Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters. Spencer Avery, however is mine, I'm kind of proud to say that! I would really love to say that Harvey Spector was mine too though... is it alright that I am this much in love with a fictional character?

Anyway, special shout out to: TwiCloiser89: I'm so glad that you "must have more!" and I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

"Wise men say only fools rush in
but I can't help, falling in love with you."
Elvis

"So the first thing we are going to do is go over the facts," Harvey said simply as he sat down in a seat across the table from Spencer's spot on the couch. He nodded when Mike walked further into the room and took a seat next to the young woman. As much as he said that he was a great lawyer without caring about his clients he would admit that Spencer's case was going to be a difficult one and that she would need all of the support she could get. Mike was good at giving support so that was perfect. "Some of these questions are going to be difficult," he added, "but I need you to answer them as honestly and precisely as possible."

Mike nodded, reaching out and lightly grasping Spencer's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Your answers will help us gain a better understanding of your case and how to best go about fighting it in court. Okay?" Spencer nodded her understanding, her lips in a tight line as she turned to look at Harvey, her bright green eyes alert as she waited for his first question. Harvey nodded when he noted the fierce, steely look in the young woman's eyes. She was not going to back down from this divorce, that was good, the weak ones were always the hardest because their lawyer was always left wondering when they were going to change their minds. It was clear that Spencer would not be changing hers. He liked that.

"Okay," Harvey said slowly, unsure why he was taking so long to make sure that Spencer was ready to answer his questions. This was a delicate situation, but John Avery's lawyers weren't going to take the time to be concerned about Spencer's feelings and she needed to be prepared for that. "Let's start with when was the last time he touched you in a violent way?"

"This morning," Spencer said with a voice devoid of all emotion. Harvey nodded and opened up a legal pad, making note of her answer before he looked back at her, silently asking for more details. "At breakfast," Spencer said, trying not to look at Mike when she heard her friend gasp, "the divorce papers were served this morning. He hadn't been expecting them."

"You had them served when you were alone with him?" Mike asked, glancing at his friend with concern evident in his eyes. "Why didn't you have them wait until you were out in public and he wouldn't be able to do anything to you?"

"Well it's not like I really had a choice when they were served," Spencer said, withdrawing her hand from Mike's and clasping both of her hands together in her lap. "Although I hoped that he would be in public when he received them," she added, leaning forward and studying her hands. "It would have embarrassed him and also forced him to keep his anger in check. I think he realized that had been my plan all along because this morning was worse than usual."

"What did he do to you?" Harvey asked as he watched his young associate clench his fists in anger. "When he found out that you had filed for divorce?"

"He slapped me around, if that's what you're asking," Spencer answered, her eyes darkening in anger. Harvey sent her a look that clearly stated that he was asking for specifics and she nodded. If he wanted specifics she would not disappoint him. With one brief, almost apologetic look at Mike she started explaining what had happened to her that morning. "He backhanded me across the face so hard that I was knocked out of my chair," she said softly, turning her head to the side so that the two men could make out the faint outline of a hand print across her face. "You'd be surprised at how well expensive make-up covers bruises up," she said with a grim smile before she continued. "He kicked me five to ten times in the stomach, I stopped counting once I heard the first rib crack."

"Didn't you try to get away?" Mike asked, staring at his friend as if he did not know her at all.

"My ribs were in pain," Spencer snapped, defending herself, the last thing she wanted was for Mike to think she was weak. "I couldn't breath very well, let alone stand up. The only option I had was to try to roll away from him. And I will take rib damage over spinal damage any day. I didn't want to give him a chance to kick me in the spine again. Once he was done kicking me he pulled me up by my hair and threatened to try to drown me in the bathtub if I didn't take back this divorce by the end of the day."

"And then?" Harvey asked, trying not to let the woman see that her story had affected him. He was the best closer in the city after all. Things like this were not supposed to surprise him or disgust him. But as he looked at the young, small woman in front of him he had to fight back the urge to vomit when he thought of the man who had been using her as his punching bag for the last four years.

"And then he let go of me," Spencer said with a shrug. "He kissed me on the forehead, told me to have a good day, and reminded me to cover up the bruise on my face before I left the house." Mike growled at her statement, disgusted that John Avery could inflict that kind of damage on his best friend and then just kiss her on the forehead and go about his day as if it didn't matter. "But I'm not going to back down," Spencer said, shaking her head as her fists clenched in anger, it wasn't until her shoulders began to shake and she winced in pain at the movement that she began to calm down. "I am tired of being weak and defenseless and since killing him in his sleep would land me in jail this is the only other way out of this hell for me."

Harvey nodded and made some more notes on his notepad. He opened his mouth, preparing to ask her another question when Mike interrupted him before he had even found his voice. "Did you go to the hospital for your ribs?" the young man asked, glancing down at where his friend's ribs would be before lifting his concerned gaze back to her face. His eyes scanned over her face, hoping that her answer would be an affirmative one.

Spencer shook her head. "No Mikey," she said softly. "I've had enough broken ribs to know what they feel like and to know that there's really nothing that a hospital can do about them besides wrapping them and giving you painkillers. John has always made sure that there were more than enough painkillers in our house and I've gotten quite adept at wrapping my own ribs over the last few years."

"But there could be internal damage," Mike argued. "Your ribs could have punctured an organ and you could be bleeding to death as we speak and have no idea."

Spencer smiled at her friend, unclasping her hands so that she could reach out and gently take Mike's hand in her own smaller ones. "I've done the research, Mike," she said softly. "If the ribs had punctured an organ I would already be dead. So I'm going to go on the assumption that I'm fine." With that she turned back to Harvey, an expectant look on her tight, pained face. "What's your next question, Mr. Spector?" she asked.

"When was the first time your husband hit you?" Harvey asked softly, not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer, but he knew that he needed it to help him build the case. He was beginning to understand why Mike had been so adamant about Harvey taking Spencer's case. It was hard to spend more than a few moments with this strong, yet fragile, woman and not feel this innate need to protect her.

"The first night of our honeymoon," Spencer said with a nod, her green eyes turning slightly hazy as she traveled back to that night. "We hadn't even been married for twenty-four hours."

"What happened?" Harvey asked softly, not wanting to upset the woman in front of him but needing to know the answer.

Spencer scoffed and looked away from him, shaking her head. She tried to pull her hand out of Mike's grasp but the young man shook his head and squeezed her hand tightly, silently telling her that he did not plan to let go of her hand for the rest of the meeting. She sighed and opened her mouth to answer, refusing to meet either man's intense gaze. "He caught me looking at another man," she said, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the last four words of her statement. "He needed to teach me a lesson." There was that sarcastic emphasis again. Her phrase disgusted Harvey and broke Mike's heart. "The gist of the lesson was that I was his and his alone," Spencer said with a shrug, "and if I broke any of his rules again or did anything that made him look bad or stupid my punishment would result in a cast, stitches, or burn wrappings. In the case of our honeymoon night it resulted in thirteen stitches across my arm from the mirror he threw me into that broke on contact and several cigarette burns on my lower back." Harvey bit his lip to keep from cursing in response to Spencer's story. She shook her head again, another grim smile gracing her lips. "Once I had gotten the stitches he brought me back to the hotel room, carried me to the bed and made love to me before falling asleep."

Mike growled in anger at her story and gripped her hand harder as he turned to look at her with pained eyes. "Why didn't you tell me about this when you got back?" he asked, his voice sounded as pained as his eyes looked. Harvey glanced at the younger man and could tell that his associate was already blaming himself for not noticing the warning signs that his friend's marriage was not as good as it seemed to the outside world.

"He told me that it was a one time thing the next morning," Spencer stated, turning to her friend, her eyes begging him to understand. "He had just lost his temper and that it would never happen again. In the back of my mind I should have known that I couldn't trust him, I probably did to be honest, but part of me wanted to believe him. Part of me wanted to continue thinking of him as the sweet guy he had been when I met him in college. I wasn't ready to ruin that picture of him yet."

"But once you realized that he was lying. That he wasn't that great guy you had dated and that you were actually in danger you should have come to me," Mike said, squeezing her small hand so tightly that it started to turn purple. "I could have helped you. I could have beat him up or helped you run away from him. You didn't need to stay in an abusive relationship for four years, I would have found a way to get you out of it!"

"Mike," Harvey said in a warning tone, trying to subtly tell his associate that he needed to calm down and let go of Spencer's hand. She may have been one of Mike's best friends, but she was also a client, and Mike was taking her experience too personally. They would not be able to help her if Mike kept responding to her statements like that.

"I was scared and ashamed, okay?" Spencer asked, looking up and glancing between her best friend and her new lawyer with watery green eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears but she refused to let them fall as she explained. "I was afraid that you wouldn't believe me if I told you and that John would find out and punish me for making him look bad." Mike opened his mouth to argue and tell her that he would never have not believed her, but Spencer shook her head and kept going. "And even if you would have believed me I was ashamed that I was weak enough to let him hit me in the first place. I didn't want you to think badly of me because you knew."

Harvey nodded, he could almost understand the young woman's reasoning. He glanced between his client and his associate before he sighed. The former looked as though she was about to break at any moment, and if there was one thing that Harvey Spector never wanted to deal with it was a crying woman. The latter was still gripping the woman's hand and he looked as though her grasp on his hand was the only thing keeping him from storming out of the office to find John Avery and murder him with his own bare hands. Harvey had more questions for Spencer, but he knew that they were going to get nowhere that afternoon, she was too upset and Harvey needed to prepare for his meeting with his afternoon client anyway. So instead he nodded again and gave Spencer a soft, comforting smile. "Thank you, Spencer," he said softly, standing up and holding his hand out to her to help her off his couch. "That is all for today, if you leave your cell phone number with Donna on your way out I will call to schedule a second appointment with you for later in the week." Spencer nodded and placed her free hand in Harvey's, he pulled her up and bit back a smile when she yanked Mike up with her, he still had yet to let go of her hand. But he had at least loosened her grip so her small hand was no longer a concerning shade of purple.

"Thank you, Mr. Spector," Spencer said once she was standing up, she quickly dropped his hand and looked around his office as if she was looking for her abusive husband, ready to punish her for touching another man.

"Do you have somewhere to go tonight?" Harvey asked, sounding more concerned for the young woman than he had meant to. Mike's head snapped up as he looked at Harvey with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

Spencer nodded, "Umm, John leaves for a business trip this afternoon and he won't be back for at least a week. So that will give me some time to pack up my stuff and find a new place to live. I just have to stay away from the house until five. I'll be fine until then, I don't mind just hanging out in the city. I've always loved this city," she added, biting her lip in embarrassment to the lame ending of her statement.

Harvey nodded before turning to look at Mike. "Go with her," he said to his associate. Mike opened his mouth to argue but Harvey held up his hand, silently cutting the young man off before he could even start. "I am perfectly capable of handling a perspective client without you, I've been doing it for years. Besides, you're so upset now that if I send her off on her own all you're going to do is mope around the office for the rest of the afternoon. You're a better use to me making sure she is safe than staying here glaring at everyone."

Mike nodded and Spencer smiled at Harvey for a moment before she grabbed her purse. "Thank you," she said again, a soft smile that didn't quite look real gracing her lips.

Harvey nodded before turning to Mike. "Just make sure to get your research from this morning to me before you leave," he said, his eyes softening as he turned back to Spencer to wave as the two walked out of his office. He remained standing in the middle of the office and watched as Mike left Spencer at Donna's desk before he ran off to his own desk to get the research he had done. Spencer looked after him for a moment or two, smiling softly before she turned to the red-headed assistant at the desk in front of her and began to give the woman her cell phone number. Harvey remained standing until Mike had delivered the research and files and then left the office, gently grabbing Spencer's hand and pulling her toward the elevator.

Only once the doors had hissed closed behind the two friends did Harvey throw himself down in his chair and cover his eyes with a shaky hand. It had been a while since a client had gotten to him the way Spencer did and Harvey would be the first to admit that this very feeling was the exact reason that he did not let himself care about the clients.

Caring about clients did not help a lawyer win their case, it just caused the lawyer more stress because he had to worry about how his actions would affect the client.

And as much as he hated to admit it, Harvey knew that already, he cared about what would happen to the young woman who had just left his office.

And that's all folks!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
(It was a hard one to write to be honest, I had a hard time conveying the way Spencer felt ... I don't want her to seem weak because she's not, but I want her to portray a certain kind of helplessness without being annoying. Does that make any sense?)
Well review and let me know if that makes sense/if I succeeded.
Reviews = Love.
Addison.