~ Danielle ~
Jon popped into her office first thing on Monday morning, looking well rested and refreshed. “Greetings, Danielle. My family sends you their warmest regards and gratitude for lending us the use of your beach house. My little ones have never had so much fun in their lives.”
Gesturing him into her office, she stated excitedly. “Tell me all about their adventures.”
My oldest is ten. She loves being in the water, and we could barely get her out of the ocean long enough to have meals. My middle child is only six. She is afraid of the waves but seems intent on clearing the entire beach of sea shells. My mate loves spending time on the beach. We bought a hovering cradle for our infant, and it has shade with environmental controls. My family has never been happier.”
“That does my heart good to hear. Knowing your little ones are happy, must making coming to work less of a hardship.”
“It certainly does. I used to worry about them being at the resettlement annex with so little to occupy their time. For now, I’m interested to hear about our new project related to Kalian reproductive rights. I’ve been thinking about over the weekend and feel this is area I could really sink my teeth into.”
“Have you given any thought to sitting for the bar exam?”
“I downloaded the study packet over the weekend. I started reading through the practice questions and found I knew most of the answers.”
“Don’t worry, I can fill you in on what to expect regarding questions they normally ask. They’re heavy on criminal law. It favors us and makes it more difficult for corporate attorneys.”
“I noticed that. It left me feeling encouraged.”
“How about we play a little game? I’ll text you questions off and on throughout the day, and you try to answer them without looking them up.”
If you pass the bar exam on your first try, I’ll guarantee you two extra weeks of paid leave time.”
“That’s very generous of you.”
Shooting him a grin, she explained. “Not really, the firm is giving that to anyone who passes the exam. It’s still a pretty good deal though.”
“Yes, it is. I would appreciate any assistance you could give me in getting ready for the exam. The next one is in less than two weeks.”
“You get three shots before you have to sit it out for a year. Taking it right away will at least let you know if you are close to mastering the information.”
“As your Sherlock would say, the game is on.”
Though that wasn’t quite the saying, Danielle let it pass. She wasn’t wasting any time on cultural issues right now.
“Great, now for our new project. I’m sure you are aware that nesting has not yet been approved in all states. It is illegal in this state, for instance.”
“Yes, that fact weighed heavily in our decision to accept this transfer. We have nested all our young, as it was perfectly legal in our home state. I don’t think I could ask my mate to carry a child to full term. She is small and delicate. I would worry for her safety.”
“She would be fine. We’ve been having babies the old-fashioned way on Earth for thousands of years, and Kalian biology is much more robust than that of humans.”
Staring at him she nodded. It took him a moment to understand that she was giving him an opportunity to rebut the traditional argument against nesting.
Smiling, he got with the program. “That may be. However the new international treaty on alien rights says we have the right to continue our language and cultural practices as long as no one is physically or emotionally harmed.”
“Well, we don’t fully understand how these contraptions operate, so we can’t guarantee they are safe for the unborn children.”
Without batting an eye, Jon countered politely. “With all due respect, it is immaterial if humans understand how nesting works because Kalian males are vested with the responsibility of creating a family nest, and we are well versed in their creation and maintenance.”
Clapping her hand excitedly, Danielle explained. “That was absolutely perfect, Jon. I’ve come up with a basic plan for litigating all the possible arguments against nesting. You and I will spend the next couple of weeks fleshing out the details and then we need to find families who are being negatively impacted by the law and offer to litigate for them as a public service.”
“I do not think your firm will appreciate us working for free.”
“They will not only allow it, but they’ll give us a big fat bonus if they’re smart. Think of all the goodwill this will generate for our firm in the alien community, not to mention all the extra business it will bring once people realize we’re the experts in litigating alien rights.”
“It is much better than my brethren paying their hard-earned cash for services from our firm than the many who are barely knowledgeable enough to understand the issues.”
“Agreed.”
“Where do we start?”
They spent day after long day working out all the details of litigating prohibitions related to nesting.
*****
Three weeks later, at the general partners meeting, the issue came up of promotions. It was brought to their attention by HR, that two of the Kalian had recently sat for and passed the bar exam. It was naturally Jon and Jem. She bowed out of the vote, explaining that she was the one who suggested they both sit for the exam and apply for partnership. She stated she knew them both personally and could not be relied upon to be impartial in her vote.
The four remaining partners reviewed their test scores and debated the qualifications of each. Danielle asked to speak and said, “As Janice is going on extended maternity leave in a few weeks we will have two slots open. I suggest we give them both a trial run and keep whoever is the better performer.”
Janice looked her slyly, but Danielle did not blink. The partners agreed, and contingent offers were extended to both of them. Danielle knew that Janice was going on maternity leave and strongly considering taking a few years off. They both knew this would poise the remaining Kalian for her position if his performance were strong.
Danielle was in her office working on a critical case when Jem came in with his HR letter. He waved it in the air in front of her and asked, “So how about reward dinner?”
She laughed, “I think you mean a celebration dinner. I would love to celebrate with you. When and where?”
“How about tonight? I have a friend, I would like you to meet. She is a fabulous cook. Maybe we could go to her place.”
Danielle immediately agreed. Being around others would ensure no more hands on at least.
“I will leave the office at five this evening. Will you come with me?”
She nodded and shooed him away. It felt like an hour had passed, and suddenly Jem was back. It had actually been four hours. She stood up, grabbed her coat and followed him out.
They bumped into one of the senior partners, Markus on the way out and Danielle slid her hand into Jem’s.
Markus immediately asked, “So where are the two of you off to this evening.”
Jem said nothing and Danielle replied, “Dinner and it is a good thing because I didn’t even stop for lunch.”
She watched the understanding click across Marcus’ face. “I see now why you recused yourself from the vote. That would have been a conflict of interest.”
She smiled at the older man. “I have good ethics because I was taught by the best.”
The answer must have tickled him because he dropped a quick kiss her on the forehead.
Danielle and Jem chatted about cases as he drove her to dinner. She congratulated him on his promotion.
“I had strong motivation to pass the exam. That coupled with the inside scoop on the firm wanting to hire a Kalian partner, put me in a good position. I have spent every spare moment studying for the exam for the last several months, and I am pleased it paid off.”
She couldn’t agree more. “You defiantly deserve a promotion. You’re one of the hardest working individuals at our firm. You’ve somehow convinced your supervisor the Earth will stop turning if you don’t show up for work one day.”
Snorting a laugh, he replied sincerely, “You misunderstand Danielle. The promotion is nice, but the reward for me is getting a date with you.”
Danielle looked at him ruefully. “You are a bit of a smooth talker. I’ll just bet you have all the women at your feet.”
Rolling his eyes like a human, he responded playfully. “I wish that were the case. Unfortunately, I have to work very hard for the few opportunities I get with pretty women.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute.” Danielle was surprised that he pulled up to her beach house. “I didn’t know you were friends with Jon and his wife.”
“Actually, I have known Jon for years.” He reached behind her seat and pulled out a magnum of wine in a colorful bag. That was her first clue that both men were celebrating tonight.
The door flung opened just as they were walking up and Jon greeted them with a huge smile on his face. Danielle gave him a small hug. “Congratulations are in order for your promotion. I just knew they’d snap up the best administrative assistant I ever had. I’m going to ask if we can continue to partner on our special project.”
“That was a major life goal for me. Thank you for your kind encouragement. I would love to work side by side with you on such an important case.”
He ushered them in and introduced her to his wife. His Kalian wife was small, delicate, and quite beautiful. She had fair skin, light hair, and large gray eyes. Jem opened the wine and poured it into large glasses. Jon had a small baby, a child that looked about five or six and another that looked about ten. His girls were all really sweet. Jem reached into the bottom of the wine bag, pulled out party blowers and gave one to each child.
Jon’s wife looked at him disapprovingly. “Jem, you always bring the noisiest, and inappropriate gifts for the girls.”
Jon smiled, kissed her on the forehead. “Oh, let them be. They always have so much fun with the toys that make noise.”
Jem mimicked Jon, “Yes, do let them be. This is a celebration after all.”
When they sat down to dinner the subject of the promotions came up. Jem mentioned that Danielle had apparently recused herself from the vote. Both men looked at her curiously.
Danielle explained diplomatically, “Ethically a partner is not supposed to vote on any issue if they cannot remain impartial. Naturally, I could not do that with Jon because of our close working relationship over the last few months. Neither could I do that with Jem because I had an interest in seeing him outside of work. Besides, I knew they were already going to vote one of you in.”
Jon ran his hands over the napkin folded in his lap. “I heard from Edward that you made the suggestion to hire us both and keep whichever one of us exhibited the best performance.”
Danielle took a quick drink of her wine. “You don’t miss much do you, my friend? The reason I made that suggestion is because Janice is a close friend of mine. I am aware, she had all but decided that she is not coming back after her maternity leave. What that means is if you both perform well, they’ll probably keep you both on. It falls in the, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it category.”
The men looked at each other. Jon was the first to speak. “That was pretty clever. How is your interference not a conflict of interest?”
“It isn’t a conflict because I admitted to having a personal relationship with both of you, and then advised them that I could not remain impartial. I did my part by making that very clear. That should have been the cue for them to stop listening to me. If they didn’t, that’s on them. They considered my suggestion and voted their conscience. Besides, what does it matter? Both of you had some of the highest scores our firm has ever seen on the bar exam. In all probability, they would have hired you if you just walked in off the street with those scores.”
Both men seemed pensive for a brief moment. Danielle reached over and cut meat for the younger child who seemed to be struggling. Jon’s wife thanked her, as she fed the baby with a bottle.
Once that awkwardness was over, they continued to speak casually about office politics and current events. Danielle liked spending time with Jon and his family. They were nice and easy going
Danielle kind liked Jem’s style. He always wore a dark human style suit. His beautiful gray eyes and short modern hairstyle gave him a very pulled together appearance. For some reason, he wore glasses. Though he seemed very reserved from a distance, once she got to know him a little better, she realized he was polite, inquisitive, and extremely conversational. He was perhaps the most attractive male she had ever met. She loved his facial features. He had little ridges that ran along the top of his ears as did all Kalian. She could tell immediately upon meeting Jon’s wife that she was directly related to Jem…probably his sister.
As they wrapped up the meal, he stood and held out his hand. “Would you like to go for a walk on the beach?”
“I’m always up for feeling the sand between my toes.”
As they walked out together, he murmured. “I was hoping that spending time with me was the big selling point.”
“I have to admit, that’s pretty irresistible as well.” The night was beautiful. It was cool, but a soft wind was blowing in from the ocean. Jem grabbed her and sat down pulling her into his lap.
He kissed her on the neck and whispered. “Thank you for coming to dinner with me Danielle. I have been looking forward to seeing you again.” His lips moved to hers, and he pulled her closer into his lap. She ran her hands up and down his strong muscular chest as he kissed her. “I’ve been dying to get my hands on you.”
“I’ve been secretly hoping you would.”
Running a finger over down the soft skin of her neck, he stated seductively. “You know my test scores would have been higher if I had not kept getting distracted by researching human mating customs. I had to really discipline myself to learn all the information I didn’t care about to get to practice the information that I cared a lot about.”
Danielle slowly unbuttoned his shirt. “Poor baby, how oh how will I ever make that up to you?”
Smiling down at her, he responded breathlessly. “Well, you are off to a running start.” Feeling him getting hard beneath her, she pressed him back into the sand and leisurely dropped kisses on his neck and chest as she ran her hands over the outside of his pants. His bulge felt good, and she was thrilled that being in his arms provoked such a response. She felt herself getting aroused, as his hands skimmed over the outside of her clothing.
Suddenly Jon was calling for them. His voice sounded panicked. Pulling Danielle to her feet, he began dragging her towards the house. Jon whispered quietly. “Jem, something is wrong. You have to look at the nest.”
Danielle saw Jem respond almost immediately. He rushed to a back room, and Danielle moved to follow him. Jon’s wife grabbed her arm. The look on the woman’s face told her that she was not welcome to see whatever was going on back there.
Murmuring an apology, Danielle paced back and forth for a bit, before forcing herself to sit on the sofa beside Jon’s wife. They waited patiently, while the girls played quietly in the corner.
Finally, Danielle couldn’t stand the suspense. “Does your husband have a nest in the house?”
The woman replied sincerely. “No, my husband does not.”
Danielle felt the color drain from her face. “It’s Jem, isn’t it? He’s the one with the nest?”
The woman looked away, and that confirmed to Danielle that was the case. Danielle pointed out, “You know that nesting is not sanctioned by the medical community nor is it allowed by law.”
“You will have to speak to my brother about his choices.”
“Sorry, I’m not trying to be judgmental. I’m just really worried about the child. I don’t want the authorities to wreck a perfectly good nest.”
As soon as Jem came out, she could see by the relief on his face that everything was fine. One glance in her direction told him that she was concerned. “False alarm, everything is fine.”
Danielle took him by the arm and forcibly sat him down on the sofa. She looked at him sternly and said, “What do you think you are doing. If you are found with an operational nest, the authorities will confiscate it no matter if there is a child in it or not. You had better be taking precautions. They can’t find it.”
He looked at her for a long hard moment before speaking harshly. “What kind of precautions would you suggest? Trust me there are none afforded to my kind.”
“How many people know you have that here?”
“No one but the three of us and now you.”
“Thank God. You will tell no one about this. I mean absolutely no one. Do you understand?”
He responded irritably. “We are Kalian, not stupid.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate you were anything other than conscientious. I’m just freaking out because this is not the state to be trying to nest a child in.”
“The promise of a good job lured me here when I would not have chanced it otherwise.”
“I understand. We need to begin thinking about legal remedies for this situation.”
Shooting her a look filled with dread, he asked cautiously. “What are you thinking?”
“You have to know that this is an unnecessary risk for your child. We need to hire a team of private physicians and scientists to research the viability of nesting. We need hard evidence to back up what we already know which is that it is safe for the fetus. We need to press the alien rights issue, or else everyone will get used to thinking of nesting as something strange and abnormal rather than a personal choice that is perfectly normal.”
Jem responded. “Look I think what you are saying is correct, and it’s very noble of you to want to fight for alien rights, but I have the safety of my child to think of. I cannot afford to run the risk of my nest being seized or me being jailed over this.”
Danielle responded immediately, “You’re right. If the authorities are not aware, it would be foolish to draw their attention. They are too unpredictable. Whoever presses this issue will certainly end up in jail.”
Jon explained. “Danielle and I have been working on an airtight legal defense for nesting. We need someone brave enough to risk everything to litigate this to its eventual end. We are almost certain to win, but it will get messy in the interim.”
Jem crossed his arms over his chest. “Might I suggest that you simply approach the next person who is arrested and offer to take their case?”
Danielle nodded, “That’s the only viable course of action. It has the advantage of us not placing anyone intentionally in harm’s way. We would be stepping in to offer assistance to someone who is already in trouble.”
Jon spoke up. “I agree with Jem. That would be a much better option.”
His wife interjected quietly. “Have you seen the news stream this evening? State law enforcement decided to make multiple high-profile raids on males suspected of nesting. They have arrested twelve so far and expect more arrests in the coming days.”
Danielle looked at Jem. “Are you interested in a piece of the action on this case?”
“You better believe it, beautiful.”
”None of that until the case is over. We need all our focus to be on building and winning this case.”
“I have a friend who ended up with a large PR firm. I think we can rely on him to work discretely on this issue and come up with some viable plans.”
“That would be fantastic.”
“I will work through the night to get the paperwork ready to file an injunction against anyone touching the nests.”
Jon looked up from scanning the news feed. “I suspect it that piece will turn out to be the easy part. There is already some controversy about who will be held responsible for damage and death of the fetus if anything goes wrong during the move.”
“File your injunction in the twenty-ninth district court. Judge Sanders has a reputation for being sensitive to alien rights issues.” Danielle said.
“I will do as you say.”
“Jon and I will meet with the partners first thing in the morning and ask for their support. This case will put our firm directly in the spotlight on the issue of alien rights, which was exactly where they want to be. I’d be surprised if we got any pushback from them at all.”