Legal Prejudice 2 - Weather The Storms

Chapter 7

Whenever Max reflected back on that weekend it always felt magical. Michael, Allie and Daniel had arranged for the quintessentially English hotel stay and the dinner as their anniversary gift. Emmie was tired out by Saturday evening and slept the entire time they were out at dinner, so she was no bother to Barry and Judith. Michael, Allie And Daniel walked to and from the hotel and on Sunday Allie took everyone to the nearby small, historic city where Max took Margie to a high end jewellers and bought her some eye watering expensive ear-rings. Later they all walked the Roman walls that completely encircled the city, and Allie showed them around her old school site which was right next to one of the ancient city gateways. Michael was teasing Emmie that it was actually the Harry Potter school, and Allie played quidditch on a broomstick. Her eyes were wide with wonder, even though she wasn't really sure who Harry Potter was.

Allie had also spent an hour early on the Sunday morning having coffee next door with Barry and Judith, bringing them up to speed on her life in California. They looked horrified when she explained who Emmie's mother was, but she reassured them she didn't feel there was any on-going threat to her safety. "It's really hard to explain" she said frowning, "but the people I've got to know over there are closer than any family I ever had. And somehow out of a terrible thing that happened to me there's this amazing group of people who really love one another. They've taken amazing care of me. And of course I have Michael and we're so happy. It's my home now."

Early on Monday Allie locked up the house, returned the car to the hire depot at the train station, and they all boarded the train for the journey to London. Emmie had never been on a train before, so she was very excited watching the countryside fly by the windows and visiting the dining car for breakfast. They got off at a typically busy Euston station and queued with all their luggage for a couple of taxis to take them to the hotel. They checked in and discovered they were all on different floors. Allie choked laughing when Michael whispered that it was probably a good thing since hotel walls were often thin and having Max in the next room might be a bit awkward. They all agreed to meet at twelve for a quick lunch in the bar before Max, Daniel and Allie had to go over to meet the partners in the London office. Landon had organised for Michael to meet with the London firm they used for their cases, since the firm didn't have a London or European office. Margie was planning on taking a cab with Emmie to visit Hamleys.

Allie and Michael arrived at their room on the fifth floor and as soon as the door was closed he scooped up his wife and laid her on the bed. Allie sat up, "Much as I want to Michael what time is it? I need to get ready to go to the office by twelve." He kissed her and felt her melt back onto the bed before he whispered in her ear, "Plenty of time Allie." She moaned as he began kissing her neck but grabbed his wrist to check his watch. He signed and took a look himself, "It's ten after eleven beautiful. If you need thirty minutes to get ready that gives us twenty minutes of marital bliss." Allie relaxed and he resumed kissing the soft skin of her neck as Allie trailed her hand inside his shirt. At eleven thirty she reluctantly dragged herself from his side and unpacked what she needed for the office.

When they reached the offices Allie immediately felt ill at ease. She smiled shyly as one of women from the office clearly recognised her, but Daniel noticed that no-one openly acknowledged her return which he thought was strange. They went into a meeting room and some of the partners came in. The agenda was fairly vague as the aim was really to catch up and build connections between the two teams. Max began by discussing the benefits of having Allie on the ground in L.A, since she had passed the Californian Bar exams but could also reduce the burden on the UK team. Max immediately noticed the coldness of the response. Exchanging glances 'round his colleagues the London senior partner Nigel Wallace said, "I think it's worth being mindful Max that Allegra here hasn't practised in the UK for some time, and may well be somewhat out of date. Are we sure we're not a little overconfident?" Allie spoke up and Daniel noticed a tremor in her voice he'd never heard before, "I've obviously maintained my Law society membership in the UK and I've completed my continuing professional development. I've focused all my CPD points on areas of change like UK EU divergence, so I don't believe any of my knowledge is out of date." Nigel barely glanced at her addressing his response to Max, "There's never any substitute for real world experience and I'm afraid online courses are no replacement. And here in London we require more than a pretty face and a winning manner."

Daniel was furious and he knew it was written all over his face but he couldn't help it. Max narrowed his eyes, but on the surface looked otherwise unmoved, smiling at Allie and merely commenting, "Hummm considering the amount of UK work she's cleared through without a hitch recently, I think we can be real happy she's up to date. And the clients are all very satisfied, so I'd respectfully disagree. In L.A. we very much like her face and the knowledge and the interpersonal skill she brings to the table."

Max steered the conversation onto a few cases where there was trailing activity from before Allie had moved. He pushed hard on the delays he was experiencing from the UK side, and queried some of the cross charges made with no ostensible movement in the work needed. Nigel looked sour and brought the meeting to a close bang on the allotted time saying, "Well this has been a very valuable session and useful for the teams to catch up. Apologies but I have a four pm to get to so you'll have to excuse us. As they left Daniel couldn't help notice that Allie had shrunk into herself in the time spent at her old office, and in that moment he realised how unhappy she'd been in London. As soon as they were out in the street he said to Max, "Let's get a coffee to talk about what the heck that was in there." They found a relatively quiet coffee shop and ordered.

Sitting down Allie was subdued and Daniel reached over to grab her hand, "Allie, did they always treat you like that?" She shrugged sadly, "They were only ever that hostile when they felt I'd got above my station, you know, pointed out an error, had a client ask for me specifically, say I'd done a good job in court or something. But the worst was being so excluded, never feeling one of the team. Loads of people today recognised me, but no-one even smiled let alone wanted to catch up. I was there for years. It was a bloody lonely existence and I have no idea why me. I knew they were glad to offload me to L.A. and to be honest I was glad to get out. They made me doubt myself so much I was convinced I couldn't get another job in London, so it felt like a lifeline, my only escape route." He joined her on the small sofa and wrapped his arms around her and looked at Max in disbelief. She buried her face in his neck and Daniel pulled back slightly to wipe a couple of tears that had rolled down her face. She added, "And that's why I appreciate you guys so much. I suppose I just thought it would be different since I'd been away so long." Max leaned forward, "Allie, I promise you none of those ass-wipes will ever speak to you like that again. I'm older and uglier than you two, and I can guarantee they treated you like that Allie because you're a threat. The way you operate held a magnifying glass up to everything they don't have. Let's drink this coffee and get back to the hotel, okay?"