"Mr. Specter, I must apologize, there is a strange young woman who somehow got past me and is currently sitting in your office. She refuses to leave, said she was an old friend of yours, which I find hard to believe seeing she is almost half your age. I've called security, they are on their way," Harvey's secretary said by means of greeting when she met him and Mike by the elevators.
"She got the slip on you?" Harvey looked at Gretchen with a skeptical cocked brow, amused. "You getting soft or something?"
"She's some crafty little bitch, I tell you, and what more she has a mouth to match it," she replied clicking her tongue, clearly displeased.
"Woah Gretchen, who's got the dirty mouth now?" Mike commented surprised by the secretary's cussing, though not entirely able to stop himself from laughing.
"Boy, you do not want to get on my bad side too today. The only reason I didn't physically drag her out of that room was so to keep her contained. She kept talking about your favorite 'undies', gray mid-rise briefs – black waistband, custom made, so I knew she wasn't lying when she said she knew you."
"How do you know what I'm wearing down there?" Harvey said more than slightly indignant. He had the feeling he should be concerned about his secretary's competency.
"You should be more worried about how she knows," Gretchen simply replied. "And by the way, when I left to get you she was currently searching between your records for your 'office porn stash'."
"Okay, who the hell is in Harvey's office and can I invite her to the firm's Christmas party?" Mike said excited to round the corner to see who's waiting behind the glass doors.
A fairly pretty young woman was lazily leaning back on Harvey's desk chair, black boots up on the table, picking her finger playfully with a letter opener in form of a silver dagger. Her dark silky hair was put back into a messy bun, she wore a creamy white lanky top and a tight leather jacket on top of it. Piercing brown eyes turned toward the crowd entering and immediately a smirk graced her lips upon seeing them.
Harvey was about to demand to goddamn know who the girl was and give her a piece of mind about putting her shoes on his desk when he open-mouthed stopped abruptly and turned around.
"Half my age, Gretchen, really? She must be, what, thirty-two? How old do you think I am?"
"She is clearly younger than thirty, Harvey," Mike interjected.
"Clearly," Gretchen agreed. "What, twenty-six, twenty-seven?"
"Yeah, but she has one of these faces you could easily mistake her for being younger," Mike added. "But certainly not older." He looked at Harvey.
"Not bad at all," the stranger said, grinning amused. She turned to Harvey. "I actually just turned twenty-seven. You're way off, old man."
"What did you call me? I don't know who you are or what you want, but you can get out of my office. Now," Harvey replied sternly.
"Now, don't be such a stuck-up dick. Are you always like that when you meet old friends?"
Mike snorted out a laugh involuntarily, quickly reigning it back in when Harvey tossed him a murderous look.
"We're not friends. I'm pretty sure I don't know any twenty-seven-year-old street girl," Harvey commented, but didn't fail to notice her brand clothes.
"Huh. Pretty spot on actually," she murmured more to herself. "But seriously, you don't recognize me?"
"Listen, girl, I think you've caused enough commotion already. I don't know you, you certainly don't know me. It's time to leave," Harvey said almost patiently. Almost.
"Security is here," Gretchen announced.
"We are very sorry, sir. We don't know how she managed to bypass us. We don't let anyone in without an employee or guest ID," one of the two men apologized.
"Oh, you mean something like this?" The girl asked, dangling an ID card up in the air for everyone to see; it read Theodore Fitzgerald. "Right. I guess Teddy is looking for this by now."
"You mistook her for a seventy-three-year-old?" Harvey asked bewildered.
"Fitzgerald is fifty-eight. You really do have a problem with the whole age telling thing," Mike pointed out.
"Uh-huh, I hear that," Gretchen chimed in.
"What is going on here?" Harvey asked indignantly. This situation was becoming more ridiculous by the minute. "Will somebody remove the girl from my office?"
"Hey, hey, hold on a second," the girl said, abruptly getting on her feet. "I'm sorry for swiping the old man's card. I hope he doesn't have an all important suits and tie meeting scheduled for this morning. By the way, Harvey, you look ridiculous. Three-piece? It adds at least another twenty pounds. Your head looks like it's bloated, you practically have no neck at all. Especially when you get angry, like right now," she added.
This time Mike couldn't hold back any laughter, he yapped for air, holding his stomach. Even Gretchen had to snicker.
"OUT. NOW." Harvey's voice was a dangerous growl.
"Oh come on, Harvey-Harv, I came all the way to see you and you don't even recognize me. Tell you the truth, it kinda hurts my feelings."
Harvey reeled back abruptly when he heard the nickname she used.
"Peanut?" He asked after a moment, earning a dazzling smile from the girl in return.
"Now you got it."
"Peanut?" Mike repeated puzzled.
"He kept calling me Peanut, because I'm tall and you're short which makes you a snot nosed little peanut," she quoted Harvey in a ridiculous cave man voice.
"Because you were, can't say that anymore though," he looked her up and down; she was at least a 5'7''.
"How do you guys know each other?" Mike asked curiously.
"I tutored the little rascal here when I was at Harvard," Harvey began explaining. "What, you were seven years old or so?"
"I was eleven."
"God, your problem is more serious than we thought," Mike commented, shaking his head, looking at Gretchen, who nodded in agreement.
"Whatever. Fact is, she was a brat. Loved to get into fights, somehow always had leafs in her hair," Harvey went on. "Doesn't look like you changed at all."
"Well, I'd say I got worse, minus the leafs though. Don't climb that many trees anymore," she replied, sitting against the desk now in front of Harvey. "You're gonna call off the bulldogs now?" She asked, tipping her chin toward the security guards.
"Take the ID to Fitzgerald before he gets a heart attack and dies down in the lobby," Harvey said and tossed them the card. "You can go back to work too, Gretchen. I'll take it from here."
"So, do I call you Peanut too or do you have an actual name?" Mike asked once they were alone.
"Nikki," the girl answered.
"Mike," he introduced in return. "Really nice to meet you. So, how did Harvey end up tutoring an eleven-year-old kid? Can't picture that at all."
"Lots of money. My parents believed in four hours a day after school studying and etiquette lectures and horseback riding and piano lessons."
"Ouch." Mike pulled a grimace. "That's why they hired Harvey? To teach you how to ride little ponies?"
"Very funny, Mike. No, I was helping her with her school work. Though it's not like she actually needed it. You were always smart, just a born rebel who hated rules and orders," Harvey pointed out.
"You've met my parents. Is there any other way I could have turned out?" She cocked her eyebrow expectantly.
"Well, I wouldn't know. One day I get a call from your mother telling me that you've been transferred to an elite boarding school and I never saw you again."
"Right, elite boarding school, that's what they've been telling everyone. I TPed the entire gym, spray painted over the entrance portrait of our principal and glued a picture of Eddie Murphy's face over his. Before they could actually voice my expulsion my parents had me transferred to a Catholic school in the middle of nowhere."
Mike whistled impressed. "You were a really busy kid."
"I can't imagine how Catholic school was like once you were actually in your teenage phase," Harvey commented, sitting down in his chair.
"Short story, I got kicked out. But I managed to hold it off for four years, which I still consider highly impressive."
"What was your parents' excuse this time?" Mike asked curiously.
"They stopped bothering and just disowned me altogether. Good riddance I say."
"So, what brings you here, Nikki? We haven't seen each other for sixteen years. Quite frankly I've all forgotten about you already and I don't think I've left that much of an impression on you back then even though we're talking about me," Harvey asked expectantly.
"True to the second, ouch to the first. Well, I guess old men do have troubles with their memory," Nikki replied easily.
"I'm not old," Harvey said, a little bit quieter and pretended to get to work on his laptop.
"It's a sore spot for him," Mike told her and earned a roll with his eyes from Harvey.
"You're right, I'm not here to reminisce. I need a lawyer. And when I randomly flipped through the yellow pages, guess what I tumbled over? Pearson Specter Litt. Your name on the door, Harvey?" She whistled. "You really went for it, haven't you?"
"You ever expected something less?" He smirked, cocking one of his eyebrows when he looked at her.
"We're still working on his superiority complex," Mike whispered toward Nikki.
"I'm pretty sure that's a lost cause," she replied patronizingly.
"Nikki, reason for why you're here," Harvey brought them back on track.
"I'm being sued. I got this in the mail yesterday morning," she handed him a manila envelope.
Harvey opened it and flipped through the first two pages.
"You're kidding. This is a joke, right?"
"What? What does it say?" Mike asked impatiently.
"Sexual harassment?" Harvey asked shocked. "You're being accused of sexually harassing an employee of your... company?"
"You own a company?" Mike wasn't sure which bit of the news he had been supposed to ask about first.
"Yeah, it's called Lyssa's Garden. For a certain amount of fee you can enter a room and destroy it to your liking. It's for anger management."
"You're shitting me. You actually make money of offering people a place to rage out in?" Harvey asked in disbelief.
"So cool," Mike commented, awe-struck.
"New York is full of pent-up business men, pent-up house wifes, pent-up teenagers, pent-up taxi drivers. Man, we get a lot of these," she replied referring to the latter.
"And you named your business after the Greek god of rage, pretty smart," Mike noticed. "Are you by any chance selling gift cards? No, better yet a monthly subscription. Just register it under the name Rachel Zane."
"We actually do. New member subscription comes with the first month free of charge."
"Perfect. But really, you are very young to lead your own company."
"I founded my firm when I was twenty, gradually expanding it over the years. Even I didn't know it'd become this lucrative."
"No shit, I remember reading about New York's companies' annual revenues. Yours listed over thirty million dollars. I just never knew what Lyssa's Garden was about and who the CEO was."
"Back again to the sexual harassment charges?" Harvey demanded frustrated. Mike apologized sheepishly and gestured for him to go on. "How, just how did that happen?"
Nikki shrugged. "We were screwing around. A lot. And yes in my office. In the copy room. File room. Break room. You get the picture. It was all mutual. I mean for God's sake he was my boyfriend at the time. He's just looking to get money now that we've broken up."
"Somebody able to corroborate that? That you were in fact a couple, not that you were making out like sex crazed bunnies," Harvey asked.
"His best friend and my best friend knew and the janitor may or may not have guessed as much when he caught us in the maintenance room," she replied.
"If you were together back then and others even knew about you two why would he think a harassment charge would hold any ground?" Mike asked confused.
"I called him yesterday, clearly more than a little pissed by that piece of paper, asking him why the hell he would make up something like this and he said that I seduced him at first, making advances on him and that he initially didn't even want to date me, but, get this, felt talked into it and that he was too afraid to lose his job refusing his boss."
"Did you make the first move?" Harvey asked expectantly.
"Harvey-Harv, it's me," she said pointedly. "Of course I did make the first move."
Harvey groaned a little bit at that, but quickly composed himself again.
"Well, doesn't matter. You both were in a committed relationship whether you came onto him or the other way around, no judge would rule for this plead with the argument that he was talked into it. It's not like he was a minor." He looked over at Nikki. "Or was he?"
"No, no, of course not. But would a slightly higher age difference play into his accusations by any chance?"
"Depends. How old of an age difference are we talking about?" Harvey asked almost dreading the answer.
"Seven years?" She said sheepishly.
"He's twenty?" Mike asked heavily. "That is going to make a difference."
"Nineteen actually. We started this when he was nineteen and I was twenty-six," she added for full disclosure.
"That really doesn't sound so good in juxtaposition," he commented, scratching his head.
"For how long were you a couple?" Harvey asked.
"Eight months."
"That's not an amount of time to get repeatedly talked into. Don't worry, we'll have this dismissed before it goes anywhere near a trial," Harvey promised assured.
"Great, so you're taking the case?"
"I will when you put our firm on retainer for your company," Harvey replied, like a bloodhound who smelled fresh meat.
"I already have a law firm," she said smiling.
"You don't have Pearson Specter," he responded cocky. "And besides, if you weren't looking for an upgrade, why come to me in the first place when you already have another lawyer?"
"Harvey Specter, are you asking me to commit to you?" She gasped in fake surprise. "I pegged you as the forever-ever-ever bachelor type."
"You say yes now, I bring the velvet box out and get on my knees right this instance," Harvey replied charmingly.
"Oh, it holds a really nice silver ball pen. I've seen it, I tell you my mind was blown," Mike chimed in.
"Don't tell me you're the commitmentphobe?" Harvey challenged.
"In this room I'm the only one who's been married before. Who are you calling commitmentphobe?" She leaned back in her seat casually.
"You were married?" Mike asked surprised.
"Twice actually."
"No way."
"Way. Same guy though," Nikki explained.
"That's why the paper says your last name is West. You didn't change it back to Caldwell after the divorce?" Harvey noticed.
"God no, I'm perfectly satisfied to never have to hear that name again. I would have changed it anyway, if I hadn't married Ricky. I was going for Freeman." She smirked mischievously.
"Alright then, I will have Mike make the contract out to Nicole Margret West," Harvey said, self-satisfied.
"Margret?" Mike snickered.
"Named after my Gramps, but she was pretty cool, got the wild streak from her actually."
"It's true. I remember she offered me a ride home once from your estate. On her motorcycle," Harvey said.
Mike immediately took to her when she talked so fondly about her own grandmother.
"So, we've got a deal? You're saying yes?"
"You're not even taking me out to dinner first?"
"How about that, I'll pick you up Friday at 7 and we'll sign the contract at dinner together."
"Are you talking me into this right now? I might be able to sue you for that."
"With me as your lawyer that might even work," Harvey said, smirking.
"Alright. I guess it's time for me to get to work now too. I think I got a meeting at 8:45," she said wondering.
"It's 8:53," Mike pointed out, looking at his watch.
"Huh. Again. Henry is gonna kill me." She said, looking as if to say What can you do about it? Quickly she got up and heaved herself sideways over the chair. "See you on Friday, Harvey-Harv," she said and then turned toward Mike while walking backwards out of the office,"Mikey-Mike, we should definitely hang sometime, you're alright."
Mike grinned affectionately and waved her goodbye when Harvey suddenly interrupted one last time.
"And Nikki, next time, leave Ted alone, alright? Just get a goddamn guest ID."
Nikki was already behind the threshold to his office and smiled mischievously back at him. "Where would be the fun in that?"
Harvey shook his head in what could have easily been mistaken for fondness.
"She is awesome," Mike blurted out. "Was she really already like this when you tutored her?"
"Pretty much. She was a handful, I don't even know why I put up with her."
"I bet she was cute in her own little freedom fighting way and she wiggled her way into old Harvey-Harv's sensitive heart," Mike jested, lips pursed into a cute pout.
"Don't you have a depo to prepare or something. Go annoy someone else," Harvey dismissed him, typing something into his laptop.
"Harvey-Harv," Mike teased. "Haaaarvey-Harv. Harvey-Harv-"
"Alright, enough." He sighed, looking resigned.
"Hey, did she do something to your picture?" Mike suddenly asked, pointing to Harvey's mysterious duck-maybe-alligator on the wall.
A swarm of little paper folded butterflies were flying on top in a wavy line from one end to another, dancing over the small doll in the center.
Harvey's head shot curiously to the picture and he couldn't help but stand up to examine it closer.
"How long did Gretchen leave her in my office?" Harvey muttered in disbelief.
"Be grateful that she used butterflies, could have been Eddie Murphy."
"Remind me to overcharge her for this case."
"I don't know, I kinda like it. It's like a whirlwind of butterflies."
Harvey kept standing in front of it long after Mike had left, staring at it deeply.
"Okay, this really isn't so bad," he said, small smile on his face. He was about to leave when he abruptly turned closer, now only inches away from it, thinking he saw a part of his signature on one of the butterflies. "Are these made of documents?" He groaned in exasperation. "I'm going to kill her."
"Thirty-nine."
"Thirty."
"Fifty."
"Forty-two."
"Sixty-four."
"Fifty-six." Mike shook his head, somewhat pitying him. "How about this one?"
"Fifty-seven."
"Forty-four," Mike said in disbelief and held up another copy.
"Sixty-one."
"Close. Fifty-five."
"That's nowhere near close," Harvey pointed out.
"For you it is," Mike replied and flipped through the other pictures of Pearson Specter Litt employees he had printed to show Harvey in order to make him estimate their age.
"Huh! Fifty!" He yelled out, punching the bald men's face with his finger.
"Wait, that's correct," Mike said bewildered. "How did you know?"
"There was cake in the coffee room last week. One of these lame picture cakes with their faces on it. Candle said fifty," Harvey explained.
Mike tossed the picture haphazardly to the ground. "So, that one is no good either." He sighed. "Let's see how bad your vice really is. I've got the perfect one to test on." He fished it out and flipped it around, dangling it in front of Harvey.
"Very funny, Mike." He rolled his eyes and snatched the picture of himself out of Mike's hand. "This perfect specimen is clearly in his early to mid-thirties." He smirked cocky, snapping the back of his fingers against it once.
"I knew it. You make everyone out to be older, so that they're either closer to your age or way above. You're feeling old," Mike declared, pursing his lips playfully.
"I do not," Harvey denied and tossed him his picture back in an artful spin.
"It's alright, Harvey, everyone goes through his mid-life crisis at one point. You just sooner than the rest of us," Mike said teasingly.
"You've become a lot more insufferable since Nikki showed up here," Harvey pointed out annoyed.
"Must be rubbing off. She really has her own pace," Mike replied, shrugging.
"You met her once."
"Technically. We've been talking over the phone though," Mike said.
"It's only been three days. What, you've become best friends already? How did that happen?"
"She called me asking whether I would like to join her in the TD Five Boro Bike Tour two weeks from now. We started talking and I grasped the opportunity to make her tell me all about young Harvey," he explained, grinning smug. "I've got some stories stored neatly in the back of my mind and know I will use it when the right time presents itself."
"Why do I put up with you again?"
"Because you, hold on tight, caaaaare about me," he teased. "And because I finished writing up the contract for you." He tossed the folder in front of him.
"About time," Harvey simply replied.
"You've taken care of the suit?" Mike asked.
"I've put the pieces in motion."
"That sounds ominously Godfather like. Promise me Nikki's ex isn't going to sleep with the fishes."
"Look, we are all reasonable men here; we don't have to give assurances as if we were lawyers..." Harvey quoted.
Mike smirked, getting up to leave.
"Ah right, before I forget it. I did a background check on her company as we usually do. Everything looks good. But when I checked on her, which we also usually do with potential clients, she seemed to have had an arrest record. It's buried and I can't get to the file. I don't want to raise any alarm flags since I'm sure it's just one of her more elaborate pranks that got her arrested, but you might wanna ask her on Friday what that is about. Jessica doesn't like catering to clients who have a record," Mike said. "Which is kinda ironic, now that I think about it, since this is a law firm and all."
"I'm sure it's nothing, but I'll ask her," Harvey replied, nodding thoughtfully.
Mike waved his goodbye and left the office.
He sauntered down the hallway when out of nowhere a hand suddenly grabbed him from the side and pulled him into the office kitchen.
"God, Donna, you scared the shit out of me," Mike groaned when he saw his attacker.
"Tell me all about her," Donna demanded, looking left and right whether somebody was listening in.
"Tell you about who?" Mike asked bewildered, straightening his suit.
Donna clicked her tongue impatiently, rolling her eyes simultaneously. "The girl, Mike, the girl."
"Oooh," Mike caught on. "The girl," he whispered.
"Who's she?" Donna blinked her eyelashes expectantly.
"I don't know how to tell you this," Mike said tentatively.
"Did Harvey sleep with her? Of course he slept with her, probably not realizing she's so much younger. Did I ever tell you he's horrible at telling age?" Donna shook her head in exaggerated misery. "She's pregnant isn't she?"
"Woah, pregnant?" Mike chimed.
"Yes. Pregnant and alone. Like a lost star in the broad expanse of the universe. With a fate so tragic and cruel she wandered the streets helplessly scouring for the pompous bastard who fathered her unborn child in a mindless night of debauched passion." Donna went all theatrical on him.
"Calm down, she's not pregnant, neither did she sleep with him," Mike said.
"Huh. Not even a little bit?" She was momentarily shaken out of her trance.
"No." Mike confirmed.
"Ancient family arrangement made generations ago demanding that the two get betrothed?" She asked eagerly.
"Which generation are we talking about?" Mike asked, considering.
"Great-great-great-great-grandfather on Harvey's side, great-great-great-great-grandmother on hers," she replied immediately.
Mike pretended to think about that and then finally said, "No."
"Long lost sister?"
"Nope." Mike rolled his eyes.
Donna gasped suddenly. "His daughter, hidden away by his high school sweet-heart for twenty-five years, kept a secret. But now that she's been told the truth, she has surfaced to seek out her biological father."
"Oh my god, you're right," Mike confirmed shocked.
"I knew it!"
"You didn't, you kept poking until I said yes," Mike objected.
"Tomatoes, tomatoes," she said, waving him off. "Has he acknowledged her? Did he accept his own flesh and blood when she came to him, crying-"
"Crying? She wasn't-"
"Crying on the inside, bleeding heart wishing to be healed by the father she has so long been waiting for to meet."
"I thought she's just found out?" Mike pointed to the inconsistency.
"She might have been told the truth for the first time only recently, but deep inside her soul she had always known something was amiss," Donna saved.
"You're crazy," Mike finally told her. "Have you been watching Marimar reruns again?"
"Is it that obvious? Binge watched it for the last four nights," Donna admitted, sighing.
"You have a problem," Mike said and turned around to leave. "Seek help."
"No, no, no, no, no." She grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back again. "You still haven't told me who she is!"
"I find it odd that you haven't found out yet. Aren't you Donna?"
"Are you insulting my prowess?" She narrowed her eyes at him, chin held high.
"I'm merely pointing out that it's been three days and you know nothing," Mike replied. "And what more you had to come to me." He stopped abruptly, staring at her intently. "You already tried finding out what happened, but Gretchen and you still haven't warmed entirely up to each other. She didn't tell you anything!" Mike gasped, figuring it out. "And of course you can't listen into Harvey's conversations anymore since you are no longer his secretary. Can't ask him either, because you kids are currently fighting."
"Who are you calling kid, kid?" She looked down on him.
"Why don't you and Harvey make up and then you can ask him yourself," Mike said smug, that he was for one ahead of Donna.
"Please, I don't have to go to anyone when I can just come to you," she declared, pushing him against the cabinet. "I know you will tell me everything I want to know."
"I don't think so, Donna. I'm enjoying seeing you clueless too much," Mike replied grinning.
"Mike James Ross, spill the beans!"
"Make me," he challenged.
"You do are aware that I'm planning Rachel's bachelorette party, don't you? That I have full power over who is coming, if she's gonna get a stripper and whether he's made the list of Sexiest Men Alive," she paused for emphasis, "or not."
"You can get someone voted Sexiest Men Alive to strip on a bachelorette party?" Mike asked, all wide blue eyes.
"That and so much more," she said slow and deliberate.
An eerie quiet transcended over the office kitchen, only the shuffling of footsteps and the ringing phones could be heard from outside.
"Her name is Nikki West. Harvey tutored her when he was still at Harvard. She is being sued and she came to him for help. Also, she has a multi-million-dollar company our firm will be taking on."
"How is her relationship with Harvey?"
"He seemed to actually be quite fond of her. You know, in a little sister sort of way. But it's kinda hard to tell with Harvey."
Donna smiled sweetly.
"You can go now," she said, having attained the information she wanted. "As easy as taking candy from a pup."
"Nice Chucks," Harvey said when he greeted Nikki by the door. She wore a simple, sporty dark blue dress, sleeveless, skirt part loosely falling down, stopping several inches above her knees, and a small cut out triangle exposing skin in the center of her dress beneath her breasts. Her natural slightly curly hair was cascading down her shoulders, threatened by a hair tie on her wrist next to her watch to be bound at any given time. She wore small silver stud earrings and another silver ring on her upper right ear. No high heels, instead optic white low cut Converse.
"Guessed you were taking me somewhere fancy," she said, corner of her lips tucked up into a small smile. "You're not wearing a suit?"
"My client apparently doesn't think it suits me and I'm trying to sign her for her multi-million dollar company," Harvey replied nonchalant, opening the car door for her.
"Right choice then," Nikki smirked and sat down on the leather seats, waiting for Harvey to join her on the other side. "Hey, Ray-Ray."
"Good evening, Ms. West," Ray greeted, smiling warmly through the rearview mirror.
"How do you know my driver?" Harvey asked.
"He drove me once to a function and had to bring my drunk ass back home again," she reiterated.
"Yes, but not from where I initially dropped her off. She was all the way in Queens, Harvey," Ray said laughing.
"I never said I got drunk at the function," Nikki pointed out.
"You really are one of a kind, Peanut," Harvey said, shaking his head.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" She replied, hearing him use her old nickname. "A shit load has happened since we last saw each other."
"I think I'll be getting to hear a lot of interesting stories tonight," Harvey mused.
"You can't handle half of it, old man," she laughed.
"I don't doubt that for a second," Harvey responded and had to laugh himself.
Harvey took her to a casual establishment with the best grill rips and the meanest Mojitos on the entire east coast.
"Oh my god, I think I just got a taste of what Heaven will be like," Nikki moaned in obvious joy.
"Told you. Best place in New York," he said, tossing his last rip on his plate.
They were both sitting at the comfy bar, slowly letting their stomachs settle from the feast.
"This is easily the best meal I ever had."
"Wait until you try the Mojito," he replied and gestured to the bartender to come over.
"This starts to sound a lot like the day I got married," Nikki said chuckling.
"Don't tell me you got drunk-married," Harvey inquired disapprovingly.
"No, I was drunk when he proposed and I said yes. By the time we arrived in Vegas I was sober again," she elaborated.
"Then why did you go through with it anyway?"
"Because I loved him?" She responded easily.
"Clearly he was the love of your life," Harvey pointed out.
"I'm not entirely sure he wasn't."
"Why get divorced twice then?"
"Well, first time we got married we admitted it was a little bit rushed."
"No shit," Harvey commented. "How old were you?"
"I met him when I was twenty-one. Three months later we got married,"
"And it never occurred to you to get know him first before you sign the marriage registrations?"
"We were madly in love, Harvey. We were crazy stupidly in love with each other. He's a lot like me when it comes to passion and recklessness. Imagine me dating me. It was a lot like that," Nikki explained and sipped on her Mojito.
"That sounds like a very bad, and quite possible, dangerous combination," Harvey commented.
"Well, we did set a pool once on fire," she admitted. "But that was pretty cool. Not so much for the owners though."
"If that's the worst that happened, then that's a miracle in itself," Harvey said. "How did you two meet?"
"Para gliding."
"Of course."
"It was love at first sight," she told Harvey.
"Why did you break up?"
"As much passion as we had loving each other, as much did we spent fighting each other," Nikki illustrated. "He thought I was cheating, I thought he was cheating and it went all downhill from there."
"Did you cheat on each other?" Harvey asked; that was a taboo in his books.
"I didn't and he swore he didn't either." She shrugged, seemingly okay now with never finding out for certain.
"Here's what I don't get, why didn't you guys just annul your marriage? You weren't married for that long."
"Because that would have indicated it never happened. And despite how and that we ended it we never regretted getting married. It wasn't a mistake and we didn't want to treat it that way."
"That sounds awfully mature." Harvey snickered.
"Second time around though I had my doubts. We loved each other so much we were sure that we'd spend the rest of our lives together whether we were in fact married or not. We hadn't actually been that long separated after the first divorce and got remarried a year later again. So, we never actually took the time to talk. About essential views of life you could say."
"Those being?" Harvey asked expectantly.
"He wanted to have kids and I didn't," Nikki simply answered.
"I see why that might have been a problem."
"He couldn't understand why I wouldn't want any. He thought I'd come around someday and feel as strongly about it as he. For the next two years we were constantly fighting over the same topic again and again and me being that way made him unhappy. So, I pulled the plug and called time of death on our relationship for good."
"You seem like the type who'd be great with kids, seeing as you completely act like one all the time. Why don't you want children?"
Nikki exhaled a sigh. "I guess I just don't want to screw them up."
"Like your parents did?" He asked levelly.
She laughed. "Yeah, I guess I've still got some mother issues. And father issues for that matter."
"I suppose I can relate to that," Harvey replied and emptied his cocktail glass.
"Is that why you haven't been married once in the time I got divorced twice?" She cocked her brow expectantly.
"Oh no, we're not talking about me," Harvey denied right away, shaking his head.
"Why not? I just told you everything," Nikki challenged.
"Not everything," Harvey pointed out. "I'm curious to find out how you managed to build such an empire for yourself."
"Nah-ah, you first," she said grinning, waving her index finger from side to side.
"Fine, what do you want to know?" Harvey asked, palms outstretched. The bartender set a new round of drinks in front of them in the meanwhile.
"Why aren't you married?" She asked immediately.
"Unlike you I don't marry somebody after weeks into the relationship."
"So, you're saying, you haven't been dating anyone long enough to consider it."
"I suppose so."
"Why?"
"Why what?" Harvey demanded.
"Why haven't you been dating anyone for a longer period of time?"
"That coming from you," Harvey commented dryly. "You might have been married, but you didn't stay married that long either."
"You know my reasons. Now I want to know yours," she replied easily.
"What do you want to hear? That I just haven't found the right one, that I don't like committing, or that I hate the whole concept of marriage?"
"So, all three of those," Nikki said, nodding to herself.
"I enjoy my life very much and I don't see the need to change anything," Harvey simply explained.
"Alright I guess," she smiled sweetly.
"Now tell me, what did you do after you got kicked out of school?" Harvey was curious.
"Well, the school wasn't the only thing that kicked me out. But I wouldn't have stepped a foot back home even if they hadn't. So, for a while I lived on the streets, which apparently I still give the vibe off. With seventeen I started seeing a rich old guy, and with old I mean forty," she smiled mischievously at Harvey. "He was kinda like my sugar daddy at the time. Bought me food, clothes, my apartment. He was such a philanthropist. Chairmen for at least a handful non-profit organizations. He believed I could turn my life around, always wanted for me to go back to school, but I kept refusing. When we broke up, he felt the need to give me some sort of severance fee and I traded the money into investment shares and suddenly I was a million dollars richer. Used that money to start Lyssa's Garden, which was initially just a fun idea, but it really panned out quite nicely. Now we don't only offer rooms to demolish, but we also have martial arts studios, a two-story gym, and a shooting range. Ah yeah and there's a gift shop in the entrance hall."
There was probably a dozen of questions Harvey could have asked after all this information, but he chose to focus on the beginning.
"Why did you get kicked out of school?" He stared at her intently.
She averted his eyes and took another sip of her drink. Still not looking at him, she answered. "I had a rap sheet as longs as both my arms. Pick anything."
"Alright, then I'll pick physically assaulting the dean," Harvey said.
"Of course you know," she chuckled, shaking her head. "For the record I was a minor back then and couldn't be prosecuted. You shouldn't even have seen the file. The sugar daddy I was talking about, he pulled some strings so that those records would get sealed."
"I have my means," Harvey simply answered. "Care to explain?"
"Not so much," Nikki sighed, but she clearly knew Harvey wasn't going to let it go. "I hit the dean with a lamp, that's practically all it, not much to say."
"You've done a lot of things, but I know for certain that you never hurt anybody. Well, at least not if they hadn't had it coming. You did get into several altercations with the boys in your school, as far as I can remember," Harvey said, chuckling.
"They were the one's asking for trouble," Nikki defended, laughing as well.
"So, there must have been quite a reason for you to strike him," Harvey continued.
"Nobody cared back then and it certainly doesn't matter now."
"You're right, it doesn't matter. Tell me anyway," Harvey said unimpressed by her deflections.
"Alright," she agreed, her trademark ease long gone now. "That old dirtbag was touching my best friend. Kept calling her into his office to fondle her, that dirty bastard. She didn't want to tell anyone, made me promise to shut my mouth too. But one day she came back to our room crying, completely broken and I just knew what he had done. And I snapped. I went to confront him. There was a lot of screaming and shouting and it escalated. I hit him with the next best thing; his injury wasn't that bad though, yes, he had been bleeding, but a few stitches and he was back to the old son of a bitch he was. He pressed charges, but I was only fifteen back then and my parents moved heathen and earth to get this buried as quickly and quietly as possible."
"They didn't believe you," Harvey said.
"No, they didn't. They had enough of my antics and refused to listen to me. I got kicked out of school and my parents stopped acknowledging me as their daughter. At that point that was just fine with me. I despised them."
"Because they betrayed you."
"Yes, Harvey-Harv, they betrayed me! Because they didn't believe me. I kept telling them what he did and they just covered their ears, telling me I was lying, that I was making the whole thing up. They were too concerned about how it all looked and stained their Caldwell reputation. I kept telling them!"
"You kept telling them that he raped your friend," Harvey repeated knowingly. "But that's not all, is it? She wasn't the only one he touched."
Her eyes shot up at that.
"You kept telling your parents that he approached you as well, but they didn't care, they didn't want to believe that," he said calmly.
"How did you know?" She asked shocked.
"As I said you wouldn't just hurt somebody without a reason. He came onto you that night, didn't he? You confronted him, it got physical and he probably pushed you down. In order to defend yourself you hit him."
"Nobody believed me, mainly also because Sarah didn't say anything. When they asked her she denied anything ever happened. And it didn't help that I had always been such a troublemaker."
"What happened with that bastard?"
"He stepped down, no, he retired after that and a year later he died of a heart attack."
"Lucky him," Harvey replied lowly.
"It's been a long time. It doesn't matter now," she repeated her earlier words.
"I'm sorry," Harvey said sincerely.
"As horrible as that experience was, I don't believe fate serves you cards you can't deal with. I'm over it. And I have a life now. I'm happy," she said smiling.
Harvey leaned closer and cupped the side of her head in his hand and gave her a small kiss to the forehead. "Might be the Mojito talking, but I'm glad we met again," he said, chin resting on her hair.
He pulled back and was rewarded with a dazzling smile. "Hope isn't lost on you just yet." She snickered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" He huffed and turned back to his drink.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she laughed.
"Be nice to me otherwise I might not give you this," he said, reaching for the folder he had brought along, effectively dismissing the previous topic.
"What's that?" She asked, curiously leaning over.
"Motion of dismissal for your case. Granted."
"What? Already?" She was genuinely surprised. "I knew you told me you were good, but this is unexpected. How many strings did you have to pull for this?"
"A lot, so you better be thankful," Harvey replied.
"I'm paying you a shitload of money and I'm putting your firm on contract. That's my gratitude right there," she pointed out smirking. "What else do you want? Oh, I know."
She stood up and hugged him so tightly Harvey had trouble breathing.
"Thank you, Harvey-Harv," she said into his shoulder.
"You're welcome, Peanut." He stroked her hair once.
"Should I bring you home now?" Harvey asked.
"Home? You don't honestly believe we're done with the night?"
"We're not?"
"Let's get Ray and hit the road."
"What happened to you?" Mike asked wide-eyed when he walked into Harvey's office on Monday morning with coffee and a bear claw. Harvey looked like shit.
"Nikki is what happened," he groaned, trying to concentrate on typing correctly.
"Weren't you out on Friday?"
"She is borderline crazy. After I got her to sign the contract she dragged me and Ray to a party."
"How bad was it?"
"It was a foam party, Mike. Dozens of half naked people rubbing and grinding all over each other. Believe me when I say, I would have rather gone mud bathing with Louis."
"This is too good," Mike laughed, eagerly sitting down in front of him, waiting to be fed the rest of the story.
"And as if that wasn't already bad enough, she slipped us a drink called Dying Bull and neither Ray or I remember what happened after that, or how, for that matter, we landed on Ellis Island. All I know is I woke up Saturday morning on a bench next to Ray and Nikki with no recollection of the past few hours, having to talk my way out of being arrested. Not only that, but she also managed to lose my wallet and Ray's car. I'm telling you that girl is insane."
"Any embarrassing photos?"
"You'd have to ask her," he said grimly.
"Oh, I will," Mike promised excitedly.
"I spent all of yesterday canceling my credit cards and helping Ray find the car."
"Where was it?"
"At a liquor store in a parking lot in Soho."
Mike whistled.
"We must have walked over to the night club from there. How we ended up at the goddamn Statue of Liberty I honestly don't know," he added.
"What did Nikki say to all this?"
"Just another mystery of that night, she sprained her ankle and has been snoring on my couch since Saturday. Says she only remembers bits and pieces, something about me not catching her properly," Harvey reiterated.
"This is hilarious," Mike couldn't stop laughing.
"It really isn't," Harvey disagreed passionately.
"Oh come on, this is probably the most fun you had in years," he pointed out. "Admit it, you loved spending time with her. Must have felt young again, huh, Harvey."
"Enough with the you're-old-jokes. And give me your coffee," Harvey demanded, stealing the steaming paper cup from his hand.
"Will you ever get your own coffee?" Mike asked grudgingly.
"I did. Already empty. Besides, coffee is for grown-ups."
"Enough with the you're-a-kid-jokes, I'm thirty-four," Mike complained, retrieving his coffee to take a sip and then eagerly biting into his bear claw. "You knew that, right?"
"Yes, Mike, I knew that," Harvey replied, rolling his eyes. "I might not know any random employee's age, but I do know how old the ones are I'm stealing breakfast from," he said, this time, snatching Mike's food. Mike protested annoyed.
"You know that Donna thought you'd slept with Nikki, because you couldn't tell her age and mistook her for someone older?"
Harvey groaned. "I'm sick of everyone gossiping about my sex life."
"Oh, now you have a sex life?" Mike said in a juvenile attempt to dis Harvey, taking the bear claw back right when Harvey was going to have another bite.
"You should know, according to Nikki we've been screwing," Harvey countered nonchalantly.
Mike almost choked, coughing viciously. "We what?"
"Straight out asked me whether I was tapping your ass," he quoted, standing up to clap on Mike's back.
"Why does everyone's mind go that way?" Mike groaned exasperated, getting on his feet to clean himself off from any crumbles. "Bad enough the office thinks I've been sleeping my way up, Nikki's seen us for five minutes and she's already asking whether I'm your boytoy." He said angrily, rearranging Harvey's tie that he had loosened exasperated in his retell of this weekend's happenings.
"Don't know where they get that idea," Harvey agreed tiredly, leaning forward to swipe some sugar from the corner of Mike's mouth with his thump and licked it clean.
"They're all crazy," Mike declared, when they were walking out Harvey's office, standing the usual few inches away from Harvey.
"Yep, crazy," Harvey replied in agreement, automatically closing the last gap between them.
"You have a meeting in conference room B. Client is already waiting," Gretchen said, when they stopped in front of her cubicle.
"I didn't know I had a meeting. Who is it?" Harvey asked bemused.
"Yeah, this client makes her own appointments," Gretchen answered more than annoyed.
Harvey groaned. Mike laughed.
"Send her away," Harvey growled.