Working With You

Elle straightened her skirt as she marched into the firm. It was her first day of being an official lawyer for Fitzroy, Carter, and Forest. She opened the door and went up to the secretary.

"Ms. Woods! Welcome to your first day of work!" The petite redhead smiled.

"Thank you, Susan. Please, call me Elle." She smiled. "Is the boss ready for me?"

"I think you're the better judge of that." Susan teased. "Don't worry," she blinked, "I won't tell."

"His friends know. But I appreciate that. He isn't in a meeting is he?"

"They are all waiting for you in his office."

"Thanks!" Elle smiled as she went into the large office at the corner of the hall. She passed three paralegals and four lawyers (giving her the stink eye). She had jumped to associate right away. She knocked on the door.

"Enter!" She heard through the door.

Opening the door she smiled at the three she had been a paralegal for since the beginning. "Mr. Fitzroy, Mr. Carter, Mr. Forrest. Thank you so much."

"Well after three years of interning and another two consulting, we only thought it fair. And, Elle you can call us John, Chris and Emmett. You earned that. We were the best men at your wedding." John laughed. Tall and muscular, he embraced her in a hug. John already felt like an older brother to her. Chris, on the other hand, was shorter than Emmett and even skinner. He too was like a brother, but less of an older brother, and more of a less Californian twin of hers. And then there was Emmett. Leaning against his desk, hands in his pockets and holding his jacket open exposing a pink tie. His hair slicked back (per her expertise this morning) and smiling at her in a way that made her legs turn to jelly.

"Hello, Elle." He smiled. "What's up, doc?"

"Hello, Emmett." She smiled back.

Chris made a gagging noise. "Get a room!" John whined. "Oh, wait, you already did."

And thus the playful banter among the associates began. None of the other lawyers there understood, and as Elle Woods was the only female associate rumors started to circulate about the pretty blonde. She had worked there for about a month when she finally overheard one first hand. She was behind her door when she heard two of the lawyers whispering about her.

"Can you believe her?" One sneered.

"I wonder how many of them she's slept with."

"Probably all. The only way she could have made associate without working here."

"Have you heard her story?" The second laughed. "Valedictorian at Harvard? HA! Are you sure she's slept with Mr. Forest? I walked into his office wearing nothing but my bra and panties and he turned me down. I doubt that bimbo could do anything to alter that."

"WHAT!" The first giggled. "You didn't know he was married?"

"Well I do now." The second sighed. "I wish he wasn't."

Elle heard the two walk away and started crying. She missed an associates meeting at lunch because she was hiding under her desk.

"Elle?" Emmett walked into her office, not finding anything. "You missed the meeting at lunch. I was wondering if you're okay." Elle held her breath. She didn't want him to see this, he had seen enough of her tears. Then she heard Emmett sigh. "Oh, Elle. Where are you?" He left the room.

She slept at the office that night, sending Emmett a quick message that she needed a new set of clothes brought to the office tomorrow. She ignored his many calls after that.

Only Susan knew what had happened that day, so she looked up the Forest-Woods home address and went there, knocking lightly on the brownstone door. It opened in a matter of seconds to a much panicked Mr. Forest.

"Susan." He sounded disappointed.

"Hello, Mr. Forest. This is not a booty call. I understand that that has happened to you before. And now Elle, that is Ms. Woods, or Mrs. Forest… she knows."

"What?" He growled.

"Susan?" Mr. Carter called.

"Hello, Mr. Carter."

"The three of us were waiting to see where Elle was." Emmett explained.

"For the past month she has had to endure all the employees besides myself, call her all manner of fowl names and hear horrible lies about her. She has been hiding under her desk almost all day. I brought her lunch, dinner, I left her some of my clean athletic clothes from this morning for her to sleep in. I just wanted you to know that I admire your wife very much and I thought I should let you know where she was." Susan finished.

"Chis. John. Call an emergency staff meeting for tomorrow morning at 10." Emmett commanded. "Don't go through my drawers. I'm going to help Elle." He grabbed the duffle bag from the floor by the door with Elle's clothes in it and went back to work.

They had a long talk that night at the office. The two moved to Emmett's office and curled up his sofa, somehow making it to sleep. Emmet was awoken by a knock on his door at 8 AM.

"Hello Forests?" John called in. Emmet undid himself from Elle's arms and slid off the sofa. She didn't wake up.

"What's up?"

"The staff wasn't happy, being called in on a Saturday, but between Chris and myself we managed to make sure all of them were coming in."

"I don't care if they're happy. Do you know the things they have been calling her? They've collectively called her every derogatory name in the book and then some. They've also decided that you and Chris have both slept with her so that she could get the job. They think she's lying about her degree and who knows what else. I won't tolerate this. Even if Elle wasn't my wife. No one will be harassed like this at this office."

"I agree. I'll leave you to wake Elle up." John patted him on the shoulder.

Emmett, John and Chris stood in front of their entire staff with Elle and Susan behind them.

"It has come to our attention that all of you are being complete asses to our new associate, Ms. Woods." Chris began. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"It's not true." One of the female employees retorted. She had obviously been out drinking the night before and everyone could tell she was fighting the hangover.

"That's a lie. You're fired." John handed her a pink slip.

"WHAT!" She shrieked turning white.

"Besides the fact you just lied to your employer-"

"John, that's her." Elle said softly.

"What?"

"I recognize the voice. And Emmett told me last night. She's the one who walked into his office almost naked." Elle whispered.

"Right." John turned back to the woman. "Besides lying to your employer, consistently showing up Mondays hungover, you also propositioned one of the associates and severely insulted another. Good bye." She huffed and stormed out cursing the place. "Now, let's try this again. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

The room was silent.

"So it was your baby." The other gossiper deduced.

"What?" All the associates besides Elle gapped at her.

"That's the only way a blonde bimbo like her could get the associates position here."

"Emmett, maybe it would be easier if I quit and started my own firm."

"Better yet," one of the male employees called, "just go back home and spend daddy's money."

"Enough!" Emmet screamed, fuming at these people. "If I have to fire every last one of you and start from scratch I will. Ms. Woods is my wife she has been for several years. She proposed to me. She was valedictorian, you can go into her office and see the letter. We started dating before this firm was even an idea. Now all of you get out of my sight. Monday, the four of us will let you know if you still have jobs." Everyone stood gaping at him. "I SAID GO!" He snapped angrily.

On Monday, they employees were called in one by one, and asked why they should be allowed to stay. Three fourths sat down and quit before they were even asked. The rest were given one more chance. Fitzroy, Carter, Forest, and Forest remained that small until demand for their firm required more help. At that point, they decided that it would be best to hire who they trusted.

And so Enid, Vivian, and a few choice Harvard alums came to work for them. And Elle and Emmett never spent another night at the office crying on the sofa again.