"Donna, cancel all my appointments for tomorrow. We're hiring an associate."
Donna looked up from her computer. Did I hear correctly? She got up and followed Harvey into his office.
"Wait, what did you just say?"
"You heard me." Harvey had her back to her and was going through some papers.
"Oh my God, does that mean…?"
Harvey turned around to face her. He was grinning broadly. "Yup. I'm the new senior partner. I'm finally getting a seat at the table."
"Well…technically, you're getting some space at the table. You still have to bring your own seat." Harvey's grin froze. Oh, fuck, did I really just say that to him? Donna felt like slapping herself. She had crossed a line. No, she had crossed the line. The one line that she had never crossed in all those years that she had worked for Harvey. Sure, they bantered every day; she made fun of his wide ties and gelled hair-do, while he mocked her taste in movies. Or a thousand other things. But never before had she made a reference to his disability. And now she had and wished she could simply unsay it. It hadn't even been a particularly witty remark. But just as she opened her mouth to apologize Harvey simply said, "True dat." Just like that. Phew. Donna smiled at him.
"Congratulations, Harvey. You really deserve it."
"Couldn't have done it without you." Harvey's smile was back. "But, yeah, you're right. I do deserve it."
"When will it be made official?"
"At the partners' meeting on Monday."
"So can't this associate hiring business wait until next week?"
"If I had my way, this associate hiring business would be postponed until hell freezes over." He sighed and looked Donna in the eyes. "Jessica thinks I would try to postpone it until hell freezes over if I hire an associate after I've been made senior partner, so she's making me hire one before."
Donna laughed. "Smart woman."
Harvey cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, real smart. And if my secretary was any smarter she would have reminded me to find a way to con Louis into changing that damn section of the bylaws."
Donna stuck out her tongue at him. "That's not part of my job. What is part of my job is to get you a list of all the eligible candidates for the position."
Harvey sighed. "Interviewing a bunch of arrogant Harvard Law graduates is so not gonna be fun."
"Well, since Pearson Hardman only hires from Harvard Law…arrogant Harvard Law graduates it will be. List will be ready in an hour."
Now Harvey stuck out his tongue at her. Donna turned around and left his office.
Harvey knew that Donna had wanted to apologize for that remark, and a part of him was actually angry at her for feeling that she needed to apologize. But then again it was his own fault that she felt that way since he had never encouraged any jokes like that. In fact, they had never broached the topic again after that one conversation they'd had a couple of weeks after Donna had started working for him. A conversation that he had initiated because he assumed that as his secretary it was her right – and maybe even her duty – to know certain things. A conversation that he had ended by saying "Anyway, I don't really like to talk about it." And Donna, being the professional that she was, had always respected that. But recently he had increasingly felt that their avoiding this topic completely was actually pretty awkward. Especially since Donna was the closest thing he had to a friend.