This story is very much AU. It's in response to a challenge issued in The Corral on The Big Valley Writing Desk in June/09 by valleyloverjar.
There's series dialogue worked in throughout, hope you enjoy! LL
I don't own the Big Valley and the only thing I make is your comments and my own satifaction.
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The attorney looked around his office in satisfaction. Not very fancy like the big law offices in Boston or San Francisco, but at least it was clean and tidy. A serviceable desk sat in one corner with a couple chairs for clients and his law books were lined up neatly in the small bookcase. He walked over and nudged the frame of the degree on the wall, making it hang perfectly straight and remembered the proud look in his mama's eyes when he'd brought it home. He shook his head as he recalled the incredulous look on his uncle's face when he found out, shocked beyond belief that 'the little bastard', as he always referred to his nephew, had graduated at the top of his class from one of the most respected institutions in the States. Walking to the door, he unlocked it and stepped out into the bright Stockton sunshine to double-check his name hanging out front. He flipped the sign on the door to 'Open' before he went back and sat at his desk, looking at his watch before picking up a volume of case law to review.
Not the most glamorous location for a law office, he had to admit while he waited for a client to come through the door. He'd had a few offers to work in those fancy offices back east after graduating, but his heart lay in California with his mama so he returned to start off somewhere closer to home. Strawberry was too small to require the services of a lawyer and Sacramento, being the capitol, was too much of an old boys' club for a young lawyer with no family name, so he'd decided on the growing town of Stockton. He wanted his mama to move with him and out of that decaying rathole of a town, but she didn't want to leave the place she'd lived in most of her life. He sighed. She hadn't looked well when he'd stopped there last week. At least it wasn't much more than a day's ride back home and he planned to visit as soon as he could.
By the end of the day, he'd picked up a few clients, an elderly widow who was being strong-armed by her landlord, a man who was being sued by his neighbour for damage done by the family goat and someone passing through town who wanted a sales contract looked over. Not high-paying cases, to be sure, but enough to make a respectable start and as he flipped the sign to 'Closed' at the end of the day, he knew he'd made the right decision to come to Stockton.