Jessica looked as imposing and regal as always.

Harvey truly believed that the woman had a stylist stashed in her wardrobe, because no single human being could come to work that put together every day while simultaneously making it look so effortlessly.

Today Jessica wore a white dress that went into stark contrast to her dark skin colour. It made her look exotic while she still retained an aura of sophistication. The dress was very tightfitting, but not so that it looked cheap. Her nails were coloured in the same white tone as where the bracelets and earrings she wore. Jessica´s black hair hung down straight without a single wave. The lack of volume accented her dark brown eyes and high cheekbones. When Harvey entered her office she indicated for him to sit down on one of the couches that stood there for clients.

Not that there were many – clients, that is, Harvey mused. Together with Daniel Hardman Jessica ran the day-to-day work of Pearson Hardman and thus only clients of great importance or with enough money warranted her attention.

"Harvey," Jessica greeted him. Harvey returned the greeting with a respectful nod. Jessica was one of the few persons he had healthy respect for. The woman was intelligent, cunning and ruthless and Harvey had no doubt that she was able to crush his career with minimal effort. You didn't become the first black woman in such a high position by being nice and playing by rules old, white men had set up.

But Harvey also knew that Jessica rewarded loyalty and defended those she had taken under her wing with the ferocity of a mother lioness defending her cubs. And seeing that Harvey had no intention of ever betraying the woman that had given him the life he was currently leading, he had no problem with being her 'attack dog' as he heard some of the other Partners refer to him. As if it was an insult, Harvey scoffed.

"What can I do for you, Jessica?" Harvey asked the Managing Partner.

"Actually, there are two things I called you here for," Jessica replied. "Seth Rogers is leaving the firm. I want you to have his office. See it as…gift for making it to Senior Partner."

"The corner office?" Harvey lit up. He had always eyed that office with desire. It was spacious, had two window fronts and he already had several pieces of furniture lined up that he knew exactly where he would place them. The only obstacle until now had been Seth Rogers who couldn't be swayed to agree to switch the office with Harvey. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Harvey, I am," Jessica replied with her lips curled in a small smile. "You can move in by the end of the week."

"That´s pretty fast," Harvey said reluctantly. There was no need to let Jessica know how desperately he wanted that office.

"Really, Harvey?" Jessica just raised one of her perfectly made eyebrows at him. "I know how desperately you wanted that office since the moment you saw it the first time. Desire is very difficult to hide after all." Harvey decided to not dignify that with an answer at all.

"What was the second thing you called me for?" he chose to ask instead.

"That´s something that involves more than just you," Jessica answered. Right in this moment Harvey saw Louis walking up to Jessica´s office door and he shot her a disbelieving look.

"Louis?" he mouthed at her. Jessica just shushed him with a gesture of his hand.

"Jessica, I´m here," Louis said in his terrible nasal voice. Harvey wondered how the man could even stand to hear himself. Obviously Louis wasn't that enthused that Harvey was here as well if the dark looks he sent in the other man´s direction were any indication to go by.

"Louis," Jessica said pleasantly, completely ignoring the tension in the room that was so thick that you could cut it with a butter knife. "Glad you could come." As if there had been a choice when the Managing Partner demanded your presence. Bewildered Louis sat down – as far from Harvey as possible, for which Harvey was quite thankful – and folded his hand in his lap.

"Now that you´re both here we can cut straight to the issue," Jessica started. "I need both of you to take over some of Dana Scott´s caseload." Stunned silence.

"Scottie´s caseload?" Harvey repeated disbelievingly. Jessica just nodded.

"Of course I´ll shoulder that responsibility," Louis replied and if Harvey was immature – which he wasn't, even if Donna had a different opinion – he would have made some gagging noise faced with such an obvious display of ass-kissing.

"But wouldn't that cut into your mudbathing time?" he chose to mock Louis instead. Jessica just gave him a warning look.

"What happened with Scottie?" Harvey asked with a bad feeling. It couldn't be coincidence that Scottie hadn't come to work after the way he had ditched her yesterday? Harvey knew that he could have found a better way to break things off with Scottie, but when she started to insult Mike and insinuate that Harvey only used him for sexual pleasure, he had seen red. He had witnessed the vast intellect Mike possessed and he couldn't let someone disrespect such a wonderful thing.

But Harvey knew Scottie and he knew that she was stronger than that. She wouldn't let something minor like this to influence her life. She was too professional for that. It was more likely that she had already been planning her revenge on him the moment she had left his office. So Harvey could disregard the events of yesterday.

"Scottie has family issues to take care of," Jessica answered his question. "She should be back with us by the end of the week. Most of her clients don't need direct involvement, but there are some cases that we can´t allow to go without supervision for that time."

"How do we spilt the cases?" Louis asked with unholy glee in his eyes. He probably thought that this was his chance of outrivalling Scottie while she wasn't here to oppose him, but Harvey wasn't so sure. Louis may have a keen legal mind and a deep understanding for financial issues – not that Harvey would ever admit this out loud, not even under torture – but when it came to human interaction – charming clients, making them believe that they were the centre of the universe, coaxing them into agreeing to do what you wanted – he was the worst of them all. Harvey and Scottie were master manipulators; Louis definitely wasn't. And that was the reason why Scottie would become Senior Partner before him.

"Her you go," Jessica said and handed each of them a folder. "Read it, learn it, don´t screw it up so much that I have to get involved."

"I think that slogan goes different," Harvey said and Jessica just gave him the – what he had dubbed – long suffering 'what did I do to deserve dealing with him on a daily basis' look. It was one Jessica often wore.

Still grinning, Harvey left Jessica´s office.

Scottie sat at her kitchen table, her hands around an empty coffee mug.

Over the whole morning she had done nothing but making phone calls. First to Jessica, who was surprisingly understanding of her situation and even offered her the whole week to take care of the situation. It wasn't something Scottie had expected from the older woman. This was a cutthroat world and missing one day could see you pushed aside for someone new, better and more ambitious.

But to be honest, she needed that time out. Away from constantly being alarmed, always looking behind one´s back lest there was someone to plunge a knife into it; away from the long and lonely nights at the office and away from people that could see right through her when she wanted nothing less. Scottie knew that she was in no form to fight highly demanding legal battles that could earn of cost them millions of Dollars. How could she care about the petty problems of people who had too much and wanted still more with her father´s death always in the back of her mind, reminding her of how pathetic those 'powerful' people truly were?

No, Scottie thought, there wasn't anything she wanted less than going to work.

The second call had been the most difficult to make. Scottie hadn't talked to her mother for years. The last time she had seen the woman was at her Harvard graduation and that hadn't ended well. What had her mother thought would happen when she suddenly turned up after she had abandoned Scottie and her father with never giving a reason to exactly why? Did she expect Scottie to leap into her arms the moment she saw her?

They had screamed – or rather Scottie had screamed at her mother, while her father had tried to defuse the situation and her mother had countered every of her accusation with cold remarks – until Scottie had finally run out of the room, straight into the arms of Harvey.

Her grip around the telephone became tighter and tighter with every busy tone that she heard.

"Mum?"

"Dana?" It was always Dana with her mother. Because 'Dana' was proper. It meant demure, catholic boarding school, beauty and housewife. Not 'Scottie' – never – because that meant tomboy, soccer and jumping into puddles and dirtying the careful selected clothes.

"Why are you calling, dear?" Her mother had never been a part of her life, yet she insisted on using those endearments just to create an illusion of familiarity and trust – both things her mother didn't have and didn't deserve.

"It´s about Dad…" Scottie began.

"What about Sean?" Her mother didn't even let her finish. Another thing that Scottie had long given up to correct. "Does he need money? I´m always willing to lend him some, but really, he should have invested better, then he wouldn't even need to worry about it…"

"He´s dead," Scottie shouted just to make her mother shut up. "He´s dead, so he doesn't need your stupid money!" Her breath was haggard and she could feel the tears forming in her eyes. She hated her mother for that. For still having such an impact on her emotions, for making her feel like a little girl again. She hated her mother for forcing her to shout it out like that.

"Dead?" At least Scottie´s mother had the decency to sound ashamed. "Sean is dead?"

"He died yesterday," Scottie confirmed.

"I see," was her mother´s only reply. "When will the funeral be held?"

"I don´t know," Scottie answered. "I just called to inform you. Do you even plan to attend the funeral?"

"Why wouldn't I come to Sean´s funeral?" Because you didn't come to my birthdays? Because you didn't come to my first school day? To my first soccer game? To my High School graduation? To any of dad´s birthdays either? Scottie wanted to say but she held back. There was no use in arguing with her mother and she was too exhausted to put up any fight. Should her mother assume whatever she wanted, Scottie didn't care.

"I don't know," she answered diplomatically. "I´ll call again when I´ve set a date. Bye." And before her mother could reply something, Scottie had already hung up. Maybe it was cowardly and immature, but right now she didn't care. She didn't have the emotional capacity to deal with the minefield that was the relationship with her mother.

The telephone rang again but Scottie ignored it. She needed to call her dad´s executor, but that could wait a few hours. Instead Scottie laid down on her couch and closed her eyes.

Maybe sleep would help her escape her life for just a little bit.

Mike and Katrina were standing in the lobby of the building in which Cadbury & Wakefield had their headquarters with Mike leaning against a marble column, looking at his watch from time to time, while Katrina walked back and forth between his position and the glass front that separated the lobby from the street.

"Why isn´t Harold already here?" she asked annoyed after she had finished another round. "We told him the exact time and he still manages to screw it up!" She threw her hands in the air to further emphasize her point.

"I´m sure he´s already on his way and will be here any second," Mike reassured the blonde woman that had become dangerously agitated. And an agitated Katrina was never a pleasure to be around.

"Why do we even care about him?" she asked.

"You ask that every time," Mike replied evenly.

"And you explain it every time, so that I won't eviscerate him on sight," Katrina shot back without missing a beat.

"Because Harold would be trampled to death by those over-ambitious mini-sharks in the bullpen without us looking out for him?" Mike answered her question.

"Ah, now I remember," Katrina said and Mike snorted. "It´s your 'caring'. Shouldn't have forgotten that I asked the person with the most pro bono cases in the whole of Manhattan."

"While I have the highest pro bono percentage in Cadbury & Wakefield I´m pretty sure that there are people who do nothing but pro bono cases, so your point would be inaccurate," Mike interjected. Katrina just rolled her eyes at him. It was in this moment that a haggard looking Harold exited the elevator.

"Mike! Katrina!" he exclaimed, relief washing over his face.

"What took you so long?" Katrina asked the panting blonde.

"Angeline," Harold answered and both Katrina and Mike winched. Angeline was another associate that had a huge crush on Harold – the same Harold who couldn't go through a whole conversation without being reduced into a sputtering mess. And from what Mike had seen Angeline was very brash in her advances on Harold. Added to the fact that she was weirdly obsessive of Harold (Mike had seen her desktop background: A whole collage of different picture of Harold) and he could only imagine how terrified Harold must be of the other female.

"I had to hide in the filing room until I was sure that she had left," Harold whispered to them with wide eyes. "I was so terrified."

"Maybe you should hide again," Katrina advised. "Because she´s coming right now!" She pointed to the staircase where they could see the red-haired associate coming.

"Behind the column!" Mike hissed and dragged Harold behind the pillar right in time as Amanda reached them.

"Hello Mike," she greeted him, then colder: "Katrina." Mike could guess why Angeline disliked Katrina that much. Maybe it was because the other woman spend so much time with Harold and thus was unwanted competition? The thought made Mike smile. If there was one thing that Katrina certainly wouldn't do then it was to start something with Harold Gunderson. She tolerated the other man most of the time and even genuinely liked him sometimes, but she would never look at him like that. But Mike somehow doubted that Angeline would see it like that.

"Have you seen Harold anywhere?" Angeline asked.

"No," Mike answered. "We haven't seen him since we left the office. What do you need him for?"

"I wanted to ask him out, to watch 50 Shades of Grey with me," Angeline replied. "Today´s a special couple showing." Mike laid a hand on Katrina´s shoulder, because he just knew that his friend was dying to say something insulting.

"Tomorrow´s another day."

"I guess you´re right, Mike." Angeline´s face fell. "But tomorrow I won´t miss him. I shall prevail!" And with head held high she left the lobby.

"You can come out now, Harold," Katrina said and the timid blonde slowly tip-toed around the column.

"Thank you," Harold said and to Mike he just looked so pitiful, how he stood there with wide eyes, blonde curls and chubby face, thanking them for sparing him from human interaction.

"Now, let´s go," Katrina said impatiently. "If I don´t get something to eat very soon I´ll kill someone."

"You heard the lady, Harold," Mike joked and Harold nodded at him with serious expression.

"I heard there´s a new Korean just around the corner," he suggested. "I haven't tried it, though. What if they use nuts? I´m allergic to nuts." His gaze became panicked again, but Mike and Katrina resolutely shoved him out of the lobby.

"New York health regulation clearly state that they have to list every ingredient they use in their menu," Mike put Harold´s mind at ease.

"And should you die because of an allergic shock we´ll have at least enough to shut the place down and put the owner into prison," Katrina added unhelpfully and Mike glowered at her.

"But it won´t come to that!" he said loudly and confident.

In the end Mike was right. The restaurant was a proper establishment and Harold didn't die because of an allergic reaction to nuts some negligent cook had put into his food. Katrina got the number of the guy who had waited their table and Mike would bet his whole salary of a month that over the course of the next week he would be regaled with tales of Korean sexual prowess – things he didn't really wanted to know if he wasn't the one experiencing them.

"Why do I never get any numbers from hot women?" Harold moaned in disappointment. Katrina just gave him her best 'are you serious' look which turned into a 'this ball´s in your court' look when her gaze bore into Mike´s.

'Betrayer!' Mike mouthed at her, but Katrina just gave him a cheeky grin.

"You just have to work on your self-confidence and then you´ll get numbers," Mike encouraged Harold.

"But how do I get confidence?" Harold said and Mike had to remember that Harold may be a keen mind when it came to law, but not so much when it had to do with social issues.

"Maybe stop hiding from Angeline?" Katrina suggested. "If you can stand up to her then you should also be able to ask some strangers for their numbers." Harold looked at Mike.

"What she said," was Mike´s response.

"I guess," Harold sighed. "It´s just…I don´t want to hurt her feelings. What if she´ll hate me?"

"Oh, she definitely will," Katrina replied. Mike wanted to say something, but Katrina made some very clear gestures that he was not to interfere. "She will passionately hate you at first. But sooner or later she will meet another man and then you´ll be nothing more than a faint memory." Katrina paused. "See it like that: What is crueller? Saying 'no' to her once or leading her on for months?"

"Leading her on," Harold answered. Mike was about to add his piece of wisdom as well when he felt his mobile vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and read the message on the screen.

"Sorry, I have to go," he said to his friends. "I´m needed somewhere else."

"Alright," Katrina said. "See you tomorrow?" Mike nodded.

"Bye, Harold."

"By, Mike."

So while Katrina and Harold continued their way, Mike turned around and walked into the opposite direction, the message he had just received still in mind.

Do you have time to talk? – Dana

To alleviate some fears that I can imagine some people might have: This story won´t turn into Mike/Scottie and neither will a weird Mike/Harvey/Scottie threesome happen. Nope, this is 100% Marvey from the start until the end.

I also noticed that Marvey interaction is severly lacking. I try to change that over the course of the next few chapters.