Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 05:42:10 EST Reply-To: DPangel79@AOL.COM Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Shana Nolan Subject: kNew Year's Resolution (01/01) To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu Status: Standard disclaimers, as always, apply. James Parriot and company(ies) actually own the rights to the FK universe. Permission to archive/repost granted to fkfanfic and the DPs, everyone else, ask first. Comments to DPangel79@aol.com "kNew Year's Resolution" (01/01) by Shana Nolan ******************** When Nick Knight first walked into Reese's office, he had absolutely no idea what he was in for. "What's up, cap?" "Not too much. Just got a call from your partner." "Oh? I thought she had New Year's off." "She does," Reese sighed," but she asked if I would send you to her place before you got off shift." "Uh, sure, cap... why?" "Don't know. But why is it I can't seem to get rid of either of you for a very long time?" "Because we like it here?" "Uh-uh." "Because we're really that dedicated?" "Same thing as before, only more ambitious sounding." "Truth hurts, eh?" "Yeah. Go stop by your partner's flop." "Yes, cap." * * * Tracy Vetter was making the most of her day off. Dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, a tall cup of coffee next to her, she was attempting to simplify her life. Walking up to the apartment door, Nick knocked, wondering what he was in for. "Door's open." Pushing open the door, he stepped in and stopped as soon as he saw the mess all over the floor. Arranged in piles all around the main room of Tracy's apartment were papers. Papers and papers and papers, all in various levels of organisation. Next to her was a garbage can with a portable, black paper shredder resting on top of it. "Hey, Nick. Thanks for stopping by." "Tracy... what are you doing?" "My therapist said that I should confront the part of my life I can't conquer head on." "You can't conquer paperwork?" "She also said that I should make you watch since you give me all of it at work." "You can't conquer paperwork?" "Now I can." Tracy stood up and headed for the kitchen, refilling her coffee cup. "By shredding it?" "Well, kinda. I'm going through every file, folder, drawer, box and bag. I have to find every piece of paper that is written on in this apartment and sort them into groups and get rid of at least 1/3 of it all. But I have to shred it before it gets recycled, you know, for closure, release." "Oh." "And she's right. This is better than my kickboxing class." Tracy pointed over to the area underneath the window. Four 13 gallon bags stuffed with shredded documents were lined up underneath the windowsill. Nick blinked for a moment. "Therapist?" "Yeah, well, why not. Nat gave me her number." "Therapist." "You're surprised? That's quaint, actually. You want to know what she told me?" "Um, sure." "She said that you were protecting me, maybe a bit too much. I need to tell my dad how I feel, and the same goes about my mother." "Al-Anon?" "Kicking and screaming all the way." "Oh. So why do I have to be here?" "Because you dodge the paperwork constantly. You leave me to do it, despite the fact that I'm still playing catch-up with previous paperwork. And I don't say 'no.' I have to learn to make you do your own work and not accept the responsibility. She says the stress of unnecessary work will take a toll on me in the long run. Anxiety disorders and nervous breakdowns, yadda." "Nat gave you the number?" "What, you're surprised?" "A little." "Does that mean there's something wrong?" "What, with her, me or you?" Nick paused. "But anyhoo, " Tracy shrugged and sat back down in the center of the paper arrangement. "Here's my notes from a college class I took a couple years ago, just for the hell of it. Haven't looked at them since I put these in the filing cabinent." And with that, she dropped the sheets, three at a time, through the shredder, the machine's motor growling as it went. "Trace?" "Yeah?" "Does this mean I should finish out the Carter case?" Tracy took a deep breath. "Hell, yes." "Uh, okay. Happy New Year, Tracy." "You, too, Nick... hey, here's the therapist's number... give her a call, maybe you can figure out that thing you have with Nat." "What thing with... oh, never mind." *********** {finis} Comments to DPangel79@aol.com Trace's resolution is actually my own... I've shredded and recycled 2 13 gal. bags of paper ensofar. I've never seen my file cabinent so clean and easy to access!!!! Cousin Shana, the Dark Perk Angel, DPangel79@aol.com Dark Perk ~*~ fkp-l listowner ~*~ Ravenette ~*~ Twilight Knightie ~*~ CERK Perk ~*~ NNnut ~*~ G4 duckling ~*~ GWDFC ~*~ MBB ~*~ Chimera "For the record: we never broke up, we just took a 14 year vacation." --Glenn Frey