Ninjago - One-shots and short Stories

Long Way Down (Part 3) // Jaya (AU)

Long Way Down / Part 3

On Monday morning, I struggle to get out of bed – not that this was anything out of the ordinary – for Skylor and I have stayed out far longer last night than we should have. While we see each other (almost) every Friday evening and exchange way more messages than my boss would approve of, we haven't really had a BFF's night out in quite a while.

Of course, my annoying best friend wanted to know everything about my cute-and-actually-not-as-annoying-as-I-used-to-think colleague. And I discovered that I was more than happy to tell her.

A great ending to a great weekend.

I'm really glad I decided to go see my parents. I hadn't realised just how much I'd missed them.

And, having had some time to kill during the bus rides, I even got to finish my assignment ahead of schedule and send it to Mr Ronin.

He's one of the senior partners as well as supervisor of the firm's associate attorneys. And he likes to call me 'Sweetheart'.

Other than that, he's a pretty good mentor though. He takes a lot of his time to revise court files with us and perform mock trials. I've really learned a lot over the last few months, and now he's tasked us first years with writing our own strategy for an actual pro bono case.

We represent the family of a little boy who was injured in a traffic accident. Luckily, the kid is alright now, but he had to spend several weeks in hospital and undergo a couple of surgeries after getting hit by a car.

It was fairly straightforward. There is absolutely no doubt about whose fault it was – the car was going 60 in a 30 zone – but some people would rather pay a top lawyer than admit to that (and probably lose their driving licence). But I'm not going to let him get away with it. We'll make sure Li'l Nelson is not only going to get his hospital bills paid, but that there will also be a new bike and a nice college fund for him in it as well.

When I arrive at the firm, I am not surprised to find the associates' shared office empty – whenever I get up a few minutes late, I tend to rush through my morning routine so much that I usually end up early for work. And, don't tell Jay, but I've put off using the stairs until tomorrow.

Yet, I apparently still wasn't the first one in. A lovely little bouquet of sunflowers and gerbera daisies from Bolobo's Flower Shop is sitting on my desk, together with a little note.

"If your dates don't give you flowers, you'll just get them from a friend and non-date. But even a know-it-all doesn't know everything, so I simply had to take a guess and hope that you like these. J"

I smile as I look around. Indeed, his brown leather jacket is already hanging over his, but Jay himself is nowhere to be seen. And that doesn't change for most of the morning. He doesn't turn up to our meeting with Mr Ronin either, which means we get through the agenda a lot faster than expected.

"Now, time to get back to making money, everyone." Mr Ronin closes the meeting. "For the first years, please remember to send me your file by the end of today, if you haven't done so already."

He then looks at me. "Nya, I had a quick look at your strategy. Excellent work. Just a few very minor formal errors that I would like to go over with you. Are you free to meet me-" He quickly checks his diary on the phone. "-at 2 this afternoon?"

"S-sure." I squeak, equally surprised and delighted over the rare praise from the grumpy partner. But, of course, the damper follows suit.

"And Sweetheart, when you come see me in my office, bring me a coffee, will you?"