One Flight Down

Chapter Fifty-Five

Victoria twirled around, glancing at herself in the mirror. Harvey had texted her around noon to let her know the suggested dress code for their dinner tonight. The fact that she needed to dress somewhat fancy intrigued her. She had a dress in the back of her closet that she bought about six months ago but had yet to wear. It was a dark purple dress that went all the way down and hugged every curve. After she slipped it on, she realized it was the right dress.

A knock on the door alerted her to the fact that it was time to leave. So she grabbed her purse and hurried to the door. "Hey." She greeted him. He was wearing a black suit with a black tie and he looked really handsome. She must have been staring because he was smirking at her.

"See something you like?" He chuckled softly.

"Maybe." She smiled.

"You look beautiful." He told her, leaning in to kiss her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, disappointed when he pulled back too quickly.

"As much as I would like to continue this and maybe take it into the other room, we need to leave. If we aren't careful we will be late for our reservation." He explained.

"Alright." She pretended to pout for a moment. "So where are we going?"

"It is actually a surprise." He told her, holding out his arm for her to take as they walked down the hallway.

"Care to give me a hint?" She asked.

"No hints this time." He shook his head.

"Ok." She chuckled. If he wanted this to truly be a surprise, then she would let it drop.

The car ride with Ray wasn't very long. Or maybe it just didn't feel like a long ride because she was so relaxed. Things finally seemed to be going well for them. The managing partner vote wasn't hanging around her neck like a noose. They were on the same page about making sure that their relationship stayed a secret for the most part at work. And they were back together, as evidenced by the fact that Harvey had been holding her hand the entire time they were in the car.

He only let go once they reached their destination so he could get out of the car and hurry to her side. She watched as he opened her door and held out his hand to her. She took it, gingerly getting out of the car and looking at their surroundings.

"Harvey…is this…"

"The Restaurant Daniel?" He finished her question. "Yes. It is. "

"This is one of the fanciest places in the city." She stated.

"Yes. It is." He nodded.

"How the hell did you get a reservation here so quickly?" She had to admit she was impressed. Rumors flew around about how you had to book a reservation here months in advance.

"I may have pulled some strings." He smirked. "But what good are favors if you can't call them in once and a while for important occasions?"

"How is this an important occasion?" The question flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"Well, while I loved how our first date turned out in the end…I thought you deserved a proper date where we go to a nice restaurant. We can have some nice wine, some good food and just relax in each other's company. And since we have been trading off on one-upping each other making dinner, I think it would be nice to let someone fully trained in culinary arts do all the work for us this time." He explained.

"I love you, you know that. Right?" She smiled. "And not for bringing me here, but for thinking about me and us. This is a wonderful surprise."

"It's not even close to what you deserve."

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Shall we go in?" He held out his arm.

"Let's." She linked her arm with his.

As they were seated in the special dining room called the Skybox, he watched her face. She was looking all around at the framed pictures in the room. But her eyes really lit up when she saw that one of the glass windows overlooked the kitchen.

"Your waiter will be with you in just a moment with your wine." The hostess who led them up to the Skybox told them before departing.

"How will the waiter know our wine choice?" She questioned.

"I may have already put the wine and food order in when I pulled the strings to get this table." He smiled.

"You know, I can't believe this." Victoria gushed, looking down at the kitchen. "It's like a perfectly choreographed dance down there. Everyone seems to have their part down to a science and they just work as a team amongst the chaos."

"Maybe they could teach us a thing or two about that back at the firm." He joked, noticing that she went over to her side of the table and sat down.

"I don't think we need to be taught anything." She corrected him. "I think we just need to be more mindful about things."

"Perhaps." He agreed. "You know, I never did thank you for taking care of my clients while I was gone."

"It was fine." She shrugged. "I didn't mind."

"No, it was a big help and I want you to know that I do appreciate it."

"You're welcome." She smiled. "To be completely honest, the added work was a nice distraction."

"I shouldn't have left town like that for so long."

"Hey." She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. "It's alright. Everything is fine now."

"How are you not still furious with me?" He chuckled. If the situation was reversed and she had left for a week he wouldn't be able to guarantee that he was as calm or forgiving about it as she has been. He couldn't help but wonder what her secret was to stay so calm about it.

"There is a part of me that is still mad about it." She admitted. "But what good is acting on that going to do? You've apologized for it. You've explained it. I've forgiven you for it. Focusing on the anger would only prolong the time we spend apart and I don't want to do that. I choose instead to focus on the positives. You love me and I love you."

"So it's just that simple?"

"Hell no." She chuckled. "Things between us haven't been simple for a long time. But wouldn't it be nice to just be together? To try and ignore all of the drama that seems to follow us around and just be happy?"

"That would be nice." He had to admit she had a point. "Though I am hopeful that some of the drama will be behind us now. Robert and I have had a talk about not putting you in the middle of us anymore."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I went to Robert and we talked through everything...how we need to leave you out of our issues with each other and about our relationship."

"I have to say I'm impressed." She chuckled. "I didn't think you would be brave enough to talk to Robert about us."

He laughed too. "I'm not that big of a coward."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that…"

"No. It's fine." He assured her. "I know what you meant."

"So you really talked to Robert about us?"

"Yes." He nodded. "And he not so subtly told me if I screw it up with you again he will get involved."

She smirked. "That sounds like him."

"Well the joke is on him because I don't plan on screwing it up with you again." He promised her. "I am committed to making us work."

"I am too."

"Which brings me to something I haven't known how to mention without causing problems…"

"What is it?" She asked.

"I'm sorry that Louis chose to ignore me and tried to blackmail you. It wasn't fair to you."

"No." She shook her head. "It wasn't. But Louis and I are fine now. I'd like to think we are on our way to becoming friends."

"I think that is a true statement." He nodded. "But the thing that gnaws at me is there's something in your past that Louis knows but you don't want me to know. It had to be pretty serious for him to think he could blackmail you about it."

He watched as she sighed and pulled her hand back out of his. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her tonight but in the interest of being open and honest he felt addressing the elephant in the room was the best course of action.

"It's not that I don't want you to know." She said after being silent for a few moments. "I do want to tell you and I plan on telling you. But it's one of those things that once you know, you can't forget. We just got back together and we're trying to work things out to get on solid ground, to make a solid foundation for our relationship. I don't think it would be fair to tell you right now."

He thought about her reasoning for a moment. It wasn't a good feeling to know that Louis knew something important about Victoria that he didn't know. He hated that and had considered going to Louis to demand the man told him everything. But if Victoria didn't feel like telling him, he would have to support her decision. "You are going to tell me sooner or later though, right?"

"Of course." She nodded. "Just not right now. I hope you can understand and respect that."

The fact that she agreed to eventually tell him made it sting a little less. He could tell by looking in her eyes that she meant it. She would tell him. He just had to be patient. He didn't like it. But he could do that for her.

"I can respect that." He promised her, making her smile. He was about to say something else when a man appeared with glasses and a bottle of wine.

"Hello, my name is Pierre and I will be serving you tonight. I've come with some lovely Dom Perignon." He started to pour it into the glasses. "Can I get you two anything else at the moment?"

"No." He answered. "I think we are fine right now. Thank you."

"Very well. I will be back to check on you in a little while. Your first course should be out shortly."

He waited until the man was out of the room before looking back at Victoria. He grabbed his glass and held it up. "I propose a toast."

"Ok." She smiled, holding up her glass. "What should we toast to?"

It didn't take him long to think of the perfect thing to say. "When we met, we were kids—kids who thought they knew all about the world and how to be adults. But still we were kids. I messed up our relationship and changed the course of our lives from what we thought they would be. But somehow you came back into my life like a beautiful, smart, fierce boomerang. Whether it is fate, God's will, or something else entirely it doesn't matter. You're back in my life and I know now that I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you stay in my life. I love you, Vic and that will never change. So cheers to a new chapter to our story."

"I'll definitely drink to that." She grinned, clinking her glass with his.

A/N: A huge thank you to everyone who has read this story and a special thank you to those who have left reviews! I apologize for the lateness in getting this chapter out. Life sometimes gets in the way and it is annoying. I have a sequel to this mapped out and I haven't forgotten about my other story, Culpability. To be honest, I haven't updated Culpability because I know once that story is done the trilogy for those characters will be over and I don't want to say goodbye to them. But Culpability will be updated again on a regular basis soon. A sequel to this story will also be up soon too because Harvey and Victoria have more story ahead of them. Thanks for reading! :)