The Decline and Fall of the Murphy Case

The Decline and Fall of the Murphy Case
Author	Brightknightie
Date	28 May 2017
Where posted	AO3
Rating/Warning	G
Genres	ficathons, humour
Format	short story
Archive Location

Story Recap

The squad gets together outside the precinct for a change. Schanke is riding high, Nick takes a wrong turn, Stonetree enjoys the lowest form of humor, and Norma knows something the others don't.

Notes

Written as a gift for LastScorpion in FK Fic Fest 2017 (released 30 May). The story was beta'd by sholio. Length: 2244 words.

Written to the prompts: “Shanke (wildcard) “Hold my beer and watch this!” & Stonetree (gen) “Who are you going to believe: me, or your own eyes?””

Quotes

Schanke had come to the restaurant straight from a marathon confab with the Crown Prosecutor. After months of shoe leather and paperwork, they’d tied up the Murphy mess in a neat bow of red tape. The bad guys were going down. The good guys had handed the press office a primo package. Yes, all was right in this best of all possible bar & grill joints, as the homicide squad came together for its quarterly mandatory fun (teamwork facilitation exercise, if Internal Affairs asks).

Author's Notes

• This story is set during the 18-month hiatus between seasons one and two.
• Pinball history trivia. Originating as lawn-bowling brought indoors, tabletop games recognizable as pinball machines go back to the France of Louis XIV. Check out this photo of a 1750-1770 game. Pinball as we know it reached its height in the early 1970s, after solid-state electronics and before video games.

Comments

OMG this is awesome! I'm all asquee!

So many terrific lines! (Starting with the title!)

Jake’s of Scarborough (garlic fries our specialty!) (no shoes, no shirt, no service) shared a parking lot with a laundromat and a martial arts whatchamacallit— dojo, that’s right. So Schanke! Love it!

And Poor Schanke, in the middle! I loved how you did his character, all the way through!

(I fail to believe Nick did that bar trick in his youth! Did they even have glass then?)

LOL out of order Nick

The whole pinball part was awesome

And Yay! for Nick & Stonetree really valuing Schanke, like they should, at the end!

Such a wonderful fic! I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you so much for writing it!

— comment by LastScorpion on AO3

• "This is hilarious, and so very much in character. I particularly liked how, after all Schanke's internal lamentations, Nick remembers to congratulate him on the Murphy case. The two men seem so different, yet—vampirism aside—understand each other so well. Lovely, too, to see Stonetree and Norma." — excerpted from comment by greerwatson on AO3

• "This was a fun read! I love the easy comraderie depicted here on an evening out. The description of how Schanke's high hopes of fame crumble is spot-on." — excerpted from comment by PJ1228 on AO3

• "This was such a satisfying read. I love to see ensemble pieces that focus on character dynamics." — excerpted from comment by Merfilly on AO3