Authors Notes: This is my first foray into fan fiction, but with the new year, decided to pluck up the courage and give it a go. I started watching 'Silk' quite late- 4 episodes before it ended, but have now seen all the episodes. The idea for this story came to me after watching a segment on the breakfast news the other day. I have absolutely no background in law, and no idea if the following could actually happen, so apologise in advance to anyone in the legal profession.
"A new case for you, Miss," said Danny as a thick pile of notes landed in front of Martha on the desk with a thud. "It has your name written all over it as it involves a friend of yours from the past," he continued a little cryptically.
"Really? And who might that be?" Asked Martha as she started to flick through the file, looking for a clue as to who her clerk might be talking about.
"Someone you defended back in the day, on cottaging and attempted murder charges," he explained.
"Mark Draper?" Martha asked for clarification. She hoped she was wrong but she never forgot the names of her clients, and Mark had affected her at the time. She wasn't sure why, but it might have been something to do with the pregnancy hormones that had been surging through her body at the time.
"The one and only," Danny answered, impressed she remembered someone from so far back.
"So why is he coming across my desk at the FDAC?" Martha asked. Since quitting the criminal bar, she had retrained as a family barrister back in Bolton, but had returned to London again to be part of the new Family Drug and Alcohol Court, which had particularly caught her attention. She had settled in well and was really enjoying the new challenges this job brought her.
"Seems that he's now a drug addict as well and gotten himself in a little bit of bother again. He and his girlfriend have two children now, and social services wonder if it would be best to remove them from the household,".
"Damn!" Martha muttered, a little downcast. "Do they have a good case?".
"Well it all depends on the outcome of another trial he's involved with,"explained Danny. "Seems he's up on another attempted murder charge,".
Martha rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Who's he tried to kill this time? Please tell me it's not another judge!".
"His drug dealer," was her answer.
"I suppose his defence barrister could always argue he was performing a service in the public interest," she half joked.
"Funny you should mention his defence lawyer. He phoned earlier. Would quite like a meeting with you as you both are dealing with the same client. Said you'd be there at twelve thirty,".
Martha looked at her watch. "Thanks for the warning," she said sarcastically as she stood up and started packing her things together. She had precisely fifteen minutes before the meeting. She picked up her bag and coat and headed out the door whilst trying to get her coat on. Danny watched her go, wondering how long it would be before she realised she had forgotten to ask a vital piece of information. He didn't have long to wait before she poked her head back in her office. "Where exactly am I headed?" She asked.
"Shoe Lane," replied Danny with a smirk, knowing it was her old chambers.
Martha froze. "You bastard," she said to Danny. She had told him a little about how her time at the criminal bar had come to an end and he knew there was a bit of unfinished business there. He was trying to meddle, she thought. He reminded her of Billy, a little in that way. "There is no way I'm going there!".
"Don't be silly, Miss, of course you are. It'll give you a sense of closure," Danny advised as he turned her around and pushed her out the door.
"Who am I meeting?" She enquired, stalling a little for time.
"Ian Fitzpatrick," she was informed as the door closed behind her. Not for long however, as she again poked her head back round the door. "What is a defence lawyer doing at Shoe Lane? I thought it was all prosecution,".
For the first time in the conversation, Danny didn't have an answer. He said the next best thing. "You'll find out when you get there," he advised.
It certainly hasn't changed, thought Martha as she stood outside her old workplace whilst gathering up the courage to walk inside. She really wasn't looking forward to this, particularly if he was in there, with her, looking all cozy. Giving herself a mental pep talk, she started walking towards the front door, looking very confident (at least on the outside) and her head held high.
That didn't last long however. Once inside the door, the familiar decor and smell of the place all hit her, and her bravado left. At least it was quiet though, with most of her old colleagues out in court or other meetings. From the back of the building, she heard the usual chatter from the clerks room, and set off down the corridor to ask them their assistance in locating Mr Fitzpatrick. She didn't get that far however.
"Can I help you?" She heard from an unfamiliar girl who was descending the staircase on Martha's right.
"I'm Martha Costello," she replied. "From the FDAC. Due to see Mr Fitzpatrick at twelve thirty,".
"I'll just see if he's available. Follow me," she responded as she headed into Martha's old office. You've got to be kidding me, thought Martha. Just typical that his office would be in there.
Unseen by Martha as she was waiting to be told she could go in, Bethany and Jake happened to catch a glimpse of their old colleague.
"Isn't that Miss Costello?" Asked Bethany.
"Looks like it," answered Jake. He had returned to Shoe Lane after Billy had given up working, shortly before he died. "Wonder what's she's doing here. Thank god Mr Reader is out at that meeting with John. They hardly parted on the best of terms,".
"I dunno," replied Bethany, who was a bit of a romantic at heart and had always thought the two barristers belonged together. "It could have been quite an interesting reunion,".
They watched as Lottie, the new junior clerk appeared at the door and directed Martha inside.
Bracing herself, Martha pushed open the familiar door. Standing at the threshold for a moment, she cast a glance around the room. It was exactly the same as it had been when she worked there. A young man on the phone was sitting at her old desk. He saw his visitor, and silently ushered her to the chair next to his desk with his hands, as he listened to the person on the other end of the phone. Whilst waiting for his conversation to end, she allowed her mind to wander over all the good times she had had in this office, which often involved the person who used to sit at the desk on her left as well.
About twenty minutes after Martha's meeting had started, Clive arrived back in chambers with John, who was the new senior clerk. They had been out for a very boring meeting and both were glad it was now over. The pair made their way back to the clerks room. Clive often spent lots of time in the room, liking their lively chatter. He had always worked better with company, and had never really settled in his new office, where he worked alone.
On his entrance, he was handed his post that had arrived in his absence. As he started looking through it, he became aware that Bethany and Jake in particular were looking at him a little strangely. They were also casting surreptitious glances to his old office every so often as well. He was just about to ask them what was going on, when a very familiar voice was heard throughout chambers. It seemed to be originating from the ground floor office, and didn't appear to be particularly happy. In fact, the person she was addressing, was getting a good dressing down.
"Miss Costello's in with Mr Fitzpatrick," Jake explained, somewhat unnecessarily. Clive would have recognised her voice anywhere. "It appears they are both involved with Mark Draper,".
"Sounds like it's going well. Maybe I should go rescue him," Clive volunteered as he made his way over to the office. He pushed open the door, and there she was in front of him. She hadn't seen him, as she was still in full flow. "Do you mind keeping it down a little?" He said loudly cutting Martha off in her stride. "People are trying to work around here,". Martha turned to look at him, too shocked to speak. "Now what seems to be the problem?".
"No offence, but I think Mr Fitzpatrick is a little too junior for the complex case he has," Martha explained after finding her voice again. "I don't agree with the defence he has planned for Mark,".
"So you're looking for a defence QC?" Asked Clive, who received an affirmative nod from Martha. "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't have one," he explained. "I did. She was very good. But one day she just left without any explanation, and she didn't reply to any of my emails or phone calls, so she has absolutely no idea I changed my mind about making this place a prosecution set. It cost me my practise Manager, but I've no regrets," he finished.
Martha stayed silent. She had no idea how to reply to that. She knew he was talking about her. He had tried contacting her hundreds of times after she ran away, but she was in no mood to listen to him at the time, and had ignored him, every single time. Eventually, he had given up.
Clive watched Martha as she processed what he had said. He recognised that he may not get any response, so instead let her off. "Will I do?" He asked. "I'm the only QC at the moment," he explained.
"But you're prosecution," was all Martha said as answer.
"I may be a bit rusty," he agreed. "But I'll have Ian here as my junior keeping me on track...and I'm sure you'll have lots to say on the matter as well," he said tongue in cheek. "And I know Mark," he added. "I've had the dubious honour of representing him at a bail app hearing, I recall, and of course we were co defenders at his previous murder trial,".
"Alright," Martha agreed after a while.
"Excellent," Clive replied. "So why don't we let Ian here, recover from the tongue lashing he's just received, and we can go up to my office...where you can tell me exactly what defence I will be running," he continued as he started guiding Martha out of the office.
Picking up her bag, Martha allowed Clive to direct her up the stairs to his office. She felt his hand in the familiar spot on her lower back as he did so. "I'll apologise to Ian later. I didn't realise how much Mark still matters to me," Martha told Clive. She hadn't realised how angry she had got at him, until she had cast a quick glance in his direction as she had left his office.
"He'll be alright," Clive replied. "He's just got to get used to you...and how ...passionate you can get about certain things" he teased.
They arrived in his office, and Martha got straight down to business, outlining how she would approach this case, if she was Mark's defence barrister. She was halfway through what she had to say, when she caught Clive staring at her with a smile on his face. "What is it?" She demanded, stopping talking.
"Nothing. I just forgot how gorgeous you are when you get all wound up about something," Clive admitted.
"Clive don't," she warned.
"What?" Clive asked. "I'm just stating a fact. How about we go some place and have sex?" He asked jokingly, knowing that she wouldn't agree, but he loved teasing her like this. Always had.
"This is just some joke to you isn't it?" Martha asked annoyed. Without waiting for a reply, she picked up her bag, and flounced out of Clive's office. Clive chuckled to himself a while before he followed her out, and chased her down the stairs.
"Marth!" He shouted after her. "Come on Marth! I'm only teasing," he said. He caught up to her, and stopped her walking out. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. Come back upstairs Marth. Please," he begged sounding quite contrite. "I really want to help,". Martha looked at him silently before deciding that he was perhaps telling the truth. Deciding to accept his apology, she started to climb the stairs again.
"Just like old times, eh?" John asked Bethany and Jake. They had heard the raised voices in the hallway. "Those two fighting and flirting,".
"Are my eyes deceiving me, Mr Reader?" Asked the judge. "Or perhaps we've gone back in time? I'm not used to seeing you on that side of the court," he continued before the trial started. He remembered the barrister in front of him as a junior, where he would often be working on defence. Looking at the rest of the defence team, he caught sight of another familiar face. "I see another familiar face on that side of the court as well. Welcome back Miss Costello," he greeted. "Although from the looks of it, we aren't going to be treated to one of your fine performances," he complimented Martha, who was in her usual work suit. No gown and wig for her anymore.
The trial got started not long after. They had worked hard and got a good case together, and Clive was proving to be quite difficult for the prosecution team. He was enjoying himself immensely. With Martha beside him, it was just like the old days. It hadn't taken long for them to fall into their old working ways, and with Ian's help they had a good case. Like with Nottingham, not a word was mentioned between the pair, about what had happened to cause Martha to leave Shoe Lane. Clive was learning that this was Martha's way of dealing with difficult situations. To ignore them and pretend nothing had happened.
For her part, Martha was enjoying her brief time back in the criminal court, but didn't regret her decision to join the FDAC. Although she tried to let Clive and Ian take charge of the defence, there were a couple of times she found herself tapping Clive on the shoulder, showing him her pad of paper where she had scribbled some point she thought he could raise.
Before she knew it, the foreman of the jury was being asked to deliver the verdict. Despite the odds against them, all their hard work and late evenings, were rewarded with a not guilty result.
"Go and celebrate," Martha advised Mark. "I'll see you on Monday, where we'll work out a way for you to try and keep your children. This result will definitely help," she added encouragingly. After thanking Martha, Clive and Ian, Mark left them to do as Martha had advised.
"Drink?" Clive asked Martha and Ian once Mark had left. "I think we deserve our own celebration, don't you?". He got two nods of agreement, so they headed off to the usual pub.
Ian left after the first bottle had been drunk. Being a junior barrister, he still had some work to do on some of his other cases, before calling it a day and heading home. Clive and Martha decided to get another bottle, neither too keen to say goodbye just yet. Whilst the bottle was drained, talk flowed freely between the former friends as they spent time reminiscing over some of their antics as juniors. Both stayed away from serious topics such as Billy and Harriet, knowing an argument would result.
Eventually, the second bottle was finished and they both knew they should depart for their respective homes. Grabbing their belongings, they made their way past all their fellow drinkers in the pub, Clive leading the way. The cold air immediately hit them as soon as they got outside, and sobered them up.
"I guess this is goodbye then," said Martha.
The sun was high in the sky, when Clive awoke the next morning. He was usually up and out of bed long before now, even on a Saturday as it was today. But today, Clive didn't mind, as he had hardly slept at all the previous night. The reason for his insomnia was currently in his bed, with her back to him, fast asleep.
He had taken a chance yesterday evening, when Martha had tried to say goodbye. He didn't want her to leave, and he was fairly sure that she wasn't all that keen in parting also. Before he knew it, he had pulled her to him and he was kissing her. Martha had been shocked at first, but soon was as active a participant in the kiss as he was. Something ignited in them, as all the feelings they had kept hidden from each other, ever since they had spent the night together in Nottingham, came to the surface. Without speaking, they managed to catch a cab back to Clive's place, where things had progressed very quickly.
Looking around his bedroom in the cold light of day, Clive could see the evidence of their passion. Gone was his usually pristine bedroom. In it's place, lay clothes all around the bedroom, where they had been thrown after they had been ripped off each others bodies. In fact, wasn't that one of his socks on the ceiling lampshade thought Clive as he stared at the light. The quilt on the bed, hadn't fared much better either. It was currently half off the bed, only covering Martha and Clive to their waists.
His mind wandered on. There was no polite way in describing what they had done. They had fucked each other's brains out basically. Not once, but four times, Clive thought proudly. It had been a while since he had done that and he was pleased to know he still could in his early forties. He hadn't heard any complaints from Martha at the time, and desperately hoped that he wouldn't when she woke up either.
As if knowing he was thinking about her, Martha stretched languidly like a cat. Still with her eyes closed she rolled onto her back allowing Clive his first glimpse of her today. Totally gorgeous he thought. He kept his gaze on her face, trying to ignore her breasts which were now exposed to his vision as well, but realised he was failing when he felt the first stirrings of arousal in his groin. Even after last night, his feelings for her were as strong as ever.
He watched tenderly as Martha slowly crept into the land of the living. Her eyelids started to flutter before they slowly opened. He was pleased to note there was no look of horror on her face, as she caught sight of him, beside her in bed. Instead she was silent as she too, looked around the devastation of his bedroom, processing what they had done that night. Was that a hint of a smile Clive thought as he watched her squinting at his sock that was dangling from the ceiling. She obviously could remember how it got there.
Crossing his fingers, and praying they were on the same page when it came to each other, Clive asked the one question he desperately needed to know the answer to. "Where do we go from here?" And held his breath as he waited for her answer.