Chapter 29: Just when you think...

"So, how did you and Penny become friends?"

Claire and I were over at my apartment, where we had ended up after an afternoon of blading on the river paths. I knew enough to pace myself properly to avoid yesterday's huff-and-puff session. The last time I was that winded, I had woken up fifteen minutes before my GREs. I managed to sprint to the testing site on time, but didn't start breathing normally until halfway through the exam. Even now, my body was still complaining bitterly to my brain how out of shape it was. Note to self: if I wanted to keep up with Claire, I better get some semblance of an exercise routine going.

After we arrived at my place and cleaned up, we ordered from the Indian place down the street. I was too tired to play gourmet chef, plus I had a few scrapes on my wrists and knees that needed attention. And this was with wrist and knee pads; goodness knows what kind of bloody mess I'd be otherwise.

She took a bite of her kamargah and chewed thoughtfully before answering. "I was looking for a housemate when I started grad school, and Penny's then-ex-boyfriend had just moved out. We got along well for four years, and kept in touch afterwards--I wanted a place closer to BC, while she finally had enough after paying off her student loans to put a down payment on a nice brownstone in Cambridge. Oh, and picking up a Beemer to tool around in."

"Befriending one's roommates... wish I knew how to do that. I pissed off just about all my roommates in college."

"Really? I never would have guessed. Did your acerbic wit trip you up?"

"Very funny. No, it was something more annoying. I was a champion mooch. Other than food, the lines between mine and theirs tended to blur real fast. I'm not as bad now, but I'd still rather live alone."

"But someone didn't mind. You did say 'almost all, ' right?"

"Caught me, didn't you? Well, I made a special effort not to tick her off."

"Her?"

"It was senior year. I had graduated in December, but decided to stay at Cal during spring semester to do some research. By then, I knew I was going to Hopkins. Anya had lived in Maryland all her life before college, so a mutual friend introduced us. We dated for two months, then I moved in--her roommate decided to drop out, and she couldn't afford the rent herself. Not that money was the only reason," I added hastily. "We were getting serious, and it seemed like perfect timing."

"So, what happened?"

"It didn't work out," I said tersely.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to pry."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's okay. Anyway, for all her faults, Penny is a loyal friend. She doesn't have too many of them, as you might have guessed."

"Doesn't want to befriend the competition?"

"You're too perceptive for your own good."

"So I've been told. Tell me something: have you ever known Penny to do something on sheer impulse?"

Claire snorted. "Not in this lifetime."

"That's good."

"How come?"

"One, she doesn't regard me as competition, and two," I smiled at her, "she thinks I'm good enough for you, despite being a Doogie Howser-wannabe twerp."

"Wait a minute... you think-"

"Yep."

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "That's a bit too Machiavellian, even for Penny."

"For what it's worth, if she hadn't, we may never have met." I reached out and took her right hand in mine, looking into her eyes. "And that would have been a tragedy."

Her left hand joined the other on top of mine. "Oh, you shameless flatterer, you," she said affectionately.

"You've said that before. Besides, it's not flattery if I mean it."

She looked intently at me, then reached up to caress my cheek. "I still can't figure out why, if you're the person I've seen and believe you are, your former girlfriends ever let you go," she said softly. Leaning forward, her lips touched mine briefly, then slid along my cheek until they reached my ear. "You're not keeping any secrets from me, are you?" she breathed.

"Hey, a guy's gotta have some secrets. Otherwise, there'd be no mystery lef-"

She cut off my words with another kiss.

She left at around eleven, and I did some work before turning in for the night. Considering that it's been less than a month since my section started up, I was surprisingly not-buried in work. After the initial rush, the demand for out services had dropped to a manageable threshold. Quite unexpected for a firm I thought was making an expansion into a new field; I had expected that I'd need at least three new hires by now.

As for what had just happened... what's there to say? I guess I've grown up a bit since last year. Back then, I'd be ready to call Claire the next great love of my life. Now, I know better. Love doesn't happen that fast. There's a fair bit of tenderness involved between us right now. Affection, certainly. A healthy dose of lust? Oh yeah. But love? Not that fast. Oh, and FYI, we didn't just sleep together. After the whirlwind pace with Morgan, I wasn't in any big hurry. Que sera, sera takes precedence over carpe diem if you're playing for keeps, and Claire was definitely someone I wanted to keep in my life. Besides, both of us had to get up early tomorrow. I was never a fan of rushing sex, especially the first time with someone. Rather decreases the chances of future times, in my opinion.

Monday morning was fairly uneventful. I reviewed several reports submitted by my staff that various firm members had requested; by now, most of the reports required only minor tweaking on my part. It took me the morning and a fair chunk of the afternoon to tidy things up.

Now, I'd be the first to applaud anyone paying me to sit around and do nothing. Still, my staff and I were being underused and then some, considering the urgency with which we were brought in. All the stuff I finished today was an accumulation from the weekend, and I wrapped it up in less than a day. Not that I wanted to be swamped by work, mind you, but I had fully expected to be. In any business, sitting around and doing nothing doesn't bode well for one's job security. Granted, the firm had just picked up two major clients, so less people were making the switch to patent law. Can't blame me for worrying, though.

After some thought, I drafted a memo to my staff, reminding them to take their time with their reports, and be as thorough as possible--if the current workload stayed light. In addition, I asked them to stay on top of any developments in the field, just in case. Couldn't hurt to have a knowledgeable staff if one of the attorneys had a follow-up question in a few months.

Just as I e-mailed Devon the memo drafts (God, I love having a good assistant) to proof and send, he poked his head in the door. "Mr. Nowak to see you," he said. I nodded, and he ducked back out. A few seconds later, Larry strolled in. "Not busy, are you?"

Larry Nowak was one of the senior partners spearheading the patent law expansion. He's been providing my group with a fair amount of work from the start. "Nothing too stressful," I replied. "Oh, good news, by the way. The reports on the Vincente and Clarke cases are ready early--I'll send them down tomorrow morning. The Yamatetsu report should be done by Friday, as scheduled."

"Glad to hear it." He plopped down--no, he wasn't overweight by any means, but a six-ten frame carries a lot of flesh--in the chair in front of my desk. "Have you heard about the flap over at FNH?"

"The researcher's kid who's suing to have the company honor the patent agreements with him after his father died in a car accident?"

"Exactly. He was working in the lab, but FNH is claiming that he did not make any substantive contributions to the research, and should not be named to the patents."

"So, what's the problem? The kid's getting screwed because his father pissed off most of the higher-ups in the company, but it sounds like a slam dunk--legally, that is. FNH is being incredibly shortsighted, but the case sounds airtight for the company. After all, it's not as if the patent papers have even been submitted yet."

"Well, yeah--wait, what do you mean by saying that FNH is being incredibly short-sighted?"

I shrugged. "Word is that the kid is all that and then some. Most of the people that Berelson offended through the years--and there have been an unholy number of them--admit that he's one of the leading researchers in his field, and the son is a chip off the old block. FNH just lost one of their top guys, and is in the process of chasing away his potential successor away just to cash in on a few lucrative patents. Sure, they stand to make a bundle, but it hurts their R&D something fierce. And that's not mentioning the message they're sending out to prospective employees. Yes, Berelson was an arrogant bastard, but his son shouldn't have to take the rap for it. Penny wise, pound foolish all over again."

Larry seemed to deflate during my little spiel. "So there's no question at all of nepotism?"

"Well, no one else would have brought in a fifteen-year-old to work as a full-time researcher, but Will has demonstrated in the last four years that he deserves to be there, talent-wise. Or so I've been told."

"Damn. You see, the case isn't as much of a slam dunk as you might think. First off, Will Berelson retained Phil Denisof two days ago, and you know what that means--he's never failed to take a case to trial sans settlement, and wouldn't have taken the case if he wasn't confident of being able to do so. Second, the sentimentality factor won't help--big bad corporation beating up on a kid who's just lost his father. Third, there's only two tacks we can really take. One is claiming that he didn't make any contributions, and you told me that it won't fly."