One Flight Down

Chapter Thirty-Five

"What do you think of this one?" She asked as she twirled around in front of Harvey.

"I think this dress looks just as great on you as the other two." He chuckled. "You are beautiful and you could wear a trash bag and still look beautiful. But if we don't leave within the next five minutes we are going to be late meeting Marcus and Katie for dinner."

"Ok." She nodded. "Sorry. I'll just wear this dress."

"It's ok." He assured her.

She went over and placed a quick kiss on his lips. "I'm just nervous."

"Why?" He chuckled. "You already know Marcus and he thinks you're great. Katie is excited to meet you and she will love you too. There's nothing to be worried about."

She walked over and picked out a pair of shoes that would match the dark green dress she already had on. "That's just it. Who knows what Marcus has told her about me. What if she meets me and decides she hates me?"

"There is no way that could ever happen." He came over and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Everyone in my family has always fallen in love with you. I love you. My parents loved you. Marcus loves you. Katie will get to know you and end up loving you too because your personality is irresistible to all Specters."

"I hope so." She smirked. "I'd hate to break my streak."

He chuckled. "Come on. Let's go."

She put her hand in his as they left her apartment and headed towards the elevator. As they waited, his phone went off. She watched him fish it from his pocket. He read the message, laughed and then put his phone back in his pocket.

"Something funny you want to share with the rest of the class?" She questioned.

"Mike is at Robert's house for dinner tonight. Apparently Robert just told them about the merger. Rachel is not pleased. There is a lot of yelling going on." He explained.

They got into the elevator and she watched the doors close. "I guess it's a good thing I wasn't able to be there then."

"Robert invited you?" He looked over at her. He shouldn't have been surprised by that but he was actually. Mike made it seem like the dinner tonight was a family dinner. But perhaps he underestimated how much Victoria meant to Robert if he was inviting her to a family dinner.

"Yes." She nodded. "But thankfully you had already asked me dinner so I had an escape clause. I tried to be supportive and tell Robert it would be ok but I knew there would be yelling. Thank you for a reason to skip it."

"You're very welcome. I'll be your excuse anytime you need one." He smiled, leaning in to give her a quick kiss before the elevator doors opened again.

Harvey pulled out her chair for her and watched as she sat down. They ended up getting to the restaurant before Marcus and Katie. "You know, you really do look incredibly sexy in that dress." He whispered into her ear. "Though I can't wait to get you out of it later."

She grinned. "I guess I did pick the right dress after all."

"You certainly did." He said, putting his hand on the small of her back and rubbing small circles on her exposed skin.

"Sorry we are late." Marcus apologized as he headed to the table with Katie following him.

"Someone decided to take a phone call from the restaurant and it ran longer than he thought it would." Katie laughed. "Harvey. It's been too long."

"Yes it has. You look great. How are things?" He got up and gave Katie a hug, kissing her cheek.

"Same old, same old." Katie laughed. "But I can't complain."

He watched as Katie looked over at Victoria.

"You must be Victoria." Katie smiled. "I have heard so much about you. It's nice to meet you in person."

"You too." Victoria smiled.

Katie sat down on the other side of Victoria and they immediately started chatting so he turned his attention to Marcus.

"Hey Marcus." He greeted.

"Hey Captain Dickweed." Marcus laughed, pulling him into a quick hug.

"Are you ever going to stop with the names?" He sighed, feigning annoyance. The truth was that he liked the fact that Marcus insulted him. As weird as it sounded, it made him feel validated about the fact that they were close again. When they weren't talking much, Marcus only called him Harvey. Now that Marcus was coming up with different insult names every time they spoke, it made him feel like they had the same kind of relationship they had growing up. It was strangely comforting.

"Never bro." Marcus laughed.

"So how did Katie like the restaurant site?" He asked as they sat back down at the table.

"I think she likes it." Marcus explained. "Truthfully, we didn't spend much time there. I just used the restaurant as a cover to get her out of town. I mainly brought her here as a little getaway from the kids. She deserves a break from them every once and a while. And then once she found out about your girlfriend…well there was no keeping her from coming with me. I have a feeling she would have packed herself into my suitcase if she had to in order to meet Victoria."

"I see." He chuckled.

"Speaking of, are you guys calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend?" Marcus laughed. "Or are you just ambiguously hooking up?"

He rolled his eyes. "We are boyfriend/girlfriend, though that seems so juvenile to call it that."

Saying it aloud made it seem real but it didn't fill him with as much dread or anxiety as he imagined it would. In the past, even thinking about the term girlfriend filled him with a profound sense of nervousness. Maybe it had to do with the person who the term personified.

"That's great." Marcus smiled. "Just remember…don't screw this up."

He couldn't help but scoff. "I know. You say that every time we talk."

"Only because it is important." Marcus laughed.

It amazed her how warm Katie was towards her. As soon as they sat down, they started talking and didn't stop. It was like they had known each other for years and were best friends. The conversation never seemed to hit an awkward spot. It was nice to find out they had so many things in common. They were done with dinner and waiting on dessert and she couldn't remember saying anything more than a quick hello to Marcus. The rest of the time she had been talking to Katie.

She stood next to Katie in front of the mirror in the ladies room as they reapplied their lipsticks.

"Can I tell you something?" Katie asked, putting her lipstick back in her purse and looking over.

"Of course." She nodded.

"I was actually prepared to not like you tonight." Katie admitted, looking sheepish.

"What?" She chuckled. "Why?"

"Over the years, Marcus has talked about you. We would be talking about how we were worried about Harvey and your name would come up. Or we would be talking about something that happened when he was younger and the story would include you. He always had such great things to say about you and I guess a part of me had doubts that you were as special as Marcus remembered. I often wondered if he was exaggerating about you. But the joke is on me because I think you are pretty cool. He wasn't exaggerating at all."

She couldn't help but smile. "Well I think you are pretty cool too."

"You know, you are the first woman Harvey has ever brought around us, or even mentioned more than once." Katie said.

She wasn't surprised by that, given his reluctance to be in a relationship.

"I don't know if you are aware of this, but he really does love you." Katie informed her. "I can tell because all through dinner he kept looking at you constantly, like he was afraid you would disappear."

That comment caught her off guard. She wasn't aware that Harvey was watching her so much because she was too busy trying to get to know Katie.

"I love him too." She admitted.

"I think it is wonderful that you two found each other again. I haven't ever seen Harvey this happy."

She wasn't sure exactly what to say to that so she kept quiet and finished fixing her lipstick.

"Ready to go back out there?" Katie asked.

"Sure." She stuffed her lipstick into her purse and followed Katie back out to the table.

"So was it as bad as you thought it might be?" Harvey asked her as Ray drove them back to their building.

She looked over at him and smiled. "No. It wasn't. Katie is great."

"She really liked you." He chuckled, thinking back to when they were leaving the restaurant.

"Harvey, you're going to have to come up and see the kids soon." Katie said as she walked over to give him a goodbye hug.

"I will. I promise." He smiled, wrapping his arms around his sister-in-law.

"And bring Victoria." Katie whispered. "I now see why Marcus always said he wanted Victoria as a sister-in-law because I have to agree with him. She makes you happy. Don't let that slip away."

"I'll do my best." He chuckled nervously.

"I know it was silly to be so nervous about meeting her." She acknowledged.

"It wasn't that silly." He assured her.

"Yes it was." She argued with a grin on her face. "I just…I can't help wanting to fit into your world, every part of your world."

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "I want that too."

"I know you aren't thrilled about keeping our relationship a secret with the people you care about at work."

"No, I'm not." He said, feeling guilty about the fact that pretty much everyone close to him at work at least knew about their old relationship.

"But you have respected my reasons for it and I appreciate that." She smiled, grabbing a hold of his hand. "So if you can just give me a month after the merger is done, then we can tell any and all people you want about us."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I am aware Jessica already knows about us. She told me the other day that you confided in her."

"I did." He nodded slowly. It caught him off guard. "Are you mad?"

"No." She shook her head. "I know you told her before I asked you not to say anything."

"Ok."

"So I feel like a month is a good amount of time for me to be able to make my mark on the firm and prove my worth. I feel like after that, it won't be as big of a deal for everyone else that we are together."

"Ok." He nodded. "A month it is."

He looked at her smile and felt even guiltier. It wasn't just Jessica that knew they were together. Mike knew they were together and Louis knew too. He hadn't come right out and said it to Donna, but he was fairly certain Donna knew too. She always had a sixth sense about things.

He contemplated telling her that there were more people who knew about it than what she thought, but he knew she would be upset by that so he stayed quiet.