A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and story alerts. I really appreciate it and I love knowing what you guys are thinking of the story.
As always, I only own the characters you don't recognize.
Monica turned at the sound of the front door opening, "You have a lot of nerve walking in here, Specter. You're lucky I didn't have the police called on you for swiping my key last time. You won't find it in the same place."
Harvey greeted her with a smile, "Monica, it's been a long time."
The red head crossed her arms, "Get out."
"Monica, I j-"
"Get out," she growled.
"I need to talk to Alannah," he explained.
"Why?" She advanced towards his spot beside the door, "So you can tear her down some more? So you can pass more judgment on her without listening to anything she has to say? No, Specter, you may think you own New York, but you do not own this pub. Leave."
Harvey shook his head, "You do realize that she and I work at the same firm. If I don't see her now, I'll just see her at work."
"Then that's what you'll have to do," Monica shot back.
"You would prefer I pass my judgments and dole out pain to your best friend in a public forum instead of in private where you can immediately pick up the pieces?" Harvey smirked when he saw her flinch, "I didn't think so."
She turned and walked away from him, "I hated that stupid smirk back then and I certainly can't stand it now."
"We used to be friends, Monica," he gently reminded her.
"No, you used to be the guy I was nice to because my best friend turned to jello at the mere mention of his name so you can stop trying to charm me." The red head stood beside the door that led to the loft she shared with Alannah, "I'm going to let you go upstairs on one condition."
"What?"
"If she tells you to leave at any point, you leave. You don't stay. You don't utter a parting shot on your way out the door. You nod your head and you go," the pub owner explained.
"Okay."
"I mean it, Harvey." Monica's tone softened, "I had to pick up the pieces after you kicked her out of your apartment all those years ago. I told her she was a fool to go back to Pearson Hardman, but she's convinced she needs to right her wrongs. I don't plan on seeing her end up like that again."
The lawyer joined her by the door and looked her straight in the eye, "You may not believe me, but I don't either."
She met his gaze straight on, "I'll hold you to that."
As she unlocked the door, Harvey replied, "I'm sure that you will."
Alannah put down the file she was reading to answer the knock on her door. Upon seeing Harvey, she said, "Monica moved the key. How did you find it?"
Harvey moved past her and walked into the loft, "I didn't. She let me up."
The other lawyer closed the door. She made her way to the living room and he followed. Both of them sat on the couch and she asked, "What exactly did you blackmail her with to get her to let you up here?"
"Nothing." Harvey shrugged, "We had a heart to heart and she let me in."
"Heart to heart?" Lanna shook her head and laughed, "More like she threatened you and is hoping you screw up so she can finally kick your ass."
He nodded, "I don't blame her."
She was a little taken aback by his statement, "What?"
"You're like a sister to her. It doesn't matter how wrong you are, she'll still defend you to the death," he clarified.
She bit her lip as she inquired, "What do you want?"
"I visited my brother today," he answered.
"That's good. I'm glad your relationship with him is improving."
"Me too." He turned to face her, "You visited him today too."
Alannah sighed, "If I continue to pretend that I don't know where this is going, can we not do this?"
Harvey ignored her question, "You didn't hear what you thought you heard."
Alannah squared her shoulders and got ready to defend herself, "Really, Harvey? Let's not try to rewrite history. I heard her yelling at you for taking me to that café. Your response was and I quote, 'Fine. I was wrong. I shouldn't have taken my latest conquest to our place. I guess a part of me was hoping that you would be there and be jealous because that's just another way for me to win.' When she interrupted you, I left. I know it's a little pathetic that I remember the exact words you used after all these years." She could feel tears building in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She hated how her voice broke a little when she asked, "How could you say that about me? Maybe you didn't feel the way I did, but I at least thought you were my friend, Harvey. Ho-"
He cut her off, "If you would have stayed, you would have heard me cut her off to tell her that I could say those things, but that I couldn't mean them. You would have heard me say that I hadn't called her about me being in London because I wouldn't risk hurting you in any way. I chose you, Alannah. I chose you."
"No." She vehemently denied his statement, "No. You're just saying that. You're making it up."
Harvey took her hand in his, "I've said and done a lot of things to you, but you know I'm not a liar. I'll call Scotty right now and have her confirm it. She took great pleasure in rubbing it in my face that I chose you and t-"
"And then I came home and chose Daniel," she finished.
Silence settled over the room as Harvey let Alannah take in everything he had just said. He wiped away one of her tears that managed to escape before asking, "What were you going to say that night?"
Confusion clouded her face, "What night?"
"The night that I kicked you out of my apartment," he answered.
"In order for me to explain it, I need you to promise me something."
He asked, "What?"
"Let me finish without any interruption," she answered.
"Okay."
"Promise me," she demanded.
"I promise."
She pulled her hand out of his and stood. She wandered over to the window and looked out of it as she spoke, "Months before you and Jessica found out about his embezzlement, I found out." She didn't have to look at Harvey to know he started to speak, "Remember, you promised. I confronted him and he gave me the same story he gave you and Jessica about Alicia spending Sarah's college fund and how he was just trying to put the money back. He promised me that he would put the money back and I believed him. It wasn't until you came to me that I realized that he hadn't."
When she didn't continue, he asked, "Then why didn't you stand beside us like you said you would?"
She ran a hand through her hair, "Because he blackmailed me. He figured out that Jessica had found out and that I had helped. To this day, I don't know how. He had put several properties that he had purchased with stolen money in my name and had listed me on several joint accounts. There was no way to turn him in without incriminating myself."
At this, Harvey stood and joined her beside the window, "Why didn't you tell me? We could have found a way to get around that."
She shook her head, "I tried."
"Before we met with him—not after."
"You remember how I called you that day and told you that I had to come to terms with what I was about to do and I would just meet you guys there?" she asked.
He nodded, "Yes."
"He made me and he wouldn't let me out of his sights until we strolled into that meeting," she explained.
Harvey loosened his tie, "Lanna, I w-"
She interrupted him, "Say that again?"
"What?"
She started to tear up again, "Lanna. Say it again."
"Lanna."
"Again," she demanded.
"Lanna, come here," he told her as he pulled her into a hug. He rested his chin on the top of her head and gently swayed back and forth, "I wish you would have told me that you heard me and Scotty."
"If the situation were reversed, would you have talked to me about it," was her muffled response.
Harvey answered, "No."
"Exactly."
A few more minutes passed before she pulled away from him and he asked, "What are we going to do now?"
She laughed, "The great Harvey Specter asking me for advice?"
He shot her a mock glare, "Don't get used to it."
Alannah couldn't help smiling at display of the banter they used to have, "I have a plan to take down Daniel. I didn't want to bring it up until you fully trusted me because it requires that we work together."
Harvey shook his head, "I wasn't talking about Daniel. We'll get him out of the firm. The how isn't important right now. I was talking about me and you."
The other lawyer looked at the floor as she answered, "It doesn't change anything."
He softly took her chin in his hand and got her to look at him, "You honestly believe that?"
She removed his hand from her face before answering, "I still had an affair with a married man, Harvey. The why doesn't really matter. I know you. You can't get past that."
As she started to walk away from him, he questioned, "What if I wanted to try to get past it?"
She slowly turned around, "How exactly does that work?"
"How about we try being friends again? We were pretty good at that."
"Yeah. We were," she agreed.
"So what do you say?" he asked.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Once she opened her eyes, she looked him straight in the eye, "No."
Harvey blinked, "Excuse me?"
"Last time, you and I danced around each other for months and it ended in disaster. I'm not doing that again." She sat back down on the couch, "I want to be with you. I want to get it right this time. There's still something here between us. I know it. You know it. Anyone who spends five minutes in a room with us knows it. If you and I are going to work on you trusting me and letting me back in, it's going to be so we can be together. I can't accept anything less."
"And if I don't agree to that?" he asked as he put his hands in his pocket.
Alannah's gaze found the floor again, "Then I'll have to accept that, but I'll still help you and Jessica get rid of Hardman like I said I would."
"Donna told me that I should give you a second chance for my own sake."
She smiled, "Donna is a wise woman."
"Yes, she is, but don't tell her that. Her ego is already big enough," he quipped.
"It has to be to be able to deal with having you as her boss," she said without missing a beat. After they had finished laughing, she got serious again and quoted his own question back to him, "So what do you say?"
He walked over to where she sat on the couch and joined her. He took both of her hands in his before answering, "I say do you have a date to the charity ball tomorrow night?"