Author's Note: Here we are again! What would a TGW inspired fic be without an embodiment of Will Gardner? Huh?
Guest:
Stacie is so in love with Aubrey it's insane. My babies.
DatChicAnna:
Well, here's some drama.
BallSoHard:
There isn't a pairing quite like Bechloe's situations in TGW. And I will schedule in Chloe's explosion soon.
Constitutional Rights
12: The One Percent
"The Paisley Group already leads the other Fortune 500 companies in the global and industry trend toward consumer use of green products, while providing competitive advantages in efficacy and safety." Chloe looked at the man of generations before her own. "Now, this doesn't mean-"
"Not now, not ever!"
Chloe shifted in her seat at the sound of the protesters outside the large building. "Ah sounds like our protester friends agree with us, now is not the time for brunch. In short, the merger of our two great companies will ensure our competitive edge." Chloe looked across the boardroom, one butler acting slightly suspiciously. "But more important, for the pension funds you manage. It'll mean a greater return on your investments. Now are there any questions?"
"Mr. Paisley," a member of the brunch began, "how much domestic workforce would you anticipate shedding as a result of this merger?"
James Paisley chuckled. "You sound like one of the protesters out there." At the sound of a chuckle through the room, he continued. "Regrettably, it could be as much as twenty percent. We're gonna hope to hold to that line."
"What about the wrongful termination suit by your former CFO?" Another asked.
Chloe sat up straighter in her chair. "Well, I'm not stupid, I'll leave that to my lawyer."
Chloe stood up and walked towards the small podium at the front of the room, flanking Mr. Paisley. "Yes. We're confident that this suit has no merit-"
"He's claiming he was fired because he was gay."
"Yes." Chloe began, "He's claiming that." Jesus Christ she sounds like Aubrey. "Kyle Musset was fired for cause. He was attempting to sell trade secrets to a competitor."
"If the suit drags on it could hang over the stock price." Another worried investor cut in.
"Well, we're in negotiations now and we're confident that this suit will set-"
"Down with corporate imperialism!" A cream pie was promptly pushed into Mr. Paisley's face, some of the filling splattering onto Chloe's dress.
Mr. Paisley chuckled, "Didn't I tell you this was gonna be fun?"
Chloe walked through the small square footage of their firm, straight into the conference room. "Lindsay, can you get my sweater from my desk?" She paused. "Aubrey, are we ready to put this to bed?"
Aubrey smiled. "I'm ready for court, I think we just honor our trial date tomorrow." She paused. "My God Chloe, what happened to you? Or is that, uh, another design choice? Like your lack of doors."
"It was a mishap." Chloe grabbed her sweater from her assistant, shrugging it on. "We, uh, considered your client's latest demands and, um, our top offering is $140,000."
"We'll take our chances in court, Chloe." Chloe nodded, beginning to walk off. "He was fired because he was gay, how's that gonna go over with your fund managers - how's that going to go over with your partner?"
"Like extortion." Chloe countered, sure, she wasn't as tall as Aubrey, but her ego was almost as big. "You're lucky to get $140,000."
"$200,000."
"No, Aubrey." Chloe smiled. "$140,000 is as far as it'll go."
Aubrey tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips. "You have changed." Chloe shrugged. "I liked the old Chloe better."
"The $200,000 Chloe?"
Aubrey rolled her eyes, "I'll talk to my client, you talk to your corporate overlord and then we'll talk again. In the meantime, get that cleaned up, cause it's gonna leave a stain." The blonde attorney smiled before walking towards the elevator.
"Good things come to those who wait?"
Chloe sighed at all the signs throughout the room. James Paisley was due to go on Financial Daily News, and this was her last chance to finalise a deal before he went on. "Well, I guess $140,000."
Mr. Paisley rolled his eyes. "I don't know why we have to pay him a cent, he's a thief."
"Because we have a court date set for tomorrow if we don't settle this." Chloe pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders. "Mr. Paisley, the merger's worth $3.7 billion. $140,000 is nothing."
"It's a lot of money."
"To me, yeah." Chloe admitted, "To you, it's what you made while you were sitting here."
"I like that sweater."
Chloe tried to suppress slapping some sense into him. "Thanks."
"Send me your cleaning bill."
Chloe shook her head. "Agree to pay $140,000 and I'll pay the cleaning bill."
"Mr. Paisley, we're ready for you."
Chloe looked at the stage hand as Mr. Paisley continued talking. "You know what I like about you, Chloe?" Chloe shrugged, willing the conversation to finish. "You don't take this stuff too seriously. You and me together on the barricades, huh? Hold off the hordes."
"$140,000?"
"Pay 'em off." He stood up. "Don't even want to think about it again."
"Mr. James Paisley." Mr. Paisley nodded at Donald. "I understand there was a bit of drama at your presentation to the top pension fund managers."
"Oh, you mean the pie incident."
Chloe's eyes widened as she sat next to Emily at Beale/Junk and Associates. "Wait, turn it up."
Donald looked at his notes. "Someone from the protest infiltrated your meeting and hit you with a pie."
Mr. Paisley chuckled. "Not even a very tasty pie, I might add."
"And was this to protest the fact that this merger would be sending jobs overseas."
Mr. Paisley shrugged. "Honestly, Donald, I don't know what it's about. I don't know what these people want. I'm standing in my boardroom, people downstairs handcuffing themselves to the receptionist's desk, honking horns, not letting us out of the building." He sighed, "I felt like, uh Anne Frank, hiding from the Nazis."
Chloe's eyes widened. "No, no."
"Well, that's a bit extreme, isn't it?" Donald asked, looking down at his papers.
"Not really." Mr. Paisley continued, not willing to shut up. "I feel this country's turned on its head. Tom Perkins may have put it inelegantly, but he wasn't that far wrong."
"Don't say it." Chloe bashed a fist against her other hand. "Dear God, don't say it."
Aubrey and Beca were sitting among the other partners, the former of the two named sipping on coffee. "Go for it, say it."
"The one percent is the new hunted minority in this country. Not unlike the Jews in Nazi Germany."
"Holy shit." Beca commented. "I'm glad we don't have that guy for a client anymore."
Chloe continued banging her head on the table. "Don't call her now, she'll just know you're on the run and she'll up the price." Emily's words were barely registering in her mind.
"We have to risk it." Chloe picked her phone up. "As soon as she sees this, she's gonna want to go to court." She began to dial the number. "It doesn't change the facts. It taints the jury pool."
As if on cue, Aubrey's phone began ringing on the conference room table, "I wonder how long I should make her wait." When Beca gently nudged her in the arm, Aubrey held her hands up, picking up the call. "Hey, Chloe, we're gonna take our chances in court."
"Your case is weak." The redhead gritted out, looking between Emily and Jessica.
"Yeah, we both know it's not about the case anymore." Beca looked to the merger agreement pending approval, writing another point to the bottom of it. "It's about jury selection and, uh, it's gonna be over before you can say, 'Ladies and gentlemen of the jury'."
Chloe glanced at Emily. "We'll go up to $200,000."
"Nope, it's now $3 million."
Chloe gawked, looking at Emily and writing the figure down. When her younger shook her head, Chloe agreed, choosing to scoff. "Then we'll see you in court."
"See you there."
Beca looked at her notes. "Okay, Aubrey, we've got a problem. Kael Pepper and my class action. We can only represent one of them."
Aubrey didn't look up from her coffee. "The class action was signed yesterday at 3:00, I signed Kael at 2:00. We agreed that in conflict of interest we'd go with who we signed first."
Beca rolled her eyes. "Kael Pepper only approached you because of our suit. They want this to be a conflict of interest."
Aubrey placed her mug down, rather forcefully, causing many people in the room to jump slightly. "No, they approached us because we're good lawyers, and they bring $8 million in yearly business." She adjusted her hair. "Beca, I know you're a social justice warrior, but small class actions with 3 people don't constitute a good use of time."
"Their facility polluted the groundwater, Aubrey! They poisoned those kids."
"Beca, if you represent only the innocent, you'll go quickly out of business." Aubrey stood up. "If you want to fight for the good guy, go to freaking bond court." She checked her watch, "I have to get to court."
Aubrey looked to Benji, who they'd managed to swipe from the State's office. "I need you to sit second chair." Benji raised an eyebrow. "It's bad, but I need a Jew to sit second chair, you can argue, I promise."
Judge Parks looked at the two parties, "The voir dire process is a very important one, because it enables the court and the lawyers to determine whether or not each of you would be appropriate jurors for this particular case."
Chloe looked at the table across from them. "Aubrey's right. This trial is over in voir dire." She looked at the magnetic whiteboard in front of them. "You had in your employment contract that we only need a majority to prevail, so, we just need seven. Whoever gets the first seven jurors has the upper hand in negotiations."
Emily nodded, "This isn't about going to trial. This is about getting seven jurors. It could be the difference between a $200,000 settlement and $8.5 million."
Judge Parks nodded, "let's begin."
Aubrey took her turn to question the first witness. "Ms. Economus, in your capacity as a human resources manager, do you have access to what other people make? I mean, their salary?"
The potential juror nodded. "Yes, I do."
Aubrey looked at her notes. "And does it rankle you sometimes how much more executives get paid than other employees? The CEO of your company, for example." She looked to Benji, allowing him to take over.
Emily slumped in her seat, not unnoticed by Chloe. "He's my ex-boyfriend."
Benji nodded, smiling kindly at the woman. "How much more does that person make than the average, say, claims adjuster? I mean, 500 times?"
Chloe stood up. "Your Honor, objection." Judge Parks looked to the redhead. "Your Honor, I believe Mr. Applebaum is trying to prejudice our jury against our client by using out-of-court statements. These questions being ones which Ms. Posen has fed him."
"Yes, Ms. Posen, I saw the news coverage of Mr. Paisley's comments, and I am inclined to agree."
Aubrey turned on her heel. "Your Honor, I'm merely trying to determine whether this juror can fairly judge a man who makes thousands of times what she-"
Chloe scoffed. "Oh, so you're worried about jurors being fair to our client? Okay."
Judge Parks held his hand up, silencing the courtroom. "I'm ruling that any out-of-court statements having to do with class or economic differences are irrelevant.2
Aubrey looked to the juror. "Ms. Economus, how much of a reader are you? Much of a reader?"
Ms. Economus shrugged, her reading was indifferent. "Well, I guess as much as anybody else. Though I read a lot in college."
Aubrey nodded, "Have you ever read Diary of Anne Frank?"
Chloe practically leapt from her seat. "Your Honor, objection!"
Judge Parks looked between the two parties standing in his chambers. "Ms. Posen, I warned you not to continue with the irrelevant questions."
Aubrey looked at her watch. "With irrelevant economic questions, Your Honor." As if on cue, Benji began to whisper in the blonde's ear. "You sure?" At Benji's nod, she continued. "Your Honor, we'd like to amend our suit to include claim of religious discrimination."
"On what grounds?" Chloe cut in.
"Ms. Beale, that's my job."
Aubrey opened a file, as if this were all planned way in advance. "My client, Mr. Musset, has Jewish ancestry on his father's side." She placed the family tree on Judge Park's desk. "And Mr. Paisley's insensitive remarks last night about Anne Frank and her tragic ordeal serves to illustrate the anti-Semitism."
"No, I don't believe this." Chloe snatched the family tree from Aubrey's hands. "Your Honor?"
Judge Parks sighed. "Religious discrimination is a recognized cause of action. You may think it's a facade, and I may agree with you, but that's what a trial is for." He handed the piece of paper back over to Aubrey. "Very well, Ms. Posen, you may continue after lunch."
"I'm not going to apologize." Okay, Chloe thought, now I want to strangle him.
"They're using it to get the jury they want." Chloe insisted. "Aubrey, who I know you dislike due to her brother's work, is out there winning this case because more people hate you than like you."
"Yes, but I told the truth."
Chloe scoffed, throwing her coffee cup into the bin. "That being surrounded by protestors was like Anne Frank?"
"I was being hyperbolic."
"Then apologize for that!" Chloe insisted. "The Posen family will win!"
Mr. Paisley shook his head. "No." Chloe kicked the edge of the table. "Chloe, you're trying to get me to apologize for the Nazi reference so people will think I'm apologizing for the whole thing."
"Mr. Paisley, you said that the one percent were like Jews in Germany."
"No." He leaned back in his chair. "I said Tom Perkins made a good point. You know who called me this morning? Warren Mitchell from Chumhum. Said, 'Thank you. It's about time somebody told the truth'."
Chloe sighed, "Mr. Paisley, can I have you meet someone? It'll only take a minute."
"I'm not gonna change my mind."
"Mr. Fishbein, you can come on in." Chloe smiled at the man as he walked into the room.
"Where is this putz?"
Chloe smiled sweetly at Mr. Paisley. "Mr. Paisley, I would like you to meet Mr. Fishbein."
"So, you think you have it the same as the Jews of Nazi Germany?" Mr. Fishbein rolled up his shirt sleeve. "You putz."
Chloe began backing out of the room. "I'm gonna let you two talk for a minute."
Chloe smiled as she lay on the couch with Emily. "I just want to express my sincere regret for my unfortunate choice of words yesterday."
Emily smiled, "Good job, how'd you do it?"
Chloe giggled to herself. "Mr. Fishbein, the Holocaust survivor."
"Obviously, comparing myself, or anyone, to Anne Frank was extreme and ill-considered, and I want to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my insensitivity."
"I understand you've come on tonight after meeting with a Holocaust survivor." Steve, the other anchor said.
"Yes, and I will say that it was an enlightening experience. But he understood that these were the words of a self-educated man who was struggling for a metaphor. That's all."
Chloe nodded her approval. "Good, good."
"He also understood my frustration with the protestors."
"No." Chloe said, looking at the screen. "No!"
"You mean, the backlash against the one percent."
"Is that what I am? I always thought I was a guy just trying to make a living."
Chloe banged the laptop screen. "Stop talking!"
"And your 'frustration,' as you put it, is with those who don't?"
"Look, a man has to pull his weight." Mr. Paisley began. "This is America, and there's a reason for this being the greatest country in the world, we reward winners. This is not Italy or Greece, we do not reward the lazy."
"Oh, dear God." Chloe began, trying to find her phone beneath the pizza boxes thrown around their offices. "Someone just throw a blanket over him."
Emily looked to Chloe, concern manifesting itself in her eyes. "Do we have any Greeks or Italians on the jury?"
Across the city, Benji pulled a laptop onto his lap. "Aubrey, you may want to watch this." He watched as the blonde stirred, groaning.
"Did we really?" She rubbed her eyes before sitting up, conscious of keeping the duvet in a position where it would hide her naked form.
"You're better than Emily." Benji remarked, gleeful like a young schoolboy who'd discovered he'd maxed his spelling test. "And Paisley's on again."
"So, what do you think of Tom Perkins' suggestion that voting rights should be tied to tax brackets?"
"Well, I probably shouldn't say this… but I think there's some merit to it."
Chloe moved two magnetic pieces to Aubrey's side of their whiteboard. "Well, we just lost juror number four and juror number two - and possibly two others, our last two."
"Your Honor, we have no objections to seating Mr. Rizzardi he seems like he'd make a great juror." Aubrey sat back down in her chair, looking at her board.
Emily looked up, "Your Honor, we'd like to exercise one of our peremptory challenges."
Benji raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing's wrong with him." Emily finalised. "That's why we're exercising our peremptory challenge."
Aubrey looked down at her list of people Paisley had pissed off. "It's because he's Italian, isn't it?"
"That's enough!" Judge Parks turned to the juror. "Mr. Rizzardi, you're excused."
Chloe looked at the whiteboard. "She's still up by two jurors, unless we can disqualify one." She looked at the juror profiles. "Your Honor, may we approach again?"
Judge Parks nodded. "Faster the better."
Chloe made her way to the bench, glancing at Aubrey before continuing. "Your Honor, my apologies, but I believe that one of Ms. Posen's, I mean, one of the jurors that's already been seated may have been biased by my client's most recent comments."
"Your Honor, this is outrageous." Aubrey began, though Judge Parks just looked at her indifferently. "We've already agreed on each one of these jurors."
Chloe nodded her understanding, seeing Aubrey's point to a certain extent. "Yes, Your Honor, but if a statement has been made in the press, that would render one of them incapable of being fair and unbiased, well, it's like we all want a fair jury."
Judge Parks ran a hand over his face as Chloe asked the juror some questions. "So, Ms. Economus, you heard my client Mr. Paisley's latest comments?"
"I mean, I didn't hear them directly a girlfriend of mine mentioned something about it."
Chloe smiled. "So, as a Greek person, how did you feel about his comments about Greece as a country?"
"I'm from Skokie…"
Chloe nodded, "yes, but your heritage is Greek, isn't it?"
"Well, sure. Both sides." She paused for a moment. "You know, now that you mention it, yeah, it was very offensive."
"Ah, Chloe." Mr. Paisley looked at the redhead as she entered the room. "Do you have some Greeks and Italians for me to meet?"
Chloe dropped her bag on her desk. "You're going to issue a statement saying that you're giving a million dollars to charity, and that you do not believe voting should be tied with a person's tax bracket."
"What if I don't believe that?"
Chloe scoffed. "You think I should have less of a vote than you?"
"I don't know." Mr. Paisley began, "How much do you make?" He finished, chuckling to himself. When Chloe didn't laugh, however, he sighed. "I built a business from nothing. In '99, I lost it in the tech bust. And I built it up again from nothing."
"You're not poor now, Mr. Paisley."
"Neither are you." He countered. "I've seen your bills. You may choose to disguise it in all these earthy surroundings, but you are the one percent. Did you know my company is developing a gene that will prolong a person's life? We are. The one percent."
Chloe looked at him, utterly exasperated. "Then what are you worried about? You're winning. You have a lot of things, Mr. Paisley why do you feel so cornered?"
"Because there are more people who want than people who have." He leaned back in the seta. "Read Ayn Rand. Have you read her books?"
"They're awful!"
"Well, they weren't meant to be Moby-Dick, they were meant to make you think." Mr. Paisley returned.
"A guy bombs a building, the rich go out on strike it's a 12-year-old's view of the world." Chloe shook her head, trying to rid it of the ridiculousness which was those books. "It's like basing your philosophy on the books of John Grisham." She leaned forward. "Mr. Paisley, you've always told me that you are a bottom-line kind of guy. So here's the bottom line; we're losing jury members, and the fund managers are getting nervous. If it continues, they may not support this merger, and what's worse, you're in a media death spiral. No matter what you say, you will never get a fair interpretation." She looked at him.
"You have to put out a statement, another apology." When Mr. Paisley shook his head, Chloe raised an eyebrow. "We'll hire a PR firm, using a focus group to find the right words."
"Okay, and how many of you like option number two?" Chloe sipped her beer as the focus group finished their voting. "And we have a winner."
The leader of the PR firm they'd hired for the case walked back out to Chloe and Emily. "They liked number two. And, uh, two people suggested "backed into a corner" instead of pushed."
"No." Chloe disagreed. "'Pushed' is better. 'Backed' is too passive."
"Anyone who knows me knows I've have a tendency to bristle when pushed into a corner. I end up saying things that I not only regret but truly do not believe. My comments were thoughtless, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone. More to the point and I want to be clear it's no one's fault if they are poor."
"And you feel that was a sincere apology, Ms. Beale?"
Chloe looked into the camera as she'd been instructed to do. "Yes, I do. I believe that Mr. Paisley's feelings were summed up by the words he spoke today. Words that he has lived by his entire life. Not by the few sentences he spoke two days ago."
"Well, you're a paid flack."
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "I'm his lawyer, Steve."
"Donald. I'm the other one."
Chloe swallowed, "My apologies, Donald." She looked towards the boards Emily had written up. "In my own experience, Mr. Paisley is a sincere man who spoke today from his heart."
"But let's be honest." Chloe paused as one of the men began to speak. Due to the lack of a monitor, she was unable to tell the two men apart. "The poor aren't the only ones he's disparaged. Isn't he being sued for firing someone who's gay?"
"That is not true, Don."
"Actually, this is Don." Chloe mentally cussed. "Don Keats, Steven is the black guy to my right."
"Thank you, Ms. Bouchard." Aubrey sat down in her chair. "Your Honor, we're fine with this juror."
Judge Parks smiled. "Ms. Bouchard, you are empanelled. And that, amazingly, completes our selection process. We'll take a short recess."
Chloe smiled, "Okay, she puts us over the top seven to five."
She looked up, seeing Aubrey leaning over the table. "Uh, I don't think so." Chloe followed the blonde's line of vision to a black woman in the front row giving Chloe an extremely dirty look. "Well, I'm afraid by my count, that makes us deadlocked. Six-six."
Emily ran a hand through her hair. "What do you propose, Aubrey?"
"$5 million. I think Mr. Paisley will find it cheap in the long run."
Emily ran up to Chloe as soon as the redhead got back from buying her lunch. "Hey, have you seen the news?"
Chloe groaned, her mind not ready for another Paisley scandal. "Oh, God, what now?"
Emily's grin was wide, "No, no, no, it's good." She led Chloe over to her laptop, where she raised the volume.
"The state attorney general's office today expanded its pharmaceutical investigation to include Kael Pepper Laboratories, a multinational company that's been accused of price gouging patients in the distribution of their AIDS medication Reyacept."
Chloe squinted at the screen. "What am I supposed to see?"
"Just watch."
The shot cut to a scene outside the company's Chicago headquarters. Chloe raised an eyebrow, which fell to its original stance at the sight of Aubrey pushing past the photographers. "No comment, no comment."
Chloe held out her hand for a high five. "Oh, that's good."
Aubrey folded her arms. "Very clever, but it's not gonna work."
Chloe chose to feign innocence. "What won't?"
"Juror number seven." Aubrey answered as if it were obvious. "You think because he's gay he'll hate that I represent a firm that was accused of price gouging AIDS medication, but you forget he occupied Wall Street for six straight weeks. He slept in a cardboard box on the sidewalk, and that's what he cares about." She shrugged. "He's gay, so what?"
Chloe smirked, looking at the piece of paper in her hand. "That's not the juror you should worry about, Bree." She smiled smugly. "It's juror number five, Joanne Honig. You don't remember? Her son died last year." She added a pause for dramatic affect. "AIDS. It's a tragedy."
"$2 million."
Chloe scoffed. "$500,000."
Aubrey shook her head. "$1 million and it's a drop in the bucket." She tried to straighten her posture. "And besides, none of us knows for sure what any of these jurors are gonna do anyway, do we?"
Chloe held one finger up to Mr. Paisley, who simply nodded. "It's a deal, Aubrey, but stick to it this time."
Chloe looked at the document. "Posen, Mitchell and Beale?"
Emily shook her head, "It isn't a good deal, I can get us more."
"Emily, this deal is as good as it's gonna get, no sleeping with Rose will get you to where we want. You get partnership, joint head of family law." Chloe looked through the document once again. "It's an amazing deal, we should take it."
"Who said college reunions weren't fun?" Will joked as he pinned his partner for the night down on the bed. "At least now that my younger brother isn't around to tell me to fuck off." He made quick work of her dress, quickly discarding it along with his own clothing.
Stacie swallowed at the moans of pleasure feeding through the wall and into her ears. She really didn't do herself any favours with her obsession of investigating anything sketchy. She should've just allowed this to happen, not listened in. It would've made it so much easier for her heart.
Her eyes still moved over the text from twenty minutes prior.
Aubrey Posen: I'm going down to the clinic tomorrow, thank you for your offered support though.
Author's Note 2: There's nothing wrong with having sex with a) an employee and b) your late best friend's brother, right?
Don't worry, I'll tie up loose ends at some point, just trust me.
