Meghan Ross: Con Artist in Training

The Choice (Part 2)

She heard everything. A name partner she had never met had made his apologetic return to the firm. Jessica and Harvey were going on the defensive. Jessica was looking for departments within the firm who liked Harvey... very few existed. Even Meghan knew which ones didn't like Harvey.

She had included herself in the conversation by talking in her sleep while they waited for Mike to come.

Mike thought Hardman was awesome at first. There was an omelet bar for the associates. Fruit bouquets with pineapples that came from Hawaii the day before. He was raving about it until he saw the look on Jessica's face... if looks could fire.

"Do not trust it," Harvey said.

"Don't trust the pineapple?" Mike asked, confused.

"I'm not going back!" Meghan mumbled in her sleep.

Harvey clarified he was referring to name partner Hardman after saying Jessica was right about Meghan.

"'Not going back'? Do you know what she's talking about?" Harvey asked.

"I don't spend nights with her, if that's what you're asking," Mike replied. One could hear the nervousness in his voice if they were actually listening and not more concerned with getting rid of someone who Harvey didn't think deserved to even be in the firm.

Mike had convinced Harvey to take a bite of the pineapple. "'Come on. I love you, Harvey'. It'll be good for you." Harvey seemed to enjoy the taste he took. "See?"

"It's spectacular. But this doesn't change the fact that this is what he does. He's coming back and people are gonna have to choose sides. That includes Meghan."

"Really?"

"She's part of the firm, now. The partners like her. Some have even offered to pay for her education if she's interested. It's overstepping, no doubt."

"Can I choose Hardman's side?" Mike asked. His mouth was full enough to hide the frustration he was now feeling. Were people really offering to pay for her education? And how did he not know about such offers?

"I wish I came forward," Meghan said.

Neither man knew what that meant. Mike looked confused, and Harvey shook his head. "Sure. Support a man you never met over a partner who knows you never went to Harvard, knows you're not really a lawyer and is keeping you on anyway."

Harvey's point was taken and received. He was siding with Jessica. Meghan's choice would have been Jessica for different reasons.

"I need you and Meghan on Paul Porter once she's awake. Every case he has... read, summarize, find weaknesses. I want to know everything he knows. He's getting lunch."

~***~***~

Every few minutes, Meghan would mumble something in her sleep. Harvey would glance up at her from his work and wonder what she was talking about.

If her brother, who he figured out was Neal, raised her, who was she calling Dad? She referred to Neal by name so it couldn't have been him. Why did she wish she had come forward? What did she know?

Mystery seemed to surround her. No one at the firm knew more than she would let on. Some things were learned through context. One person knew one thing, while another knew something else, all while being told the same story.

He took one last glance. Where was Mike? He should have been there by now and Meghan should have been with him. Awake. And out of Harvey's office.

"He's not like me, you know," she said, slowly coming to.