Fight for You

| Eleven |

"I love you Boo"

"I love you too Pumpkin." I was in fits of laughter at the mention of absurd pet names.

"Be safe. Tell Mandy I miss her. Dream of me," I instructed him.

"I always do Whit. See you when I get back," he held my face in his hands and kissed me deeply, pulling away momentarily to look into my eyes. He kissed me once more before picking up his bag and turning to walk to his boarding gate.

Finn turned once to blow me a kiss before disappearing from sight.

I missed him already.

********************

I made my way to the office, the early start giving me a chance to take my time to make sure everything was perfect for the important meeting scheduled for today. Pulling into my usual spot in the basement of the firms building I was thankful for negotiating a parking space into my contract when I started at Hardman Law, especially when the rain was torrential or there was a howling gale.

The office was dark and quiet as I had expected. It was Friday after all and most of the firm tended to take their time, making their way in when it suited them. I, on the other hand, had a rather long to-do list and was happy to have a few hours of peace to get some of it crossed off. The coffee machine was my first stop. I switched it on and it came to life with a hiss. My office was just as I had left it the night before. Documents lined up on the small table to the side of my main desk ready for copying and binding, post its stuck out from the piles indicating appendices and A3 pages that needed special copying. A catering form that needed sending off for refreshments sat on top of my keyboard and many, many post its notes stuck to my screen reminding me of what I might happen to forget.

I decided to make my way to the copy room to get the tedious job of compiling the documents together out of the way first and foremost. It didn't take me long to whizz them all through the machines and they were complete and bound in under forty-five minutes. The day was starting out without a hitch, thank goodness. So far so good.

The office began filling up, everyone busy going about their day and my to-do list was shortening quicker than I had expected. I did a final check of the conference room, everything was perfect, as always.

I stopped briefly to have coffee with Ellen and Dakota, two other Legal Execs before the special guest arrived. "Come on Whitney, no one likes a cold brew."

"Good to see you didn't forget your sassy pants today El." She was forever joking and giving me cheek. What are friends for?

"Never forget em'! How are things going today? The Harvey entourage will be here soon won't they? Are you nervous?"

"Me? Of course not, I've got my shit together. It's Alex I'm worried about. I don't think he's taken a breath since they approached him to handle their business."

"He would be lost without you Whit, you know that don't you?" Ellen was always telling me that I didn't get paid enough for the amount of work I did for Alex Hardman.

I had been working at Hardam Law for six years. I had landed the Legal Executive role when I had forgotten to think before speaking in front of Alex Hardman. I had grown tired of my role as a Receptionist. There was only a certain level of accomplishment within the role and I knew I wanted to do something more than smile and answer the telephone. Alex was contracted to handle various legal aspects for the company I had worked with. During one of his monthly visits he had told me it would be our last exchange, he was moving on from the firm he worked for to start his own firm. He mentioned as a joke that he was looking for a Receptionist to which I replied "I can do so much more than just answer the telephone. I just need someone to believe in me." I hadn't intended to be so honest but he had caught me on a rough day. Two months later I had my own office, a car park and I was juggling the Reception and working towards becoming a Legal Executive. Alex had seen 'potential' in me early on and his gamble had paid off when I graduated top of my class. I owed my career to Alex Hardman. We worked well together. He was disorganised and impulsive where I was calculated and had strong obsessive-compulsive tendencies. His name carried certain expectation though and the majority of his clients were big names and that put the pressure on us both to always perform at our best.