The Conversation That Never Was

Thank you for the reviews on We're Done & Building Walls.

I was just rewatching TCOT Heartbroken Bride and quite frankly I'd forgotten how much I detested the suggestions, implications of Perry & his connection with the family and the side lining of Della. The movie also left many unanswered questions despite it's attempts at the end to bring Perry & Della together after her conversation with Laura in the courtroom. That got me to thinking about the conversation between the other Laura and Della in TCOT Lost Love and what would the conversation have been between the two.

This is a slight departing from the general.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Perry Mason & Della Street. The rights are the property of the estate of ESG.

PDPDPDPDPPDPDDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPD

'What about you and Perry?' Laura delivered the line through narrowed eyes and a smirk that was suddenly playing about her mouth. Della felt the tension in her shoulders tighten. She was the mouse and Laura was most certainly the cat toying with her at that moment.

'Perry and I….' Della faltered. What actually were they in reality? She'd not even thought about that question in years, nor had she considered an answer should anyone have cared to ask. 'We're the best of friends,' she finished. Laura's eyebrows shot up in either astonishment or excitement at the answer, Della couldn't tell.

'Friends?' Laura repeated. 'Really? For years the press gossips and observers had you two pegged as lovers at the very least.' The cat had produced the first of it's claws.

Della wandered around the back of the sofa and used it as a mental and physical barrier of protection between the two before quickly realising it wouldn't work to protect her from this conversation she now found herself trapped in.

'I'm well aware Laura of what the gossips have always thought about us,' Della spoke more calmly than she felt. 'It just so happens they were wrong.'

'You mean you two have never….I mean, not ever?' There was the second claw appearing. Such a personal question, but one which Della now felt herself almost obliged to answer. 'Once.' She offered more than she believed she needed to.

'Once?' Laura now seemed more interested in Della and what she had to say than she'd ever been previously, either thirty five years ago or when they'd been reacquainted because of the current case a week ago.

'Yes once. A long, long time ago.'

'Why only once?' Laura's voice dropped an octave lower as if trying to coax information out of a small child. Only this wasn't a childs conversation and the third claw had appeared to tap the mouse gently into its trap. Della was well aware of the personal satisfaction she was about to deliver into Laura's hands, having known hers and Perry's relationship had been long, intense and passionate before ending when they went their separate ways in the legal world.

'Once was all it took for us to realise it would never work between us if we wanted to continue working like the well oiled machine we were.' Simple thought Della. Easily explained. Any personal relationship would spoil the chemistry. No further explanation required. Laura however, needed more. It wasn't so simple to her, having convinced herself easily and early on, that smart, sassy and exceptionally far better looking than a working woman had any right to be Della Street was the reason Perry Mason had not moved to Denver with her and effectively broken off their personal relationship by his refusal to follow her. Now Laura sat back and lazily contemplated the secretary.

'He got what he wanted and then threw you over for the next pretty face that came asking for his help?' For some reason the fact that Della admitted she had only slept with Perry once in their early days made Laura deliriously happy. 'And you've spent the better part of your life following him around in the vain hope he would relent and take up with you again. The vicious insinuation was delivered with a sweet tone and a false smile. Della shook her head vigorously, suddenly straightening her back and being flooded with indignation at the implication.

No!' She bit out through her own fake plastered smile which belied the fact that Della was now feeling anything but professional. 'I was the one who told him it wouldn't work. I was the one who didn't wish to take it any further, although he didn't stop trying for a few months after.'

Laura shot up from her seat at the revelation. At first she thought Della was going to sugar coat the reality to soften the rejection all those years ago, but something in the way she delivered the answer made Laura believe every word. Maybe the mouse was finally fighting back.

'And yet you stayed with him and never married.' The line was delivered in an accusing tone.

'I enjoyed my job then, I enjoy my job now. I told you, he's my best friend as was Paul Drake. We were a team, we worked well together and I've always liked my independence. A woman not marrying isn't a crime you know.'

'I know. So you stood by a watched a parade of women come through his life and you weren't a little jealous?' Another dig at her lifestyle choice.

'Far from it Laura. I've been very happy and content with my own personal relationships outside the office. Perhaps you should ask Perry if he was jealous of those, not the other way around.' Della's confidence now flooded her system and she was going from strength to strength in her answers. Laura on the other hand began pacing. It had never occurred to her it would be Perry that had been the one harbouring hope in their relationship.

'Paul Drake?' Laura had a couple of barbs left in her but she wasn't sure how deep they would penetrate now.

Della threw her head back and laughed out loud, a genuine amused hoot for the first time in the whole conversation. 'Absolutely not! I've just told you Paul was also my other best friend, but he certainly didn't stop trying either. No Laura, if you really must know I've been fortunate to have had two very good, very passionate relationships in my private life that had absolutely nothing to do with Perry or Paul.'

For a reason Laura couldn't fathom, she suddenly found herself finally warming to Della. For years she had been thoroughly convinced the secretary was the source of all the issues she ever had in her private world called Perry Mason. Never in a million years did she allow herself to believe otherwise until now. Perhaps they could actually be friends on some level.

'Were you very happy with these men?'

'Very. I was bereaved as any legally wed widow when they both passed.'

'Arthur Gordon being one of them?' Laura's final dig but more now of curiosity in what made this woman tick.

'No. He was married and my boss. I went to work for Arthur when my second man passed unexpectedly and Perry had already gone off to San Francisco. I needed something to keep me occupied. When Perry became a judge, Tom and I decided to live a little and do some travelling. Unfortunately that didn't happen because he died.'

'I'm sorry to hear that.' Laura finally felt a genuine pang of sorrow for Della and it came through finally in her voice. 'And your first man if I may be so bold?'

'Nick was a policeman.' Della began chuckling. 'You can imagine how well that went down with Perry and Paul.' Laura joined in the merriment and chortled along with her before Della became wistful. 'Yes, Nick and I had ten very good years before he was killed on duty. We understood each other and he never, ever tried to domesticate me.' It was then Laura noticed Della playing with a diamond ring on a chain about her neck.

'Your engagement ring?' Laura raised an eyebrow.

'From Tom, we just never got around to it.' Della self consciously tucked the chain back under the lapel of her blouse. 'So Laura, has that answered your question about Perry and I? We're friends and I will always be there for him and I know he will always be there for me. I'm sorry if that isn't a sordid or exciting as people would like to think, but there's really nothing more to it.'

Laura was just about to say something further when the door rattled and the object of their conversation entered. Whether though practice or natural stance, Della and Laura retreated into their public façade as Perry looked between the two women.

'Have I interrupted something?' He began.

Fin