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Stephen Huntley’s defining characteristic was, and had always been, his confidence. He had never been particularly striking on his own, being an average-faced man of average height and slightly slim build, but he was smart, shrewd, and a little bit reckless, and he knew that that was more than good enough. Walk through a door thinking you’re worth a million bucks – or, to be perfectly honest, quite a bit more – and the rest of the room will follow suit. The people at Pearson were no different than any of the other crowds he’d tried on: Heads turned as he strolled purposely through the halls, first to look at him and then to whisper to each other, and a certain smugness crept into his face although he did try to curtail it. After all, he was here on a mission, albeit a slightly convoluted one that had just gotten decidedly more complicated upon his discovery that the Southern District of New York was charging Ava Hessington with having murdered the six insurgents whose deaths had…well, which was entirely too close to the truth for comfort.His mission also meant meeting Harvey Specter, a figure who had loomed large in his mind for the past year, ever since Dana Scott had come back from America and quietly declined to marry him.It had stung more than he’d expected when she’d turned him down – yes, Stephen was independent and so was Dana, but they’d been coworkers and friends for years, made partner around the same time, and generally been socially, not to mention sexually, well suited to each other. And he’d wanted to marry her, could picture her as the mistress of his home and perhaps even as the mother of his children. (Who would have been eligible at birth for United States citizenship, an added perk of marrying an American.) Dana was smart and witty and ambitious and beautiful, an ideal match, and then she’d come home from a professionally disastrous trip to New York. Immediately upon leaving Darby’s office she’d walked straight into Stephen’s, closed the door, and told him that she was very sorry, but she did not want to marry him and thought that they should see other people. He’d played it off and they’d deliberately kept the whole exchange light, dismissing the whole thing as if it had been nothing, as if they hadn’t dated exclusively for nearly a year after ages of having discovered just how well they worked together.It had taken a week to discover exactly what had happened in New York, and Stephen still wasn’t sure he’d learned the whole of it. But he didn’t think it could be at all a coincidence that Dana had seemed inclined to accept him and then changed her mind directly after losing a client in a face-off with her law school boyfriend. Still biting from the unexpected rejection, Stephen had looked up this Harvey Specter on the Pearson Hardman website and then a bit harder on the American law gossip blogs and come to the conclusion that he was a) obnoxiously handsome and obnoxiously successful, b) even cockier than he quite had a right to be, and c) without a doubt, the love of Dana’s life.And he’d moved on, but it still smarted, especially when Darby had acted on Dana’s advice and suggested a merger with Pearson Hardman – leveraging her job to get closer to the man who’d ended her relationship with Stephen. It smarted even more that he’d told Darby that the merger was a bad idea, and Darby’d sided with Dana instead.Because that was the other thing about Dana, the thing that in the end mattered more to Stephen than her brains and her looks and her wit. The end of their relationship had brought things into stark relief, that they were rivals, that Darby valued Dana more than he did Stephen. It had once, perhaps, been a petty concern, but after Cooke retired it mattered: They were rivals, and Dana was winning.And so, as he strode towards Harvey Specter’s office, stopping to flirt with his pretty redheaded secretary, he was very much aware that this man was dangerous.Harvey was gunning to overthrow Jessica Pearson as managing partner – a mistake, Stephen thought; as a black woman, Jessica provided striking visual diversity in New York legal circles, without requiring any sort of compromise on her impeccable credentials – and Stephen wasn’t entirely sure he wanted him to succeed. With Harvey in charge of New York and having so much influence with Dana, who was likely to become Darby’s heir apparent… Stephen had accepted that Dana’s name would eventually be added to the firm, and she would likely become the managing partner upon Darby’s retirement. That in itself was all right; he didn’t particularly crave the attention. But he did want the power, and Dana had made it abundantly clearly that she preferred Harvey to Stephen. And yet for all his reservations, he couldn’t actually let Ava lose, for obvious reasons. Stephen typically thrived in difficult, complex situations, but he was decidedly less than thrilled at the one presented by Harvey Specter.And yes, fine, the man had won the heart of the woman Stephen had wanted to marry, and it wasn’t as if that didn’t influence him at all.“Harvey, pleasure, I’m Stephen,” he said, though – and he did sound pleasant enough when he offered his hand as Harvey came barreling through, barking orders at no-surname-Donna as he did.“I know who you are, and I know why you’re here. You’re Darby’s fixer, and you’re here to hijack my case,” he responded, glancing at Stephen’s hand but not shaking.“No, I’m Dana Scott’s ex, and I’m here to talk about the fact that you engaged in sexual relations with my fiancée.”Two could play at this game, after all, and Stephen saw Harvey’s face fall very slightly before he collected himself. Clearly, he’d hit a nerve.“I keep my personal life out of the office.”“Dana’s told me differently, but if it makes you more comfortable I’m happy to join you for coffee.”The other man paused for a long moment before nodding.“I’ll make an exception. Come in,” he said, finally. As Stephen followed him into the office he noticed Harvey flick a switch on his desk. He raised his eyebrows in question.“Intercom,” Harvey said, matter-of-factly. “Donna ordinarily listens to everything, but I don’t need her to hear this.”“Ah. Well, I’m not actually here to talk about Dana, but probably better not to have anyone listening anyway. I’m here to talk about your…arrangement with Darby.”“My arrangement.”“Your planned coup.”This time it was Harvey’s eyebrows that rose, but Stephen met his gaze head-on.“We’ve told Jessica Pearson that I’m here for, ‘cultural integration,’ post-merger, and I assume I’ll spend an hour or two complaining about the colors of the carpets or the length of the drapes, but you’re right. I’m a fixer. And I’m here to help you take over the office.” He shrugged a bit. “And yes, that will likely mean helping with Ava Hessington, but as I’m sure you know by now, I’ve handled quite a bit of the firm’s work with Hessington in the past, and – ”“You’re, ‘sure I know’?”“Well, of course. I assume you’ve had someone do your homework, or at the very least Dana’s told you.” He paused a moment. “I wasn’t lying, I did ask her to marry me and I’m certain you had something to do with the fact that she eventually chose not to do so. But that’s not why I’m here.”“Fine,” said Harvey, his face slightly unsettled for a moment before falling back into a clearly practiced look of calm and control. “I can appreciate that. But this is my case, and I will manage it as I see fit.”“I’m only offering that perhaps the color I can add might change your strategy.”“I doubt it.”“You don’t know everything. And you don’t really know this woman, or this company, or the oil business.”“I read people. It’s what I do.”“Of course. But reading takes time. Think of me as the Cliff Notes to your copy of Finnegan’s Wake.”“Look, Stephen, I’m trying to be polite, because I did sleep with Scottie while she was with you and I do feel bad about it, but I don’t need your help – not color, not strategy, and definitely not Cliff Notes. I’m good. You can go back to England.”Stephen looked down a moment before bringing his eyes back to Harvey’s. It was annoying that the man was so much taller than he was.“Scottie,” he said, quietly.“If it means anything, I didn’t know she was…”“No, I just…do you know, the only times I’ve ever heard her called, ‘Scottie,’ were when her friends from the States came to visit?”“I’ve never called her anything else, except, ‘Ms. Scott,’ in court,” Harvey replied with a wry grin. Stephen smiled a little and waited. “She yelled at me the first time, too.”“Yelled at you?”“Yeah, something about when had I ever called her, ‘Ms. Scott,’ as if it weren’t her name.”“That sounds about right. She’s certainly no shrinking violet when it comes to her preferences.”“She’s no shrinking violet when it comes to anything,” Harvey corrected, and Stephen kept his smile in check. There it was, he was reminiscing now and letting his guard down as much as he ever might.Not to mention, as a bit of a bonus, it was obvious that Harvey Specter loved Dana more than Stephen ever had, which was comforting. Mainly, of course, because if one has to lose, it is always preferable to lose to someone who cares more about the object of the competition. But also it was convenient, because if he loved her so much he’d assume Stephen did, too, and thus would feel guiltier than necessary and might turn out to be easier to influence.Which was important. Stephen remembered Harvey’s independent streak from the merger, the gossip that had seeped through the Darby & Cooke offices about the man’s inability to be accommodating, even of Jessica Pearson, the woman to whom he owed his entire career – the woman he was now attempting to de-throne. This was not a man who would back off when backing off was necessary, was not a man likely to be placated or to be content not to know the whole truth.“She’s certainly quite a woman,” he finally said, forcing nostalgia into his voice and biting his tongue against asking about the other woman – the beautiful secretary with the bombshell body and the long red hair. “I mean, ultimately we were not suited for each other, but…” He cleared his throat. “Oh, I do have one other reason for being here. Dividends for the senior partners. To be distributed through Jessica, of course.”“Of course.”“Yours is for five hundred thousand, by the way.”“Sterling?”“Sorry, USD. Still, not bad.”Harvey shrugged slightly.“It’s money. Look, unless you have anything else that you just have to say…”“Not a word. Keep it in mind, though – I can help with Ava. As a resource, a fixer.”“Don’t need a fixer if you don’t break anything,” he said, smugly, before his face softened just a little. “I appreciate the offer. And the money.”“My pleasure,” Stephen replied, opening the door leaving the office in a manner both casual and cocky. He threw a flirtatious smile at Donna as he strode out, feeling her eyes on his backside as he walked away. Well, why not? He was single, after all.