Skyfall

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Are you ready for this deposition?" Harvey asked Rebecca after coming into her office. They were scheduled to have her deposition with Tanner in a few minutes and he couldn't help but be nervous about it. He knew that Tanner was going to use every trick in the book to fluster her. That's why they had practiced last night. Tanner filed the lawsuit five days ago and they decided to fast track the case to get it over with quicker.

"I'm ready." She assured him, coming up to him and giving his cheek a kiss. "Don't worry about me. I'm a big girl and can handle myself."

"I know." He nodded. "But the last time I was in a deposition with him, he brought up my mom and I ended up punching him. At the time I thought I was ready too, but look what happened."

"It will be fine." She smiled at him and led the way to the conference room. "I promise not to punch him."

"Ah wonderful!" Tanner greeted. "We can get started because you are on time."

"Let's get this over with." Harvey sighed, sitting down next to Rebecca.

"Oh come on Harv…it really hurts my feelings that you don't seem to want to spend time with me." Tanner laughed.

"I'm sure you'll get over it." Harvey rolled his eyes.

"So, Ms. Monroe…or I'm sorry. Do you want to be called Mrs. Specter today? It's hard to know which name you want to be called."

"Just call me Rebecca." She told him in a calm voice.

"Alright, Rebecca, did you or did you not pursue Brian Cushman as a client originally as a way to solicit favors so you could advance your relationship with Harvey Specter?" Tanner asked.

She looked at Tanner and then looked at Harvey out of the corner of her eye. "What would that possibly have to do with this lawsuit?"

"It would show that you have been in cahoots with Mr. Cushman since the beginning of your professional relationship." Tanner explained.

"Objection…" Harvey spoke up. "Cahoots? Try using some better words."

Tanner smiled. "You didn't answer the question. Did you sign him to use his connections in an attempt to seduce Harvey Specter?"

She laughed. "You obviously don't have very good intel. I had already seduced Harvey Specter by that time and we were already in a relationship so no, I didn't use those connections to seduce him. I set up a nice date for him at Yankee Stadium with the help of Mr. Cushman, but it wasn't a part of any client agreement and I certainly wasn't in cahoots with him."

She knew it was a thin line she was walking right now between the truth and perjury. But she didn't know where Tanner was going with this so she wasn't about to outright admit that she only signed Brian for that reason.

"Ok." Tanner nodded. "Either way I think the nice date ended up working pretty well for you. You actually managed to get Harvey Specter to marry you. I'm impressed because no one really thought he would ever have a serious girlfriend, let alone ever get married. You must be one hell of a women to get him to say I do. But tell me something because I am curious. Do you really think you can domesticate him for very long? Do you really think you'll live some fairytale life with 2.5 kids, a dog and a white picket fence? You'll join the PTA and Harvey will be flipping burgers for the neighbors on the weekends?"

"If you think that will ever happen, you must be the president of fantasy land. Because I can tell you right now that will never happen. It's not who Harvey is at his core. At some point Harvey is going to get tired of playing house. He will get bored with you and the monotony of monogamy. His family will start to hang around his neck like a noose and he will be screaming to get out. And when that happens, he will be gone sooner than you can say Pearson Specter Litt Monr…"

"That's enough." Harvey objected, interrupting Tanner and pounding his fist on the table.

"No. Let him talk." Rebecca said, looking over at Harvey for a moment before settling back on Tanner. While Tanner's words stung and she would deal with the fallout of that later, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting him see her fall apart. She smiled at Tanner.

"I'm so sorry. I thought I knew all of Harvey's closest friends. I didn't realize you were such close friends with Harvey that you know him well enough to know what he wants out of his life." She said, still trying to sound calm.

"And I didn't realize you don't know his true self that well." Tanner smirked. "Did you notice how he isn't springing to your defense and saying that I'm wrong? He just yelled because wanted to shut me up. It must be because he knows better than to lie during a deposition."

"Tanner, I'm warning you." Harvey interjected.

"What are you going to do? You going to hit me again, Harv?" Tanner asked with a chuckle. "I can forgive and forget that once, but you do it twice and I have to report it."

"She's not going to continue answering this line of questioning." Harvey stated plainly.

"Then I'll switch my line of questioning." Tanner nodded. "Did you or did you not set up two deals with two different women where they signed confidentiality agreements in exchange for money and the promise that they wouldn't sue or talk about their sexual harassment claims against your client?"

"That's conjecture." Harvey objected.

"But that's the beauty of these depositions. It gives me a chance to ask questions about things I am conjecturing." Tanner explained.

"She's not answering this line of questioning either."

"Harvey, it's alright." She told him, focusing her attention on Tanner. "I arranged for severance packages for two women who worked for the Yankees' organization."

"But they weren't eligible for severance packages from the company." Tanner pointed out.

"True, but my client felt they deserved compensation for the contributions they made to the organization so he negotiated a severance package on his own using his own money." She explained.

"And you're trying to tell me it wasn't hush money?" Tanner laughed.

"No, it wasn't." She shook her head.

"So what contributions did Alyssa Montgomery and Morgan Fowler make to the organization that Nicole Taylor didn't make? Because she didn't get what you are calling a severance package. She just got fired."

"I am not aware of that information." She shrugged. "My job is simply to facilitate the wishes of my client. In this case my client wanted to give two of them severance packages."

"Is it because she broke up with your client while the other two were the ones who got dumped by Brian Cushman?" Tanner asked.

"Now you're just throwing mud and trying to see what sticks." Harvey argued. "It's embarrassing for you."

"I have a sworn affidavit from Nicole Taylor saying that she was engaged in a sexual relationship with your client but as soon as she tried to call it off, she ended up fired. And there was no bullshit severance package given to her like there was to the other two women." Tanner held up a file. "So what do you have to say about that?"

"We say that this is the end of this deposition." Harvey said, getting up from the table and motioning for her to follow him.

"You can run Harvey, but you can't hide." Tanner called after them as they left the conference room.

She walked behind Harvey all the way back to their offices, but instead of following him into his office she headed towards the elevator. It took him a moment to realize she wasn't going with him, but then she heard him call out to her.

"Where are you going?" He asked, catching up to her.

"I need some fresh air." She replied.

"Ok." He nodded. "I'll come with you."

"No. I also need a moment alone." She turned to look at him as they reached the elevator bank.

"Rebecca…you can't listen to anything Travis Tanner has to say. He is just trying to rattle you."

"I know that." She nodded. "But I still need a moment."

"Alright." He relented, turning to go back to his office.

She pushed the up button for the elevator, choosing to go up to the roof.

"What happened with the deposition?" Donna asked from the middle of the room as she entered his office.

"Travis went after her, like I knew he would. I think he really rattled her. He preyed upon her fears." He explained.

"I'm sure she will be alright."

"Yeah." He nodded, going over and sitting down in his chair.

"Where did she go?"

"She said she needed to be alone." He answered.

"She doesn't though." Donna reminded him. "If he truly preyed upon her fears, then you need to go find her and make sure she doesn't buy into what he said."

"You think so?" He thought so too, but he didn't want to seem to overly dramatic.

"I know so." Donna nodded.

"I don't know where she went." Then he realized where she was. "Of course. Now I know where she is. Thanks Donna."

"Anytime." She chuckled as he left the office.

Rebecca stood on the roof and looked out at the city. Sometimes when she needed to think she would come up here and stand in the very spot where Harvey proposed to her. She considered this to be a lucky spot for her and hoped there was still enough luck left in this spot to help her now.

Tanner struck a nerve with her. The things he said about her living in a fantasy land were like swords to her heart. While she didn't want a house with a white picket fence or to be a PTA member, she did want kids. It stung to hear Tanner say she was delusional for thinking Harvey would want that too.

And while they had agreed to wait six months before even trying, a part of her wondered if they actually would start trying after those six months or if there would be some reason pop up that pushed it back. A very small part of her wondered if Harvey said six months as a way to placate her until he could think of a way around it.

She realized that wasn't fair to think that he would do such a thing. That wasn't the type of man he was. Her mind still went there occasionally. Especially right now after hearing Tanner talk in the deposition.

She was also rattled by the affidavit by Nicole Taylor. That was going to hurt them if this went to court. They needed to go back and talk to Brian. She wondered how Nicole knew about Alyssa and Morgan.

She heard the door to the roof open and shut, followed by the sounds of shoes approaching on the gravel. She didn't have to look over to see who was there.

"Hey." He said quietly.

"I thought I told you I needed a moment alone." She chuckled, glancing over at him.

"I gave you a moment…a short moment." He looked over at her and smirked. "Then I thought I'm come check on you."

"I'm fine." She sighed, turning her head to look at the city again.

"You don't come up here when you are fine." He pointed out. "You come up here when you need to think."

"Well I'll be fine in a minute." She stepped away from the ledge and went over to sit on the concrete ledge in the middle of the roof. She wasn't surprised he followed her.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked.

"What's to talk about?" She asked, answering his question with her own question. "He's an ass. That's nothing new."

"At least I didn't punch him this time." He laughed.

She looked over at him and then looked back at the ground.

"Would you rather I did punch him?"

"No." She shook her head. "I just…You could have tried to…"

"To what?"

"I don't know!" She sighed.

"This is exactly why I didn't want you involved in this case." He pointed out. "He knows that you are my weak spot."

"And you still think I can't handle him."

"Well you are clearly upset now."

"Yeah, but I didn't let him see that." She argued. "I kept my composure during the deposition and I didn't let him see me sweat, which is what he wanted."

"True. But you're still upset." He pointed out.

"I can't help it if he somehow managed to find my weak spot and exploited it." She pointed out.

"You know that everything he said in there about me…about us…it's not true." He assured her. "You know that, right?"

"I know." She nodded, staring at the ground.

"Rebecca...look at me please."

She looked over at him. "You can relax, Harvey. I know that everything Tanner said was only said in an attempt to get inside my head."

"Good." He smiled at her.

She smiled back at him. "I just needed a moment to clear my thoughts so I can think about this case rationally."

"What are you thinking now?"

"I think we need to go check in with Brian." She told him.

"I couldn't agree more." He nodded.