Title: Lucky Breaks
Author: hardboiledbaby
Fandom: Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout)
Characters: Archie, Saul, Orrie, Fred
Rating: PG
Length: 1,122
Content notes: none
Summary: A game of eight-ball reveals some interesting things. Written to the fan_flashworks "anywhere but here" challenge, and this prompt given to me long, long ago by non_canon: "I would love to see some gen of Archie, Saul, Fred, and Orrie being friends. Bonus points if you work in the idea of them being like a family." Nearly everything I know about pool I learned online, so please pardon any faux pas I've made in that area (or blame Wikipedia *g*).

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"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Orrie said.

I glanced up at him, my concentration thrown off for a second, but didn't say anything. I re-focused, drew my arm back and took my shot.

It was a good break, and I grinned when the six ball found its way to a corner pocket. "Looks like I've got the solids," I said.

As I circled around the pool table, planning my next move, Orrie said, "Well?"

I knew he wasn't asking because he really wanted to know the answer. He did it, partly because he liked to hear himself talk, but mostly because he wanted to distract me.

Not that that tactic was going to work. I ignored him and sank a few more balls.

I don't want to make this sound as if it was a serious game or anything. We—Saul, Orrie, Fred, and I—were just unwinding after a case. An easy one, as such things go: not particularly dangerous for us or difficult for Wolfe, just several long days and nights of surveillance on multiple suspects, until we were finally able to put the finger on our client's brother-in-law and office manager as the embezzler.

Like I said, an easy one, but the client, one Edwin Marsh, was very pleased (he hated his brother-in-law) and had paid his fee immediately and without a murmur. In turn, this made Wolfe very pleased, so much so that he said "Satisfactory" to all of us. As you might imagine, that made us pretty pleased too.

Anyway, the case was closed, dinner was over, and we were just relaxing in the basement of the brownstone. Thing is, Orrie gets competitive with me, even if it's just for fun. I don't think he can help himself. He wants my job, not that he'd ever get it or even be capable of doing it. It's pretty silly, and I try not to let it get to me. Sometimes it does, I admit, but I do try.

But a game of pool? Well, a little friendly rivalry there can't hurt.

I put some english on the cue ball and dropped another one.

"Well, what?" Saul asked. He was leaning against the wall, out of the way. I winked at him as I walked pass. He knew what Orrie was doing too.

Orrie let out an impatient sigh. "I said, if you could go anywhere, be anywhere but here, where would you go? I mean, there's more to the world than New York City, you know." He swept his arm dramatically. I couldn't help but see that out of the corner of my eye. "Me, I'd find a tropical island with pretty native girls, like Gauguin."

I had a powerful urge to point out to him that Gauguin died young, sick, and broke, but I manfully repressed it.

"Fannie's always wanted to see the Grand Canyon," Fred said. He was sitting by the door with his chair tilted back. "I figured it was just a hole in the ground. A big hole, maybe, but still, just a hole. But Fannie, she says it's a natural wonder and that everyone should see it at least once in their lives."

"Yeah, but that's Fannie. What's your choice, Fred?" Orrie pressed.

Fred waited while I lined up my next shot. After the ball disappeared into the pocket, he replied, "Anywhere? Oh... Ireland, I guess."

I was a little surprised at that. "Really?" I asked as I chalked my cue.

"Sure. I'd like to see where my granddad was born. Where my roots are. I've got some family there too, distant cousins. Would be kind of nice to meet them."

"How about you, Saul?" Orrie asked.

"Europe."

When he didn't elaborate, Orrie protested, "Aw, c'mon. That's not an answer. Europe's a big place." More arm sweeping. I rolled my eyes, making sure he saw me doing it.

"It sure is. London, Florence, Venice, Paris—" Saul shrugged. "I want to see all of it."

"Saul is a Renaissance man, with the soul of an artist," I declared. I meant it, too.

The angles were getting tougher to make now, but I was in stroke and I knew I couldn't miss. With a satisfying crack, the last of my suit went down.

"Jeez, Archie," Orrie said plaintively. "Aren't you even going to give me a fighting chance?"

"Not if I can help it," I said feelingly.

"Looks like Archie is going to run the table," Saul said, stepping closer. Fred got up to watch as well.

All I had left to do was sink the eight ball, but one striped orange ball stood in the way.

"Maybe not," Orrie said hopefully. "Unlucky thirteen."

I tapped the side pocket with my cue, calling my shot.

"It's better to be lucky than good," I said. "And when you're both, well...."

I banked the cue ball against the far rail. It rebounded, pretty as you please, and kissed the eight ball straight into the pocket.




We played a few more games, then decided to pack it in early. I, for one, had a lot of sleep to catch up on, having had less than my requisite eight hours for several nights running. Fred and Orrie had just left, and Saul was pulling on his ratty old overcoat.

"By the way, you never did answer Orrie's question, Archie," he said quietly.

"Didn't I?"

He just looked at me and waited.

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

Orrie was right: there is more to the world than this patch of concrete and steel that we lived and worked in. It's not that there weren't other places I wanted to visit, other things I wanted to see. But I'd already seen some of that world, war-torn and bloodied, and I wasn't all that keen on going back. Not yet, at least. And I sure wasn't interested in some remote island, pretty natives or no.

As for my roots…. I thought about Ohio. I'd left for a reason—more than one, actually, but that's neither here nor there—but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any fond memories of the place and the people. They were my family, after all.

But I had a family here, now. Saul, Fred, Orrie, Fritz, and even Theodore. Plus, of course, the man upstairs. Two floors above me, to be exact. A natural wonder in his own right.

You know that old saw about home being where the heart is? There might just be something to that.

Before I could try again, Saul shook his head and smiled. "Never mind. I think I just got my answer."

I simply nodded and opened the door. "G'night, Saul."

"'Night, Archie."