Skyfall

Chapter Fourteen

A short time later, Rebecca walked into another meeting. While she hoped that Brian could convince his boss to hire her a general counsel for the Yankees, she wasn't putting all her stock in just that plan. Losing Consolidated Financial meant that she was free to take on another company in their industry.

And what better company to go after than their main rival, United Financial—who just happened to be a Florrick and James client. It would be fun to take one of their biggest clients away from them. It didn't happen often because she didn't encounter them on too many cases, but every once in a while she would find herself opposite either Florrick or James. They never missed an opportunity to throw it in her face that they considered her a murderer with thinly veiled insults.

She knew it was simply a way for them to try and throw her off her game. And although time had passed since that fateful night, she still felt guilty about her role in Xavier's death. So when they make comments about it, she can't help but be shaken. A part of her wondered if she would ever stop feeling guilty about it or if she would be permanently haunted.

"Mr. Greystone will see you now." The secretary said after getting off the phone.

"Thank you." She got up, took a deep breath and smoothed out her suit.

"So, Ms. Monroe, what can I do for you today? Aren't you still counsel for my rival?" Mr. Greystone asked, shaking her hand and then sitting down at his desk. "Did you come here to hand deliver some bullshit lawsuit?"

"No. And the question isn't what can you do for me. It's more what I can do for you." She explained. "You see, Consolidated Financial isn't my client anymore. They decided to go in a different direction, which is a mistake that you can now benefit from."

"Ah. I get it. You would like me to drop my firm and sign with you." He stated with a deep laugh.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Ok, I am a curious man and I have a few free minutes today. I'll bite. Please, tell me why I should switch firms."

"You are with Florrick and James. Now I used to work for them a few years ago so I can tell you from experience that they are an extremely conservative firm in respects to the kinds of risks they are willing to take and how far they are willing to go for their clients. Remember that case last year you filed against Consolidated?"

"Yes of course I remember." He nodded. "We lost that case and had to pay them."

"You should have won that case." She explained to him. "There were four motions in particular that your lawyers could have and should have filed to stop us. There was precedent they should have cited to get the case thrown out. But they didn't. The list of their incompetence on that case is staggering."

"I had to pay Consolidated $20 million because of that lawsuit." He complained.

"And they originally only wanted to make you pay $10 million in damages. I convinced them to bump up the settlement to $20 million." She told him. It was a dangerous game to play, letting him know how badly his lawyers screwed up that case and how she had screwed him over on it being on the other side. But she had to trust that this plan would work to her advantage.

"I had to pay an extra $10 million because of you?" He asked with a chuckle. "Hypothetically, if I were to drop my incompetent law firm and hire you, what could you to for me?"

This was when she knew she had him on the hook and she smiled. "Sir, you'd get a Goddamn shark fighting for you instead of the goldfish you have now."

He was quiet for a moment as he leaned back in his chair. Then he released a deep sigh. "Alright. Send me over the paperwork and I'll make you my new lawyer. It would be nice to have a shark that can take a bite out of Consolidated. Besides, I like you. I think you'll fit in nicely here."

She got up and shook his hand. "Thank you sir. You won't regret this."

Harvey silently stood in the doorway of Mike's office.

"Did you need something, Harvey?" Mike asked.

"Do you have a moment?"

"If I want to leave on time tonight, I have exactly one moment, yes." Mike laughed.

He entered the office and shut the door before sitting down across from Mike. "First of all, thanks for covering while we were in Boston."

"You're welcome." Mike said. "The last thing you two needed to worry about was work."

"We appreciated it."

"I know you didn't come all the way down here just to thank me." Mike scoffed. "What's really on your mind, Harvey?"

"Rebecca wants kids."

"Ok." Mike nodded, then was quiet for a moment. "Hold up! This isn't one of those conversations where you tell me you can't father a child so you want my sperm, is it? Because I love you two but that creeps me out on so many levels and I don't think Rachel would ever agree to something like that…"

"It's nothing like that!" Harvey scoffed. "And I'll have you know there is nothing wrong with my sperm."

"Oh, so you've had to have it checked?" Mike laughed. "Don't worry. There's absolutely no shame in that! I hear that a lot of men your age need to do that."

"No…and why must you always go to the age thing?" He chuckled. "Look, the thing is I'm not sure I want to have kids."

"Oh."

"And it's causing some issues for our relationship." He admitted.

"I see."

"I know you didn't plan on having Laura when you did…but did you want kids with Rachel before that happened?"

"Yeah." Mike nodded. "Of course I did! Laura obviously wasn't planned but we had discussed children before. We both wanted to have kids."

"How did you know you wanted them?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you are asking."

"Why did you want kids?" Harvey asked.

"Lots of reasons I guess." Mike shrugged. "One was because I wanted a chance to be a good father, like the one I had. I liked the idea of having a kid that was half me and half Rachel. I wanted to be able to teach my kid how to read, how to ride a bike and just how to be a good person."

"I don't know if I really want those things." Harvey admitted. "I mean, the idea of having this tiny human who is half me and half Rebecca is incredibly tempting…but then I think about the fact that I don't know the first thing about raising a child and I get scared."

"I didn't know anything about it either." Mike laughed. "But you figure it out and you do the best you can. Plus they have some really great books you can read about it too."

"You're a good dad."

"Thank you Harvey. That means a lot."

"I mean it. You and Rachel are great parents. And I think Rebecca would be a good mom. I just…feel almost defective because I don't have that overwhelming desire to father a kid like she does to be a mom."

"You aren't defective." Mike defended him. "But you do need to talk to Rebecca about this. Have you told her how you feel?"

"I've only told her about the fact that I'm not sure I want to have kids. She took that to mean I don't want to have kids ever." He explained.

"That is what it sounds like though. I can see how she would think that."

He looked over at Mike and sighed. "I know. In the past she didn't seem too worried about it. She didn't pressure me about it. But now, I feel like this is going to become an issue for us."

"You need to be completely honest with her about this." Mike advised. "It's the only way to get through this."

"I know." He sighed.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, I panicked after we found out Rachel was pregnant with Laura. I also panicked after we found out she was pregnant with James too. But after the panic comes the realization that you have created this human being with the woman you love more than your own life, and you get to watch this human grow and develop. It's a beautiful thing. And for what it's worth, I think you would be an outstanding father."

Harvey nodded, taking Mike's words to heart. "Thanks Mike."

"Anytime." Mike called after him as he left.

He walked back to his office and saw Louis. He was walking into the office and then back out. Staying back for a moment, he watching Louis do that five more times. "In or out Louis." He said in a booming voice. "Which is it going to be?"

"In." Louis said, following him into the office. "I just didn't know if I should wait for you inside your office or not. Last time I waited inside you yelled at me."

"What's up?" He asked, going and sitting in his desk chair.

"I asked Shelia to marry me." Louis announced. "And she said yes."

"Congratulations Louis." He smiled. "I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks." Louis smiled widely. "I was wondering if you would do me a favor. It's kind of a big favor, but you're really the only one that I would ever even think of asking. Would you be my best man?"

"I'd be honored." He got up from the chair and held out his hand for Louis to shake. But in true Louis fashion, instead of shaking hands he threw his arms around him. That's how he found himself hugging Louis Litt for the seventh time in his life.

"Thank you Harvey!" Louis gushed. "You don't know what this means to me."

"If you don't stop hugging me right now I'm not going to do it." He warned.

"Oh." Louis backed away. "Sorry. I just got carried away there."

"It's ok." He laughed, going back to sit down.

"I can't wait to go tell Shelia." Louis exclaimed, leaving the office.

Rebecca stood in Jessica's doorway. "Do you have a moment?"

Jessica looked up at her. "Sure."

She came in and handed Jessica two folders. "I figure by now you know I lost Consolidated Financial as a client yesterday."

"Yes. I did hear about that." Jessica nodded. "I'm sorry that you lost them."

"It's ok." She shrugged.

"What is in these files?"

"I gained two new clients today." Rebecca smiled. "I thought you might want to know about it."

Jessica grinned and opened the first file. "You got United Financial?"

"Yep." She smiled.

"Weren't they clients of your old firm?" Jessica smirked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "That was just an added bonus."

"That's impressive." Jessica admitted. "United might actually give you more in billable hours than Consolidated did since they are trying to merge with a couple of smaller institutions."

"If you want more billable hours, just wait until you open the second file." She chuckled.

"You're kidding, right?" Jessica asked after she looked at the second client.

"No, I'm definitely not kidding."

"How the hell did you sign the Yankees organization?" Jessica questioned with a grin on her face.

"I have my ways." She smirked.

"I'm a little lost for words at the moment, which doesn't happen often." Jessica took a moment. "Did you do all of this in one day?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Good job." Jessica smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled back, taking the files back from Jessica's desk. "I'll let you get back to work now."

Harvey was finishing up a motion and pressing save when he saw Rebecca enter his office. He couldn't help but smile at her. She seemed to be in a good mood so he figured her day went well.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Hey." He greeted back. "You have good timing because I'm ready to head home if you are."

"Ok." She agreed. "We can leave in a moment. Can we talk first?"

"Of course." He watched as she came over to his desk and leaned up against it. "So how are you feeling?"

"Much better." She smiled.

"Were you able to pull rabbits out of your hat?" He questioned. Judging by the look on her face, he thought it went well.

"It went really well and I actually was able to get everything settled sooner than I originally thought." She explained, handing him the files that were in her hand.

"What's this?" He questioned, holding the files in his hand.

"My two newest clients." She smiled proudly.

He opened the first file and saw it was United Financial. It was a smart move to go after a competitor of the client that left you. And United Financial was a client of her old firm, so it was definitely a good choice. Florrick and James had it coming considering they were always trying to make her feel guilty about Xavier's death.

"This is great." He smiled.

"Look at the second one." She encouraged. "I think you'll like that one even more."

"Ok." He opened the second folder and then looked back at her. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely." She nodded.

"You signed the Yankees?"

"Yep." She nodded again. "And so anytime you want to go to a game, all it takes is one phone call from me and we have box seats."

He smiled. "You're incredible to be able to do this in one day."

"Why thank you." She moved so that she could wedge herself in between his desk and his chair.

"What are you doing?" He smirked.

"What do you think?" She asked, straddling him while he was sitting down.

"I thought you didn't want to do this kind of thing in the office where people could see us." He reminded her.

"It's late and there aren't many people here. Besides, it was a very good day for me. So you need to either take me home right now or follow me to the file room." She whispered into his ear before starting to kiss his neck. "It's your choice."

"File room it is." He grinned.