So, you may have asked yourself, how to write a novella-length story (Two Roads is about 2/3 as long as Name of The Game) in just under a month?
Steal, steal, steal.
Not that absconding with scenes I'd already written from Name of the Game or were already written and acted on the Law & Order/Homicide: Life On The Streets crossover made it all that much easier to piece things together, but at least I had a little guidance. Most of the time I'll start one of these stories with a plot in mind; this time all I had was a romance request to develop.
I'm guessing there'll be a lot of McCoy fans out there shaking their heads, saying "well, this isn't what we meant, you know." Already I've had asked (jokingly, of course) "Why are you so mean to Jack McCoy?" And the answer is, of course, because I can be. But beyond that...anyone who wants to write this kind of a story and keep it on any sort of realistic plane (and I realize that's not a requirement for everyone) has to acknowledge that the characters of Claire Kincaid and Jack McCoy were just simply not meant to bond. The writers of the show knew it. And though they teased us every minute about were they or weren't they -- I don't think any of us were actually fooled that McCoy and Kincaid were exactly the Bogie and Bacall of their day. Theirs was a relationship of leers and innuendo, not flowers and hugs. No reason was ever given on the program for it to begin, and when it ended, or when we think it ended -- just then Kincaid was mown down by a driver. As far back as the crossover we all know Kincaid was a free spirit, though we never knew quite how free -- so how much of a deep, abiding relationship could it have been? And then...even if you want to forget anything the show ever alluded to, you'd have to infer a lot more than I do to get them together as personalities. So anyone still clucking their tongues and shaking their heads...well, you tell me how it could have been different. I don't see it.
Ach, so here I am, defending the prose, which shouldn't be done, or shouldn't have to be done. But I wanted to make the stipulation that this was hard to do and if I was to believe in the relationship I was writing it had to be highly qualified. I'm glad I did it; getting under McCoy's skin finally made me see him more sympathetically -- not unlike the revelation Claire has in Adam's office towards the end -- and that's a good thing, I think. It was also fun to see what Claire's life was like during the scenes from "Name of the Game" -- her perspective gives more dimensionality to characters I'd only thus far portrayed as sympathetic. Or, at least, I think so.
But, as usual, I'm likely to be wrong. Write and tell me so, or just write and tell me your mind was changed. I never thought I'd get past that first kiss scene outside Kincaid's apartment (I was literally removing my hands from the keyboard and muttering "No! No!" But then...it had to be done) and this is the first one of these I've done where Logan only makes a cameo appearance. Not to even mention the introduction of Rey Curtis! I'm already putting up the vegetable shields to avoid getting pelted. One really fun thing, though, was filling in the gaps of what we didn't see of the crossover eps. If you have them on tape...watch again. I did, as diligently as I could...and found it odd that on such a major bunch of charges as Egan had that the jury would return on the same day with a verdict. But look closely: the jury and Claire and Jack all have the same clothes on for both the summation and verdict scenes. Never know what you might learn when you're looking....
Finally, I wanted to credit some of the music that inspired not only the title of the short novel but some of the chapter headings. Chris Rea's "Two Roads" (lyrics below) inspired the title, not only because of the lawyers reference, but because of the meaning in the song. I think it says it all. The other music: a friend, Jules Verdone wrote an adorable tune called "Baltimore Or Less" which I think at some point has to be used on H:LOTS -- she says she knows the guy who schedules the music there, so who knows... "This Charming Man" was a Smiths tune...and the song Bayliss croons to Kincaid comes from another cute adorable song called "Sick Day" by a great band known as Fountains of Wayne. There, I've acknowledged as many as I can think of for right now... And thanks, Alexis and Fall, for getting me started on this.
 

-- Kitt
 
 

January 1997

"Two Roads"
By Chris Rea

Ain't it funny how
You never can tell
It always seems to hit you
When it's going so well
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Now it's lawyers-at-midnight
And the learning begins...

Let's take a walk outside
In the morning sun
There ain't no working out
No battles to be won
Oh darling, take a look at you and me
We both love our freedom
And we'll always be
Two roads

You can wait a lifetime for the hammer to fall
Some folks get lucky
They don't see it at all
We were bound to drift away
From the very first day one
Two different journeys
And neither was wrong

Let's take a walk outside
In the morning sun
There ain't no working out
No battles to be won
Oh darling, take a look at you and me
We both love our freedom
And we'll always be
Two roads

Two different lifetimes we just happened to meet
Traded some good times on the corner of the street
We were no more than strangers
Attracted to one and the same
Sense of freedom
But we'd always be on
Two roads