Title: A life worth living

Author: Alison

Author's Note: This may seem very similar to the second season episode where 
Rebecca is a witness to a crime and is threatened by the brother. This was not 
intended, I wrote the fanfic before I realized the similarities, so read it as if 
you haven’t seen that episode! Again, no harm was intended by this to David E 
Kelley and The Practice.


Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to the brilliant David E Kelley 
and the TV series, ABC’s The Practice. This story was in no way intended to be 
detrimental to the show.


------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Lucy looked at her watch and sighed, she couldn’t believe the hours she worked at 
the law offices of Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt. Not that it wasn’t a good job, 
she thought remembering the other jobs where she was treated like dirt, but she 
wished the hours were better. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been on a 
date! She looked up, still waiting for some plea that needed to be faxed from 
Bobby, and glancing at her watch again she caught Lindsay staring at her.
“What!?” Lucy demanded.
Lindsay played innocent, “Nothing!” She rustled through some papers on her desk, 
then glanced at Lucy again.
“You’ve been here all day, why don’t you go home?”
“Bobby wanted me to fax something.”
“Oh, he can do it himself. Go home, you look tired.”
“Bobby use a fax machine?” Lucy giggled sarcastically.
“You’d be surprised at his talents.”
“Oh please, as happy as I am about your relationship, I don’t need to know every 
detail.”

Bobby appeared in the doorway of his office and handed Lucy the plea. She 
headed to the fax machine, knowing that behind her, Lindsay and Bobby were 
plotting to get her out of the office for the night. She turned around and glared at 
them.
“Alright. I’m going!” Lindsay handed her her coat and bag and pushed her out the 
door.

Lucy walked out onto the street, she still couldn’t believe how obvious Bobby and 
Lindsay were, they may as well have told her the truth rather than lie to her about 
how tired she looked. Please! She had lost count of the times that they had done 
that to her, or the times when she walked in on them not really concentrating on 
work! But, she considered, it was better that he be with Lindsay then a client; 
thanks to the “no frills” description from Ellenor, she was up to speed on the love 
life of her boss.

She entered the supermarket next to her apartment building and headed down the 
aisles, not really concentrating on food, when a man reeking of smoke and alcohol 
brushed roughly past her, heading for the cashier. “Hey!” She yelled at him, he 
didn’t look back. She headed to the checkout with a bottle of milk and looked up 
to see the same man pointing a gun viscously at the cashier and the girl frantically 
putting money into a bag. He saw Lucy and turned the gun towards her, yelling at 
her to get down, he looked scared to her but she wasn’t sure whether this was just 
a reflection of her own terror. She dropped to the ground and put her hands over 
her head, seeing as she did the girl stopped shoveling money to look at the 
attacker. He felt rather than saw the change in attention and without warning swung 
the gun towards her head. It connected with a loud crack and she dropped 
soundlessly to the floor. Panicked, the man grabbed the money and bolted out the 
door, leaving behind him a credit card, which Lucy assumed was stolen. She 
gratefully watched him leave and stood up to call the police.

After an hour answering questions at the police station and an assurance that she 
would be needed as a witness when they caught the guy, Lucy headed back to the 
office. She shivered with the thought of heading home by herself and worrying all 
night about intruders. The office was dark and empty, Bobby and Lindsay must 
have left with the hopes of finding somewhere more comfortable. Lucy turned on all 
the lights and locked the door, and feeling very alone, she curled up on Bobby’s 
couch and fell into a sleep full of images of the night’s drama.

* * *

“He’s just a friend Bobby. He lived next door while I was in high school and I 
haven’t seen him in years.” Lindsay couldn’t believe how jealous Bobby was acting 
over the arrival of an old high school sweetheart. They had been arguing all morning 
and he was still telling her to cancel their plans. They entered the office and stopped 
in the doorway. Lucy heard their voices and jolted out of the nightmare and into 
reality. She listened as their voices rose.
“He must have some reason for being here to see you.”
“He’s here on business.”
“That’s the oldest excuse in the book.”
“I can’t believe how jealous you’re being!”
“I’m not jealous, I’m just questioning his motives, that’s all.”
“I’ll be home before midnight.”
“Midnight!?”
“Okay, eleven then. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Bobby walked into his office, dropping his briefcase and turning to continue the 
argument with Lindsay when she exclaimed, “Lucy! Were you here all night?”
Lucy looked up at them, her eyes were ringed with dark circles and her normally 
perfect hair was matted and unkempt.
“Um, yeah. I didn’t want to go home.”
“What happened?” Bobby asked. The concern in his voice induced tears and left 
her unable to explain her fear. She gulped back a sob and stammered, “I saw 
…an…. an armed robbery last night…. he hit her so hard…. I was really scared.”

The phone rang in the office but nobody moved. Rebecca heard the phone while 
she was walking down the corridor and hurried to the office to answer it. There 
was nobody in sight, but Lindsay and Bobby’s coats were hanging by the door so 
she knew that they must be somewhere.
“Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt.”
“Good morning, could I speak to uh…” there was the sound of papers rustling in 
the background. “sorry…Lucy Hatcher.”
“Lucy! May I ask what this is about?”
“She was a witness to a crime last night, we need her at the probable cause hearing 
It’s this afternoon.”
“Hold on please.”

Rebecca hesitated outside Bobby’s door, not sure what she was about to interrupt, 
but he needed to know what was going on so she stepped inside.
“Bobby, sorry to interrupt-“
She saw Lucy in tears in deep conversation with Bobby; Lindsay was looking on 
silently.
“Lucy, the Boston Police are on the phone, they want to talk to you.”
“Again!?” Lucy cried, clearly agitated.
“They need you to testify this afternoon.”
“Oh…okay.”

She left to take the call, bumping into Eugene as she walked out of Bobby’s office.
“Sorry,” Eugene apologized, but she didn’t hear. He looked at Bobby quizzically, 
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you later. Lets go.” He grabbed his briefcase and looked at Lindsay and 
Rebecca. As much as he loved Lindsay, she wasn’t the most sensitive person in the 
office.
“Bec, can you keep an eye on Lucy?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll see you both later then.” He smiled and left the office, leaving Lindsay and 
Rebecca lost in thought. Lindsay couldn’t believe how many times they had been 
involved in some crime or another. As if representing the scum wasn’t enough, now 
they had to be victims as well.

* * *

Eugene looked at his watch and tried not to groan, glancing at the jury he could see 
that they were just as bored as he was and the judge had yawned five times in the 
last minute. Helen had been questioning the doctor for more than an hour and 
showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.
“Thank you for that depth of detail, Doctor. Based on this can you conclude that 
Mrs. Adams’ heart attack was due to the defendant’s tactics?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you Doctor.”
The jury sighed with relief as she headed for her seat and Eugene stood up to cross 
the witness. Neither he nor Bobby could see the reason for the DA’s office for 
prosecuting this case; it was completely bogus. They were accusing a door to door 
salesman of committing manslaughter for causing a potential customer to have a 
heart attack. Next they’ll be suing cows for the cholesterol in butter. The jury 
showed no signs of waking up anytime soon, except for the blonde in the back row 
who had been smiling at Bobby all day. She looked disappointed that it was he not 
Bobby that stood up.

“Doctor, you spent a lot of time outlining the causes of heart attacks and I’m not 
sure if the jury understood it all. But can you positively conclude that it was only the 
defendant who caused the heart attack?”
“Yes counsel. The defendant presented Mrs. Adams with a stimulus suddenly, 
frightening her. Being frightened causes excess adrenaline to be formed; this in turn 
puts undue stress on the heart. In most people it causes a speed up of the heart 
rate. In the elderly it can cause heart attacks.”
“Thank you for clearing that up doctor. But there are other causes of heart attacks 
are there not?”
“Sure, but they are not relevant to this case.”
“How old was Mrs. Adams?”
“79.”
“She was overweight?”
“Well, she wasn’t substantially-“
“Yes or no, Doctor?” Eugene cut him off.
“Yes.”
“And she was a heavy smoker? Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“So we have a 79 year old woman who was overweight and a heavy smoker and 
you can conclusively say that the defendant caused the heart attack?”
“Under the circumstances, she may have had a heart attack at any time, but it is my 
opinion that the client almost certainly caused it.”
“Almost certain? Not positive now?” He put emphasis on the positive and headed 
to his chair.
“Objection,” Helen exclaimed.
“Withdrawn,” Eugene headed for his seat.

* * *

It was early afternoon and Lucy stood up to leave. Rebecca came out of the 
conference room in time to see her about to walk out the door.
“Lucy are you sure you don’t want me to come with you.”
“I’ll be fine Rebecca, thanks.”
“Well, just relax. You’ll be fine.”
“Thanks.”

As Lucy entered the courthouse, she saw the policeman who had questioned her 
the night before. He approached her.
“We’ll just be asking a few questions, Ms. Hatcher. It won’t take long.”
“Okay.”
She followed him into the courtroom, realizing that this was the first time she had 
actually been inside one. It was strange, considering she had been working at the 
firm for over a year now. The case was called and the Assistant DA called her to 
the stand.
“Ms. Hatcher, can you tell us what you saw last night?”
“Well I entered the supermarket to buy some milk and-“ The DA cut her off.
“The supermarket at 125 Fitzgerald St?”
Yes. I was about to pay for the milk when I saw a man pointing a gun at the 
cashier.”
“Can you see that man here today?”
“He’s sitting over there.” She pointed to the defendant.
“Thank you, please continue.”
“Well he had a gun pointed at her and she was putting money in a bag. When she 
stopped he hit her with the gun really hard across the side of her head. Then he 
took the money and ran away.”
“Thank you Ms. Hatcher.”

As she stepped from the stand the judge announced that he found probable cause.
“The defense asks for bail, Your Honor.”
“We object to that Your Honor. The defendant has a history of drugs and 
violence.”
“No bail. That’s all.”

He stood up and left the room, leaving the bailiffs to handcuff the defendant and 
take him away. The man turned and looked at Lucy.
“You bitch!” He screamed. “Your turn will come!”
The bailiffs dragged him away, leaving the room ringing with his threats. Lucy 
watched him go and suddenly felt someone walk up behind her. She spun around 
to see Jimmy who had arrived just in time to hear the threats.

“Come on,” he said, taking Lucy’s arm and leading her out into the corridor. 
“Don’t worry about him, he’ll be in a jail cell for at least a few months.”
“But he sounded like he meant it.”
“It was just talk. They all say thinks like that.”
“Really?”
“Well, they do on the movies.”
Lucy laughed, feeling better already.

* * *

Lindsay hurried down to Helen’s office hoping to catch her before she was due 
back in court after the recess. She knocked on the door.
“Hey, have you got a minute?”
“Well, not really.”
“I’ll be quick. Do you want to meet this friend of mine? I can arrange a date for 
you.”
“You know I hate blind dates and anyway, you’ve got to stop passing along your 
old boyfriends to me. They’re like hand me downs.”
“Helen! He’s a nice guy.”
“I don’t want your leftovers.”
“Anyway, I’ve never passed along guys I don’t want.”
“What about Bobby? Oh that’s right, you hadn’t finished with him, you were still 
sleeping with him.”
“Helen!”
“Lindsay, no. I can find my own guys.”
“You haven’t had a date in months.”
“Thanks for the reminder Lindsay. Next time I feel depressed I’ll just call you for a 
reality check.”

Helen stood up and left the office, grabbing her briefcase as she walked out the 
door. Lindsay watched her leave silently. Even after knowing Helen for years, she 
still couldn’t totally figure her out.

* * *

Helen called the defendant to the stand, which surprised Bobby as he was 
expecting to call the defendant. Helen must be desperate, he thought. The jury was 
looking refreshed after the recess, but still not interested in the trial.
“Mr. Green, you are a door to door salesman?”
“Yes ma’am,” the defendant drawled.
“What do you sell?”
“Uh, children’s toys.”
“What sort of toys?”
“Well, ma’am, mainly boys toys, like play guns and dress up costumes like 
superman outfits, that sort of thing. Kids love them.”
“Is it a hard job?”
“Well, the most difficult part is getting the people to give me enough time to show 
them what I have. Most just close the door in my face. I mean, I understand that 
they might be busy, but people can be so rude.”
He looked at the jury when he said this and many of them looked away, shame 
faced.
“What do you do to get the customers’ attention?”
“I dress up. It sounds stupid, but my wife made copies of the costumes I sell, so 
that I can advertise what I sell without saying anything. It gives me more time to 
make a sale.”
“Does this work?”
“Yes. I’ve sold more toys than ever before. People really like the costumes and get 
their kids to come to see me. The embarrassment is worth it.”
“What were you wearing the day you visited Mrs. Adams?”
“The army outfit.”
“This army outfit?” Helen held up a bag containing the costume.
“Yep. That’s it all right.”
“You were also carrying a gun, is that right?”
“A toy gun, yes.”
“But it was a gun, wasn’t it?”
“Well, yes. But-
“You answered the question. Mr. Green, what happened when Mrs. Adams 
opened the door?”
“She screamed and kept walking backwards, then she just collapsed.”
“No more questions.”

She sat down. Bobby stood up, much to the delight of the blonde in the back row.

“Is this the gun that you were carrying?”

He held up another bag containing a bright orange water gun. The jury giggled 
causing Helen to glare at them.
“That’s the one, alright.”
“Mr. Green, has this ever happened before?”
“Someone dying?”
“Yes.”
“No, of course not. The people usually laugh at the costumes, especially the 
elderly, they buy toys for their grand children.”

Bobby turned to the judge, “Your Honor, with your permission, I’d like the 
defendant to put on this costume to show the jury exactly what Mrs. Adams saw 
the day that she died.”
The judge glanced at Helen who had no objections and told Mr. Green to put the 
costume on. When the jury saw what he looked like, they giggled again; the 
costume was obviously not intended to be realistic. Helen groaned as she saw 
another case go down the drain. She couldn’t believe the number of cases she had 
lost recently.

After adjourning for the day, Bobby stopped Helen as they were leaving the 
courtroom.
“Drop it,” he said to her. “You have no case.”
“I think I can still make a convincing closing argument. He admitted that he 
frightened her.”
“Helen, you have got to be kidding! This should never have gone to trial.”
“I’m not dropping it, so go write your closing.”
Lindsay saw them standing in the corridor arguing and wondered what was going 
on.
“Hey. How’d it go?” She asked Bobby.
They both turned to look at her.
“Great,” replied Helen.
“I’ve got to go meet Richard. I’ll see you at home okay?”
“Bobby’s not going?”
“No.”
“Well, be sure you don’t feel the urge to sleep with him one last time before you set 
him up with me, that’s what seems to be the pattern.”
“Helen! What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing. Have fun tonight.”

Bobby and Lindsay watched her leave. He looked at Lindsay wondering whether 
he should be worried about this date tonight. She saw the indecision on his face 
and kissed him quickly before hurrying out of the building.

Bobby watched her leave and headed back to the office. He had no other plans for 
the night but to meet Eugene to work on the closing arguments. Lucy was still there 
when he returned. She was sitting at her desk, staring into space. Everybody else 
had gone home for the day, a miracle in itself considering that they were all 
workaholics. Lucy jumped as he opened the door and smiled ruefully at him when 
he entered.
“You should go home, you obviously didn’t get much sleep last night?”
“Well, I don’t really want to go home.”
“You have all our numbers, so you can call us at any time. You know that right?”
“I don’t want to bother you with my irrationalities.”
“You’re not being irrational.”
“I feel so stupid for being scared, Bobby.”
“Hey. Everything will be fine, you’ve just got to trust us to help you.”

Bobby went into his office and Lucy convinced herself that being home would be 
better than being at the office with all the concern that everybody was showing. She 
wasn’t used to other people taking care of her; usually that role was hers. After 
telling Bobby that she was leaving, she hurried home, sticking to well lit streets.

* * *

Lucy unlocked the office door the next morning, not surprised that it was empty. It 
was much too early for even these lawyers to be working. She had just sat down 
when the door opened behind her; both she and Jimmy were startled at each 
other’s presence.
“You stayed here all night?” Jimmy asked concerned.
“No, I just got here. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Well, if you need anything, let me know.”
“Sure. Why are you here so early.”
“I had some work to do. It’s easier to work at this time of the morning.”
“Oh. You’d better get to it, then.”

* * *

A few hours later, court was back in session. Eugene stood up to make his plea to 
the jury to see how ridiculous the DA’s charge was.
“An elderly, overweight woman with a smoking history died of a heart attack and 
they’re accusing an innocent person of killing her. It’s ridiculous.”

Helen stood up and put forward a weak but passionate closing. She realized that 
she had no case, and decided to offer a deal to the defense. 

* * *

The jury had been out for two hours, which gave Helen hope as to a verdict against 
the defendant. Bobby and Eugene had gone back to the office, when the verdict 
came in. They rushed back to hear the sweet sounds of “Not guilty”. The defendant 
cried in happiness and hugged his wife, the blonde juror showed signs of 
approaching Bobby and there was general pandemonium in the courtroom as usual 
after a victory. Helen approached the defendant and shook his hand, something she 
had never done before. She gave him an ambivalent smile, telling him to quit scaring 
potential customers.

* * *

The office was quiet as the lawyers worked silently. The phone had been ringing off 
the hook and Lucy was looking incredibly tired. It rang again and she reached to 
answer it.
“Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt.”
She listened for a few moments then whispered, “Oh my God!” Everybody stared 
at her as she put the phone down.
“That was the police. The guy I saw was killed today in prison. He got into a fight 
with another inmate and hit is head. He just died.”
“You’re kidding!” Ellenor exclaimed.
“No, I guess they don’t need me for the trial anymore.”
“I guess not.”
“It’s not fair, if I come in contact with a criminal they screw with me for months. 
With you, they have the courtesy to die.” Ellenor mused.
Lucy laughed, inside she was not only satisfied that the whole ordeal was over, but 
that she worked with a great group of people who really cared for her. It had been 
a good day.