Hello everyone! OMG 6.12 WHAT AN EPISODE! It was so so so good, I'm in awe and I'm so happy to have seen Lily talking with Harvey, because it's what I'm always struggling with and had been waiting for since forever. And I also told myself that no matter what the episodes give, I'm gonna focus on Couples Therapy and 180 Days.. but hehe.. Inspiration hit and this happened. An One-shot. It's set in 6.13 and based on one of the very first previews we got showing Louis and Harvey in a restaurant.
So here you go, it's a bit different from my usual darvey fics... with it just being Harvey and Louis. but I hope you give it a go, cause obviously even with these 2 characters it's still darvey.
Enjoy and would love to know what you think. x
TEETH, NOSE, TEETH
His fingers tapping against the table, he turns his head to the left. Looking outside for a moment, he watches the cabs and the other traffic rush by. His thoughts drift off to the combination of recent events. Jessica left. Mike got out of prison. Donna held his hand. The fight with Louis. The dream. The fight with Mike. Donna asking him to go see his mother. The dream. Donna showing up at his apartment. Mike not wanting to work for him. The dream. The flight to Boston. Forgiving his mother. Spending time with his brother and the kids. The painting. The dream.
His thoughts interrupted again when he spots the familiar company car in the distance and the sight brings him back to here and now. He lowers his gaze to the table and reminds himself of why he's here. Why he asked Louis to meet with him. He knows there are things to fight for, several different important things and he also knows he can't do all of that at the same time. One a more guaranteed success than the other and difficult decisions have to be made. One way or the other, he has to break the news to the other lawyer. Nevertheless, he has made his decision.
Louis ends his call with Gretchen when the Lexus comes to a halt in front of a small restaurant. He thanks the driver, telling him he'll walk back to the firm later that afternoon before getting out of the car. Pressing the home button on his phone, he checks the time once more. Looking to his left, Louis observes the building for a moment. He spots the silhouette of his fellow name partner inside and decides to make his way into the restaurant too.
"Good day, sir," a young waiter greets the lawyer. "Do you have a reservation?"
Louis hits send on the quick memo he wrote to the new associates, looking up from his phone at last. "I'm meeting Mr. Specter, he's sitting over there," Louis answers, signalling the dining room area behind the waiter.
"Alright," the young man nods. "A waitress will be right with you. Have a great lunch."
Upon hearing the familiar voice of his fellow name partner, Harvey turns his head to look at the entrance of the small restaurant. A small smile forming on his lips, he bobs his head to acknowledge the other lawyer when Louis looks in his direction.
Louis nods once. Side stepping the waiter, he makes a b-line to the table near the window where Harvey is seated. "Harvey," Louis greets him, burying his phone in the pocket of his jacket. "You wanted to meet for lunch?"
"Yeah," he answers. Letting the fingers of his left hand tap on his thigh once more, just to make sure the little piece of paper is still in his pocket. He brings his hands to lean on the table then. "I did," he adds, gesturing the chair opposite of him.
Louis sits down quietly on the other end of the table. Ordering a cup of coffee when the waitress stops by, the entire situation feeling a bit uncomfortable at the moment because he has no clue as to why Harvey asked to meet him here. Yet the very lawyer in question is remaining silent. Louis's gaze drops to the menu for a second, but he doesn't pick up the card. His eyes roam the restaurant for a moment, before they land back on the table. "There's no phone," he observes aloud.
"What?" Harvey mumbles, a frown growing on his face as he looks at his colleague.
"Your phone," Louis clarifies his answer, looking back up. "It's not on the table, like the –"
Harvey chuckles once, remembering the dinner Louis is referring to and the simplest of reference to the redhead already makes his day. "She won't call half an hour in," Harvey counters with a small smile, letting his elbows lean on the table in front of him. He watches Louis nod, but also notices the way he looks over his shoulder. "And there won't be a waiter spilling a drink over you either."
Louis turns to face Harvey again. "So it really was Donna."
Harvey presses his lips together in a thin line. Not commenting on, but not denying the other man's statement either. They both already know the answer.
"Why did you ask me to come here?" Louis asks then, wondering what the purpose of the lunch is, because one thing he had learned in the last decade is that Harvey never went for lunch just to get lunch. "You already thanked me for handling Teddy Doyle's emergency."
"I did," Harvey confirms with a nod. Pausing for a moment, he takes one deep breath. "It's actually about both of us being interim managing partners."
Louis swallows instantly. Leaning back a little, he studies Harvey's expression, but he isn't entirely sure he can read him. "You're taking it back," he guesses at last.
"No," Harvey answers directly with a shake of his head. "I'm not," he reassures his colleague. "But after everything that happened since… " He pauses for a moment, not entirely sure which moment he's going to pick. Too many defining moments in a row. Donna leaving him, Mike getting arrested, the abandoned firm and lastly the departure of his mentor, Jessica.
"I was thinking about something Donna said," he continues. "About us managing the firm together and she was right," he chuckles, slightly shaking his head when the words leave his lips. Of course, she was right. "She said we can't afford ourselves to bring each other down again, like we've done for years. That we should help each other. Now, but especially when one takes the reigns," he repeats the words she said to him the day before. "We should get back to being friends."
"Friends?" Louis echoes.
"Yeah," Harvey nods. "I mean… We once were, right?"
Louis nods slowly. "Like Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf."
"What?" Harvey frowns now.
"The cartoon characters," Louis clarifies. "It's something I once explained to Mike. About how Sam and Ralph came to the meadow every day to work. Friendly. Then, when they punched in the time clock, Ralph would try to steal the sheep and Sam would stop him. It was brutal, but when they'd punch out again, they were friends again," Louis says. "I told him that that used to be you and me, but you weren't punching out anymore."
"Louis –"
"Truth is," Louis interrupts Harvey. "I didn't punch out anymore either," the words leaving his lips in an apologetic tone. He presses his lips together in a thin line and looks at Harvey who mimics his motions. Both men nod once, a silent understanding of how things once used to be.
The silence interrupted by a waitress asking for their orders, both quickly scan the menu they had neglected until now before ordering. "So," Louis starts again, placing the menu back on the side. "What path do you think we should take in order to honour the legacy Jessica created?"
"Honestly," Harvey starts, immediately letting out a sigh as he repeats the choice of words Louis used in his head and it makes the moment just a bit more difficult. He shifts on his chair a little. "I don't know," he admits. "It still feels so surreal with Jessica being gone. I understand why she did what she did, but I wouldn't have predicted it," he adds, thinking back to all the things he had been through with his mentor. A soft laugh escaping his lips at a distant memory.
"You know when Hardman came back. I told her we could take a year off. Suggested she could teach, maybe write a book," he explains, letting out another soft laugh. "She laughed me in the face. Told me she'd rather die than give up her firm and now she walked away."
"She might come back," Louis counters with a soft smile. Both men know the chance of that happening is close to zero, but Harvey slowly nods his head regardless. "The firm used to be her everything. Her family," Louis states, gulping once he takes a sip from his coffee. "She saw us as family," he continues. "Always, even when we had our backs against the wall and might had to cross her, she did. She always did. All of us," Louis concludes. His soft smile fading he looks at his fellow lawyer again. "But you the most. Why?"
Swallowing, Harvey looks down for a moment. Remembering the first time he met his mentor. "She picked me out of the mail room," Harvey answers, smiling softly.
"I remember that," Louis says. "She mentioned that during the mock trial we did with the General Motors case. When she put you on the stand."
Harvey nods, his jaw clenching for a moment he remembers the lines she threw at him. "Caring only makes you weak." It's how he'd felt at the time, after Donna getting fired, the entire charade in front of the partners, but now he knew that how he felt at the time was nothing compared to what he's been through during the last couples of months and weak wasn't the word he'd use to describe himself anymore. He looks back up again, focussing on the earlier memory. "After that she paid for me to go Harvard on the condition that I'd eventually come back to work for her," he explains the one thing Jessica never liked to share to others. "She was my mentor."
"That's why you want to keep her name on the wall."
"Amongst other things, yes," Harvey admits, his head crooking to the side when a waitress returns with their food. He lifts the napkin from the table, making place for his plate. "Thank you," he mumbles to the waitress, nodding at Louis when both men stare at their plates for a moment. "I'm glad you want to keep her name on the wall as well."
Louis nods, reaching for his knife and fork. A soft sigh of appreciating leaving his lips after the first bite. "Did you ever dream about becoming managing partner?" Louis wonders out loud then, not just about himself, but Harvey too.
Harvey chuckles softly at the choice of words from the other man, letting his hands with the cutlery in them lean on the table. It is something he has been thinking about a lot since his return from Boston. "I always said I don't have dreams, I have goals," he admits, remembering the words he once said to her. "And it was a goal once. A few years ago I even made a deal with Edward Darby to back me for managing partner over Jessica," he admits, fully aware the words can set the other man off. But that's why they were here, to get everything in the out and the open.
"You did what?" He hears Louis fire back as expected. He lets out a breath. "I hated that merger and saw it as a way to get out of it," he explains, his jaw clenching for a second. Because even though it resulted in what he wanted, he regrets the way he got there. "The way I handled things was wrong, but I knew that if she found out Darby agreed with it, she would want out of the merger too. I also knew that she would hate me for it."
"She forgave you though."
"Yeah," Harvey nods. "I told her I didn't want it anymore."
"And now?" Louis asks in between bites. "Is it still a goal?"
Harvey takes a bite from his lunch too, using the time to think for a moment about Louis' question. His thoughts finding its way back to the dream from a few nights ago and his old statement regarding dreams and goals now not so true anymore. "I don't know," Harvey answers then, he decides to counter the question. "How about you?"
Louis bobs his head up and down for a moment before he speaks. "I'd be lying if I said no," Louis counters, placing his fork down. "But look at me," he adds, his shoulders raising the slightest before they fall with a sigh.
Harvey frowns, crooking his head as he stares at the other lawyer. Wondering what Louis exactly meant with those words.
"Tell me what you see when you look at me."
Harvey leans on the table again, the question not any clearer the second time it got pronounced. He observes the other man regardless. "Teeth," he says then, "Nose... Teeth."
"Harvey I'm serious," Louis replies. "I mean. Here you are," he points at the other side of the table. "Harvey Specter, best closer this city has ever seen. Youngest senior partner in the history of the firm," the older lawyer pauses for a moment, seeing his fellow name partner starting to grin. "Everything I'm not."
"Louis –"
Harvey's objections interrupted by the sound of a phone going off. The older lawyer leans back in his chair, reaching for the phone from the pocket of his jacket. He pulls it out and studies the screen for a second. "I'm sorry. It's my fiancée," he says, looking at Harvey for a moment as he pushes his chair back and gets up. "I have to take this," he adds, signalling two minutes just before he walks to the entrance of the restaurant.
Harvey merely shakes his head at the other man's words. Wondering if he heard them correctly, he leans back in his chair and studies his fellow name partner from a far for a moment. The man having no idea how wrong he is.
"Sorry about that," Louis apologizes when he returns a minute later. Taking place at the table again.
"It's okay," Harvey smiles, having come to the conclusion he had something new to tease the lawyer about. "So fiancée huh?"
"Yeah. Her name is Tara," Louis tells with a bright smile that reaches his eyes. "She's pregnant and wasn't feeling so well this morning, so I told her to call me if she needed anything."
Harvey's mouth drops this time and for the second time in under five minutes he's not sure if he heard all that correctly, but the look on Louis' face tells him that he did. "Do you need to go?" he asks then, remembering Louis mentioning the reason he asked her to call him.
"No," Louis shakes his head, reaching for his glass. Quickly taking a sip, he looks at Harvey again. "She just called to let me know she was going into work after all."
Harvey nods, still trying to comprehend the last few sentences and their meaning and he wonders for a moment just how much he actually missed from the lives around them. His brother's confession of him having been sick again still fresh and he always prided himself on knowing everything that was going on at the firm, but he didn't know this.
Then he remembers the night their fellow name partner left, the argument they had had and how that statement wasn't even true. "Louis, after the partners left, we swore we were going to dedicate every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears we had to this place. But we didn't. Harvey and I focused on getting Mike out, Jessica and Rachel focused on Leonard Bailey, and you, Louis, focused on finding love in your life." He hears her words again, the last sentence still having the surprising effect on him as they had a mere ten days ago. But it also tells him he wasn't that far off, that this had to be some sort of new development.
"So," Harvey mumbles again. "Your fiancée is pregnant?" he states, the words slowly leaving his lips and the look Louis gives him makes him wonder for the tiniest of moments if he made it all up, but the fellow man nods at last. "Wow…" Harvey mutters. "How?" It's one word, three letters, but it summarises all the questions he isn't able to formulate.
"You do know how babies –"
"Yes," Harvey laughs. His eyes closing for a moment and he shakes his head at the absurdity of Louis' remark. "I … I just meant I never heard you mention her before," he clarifies, taking another bite of his steak. "It's all so soon. How can you be sure?"
"I love her," Louis answers, raising his shoulders. Not using any other words for an explanation, because to him it really came down to just that. He loves her.
"But a kid," Harvey whispers. "Already?"
"It's not mine," the older lawyer answers as calmly as possible, his lips twitching a little. He loves Tara and he loves her baby, but it did hurt a little bit.
"Wait what?" Harvey fires back, leaning forward on the table. His eyes widening. "What do you mean, not yours," he mumbles. "She cheated on you?"
"No," Louis defends his fiancée, shaking his head to emphasise his answer. "She didn't, it's her ex's," he adds. "We only found out she was already pregnant after we gotten together. And yes, it's not how things usually go or how I'd pictured them to be, but I fell in love with her. That's why I asked her to marry me, to show her that even though the baby might not be mine, I am fully in this," he explains. "I do get to be a father and after Sheila, I didn't think I'd ever be able to have that and I do."
Harvey lets out a breath, letting Louis' words sink in. It's a situation he'd rather not pick, but he admires the loyalty Louis actions show to the woman he has yet to meet and he thinks back to the comments his own brother made a few days ago. "I'm happy for you Louis," Harvey answers truthfully, now thinking about the reason he asked Louis to meet him in the first place again. "But do you think you'll be able to manage that all?"
"What do you mean?"
"We're still getting the firm back on its feet," Harvey starts. "You're planning a wedding, kids… it's a lot."
"It is," Louis agrees. "But yeah I think I could. I did always have the associates next to the hours we bill and we have new ones now…" he stalls for a moment, thinking about his sentence. "There aren't as many now as we once used to have, so I should be able to do that and prepare myself for becoming a father."
Harvey smiles softly at the confidence in his friend's answer. It exactly being what he hoped to hear. "The associates have always been lucky to have you as a mentor, Louis."
"Thank you Harvey," Louis says. "But they'd be just as lucky if they had you as mentor."
Harvey chuckles, shaking his head. As much as he likes hearing the words, deep down he knows it isn't true. Not because Louis would lie about it, but because he feels they aren't. "I got to pick one associate and look where that got us," Harvey counters, a small laugh shared between the two men. "It's been great to mentor Mike. It really was, but I could never do that for an entire group," he confesses, his head still slowly shaking.
"That's why we're both managing partners," Louis answers. "We both have our strengths and we can help each other."
"Louis, about that."
"What are you saying, Harvey?" Louis asks.
"I'm saying the firm needs one managing partner," Harvey continues. "And it shouldn't be me."
"Harvey," Louis stutters, trying to object, but Harvey signals no and the other man swallows in the rest of his sentence.
"We were meant to have this lunch two days ago, but I asked you to move it because something came up with a client," Harvey pauses, seeing Louis nod. "There was no client, Louis," Harvey admits. "I saw an opportunity to get Mike into the New York bar," he explains. "And I took it, because I still feel guilty about him going to prison instead of me. So I focussed on that, trusting that you would keep things in check while I did this… and later Donna…" he pauses, closing his eyes for a moment before he continues. "She told me what you did for Rachel, how you signed a new client and welcomed the associates. All while I was doing this one thing."
Louis nods again.
"Truth is," Harvey says. "The decisions I made in the past and even this week, with putting helping Mike above the sake of the firm… that's not what a managing partner should do. You're better suited for the job, Louis."
"You really mean that?" Louis inquires, almost in disbelief.
"I do," Harvey replies. "Even if you soon have to juggle managing the firm, the associates… Me … and being a parent," he adds with a small smile. "I really do. I think you should be managing partner."
Louis smiles brightly, looking around for a moment. Not knowing what to say. "I guess it's both a form of parenting and I could use the extra practice," he mumbles and Harvey laughs agreeing to his statement. "Thank you, Harvey," Louis adds, turning to face his fellow name partner again. "Would you ever want that?" he asks then, curious because they never had such a heartfelt conversation before and he wonders.
Harvey frowns a little, his head crooking. He questions the words of his friend.
"Kids?" Louis adds for clarification when the other man doesn't respond instantly.
He looks down, his teeth absently scraping over his lower lip he thinks back to the days he spend at his brother's house, putting the kids to bed and his brother's remark. The same answer leaving his lips now as back then. "Maybe."
Louis sits back up, a slight frown spread across his brows. "What do you mean maybe?" He questions. "Either you do or you don't, right?"
"I…" Harvey stalls, letting out a breath. He leans back in his chair. "It's just… I never really thought about it … not until recently."
Louis crooks his head and takes in the small smile on the lawyer's lips. The change in tone with the last words his colleague spoke not going unnoticed either. "What changed?"
"Everything," Harvey whispers, his right hand flexing over the table for a moment. "And nothing," he adds with a small laugh, reminding himself she had always been a constant in his life anyway. Right by his side for twelve years, things still the same, yet different.
Breaking his thoughts, he shakes his head for a moment. Sitting back up. "But it's not like I'm seeing some –" he swallows in the rest of his sentence when the waitress returns to their table asking if everything was to their liking. Both men nod at the woman, waiting for her to take their plates away again.
Harvey swallows, letting out a soft sigh and shifts in his chair. Not going to finish his last sentence. Knowing is one thing, bringing it up another and with this particular opponent it could potentially lead to information he doesn't want to hear. Not yet. He's not sure if after everything he has been through the past week, he'd be able to handle bad news.
Louis bites his tongue for a moment, contemplating his words and whether or not he's going to say them. But having seen the man's face change from the distant happy smile during the first part of his answer to something more nervous at the latter, pulls on his heartstrings and the words leave his lips before his brain can even register them. "You could."
Harvey looks back up, not sure what's coming or what the response was based on. He doesn't know what to say either and he doesn't want to ask what he meant. He settles on using the other man's name. "Louis."
"She ended things with Mitchell a few weeks ago."
His eyes widen and his mouth drops a little at the news and on one hand he feel sorry for her, but he can't help but feel his lips curl up the slightest at the words he just heard. Not being able to stop the motion even if he wanted to.
The little change in his facial expression not going unnoticed to Louis either. "I know it's not my place to tell you and to be honest I wasn't going to," Louis continues. "I know you two had a thing once and I'm not stupid, I know the reason she came to work for me after that case wasn't just because Norma died..." Louis pauses and he sees Harvey swallow.
"So why are you telling me now?"
"Because you love her." Louis states it as a fact and deep down they both know it is, maybe always has been. Louis lets out a breath when the other man doesn't deny his words, but smiles softly in return instead. "And before all this," Louis continues. "I kind of felt the need to protect her. She's like a sister to me and you... you had so many things going on. I didn't think you'd ever be ready for her and I didn't want to see her get hurt again."
Harvey swallows, nodding once. He hated seeing her get hurt too and it pains him knowing he was the one that hurt her.
"But then you opened up to me about going to therapy, the issues you were dealing with and the other day she told me you went to see your mother," he pauses, seeing the other lawyer nod slowly. "And truth is I would have never been in the relationship that I am, if it wasn't for her help, so..." he pauses for a moment, crooking his head and he briefly raises his hand, indicating that's why he told him anyway. "She deserves to be happy too."
Harvey repeats the words in his head, just nodding because he isn't entirely sure what to say. He mirrors the soft smile Louis shows and when his mind drifts off to the redhead in question again for the umpteenth time that dinner, he can't help but break out in a smile. "I uhm," he suddenly mumbles, shaking his head. It's a moment of clarity, yet all he can think about is her and he pushes himself on his feet. It's what he intended to do from the start. Fight for her, choose her. Even if Louis hadn't accepted the title, but he did and the other news Louis shared with him only speeding up the time line. "I need to go."
Louis is surprised for a moment by the sudden action on Harvey's part, but the look on the man's face he has learned to recognise as determined made his hesitation whether or not he should have told him fade away. "Harvey," he calls for the man, looking to his left.
Harvey stalls next to the table, looking back to Louis. "I won't screw it up," he answers before the other man can say something. "Not this time."
Louis nods. "Good."
Harvey nods too. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, he presses his lips together in a thin smile. He rocks back and forth on his feet for a second, suddenly remembering why he even asked Louis to meet him. He pulls the business card from the pocket of his pants, placing it on the table in front of Louis. Tapping on it twice. "As long as you won't either," he adds before walking away.
Louis's gaze remains on Harvey's retreating form for a moment before he looks at the table in front of him. The little piece of paper catching his eye in an instant, it confirming the words the lawyer spoke to him before and he smiles then.
PEARSON SPECTER LITT
LOUIS LITT
MANAGING PARTNER
601 EAST 54TH STREET - PHONE: (212) 555 0188
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10000 - FAX: (212) 555 0189