Skyfall

Chapter Nineteen

"Ok, so once those elevator doors open I want you to close your eyes." Harvey told her on Monday morning.

She laughed. "Seriously?"

"Yes. I'm serious." He assured her. "I want you to close your eyes."

"Ok." She sighed as the elevator doors dinged for the 50th floor. She closed her eyes like he asked and felt him wrap his arm around her waist. He was gently pushing her out of the elevator, guiding her a few more feet and then turning her ninety degrees before stopping.

She knew what this was about. They must have put her name on the wall during the weekend and Harvey wanted to do some kind of dramatic unveiling for her. It was a cute idea so she played along.

"Can I open my eyes now?" She asked.

"Yes." He told her.

She opened her eyes and saw Jessica and Louis on the left side of the nameplate, while Donna, Rachel and Mike were on the right side. In between them were the words Pearson Specter Litt Monroe in shiny letters.

"Wow." She took a look at the lettering and then at her friends. "You guys…this is…wow."

"Congratulations." Jessica stepped forward first with a huge smile on her face. "You've worked hard for this. Don't forget to take the time to enjoy it."

"Thank you." She smiled back, watching as Jessica went back to work and Louis came up to her. He immediately gave her a hug.

"It will be nice to have you there in the name partner meetings." He said. "Just don't always side with Harvey, ok?"

She laughed. "Alright. I'll do my best to remain impartial."

"Oh you don't have to be impartial. You can be biased towards agreeing with me all the time, but not with Harvey." Louis deadpanned.

She laughed again.

After Louis went back to work, Mike and Rachel came over. Rachel gave her a hug. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." She smiled. Mike held up his fist for a fist bump.

Donna then came over and gave her a hug.

"I know you have been wanting this for a long time." Donna said. "So when we go to lunch today, you get to choose and I'm buying because I'm proud of you."

"Aw thanks Donna." She smiled at her friend.

Once Donna left, she was standing there with just Harvey next to her.

"It's quite a sight to see the first time, isn't it?" He asked, grabbing a hold of her hand.

"It sure is." She agreed, tearing her eyes away from it to look at him. "I still can't believe it is real. It feels like a dream."

"Oh it's definitely real." He told her. "Welcome to the name partner club."

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Oh, and just so you know…we may want to leave a little early tonight because I'm taking you out to celebrate."

"Really?" Her smiled got wider. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." He whispered in her ear before walking towards his office.

She followed him. "You won't even give me a hint?"

"Nope." He laughed.

"Fine." She laughed.

Rebecca was doing some work later when Louis appeared in her doorway. "Hey." She smiled.

"Do you have a second?" He asked.

"Sure. What's up?" She watched as he came into her office and placed two things on her desk. The first was a business card for her with the firm's new name. The second was a very nice looking pen. "Louis…thank you. But you didn't have to do this."

"I know." He said, sitting down across from her desk. "But I wanted to show you that I'm thrilled to have you as a fellow name partner."

"Well thank you." She smiled widely at her friend. "Since you are here, can I ask you something and get your honest opinion?"

"Of course." He nodded.

"I asked Harvey this and it's not that I don't trust him. I do. I trust him with my life. But there's no denying that he is more than a little biased when it comes to me."

"That's the understatement of the century." He laughed. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you think there was even a small part of Jessica that agreed to make me a name partner because I know about Mike? I just…I know that was part of why she hired me in the first place. But do you think it had anything to do with her decision?"

He got up and closed her office door before coming back and sitting down. "Did I ever tell you how I became a name partner?"

"No." She shook her head.

"I had just found out about Mike being a fraud and I used that information to blackmail Jessica into making me a name partner." He explained.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but it did happen. I was hurt and tired of feeling like I was being passed over for something I know I earned. I saw an opportunity and I grabbed onto it. I'll always be sorry for how it happened but I'll never be sorry for the end result."

"Louis…"

"Do you know how Harvey became a name partner?"

"All he told me was that it was during the time they were merged with Darby." She explained.

"That's true. But the real reason Jessica made him a name partner is because she wanted to get him on her side for the fight that was coming with Darby to unmerge. They had a falling out previously because he was trying to get her kicked out of being managing partner." Louis pointed out.

"Really?" She didn't know that.

"Yes." Louis nodded. "Let me ask you a question, and be completely honest. Do you think that Harvey deserved to be made a name partner?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah. I do."

"And what about me? Did I deserve to be a name partner?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Yes."

"You deserve it too." He told her. "So the underlying reasons and how it happens don't matter. Look, I don't know if you knowing Mike's secret had anything to do with you getting name partner. But I do know you have worked your ass off since day one here. So my advice to you is to take it as a win and don't second guess it."

She smiled at him. "Thank you Louis."

"Anytime." He smiled back.

"God, you are beautiful." He told her, coming up behind her and wrapping his arm around her waist. He was watching as she put the final touches on her hair, sweeping it off of her neck and couldn't help it. He had to go over and kiss the now-exposed skin.

"Harvey…" She chuckled softly. "If you continue that, we aren't leaving this room for the rest of the night."

"Right." He placed a few more kisses on her neck before stopping. "Ok. I guess I'll stop."

She turned around and pressed herself against him. "Don't worry…there will be plenty of time for that later."

He chuckled. "One of these days, you're going to be the death of me."

She grinned, letting her hand lightly graze past his groin. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Then she turned around, grabbed her purse and headed out of the bedroom.

"Yeah." He sighed, trying to calm his now elevated heart rate. "You'll definitely be the death of me. But what a way to go."

Although they had been seated at their table for ten minutes now, she couldn't help but continue to look around. He had brought her to the One if by land, Two if by Sea restaurant, which was widely known as one of the most romantic restaurants in the world.

"I take it you like this place?" He smiled.

"It's beautiful." She smiled back. Between the wooden floor, intricate glass chandeliers and wood fireplaces it was a sight to behold. And they were seated next to a large floor to ceiling window that showcased a magnificent garden.

He reached across the table and grabbed a hold of her hand. "I figured it isn't every day that you finish your first official day as a name partner at the best law firm in New York City. We should celebrate it in style."

"That's sweet of you." She smiled.

"We've had a rough couple of months." He paused. "But things are starting to turn around for the better and we're going to come out of this stronger."

"Absolutely! Things have got to get better." She agreed, raising her glass to clink with his.

"So, there is something I wanted to discuss with you now that you are a name partner."

"Ok." She nodded. "What is it?"

"Well normally name partners get their office upgraded to a corner one."

"Oh." The smile on her face faded a little. She should have expected that.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted a new office or not."

"Do I have to get a new office?" She chuckled. "I kind of like being right next to you all day long."

"No." He shook his head. "There is absolutely no reason why you can stay in that office."

"Good."

He smiled. "I'm glad, because I also like having you right next door."

She smiled back. "Well then that's settled. I'll just keep my current office. So is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

"No." He shook his head. "That was the only thing."

"Ok, good because there is something I wanted to talk about."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Are you sure you are ok with me not using Specter as my professional name?"

"Of course I am. I have always supported your decision to do that." He nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"It just feels weird sometimes because the majority of people I deal with on a daily basis still call me by my old last name." She explained.

"Are you regretting your decision to keep your last name?"

"Sometimes I do regret it." She admitted. "But now I start to think that if I hadn't kept my last name, we'd be working at Pearson Specter Litt Specter, which just sounds odd."

He laughed. "Yeah. That does sound weird. It sounds like we forgot if we said the first Specter so we added one at the end just to cover our bases."

"I know, right?" She laughed.

He reached across the table and grabbed a hold of her hand. "You are a Specter in every way that counts. It says Specter on your drivers' license and everything else that isn't work related. So don't ever doubt that you are part of my family, because I don't doubt it. I don't give it a second thought. Hell, you could come up with an entirely new last name to go by professionally and I still wouldn't care because at the end of the day I know you are my wife."

She smiled back at him. "That's a very good answer, Mr. Specter."

"Why thank you, Mrs. Specter." He smirked.

After dinner they got back in the car. It wasn't until a few minutes later that she realized they weren't going back home. "Are we going somewhere else?"

"Yes we are." He nodded.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"It's a surprise." He chuckled.

It didn't take them long to pull up to their next destination. She had been looking out the window and then turned to face him with a huge smile on her face. He loved being the one to put the smile on her face.

"We haven't been here in ages."

"I know." He nodded, getting out of the car first and walking over and opening her car door. He held out his hand for her to grab as she got out of the car. They walked into The Hotspot.

"I'm actually trying to remember the last time we were here and I can't remember." She sighed.

"I believe it was about six months ago." He reminded her as they approached an empty booth.

"Has it really been that long?" She chuckled. "Wow."

"So this was a good surprise?"

She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "It was a wonderful surprise. You're getting quite good at them."

"I learned from the best." He grinned before moving in for another kiss.