"Sir, are you sure you don´t want to order anything?" The waitress was back, staring at him with a mixture of pity and annoyance. Probably because he has been occupying their best table for already fifty minutes and still hadn't finished his first glass of water.

"No," Harvey replied. "I´m waiting for someone." The waitress looked at him doubtfully but he had paid for this reservation and there was nothing she could do – at least until the one hour mark was reached. So she just nodded at him and went back to serve an older couple at some other table.

Harvey looked at his watch. Fifty-one minutes and thirty-three seconds and still no signs of Scottie. Where was the she? He had made Senior Partner at Pearson & Hardman today, something he wanted to celebrate with the woman that was his most stable relationship that he currently had in his life – apart from Donna.

They weren't in a relationship – Harvey shuddered at that thought – but they had a relationship: They were rivals, one-night-stands and sometimes they were friends, of which Harvey had only a precious few. It stung that she apparently had stood him up. He had thought that he meant a little more to her; that she viewed him as more than an outlet for her sexual frustration. Now Harvey knew that he had been wrong.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket. The first few tries Harvey hadn't been able to reach Scottie, but maybe this time she would take his call. He dialed her number and waited.

"What do you want, Harvey?" was how Scottie greeted him.

"I want to know where the hell you are, because you definitely aren't with me," Harvey replied venomously.

"I´m with Krueger," Scottie replied. "He´s going to haul in a big client and if I help him I´ll get thirty per cent of it. Didn't have the time to tell you." Harvey could imagine the bored expression that went with that explanation.

"So you stood me up for Krueger?" he asked incredulously.

"No need to get so aggressive," Scottie shot back. "If I have to choose between business and pleasure, it´s business I go with. You would have done the same."

"No, I wouldn´t," Harvey seethed. "When you asked me for help last month I let Louis take a case which made the firm – and by extension him – a shitload of money so that I could help you."

"Look, Harvey," Scottie started and Harvey hated the patronizing tone she was using. "We both know how this all here works. It´s not my fault that you seem to think that you have the privilege to step out of the whole system to have dinner and ignore everything else because you´re Jessica´s golden boy. Not everyone is already Senior Partner after three years. I don't have that luxury; I have to get my successes whenever I can and if I have to stand you up to get my promotion, then I´ll do it." Suddenly the voices were muted. Scottie probably covered the ear-piece to talk to someone.

"I have to hang up, Harvey, Krueger is about to close the deal," Scottie said when she was back on the phone and before Harvey had to chance to interject the connection was already closed, leaving behind a dumbstruck Harvey.

"Sir," Harvey looked up to see the waitress standing at his table, next to her an older man who was probably the maître of the restaurant. "As you haven't ordered anything in over an hour we would ask you to either order something or vacate the table so that another of our waiting guests can take it." With a defeated sigh Harvey pocketed his phone and stood up.

"Wait!" Harvey turned around only to see a young man walking towards his table, his suits cheap but still good-looking on his frame and a hideous skinny tie around his neck.

"Sorry that I´m late, honey," the man said. "But the car broke down, so I had to take the subway." Before Harvey could even comprehend what was going on, the stranger hugged him.

"Just play along, okay?" he whispered in Harvey´s ear and the older man, recognizing what the blonde was planning, nodded.

"No problem," Harvey replied with a forced smile. "At least you are here now." He turned towards the waitress and the maître. "Can we order now?" The former just nodded dumbfounded while the maître gave Harvey a nearly incognisable smirk.

"Care to tell me why you did that?" Harvey asked after each of them had ordered. Now, that the chaos had abated he could take in the man opposite of him without any distraction. His blonde hair looked like it had been orderly at some point, but now it looked like the man had directly come from a long round of breath-taking sex. His eyes were of a clear, blue colour and the way they looked at Harvey somehow reminded him of a puppy: full of trust, honesty and warmth. The stranger´s lips were curled into a little smile.

"And a name would be great as well," Harvey added.

"Name´s Ross. Mike Ross," the blonde said, flashing Harvey a smile. "And I saw how you were about to be forced to leave. From the way it appeared from the outside it looked like you had been stood up by someone and no one deserves to have his day end like that – especially on such a great day as today." Mike was so full of enthusiasm that Harvey couldn't help but feel lighter as well.

"And if I had refused you?" Harvey inquired. The waitress came back and served them the wine they had ordered.

"Then I´d have simply continued on," Mike answered. "There´s nothing that can ruin this day for me."

"Why´s that?" Harvey asked. The least he could do for the guy that had saved him from the embarrassment of being evicted from a restaurant was pretending to be interested in him.

"I made Senior Associate in the law firm I´m working in today," Mike told him with pride. Now Harvey´s interest was definitely roused. "And seeing that I´m already on partner track it won´t take me much time to make Junior Partner as well."

"You barely look twenty-four," Harvey commented. "How did you make it to Senior Associate already?"

"Hey," Mike exclaimed. "I´ll have you know that I´m twenty-seven! And I got the job because I kick ass at court."

"Still, that isn't much time," Harvey said skeptical.

"You have experience with the inner workings of law firms?" Mike asked with raised eyebrows.

"I made Senior Partner at Pearson & Hardman today," Harvey replied. Well, theoretically Jessica still had to sign off the order and it only happened a few hours ago, but Mike didn't need to know that.

"Wow," Mike commented, awed. "That´s awesome, dude! Seems like we both have something worth celebrating!"

"Don't call me dude," Harvey shot back without thinking. It was an ingrained habit. Mike just lifted his hands in a gesture of mock-surrender.

"That still leaves the question why you made it to Senior Associate after such a short time," Harvey mused.

"What if I told you I consume knowledge like no one you´ve ever met?" Mike boasted.

"I´d say you´re full of crap," Harvey shot back without missing a beat.

"Ask me something. Anything."

"Civil liability associated with agency is based on several factors, including-" Harvey began, remembering the passage from the BarBri Legal Handbook because he had forced his current associate to copy it by hand for messing up filing a patent.

"Including the deviation of the agent from his path, the reasonable interference of agency on behalf of the plaintiff and the nature of the damages themselves," Mike finished the sentence.

"How did you know that?" Harvey asked shocked.

"I learned it," Mike answered cheekily.

"Okay, hotshot," Harvey said, having more fun than he could ever remember having during a diner. "I´m gonna show you what a Harvard attorney can do. Pick a topic."

"Stock option backdating."

"Although backdating options is legal, violations arose related to disclosures under RIC section 409A," Harvey recited.

"You forgot about Sarbanes-Oxley," Mike commented.

"The statute of limitations render Sarbanes-Oxley mute post-2007," Harvey replied.

"Well, not if you can find actions to cover up the violation as established in the Sixth Circuit May 2008." Harvey was impressed. That wasn't something every lawyer knew. Hell, half of the Partners at Pearson & Hardman probably didn't know it.

"I´m impressed," Harvey admitted. This Mike Ross was interesting and could keep up with him, no traits Harvey found very often in others.

"Oh, I´m impressed as well," Mike replied, eyeing Harvey all over.

"Then we should make sure that this evening continues that way," Harvey said and held up his glass. Mike followed suit and they both clinked glasses. Maybe it hadn't been that bad that Scottie had stood him up, Harvey thought.

Dana "Scottie" Scott entered the floor of PH ready to conquer the world and looking fabulous while doing it.

No strand of hair that wasn't where it should belong, red lipstick that made her full lips look even more kissable, a blouse that empathized exactly the right spots and concealed the wrong ones and high-heels that just screamed 'Watch out, this bitch is ready to slay!'. Men sidestepped her only to stare at her backside after she had passed them by and the women behind the reception gave her a short nod of admiration.

Yes, right now Scottie was on the top of the world and she had no intention of vacating that spot anytime soon. 30 percent of the client she had helped Krueger to haul in yesterday brought her nearer to the Senior Partner post she desired so desperately. Harvey may have been faster than her – no surprise there – but Scottie would rather gouge her eyes out with her own high-heels than allow Louis Litt to become Senior Partner before her.

Speaking of the devil, how did the man always manage to appear when someone thought of him?

"Scottie," he sneered, which made his rat-like face look even more unappealing, a feat Scottie never thought he could pull off.

"Louis," Scottie sneered back. "Only people above me or of equal intellect to me are allowed to call me that." She gave him her fakest smile. "And you are neither of those." If Louis was a comic figure, grey steam would now rise out of his ears, but he wasn't, so Scottie had to be satisfied with him gaping at her like a goldfish on land.

"Seeing that there isn´t much time left until Jessica recognizes my talents and promotes me I should start talking to you like the inferior you´ll soon be," Louis shouted back after he regained his composure. Scottie just rolled her eyes at the shorter man.

"Look Louis," she started patronizingly. "As much fun as it is to verbally spar with you –" no, it really wasn't "– I have actual work to do, work that will see me to a Senior Partner Post faster than your cat can flee your desperate grip. So, see you later!" Then she turned around and walked away.

"Bruno would never flee from my loving embrace," Scottie heard Louis shouting after her, but she paid him no attention. Instead she made her way to Harvey´s office.

Scottie wasn't really sorry that she had stood him up yesterday. The world of corporate law was hard and you had to use every chance that presented itself to you, lest you ended somewhere in Wyoming, arbitrating disputes between farmers. Nobody that worked in a prestigious firm like PH had made it so far by putting his own ambition on the backburner. Not even Harvey. And Scottie would never apologize for following her ambitions. Not even to Harvey.

But Harvey was her ally and you didn't keep allies by shunning them. So she would offer him another date as compensation. Maybe she would throw in a fuck as well, after all Harvey probably didn't get laid yesterday.

When Donna saw her coming her gaze immediately hardened. She and Scottie had never gotten along very well. Something about Scottie using Harvey only to further her own ambitions. Scottie had just scoffed at that. She and Harvey had used each other since undergrad in Harvard, mainly for sex and having someone else who could keep up with the other. Beside the addition of inter-firm politics their relationship – if you could call it that – their relationship hadn't changed since then.

"Scottie," Donna greeted her coldly. "Now you have time for him?" And of course Donna would knew what happened yesterday. That woman always knew what was going on and no one had a clue how she did it. Nevertheless, Scottie wouldn't justify herself to Donna of all people who carried a torch for Harvey bigger than the Empire State Building. She wasn't that insecure.

"Is he there?" she ignored Donna´s remark completely. The red-head just nodded tensely. Scottie knew how much she wanted to just deny her entry, but Harvey had put his foot down on that after the one time she actually did. It was one of Scottie´s most glorious memories. Without wasting another second on Donna she entered Harvey´s office.

The man sat behind his desk, his jacket hanging over the back of his chair, which absence only brought out his well-toned figure underneath the vest and the shirt. Scottie had to give praise where it´s due: Harvey was the best looking lawyer on the floors of PH.

"Hi, loser," Scottie exclaimed. Harvey looked up from the papers he was reading and regarded her with a cool gaze.

"What do you want?" he asked annoyed.

"You and me, going to that new restaurant on the Upper Eastside," Scottie replied. "And afterwards we have some great victory sex on your kitchen counter because, damn, I´ll be Senior Partner faster than you can look with the speed I bring in new clients."

"No," Harvey answered short-clipped. Scottie´s jaw dropped.

"What do you mean 'no'?" she demanded to know. Harvey never said no when she asked for a date or sex. She was exactly the 'no strings attached' person he preferred.

"I already have a date for today," Harvey answered.

"You have a date?" Scottie asked incredulously. "Harvey 'I don't care' Specter has a date? Who´s the lucky woman who´ll be booted out of your bed tomorrow morning before she´s even awake?" She could see that she was getting at Harvey by the way he grinded his jaws.

"He is a nice young man who saved me from losing face after you stood me up yesterday," Harvey replied.

"Wait, wait, wait," Scottie interrupted. "He? Come on, Harvey, you can´t be that mad at me that you´d invent a guy just so that you could blow me off when I asked you for another round." Of course Scottie knew that Harvey was bi, but she had seen him with a men maybe twice and had always assumed that he was more comfortable with women.

"His name is Mike Ross, he´s Senior Associate at Cadbury & Wakefield, he actually can keep up with me, something I know because I spent the last evening with him instead of you" Harvey said tensely. Scottie was floored.

"Wow," she replied. "He must be great in bed if you take him for another round." Obviously that was the wrong thing to say.

"Get out!" Harvey shouted. "Before I make you!" Seeing the warning signs of an immediate Harvey eruption, Scottie complied and swiftly walked out of the office, her cheeks burning with humiliation. Knowing Donna the story would circulate in the office within the next five minutes.

Scottie would get back at them. At them and Mike Ross for humiliating her like that. She would play second fiddle to no one.

Where was Louis when you needed someone to take down verbally in order to reduce some anger?