A/N: Hello once again. :) The response to this story got me real excited, so...here you go. Oh, and thanks to everybody who reviewed and all that. I'm terrible at responding to those sort of things, but...thank you!

Disclaimer: Nope.


Rachel got to work just before nine. She was balancing a coffee and her bag as she walked through the doors of Pearson-Harden. She took the elevator up alone, the air getting steadily warmer as it rose. She let out a sigh. She'd done her best to dress for the heat, but there wasn't much one could do to keep cool in business attire. The elevator let out a ding as it reached her floor and she got out, heading over to her office.

"Rachel!" Louis Litt had spotted her and was making a beeline over to her. "Did you get those documents I wanted?"

"They'll be on your desk in about five minutes." She hitched her bag up more securely on her shoulder. "I've just got to go put a few things in my office."

"Sure, it's not like my time is important or anything." He replied snidely and she ignored him. She'd been at the firm long enough to know that Lewis was going to be unpleasant to her no matter what she did. He watched her through the glass walls as she put her coffee on her desk and checked her messages. There was one from her mother reminding her that she'd promised to meet her and her father for dinner later that week. She let out a sigh and extracted the documents that Lewis had wanted out of her bag.

"Here." She handed him the sheets of paper ungraciously. He walked away without a word and she rolled her eyes at him when she was sure he wasn't looking. She retreated behind the glass walls of her office and picked her phone up, listening to her mother's message a second time. With a reluctant expression, she dialed the familiar number and collapsed into her chair, waiting for her mother to pick up.

As always, she picked up on the third ring. Both of Rachel's parents liked order and precision, something that she'd inherited. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom." Rachel was playing with a pen idly.

"Rachel, darling!" Her mother's voice was delighted. "Sweetheart! I haven't heard from you in ages."

"I've been busy." Rachel tried not to feel guilty. She had been busy. "Work and things, you know."

"Any special boyfriends, lately?" It was a consistent question. Every time her mother called, she expected Rachel to tell her that yes, she had met the man of her dreams and that he would be proposing to her soon.

"No, mom." Rachel tried not to sound exasperated. She turned to look over the office. Mike Ross had just walked in, looking harried and anxious as usual. "No one special."

"Well that's a shame, dear." Her mother tried not to sound disappointed. "You haven't dated anyone seriously in months. Not since that Kevin boy."

"Mom." She hissed, a blush rising up her cheeks. "We only went on a few dates…it wasn't anything special."

"But, sweetheart, he was a lawyer…" Her mother trailed off as if the end of that statement was obvious. Really, it was.

"I work at a law firm, Mom." Rachel watched Mike as he avoided a crowd of other associates and headed towards Harvey's office. "I'm bound to meet a few of them."

"Rachel…" She wasn't really listening anymore. The heat was starting to get to her. The heat and the fact that Mike was passing right by her office. He waved to her through the glass. She waved back.

"I should go." Rachel ran a hand through he hair. "I've got a lot of work to do."

"Okay, dear." Her mother sounded slightly sad. "Are we still on for dinner on Friday?"

"Of course, Mom." Rachel smiled into the phone. She really did love her parents, despite their flaws. "Say hi to Dad for me."

"Bye, sweetie." Rachel hung up the phone and opened up her computer. She still research to do for a few of the partners. It was going to be a long day.


"Harvey!" Mike peered around the door and into Harvey's office. There was a loud, rushing sound coming from inside. He looked over at his sometimes-mentor's desk. No less than six large fans surrounded the man seated behind it. "Don't like the heat?" He raised his voice over the combined din of the fans.

"There's a reason I chose New York over California." Harvey didn't look up from his computer. "And I need you to proofread this," He held up a thick contract. "Before tomorrow."

"But, I've got Louis's pro-bono…" Mike protested faintly, but took the stack of papers anyway.

Harvey looked up. "Who do you work for, Louis or me?"

"Is that a trick question?" Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Just read the contract." Harvey's voice was short. Sure, he wasn't usually the sunniest person at Pearson-Harden, but Mike had never seen him so aggravated before.

"Okay." He decided not to push it. "I'll go and…" He was already walking backwards across the office. "Yeah. I'll just talk to you…yeah." He continued walking backwards out the door. A few steps from the door he turned and…

"Mike!" His face was inches from Rachel's.

"Ah!" Mike got a very detailed look at her hazel eyes and freckles. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail today, just like it had been the day when she was his wife and they'd gone apartment hunting. "Sorry!"

She shook her head and took a step back. As she moved, a wave of her perfume washed over him, making him lightheaded. "It's fine." She shook her head again and her ponytail bobbed. "Is Harvey in there?" She peered around him to look into Harvey's office. "I need to talk to him."

"Ahh…" Mike turned to glance behind him. "I wouldn't right now…he's in a mood."

"Oh yeah?" Rachel tilted her head. "What sort of 'mood?'" She put air quotes around it.

"A bad one." He sighed and started to walk away. She followed him. He tried not to let the surprise show on his face…usually work came first and he came, like, fifteenth.

"D'you know why?" She was walking next to him, shuffling the papers in her hands.

"I think it's the broken AC." He glanced over at her. Her hair was curling at the bottom where it hit the neck of her shirt. "He's got, like, a dozen fans going in his office."

"A dozen?" Rachel looked over at him, incredulous. "Really?"

"Well, maybe more like six." He shrugged his shoulders. The fabric of his suit felt hot and oppressive on his shoulders. "Exactly six, actually." There was a pause where Rachel looked simultaneously annoyed and amused. "Gah, it's so hot."

"Seriously." She agreed. "So…do you have lunch plans?"

Again, he tried not to look surprised. He pestered her to get lunch, not the other way around. "No…I, no I don't." He managed to get out. "Did you want to…go out somewhere?"

She shrugged. "It's hot." She gave him her usual sort-of-patronizing smile. "I thought we could go somewhere less hot."

"Well, if you're there, it's not all that likely." He grinned at her and she hit him playfully on the shoulder.

"Shut up." They were reaching her office. They stopped by the door. "I'm going to put these down and grab a few things." She pushed the door open. "I'll meet you in the lobby in ten minutes, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Mike headed off towards his cubical, unable to keep a smile off his face.


Harvey watched as Mike ran into the pretty paralegal that he'd thrown the mock trial for and then followed her, puppy dog-like, away from his office. He shook his head, not sure if he should be irritated or not. He'd had his share of office romances or, more often in his case, office sleep-with-girls-and-the-don't-call-them-backs.

The only notable exception to his love-em and leave-em style was Jessica Pearson. The first few years that they'd worked together, when she'd been his mentor, he hadn't tried to make his attraction to her a secret. Nothing had ever amounted of his constant flirting and suggestions, so, eventually, he'd been forced to cease his age-inappropriate pursuit.

But, even now, he sometimes thought that he saw a glint of affection in her eyes when she looked at him. He understood her reticence to become involved with him. After his meteoric rise to senior partner, sleeping with the boss would probably look bad. Not only that, but she was also nine years older than him.

He didn't really mind the age gap, he had never gotten along with people his own age anyway, but he knew that she must. Still, he sometimes tried to make her smile back at him just a little too widely, to make a congratulatory hug last just a moment too long. Sometimes it worked and other times it didn't, but nothing ever amounted from it in the long run.

He somehow knew that, if they ever were to work, that their story would be a long one. So, a long time ago, he had abandoned his usual purist and kill tactics and had decided that, with Jessica Pearson, he'd play the long game. In the meantime, however, he pursed girl after girl after girl and hoped that, one day, she might come to her senses and be with him. But, for now, she was his friend and that was fine.

He watched Mike and the pretty paralegal and wondered if their story would be a long one or a short one. For Mike's sake, he hoped it was shorter rather than longer. Harvey could wait, but he was not by nature a patient man. Waiting for Jessica got harder day by day and, try as he might, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she would have given in years ago.


"So…" Rachel looked up from her salad and over at Mike. "How's the case going?"

Mike shrugged and picked at his sandwich. "I dunno." He looked up at her. "It's just…being a lawyer is a lot of work, sometimes."

She laughed. "What, did you not realize that going into law school?" She took a bite of her salad and looked around the blessedly air-conditioned restaurant. It was filled with people like them, dressed in business attire, getting a bite to eat before returning to work.

He shook his head and smiled and the melancholy that was dripping from him vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "I could have been a doctor, you know."

"Oh, really?" She tried to picture Mike in a white doctor's coat. "Why aren't you, then?" He'd be good at it, she was sure. He was good at everything.

"Needles." He shuddered and she bit back a smile. "They freak me out."

"You're afraid of needles?" She took a sip from her water. "Really?"

"Yes, really." He continued to attack his sandwich. "Any sane person would be." There was a pause. "So, what are you afraid of?"

"Cats." She answered without even thinking.

"Cats?" He repeated, his face caught between bemusement and delight. "Let me get this straight…you're afraid of cats?"

She blushed. Generally, she didn't talk about her cat-phobia until at least the third date. Not that this was a date, or anything. "They don't blink often enough." She explained, fighting valiantly to ignore the smile playing around his lips. "I would spend summers at my aunt's house and she had at least thirty cats. They'd stare at me all the time…and they didn't blink often enough." She took an embarrassed sip of her water. "It was creepy."

He shook his head and then looked at her. "When I was a kid, I was terrified of stickers." He offered out of nowhere.

"What?" She tilted her head. Stickers? Really?

"I hated stickers until I was, like, ten years old." He grinned at her, like he was giving her some great present by telling her this. Admittedly, he was. "When anyone tried to give me one, like at a doctor's office or something, I would literally run the other way."

She couldn't help herself; she let out a loud laugh and the people at the surrounding tables turned to look at her. "Are you serious?" She demanded as soon as she had regained control.

"Completely." He took a large bite of his sandwich.

"You could never have been a doctor." She pointed out. "How would you deal with sticker-related injuries?"

He swallowed and leaned closer to her across the table. "That's the point, I guess." He grinned at her and she felt herself smiling back almost against her will. He had that effect on people. "I wouldn't have."

She was leaning towards him across the table and there was maybe a foot between then when…he slumped back in his seat. He was still smiling, but the moment that they had just had was gone. She leaned back too, the blush back in her cheeks. "We should get back soon." She said after a moment, making a show of checking the time on her phone. "Work and all that."

"Yeah." Mike looked a little confused. "Yeah, you're right." He went over to the register to pay the bill. She grabbed her bag and followed him, still confused and a little disappointed at what hadn't occurred.

"I'll get it." She pulled her wallet out of her bag, but her waved her down.

"Don't worry about it." He put his hand on hers and directed it back into the bag. Her hand tingled a little where his touched it. "I've got it."

"Mike…" She tried her best to look stern and threatening.

"Rachel…" He rolled his eyes and handed his card to the girl at the front. "You can just pay next time, okay?"

She bit back a sigh and shook her head. "Okay, Mike."

He smiled at her as they exited the restaurant and headed back to Pearson-Harden. "Never argue with a lawyer, Rach."

She tried to ignore the way that her smile made her feel warm…and warmer as they walked back into Pearson-Harden. "I'll keep that in mind." Was all she said as they got into the elevator. His arm brushed hers as he ushered her in and she tried very hard to ignore the tingling sensation it caused. They stood in silence as they rode up, side-by-side, neither one touching the other.


A/N: Yup. Chapter three should be up later this week. Review!