"Jessica? Have a minute?" Jessica looks up from her laptop and motions for Juli to come in.
"I was wondering if it's at all possible that I could take some vacation time."
"Juli, just submit a leave doc and we'll approve it." Juli starts to become nervous.
"That's the thing Jessica; I was hoping I could take time off in a few days. Like Thursday."
Jessica closes the laptop slightly, and folds her arms on the desk, "Thursday? Why, may I ask, are you just now asking for time off?"
"Something came up. I know it's sudden, so if it's a no, than that's okay." Jessica can be intimidating, and right now, she's extremely terrifying.
"What has come up?" Jessica asks, subtly cocking her head.
"My soon to be sister-in-law wants to come into town and shop for wedding dresses. She's been unsuccessful in California, so she wants to come here and find a dress. This, really, is the only time she can come to New York. Unless we wait for another 3 weeks, but that's not ideal, it's cutting it too…"
Jessica is forced to cut her off, all Juli is doing now is rambling. "Slow down! Yes, you can have this time off, assuming that you have no work that's in need of your attention."
"No, there isn't. Thank you so much Jessica. Really, thank you." Juli turns and heads for the door.
"Juli, before you go," Juli stops and turns around, "I will leave it up to you to tell Louis. I know you came to me, to avoid him. Good luck." Juli's smile quickly fades; she leaves Jessica's office and heads to Harvey's.
Once she's in Harvey's office, she shuts the door and then immediately plops down on his couch. "Well, I got the vacation time."
Sitting at his desk, Harvey looks up at her. "I told you Jessica would give it to you." He says with a smirk. "Why'd you shut my door?"
"I did it for insurance purposes."Harvey raises his eyebrows, "This way, I don't have to watch what I say. If something slips out, then I don't have to worry who hears it."
"Makes sense, you could just keep it strictly professional at work though, leave all the personal stuff for later. If you're that worried"
"Not my style, Harvey. Besides, you need an office with walls that aren't windows. I'd like to kiss you every now and then." Harvey walks over to her. "What are you doing?"
"Let me kiss you, right here, right now." Juli becomes increasingly nervous.
"Uh, no?"
"Why?"
"What if someone sees us; another associate or something?"
"You think I care?" Juli stands up and, thanks to her impossibly tall heels, meets his eyes.
"I know that you do. Now, I must go tell Louis I have vacation time coming up. Bye."
"Hey Carrie, guess what?"
"What?" Carrie responded with uneasiness in her voice.
"You can come! I will book your flight tonight! I am so excited."
Juli has to pull the phone away from her ear because Carrie has started to squeal."So the douche boss was okay with it?"
"Actually, I went over his head. But I have to tell him it was approved. I am actually about to tell him now. I'll call you later. Love you."
Juli hangs up her phone and taps on Louis' door.
"You may enter," he bellows.
"Hi Louis, I, uh, just wanted to let you know I have some vacation time coming up..."
"What! It's not on my calendar. Norma didn't tell me."
"That's because I just got it approved by Jessica this morning. I'll be taking Thursday through Monday off."
"You went to Jessica? Why?"
Thinking quickly, Juli blurts out, "The urgency of needing an approval so soon, I thought it would be best if I went straight to her."
Louis stands there, staring. "I don't like that you didn't come to me. I will talk to Jessica about this. I needed you Friday."
"This is news to me."
"See, if you would have consulted me before running off to Mommy, you would have figured it out."
Mommy? What the hell?
Juli is trying not to come unglued. "What is it that you need on Friday?"
"Show up and find out, don't show up and risk losing your job."
"Louis. You can't."
"I'm a Junior Partner, it's within my parameters to fire whomever I'd like, try me." Juli just stands there unsure of what to say or do. "You may leave now, Julianne." She turns and walks out of the office.
It's after lunch and Juli finds she's unable to concentrate. Would Louis really put her job on the line for not showing up on Friday?
"Juli, do you have any letterhead at your desk? I don't really feel like walking to the supply room" Mike asks cheerfully.
"Yeah, come on over and grab it." Juli was emailing Harvey about her conversation with Louis and she didn't want to stop typing.
Mike walks behind her desk and opens the drawer to take out the letterhead, "what are you typing?" Mike starts to read it over her shoulder, "what a complete ass."
Juli hits send and turns to Mike, "He's a complete jerk. I am so furious."
A group of associates walk in the office and sit at their respective desks. Juli lowers her voice, "I hate working for him. I seriously wish I answered to Harvey."
Mike lowers his head, "Of course you do, you would get away-hey Harvey what brings you here?" Juli swings her head around to look at Harvey.
Harvey holds up his finger and continues reading the email Juli sent him on his BlackBerry.
Once Harvey finishes, he looks at Juli. "Don't you worry one bit. Your job will be fine."
"How can you be sure? Louis was pissed I went to Jessica."
"Just relax. Enjoy your vacation and don't give this place a second thought. Come over here with me."
Juli gets up and follows Harvey to the center of the room. Harvey clears his throat and begins to address the room, "Everyone. Can I have your attention, please?"
All the associates look up from their desks and wait for whatever order Harvey is getting ready to dish out.
Juli stand there, anxious to hear what he has to say, too.
Harvey turns to face Juli, then grabbing Juli's hand he says, "I don't care if they see," and cups her face with his other hand and kisses her softly on the lips.
The only sounds filling the office is the collective gasp let out by all the associates. Harvey looks at everyone and orders them to get back to work and walks off.
Juli remains standing in the middle of the room, completely beside herself.
Sitting in the copy room, organizing all the files she just made copies of, Juli stops to think about what had happened with Harvey a few hours ago.
Is he really starting to turn around? No, that's silly. He's set in his way, the eternal bachelor.
Juli tries to shake off that line of thinking; it's not possible that Harvey can start wanting an actual, honest-to-goodness relationship. Could he?
Certainly not with someone like me, that's for sure.
Just as Julianne's thoughts start to turn against her, she's interrupted by Louis.
"I spoke with Jessica; you're free to take your vacation."
Juli stands there, frozen.
"Did you hear me?" Louis asks in an undermining tone.
"Of course I did, I just… I wasn't expecting that."
"Well, I guess you have your boyfriend to thank. Gees, I should have seen that coming; you and good ole Harvey Specter."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know what it means." Louis says and then promptly exits the copy room.