Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 00:44:17 -0700 Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: LeeAnn Pultz Subject: Challenge: Bureaucracy (01/01) To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Well, I'm a bit more than a *little* late, but better late than never, eh? I actually got *up* out of bed tonight, turned on my computer, and wrote this. It was stuck in my head, and needed to be set free, so I'm inflicting it upon you all! This little bit of stress relief is in response to Sue Clark's long ago challenge - to write a story where Nick bites someone. *I* think circumstances justify it, but let me know what you think! As always, I don't own 'em, I'm just letting them out to play for a while! Permission to archive at the fiction site, and the ftp site, granted. Anyone else, please ask. **************** Bureaucracy September 1998 LeeAnn Pultz **************** Dr. Natalie Lambert, coroner, and physician to the undead population of Toronto, mentally prepared herself as the lift shuddered to a stop. It was confrontation time again, and she wasn't looking forward to this. As she heaved the thick steel door open, she took in the state of the loft. As usual, the blinds were closed, blocking out the daylight. But, in keeping with the resident vampire's recent mood, the loft emanated despair and hopelessness. Gloom shrouded the open space, with nary a light, or even a candle, lit to push it back. "Nick?" she called out into the shadows. "Go away." The voice was low and full of suppressed emotion. Guilt, she assumed. Angst, despair, she knew the drill. Now, all she had to do was get him to tell her what had happened. She only hoped she could handle it. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong, Nick." Good. Her voice didn't betray the quiver of anxiety that curled in her stomach. "You don't want to know, Nat." Following the sound of the shame-filled voice, she cautiously made her way toward the sofa, where Nick sat, brooding. Sitting down beside him, she put her hand on his knee, and encouraged him, "C'mon Nick, if you don't tell me, we can't deal with it." Leaning over the back of the couch, Nat made to turn on the light. A muttered, "Don't. Please, Nat," made her decide to leave Nick the relative anonymity the darkness afforded him. "Okay, start at the beginning." "Well, Cohen called Schanke and I into her office a couple of weeks ago. Something about a course that he and I had to take. Seems that all the others in the precinct had already taken it, so he and I were to take it through the local college." "Okay..." Nat made encouraging noises as the silence grew to be too much. "Well, I couldn't just whammy Cohen into thinking that I had already taken it, not with Schanke right there. He knew that I hadn't taken it, so I was forced to do it." "Good for you. You need to do things the *mortal* way too, Nick." "Right. So, I called the number Cohen gave me. To register for the course. It shouldn't have been a problem. The course was at night, once a week, for eight weeks. No big deal." "But?" "But, the woman at the college. Well, first I had to go down in person to apply to the college. Since I had never taken a course there before, you see." "And, the admissions office doesn't open until 9am and closes at 4:30pm. Sunset isn't till 8:30pm in the summer." Natalie realized that the noise she was hearing was Nick grinding his teeth in frustration. "I finally convinced them to let Schanke take my application in for me. But, then, it turns out that we were *supposed* to apply for the course three weeks earlier, when everyone else applied. But, we didn't know until now that we had to take the course." Frustration evident in his voice, Nick continued. "After waiting for two weeks, without hearing from the woman, I finally went in one morning before the sun rose, and once the office opened, went in to *talk* to her." "Nick!" Natalie chastised him, "You can't just *whammy* people into..." "No. I can't. What *is* it with people in Toronto. They're all *resistors*!" Nick had stood, and was now pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. "When I asked her what the hold up was on getting into the course, she told me that my application was sitting in her out-box, waiting to be approved by the chair." He looked abashed, "I guess I sort of snapped, Nat." Natalie winced, this didn't sound good. "Go on," she whispered. "I told her that she had *better* get my application moving, because I *need* to take the course this time around. And, do you know what she said?" "What?" Natalie asked, cautiously. "She had the unmitigated *gall* to tell me that she didn't *have* to take my application late, and that she was doing me a favour as it was to even accept my application for the course." He was on a roll now. "Nat, I don't understand it. How can that be a valid excuse? Oh, I didn't do a good job on this because, you know, I didn't *have* to do it? I was doing you a favour, so I did a half-assed job?" Flopping back onto the sofa, he finished wearily, "I don't understand people sometimes." When he didn't seem willing to continue on his own, Natalie thought she'd best prod him a bit. "And, what happened then, Nick?" His reply was so low as to be nearly indistinct. "What was that?" Natalie wanted to be sure that she had heard correctly. "I said, I brrgh.." Again, Nick trailed off before finishing his answer. "Nicholas B. Knight, did you bite that poor woman?" Holding his head in his hands, Nick couldn't force himself to meet Natalie's gaze. "Yes." He whispered. "Is she..." "No!" He raised his head and met Natalie's eyes, to be sure that she believed him. "Just enough to get past her resistance and make her more amenable to letting me take the course." "Oh Nick. What can I say?" Natalie sighed, as she leaned over and put her arm around the vampire on the couch. They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Natalie couldn't stand it any more. She had to know. "Nick?" "Hmmm.." "What course were you trying to register for?" "Oh..." Nat could swear that he was almost *blushing* "Nick?" "Umm...Conflict Negotiation and Resolution..." ********************* Comments? Stakes for annoying registration clerks? LeeAnn ********************************** Call it rule 27B - Never make key tactical decisions while having electro-convulsive seizures. - "The Vor Game" - Lois McMaster Bujold