brightknightie | FK Fanfic: "What It's Like"

I wrote "What It's Like" during one of those phases when I identified very strongly with Nick. Given that, I'm not sure why it's from Natalie's perspective, but there it is, in that delightful canonical gap between the flashbacks of "Only the Lonely" and the present of "Dark Knight."

This little story winds up with an origin for Natalie and Nick's "movie nights," as seen on screen only in "False Witness," but famed in fanfic through every faction and fad.

•	Title:	"What It's Like"
•	Length:	~2,400 words
•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L on May 3, 2003
•	Rating:	PG-13
•	Summary:	Natalie attempts to understand Nick's struggle, as he grapples with his third shift as a homicide detective.
•	Setting:	1991 Toronto
•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick
•	Quotation:	"That's exactly the kind of thing I need to know, if we're going to cure your condition, not just treat its symptoms. And that is our mission statement, isn't it? Find a cure?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wow. I hadn't read this one before, and...wow. So spot-on. Nick's moodiness that is so familiar to us, but which she's still learning to negotiate. Pieces falling into place, and the conscious recognition of what he's lacking, and how easily she moves into the role of filling it because she was already on the way without recognizing it as such. I can absolutely clearly hear him on that last "it's not safe" line, and the descriptions of expressions and tics are crystalline. Love this a LOT.

Oh, thank you! What a wonderfully enthusiastic and thorough comment! Thank you for reading "What It's Like," and thank you for letting me know you did.

When I started the story, I didn't know it was going to end up as the first movie night (watching "A New Hope," no less). I knew Nick was at his limits, that Natalie would insist on understanding, and he was going to let himself tell her (as brave a move, on his side, I think, as staying on hers). Of course the action is very like that "Dark Knight" scene ("Who cares how I did it?"/"You do!"), but as Natalie was not surprised there (merely exasperated), I speculated that it had occurred before.

As soon as they talked it through, Natalie wasn't about to just leave him in any of her capacities -- coworker, doctor, friend -- and the movie-night trope raised its hand and waved.

Again, thank you so much for reading!

FK Fanfic: "What It's Like"

Movie time!

Re: Movie time!