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Another Time, Another Place
Summary: Harvey's wife (Reader) gets stuck while working on a case and she requires his assistance to get unstuck.
Prompt: âWhat? Isnât this the book you wanted?â
Pairing: Harvey Specter x Reader/OFC (3rd person, she/ her)
Content Warning: Nothing much, really. Implied spice, but no explicit spice.
She pulled her gaze from her laptop, rubbing at her eyes as she glanced around the room after sending an email. Most of the partnersâboth the senior and junior designeesâstayed far away from the law firmâs library. They had little need for the space, what with being granted their own resplendent offices, complete with the comforts of their own designâfurniture and decor and views that reflected their status and clout at the firmâŚ
So it was rare to find department heads there, excepting for the odd instances when they deigned to stretch their legs, drifting down to the library to follow up with an associate or paralegal assigned to their case in person rather than sending an email, but she had always liked the library. She often preferred its special brand of quiet, the near-silence imbued with the tense buzz of people working on their own time-sensitive assignments, almost like the parallel play of toddlers. Almost like they were all still students studying for exams and writing papers.Â
The room was empty now though, the hour too late for even the most diligent of associates, the most hungry of them, but it had always reminded her of her days back in schoolâŚher days as a novice associate. Even now, she sometimes preferred the space to her own office the same way sheâd once preferred the space to her little cubicle in the bullpen. Back when she was an associate, there had been no hour too late, no hour that she wouldnât spend in the library with a pile of books and her mind wound tightly throughout the intricacies of a case, trying to craft a win for herself. For her mentor. For her clients.Â
It wasnât often these days that she needed to keep such late hours. And somewhere along the line, sheâd become the one mentoring novice attorneys. Sheâd sent her own associate home hours ago, preferring to work through this particularly rough bit of research on her own. Once in a while, she liked that sort of challenge. Liked revisiting the grueling all nighters sheâd once lived on a daily basis.Â
And she could feel she was close now, the puzzle pieces in her mindâs eye nearly falling into place. NearlyâŚbut there was something she was missing. Something blocked that she couldnât quite work through. In a library containing thousands of volumes and a whole internet of answers, she just couldnât find what she needed.Â
Or, more likely, she couldnât access it, her mind not making the right connections.Â
She probably just needed to get some sleep, to look at things with a fresh mind, but that wasnât in the cards tonight, not with an impending deadline.Â
A short break would have to do. She just needed an influx of energy, a slight bit of distraction to pull her mind away from the issue just enough to give perspective.Â
Pushing back from her laptop, she turned the volume on her wireless headphones up, letting the club hits she used to dance to during undergrad house parties soothe some part of her soul, almost as if the familiar beats unlocked something in her, loosening muscles she hadnât even realized were tense. Not that it was a surprise. Sheâd been hunched over the table for hours, not even bothering to stop for dinner, taking only a few obligatory bites of the sushi Harvey had ordered for her while her eyes remained glued to her computer.Â
She let her focus slip away now though, slipping off her heels and closing her eyes as she sang along to the song in her headphones. She imagined she was in another time, another placeâfar away from the library and the case, the music easily carrying her away.Â
She started, eyes flying open as she danced into something solid, the scent of a familiar cologne tickling her senses as she stumbled. Harveyâs hand closed around her back, steadying her as she pulled her headphones off, letting them hang around her neck.Â
Harvey smirked at the noise still blaring through the silent library from the headphones, a song he knew just as well as she did, the sound of it dredging up at least half a dozen memoriesâimages of his own college days, images of the two of them on road trips, images of her cleaning the apartment, images of their wedding, images of a handful of other times heâd come across her in the firmâs library late at nightâŚ
âHey fruitcake, what are you doing?âÂ
She rolled her eyes at the reference as she turned down the volume, allowing the memories and the music to fall away, her mind temporarily focused on finding the right retort, her mind gratefully sifting through Dirty Harry quotes rather than case law research.
Harvey watched her, letting the quiet stretch between them, some part of him gratified at the sight of her slightly disheveled appearance. Harvey liked something about the juxtaposition, of seeing her just slightly less put together than she usually was in the hallowed halls of their law firm, her blazer discarded on a chair, her shirt sleeves rolled, her feet bare, bright red toenails stark against the dark carpets.Â
Not that he wasnât used to seeing her like that. She was the type of girl who was almost always in sweats just minutes after arriving home. Sheâd actually been dressed that way when they first met, years and years ago in a different law library, in a different set of hallowed halls.Â
Sometimes, especially times like this, it felt like it was just yesterday.
Harvey pulled his eyes back to her face to find her studying him, a certain eagerness lighting her eyes. His lips formed a fond smile again.Â
âI thought you were hard at work down here?â he taunted, eyebrows raising.
âWellâŚâ she started, leaning a bit of weight onto the arm that still lay snaked around her back, âfor the past three-quarters of an hour, Iâve been sitting on my ass waiting for you.âÂ
Harvey smirked. It was one of the things he loved about her: that she could go toe to toe with him with most thingsâmovie references, the law, a few choice other thingsâŚ
Nevermind the fact that sheâd emailed him requesting his âassistanceâ mere minutes agoâŚ
Harvey gently massaged her lower back with the fingers he still had splayed there before shifting his arm away, abstaining from letting his hand drift down to the aforementioned ass, another thing he loved about her.
Her lips pursed at the sudden absence of Harveyâs touch and she pulled her arms up to fold over her chest.
âI brought that help you wanted.âÂ
She refrained from smiling as she read the title of the paperback he pushed into the space between themâLaw for Dummiesâeven as he smirked, giddy as a school child. She had gifted the book to him upon his law school graduation, and it had occupied a shelf in his various cubicles and offices ever since.Â
She doubted it had ever been much help, but it gave them a good laugh from time to time, something which was like a balm to the harshness of life sometimes, a healing salve for the seemingly chronic stress of their lives.
âVery clever, Harvey.âÂ
âWhat?â he asked, gaze drifting from her unimpressed face down to the black and yellow front cover. âIsnât this the book you wanted?â
Harveyâs voice sounded so innocentâso sincereâthat she almost laughed. Christ, he was good. If law hadnât worked out, he couldâve given acting a shot. Comedy, maybe.Â
âDid my email say anything about a book, Mr. Specter?â she asked, taking the tome from his hands and tossing it on a nearby table with a thump.
Harvey hummed. âCome to think of it, your email was a littleâŚvague. Left a lot to the imagination.âÂ
âMhmmâŚâ She nodded. âThe details of the specific type of assistance I require of you is something I suspect neither one of us would want in writing. Wouldnât want it read aloud in a court of lawâŚâ Her eyes traveled Harveyâs face, clocking the light in his eyes and the tug of his smile. âOr by the IT department,â she added as an afterthought, the briefest bit of alarm washing over her features at the idea.Â
âYou think Benjamin is reading our email exchanges?â Harvey asked. âThatâs kind ofââ
She pushed at his chest before he could get the word outâkinky.Â
âHarvey,â she groaned, not because she didnât enjoy the childish side of him. She did. She loved it, actually, but she had asked him down here for a reasonâŚ
âYes, Mrs. Specter?âÂ
To most of the world, both here at the office and in the eyes of the U.S. government, she went by her maiden name. She had kept her own name, both professionally and legally, for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being that she was not a manâs property, not even if Harvey Specter was the man in question. But between the two of them, it still thrilled her when he called her that, made her feel so thoroughly hisâand him so thoroughly hersâthat her toes curled into the carpet, a movement that Harvey clocked as he stepped closer, one arm wrapping around her as he used the other to guide her face up to him with a hand under her chin.
âWhat specific type of assistance is it that you require of me?â
Whatever she asked forâŚwhatever she neededâŚHarvey would readily give her the world if she wanted it. If it would make her happy. If she needed it. Heâd do anything.
It was a truth they both knew. And it was reciprocal. Sheâd do the same for him. Â
But all she wantedâall she neededâjust now was him.Â
This.
Well, thisâŚand a way to win her case, but as she kissed her husbandâs lips, allowing him to guide them both back towards the stacks, thoughts of the case fell away until all that existed in the world was two people alone in a library, each of them falling a bit further in love, as they had once done long ago in another time, another place.
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