Disclaimer: Season 3, episode 10, "TCOT Lucky Legs". Perry defends leg model Marjorie Cluny and goes at great lengths to clear her name. Even Della is surprised to hear what he asks her to do in order to bring a witness out of her shell of lies. A little fluff piece, some angst. A weird little ending. The kind of story my muse creates when Della does Perry one of her sweet little favors. Characters are not mine, but apparently they are permanent residents in my mind. :) Enjoy!

Truth or Dare

The courtroom was quiet around her, just Perry's voice in her ear, Hamilton Burger's somewhere in the background interrogating their client's roommate. Della looked at Perry, careful not to startle Marjorie who, as a client, was stuck between them at the defense table. Her brown eyes narrowed. Did he really just ask her to remove her stockings?

Unwilling to start a discussion over Marjorie's head, the secretary hesitated but eventually got up. Her mind insisted on trusting the lawyer in Perry Mason, not the man, because in a courtroom he had never let her down. He always knew where to draw that fine line between work and pleasure. Although for him, working on a case equaled pleasure, a flaw that rubbed off on her on occasion, depending on the nature of a case. So far, Marjorie's case had not tickled her beyond her usual professional interest. Perry's question now, however, his unusual request, promised to bear a secret Della was eager to see revealed. His face showed no trace of joy in asking her, nor mischief. Instead, his face looked grim and focused. He was trying hard to find the dent in the case at hand, the scribbling on his notepad gave him away.

As Della circled the defense table, she threw Perry one last look for reassurance but only found him staring at the notes and lines lying before him. It was useless to try and start a silent conversation with him like that. Useless to find out where he was going with his request. If his eyes were glued on a sheet of paper, his mind was chewing something over. It was only a matter of time for her to find out what had triggered his need for her to remove her stockings. Now. In court. If it wasn't tied to the case, if there was no other reason than for him to distract his thoughts, Perry would sure regret to have pulled her leg. He knew very well she wasn't prone to public pranks. Paul, on the other hand...

Della shook her head. No, the boys would not pull a stunt on her like that. Hide stockings in Perry's drawer or in the cracks of the office couch to make her jealous? Of course. Even Laura had tried to elicit the jealousy monster in her like that more than once. But Della had never given in to the temptation. Not even when she had had good reason to actually be jealous of Laura, back when they had all been much younger and Perry had been a better lawyer than man.

When the courtroom door closed behind her, the secretary sighed. Where were all those musings coming from, the memories and doubts? Trying to shake them off as she walked down the hall, Della finally reached the ladies' room and was relieved to find it unoccupied. As she locked the door from the inside, she chuckled to herself, "The things you make me do for you, Perry Mason." And for a moment she remembered Mae's reaction to first meeting her employer years ago. "He's going to get you into trouble," Mae had whispered to her with a warm smile. "He's that kind of handsome. And smart." Mae's voice echoed in her mind. "He's going to break your heart."

Della looked at the woman reflected to her in the mirror. She looked tall and slim. Her hair was practical yet feminine. Her figure curvy and athletic. Her smile painted red with a pensive smile hat didn't seem to fit. Slowly, she reached for the door to steady herself, then stepped out of her heels and loosened the garters that held up her stockings underneath her skirt. Cursing herself for the lack of preparation, Della held her breath for a moment, then pushed her skirt up and removed her garter belt for good, then glared at herself again in the mirror.

If only she had packed an extra pair of nylons! Della shook her head and promised herself to always carry an extra pair from now on in her purse. After all, working with Perry, she never knew what he had on his mind next. So in a way, she should have anticipated the situation she now found herself in. Maybe not today. Maybe not in court. "But one of these days it is bound to happen," Mae's voice sounded in her head again. "The way you look at him, the way you make him look at you. There's no escape."

Overcome by images both real and devised, Della closed her eyes at the feeling of tepid air caressing her legs as she rolled off her stockings. One by one. Inch by inch. Perry's face flashed up in her mind, his tender eyes. Della swallowed hard. Had Paul Drake now knocked fiercely on the door to ask what was taking her so long, she would have welcomed the intrusion, had hurried up and erased the longing that enveloped her from deep inside. But without interruption, she had a hard time letting go of all those memories and moments, of that hidden persuasion of what could be or might have been on more than one occasion. His hand on the small of her back, his thumb engaged in a slight caress. A smile conveyed through his eyes, darkened blue. His lips like feathers on her skin, gone too fast to leave a mark but unmistakable enough to make the fine hair on her neck stand up.

Della tried to shake it off, tried to chase him away, out of her mind - like so often before. When reason finally prevailed over her heart again, Della did not know how much time had passed. But she couldn't shake the feeling that she better get done and fast. So she straightened her skirt and glared at herself again in the mirror. Her eyes were misty and wide. Her smile mildly satisfied. She sighed. Hopefully, no one would be able to tell her legs were bare now. Hopefully her feet wouldn't swell and ruin her heels.

Perry sure would have to add a pair of nylons to his expenses this time. And a paper bag, too, the secretary smiled proudly to herself as she found the helpful item in her purse. "There is just no way I'm not concealing what you asked me to present to you in court, Mr. Mason." Shaking her head to herself one last time, Della sighed, then exited the ladies' room with a professional smile.

When she reentered the courtroom seconds later, she was not unaware of Arthur Tragg's suspicious eyes. Hamilton Burger was strangely preoccupied, at least until Perry met her halfway at the defense table without interrupting his already launched interrogation of their client's roommate. As Della handed him the paper bag, she secretly prayed no one would guess she was practically half nude now underneath her skirt. Although she wasn't sure what Perry's thoughts were on the matter. The way he avoided her eyes seemed forced, almost uneasy. Not that his demeanor would have anyone suspect that the great Perry Mason was anything but focused on the witness on the stand. When Perry suddenly revealed the stockings to pester the uncooperative witness, however, Della's heart stopped for a beat.

How he had managed to extract the neatly folded pair of nylons from the bag without anyone noticing it, including her, she didn't know. Lieutenant Tragg and the district attorney were obviously too busy trying to understand Perry's strategy to have paid attention, but what about everyone else? Della cupped her face in one hand, was nervous for a second, then realized no one cared about the origin of the stockings. The entire room was glued to Perry's words, his targeted questions and the evasive answers of a witness who, like many before her, now crumbled on the stand.

"The things that man gets away with," Mae's voice rang inside her head. "Deliciously outrageous." And maybe it was, Della mused and watched the witness squirm in her seat. "He's good," Marjorie Cluny suddenly whispered. "He is," Della Street agreed, then picked up her pencil and jotted down what Thelma Bell had to say to exonerate her former roommate.