"Thank you for joining me, Jessica."
"Daniel." Jessica inclined her head briefly as she allowed the waiter to pull her chair out for her. Once settled her eyes lighted upon the blue folder beside the shrimp fork. "Are those the papers?"
"They are; thought we could get a bite to eat first, for old time's sake." Daniel Hardman's suit was impeccable as always, and his tie matched his eyes. His expression was indulgent and satisfied.
"I don't plan on eating with you, Daniel," Jessica said as she held her hand over her glass. The waiter nervously nodded and moved to pour Daniel a glass of wine.
"Why ever not?" He had the audacity to look hurt and Jessica reminded herself that picking up a fork and stabbing the man in the eye would not allow her to complete her life goals
"Because you make me lose my appetite," she retorted.
Daniel's eyes glinted. "Well, maybe that's for the best. We never could fake it for long with each other and besides, living so high on the hog hasn't really done you good. I can see it was starting to get to you," he said before he took a swallow of wine.
Jessica blinked. "Did you just try and call me fat?" she asked with a laugh. "Oh, thank you, Daniel. Thank you for reminding me why I couldn't work with you. Why I ever thought you were the classiest man I had ever met I will never know. I guess I'll just chalk that up to youth," she said.
Daniel slid the folder over with a hard expression. "I'm sure you'll recognize your severance package. Ironclad, as it was."
"Of course it is, I wrote it," Jessica said as she opened the folder and took a quick glance at the document. Nothing had been changed or added and she was honestly surprised; Daniel was not the type to let someone go gracefully.
Not when he thought he could still put his John Lobb shoe on your collar.
"Everything is how you left it," he said. "If I could've fucked you over one more time, I would've."
Jessica clenched her jaw and began signing the document. "Have you already removed my name from the building?" she asked.
"Workers are doing it now, don't worry. It'll be as if you were never there," Daniel said. The waiter arrived with a beautifully seared sirloin steak and asparagus tips and Jessica began to wish she had eaten something before she'd arrived. "Sure you won't have anything? I know this is one of your favorite restaurants."
"If I desired to dine with you, I would've ordered," Jessica said as she turned to the last page and signed her name. The emotion she managed to suppress made it difficult to swallow, and she took a sip of the lemon water on her left. "So, we're finished."
"No, you're finished." Daniel smiled as he cut his steak. "I told you it could only end this way. I just wish you could've seen your face when all those hands rose to vote you out. Had you realized how many enemies you allowed Harvey to create for you? In the end you could've serviced every one of those men and they still would've voted you out if it meant getting rid of Specter." Daniel took a bite of his steak and hummed appreciatively. "I love a good steak; nice and tender, and just a little bloody," he sneered.
Jessica swallowed around the white-hot pit of anger in her throat and managed a thin smile. "I think all those men knew that I would take Harvey over five or ten of them on any given day. I don't have time to babysit those who may be threatened by anyone who has refused to resign themselves to mediocrity or are dazzled by those who only think they're better than everyone else. There was a reason your first firm failed, Daniel. You couldn't keep a staff together until I came along.
"You made it seem as if you were molding me for greatness and that you were doing me a favor. In some ways, you were," she relented. "But it was all to mask your incompetence. You're a lion in the court room, Daniel. No one can say otherwise. But there is more to being a lawyer and there is for damn sure more to being a boss. You'll learn, or you won't." Jessica closed the folder and slid it across the table with a smile. "We'll see how well you have succeeded when you bleed associates. Partners. When the lines of impressive, talented young people stop clamoring for your firm and start going elsewhere."
"You're just so sure that will happen, aren't you?" Daniel said. "It would kill you to see me succeed."
"I don't doubt you'll succeed for a while, Daniel. You're the type to do anything to make sure of that. What you'll find you can't do is thrive. You'll stay the same and the firm will not grow. Do you want to know why, Daniel?" Jessica leaned in with a knowing smile. "Because you don't know how to inspire anything but dishonesty and suspicion. But I don't blame you, I blame your mother," she said dismissively. "So now we're done."
Daniel's glare had an edge of forced indifference. "So it seems," he said. "I would say I wish it could say I wanted this to turn out differently, but I'd be lying."
"Well, we wouldn't want you to lie," Jessica said as she rose. "Goodbye, Daniel."
"Jessica." Daniel raised his glass halfheartedly but she didn't see; Jessica only looked ahead, now.
"If there is a scratch on those balls, I'll have yours on display," Donna warned as she watched the movers like hawks. Jessica covered a smile as she stepped forward and made her presence known.
"Harvey could've hired someone to supervise this," she said, and Donna turned, slightly surprised before she covered it with her customary wry smile.
"Well, I couldn't trust someone would do it correctly and it wasn't as if I didn't have anything better to do," she said as she went back to packing Harvey's record collection. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you, actually."
Donna paused. "You did?" She paled. "Did I do something?"
"Donna, I'm no longer your boss. Harvey's no longer your boss," Jessica reminded her gently. "I just wanted to speak, woman to woman."
Donna looked flabbergasted. "Well, alright," she said. "Want to have a seat?"
"Thank you," Jessica said. Her office had already seen a professional moving company; anything that wasn't bought with her personal money was probably on display in Daniel's office.
"Is this about you and Harvey starting your own firm?" Donna whispered quickly as soon as she'd crossed her legs.
Jessica paused and chuckled. "So he had already spoken with you?"
"He told me he couldn't fathom sitting around on his ass and he would make sure you didn't either. I figured it was either a new firm or a catering business," Donna joked.
Jessica smiled. "Harvey said you would be on board for a move to Seattle, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't taking advantage of your good nature; I understand we'd be asking you to uproot your life here."
"I have family in Seattle, actually. A sister who I don't get to see nearly as often as I'd like; I don't mind the west coast. As for me following Harvey, I would as long as he going in the right direction. I think a bit more responsibility would be good for him."
"I'm thinking the same thing," Jessica said faintly. A more responsible Harvey was an attractive thought. He never hesitated to take responsibility for his actions, but she couldn't quite drum it into him to act responsibly.
He swore he didn't understand the difference.
"If I make this move with you, and let's face it, I will; I want to be office manager. I can train Harvey's assistant but if we're going to start a new firm I would like a more active role. I have a keen eye for detail and I don't tolerate anyone's shit."
Jessica smirked. "Yes, I've seen you in action. I'm sure we can hammer out a contract and job description that would benefit both parties within the next few weeks. How does that sound?"
Donna leaned back and nodded happily. "Sounds like we have a deal."
Jessica and offered her hand. "I'll see you later, Donna."
"Donna-" Mike Ross stuck his head into Harvey's former office and froze. "Um, Jessica, hi. I'm sorry-" He trailed off, obviously nervous and not quite sure what he should say.
There was nothing he could say.
Jessica raised her hand and shook her head. She turned back to Donna. "Thank you for talking to me, Donna. I'll let you continue." She nodded once at Mike and suppressed her smile as he scrambled to move out of her way. Jessica inhaled and sighed to herself. She had the smell of this building imprinted in her memory; it was the one place she spent the most time. She would be lying if she said she wouldn't miss it.
A throat cleared quietly behind her, and Jessica could see a slightly sheepish reflection in the elevator door. "Louis," she said without turning around.
"You could feel me coming?" Louis asked as he came to stand next to her.
Jessica shook her head. "No," was all she said.
Louis nodded and rose to the balls of his feet and back down nervously. "So, are you coming back?" he asked with a desperate attempt at nonchalance.
Jessica looked at him once before facing the elevator again. "No. I had some business to conclude."
Louis nodded. "Of course," he said. "Jessica, I – "
"Is there something you wish to say, Louis?" Jessica asked. "Now would be the time." The doors to the elevator slid open and she stepped inside. Louis looked unsure and uncomfortable and she didn't have time to coddle him; not now, not anymore. "Goodbye, Louis." She reached forward to press the button when his arm shot out to keep the doors from closing.
Louis looked as surprised as Jessica felt but he quickly stepped into the elevator and allowed the doors to close. The car began its descent before Louis spoke. "I hope you don't take it personal," he said.
Jessica scoffed. "Louis, is there something you're trying to tell me?"
"No, I think I said it pretty clearly when I voted against you," Louis said. "You know, you and Harvey went around like being the two of you was some sort of club. For years I was desperate to be a part of that club and you knew it," he accused.
"What do you want from me, Louis?" Jessica asked. "A pat on the back, a hug? I don't work that way," she said.
"All I wanted was your respect. Even now, you can't seem to realize that you're no better than Harvey most of the time," he said. "I kept trying to prove myself to you over and over again and nothing worked. Well this is what happens when you ignore and stomp all over someone. There are consequences Miss Pearson, the same thing you liked to shove in my face when I didn't fall in line." Louis' face was red with anger and he looked two steps away from crying.
Jessica considered her options here. She could shut him down once and for all; step on his heart and exit the elevator with blood on her shoes.
Or…
Or she could be a woman and do what she should've done years ago.
"You're right, Louis. I knew you sought to have the intimate professional relationship that Harvey and I had, and I kept you at bay because I didn't know if that type of relationship was possible with you. I admire your skill, Louis. We need lawyers of every type if we're to be the best for our clients. You were an asset that proved yourself time and time again and there may have been some times where I allowed Harvey's disdain for you color the way I treated you."
Louis looked shocked. "I didn't think you would admit it," he said faintly. "I honestly thought you would laugh in my face and keep walking."
Jessica cocked her head. "Louis, may I give you a bit of advice?"
"Please," he said quickly.
"The intent you project is almost as important as the moves you make. I understand financial law requires you to be a bit of a bastard, and I could appreciate that and your ability to be the biggest bastard in the room," she said.
"Thank you," Louis said seriously.
"Having said that, you never quite shed that persona, even behind the closed doors of our firm. That was a large part of why we didn't feel we could trust you. Every conversation that we had, every piece of information divulged, it was as if it was going into some great vault to be used against us later. We have enough of that every day, fighting for our clients. We don't particularly want to feel it when we come home," she said.
Louis looked slightly confused. "That's why…"
"That's why, Louis." The doors slid open at the lobby and Jessica stepped up to Louis and kissed him on the cheek. "Be well," she said. "I wish you all the success in the world and if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call."
"Really?" Louis asked. "Or are you just saying that?" Jessica tilted her head and Louis laughed nervously. "Right. You wouldn't… Uh, thanks, Jessica. I'm sorry to see you go."
"So am I," she said, and left the elevator with her head held high, because there was no other way she could do this. Everything seemed to be in sharper detail; the sunlight that streamed through the windows, the echo of heels and expensive shoes on the marble. Even the brass gleamed brighter than normal.
It looked just as it did when she'd arrived so many years ago. Jessica squared her shoulders and walked past the security desk and outside into the brisk air. Her driver, Martin, hurried out and opened the door for her. "Are you alright, Miss Pearson?"
"Absolutely," she said with a wide grin as she slid into the limo with practiced ease. The door closed behind her, and it wasn't until the scenery began to move that Jessica blinked and felt the moisture on her cheek.