A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and/or added this story to your alerts and favorites.
Ever Penning Song asked me if Harvey listening to blues when he was upset was something I felt his character told me or if I just knew. I felt like it was something I just knew and didn't seem out of place when I wrote it. After all, someone who has the type of music collection Harvey does has to know that there's a song for every situation and mood.
Feel free to leave reviews. They let me know that I'm taking this story in the right direction.
Disclaimer: I only own what you fellow Suitors don't recognize. If I did, I'd manage to find a way to have Louis tell someone they are going to get Litt Up in every single episode. :)
After reading the same sentence for the fifth time and still not fully comprehending what it said, Alannah accepted the fact that she probably wasn't going to be getting any work done for the day. She closed the email that she'd been attempting to read before opening the bottom drawer of her desk. She pulled out the photo album she had put there when she'd unpacked during her first few days back at the firm.
She flipped through the pages that documented her former life and nostalgia with a hint of sadness washed over her.
"Are you okay?" Daniel asked, startling Alannah.
She closed the photo album and put it back in her bottom drawer before answering, "Yeah. Just one of those days I feel a little open and exposed."
"Ah," Daniel nodded as he took a seat across from her, "I feel like that every time I step through the doors."
She shrugged, "We did it to ourselves, right?"
"True," he agreed.
"But I know you didn't stop by to ask me how I am today. What's going on?"
"Our plan A is a no go," he informed her, "Harvey's been closing difficult clients for other departments on Jessica's behalf."
"And if we took a vote, we'd lose." Alannah concluded, "So,now we're in hostile takeover mode."
"Exactly." He placed a laptop on her desk, "Here."
"I already own a laptop."
Hardman smiled, "But not one that's the receiver for the bugs that got planted in Jessica and Harvey's offices last night."
The younger lawyer laughed, "Why, Daniel, how illegal of you."
"It's only illegal if you get caught." He leaned back in the chair, "But we won't. We tried taking over your way. Now, we try mine. I had their office's bugged so we can stay ahead of them and hopefully, find something to use against them."
"And by we you mean me because you don't want to sit through hours of stuff that doesn't matter." Alannah sighed, "You just want me to tell you when I hit pay dirt."
"You were always better at research than I was," he quipped.
"Look at you trying to pacify me with compliments." She picked up the laptop and placed it in her bottom desk drawer, "I'll listen to what's recorded during the week on weekends until I find something."
"Good," he nodded, "Now, I need another favor."
She shook her head, "I'm almost afraid to ask."
"This Friday, there's a charity event," Daniel explained, "Save the whales, ducks, snails or whatever animal Jessica has decided to hitch our star to this month."
"And opening night of Sarah's play is also this Friday." Alannah ran a hand through her hair, "Please tell me you want me to go to that instead of this fundraiser."
"I could say that, but you know I'd be lying," he replied with a laugh.
She groaned, "You know I hate these things."
"As do I," he agreed.
"When I become senior partner, can I decline to go to fundraisers?" Alannah asked.
"When I've regained control of this firm, you can do whatever the hell you want." Daniel answered.
She smiled, "I'll hold you to that, Hardman."
He grinned back at her, "I wouldn't expect anything less, Cavanaugh."
"I'll listen to the first batch of recordings this weekend." She laughed when she saw the look on his face and expanded on her statement, "On Saturday since I'll be saving some sort of animal on Friday."
She stood and walked with Daniel to her doorway. He headed back to his office. She glance towards Harvey's office and noticed that he wasn't there. She started to head to the bullpen to speak to Mike, but stopped when she saw him walking in her direction.
"Mike," Alannah called as he attempted to walk past her,"just the man I needed to see."
"I'm busy. Harvey needs me in his office," he retorted as he kept walking.
"Word of advice." she said as she grabbed his arm to prevent him from passing her, "If you're going to lie about a partner needing you in their office, you might want to make sure they're actually there first." She watched him glance towards Harvey's empty office before continuing, "Now, get in here."
She sat behind her desk and waited for him to sit across from her, "I know Harvey has probably told you to stay far away from me, but you're going to need to ignore that and read through this contract for me." She leaned back in her chair, "Look, Mike, I'm not trying to bait Harvey. Any other contract and I would give it to one of the other associates, but this is too important. They do good work. I need great work. I want you to find any sort of loophole that would allow this company to get out of it."
The Junior Partner could read the apprehension on his face as he spoke, "Har-"
"Harvey is a grown man and he needs to start behaving like one," she snapped, "If I need to remind him that this is a law firm and our job is to make our clients happy so they pay us outrageous amounts of money, than I will." Alannah leaned forward and stared him in the eye, "But let me take this time to remind you that I am a junior partner which means I trump you. I tell you to do something, you do it. And I know you're going to try and argue that Harvey is a senior partner so he trumps me. My counter argument is that I can call Daniel in here and have him assign you what I just gave you." She pulled the contract out the stack of documents on her desk and set it in front of him, "But instead of going through all that trouble and putting yourself even more on Daniel's radar, why don't you tuck that file away in your desk, take it home, and work your whiz kid magic on it without telling Harvey."
"You want me to lie to Harvey?"
"I want you to find a loophole. If you have to lie to Harvey to accomplish that? So be it." Alannah waved her hand as she said, "You're dismissed."
"Done with afternoon tea already?" Harvey asked without looking up from the case file he was looking over.
"She grabbed me when I was on my way to see you. It's not my fault that the Joker managed to get Harley Quinn an office a few feet from yours." Mike defended, "If you had actually been in your office, I would have been able to ignore her."
Harvey looked up, "I'm sorry that I'm a real lawyer with real clients to deal with."
Mike flopped down in the chair across from his mentor,"I have real clients!"
The older lawyer closed the folder he'd been looking at, "What'd she want?"
"For me to look through this contract and find her a loophole," he answered as he set the contract on the desk.
Harvey made no motion to look at it, "And you said?"
"I tried to say no," Mike replied.
"You tried to say no?"
Mike fidgeted with his tie, "She threatened to call in Daniel to make me do it."
"Do I need to remind you about the 146 other options, Mike?" Harvey inquired.
Mike shook his head, "Look, I can do it outside of the office and it won't take me long."
Not for the first time, Harvey wondered how his associate could be so smart yet not understand that things like this matter, "But now she knows she can walk all over you if she threatens to run to daddy. What you should have done is threatened to tell mommy since she wears the pants in the family."
"Is there a reason you're referring to Jessica and Hardman as mommy and daddy," he asked, "because it's a little creepy."
The older lawyer agreed, but wasn't going to tell him that, "The point I was trying to make still stands."
"Harvey, Jessica is already upset with us over the fact that I'm not a real lawyer and you knowingly lied to her about that. I'm not quite sure I should be calling her in over something so small," he reasoned.
Harvey tossed the pen he had been toying with on his desk, "Mike, wars are won because of small battles along the way. Jessica and Hardman will probably have one big showdown and when they do, things like this matter. Find her loophole and then give it to me. I'll handle it."
"Okay."
Harvey reopened the file he'd been looking over. After a few minutes, he looked up to find Mike still seated in front of him, "You're still here?"
"Yeah. Right." Mike scrambled to pick up the contract Alannah had given him as well as the files he'd brought into Harvey's office, "Back to work."
Harvey didn't respond as the younger man exited his office.
"You needed to speak to me about something?" Donna asked Rachel as she entered the Pearson Hardman file room.
"Not that I'm aware of," confusion settled on Rachel's face as she answered.
"Harold said that you had something to talk to me about and that he'd volunteered to pass along your message." Donna explained.
"Donna, I'm always glad to see you, but I didn't tell Harold to get you down here." Rachel replied.
"But I did," Alannah interjected as she moved from her spot behind a wall of files.
"Figures," Donna huffed.
"Hello, Rachel." She held out her hand as she spoke, "Sorry I haven't stopped by to properly reintroduce myself, but I've been busy."
The paralegal shook her hand, "That's quite alright. Especially since we didn't know each other very well before you left."
Alannah turned to the other woman in the room, "Donna, I need your help and I couldn't ask you at your desk because Harvey is probably ticked off that I've got Mike looking through a contract for me."
"Actually, he's not."
"He isn't?" Lanna asked in disbelief.
"No, he's ticked off that you threatened to call in Hardman to talk to Mike if he didn't look over it." Donna countered with a glare.
"You what?" Rachel interjected.
Alannah laughed, "So, the water cooler gossips were right. You and Mike have a thing."
Rachel shook her head, "We don't have a thing."
"But you want to," Alannah stated as she leaned against the wall.
The paralegal shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant,"We once had a thing and now we don't."
"Oh, denial. I remember swimming in that river," the lawyer smiled, "Just because you've said it's over doesn't mean it actually is."
"You needed to talk to Donna, remember," she changed the subject.
The slightly older woman turned her attention back to Donna, "I need your help."
"Tons of people in this firm need my help," she stated with a flip of her hair, "What makes you think you should jump to the front of the line?"
Alannah crossed her arms, "It involves shopping."
"Okay, tell me more," Donna replied.
"Daniel has to go watch Sarah's play Friday so he's sending me to Pearson Hardman's fundraiser on his behalf," she explained.
"And you need me to help you pick out a dress," Donna said as she rubbed her hands together in excitement.
Alannah nodded, "And shoes and jewelry. You know I have trouble with these sort of things."
Donna looked at Rachel, "Last time I helped her, you should have seen the dresses she wanted to try on. It was hilarious." The red head laughed, "There was this one that made her look like a giant peppermint. I almost let her buy one but we were..."
Rachel waited for her to finish her sentence. When she didn't, she asked, "You were what?"
Alannah and Donna shared a look before the lawyer spoke, "We were trying to get Harvey to finally make a move on me after months and months of dancing around each other."
"You and Harvey?"
"Me and Harvey," she confirmed, "By the time you got hired to the firm, our relationship was deteriorating. As hard as it is to believe, once upon a time, we were you and Mike. Only without those tragic skinny ties."
"I like his ties," Rachel defended.
"Considering the glasses you're wearing right now, I'm not surprised." Alannah quipped.
Donna giggled and spoke before Rachel could respond, "Come on, Rachel. Let's take the rest of the day off and help her find a dress. Once you see the sort of stuff she likes, you'll have plenty of stuff to make fun of her for."
"We can't just take the rest of the day off," she argued.
Alannah pushed off from the wall, "Donna can because she's Donna and Harvey doesn't question her. I can because I'm Daniel's closest friend. Between the two of us, we've got you covered if anyone says anything. Plus, I'll buy you both something nice."
Rachel sighed, "Okay. Let's go."
