Skyfall
Chapter Thirteen
Rebecca squinted as she woke up, the sun shining too brightly in her eyes. It took her a moment to realize she slept in her clothes. Shame and embarrassment creeped into her mind once she realized she had gotten drunk last night…very drunk.
She turned over to apologize to Harvey but his side of the bed was empty. She swung her legs off the side of the bed to get up so she could find him and apologize. As soon as she sat up the room started to spin a little so she laid back down. It was then that Harvey came into the bedroom.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked, coming over and setting some things on the nightstand before sitting on the edge of the bed next to her.
She looked over and saw there was aspirin, water and a banana. She then looked over at him. He didn't seem to be mad about her drunken state. In fact he just looked concerned.
"I feel so embarrassed." She admitted.
"You don't have to be embarrassed." He assured her.
"That's easy for you to say." She chuckled. "You didn't get insanely drunk and make a fool out of yourself."
"You didn't make a fool out of yourself."
"You're just trying to be nice." She told him. "And it's sweet."
"I've never seen you get that drunk before."
"That's because I haven't gotten this drunk in years." She told him. She had a clear memory of the last time she had gotten that drunk. It was right after he had broken up with her when Xavier kissed her.
Fortunately she wasn't as bad off this morning as she was the morning after that drinking episode. That morning she was hunched over the toilet for hours, emptying her stomach until there wasn't anything left. Surprisingly she didn't feel nauseous this time. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she wasn't drunk on vodka this time.
"I'm so sorry, Harvey."
"You don't have to apologize." He assured her, grabbing a hold of her hand. "I'm sorry you lost your client."
"I've had clients leave before. Most of the time it doesn't bother me. I just accept it as a part of life and move on. But with everything else going on…I guess I just kind of snapped for a moment." She explained.
"Like I said last night…it's been a rough few days. But it's going to get better. I promise. Dealing with Katie's death will get easier. You can find an even bigger client to replace Consolidated Financial. And you can still impress Jessica enough to put your name on the wall. The fact that she was even considering it in the first place means she is serious. I'm sure she will recognize that this is just a temporary setback."
She smiled at him and his attempt to make her feel better. But she remembered everything she said last night and she knew she mentioned him not wanting to have kids with her. The fact that he didn't mention anything about that just now while he was trying to console her about the other things told her all she needed to know.
"So about that…" She trailed off. "I know that last night I blurted out the fact I was keeping a secret from you about the name partner thing. I want to explain."
"You don't have to." He shook his head.
"Yeah I do." She argued. "Jessica brought me into her office and asked me what my plans for the next five years were. I told her I wanted to be a name partner and she explained that she was considering it but I have to do something impressive. Then she told me not to tell you."
"And you had to do what she asked." He nodded.
"I wanted to tell you. I wanted to run into your office immediately and tell you. It killed me that I couldn't say anything. But the last thing I wanted to do was disobey Jessica when she gave me a direct order."
"I understand." He nodded. "And Jessica shouldn't have put you in that position to begin with."
"You really aren't mad about this?"
"No." He shook his head. "I'll admit that last night I was a little hurt by it, but I'm not really mad…at least not at you. I'm slightly angry with Jessica, but I'll get over that."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"For what?" He laughed.
"For not being mad when you had every right to be and for taking care of me when I got so terribly drunk." She explained, giving him a hug.
"You're very welcome. Can I suggest you don't get this drunk often?" He chuckled.
"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that." She grinned.
"So before you go out and conquer the world again, I brought you water, aspirin and a banana." He pointed to the side table. "How is your head feeling?"
"It feels like there is an elephant stomping around in there." She laughed.
"Sounds about right." He smirked.
"What time is it?" She sighed.
"7:30."
"I should get up." She sat up and stayed sitting up, even though the room was still spinning slightly.
"I think you should stay here and rest a little." He cautioned.
"No." She shook her head. "I have work to do. Jessica's most likely heard about Consolidated Financial by now. I have to go execute the first stage of my plan to fix this."
"You have a plan already?" He asked.
"Of course! I already had a plan last night." She chuckled. "I formulated it while I was drinking I think it was the fourth or fifth drink that the plan started to come together."
"You made a plan while drunk?" He laughed.
"No." She shook her head. "I made a plan while inebriated. I wasn't completely drunk at that point. That came at around drink seven."
"Want to tell me what your plan is?" He laughed.
"No." She smirked. "You'll just have to wait." She then grabbed the aspirin and the water, downing the pills quickly.
"What about the banana?" He asked, pointing to it. "It will help."
"I know." She told him. "But I want to wait on that for a moment. I'd rather take a hot shower first."
"Can I join you?" He asked with a grin on his face. "I could help you wash up."
She smiled as he held out his hand for her to grab a hold of so she could get up and continued to hold on to his hand as she dragged him with her to the bathroom.
"Hey." Rebecca greeted, entering the office and sitting down across from Louis' desk.
"You're back." Louis greeted with a smile. "How are you doing?"
"I'm…well I'll be ok." She explained. "Thank you for offering to help Mike cover for us."
"No problem." He shook his head. "Family comes first and I know you would do the same for me."
"I would." She smiled. "So how are things with you?"
"Things are very good." He smiled. "I asked Shelia last night and she said yes."
"Louis, that's amazing!" She made a mental note to call Shelia later and congratulate her. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thank you." He nodded. "I feel like screaming it from the rooftop of every building in the city."
"I know that feeling well."
"Was that how you felt when you said yes to Harvey?"
"Yes." She nodded. "After he asked me I felt like I could fly."
"Exactly!" Louis chuckled. "You get it."
"I certainly do."
"While you are here can I ask you a question?"
"Of course you can." She told him.
"Do you think there is any way that Harvey would be my best man?"
Louis looked so nervous asking that question and she had to keep from laughing. She wouldn't be laughing at him though, just at his nervousness. Although Harvey didn't like to admit it often, he considered Louis family and there was no doubt in her mind that he would say yes. "I think he would absolutely do that for you."
"Thank you."
"So do you still have the master list of clients for the firm?"
"Yes." He nodded. "It's all right up here." He pointed to his brain.
"Can you look at this and tell me if we would have any conflict of interests please?" She passed the piece of paper over to him. "These are clients I want to go after today."
He read of the list and then looked at her. "You should already know that United Financial is a conflict of interest."
"Not anymore." She corrected him. "I guess you didn't hear that Consolidated Financial dropped me as their counsel yesterday."
"I'm sorry." He said, handing her the paper.
"It's ok. It happens." She shrugged. "So other than that, we are good?"
"Yes." He nodded. "There aren't any other conflicts. But is the last one on the list really a possibility?"
"It might be." She explained. "We will see how convincing I can be today."
"Well good luck." He said as she stood up.
"Thanks." She smiled. She got halfway to the door and turned around to face him again. "For what it's worth Louis, I think you and Shelia are going to be very happy together."
Harvey was at his desk, working when Rebecca came into his office. "Hey." He smiled. "I thought you were getting ready to leave."
"I was, but I had an interesting conversation with Louis." She explained.
"What about?" He laughed. "Cats? Ballet? Harvey Specter?"
She laughed. "No. Weddings."
"Oh." It finally dawned on him what she was hinting at. "Did he finally propose to Shelia?"
"Yes." She nodded.
"Took him long enough." He laughed heartily. "I know he isn't the best closer in the world, but it really shouldn't have taken him three years to close that deal."
"Ok, see that's why I am telling you this now instead of letting Louis tell you." She chastised him lightly. "He is on cloud nine right now and I don't want you making fun of him. Please?"
"I can't even make fun a little bit?" He asked.
"Nope." She shook his head.
"But it's one of my favorite hobbies." He complained.
"I know." She chuckled. "I need you to be on your best behavior because he has a question he wants to ask you. He's going to ask you to be his best man. And I know that you don't like to let it show often, but you do really care about Louis. So I think you know the right answer to give him when he asks."
"I'll say yes." He told her. "There shouldn't be any doubt that I would say yes."
"Thank you." She came over and gave him a quick kiss. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go try to make a couple of rabbits appear out of my hat."
"If anyone can do it, it's you." He told her, giving her another, longer kiss before she left.
Rebecca followed the secretary into the office and tried not to be nervous. What she was getting ready to try and do was risky. But if it worked, it would definitely show Jessica she was serious about being name partner.
"Rebecca! It's good to see you!" Brian Cushman greeted with a smile, getting up from his desk and coming around to shake her hand.
"It's nice to see you too, Brian." She smiled, shaking his hand. She saw the secretary leave the room and realized she could speak freely now.
"What do I owe the pleasure of a visit from you today?" He asked.
She sat down and made sure her posture was perfect. "I wanted to make sure that you were happy with everything I've done as your personal lawyer for the past few years."
"I am very happy." He told her. "You handled my divorce, the custody disputes and also made sure my ex-wife didn't raid my retirement accounts. And then you also helped out with those other situations we don't need to talk about right now or hopefully ever again. But why the sudden check in?"
When she got him to be her client a few years ago, she had to admit it was only so that she could use his access to arrange the Yankee Stadium date for Harvey. Now she felt like she was using this man again. But this was the way the world worked so she couldn't be too hard on herself.
"I was wondering if your organization was happy with only having two subpar lawyers from a shitty law firm on your payroll."
He laughed. "Let me guess. You aren't here on a social call. You are really here because you would like to be the new Yankees general counsel?"
"Yes. I would like my firm to handle all of your legal needs and I'd like to be the point person in charge." She confirmed.
"I can't say the thought has never crossed my mind. You've more than proven yourself to be a worthy lawyer with the way you handled all of my issues." Brian told her. "But I don't have the authority to just make a change like that. I'd have to run it by my boss."
"So do you want to call him or should I?" She grinned.
"You're really serious about this?" He asked, a slight chuckle escaping. "You know there is a lot of work that has to be done. We aren't your average client."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not your average lawyer." She assured him. "I can definitely handle it."
"Ok. If you are truly serious then I will go over to his office right now and talk to him about it. And I'll call you with what he says."
"I would appreciate it." She told him, standing up. "Thank you."
Harvey stepped into Jessica's office without knocking, stopping in front of her desk.
"What's on your mind, Harvey?" Jessica asked without looking up from the file she was working on.
"I just thought maybe we haven't spent enough time talking lately about firm business." He shrugged.
"You've been to all of the partner meetings." She reminded him. "I think you are up to speed on everything."
"Did you and Louis have a meeting without me while I was gone?" He asked.
"No." She shook her head and looked at him. "What's really going on here? You don't like to talk about firm business. So why don't you spit out whatever it is you came in here to say so I can get back to work?"
"It's about Rebecca."
"Ok. What about her?"
"Don't play dumb with me." He scoffed. "You mean to tell me you didn't have a conversation about her becoming a name partner?"
"Oh. I see she told you." Jessica said, putting down her pen.
"She did…because we don't keep secrets from each other. I thought you and I didn't keep secrets from each other either but I'm not sure I can say that anymore though."
Jessica chuckled. "I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings. I just wanted to try and control the appearance of this. If we make Rebecca a name partner, it's going to look like she got it simply because she is your wife. If I take you completely out of the decision making process, then it becomes based on merit."
"Which is why you told her that and made her understand she has to be even more impressive." He now understood.
"I don't want there to be any blowback from anyone in the firm thinking that Rebecca doesn't deserve to have her name on the wall. Honestly, I would put it up right now but I don't think the timing is right. The pro bono department, her insanely high billable hours and her client list are impressive, but it's not quite enough yet to sell it to the other partners." Jessica explained.
Jessica sighed. "Look, there are a few partners who I know won't be thrilled right now if I make her a name partner. I'm trying to do what's best for everyone and the firm."
"Ok. I understand." He nodded.
"By the way, how is she doing after losing Consolidated Financial? That had to be quite a blow after everything that has happened with your family."
"You know about that already?"
"Oh please, I knew about it yesterday afternoon." Jessica chuckled. "You should know by now that I know everything that happens in this firm."
"She didn't take it very well." He admitted.
"She's resourceful though." Jessica noted. "She'll bounce back."
"Is that why you haven't already summoned her to your office for a verbal lashing like you would anyone else who lost a client like that?" He asked with a chuckle. "Or like you did when I lost a big client years ago?"
"Exactly." She smiled. "I have faith in her that she'll find a way to make it right again."
"I have faith in that too." He nodded.
"So you are in agreement that she should be a name partner?"
"Absolutely." He nodded. "She deserves it."
"Ok." Jessica nodded. "I thought that would be your response but it's good to know for sure that you support it."