Musings of A District Attorney
Arthur Branch was many things. A Texan. A Republican. A Conservative. He believed in God and the Bible. He believed in the American Flag and apple pie. But most of all he believed in the law. But he wasn't naive enough to believe the law lived in a vacuum. He knew there was politics and religion there as well, and he knew how to play both games. And he played them well.
He was a Republican in a city full of Democrats. A Conservative in a city full of Liberals. And yet he continued to be re-elected to the coveted spot of District Attorney. He continued to win, because he knew how to make friends on both sides of the great divide. He knew how to keep his personal believes out of the courtroom. And most of all, he knew how to read people.
Even the people who spent their whole lives learning how not to be read.
Lesbians for instant.
Arthur Branch loved lesbians, and not in the red blooded American male way. (Well not completely anyway.) He simply had a fondness from them. He hired enough of them.
Really, it was a sheer force of luck and political haggling that no one had realized how many lesbians were on his staff.
The number of lawyers alone was staggering.
There had been Alex. (God rest her soul). She had been one of his favorites. She had enough political savvy and connections to go anywhere. Everyone expected her to go far. No one ever expected her to get shot down in the street. Arthur had been rather surprised when he had heard from the rumor mill that Alex was dating Olivia Benson. Not that he didn't blame her, Detective Benson was an interesting woman, it was just that Alex had been one of the few to sneak under his gaydar.
He had seen Serena Southerlyn coming a mile away. She had screamed "woman lover". Well not really screamed. She just made no pretense otherwise, to anyone who cared to look. Like Alex, she had a great deal of potential. Arthur had hated firing her. And it had nothing to do with her sexual orientation. She just got way to close to the cases. It would eventually destroy her. And Arthur didn't want to see that.
Then there was Tracey Kibre. She was an amazing gifted lawyer. Heck she was nearly as good as he was (not that he'd ever tell her that.) She was also a card caring member of the lesbian party. Like Serena, she made no pretense otherwise. However not too many people knew she had a crush on her partner Kelly Gaffney. As for Kelley's feelings he had no clue. If there was something going on between them, he didn't mind. As long as it stayed out of the courtroom.
And finally there was Casey Novak. Casey had snuck under a lot of radars in her life. No one saw her coming. People underestimated her. That was one of the things Arthur liked most about the woman. That and her fashion sense. It really was fun to watch. She so reminded him of his dearly departed Aunt Georgia.
Like his Aunt, Casey lacked a definite fashion sense, but also like his aunt, she had a good heart and a wicked sense of humor. She was under estimated and used that to her advantage. No one ever saw Casey Novak coming.
And she surprised the Hell out of you when she got there.
Well everyone but Arthur Branch.
And it also didn't surprise Arthur when he spotted Olivia and Casey together one night. There was no doubting what he saw.
Not that it mattered to him.
He didn't really mind.
It wasn't like Casey was the first lesbian lawyer on his team.
And she wouldn't be the last.
Because Arthur Branch like lesbians.