Skyfall

Chapter Twenty

"So I'm moving in with Charles this weekend." Donna casually mentioned.

Rebecca, who was leaning against Donna's desk, smiled widely. "You guys finally picked a place?"

"Yes." Donna laughed. "It took us three weeks to find an apartment that both of us could live in without being unhappy. If I had to go to one more damn open house or look at one more damn feature sheet I think I might have screamed."

She laughed. "How many places did you end up having to check out?"

"28." Donna groaned.

"Wow." She paused. "You know, you've been much happier since you met him and I'm so glad to see it. He really makes you happy, doesn't he?"

"He does." Donna started to blush. "I don't want to jinx anything but I think he could be someone I could potentially want to marry."

"That's wonderful!" She truly was happy for her friend. While she still worried about the fact that Charles was a former FBI agent, she did like him. He seemed like a nice guy and as long as he made her friend happy she would be fine with him.

Rebecca noticed that Donna was staring at something behind her. She turned around to see a man walking towards them.

"Whatever you're selling, we don't want any so you can leave right now." Donna told the man.

"Donna…it's been far too long since I saw you last." The man greeted.

"It hasn't been long enough for me." Donna sighed.

"And who is this stunning creature?" He held out his hand for her to shake. "My name is Travis Tanner."

It only took her a moment to remember that name. This was the jerk Harvey told her about who kept inserting himself into cases against him. She rolled her eyes and refused to shake his hand. "I'm someone who isn't interested in whatever you're selling as well."

"Maybe you should leave before I tell Harvey you were hitting on his wife. That is, unless you want him to beat the shit out of you again." Donna told Tanner.

"Wife?" Tanner laughed. "Wow. Never thought Harvey would settle down with anyone. But good for him. Anyway, I need to see him about something. It won't take long."

Rebecca saw Harvey getting up from his desk. He must have seen what was going on and decided to come out here.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked in a booming voice.

"I'm just getting to know your lovely wife before I came in to see you." Tanner smirked.

"Come in." He pointed to his office. Then he looked over at them. "Don't listen in this time. I'm serious."

She looked over at Donna. "Aren't you still going to listen in?"

"I want to…" Donna sighed. "But I did agree not to listen in if he tells me not to."

"Since when did you agree to that?" She chuckled.

"It was a few years ago. It was shortly after the incident where you came into his office and offered to…well do something that he would have loved but would have been embarrassing to listen in on…"

"Ok. I got it." She cut off her friends' explanation. It made her chuckle to know that after her massively embarrassing moment of offering to give Harvey a blow job in his office while Donna listened in, he made Donna agree not to listen in on everything that happened in his office.

"So, you got married?" Tanner chuckled. "I didn't think you were the type to settle down. What's next? The pitter patter of tiny footprints? You going to knock her up soon?"

"Tanner, the faster tell me the reason you're here the faster you can leave. So let's speed this up." Harvey sighed.

"Ok. I'm filing a lawsuit today against one of your firms' clients, as well as one of your firms' name partners. I figured the sporting thing to do would be to come down here and let you know before it happens."

"Since when did you find a firm willing to take you on?" He asked with a deep chuckle. "Last I heard you were practically blacklisted in this town because everyone knew what a fraud you were."

"There's always a place for a good lawyer, even when they are blacklisted." Tanner scoffed and then looked out there at Rebecca. "I mean, your lovely wife is a prime example of that fact. I believe she was blacklisted and then she magically ended up at your firm…though I imagine the fact that you were sleeping with her at the time probably helped. I didn't have to sleep with anyone at my new firm to get my position though."

He stared at Tanner, trying not to beat him into the ground for the things he was implying. Then realized where he was working. "You're with Florrick and James now, aren't you?"

"You are correct." He chuckled. "Her old law firm hired me."

"Prepare to be fired again." Harvey told him. "So which client of mine are you coming after this time?"

"Oh, no you misunderstood." He grinned. "I'm not coming after you this time." He turned to look out towards Donna's desk. "I'm coming after someone else this time."

"You're going after Rebecca."

"Bingo." Tanner chuckled. "I'm coming after Pearson Specter Litt Monroe's newest name partner. Though I am surprised that you let her keep her maiden name. I would have pegged you for the type to tell her she needs to take your name. I guess you are more modern than I gave you credit for."

"That's a bad idea to come after Rebecca." He warned, ignoring the taunt about Rebecca's last name. "Which client are you coming after?"

"Maybe it is a bad idea. And then again, maybe not. I believe my case is solid. But that's all I'll say about it. She'll get served soon enough and so will her client. Then you will have all the details. I really hope you're up to the challenge of fighting against me. And what I mean by that is I hope that the domesticated life you've chosen hasn't neutered you as a lawyer because the fight wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable and your wife is going to need a good attorney to try and get her out of this mess. Anyway, we'll be talking again soon. It was nice to see you again, Harv."

Rebecca watched Tanner come out of Harvey's office with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Nice to see you ladies. I'm sure we will be meeting again soon. Have a great day, Mrs. Specter." He smiled on his way out.

She saw Harvey walk over to the window, shoving his hands in his pockets. She knew that pose. He did that when he was upset. She exchanged a worried glance with Donna before she went in and stood next to him. "You ok?"

"I'm fine." He said gruffly.

"What did he want?"

"He's working at your old firm."

"Why does that not surprise me?" She chuckled before being quiet for a moment. She knew from the stories he told her that Travis Tanner seemed almost obsessed with getting the upper hand with Harvey. It would make sense that the lawyer would join her old firm as a way to mess with Harvey's head. Then she had a thought.

"Do you think they hired him because I took United Financial away from them?"

"If I had to guess, I would say yes." He nodded.

"Shit." She looked at him closely. "That's not all he was here to say though, was it? Something else is going on because you wouldn't be this upset about him working for my old firm."

"He came to tell me that he is filing a lawsuit against you and one of your clients." He sighed.

"What?" That didn't make much sense to her. "Which client? And what could he possibly be filing a lawsuit about?"

"I don't know." Harvey shook his head and looked over at her. "He wouldn't say. He just wanted to warn me and let me know that he expected me to be at the top of my game."

"Well I guess you'll just have to kick his ass twice as hard this time, which won't be that hard because I'll be fighting right alongside you."

He looked over at her and gave her a small smile.

"It will be fine." She kissed his cheek. "Whatever lawsuit he files is bound to be bullshit and we'll fight it off."

While she tried to plaster a smile on her face, she was mentally going through all of her clients and trying to figure out who Tanner could be filing a lawsuit against. The obvious choice would be United Financial since he joined her old law firm. He might be trying to claim that she broke confidentiality and passed along insider information from her time at Consolidated Financial. But that would be a lie because she never violated confidentiality and she wasn't sure he would try to claim that because it would be too hard to make a case.

He could be making any kind of claim at this point so she gave up trying to figure it out. She would find out when she got served. Right now she had to put on a brave face because Harvey seemed worried and they both couldn't freak out at the same time.

Harvey went into Jessica's office and sat down. "Travis Tanner is back."

"Wonderful." Jessica sighed. "What does he want this time?"

"He is going after Rebecca and one of her clients."

"Harvey…" She put her pen down. "You need to be careful how you approach this. Need I remind you what happened during that deposition?"

"You mean the one where I gave him what he deserved?" He chuckled.

"I mean the one where you punched him and he could have filed charges against you." Jessica pointed out. "Although it was extremely satisfying to see you punch him, it was the wrong thing to do. I know Rebecca is your soft spot so you need to tread lightly."

"She wants to help with the case." He explained. "I'm not sure it is a good idea. You know how Tanner gets. Like you said, she is my soft spot. I know he is already aware of that."

"Well then I guess you need to decide if you feel like you can work with her on this or not, knowing that Tanner will try to attack her at every angle." Jessica advised.

"I now know who the client is." Rebecca said she came into Harvey's office later that day. She threw the paperwork in her hand onto his desk and then walked over to the window.

"He's going after the Yankees?" He asked after looking at the paperwork.

"Yes." She sighed. "He is suing because he thinks both the Yankees organization and I covered up the sexual harassment and wrongful termination of a woman within the organization that worked with Brian Cushman."

"Did you?" He asked softly.

She turned to look at him. "It's a grey area. I may have some exposure. I arranged for confidentiality agreements between Brian and two women in exchange for a payout. But it was all legal and they wouldn't jeopardize the settlement by filing a lawsuit. I need to go talk to Brian and find out more about who this woman who filed the lawsuit could be."

"I'm not sure you should go over there alone." He advised. "I think I should go with you."

"Are you going as my husband or my lawyer?" She asked.

"Lawyer first this time." He told her. "Husband second."

"Alright." She sighed.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. "Hey. You know I won't let anything happen to you with this lawsuit, right?"

"Of course I do." She gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek. "Let's go."