I thought that FFN was broken when really just no one left a review on my latest update... I mean I knew it was short but I didn’t realize it was that shitty.
The law firm is already busy when Madge Undersee steps out of the elevator. Everyone seems to be bustling with energy and ready to work, despite the fact that it's still 8 o'clock. Madge on the other hand, is sporting a bed head as opposed to her usual bun and she's yet to have her daily cup of coffee. Worst of all, every day is like this at Abernathy & Associates lately.
Instead of heading to her desk in the bullpen she makes a beeline for the break room, where surely there's a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her consumption. Not surprisingly, she also finds one of the senior partners sat at a table with her feet propped up, reading the news.
"Good morning Madgey!" Effie sing-songs. Of course, she looks perfectly put together and flawless. Her hair is twisted into an elegant chignon and her makeup is impeccable. Madge has always remembered Effie to be composed and collected, and she has no clue how she manages to pull it off while still keeping everything else in order here. Effie puts her high-heeled feet back on the floor and closes her newspaper. "How are you doing today?"
Madge shrugs, pulling out her mug from a cabinet and setting it down on the counter. "I'm okay I guess. Haymitch had all the associates working late last night - again, so I'm pretty beat right now. What about you? Any interesting clients, cases lately?"
Effie laughs tritely. "Of course not. Corporate law isn't all they make it out to be, Madgey, it's just the same old same old. Tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement, I'm boring myself already." She reaches for her empty mug and slides it across the table. "Fill me up too?"
Pouring the steaming hot coffee into their mugs, Madge stirs cream and sugar into her own and hands Effie hers, black. "Thank you darling," she sighs, taking a sip of what was surely her second or third cup.
"So..." Madge starts, leaning against the counter. "... If your cases are all so boring, do you still want me to sit in on the Fraser deposition tomorrow?" She taps her nails on her cup nervously. Effie had promised her that if she had all her associate work done by tomorrow, then she could help her with the case, and Madge is eager to stop doing paperwork at her desk and start practicing actual law.
"Of course! I'll run it by Haymitch at the partners' meeting, it should be no problem," she smiles, and Madge is so happy that she ran into Effie in the break room.
"Awesome," she states, nodding to herself in excitement. "Thanks so much, Effie."
"Not a problem, sweetie," she responds. "Oh before you go! You're working reception today from 4-6, I forgot to tell you earlier."
Madge groans and rolls her eyes. "Reception? Why? I thought we had a temp for Annie's maternity leave!"
"We did," Effie utters, "But he was useless! He couldn't even fax our documents properly so we let him go last week. So now, everyone's picking up shifts since Annie's back in two weeks time anyway. All you have to do is sit there, smile a little bit and pick up the phone once in awhile. Please, Madgey?"
"Can't you hire someone else for two whole weeks?" she pleads. If Madge spends her afternoon sitting in reception, she's going to have to stay late to finish her paperwork, and Haymitch will definitely get a kick out of that.
"Maybe, but not for today! Besides, you know that your father is in charge of hiring now. Go talk to him," Effie reasons. She stands up and walks towards the door, putting a hand on Madge's shoulder. "Even I'm picking up shifts, okay? It's temporary, I promise."
She nods and says farewell as Effie heads back to her office, and realizes that there's nothing she can do about this reception situation. Even if her father is a senior partner, Madge tries to avoid talking to him at work. She knows what the other associates think about her working here, and the last thing she wants is to be accused of nepotism. If only they knew how much her father wanted her to look elsewhere for a job, and how much she had to prove in order to be hired.
The bullpen is just as loud as the lobby when she walks to her desk, and for a second Madge thinks enviously of Effie sitting in her private office with floor to ceiling windows. Madge can't wait until she gets promoted to junior partner, no matter how long that'll take. Peeta and Delly are already seated in their cubicles, chatting away.
Peeta turns around and smiles warmly at her when she puts down her stuff. "Hey Madge, how are things?"
She takes a seat and digs around her purse for some bobby pins. When she finally finds a couple, she holds them in her teeth before twisting her hair up in her bun. "Not really any different from last night at 10:30, really."
The blond laughs and nods in agreement. "I know right, Haymitch is on a serious power trip, don't you think?"
Delly interjects. "Well this is his firm, I think it's a well justified power trip to say the least." Madge silently agrees, and put the last pin in her hair, fixing the bun to her head and relaxing in her seat. Delly nods to the empty desk in front of Madge. "Where is he? Is he late?"
"How would I know?" she asks tiredly. "He runs on his own schedule."
Moments after she says those words, Gale Hawthorne bursts through the entrance to the bullpen, still putting on his tie. His signature cocky smile is plastered all over is face and damn him , because he still looks handsome despite his unkempt appearance and entire personality.
"Morning everyone," he greets. Some people wave, but most look back at him with apprehension. Gale's brow creases and he cocks his head sideways. "What? What's wrong, is there something on my face?"
"You're late again?" asks Madge, which is really the question that's on everyone's mind. He stares blankly back at her and shrugs, laughing to himself a little bit. She rolls her eyes. "So... where were you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." She hears someone snicker from behind the cubicle walls. Probably Marvel, he follows Gale's every word like a blind puppy.
"Me? I couldn't care less. It's just that some people would rather not have to cover for you every other day," she scoffs. Silently, she curses herself for how on-edge he makes her. She's not usually like this, it's just that he's so unbearably arrogant and Madge can't stand it.
"Why Undersee? Are you going to run over to Daddy and report me?" he snarls, and Madge almost screams. If only she knew what she did for Gale Hawthorne to hate her this much. They were hired at the same time, and ever since, he's been positively awful to her about every imaginable thing. What's more is that they sit across from each other despite Madge's various complaints to Human Resources, because Effie and Haymitch find their mutual animosity absolutely hilarious.
Instead of storming out of the office in rage, Madge ignores him completely and begins her work for the day. She nurses her cup of coffee while she drafts one of Mr. Heavensbee's corporate agreements. It's a long and tedious document but she knows exactly what she's doing, and before long she's bringing the documents to his office and working through her next tasks.
It's boring and excruciating, but Madge honestly does enjoy it. She's been coming to this office for a large portion of her life, and the way people all work together here never fails to amaze her. Back then, her dad and Haymitch were junior partners and Effie was still a paralegal. Madge would sit at her father's desk and draw on his unneeded photocopies. Effie would give her piggy backs to the break room to eat the cookies that always seemed to be there. Haymitch would joke about her working here someday and the firm felt like such a magical place. In some ways, it still is. The law firm now occupies two whole floors of the massive skyscraper, and it never seems to sleep.
After a couple hours of silent work, it's lunch already. She notices Gale getting up from his seat and slinging his messenger back over his shoulder. He grabs his blazer from the back of his chair and lays it over his shoulder while he whistles an unrecognizable tune to himself. Looking up at Madge, he beams at her obnoxiously. "See you tomorrow, Undersee."
She tilts her head sideways in confusion. "Going somewhere? It's noon."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," he responds sarcastically. "I have some stuff I need to do. Got the okay from Effie already, so…"
"But you were researching for the Mason and Tillotson merger, are you going to be back?"
"Nope," he says, popping the "p" of the word. "Would you be so kind as to finish it up for me?"
"Why on Earth would I do that?"
"Because you hate when work's not done, and you think you do a better job than anyone else," he shrugs, as if it's the most obvious thing ever.
"No," Madge objects, "This is your work and your responsibility, I'm not going to help you."
"Please?" he asks, but it's so fake and teasing that it makes Madge infuriated.
"Fuck you."
"You wish, Undersee," Gale smirks, and with that he walks out of the office and off to wherever he needs to go. Madge lets out a frustrated cry and rests her face in her palms, her anxiety over all the work she now has to do is building up already. Now she has to finish all her paperwork, finish Gale's and sit at reception for two hours. And if she doesn't finish it by tonight, Effie won't let her be there for the deposition tomorrow and the next opportunity to do something interesting at the firm will surely be weeks away.
Madge sighs loudly and closes her eyes to regroup. From across the bullpen, she hears someone laughing at her. "What's wrong Undersee?" Marvel asks, trying so hard to provoke her. "Does Hawthorne have your panties in a twist?"
She ignores him, naturally. On second thought, she really is looking forward to sitting at reception if it means getting away from this place.
The clock is moving extra slow this afternoon, Madge thinks while she absentmindedly clicks and un-clicks the back of a pen. So far, she's only had a couple of phone calls and a man walking in looking for a junior partner. She gladly stood up from the reception desk to personally guide the man to the attorney's office, because her legs were practically falling asleep.
She has no idea how Annie does it. Perhaps she just has more patience than Madge, or likes greeting people and helping them out. For Madge, every ring of the office phone is like her own personal cry for help. She wishes she could be doing more of something and less of nothing.
Madge so engrossed in staring blanking at her computer screen that she barely noticed the two kids that walk up to her desk. She hears someone clear their throat and she's snapped out of her trance, looking down at the little girl. She's standing with her chin jutted upwards, and she's holding the hand of a boy that looks a bit older.
"Hi, um, how can I help you?"
"My name is Posy, and this is my brother, Vick," the little one says. She's rocking on her toes and her hands are behind her back. The older one is standing there awkwardly, happy to let his sister do all the talking. "We're here for Gale. Gale Hawthorne," Posy states. She can't be more than 7 or 8 years old, and Madge wonders how much a precious and sweet girl could possibly be related to Gale Hawthorne.
"I like your hair," she says, and Madge thanks her sweetly. "I want blonde hair too, but I can't have it," Posy adds with a solemn look on her face. "Anyway, you never told us your name!"
"I'm Madge, nice to meet you, Posy, Vick. I think your brother is just working…"
Madge gazes down the hall to the bullpen and remembers; Gale had already left at lunch to run his mystery errand. Is he supposed to be here right now? A flood of concern and slight panic overcomes her, and she's unsure what to say to the siblings. "Gale's not here right now," she starts, trying to find out if this is a normal thing to happen through their expressions. "Is he supposed to take you guys home?"
Vick nods quickly. "Whenever we have tutoring we come here and Gale brings us to the ice cream store with the cows. Our tutor lives across the street from this place and-"
"And it's okay if he's not ready to leave yet," Posy interjects. "Usually we just sit over there and wait for him. Can we do that?" The young girl is looking up at Madge with wide eyes.
The chairs in the reception area are totally vacant, so Madge hesitantly agrees and watches the two children sit on the sleek couch with their backpacks still on. They're both splitting images of Gale: dark haired and grey eyed, although Posy is much fairer than her brothers. They wait patiently and barely talk to each other, Posy swinging her legs back and forth on the chair. They don't bother anyone else and stay quiet, so Madge returns to looking at the hands of the clock go around and around.
Soon someone else approaches the desk from the offices, and this time Madge knows exactly who it is. "Hi, Haymitch," she greets, giving him a small wave. He doesn't have on his tie or his blazer, and his shirt sleeves are rolled up his arms. Her boss looks up at her with a very confused expression, followed by a nod to himself and a brief finger salute.
"Hey Madge, filling in for Annie?" She nods and crosses her legs under the desk. Haymitch sighs and shrugs. "Don't worry, your dad is finding someone else to replace her for these last weeks. We should definitely not be making promising associates like you sit here all day."
"I really don't mind," she lies coyly. If she's learned anything after working here for the past few months, it's to put up with everything and anything that's thrown at you.
"Don't give me that bullshit, Madgey, I know you'd rather be going to the courthouse or doing depositions with Effie " he grunts. Madge becomes a little bit nervous, because she assumes that Effie brought it up in the partners' meeting this morning. "In any case, I just need these papers faxed to Mags Cohen, you know how to do that right?"
"Yes, of course." She could figure out later, how hard could it be? She remembers Posy and Vick still waiting across the room; the younger one is flipping through one of the fashion magazines Effie leaves out for clients to read while waiting, only looking at the pictures. "Um, Haymitch, you know those kids sitting over there?"
Haymitch strains his neck and looks over at the two children. "Yeah. What about 'em?"
"They're Gale Hawthorne's younger siblings, they're waiting for him but I don't think he's coming. I'm not sure if this is like a normal thing or if I should give him a call? If they know their parents' numbers maybe we could-"
"Posy and Vick?" Haymitch asks, and Madge is confused. "They're here every week, sweet kids, so we let them hang around. Call Hawthorne if he's not here in too long."
Just as he finishes his sentence, Effie walks past the children. She has on her dark purple coat and her purse, indication that she's going out. She waves to the kids. "Hello Miss Posy, Mr. Vick, are you waiting for your brother?"
Posy nods fervently and puts down the magazine. "Hi Miss Effie! Today at school we made rainbows! We painted them with our fingers and I remembered that you always have pretty colours on your fingers. So I wanted to make you a rainbow but I could only paint one, and that one's for Gale," she says sadly, pouting a little bit in apology.
Effie smiles and laughs kindly. "Oh don't worry about me dear, I'm sure your brother will love it so much." The woman walks over to the reception desk while draping her scarf around her neck. Haymitch takes the two ends of the scarf and pulls her in, kissing her right on the mouth. Madge blushes and looks away, feeling like she's invading their privacy, which is silly, because it's 4:30 in the afternoon at a law firm.
Haymitch stares at Effie intensely, eyeing her up and down. "Where are you off to, Eff?"
Effie sighs and looks down at their feet, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously. "Well, Mr. Abernathy, I have to go meet my client and prepare them for their deposition tomorrow. Is that alright you with Sir?" She's teasing him; her hands are rubbing up and down his chest, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt.
His eyebrows scrunch slightly. "Will you be back before dinner?"
She nods slightly, moving one of her hands to his jaw. Effie's expression softens and changes. "Of course. I know we've so busy lately, but I've made dinner reservations for seven tonight. Is Japanese alright?"
"It's more than alright, princess," the man smiles, pressing another chaste kiss to her burgundy lips. "Bye Eff."
"Goodbye, my love," Effie replies, and her eyes twinkle while she gives his one final peck on the cheek and heads for the elevators. "Bye Madgey!" she adds, and Madge waves her farewell. Haymitch's gaze is fixed on the blonde until she steps into the doors, and Madge notices he's still biting his lip.
Despite her best efforts to not pay attention and listen in, Madge can't help but observe how stupid and awestruck Haymitch becomes whenever he's with Effie. They've always had some kind of thing between them, Madge remembers them bickering and flirting every since she was little, despite not understanding any of their jokes. Her dad would always shield her ears and scowl at the two, and now she finally gets why. Knowing them, it was probably always some form of innuendo or teasing. Haymitch and Effie had nothing if not chemistry.
Almost fifteen years later, Madge is still not sure what to call their relationship. She knows that they live together, have been for a while, and love each other too much. She knows that Effie was once engaged to another man - Madge had gone to the party with her mom and dad - and that Effie didn't want to make plans of marriage ever again. They tried to keep it professional at work - never taking on the same case or mentioning anything to clients, but anyone who sees the way they look at each other would know about their relationship. Madge thinks about what it'd be like for someone to love her that much, and she feels her chest tighten as she swallows hard.
Haymitch takes a step back towards his office, glancing at Madge briefly. "Fax those to Cohen okay? And call Hawthorne, tell him to get his ass back over here to pick up these kids."
"Wait!" Madge calls after him, causing the man to turn around. "If you're doing dinner with Effie, does that mean you won't keep the associates to finish up work tonight?"
"I mean, you should have it all done," the boss reasons, scratching the back of his head. "But as long as you aren't going past any client deadlines, I'm not going to penalize you for it. Also make sure Effie hasn't said that it's urgent."
Madge raises her eyebrow and laughs. "I thought it was your name up on that wall, Haymitch, not Effie's."
"Well, you know that I'm just a name with a couple big clients to it. When it comes to office stuff, Trinket's the boss around here," he laughs, giving a final wave and walking away towards his office. It's true. Most of everyone knows that Haymitch takes care of big clients and public relations types of issues, while Effie takes care of the daily operations. The associates have a bet going around about whether Effie's name is going to be added to the firm before or after her own last name is changed to Abernathy.
After this, Madge returns to work immediately. Although she has no idea how to work the fax machine and send Haymitch's documents to Mags Cohen, the challenging task at hand is definitely calling Gale. She's never voluntarily talked to him, let alone called him on the phone. A few clicks on the computer leads her to the employee directory, and types in his name and finds his cell phone number. Madge bites her fingernails and thinks about how to say what she needs to while still being as brief and quick as possible. Without a second thought, she punches the digits into the phone and it rings three times before he finally picks up.
"Hello?"
"Gale, it's Madge, listen, I-"
"Undersee, what a pleasant surprise! What, bullpen got boring without me? I'll be back before you know it, trust me on that," he laughs arrogantly, and Madge already wants to scream.
"No. Listen, your siblings, Posy and Vick are here waiting for you and-"
"Fuck," he exclaims. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! I forgot about tutoring. I'm on my way right now."
"Wait when will you-"
Gale hangs up before she can finish her question, leaving Madge flustered and confused. She looks to her right and sees little Posy and Vick staring back at her; apparently she had raised her voice quite a bit. She stares confusedly at the phone and hangs up carefully, trying not to make any more noise.
In 20 long minutes of replying emails and staring at the wall, Gale finally bursts through the elevator doors with a panicked look on his face. When he spins around to look at Vick and Posy, he seems to relax a little bit more and walks towards them quickly.
"Hey guys, sorry I made you wait," he apologizes, leaning down to pick up Posy and place her in his arms.
"It's okay," little Posy says, shrugging. "I read Ms. Effie's magazines and I met Madge! Madge with the pretty hair!"
He glances reluctantly over to the reception desk and eyes Madge up and down. She looks away immediately, pretending not to stare, and mindlessly makes typing noises into the keyboard. From the corner of her eye she sees him talk to them a little bit longer, then Gale takes Vick's hand and begins to walk toward the elevators. Soon he's in front of the reception desk, and he clears his throat quietly causing Madge to look up. His eyebrows are scrunched up slightly and his fingers tap against the desk, almost as if he's nervous.
"Um, thanks for calling me, Undersee," Gale grumbles, and Madge nods eagerly.
"Yeah, no problem Gale. I'm on the job, aren't I?"
He nods. "Sure. Also for looking after them. I'm going to take them for ice cream now."
As they leave, Madge wonders if maybe there's more to Gale Hawthorne than she originally thought. If he helped in raising well-behaved kids like Posy and Vick, he can't be a complete psychopath. Maybe work just stresses him out and makes him act like a dick, but it's easier for Madge to just see him as an enemy.
Since she's receptionist for the day, it's also her job to close up the firm and shut the lights. So as she waves farewell to all the associates, partners and paralegals leaving the 54th floor, Madge catches her father walking out from his big office. He looks tired out; years of non-stop work and a sick wife will do that to you.
"G'night, Dad," she smiles.
He gives her a thin smile. "You too Madgey. You should come home for dinner soon, your mother misses you dearly."
"I definitely will. I'll call her tomorrow," she promises, thinking about her poor mom. She feels so incredibly guilty for not catching up with her family more, despite seeing her dad practically everyday. The truth is that she's too caught up in her own head to remember all these things happening around her. Madge wishes she could take a step back, take a breath and just prioritize her life for once.
When he's gone and the few accountants also step out, it's just Madge in the office now. It should feel creepy or haunted, but there's something about the silence that feels correct and soothing. She stands up and heads to the bullpen to gather her stuff. Putting on her coat and grabbing her purse, she remembers the copious amounts of paperwork she was supposed to finish for the day. Without finishing it, Effie's never going to let her sit in on the deposition. She puts it on her mental agenda to come in early and have it all done. Besides, would it really be a day at Abernathy & Associates without a never ending list of tasks?
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