THE PROPOSAL

CHAPTER TEN – Win Back

Harvey arrived late at the office on Wednesday morning. He'd had an early meeting with an old client who had been one of the many that jumped ship after the scandal. The client had signed with Scottie's firm but, after a brief 20 minute meeting with the CEO, Harvey had won the company back. Scottie would be pissed, but he didn't care. She'd understand.

The doors to the elevator opened and he was met by a worried-looking Louis in the reception area. "Harvey, can I have a word," he said, joining him in the walk down the corridor to his office.

"What is it, Louis?" asked Harvey, "I'm in a good mood this morning so don't spoil it. Harvey Specter is back in the groove!"

"The groove? What the hell are you? One of the goddamn Monkees?" sneered Louis.

"No Louis, but I am a daydream believer," he teased.

"Well I'm not feeling like the homecoming queen right now," Louis shot back. "Anyway, I thought you had goals, not dreams?"

"You got me, Sleepy Jean, but I'm talking about daydreams. And my day dreams are in a totally different league to my night dreams," he said with trace of innuendo.

"What? Whatever, Harvey. This is serious, I need your help."

"Okay, what's the problem, Louis?"

"Max Schmidt."

Harvey sighed a deep sigh. This was the precise scenario he'd been dreading ever since discovering Max Schmidt was one of the best financial litigators in Europe. "Louis please tell me this isn't going to develop into a pissing contest between you and him. You're both excellent lawyers and we need you both. No need for competition because competition leads to one-upmanship and one-upmanship leads to you getting your ass kicked and you getting your ass kicked leads to you doing something goddamn stupid and getting yourself fired."

Louis stopped walking and looked hurt. "Thanks, Harvey," he said huffily, "thanks for having so much trust in me."

Harvey twisted his mouth and shook his head. "I'm sorry Louis, but you do have form for this kind of bullshit."

"Easy for you to say, Harvey," moaned Louis, "imagine if Roche & Roche had brought Europe's best closer to New York with them."

"I wouldn't care," said Harvey, "but, I take it from that remark you haven't seen Stella Bart in action yet?" His facial expression let Louis know he had his own competition from the European team.

"No I haven't. Is she better than you?" asked Louis.

"What? No!" laughed Harvey, "but she's good. She wiped the floor with Scottie last week?"

"Did she? Jesus, Harvey what's are they doing to us? We can't let them win," he said anxiously as Harvey became more and more amused. "If you help me with Max now, you have my word that I'll sort out Stella for you."

"Not going to happen, Louis," said Harvey with a smile, "even at your vindictive best, she'd kill you. And I mean it, Louis, she would fucking kill you."

They arrived at Harvey's office and Louis followed him in. "Max Schmidt's just stolen one of my old clients – Yentob Industries. They were on my list to win back but he nipped in before I got the chance. They're about to take over Hart Danby Logistics. It's a merger I worked on for months before they fired us because of Mike and I want them back. I mean, who does he think he is? Coming in here with his sharp suits and his baby blue eyes?"

"His suits aren't so sharp," said Harvey.

"What? Harvey, you haven't … please tell me you haven't?" said Louis, his voice full of terror.

"Haven't done what?"

"You haven't let him out-suit you?"

"What? Louis, this is suits, not mudding. I'm not you and he's not Nigel Nesbitt."

"You sure about that?" asked Louis suspiciously, "is that a new suit you're wearing? Where'd you get it?"

"Not telling, Louis. You know nobody gets my tailor's details."

"Bullshit. Where'd you get the suit?"

"It arrived all the way from Berlin yesterday, didn't it Harvey?" came Donna's voice from the doorway. Harvey shot her a deadly glare.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" said a high-pitched, squawking Louis. "You went to Max's tailor?"

Harvey wanted to curl up and die. He was going to kill Donna for this. "Donna, what didn't you understand about 'don't tell anybody where my suit came from'?"

"Oh, I understood every single word," she beamed as she strolled coyly into the room. "But, this scenario right here, is way more fun!"

"Fine," pouted Harvey in resignation. "Louis, I'll come with you to talk to Max."

X

Later that morning, Harvey and Louis crossed to the other side of the floor to the offices occupied by the Roche & Roche team members. Stella's office was the first on the right, followed by Max's, Marina's and Julien's on the corner. Teams of paralegals and associates took up the other spaces whilst Julien's secretary, Ingrid Lindstrom, sat at a cubicle in the centre.

Harvey marched into Max's office with Louis trotting behind him. He politely knocked on the door before entering. Max was sitting at his desk, which was stacked with documents, all piled orderly and covered with fluorescent sticky notes. Harvey sniggered inwardly as the man was clearly a pedantic ass. He wondered if he did all of his own admin work.

"Don't you have a secretary to do that?" asked Harvey.

"I like to do my own filing," replied Max matter-of-factly, "besides I don't have a secretary yet. I have only been senior partner for six months. I've tried to find a suitable candidate in this city, but I have been unsuccessful."

"How many candidates have you interviewed?" asked Louis.

"Fifty-six," said Max, looking up at the two men from his stacks of paper.

"Fifty-six?" repeated Louis, "what the hell is wrong with you? Donna has a list of the best secretaries in the city. Want me to get it for you?"

"I've already been through your list," said Max. "I'm just very particular about whom I work with. I would prefer a German, or at least a German speaker. It's important to have somebody who understands me if they are to serve me well. I also need them to have several years' experience of secretarial work, particularly in corporate finance; accounting; mergers; acquisitions. There's a lot to consider."

Harvey sat open mouthed. Shit this man was boring.

"Look, Max, I'll cut to the chase. You have something 'he' wants," he said gesturing to Louis.

"Oh, and what is that?" asked Max, "I'm sure I would have pleasure in giving it to you, Louis."

Louis practically jumped off his chair and Harvey was reminded of the time he convinced himself Jeff Malone was romantically interested in him. It would be just like Louis to confuse language barriers with sexual innuendo.

"Yentob Industries," said Harvey. "They used to be Louis's client and he wants them back."

"Ah, I see," said Max. "Then I'm sorry, that is impossible. Mr Iveson was clear that he wanted to work with me and not anyone from the old Pearson Specter Litt. It was a condition of my signing."

Louis looked deflated as he sat slumped in the office chair, his face disappearing into his neck.

"The trouble is, Louis worked on the Hart Danby merger for months. He's put in dozens …"

"Hundreds," snapped Louis, his face twisted into his worst weasel-like sneer.

"…hundreds of hours of work on the deal and he'd like to get back into the game."

"I'm sorry I can't help," said Max plainly. "My duty is to Mr Iveson." Despite his sharp silver-grey suit and trendy haircut, Max Schmidt was a crusty, humourless man and Harvey had no idea how he'd risen through the ranks at Roche & Roche so quickly. He was a good decade, at least, younger than Harvey and Louis, but he was much older in manner. Gretchen was twice his age, but she had ten times as much spark.

"Look, Adolf," snapped Louis as he rose from his seat, "you may not have noticed but the name of this firm is Pearson Specter LITT? Get it? That's my name up on the wall and we call the shots here. Yentob Industries is my client and you stole it out from under my goddamn nose."

Max rose from his seat and glared at Louis. He was at least four inches taller than him, but he wasn't an intimidating man. Louis wasn't afraid of him. "What did you just call me?" he asked.

Harvey stood up next to Louis fighting the urge to wrap his hands tightly around his neck to squeeze all of the stupid out. "Max, look, he's sorry, he's just really attached to this case, and …"

"I'm not sorry," growled Louis, facing off against the German.

"Louis, shut the hell up," snapped Harvey, "what, you think he's going to give you what you want this way?"

"No, but Jessica will get it for me," said Louis. "She looks after her own. She understands the meaning of 'family'."

"As much as I like and respect Miss Pearson, she cannot give you this client because this client refuses to have anything to do with you. Now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen. I have work to do here," said Max as he sat back down at his desk full of papers.

Louis pointed his finger at Max and opened his mouth wide to speak, but nothing came out.

"Come on, Louis," said Harvey wearily, dragging his partner out of Max's office.

Louis grumbled all the way back to the Pearson Spector Litt side of the 50th floor until Harvey was tired of listening to him. "Look Louis," said Harvey, "we're just going to have to take a few punches to the gut. It's going to take us a while to get back on our feet. At least Max has Yentob Industries instead of Scottie's firm. We're still going to get paid."

"What happened with Max?" asked Donna as she brought a box of files into Harvey's office. Harvey looked at her quizzically. "The Greystone restructure," she said as she tapped the top of the box and placed it on his desk. Harvey nodded at her. He'd forgotten about Greystone, which was a tedious case. He wondered who he could palm it off onto.

Louis pouted. "He wouldn't give me Yentob back."

"Why the hell not?" asked Donna.

"Well it may have something to do with the fact Louis got pissed at him and called him 'Adolf'," shouted Harvey.

Donna's eyes bulged in horror. "You what? Louis, please tell me you didn't."

Louis's eyes fell to the floor. "He did," said Harvey.

"Oh who cares," whined Louis, his eyes narrowing to slits, "he should have given me my goddamn client back. The goddamn unfeasibly tall frankfurter! I'd love to strangle him with a string of freakin' German sausages!"

"Louis, please," gasped Donna, "no more racism!"

"That's not racist, Donna," snapped Louis, "Germans aren't a race, they're a nationality."

"Then no more nation-ism!" she snapped, "Louis, listen, these are our new colleagues. Let's welcome them, eh? Think of yourself as the Statue of Liberty, holding the torch of freedom aloft."

"Donna, they get to smoke dope and watch porn on mainstream TV in Europe," whined Louis patronisingly, "they have more freedom than us."

"Do they?" asked Harvey, pretending to perk up at the thought of free porn and legal dope. "Okay I need to get back to work here, Donna, can you get me Terry Wrightman from CloudNet on the line? He's next on my win back list," he said, swinging in his desk chair.

"Harvey, two things," said Donna. "Firstly, not your secretary anymore, so ask Antonio. Secondly CloudNet already became our clients two days ago."

"WHAT?" asked Harvey as he jumped to his feet, ready to do battle. "Is this down to Max Schmidt again, because so help me god if it is …"

"No, not Max," said Donna.

"Who?" said Harvey. Donna put on a dramatic 'acting scared' face and twisted her bottom lip. "Oh no," he said. "Stella?"

"Yep," said Donna. "I'll leave you guys to it."

Donna left Harvey and Louis fuming in the office. "What are we going to do Harvey?"

Harvey was turning a hot shade of pink. "Remember when you said you'd have my back with Stella if I tried to get Yentob back for you?"

"Yes, Harvey, that was five minutes ago. What, do you think I'm a goldfish?"

"Good," said Harvey decisively. "And no, I don't think you're a goldfish. Now, let's pay Stella a visit."

X

When they arrived back at the Roche & Roche quarter of the 50th floor, Stella wasn't in her office. Harvey and Louis scanned the area together before asking Ingrid where she was. "Cigarette break," came the response.

"Ah-ha," said Harvey. He noticed the huge bouquet of roses on the blonde secretary's desk. "Looks like you've pleased someone," he said flirtatiously.

Ingrid smiled at him displaying cute dimples in her cheeks. She was older than he was, but she still had 'it'. "Not for me," she said, "your secretary dumped them on my desk earlier. I get the impression she has an admirer, but she doesn't want anybody else to know."

" 'SHE' has an admirer?" inquired Harvey as he realised Ingrid wasn't talking about Antonio. "Do you mean Donna?"

"Yes, the fiery redhead," said Ingrid. "She certainly has 'heat' for somebody around here."

Harvey followed Ingrid's gaze to Julien's door. "What are you talking about?" asked Harvey. "Donna's not interested in him!"

"Sure looked like it to me," replied Ingrid as she fluttered her eyelashes up at Harvey again.

Harvey tried to control his anger. Ingrid was toying with him, but he couldn't bear the thought of Donna and Julien Roche together and he felt his stomach lurch. He looked at Louis and he looked just as worried. He sometimes forgot how much Louis cared for Donna too.

Just then Stella arrived back at her desk. Or rather she 'bounced' back. She wasn't wearing floral today, instead she was wearing a tight, figure hugging black dress with a low neckline. A red belt buckled around her waist accentuating her curves and complimenting her signature bright red lipstick. Her hair was worn down, but was pinned up at the front to display her movie starlet sculpted eyebrows and shiny high cheekbones. There was no mistaking the fact that she was a beautiful woman just as much as there was no mistaking the fact that she danced to her own tune.

"Oh no, I wondered when you two would tip up. I heard about your meeting with Max this morning and its tough shit. Any client we win from your old pool is fair game." said Stella.

She marched into her office with Harvey and Louis following close behind. "Goddamnit Stella, I was in the process of pursuing Terry Wrightman again. I've known that man for close to ten years."

"As I said, tough shit, Harvey," said Stella. She glanced over at Louis, then back to Harvey again. "Is he staring at my tits?" she asked, flicking her thumb pointedly at Louis.

"Probably," Harvey replied. Louis cleared his throat. Stella tutted at him in disgust. "What do you want me to do, Harvey? Hand clients over to you for free after I've done all the hard work."

"After I did all the hard work!" he yelled. "Come on Stella, we have to work together here and we're supposed to be a team. What's going to happen if you need help from me somewhere down the line?"

Stella looked at him, tapping her pen on her desk. "Okay, I tell you what …" said Stella. "How about you help me out with CloudNet and I give you a cut?"

"I'm not here to beg for pennies, Stella," said Harvey truthfully. He never really cared about the money.

"Then there's nothing more to say," she said, before catching Louis's very obvious staring out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, Mr Bean," she called over to Louis, "get your eyes off my boobs! Last chance!"

"I'm so sorry," said Louis in a half-daze, "they're just really great and …"

"Louis!" screamed Harvey, "remember those three, or is it four, incidences over the years when you have been accused of sexual harassment?"

"I need an hour," he said shaking his head as he backed out of Stella's office and strolled solemnly back to his own.

"Ha! That was fun," laughed Stella. "What a weird little man."

"Mr Bean …?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, can you not see it?"

Harvey laughed. "Totally, I'm erm … sorry he … leered at you. He doesn't know what to say to women sometimes."

"Harvey, I couldn't care a less and I can handle Louis," she laughed, flicking her hair around her shoulders. "I'll keep his boob obsession in the bank for when I need something from him. It's good to know what his weakness is."

"Shit, you are me," he said.

"I'm you?" she smiled, her cherry-red lips turned upwards in a cheerful smile. "Can't say your boobs are all that impressive."

Harvey smirked and comically raised his eyebrows, "I mean, you're the second best closer in town," joked Harvey. "At least that's what they're saying."

She smiled again at Harvey's compliment. She knew his reputation and she felt he already considered her part of his team. "Okay, I'll tell you what I'll do, Harvey," said Stella, "you help me with Wrightman's deal, plus take care of all the acquisition paperwork and I'll give you 15%"

Harvey laughed out loud, his eyes wide with disbelief, "15%?" he sneered. "Make it 45%"

No chance in hell. "20%. Final offer."

"25%?"

"Done. Right get out of my sight and remember you owe me one," said Stella. She shuffled busily around her desk which was littered with documents.

"I see you haven't been to the Max Schmidt School of keeping an organised desk?" he asked as he got up to leave.

Stella smirked and fixed him with her piercingly smart eyes, "no, I was too busy going to the Stella Bart School of being awesome," she said.

Her last remark seemed to be an excerpt from the 'Book of Donna', reminding Harvey of why he liked the British lawyer so much. "Hey," he said before he left. "Julien Roche. What's his history with women?"

Stella groaned and looked uneasy. "Well he's persistent and he usually gets what he wants if that's what you mean," she said. "Why?"

"Those flowers on his secretary's desk. She said Donna gave them to her first thing this morning and I think they were originally from Julien."

"Really? That's concerning," said Stella, her thick black eyelashes failing to hide the apprehension that filled her eyes.

"It is?" asked Harvey, "you think I need to do something?"

"Not yet," said Stella quickly. "Don't let him see you're onto him. He's … well he's an opportunist as well as being a calculated piece of work. His wife is a lawyer at Roche & Roche too. She's a Senior Partner. I didn't know her very well, but she was good. Anyway, she specialises in divorce cases and … let's just say that she's currently representing herself."

"He's getting a divorce?" asked Harvey.

"Yes, and it's a nasty one. Seems the younger Monsieur Roche can't keep it in his pants."

Harvey bristled at the thought of this man pursuing Donna. He now knew Julien Roche was a cheat, a liar, an adulterer … all the things he despised. He felt red hot rage prick at the back of his neck and course through his veins. "I'm going to put a stop to this," he snapped, before he marched out of Stella's office and into Julien's. Stella called after him, but he ignored her pleas.

X

Harvey barged into Julien's office shouting "get out" at his secretary. It was the second time that one of the American team had been rude to her and she was getting annoyed by the intrusions. She stood up and scowled at Harvey as she retreated to her cubicle.

Julien looked angry. "You better have a good reason for barging into my office like this Mr Specter," he said.

"You're damned right I do," yelled Harvey. "You keep your hands off Donna and that's not a request!"

"And what makes you think it isn't Donna who needs to keep her hands off me?" sneered Julien. He spoke directly to Harvey, fixing his dark eyes upon him and coming close enough that Harvey could smell the stale scent of too many espressos on his breath.

"You fucking what?" he roared as he grabbed Julien by the lapels and pushed him against his office wall.

Stella and Ingrid rushed into the office and tried to get between Harvey and Julien. "Don't do this, Harvey," said Stella calmly. "He's not worth it."

Julien was older and more slightly built than Harvey but he held his gaze throughout, his face stern and cold. Harvey let go of him. "You keep away from Donna," he said, "or next time I'll hurt you."

He backed out of the office with Stella taking his arm.

"Have you asked Donna what happened between us last night, Harvey?"

Harvey stopped dead in his tracks. His face darkened and Stella whispered, "do not bite. Ignore the bastard," under her breath.

He was outside Julien's office now, the glass wall between them as Julien stood smirking in the doorway. "Go back and ask her about our kiss, Harvey," he said. "Now, I'm going through a divorce at the moment, you may have heard this, so I told Donna I am not ready to get into anything with her. I sent her flowers to apologise. I do not want to lead the poor woman on. Seems she was upset and finds taking 'no' for an answer difficult. Sadly she wanted more from me. Does that sound familiar at all, Harvey? Is this the way she is with men? Always wanting more than we can give her. The truth is Donna wanted far more than just a kiss last night, Harvey."

Harvey moved forward ready to go for Julien again, but Stella positioned herself between them placing her hand on his chest. "Move away now," she bellowed to Harvey. "He is playing you."

Harvey looked around at the audience he had attracted and he straightened his tie, readying to take Stella's advice and walk away.

"I've said my peace, Julien. Donna is off limits."