The Woman That Knows

Being awesome was not as easy as it looked, Donna mused as she stepped out of the elevator onto the floors of PH. It required a certain skillset that only few people possessed and fewer people even knew how to use it correctly.

For example, when she walked by the reception desk she had to wait for the exact moment to nod at Mary and Esther. It was a clear and concise nod that implied respect but still showed that Donna was higher up in the hierarchy of PH. Nevertheless, it made Mary and Esther happy that they were shown the prober respect for their work – after all they were the front line and the first one at whom an angry client would rage at – and in return Donna was the first one they called when the really interesting things happened. The same went for the security guys downstairs. It showed that in most cases the proper amount of respect was the only thing you needed to network.

Of course, fear was also a useful tool to be had, Donna thought as she saw Kyle standing at her cubicle. The last time he entered it and even dared to sit down on her chair he regretted dearly. A call to Patricia, who was married to Paul, who knew the owners of every hotdog stand around the building and suddenly every hotdog Kyle ordered was made so that it would fall apart the moment he bit in it. Donna had never seen a dry-cleaning bill that high.

Kyle never entered her cubicle again.

"Kyle," Donna called like she was just naming a piece of furniture. "Do you really have time to anxiously await for my arrival when you should clear Harvey´s office from all those files you ordered?" She ditched her jacket – Prada, paid for by Harvey as thank you for the last time she saved his ass with her organisation skills – and threw it at him. Kyle caught it and hung it up at the hat stand. She had trained him so well.

Donna was about to sit down when she noticed it.

"Wait," she commanded and held up her hand. "Is that coffee made from sustainable coffee bones with fat-reduced milk froth, chocolate crisps and a pinch of cinnamon from 'Mademoiselle Titeux' where you have to wait at least half-an-hour to even order?" She narrowed her eyes at Kyle. "You want me to put in a good word for you with Harvey so that you won´t have to clear his whole office."

"Please," Kyle begged and if he wasn't such an arrogant douchebag Donna would have thought of his attempt at puppy eyes as adorable instead of simply pathetic.

"You´re the personal associate of Harvey Specter," she hissed at the man. "Cease this begging and act like it!" She tool the coffee and took a sip. It was truly as good as Norma had hinted at several times during their last get-together. Kyle´s face lit up.

"Does that mean that you´ll help me?" he asked, his eyes shining with hope. Donna looked at Kyle, then at the coffee in her hand. He did stand in line over 30 minutes for it. He was a Harvard-douchebag. The coffee was liquid ecstasy. Kyle grated on her nerves. Cinnamon. She didn't like his hair. Cinnamon. She sighed.

"I may mention to him that his punishment may have been a little bit too harsh," she conceded and a wide grin overtook Kyle´s face.

"But!" Donna interrupted what was probably the start of some victory dance. "That´ll be another one at a time of my choosing."

"Of course," Kyle agreed eagerly. Donna shushed him away and finally sat down on her chair. While she booted her computer she went through all the things she had to do today. It wasn´t really that much and Donna hoped that something exciting would happen, lest she would die of boredom. Louis hadn't had any neurotic episode for a few days, it was time for a new meltdown, where Donna could just lay back and enjoy until she had to prevent Harvey from throwing the bald man out of one of the many windows around here.

She could also go and talk to Rachel, Donna thought. The paralegal was one of the few people that she could tolerate and have intelligent conversations with. Currently Rachel was fretting about the prospect of taking the LSATs, but Donna knew that in the end she would take and pass them.

"Why do I never see you working?" Donna looked up to see Harvey standing in front of her cubicle, the usual smirk on his face.

"Because I´m already finished when you deign your lazy ass to come to the office?" Donna shot back.

"Touché," Harvey replied. He was about to enter his office when Donna noticed it.

"Wait!" she exclaimed and pulled Harvey´s tie towards her.

"That´s lavender," Donna said as she examined that particular piece of clothing while Harvey´s upper part of the body hung awkwardly over her desk in order to evade being strangled by Donna´s iron-tight grip around the tie.

"You only wear lavender when you got or will get laid by Scottie," Donna continued and Harvey squirmed uncomfortably. "You didn't get laid yesterday and I´m pretty sure you won´t get laid today evening, at least not by Scottie. You wouldn't wear this tie for a one-night stand, so it´s something more serious." Donna thought for a moment. "It´s the guy you´re constantly texting with!"

"H-h-how do you know that?!" Harvey sputtered.

"You never give your number to one-night stands," Donna explained. "And yesterday you muttered 'Mike would have done it by himself' when Kyle confessed that he used an extern for the work you gave him. You´re having a date!" Harvey looked at her for a moment and then just shook his head.

"You´re scary, you know that?" Harvey commented. Donna just raised her eyebrow at him.

"Am I right or am I right?" she just shot back.

"Why that avid interest in my love life?" Harvey asked instead. "Maybe because yours is currently lacking?"

"Nice try, Harvey," Donna taunted, "but your deflection won´t work on me. So, spill or I´ll sick Louis on you!"

"You wouldn't!" Harvey exclaimed in mock-betrayal. "Not even you are that cruel!"

"Does this majestic face look like I wouldn't resort to Louis?" Donna just said and gestured to her own face which was set in a mask of pure indifference. Harvey seemed to weigh his choices – which were non-existent, because Donna knew that he wouldn't hold back something like that. He always told her. This whole foreplay was just for show; to satisfy his primal manly instincts of showing his alphahood and whatsoever before he caved in. She wasn't a psychologist, after all.

"I may or may not have a date today," Harvey confessed. "And it may or may not be with an individual named Mike."

"And do you or do you not want to bang this Mike until both of you are so sore that you can´t even leave your bed?" Donna shot back without missing a beat. Harvey just shot her his brightest lawyer smile.

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell," he smirked and walked through the glass doors into his office.

"Then I´m glad that you aren't one!" Donna shouted after him before the doors closed. Turning back to her computer screen she couldn't help but smile. That was going to be interesting, she just knew it.

The Woman That Rules

There were many things that people – especially those working at Pearson Hardman – did not know about the woman that presided over them all. For many Jessica Pearson was the epitome of graceful cunning and ruthlessness, a stealthy tigress amongst her prey. Jessica had done much to cultivate that image and nobody would ever imagine the Ice Queen of PH to do something as plebeian as she was doing now.

"I don't care if I already watched for over five hours," Jessica murmured as the annoying pop-up appeared on her screen. Today was one of the rare days where she found herself with nothing to do. There was nothing of importance for her to handle and everything else had already been delegated to people who were much better suited for such tasks than Jessica was – meaning that they weren't paid as much.

Jessica could count days where she had nothing to do on one hand and still have fingers left, so she wasted no time and continued her TV-show on her laptop. Of course, this was Pearson Hardman, so it didn't take long for her to be disrupted.

"Jessica," Louis panted as he threw her doors open and walked right into her office.

"Louis, what can I do for you?" Jessica replied evenly. Besides wrangling your neck? She added mentally. She couldn't fathom why some people wanted children so desperately. If they were anything like Harvey and Louis she would rather gauge out her eyes with one of Donna´s stilettos.

"Harvey´s refusing to work with me," Louis complained. "Even though the client demanded him on the case explicitly." Jessica could practically see how much that particular truth irked the bald man. His face was in an unhealthy-looking shade of red and the vein on his temple was throbbing dangerously.

"Did Harvey give any reason as to why he refused to take on this case?" Jessica wanted to know and she fixed Louis with her sternest gaze. She knew Louis and he wasn't about to conveniently forget some facts or twist them to his liking so that people would take his side and she wouldn't interfere in another of Louis' and Harvey´s childish spats if she didn't got all the facts straight.

"No, he didn't," Louis replied. Jessica just looked at him expectantly, but it seemed that Louis had nothing more to say.

"Thank you, Louis, for bringing this to my attention," Jessica said. "I´ll take care of this." For Jessica this was enough of a dismissal, but Louis didn't seem to get it.

"Wait, why aren't you going to Harvey right now and tell him that he should work?"

"Louis," Jessica said warningly. "How I run my firm is no business of you. Be assured that I´ll take care of Harvey." Louis made an unrecognizable sound, turned on his heels and walked out of her office. When he was around the corner, Jessica exhaled deeply. What had she done in her previous lives to deserve this suffering? It must have been something truly deplorable if the Powers That Be decided to saddle her with Harvey and Louis.

Already angry because her show had been interrupted, Jessica stood up and exited her office. She walked along the busy hallways of PH and couldn't help but smile a little bit as she watched all the people – her workers and her clients – busying around. This was hers, she had built this up when her predecessors and Daniel had been about to run the firm into the ground and she would fight until her dying breath to keep it.

"Donna," Jessica said pleasantly to Harvey´s secretary. The woman may think that she 'Knew Everything', but Jessica had played The Game before Donna had even considered becoming an executive assistant and she could outmanoeuvre the redhead with no effort at all. But Jessica had long learned that workers who were allowed to keep their illusions – Donna´s omniscience, Harvey´s invincibility or Louis' financial genius – were happy workers and made the firm more money, so she just let them believe whatever they wanted.

"Jessica," Donna replied with a respectful nod. "You´re here because Harvey won´t work with Louis."

"I am," she answered clipped.

"He´s in," Donna answered Jessica´s unasked question and gesticulated at the door. "And for you he´s always free." Jessica grinned.

"As he should," she replied and without waiting for Donna to say something else she entered Harvey´s office. Said man sat behind his desk and looked up from his cellphone when he noticed her entering.

"Harvey," Jessica began and she knew that Harvey could interpret her neutral voice as what it was: I´m pissed off, but not so much as to blow a fuse, but I will if you step one toe out of line. Ah, the wonders of non-verbal conversations.

"Jessica, what´s the matter?" Harvey grinned at her. Looking like Jessica could see why so many woman – and men, come on, Harvey didn't really believe that she wouldn't know? – fell for him. He had a certain charm to him. But sadly Jessica was immune, so she just gave him her most unimpressed expression.

"I think you know what the matter is, Harvey," Jessica replied and set down on his table. Maintaining height differences was always a good way to show who was the higher up and Harvey needed such reminder as often as possible. Harvey´s face fell into a mask of annoyance.

"What did Louis say?" he wanted to know.

"That you refused working with a client even though he explicitly demanded that you were on the case," Jessica repeated what Louis had said to her.

"That rat!" Harvey exclaimed, his fist clenched. "I did nothing of that sort! The only thing I did was refusing an invitation to a diner which Pascal was very understanding about." Jessica rubbed her temples. No she had to go to Louis and yell at him for bending facts so much that they were practically broken through. All the while her show was still waiting for her.

"And what was this reason that you cancelled an appointment with a new multi-billion client?" Jessica asked Harvey and she prayed that it was a good one, because otherwise heads would roll.

"I have a date," Harvey answered, but with none of his usual bravado. Jessica noticed that he had given the answer hesitantly – shy even – and if she wasn't that mad she would have commented on that.

"You blew off a client because some random date?" she asked incredulously, not believing what she had heard. Harvey couldn't be serious! "I thought you were smart enough not to allow your love life interfere with your work!"

"It´s not some 'random' date," Harvey hissed through his clenched jaw. "And I don´t let my love life interfere with my work. If Louis hadn't said anything you wouldn't even know that anything happened at all." He paused for a moment. "And like I said, Pascal was very understanding. I even earned some bonus points for not 'being some cold lawyer-machine'." He grinned at her humourlessly.

"I hope that she´s worth it," Jessica replied.

"He definitely is," Harvey said, his trademark smirk plastered on his face again.

"Then I´m happy for you," Jessica smiled at Harvey, whose jaw dropped.

"You aren't…"

"Shocked that you´re dating a man?" Jessica finished for him. "Please, if you want to hide something from me you have to do better. I knew since Thomas; you tie was always crooked after you had a 'meeting' with him." She patted Harvey on the head and walked out of the office.

"Donna, when Harvey regains his sanity, do tell him that I want the Berger merger finished today," she told the secretary.

"Yes," Donna replied and added in a whisper: "Your majesty."

It was great to be Jessica Pearson.

The Woman That Observes

She may not be as beautiful as Donna or as awe-inspiring as Jessica Pearson, but Norma had some qualities of her own. Most workers at PH knew that she existed – probably because Louis had mentioned her in one of his tirades at his Dictaphone – but nearly none of them could describe her or would even recognize her on the hallways.

People overlooked her. Their gaze wandered over her, but they never focused, too intent on doing whatever work they thought was important at the moment. But their weakness was Norma´s strength: She knew things. Not like Donna, who had a whole networks of 'contacts' woven throughout Manhattan, but rather because she knew how to listen and how to look without being recognized.

Norma knew that Jack Soloff was in contact with Daniel Hardman because they had met in a little bar pretty far from PH. They probably thought that no one of importance would ever venture there, because all those extravagant hipster-bars where in the opposite direction, but they were wrong. Since she had started working for PH Norma had been going to that particular bar and so she had witnessed those two men animatedly talking to each other.

Unlike Donna, though, Norma had no need to broadcast her whole knowledge to others in order to make herself appear more important. No, Norma could keep secrets and use them at the opportune moment for her. She kept her most precious secrets for years even, in the back of her mind waiting for the right time to be unleashed. And if it never came to that, than she wouldn't spill a tear over it.

And Norma knew that Harvey Specter was seeing someone. A male someone. He had hidden in the copy room and called his 'Mike' in order to ask him on a date, probably thinking that no one would disturb or discover him there, but Norma had been at another copier behind a shelf of files and had been able to listen to his every word.

Harvey Specter had left the room thinking that he had been alone. He hadn't recognized Norma, who had patiently stocked her papers together and left the room shortly after him. She had filed that particular secret in her mind. Maybe she could use it in the near future.

"Norma, here you are," Louis said as he walked up to her desk. "I´ve been searching for you for ages. As my secretary you should be wherever I need you." Norma didn't answer. With Louis it would just be a waste of breath.

"I need the number of the private detective," Louis commanded. "Harvey´s hiding something and I´ll discover what it is. Scottie is out for some time and if I can get something on Harvey, there´ll be nothing to prevent my ascension to Senior Partnership." Norma just gave him the number. Louis would never learn. But she would be there in his corner when this would inevitably backfire on him.

After all, she had always been there.