| Free Your Mind Episode 6 |
| ** Harvey glares past as Rachel enters the SIU, suprisingly enough without Nash trailing anywhere behind. He doesn't know what to make of what he saw the other night, to warn Rachel off from Nash now or let her learn from her own mistakes. Harvey knows Rachel is not naive, but he isn't sure she knows what she's getting into with Nash. Harvey knows how it always ends with Nash and his women, and he just hates to see Rachel take that fall as well. His debacle continues, he can't decide if he is mad at Nash for taking advantage of Rachel or mad at Rachel for letting Nash use her. This is not the time to decide and let his personal interests take over, they have work to do. He swallows his pride and shuts out what he's thinking. He fakes a smile, "You're here early." "I assumed you'd want to get an early start." Harvey's smile fades away as twinges of anger creep upon him. There she goes, assuming she knows what he wants. "Whatever." Harvey goes back to sorting the papers on his desk, while Rachel stands there in shock of his dark mood. "It's your game anyways, isn't it?" This wasn't the Harvey she had come to know and love, but some beastial creature in his place. "What's with you?" Rachel had a concerned look on her face, but Harvey just wished she'd stop patronizing him. She might not know it, but she was giving him mixed signals and it hurt like hell for him to see her with Nash the other night. "Harvey?" "Don't worry about it, okay? Let's get this done so at least one of us can get out of here early tonight." He doesn't know what came over him, but he isn't completely sure he didn't like it. "Okay." Rachel backs off, not sure what is with Harvey and she doesn't know if she wants to find out. She wonders if he found out about her and Nash through the office rumour mill, she thought they were discrete. She waits for Harvey to say something, "I'm gonna go grab some coffee --- do you want any?" "Nah, not yet. Thanks." Harvey sits back as he watches Rachel walk upstairs, trying to calm his nerves. "Settle down, Harve. Settle down." ** "Enough about Van Guard for now, I just ate." Joe stops and thinks for a moment at something that has been bothering him since Antwon brought it up. "Nash, I've got a question. What's going on with you and McCabe?" Joe looks over to Nash across the 'Cuda. Nash laughs and flashes that 'cat that ate the canary' smile. "What?" Nash looks over to him. "Me and McCabe? Rachel McCabe?" He smiles again, Joe knows there is something up and he figures its only going to be a matter of time before he has to start looking for Cassidy's next partner. "Yeah, you and McCabe. Rumour has it that..." "Stop right there, Bubba. Are you still listening to the old SIU gossip mill?" Nash laughs with a sinister tone as he passes through a yellow traffic light. "Nash, come on. If there's something going on between the two of you, I think I should know. So..." "So... what?" Nash is becoming slighly agitated by all the questions. "Is there?" Joe looks at him again. "Well..." "You and McCabe. The Nashman is back in business." He chuckles at the thought, but then someone else comes to mind and his mood changes. "Wait a minute, does Cassidy know about this?" "Not yet. Its kind of a new thing." "What's a new thing? You and Rachel?" "We don't know exactly where the relationship is headed yet, and I don't want to..." "Tell her if it isn't going to last?" "Exactly. In fact, not a lot of people know --- and I want to keep it that way." Nash speeds up as they approach the turn for the SIU. ** "You know, I don't know who has been moodier --- your dad, Harvey or Rachel. I mean, we're gone for a week, and you'd think they'd be happy to see us," Antwon begins to vent his feelings as he drives in the Navigator with Cassidy. "But they're not," she pauses,"we do good work and this is how were treated?" she laughs quietly, knowing that everyone has been under a lot of stress lately. "That's cold, I should ask for a raise." Antwon laughs at himself, knowing this would definately not be the time. "You do that." "And what's with your dad and Rachel anyways? Those two bicker like and old married couple." "Where have you been, Antwon?" Cassidy laughs, but Antwon decides to stop there, realizing Cassidy has no idea what he is talking about. ** Later that evening, Nash and Rachel are at his apartment. Nash is drowsily waking up to find himself alone in bed. He walks out into the kitchen to see if she is still there or if she had left. He finds her there, sitting at the counter, working at her laptop. He waits a few moments for Rachel to notice him and shut down her laptop and turn off the lights. He can tell she is anxious to get something done by the fiery look in her eyes as she goes through each screen, but he wants to get some sleep with another long day ahead of them tomarrow. "Rache, why don't you come back to bed?" He walks up a little closer. "I'm just about done, I was looking for those papers on Van Guard's associate in Berlin. Apparently, his operation isn't 'clean' either..." "Oh. But, you can't do that tomarrow?" "I was awake, and you had already fallen asleep - so I figured I'd could get a little ahead." "It looks to me like you've found what we need, so --- why don't you come back to bed?" He moves up behind her slowly and begins to kiss her neck. This normally would be a welcome distraction for her, but she was nearly done and wanted to finish this up. "I will, just let me finish this up?" She looks at him, he returns the look with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. He goes and sits on the counter top, close to Rachel and the computer. She continues to work feverishly. He has created a monster. Something besides work crosses Rachel's mind, and she feels the need to ask Nash now before she causes a problem --- which she sees as imminent anyways. "Nash, have you said anything yet to Cassidy about us?" "Actually, I was go..." Rachel cuts him off, knowing exactly where he is going with this. This is going to be a problem and she knows it, there isn't any way around it. "Are you going to tell her or were you planning on her just finding out? Or is it my responsibility?" The words came out a little harsher then she intended, but she hoped the message would get across. "The truth is, I don't know what to tell her." "You don't know what to tell her? That's great." "What am I supposed to do Rachel? I mean, I can exactly tell her..." Rachel interrupts again, angered by how he is avoiding the situation. "You can't tell her your sleeping with her partner, Nash? Is that it? I mean, you certainly wouldn't want to tell her you were 'seeing' me or dating me, right?" "That's unfair?" "But is it? Nash --- unless we make some changes, I don't think we're going to get very far. I mean, if you want things to end now - they can." "I know." "So, what do you want to do about it?" She shuts down her laptop. She walks towards Nash and hands him a disk with the information on it. "Let's get some sleep and we'll talk it over in the morning." He kisses Rachel and they walk back to the bedroom. ** "So, how was your blind date with Rachel's friend?" Antwon has been dying to know, but hasn't had the time or the opportunity to ask. Arriving at the SIU early this morning had its benefits for a one on one conversation. "Eh, it was pretty good." Harvey is avoiding going into detail, merely because there aren't that many details to give. It was pretty uneventful for him, a date. He can sense Antwon wants to hear more, so --- he'll give it to him, if it doesn't bore him. "Huh. Pretty good?" Antwon smiles, "how good is pretty good?" "She's nice, she's very attractive, smart, fun to be with but..." "But? But what?" "But, she's not what I'm looking for." "You mean, she's not Rachel." Antwon doesn't want to see Harvey get hurt, and he knows that if he's playing Nash for a girl --- Nash is going to win. "Hey, I didn't say that." Harvey looks at him, he knows where Antwon is coming from but doesn't want to admit it. "You didn't have to." Antwon looks a him, a hint of disappointment fills his eye. "I'm going out with Renee again Saturday, maybe another date will be better." "Right." Antwon laughs. "We should get this information up to Nash." Harvey smiles, Antwon already knows him to well. He's a terrible liar and this doesn't help. ** "What's a matter with you?" Joe looks at Nash, who appears to be intensely contemplating whatever it is he is looking at. Nash has been sitting at his desk for most of the late afternoon. "Everything okay with Nick?" "Yeah. He's fine." Nash continues reading, Joe knows something is bothering him but treads lightly. "I've been reading up on this case, but one thing still doesn't make sense..." Joe interrupts him. "What's wrong then? Something with Cassidy?" "Not exactly." Nash sets down what he is reading and leans back in his chair, "I just don't know what to do." "About what?" Joe relaxes a bit and sits down in the chair infront of Nash's desk. "Rachel. She's been good for me, but - I don't know that it can work out between us." "Oh?" Joe is intrigued by Nash's doubts. "She's not like the others, but I'm not looking for a commitment right now." "And she is?" "I can't tell. Neither one of us has a good record with workplace relationships, we're both liable to jump ship." Nash laughs, "go figure." "Maybe you've met your match." Joe knows that Nash doesn't have a good record with workplace relationships or even relationships out of the work place. Rachel would certainly be a challenge for him, but the question was - is he up to that challenge? ** "This is some great work, I'm impressed." Rachel looks over the paperwork Cassidy handed to her. "You did well." "I accept the compliment," Cassidy cracks a smile. Rachel looks intently at the research, but is thinking about something else. Her relationship with Nash is decent, but not love by far. She wonders if she can settle for what they have, if she should. Their conversation the night before got her thinking. Cassidy notices that Rachel is distracted, her annoying "nervous Nellie" habit of biting her nails has returned. "Rache?" she waits for a reply. "Rache?" "What?" Rachel finally picks up on Cassidy's call for attention. She sets the papers aside, but still looks nervous and tense. "Are you okay? You just seem, well, elsewhere." Cassidy doubts Rachel will give her an answer, well, a real answer. They were partners, not best friends. There were certain things they could share, and others they held inside. This might not be something Rachel should share with Cassidy. Rachel considers that before answering. "I'll be fine." Rachel gets up of the desk where she was seated, ready to walk away before remembering something else. "Cassidy?" "Yeah?" Cassidy is shocked that Rachel is lightening up and is willing to share something. "Hypothetically speaking, if you were involved in a relationship with someone that you knew wouldn't last but you didn't mind being in for the time being --- what would you do?" "I don't know, is it love?" Cassidy is floored by the questions, she wonders what she has been missing out on in Rachel's life. "Not hardly." "Then, I'd let it go. If you know it won't last, why stay?" "Even if you risked losing a lot by leaving?" "Depends on what there is to lose, I think you have to risk the loss in order to find love." To Cassidy, this was all too eery. A real conversation with Rachel, that didn't pertain to work but to love. A definite first. But, she suspiciously wonders why she'd come to her. "Thanks." She turns to walk away, but Cassidy can't be left in suspense. "Rache, is there someone I should know about?" she asks with a smile. "No - completely hypothetical." Rachel smiles back at her and walks away, hoping she didn't say to much and set Cassidy off on a tangent. ** "You know, I actually missed this place." Joe laughs at the thought of missing the SIU. "More than Inger?" Antwon smiles. "Hey, she was happy to see me when I got home, if you know what I mean." Joe smirks, "it was worth the trip." "I see." Antwon laughs with Joe, amazed that he found a woman who still puts up with him after all this time. "You wanna grab a beer, or do you have to get home?" "Beer, then home." Joe smiles, as he and Antwon head out of the SIU together. ** Harvey and Rachel are outside of the SIU on the pier, well after the sun has gone down in and the chill of the evening has set in. Harvey is standing close to Rachel, but not too close; he doesn't want to cross any bounds. He knows how he feels about her, but he dreads the feeling isn't mutual every time he sees her bat an eye at Nash or jump at his every beck and call. He loved Nash like a brother, but it was no secret how things went with the women he was with --- and there was no apparent reason for Rachel to be an exception. Harvey decides he can't wait any longer, he has to warn her now. The silence is beginning to nag at Rachel, Harvey wasn't the silent type like Nash. Harvey was the type she could sit and talk with for hours on end about nothing, where as physical contact was Nash's substitute for communication with many women. This she knew. Rachel was neither an idiot nor a newcomer to the game of love, or lust for that matter, which she believed was more the case here. Something was eating away at Harvey, and had been for a while. "Harve, are you okay?" Harvey looks at her, trying not to let his personal interests get past his initial goal of looking out for her best interests, but found it hard not to be pulled in by her expressive eyes. "Listen, Rache, I know it's not any of my business...but..." he pauses, not sure if by the the look on her face he should continue or not. "But?" Rachel turns to face him directly and smiles, making it even harder for Harvey to keep his focus. "About Nash, I just... I just don't want to see you get hurt. Don't get me wrong here, I love him like a brother, but he doesn't exactly have the best track record." "You're right. It's none of your business, but thank you for your concern." Rachel looks at Harvey, waiting for him to say something but continues after a pause. "I'm not completely stupid when it comes to relationships, Harvey. I might be unlucky, but not stupid. I know what I've gotten myself into with Nash, if that's what you're wondering." "Okay," Harvey thought to himself, "she knows what she's doing. But does she know what happened to the rest?" He continues, "maybe I'm wrong about this, but I'd hate to see you leave if things don't work out." Harvey waits a moment and decides to try and lighten the mood "I kinda like working with you. For a woman, you're not too bad." He can't help but smile at her, feeling he can rest soundly that night knowing that he's said his piece. "Don't clean out my desk just yet, okay?" She smiles back at him, then inadvertently looks at her watch --- noting the late time. "I should get going. I have to meet someone for drinks." "See you tomarrow then, bright and early." "You can count on it." He looks out over the dark water as she turns to walk away, feeling better that Rachel knows how things are. Rachel starts walking to the parking lot, but thinks back to Harvey commenting on how he enjoyed working with her --- definitely an unexpected compliment. Unable to let it go, "Harvey?" "Yes..." he turns around and faces her, standing only a few feet away. "You're not too bad yourself." He smiles and laughs to himself as she walks away into the darkness. ** |
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