through my library. There is bound to be some books that will help you with your quest."

Mouse's face lit up with excitement, "Oh, Father... Mouse would like that."

"Good," the older gentleman said. Placing the stopper back into the bottle, the skilled doctor put a small bandage over the injury. "You keep this bandage on, Mouse, it'll keep your wound clean, and you come and see me twice a day and Ill clean it out for you until it heals, okay?"

The other man nodded and smiled, giving Father a warm hug, "Mouse thanks Father."

Father smiled softly and hugged the other man back lovingly, "Mouse is very welcome."

Smiling, Father watched as Mouse bounded out of the infirmary chamber, wishing he still possessed the limitless energy.