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How’d it come to this? How had things devolved so quickly and quietly that Harvey hadn’t even seen it coming? Yesterday he could have set Louis’ desk on fire and gotten away with nothing more than a stern look and a slap on the wrist, but today… today he’s on the cusp of losing everything. His job, his reputation, his cut of an eight figure payout, support from the other partners… all of it hanging by a raveling thread.
Mike sat on the couch across from Harvey’s desk, staring blankly. He didn’t know how Harvey could do it; sit there looking so calm and casual as if it were any other normal day. Mike felt like a child who’d just had all of his hopes and dreams ripped away and he wasn’t even the one in the hot seat. How was Harvey holding it together?
“What do we do?” Mike asked quietly. “How do we fix this?”
Harvey glanced at him briefly. “I don’t think we can fix it.”
“What? What are you talking about? There’s always a way…”
“Not always.”
Mike frowned. “You’re the one that’s always telling me…”
Harvey laid down his pen and leaned back in his chair. “I know Mike, but this is different. They needed a guy to take the fall and the pieces were already there, all they had to do was fill in a few blanks. It was the easy way out.”
“You’re being set up!”
“I know. You know. Hell, everyone knows!” Harvey stood, walked to the window and looked at his basketballs. “Doesn’t make any difference though. There’s nothing that I can say or do to stop this particular train wreck from happening.”
Mike stood and ran his hands through his hair, pulling at it in frustration. “What the hell is wrong with you? It sounds like you’ve given up!”
“Mike…”
“They are going to crucify you! By the time everything is said and done, an actual crucifixion might actually be less painful. And you’re just going to lie down and take it?”
Harvey smiled as he walked over to Mike and whispered in his ear. “I believe that’s your thing.”
A smile crept to Mike’s lips but he quickly forced it away. “This is serious Harvey.”
“I know Mike.”
“Then where is the Harvey Specter I know? Where’s the tooth and nail fight? What happened to nothing being over with until the gavel comes down?”
“The Harvey Specter you know is still right here. I’ve looked at this from every angle I can think of and I keep coming up with the same conclusion.”
“And what’s that?”
“That I’m going to be lucky if I come out of this without serving jail time.”
“So why aren’t you at least going to go down fighting?”
Harvey closed the door, knowing that Donna was eavesdropping. “Because I’m thinking ahead.”
“Ahead?” Mike asked, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“After all this time working for this firm, with all that you’ve seen and experienced, what is the one thing that you’ve realized about this business above all else?”
Mike put his hands on his hips, exasperated with Harvey’s nonchalant attitude. “I thought it was to never give up.”
“That’s the second thing.”
“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s the first, oh wise one?”
“That it’s cutthroat. Everyone is looking for their chance to claw their way up the ladder. Friends become enemies; people that you thought that you could trust will stab you in the back without a second thought.”
“Okay… so…?”
“So you have to be prepared for that potential situation.”
“And you are?”
Harvey nodded. “Since I first saw that glimmer of hope that I would become partner.”
“So what does that mean?”
“Plan B.”
“And what exactly does ‘Plan B’ entail?”
“There are several versions of it, depending on the seriousness of the situation and it’s changed a little since you came into the picture, but the basics are the same.” Harvey sat on the couch and pulled Mike down beside him. He wrapped his arm around Mike’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “Essentially, I collect on every last favor I have, play the cards that I’ve saved for later, destroy any backstabbers that I can along the way, get all the money that I can and then you and I pick a beach to settle on. One in a country with no extradition if need be.”
Mike arched a brow. “That’s it? Pack up our lives and relocate?”
“You don’t like it?”
“Just doesn’t really sound like you. Well, except for the part about destroying backstabbers. But New York… this is our city.”
“We all have our dreams for the future. You can’t tell me that you’ve never thought about ending up somewhere where the drinks are cold and the swimsuits leave little to the imagination.”
“Maybe. I just never would have guessed that would be a life that you could live with. I guess I sort of always imagined you dying of old age just after winning a case… here, in New York.”
“That is one of the better scenarios. But they are trying to make sure that I never work in this city again. And they may very well succeed. With all the accusations regarding my conduct, my methods for winning, I could be disbarred here in New York.”
“So this is it? After this you just quit practicing law?”
Harvey chuckled. “Are you crazy? Can you imagine me never fighting a case again? No way. I’d die of boredom and that’s no way to go.”
“So you take the bar exam somewhere else and find a new firm?”
“Nah. I’d start my own firm. And of course you’d have a position there… provided you come with me.” Harvey gave Mike a hopeful look.
“Well, I’m probably going to be escorted out at the same time that you are.”
“Probably.”
“Not really much choice then, is there?”
“No, not really.”
“Plan B it is then.”
Harvey grinned. “Excellent.” He stood and returned to his desk.
“Specter and Ross,” Mike said aloud, trying the sound of it. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“So does Specter and Associates.”
Mike frowned. “Why am I not included in the company name?”
“Because you’re still my hot little associate.”
Mike stared at him in disbelief. “I’d still be an associate, not a partner?”
Harvey smirked. “You’d be on the fast track.”
“Oh, well, thanks.”
Harvey opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled something from it. “It might be a while before you’re even that… I intend to enjoy you in this for a while.” He threw the article to Mike.
Mike caught it and stared at it. “A Speedo? Not really my thing.”
“It will be once we pick a beach. Well, unless we pick a nude beach.”
Mike glanced at Harvey before giving the Speedo second consideration. “I guess I could learn to like it.”
“Good.”
As Mike stuffed the Speedo in his pants pocket, the brief look of sadness that passed over Harvey’s face as he glanced out the window didn’t escape him. Harvey could talk about beaches and starting over all he wanted, but giving all this up was killing a part of him. He loved New York, he loved being partner at a big firm… he loved his life just the way it was.
Harvey had given so much of himself to this firm, and how did they repay him? Nailing him to the cross to save their own hides.