a/n: This story was inspired by this episode of Oprah (but with a Secretary twist. I couldn't resist). There is more information about this story on Oprah's website, if you're curious.

Also, I'm not a lawyer, so any made-up legalese is purely my fault.

Vanilla Coffee

Alan was sitting in his office, contemplating whether or not to take a certain case. It had all the quirkiness and intrigue of a typical dispute that he would have jumped at the chance to try, but he actually felt a little apprehensive about defending a woman who had introduced bondage to her daughter's friends. It was one thing to introduce sex to your own kids (in fact, Alan heavily encouraged education in all things sexual), but to force your sexual preferences on someone else's kids seemed a little inappropriate. Especially when those preferences included tying people up. In reality, he supposed, it didn't actually much matter what he thought. The mother in question was a friend of the firm's, and because the case was (remotely) related to sex, it had automatically been passed on to him. He could probably reject the case, but it would take more work than he was willing to put in. Sometimes living up to a stereotype was exhausting.

He sighed and glanced down at his over-priced watch. (He had never understood some fascination with expensive watches…they were like jewelry, and yet seen as a symbol of manliness.) It was almost time for the preliminary meeting with his the client in question, Kate Harris. He reluctantly got up from his desk to speak with his secretary.

"Melissa, I'm expecting a visit from a new client, Ms. Harris. I'm ready for her, so please send her back when she comes in."

"Sure thing, Mr. Shore!" Melissa replied brightly, accompanied by a flirty wink. Alan fought very hard to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. As enticing as she was, her preppy come-ons sometimes made him feel almost like a pedophile.

He began to prepare himself for the meeting, taking a brand new legal pad out from one of his drawers, and equipping himself with a black fountain pen. As cliché as it was, taking handwritten notes on a legal pad helped Alan to see the big picture and make connections he never would have seen working off of a computer screen. In an attempt to maintain his precise organization, he titled his notes with the client's name and the date.

As if on cue, a meticulously, if tastelessly dressed woman opened the door to Alan's office and strode confidently inside. He rose to shake her hand and introduce himself, and was surprised at her domineering stature, until he looked down and realized she was wearing 3" heels. If it weren't for the fact that he knew better, her pale pink suit and blonde hair would have led him to believe she was a Texan realtor, not a Boston housewife.

"Please take a seat," he encouraged, as he gestured to a classy wooden chair placed in front of his desk. "That's an unusual necklace you have," Alan continued, "it's very pretty." He had been trained well to make his clients feel at ease, and complimenting women came naturally to him.

"Why, thank you," Ms. Harris accepted, while fingering the unusually heavy chain around her neck. Alan could have sworn he detected a hint of a blush on the otherwise composed woman's cheeks.

"Now, I've been informed that you're being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and involving a minor in obscene acts. Today I'd like to go over your side of the story, so I can determine what kind of defense we have."

"Of course," she answered warmly. Alan had found through his years of experience that people reacted differently to being accused of a crime. Kate Harris was not only completely calm, but almost treated the business meeting as if she and Alan had gone out to lunch together.

"So go ahead and tell me about the night in question. Try to tell me everything, whether you believe it's relevant or not."

"Well, my daughter was having a slumber party with some of her best friends," Kate began. "She's 16. Do you need to see a picture?"

"Let's stick to the story, for now. But I'd like to meet her later," Alan replied patiently.

"Ok. So, she and her friends were doing typical girl stuff, making cookies, gossiping about boys. As it started to get later, they popped in a movie. A typical romantic chick flick."

Alan started to get the feeling that this was definitely not the right case for him.

"Anyway, when the movie was over, the girls were discussing the two main characters. My daughter, especially, was offended at the movie's portrayal of the female sex," she said proudly. "They were complaining about how the movie had depicted the women in the movieas mindless and monotonous. The female lead, in particular, spent the entire movie chasing after a model-type only to catch him and have uneventful, unimaginative sex."

Alan nodded, feeling apprehension at where he knew the story was likely to go.

"Now, I of course, couldn't help but overhear this conversation," Kate continued in a manner that suggested she wasn't embarrassed about overhearing at all. "I just knew that I had to step in. I mean, these girls had to know that there could be more to love than the boring, vanilla relationships characterized by Hollywood. So I introduced the girls to my lifestyle."

Alan looked up from the legal pad where he was copiously taking notes. He had to admit, she was certainly passionate, if a little misguided. "Your lifestyle?" he urged her.

"My husband and I partake in a completely safe and consensual sado/masochistic relationship. Although we tend to focus less on pain and more on exploring our dominant and submissive tendencies. it has created a wonderfully strong bond between us – you would be surprised at what some people could learn about themselves by experiment with different aspects of their personalities" Alan perceived for a second that she was implying something personal, and busied himself with taking notes again.

"So how did you 'introduce' this to your daughter and her friends?" he prompted her further.

"Well, at first it started out as just a conversation. I just explained to them that there were alternative ways to have a relationship, and then I told them about my husband and I. And then when my husband came home from work – he was away on a business trip – we gave them a little demonstration.

"What kind of demonstration?" Alan inquired wearily.

"Oh, absolutely nothing harmful." Kate assured him. "And there was absolutely no intercourse. For Pete's sakes, not one of us even took our clothes off. Dan and I just showed them some basic rope play, and then they experimented some themselves."

"I see. And did the girls volunteer to participate, or was that you or your husband's idea?"

"Well, it was our idea, but they were definitely willing participants. They were just curious, Mr. Shore, and I'm just glad that we were there to properly educate them. But nothing that we did could have hurt those girls, physically or otherwise."

"Well, if that is true, Ms. Harris, it seems to me that you have a very strong case. Nothing delinquent or obscene happened here, it was just inappropriate for you to parent another person's child. At another meeting, I'd like to go over your story in more detail, and perhaps talk to your daughter, but for now I'm going to need you to sign some paperwork."

"So that means you're taking my case?" Kate asked.

"Yes, I'm taking your case," Alan answered as crossed the room to ask Melissa to prepare some documents.