A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to review and/or add this story to your story alerts. I really appreciate it.
Nelle07 asked an excellent question about who I envision when I think about Alannah. When I'm writing her, I see the actress, Zoe Saladana. I hope this helps you when you're reading as much as it helps me when I'm writing.
Disclaimer: I only own what you don't recognize.
Alannah opened the one small box she had yet to unpack. She pulled out a picture of her younger self with her father, mother, and older brother. She placed it by her computer before pulling out the second photo that rested inside the box. She placed the picture of herself with her best friend, Monica, and put it on the other side of her computer. The last item in the box was a small photo album that featured photos from her first employment at Pearson Hardman. She flipped through the pages and paused on a picture of her and Harvey. They had been in the firm's law library. Harvey was sitting down and she was standing, but bent down so their heads were next to one another. Harvey didn't have on his suit jacket and his tie was loosened. She looked tired, but had a huge smile on her face. Harvey, however, seemed highly unenthused to be in the picture.
Alannah removed her glasses and rubbed her tired eyes before braiding her shoulder length black hair and tying it off with a hairband, "Specter, have I ever told you that I really really hate you?"
Harvey briefly glanced up at the woman sitting at the table across from him, "You may have mentioned it once or twice in the past hour, yes."
She yawned before replying, "Well, I'm mentioning it again."
He tossed the document that he was reading on the table, "Hate me all you want, Lanna. If you find the key to me winning this case, I don't really care."
She stretched as she asked, "Is there a reason you didn't ask Donna to help?"
"She's my assistant, not a paralegal," he answered.
The associate glared at him, "I'm not a paralegal either, Specter."
"Did I ever tell you that I think it's sexy when you call me by my last name?" Harvey asked as he leaned across the table.
"You know other women might find that smirk of yours to be a turn on, but I just want to smack it off your face." She grinned, "Speaking of sexy and paralegals, why didn't you ask the new one to help you? What's her name? Kelly something or other."
"Kelly Anderson."
"I knew you'd know, you notorious rake," she teased.
"Notorious rake?" he shook his head, "You really need to stop reading those historical romance novels."
"Are we going to pretend that I haven't caught you reading one or two of those novels whenever you've had to wait for me to finish getting ready whenever me, you, and Donna go out?" She stood and walked around the table. When she got to the side he was seated at, she sat on the table, "Come on, Harvey, don't tell me you haven't ever imagined yourself as some dishonorable duke sneaking off to ravish some gently bred young woman in the middle of the night."
Harvey had to force himself to meet her gaze instead of staring at her legs, "Is there a reason we're having this conversation?"
"Yes," she answered as she ran a hand up his arm before leaning down to whisper in his ear, "If I have to sit here until stupid o'clock in the morning to help you maintain your winning reputation in your shiny new junior partner title, then you're going to have to deal with me teasing you to amuse myself."
She pulled back and dissolved into a fit of giggles as she reclaimed her seat across from him.
The junior partner loosened his tie as he cleared his throat, "Have I told you I really hate you lately?"
"Now we're even," Alannah answered with a grin before yawning, "Harvey, we've been at this for five hours. I don't think we're going to find anything."
Harvey picked up the document he had previously abandoned, "There's got to be some way to get around this. They fired her for content they read in emails she sent from her personal account."
Alannah took a sip of her coffee, "That she sent on their computer using their servers. They're well within their rights to read her emails. They say that they didn't fire her because she was discussing a lawsuit, but because she was bashing the company as well which is against the agreement she signed when she got hired. You've got nothing, Harv."
"You know how I feel about being called that," he growled.
"You know how I feel about being kept up late to go on a hunting expedition," she spat back.
"Keep looking. There has to be something." Harvey replied.
Alannah moved the file she'd been reading to the side and picked up the emails in question, "I feel like I've heard this name before."
"What name?"
"The guy she sent the emails to, Jackson Riley. Do you happen to know what he does for a living?" Alannah asked.
Harvey shook his head, "No, I don't. Why?"
"I've got a hunch." Alannah opened her laptop and navigated to the Harvard Law School website. She looked up the alumni list and, after finding what she was searching for, she turned the laptop around so he could see the screen "If this is the same guy, he graduated a year before I did. He led study groups as a favor to professors whose classes he had already taken."
"If it is the same guy, I can argue that she was seeking his advice as an attorney and what she said was protected under attorney client privilege." Harvey concluded.
She smiled, "And as someone who had an exemplary record with the company that means they terminated her without just cause."
Harvey started gathering up all the documents and books they had strewn across the table, "This is why I asked you to help me instead of anyone else."
"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Specter," Alannah retorted as she put her suit jacket back on.
"Take comfort in the fact that it was you instead of me that found the answer to winning this case. It doesn't happen very often." Harvey offered as consolation.
She rolled her eyes, "Unlike everyone else around here, your ability to be correct doesn't intimidate me. I know I'm good. I don't need to compete with you."
"And that is why we're friends." Harvey replied.
Alannah pulled out her phone, "On second thought, take a picture with me."
"Why?"
She laughed, "Like you said, it's not very often someone outdoes you. I want to document this moment so I can bruise your ego every now and then in the future."
"You're ridiculous."
"And you owe me so say cheese," she replied.
A knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts. She opened the bottom drawer to her desk and dropped it in before motioning for the person on the other side of the door to come in.
"Hello, Alannah. I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Louis Litt. My office is just down that way. I thought I'd reintroduce myself and welcome you back to the firm.
"Of course I remember you," she refrained from adding that she remembered him as the guy who was always determined to outdo Harvey and everyone else, "It's so nice of you to stop by."
He sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk without invitation, "I know it can be quite difficult adjusting when moving from a different firm. If you need any advice or have any questions, don't be afraid to ask me."
She smiled, "Thank you, bu-"
He cut her off and she started to remember that was one habit of his that had always annoyed her, "I'm not just a junior partner. I'm also in charge of all the associates so if they give you any trouble, you just let me know and I'll handle it."
She nodded, "Good to know. Lis-"
Louis carried on speaking as if he hadn't heard her, "I know others at this firm might not feel the same way, but it's nice to have you back."
"Thanks," she resisted the urge to sigh as she continued, "I rea-"
"And by others, I mostly mean Harvey." He leaned towards her and gave what Alannah believed to be his best attempt to look sympathetic, "I know you two stopped being friends a long time ago even though no one seems to know why."
As usual, any mention of her past with Harvey caused her to bristle, "That's really none of y-"
"Not that I'm trying to dig for details," he interjected when he realized he had overstepped his boundaries, "I just wanted to assure you that no one is gossiping about that since you two seem to be the only people who know what happened."
She hadn't thought they were, but since Louis was in her office trying to assure her that no one was talking about it, she knew now that the opposite was more likely than not, "Okay. I appreci-"
"You shouldn't be too worried. Even though he's a senior partner, no one here really likes him," he informed her. "As you know, he's arrogant and thinks he's right all the time. In fact, the guys in mergers and acquisitions a few floors down have a Harvey dart board in their break room. It's a great way to blow off some stress. I sneak down there from time to time. It's quite cathartic landing a dart in that giant forehead of his."
Alannah bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. As much as that little tidbit of information amused her, she really did not want to continue this conversation, "Louis! I am very appreciative that you stopped by to welcome me back to the firm, but as you stated earlier transitioning from one firm to another can be rather difficult. I've got a lot of work to do before I'm fully into the Pearson Hardman routine. As one of this firm's valued associate's, I'm sure you understand the importance of being fully in sync with how this firm works."
"Of course. Of course. Like I said, if you have any questions or you need any help, all you have to do is ask," he said as he stood.
"Actually, I do have a quick question." Alannah called to him before he reached the door.
"Yes?"
"Harvey's associate. What's his name?"
"Mike Ross." Louis answered.
"Can you send him to me? I have a couple of briefs that need proof reading," she asked.
Louis nodded his head, "I can send him, but I don't think Harvey will like it."
"Good." Alannah smiled, "Any opportunity to annoy Harvey, right?"
Louis laughed as he exited her office. She sighed as she mentally prepared herself for the conversation she was about to have with Mike. She knew as soon as she mentioned pawning off dirty work to the associate, Louis would be more than willing to send him to her. She, however, would give those briefs to a different associate to handle. She had far more important things to talk about with this one.
Though she had never exchanged any words with him—having only caught a glimpse of him in Harvey's office—she knew he was intelligent. He had to be if he was Harvey's associate. She only hoped that he was less difficult to deal with than his mentor could be. A soft knock pulled her out of her thoughts. She motioned for him to come in as she stood.
"Louis said you wanted to see me about proofreading some documents for you," he stated as he entered but only took a few steps into her office, "You can just give them to me now and I can take them back to my cubicle."
Alannah resisted the urge to smile. Apparently, Harvey had wasted no time training the puppy to stay away from the big bad wolves who had reappeared at Pearson Hardman, "Sit down, Mike. I can look over my own briefs. There are other things I would like to discuss with you."
"Donna, my office. Now." Harvey all but growled as he walked into his office.
Donna closed the door behind her and watched her boss pace around his office like a caged animal just waiting for the opportunity to break free, "Look, Harvey, you told me to book my vacation flight using your card as a birthday present. It's not like you can't afford for me to be in first class instead of economy. Last time I flew economy, I ended up next to some guy that smelt like cheese. Like cheese! I'm a first class sort of girl."
"What?" He stopped pacing to look at her, "Donna, that's not what I called you in here to talk about."
"I know," she said with a grin, "But it got you to stop wearing a hole in the carpet. Now, take a deep breath and tell me what's wrong."
Instead of denying that anything was amiss like he normally did, he answered, "I need you to become friends with Alannah."
"Why would I ever want to spend time with that turncoat?" the red head questioned.
"Because Jessica has decided to give her a second chance," his answered, still unable to wrap his head around the previous night's events, "I don't trust her, but I do trust you. You're also the best actress I know."
"Flattery will get you everywhere." Before Harvey could thank her for agreeing, she continued, "Well, flattery and upgrading my hotel room to the presidential suite for my vacation."
He didn't acknowledge her statement as he sat at his desk, "You can go now."
Donna crossed her arms, "Was that a yes or…?"
"You can get out of my office," Harvey paused for a beat before finishing, "and go upgrade your hotel room."
Donna laughed as she exited his office. She briefly stopped at her desk to upgrade her hotel before Harvey changed his mind. After that was accomplished, she began to walk the short distance to Alannah's office with the intent to ask her to grab lunch like they used to do, but stopped short when she saw that Alannah was talking to Mike.
The red head turned back around before either one of them saw her and marched into Harvey's office. When he looked up, she motioned towards Alannah's office, "Houston, we have a problem."