[June 24th] [Perry Mason] Lux Aeterna, 24

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Title: Lux Aeterna, scene 24
Day/Theme: June 24th - Backwards and forwards
Series: Perry Mason
Character/Pairing: David Gideon, Paul Drake, important mentions of Hamilton Burger (he's the whole reason they're conversing)
Rating: K/G

Takes places after #21.


By Lucky_Ladybug

Paul looked up in surprise at the knock on his office door. “Come in,” he called. He frowned, hurriedly shoving the containers from his dinner into a paper bag and dumping it into the trashcan. It was late for a client to show up. And if Perry or Della wanted him, they usually called and asked him to come to Perry’s office.

He raised an eyebrow when David stepped into the room. “David,” he greeted in surprise. “What brings you here?”

David looked awkward and uncomfortable. “Well, to tell you the truth, I came because I was wondering something about . . .” He shut the door and shifted his weight. “About Mr. Burger.”

Paul was further bewildered. “What? What do you think I could tell you about him that you couldn’t find out from Perry? Or from Burger himself?”

David sank into a nearby chair. “How you came to feel better about him,” he said. “You have, haven’t you? I didn’t notice any animosity when you and he had to interact at the meetings.”

Paul chuckled. “You have gotten really observant.”

David looked pleased. “Mr. Mason said I should work on my powers of observation,” he said. “I’ve been honing them since I left Los Angeles.”

Paul leaned back. “Well, you’re right,” he said. “We’re friends now.”

David leaned forward. “How?” He clasped his hands in front of him. “That’s something I never thought would happen.”

“Here’s some news for you—I never thought it would, either.” Paul fell silent, pondering on exactly how to reply. He had never tried to put it into words before, except around Hamilton. Perry had never asked.

“I’m not even sure how or when it happened,” he confessed. “The truth is, after Perry started warming up to him I started trying to figure out what Perry saw in him. And somewhere along the way I ended up liking the guy in spite of myself. The problem was, I didn’t know I liked him.”

David shook his head, incredulous. “How could you not know it?!”

“Beats me. Well, no, I’m exaggerating. I really did know it. I just . . . I didn’t want to accept it. He also still bugged me, so I kept trying to find other reasons for what he did when he acted decent. I didn’t want to think he was a nice guy, because then I’d feel guilty for not liking him. And then something would happen in court and I’d feel justified in my rationalizations.

“Remember when I told you about my arrest?”

David nodded. “Yes. Did Mr. Burger prosecute you like he did me?”

“Yeah. But he didn’t want to. He was worried about me. I couldn’t believe that, so I honestly couldn’t figure out some of what he said and did.” Paul sighed. “If I could do it all over, I’d treat him a lot better than I did.”

David frowned. This was a lot to take in. He had not expected anything like this. “. . . What was it that made Mr. Mason like him, anyway?”

“That is something you’d have to ask Mr. Mason,” Paul said. “I don’t know myself. Maybe he was just more open-minded than I was.”

“He always has been very open-minded.” David sat up straight. “What about how you finally came to accept that you like Mr. Burger?”

Paul’s eyes flickered with guilt. “That’s something I can talk about. But it’s a long story.”

“I don’t mind,” David said. His eyes widened in realization. “Oh . . . unless you need to go. It is late, I know.”

Paul sighed. “No. No, I can tell you now.” He did not really want to discuss it, he had to admit, but he would rather get it over with instead of dreading it coming up later. “Perry told you about the box Florence is using, right?”

“Yes.” David looked bewildered. “But it’s hard to believe.”

“Hoo boy, I know it.

“Did he also tell you about the crazy spell Florence’s sister Vivalene put on everyone in the county?”

“He did. No one remembered the truth, except you and Mr. Burger.” David blinked. “Was that what did it? Working with him on that problem?”

“I wish it was that simple. We had a heck of a time getting along. We tried, but the tension kept building up between us until one night it just spilled out.” Paul shook his head. “I wish that hadn’t happened. I learned a lot about him I hadn’t known, but if I hadn’t been so close-minded I wouldn’t have needed him to tell me in the first place.”

He looked away, staring at the opposite wall. “I never even apologized before Vivalene tried to kill him.”

David’s jaw dropped. “She did what?!”

Paul finally looked back to him. “As near as we could figure out, she struck him down with an enchanted death spell. But we didn’t know that; we thought he was really dead. It turned out that showing we cared about him and grieving for him was the only thing that could’ve broken the spell. She thought she’d fixed it so everyone would hate him and not care. She made everyone think he’d done rotten things to them that he hadn’t. And she knew he and I were having problems anyway. Lucky for him, it all backfired on her.”

He sighed again, tiredly. “After all of that, I thought I should feel better since it all worked out. But I didn’t. I kept thinking of how I’d hurt him and hadn’t apologized, and how miserable I would’ve felt if he’d really been dead. And I started realizing that I’d thought of him as a friend for a long time.”

David frowned. “I see. And did you tell him all of that?”

“After avoiding him for a few days. He was going out looking for me around the same time I finally decided to see him, so we ran into each other and ended up talking.” Paul threw his hands in the air. “And we figured that if we thought of each other as friends, it was about time we both started acting like it.”

“Wait a minute.” David stared at him. “He thought of you as a friend?!”

“Yeah.” Paul nodded. “That was one of the things he told me when we quarreled. I’m telling you, there’s nothing like being told your so-called enemy thinks of you as a friend to make you go guilt-tripping.”

“I guess not.” David leaned back. “This doesn’t really apply to me, though. Mr. Burger and I haven’t interacted enough for him to feel like that about me. And I sure don’t feel that way about him.”

“Maybe not, but ten to one he doesn’t want you to be on the rocks with him.” Paul laced his fingers. “I guess all I can really tell you is that you and he probably need to sit down and have a serious conversation. Get all your feelings out and lay them on the table. Then see if there’s anything you can do about them.”

David considered the advice and slowly nodded. “That makes sense. But we’d have to be alone. I wouldn’t want his secretary or anyone else around.”

“I wouldn’t either. But I’m sure you could figure it out.”

David nodded again. “I hope so. I’ve tried to find the good in him ever since I realized Mr. Mason likes him. He doesn’t bother me so much when we’re not in court.”

“Well, that’s a start.”

“And maybe just being around him, working with him in the rebellion, would help too.”

Paul thought about that. “Yeah, I think it would,” he agreed. “If you keep an open mind. If you just keep feeling rotten towards him, I don’t think anything would help.” He paused. “And I really hope you never have to go through what I did before I could figure things out.”

“I hope not.” David got up, pacing the room. “It . . . could happen, couldn’t it.”

“There’s no guarantee we’ll all make it out of this alive.” Paul watched him. “In fact, it’s likely that some of us will end up badly hurt, at least. Maybe worse.”

“I already know that I wouldn’t want things left as they are now between me and Mr. Burger if anything happened to either of us,” David said. “And I don’t want him to be hurt in any case.”

Paul nodded in approval. “Then you’re already better than I was.”

David regarded him in surprise. “What do you mean?!”

“Oh . . . just that sometimes I got mad and thought I’d like it if something happened to him sometime. Not anything serious,” Paul quickly added. “Just enough to keep him away from court for a while. And every now and then something did. But I didn’t like it. I ended up missing him. Even worrying about him.” He shook his head. “And if that wasn’t enough, some of the assistant D.A.s ended up being worse than he’d ever been. I found out that be careful what you wish for is a statement of wisdom.”

“I guess so.” David headed for the door, then stopped and looked back. “Thank you for telling me all of this, Paul. I know it probably wasn’t pleasant, dredging up those memories.”

“If it’ll help you, it was worth it,” Paul said.

“I think it will,” David smiled. “At least, it certainly gives me a lot to think about.”

“It still gives me a lot to think about.”

David reached for the doorknob. “At least your story has a . . . well, it sounds corny to say it, but a happy ending.”

“Corny or not, I’m glad.” Paul shook his head. “If things are going to go like a fairytale, they’d better have a happy ending.”

David grinned. “Maybe this story will have one too. Or the beginning of one, if nothing else.”

“A beginning sounds good to me,” Paul said.

“To me, too,” David said.