AN - One of the more famous barristers in the country has been in the (legal) news again today, which reminded me of a little thing I wrote when she last popped up on our news pages and inspired me to write something. Instead of making up characters when I need them, I have shamelessly borrowed from other TV shows, if you can spot them! This is just a little thing for fun and entertainment, and I hope you like it. I promise more and hopefully bigger things soon, as well as keeping up the drip-feed of one-shots. Ax.
"And what are you wearing for court today Miss Costello?"
The question was out of the blue and it threw Martha as she crossed the robing room to her locker. The rooms other occupants were laughing, she had heard them from down the hallway and still didn't know why. While most of the QCs got along outside the courtrooms, it was slightly unusual for everyone in the robing room to be talking and laughing together and she couldn't help but be slightly suspicious of the subject matter.
She frowned and looked at CW over her shoulder as she slipped her suit jacket off and put it on a hanger in her locker, "What?"
The older barrister rolled her eyes, "Have you completely missed the news Martha?"
"Clearly," she shot her friend a pointed look but assumed from CW's light tone that she wasn't talking about news that was worthy of The Times, "What have I missed?"
Jocelyn handed over a slightly crumpled copy of The Guardian and said, "Our terribly famous colleague Mrs Clooney appears not only at a-list parties, but also on the fashion pages and front pages of newspapers".
Martha scanned the picture on the page that the paper had ben folded to show and vaguely read a few lines of the article with a snort of laughter, "Touché". She left the paper on the table and turned to carry on getting ready, "That's gonna be question of the week then".
"Already is," Jocelyn pointed out lightly, "It'll keep us amused for ages I'm sure". She checked the clock and picked up her wig and a stack of files, "I'm off. See you later for another fashion convention".
A round of goodbyes, good-lucks and fuck-I'm-late's followed her departure as other barristers realised the time and within a few minutes the room was almost empty.
"I'm delayed fifteen minutes," CW fished around in her voluminous handbag with a sigh, "Cigarette?"
Having checked her watch to see how much spare time she had, Martha accepted the proffered item and turned to haul the sash window up so they could lean out and avoid setting the fire alarm off.
As Martha walked along the corridor Clive appeared beside her, presumably having just left a meeting room, and fell in step as they walked. "Which courtroom?"
"Three. You?"
"Sixteen".
Martha pulled a sympathetic face, "Bit hot on a day like this".
"Tell me about it. Been in there all week, far too warm," he groaned and shifted his robes on his shoulders, already feeling the heat of the August sun through the windows.
She nudged him, his action reminding her of the conversations in the robing room, "So, what are you wearing for court today Mr Reader?"
Clive smiled, "Ridiculous isn't it".
"Very, but it's nicer to have something to laugh at than the usual news" she agreed, "This is me, see you later".
He caught her arm before she turned away, a smirk hovering on his lips as he asked in a low voice, "I'd rather know what you're wearing under your robes".
Before she could answer or swat at him, he winked and slipped into the stream of people walking through the Great Hall, leaving her shaking her head but unable to conceal her smile.
Back in the robing room, Martha was shrugging the heavy black material off her shoulders when the door creaked open and Clive entered.
"Alright?" she asked as he dropped his armful of papers and files onto the table with a sigh.
He studied her as she finished de-robing, and she narrowed her eyes at him, arms out wide, "See? It's nothing terribly exciting".
Her fingers made quick work of the buttons on the front of her court jacket and then the collar underneath, draping it all over a hanger to put back on after lunch.
Clive moved away to strip his own robes off, but when he turned back to ask her something, his eyes fell to her white shirt, fitted close to her body as she moved. With her back to him, he realised that it was - "Marth, that's practically see through".
"It's hot," she answered without turning to face him, "It's the lightest shirt I've got".
"Yeah, I'll say," Clive retorted, "I can almost see exactly what you're wearing underneath".
She laughed, "Well, you did want to know".
"I didn't mean everyone else needed to as well!"
At that, she did turn around, one eyebrow arched in a challenge, "What was that?"
The words had fallen from his mouth accidentally, spoken without thought, and the only reply he could come up with was, "It's very red Marth".
Martha rolled her eyes, "Did you expect it to be another colour?"
He had been anticipating something far harsher than that and decided to take another chance with his words. "What does the rest look like?"
"That, you'll have to find out at another time," she flashed him a surprising grin, "I've got to see my client". And she swung her normal suit jacket over her shoulders, effectively covering the subject of their conversation, and reached for her bag.
"Later?" was all he could manage as she opened the door, and the "Maybe," she threw over her shoulder left him able to do nothing other than stand staring at the door she had walked through until Alan walked in.
"You ok Clive?" his head of chambers enquired, a slight frown on his face.
The younger man roused himself to answer, "Yeah. Yeah, it's just the heat. You?"
Alan held up the robes he carried over his arm, "Fine thanks. Judge Wolburn gave up on court dress when the usher nearly fainted. I imagine it will be in all courts by this afternoon".
Clive muttered his relief and as they talked about their respective cases, his mind began to creep back out from what could only be described as the gutter.
The rest, Clive later discovered, was also red, what little of it there actually was. If it surprised him, he didn't let it show, simply admiring it before removing it and discarding it without a care as to where it fell.
The following day's was a different shade of red, darker and patterned with black. It was hidden beneath a blue shirt and even though the knowledge that he was the only one who would see it was what made Clive smile a little more throughout the day, he would deny it to anyone, including the person wearing it.
