It takes a month for Harvey Specter to realize that, above all else, he is sorry. Sorry that he was selfish for the past twelve years, sorry that he was an idiot that he didn't chase after Donna the night she left him. Sorry that he hasn't said anything to her since besides the awkward and mandatory "hello" when he sees her in the hallway for the past four weeks.
And so starts the beginnings of their coffee cup conversations.
When Harvey is finally done sulking about the situation on a Monday, he eventually realizes that he wants her back more than anything- not as a secretary, but as a significant other. He doesn't know how it happened or when it happened exactly, just that lately all he finds himself doing is thinking about her red hair or her sly grin reserved for him or his growing need to hold her hand. So after he is done being skittish about the whole situation, he takes the opportunity of when he knows Donna always goes on her Cheeto breaks (11:35 AM) to leave a jar of flowers along with her customized coffee order with I'm sorry written on it.
Sure, the barista had given him a weird look. But if it made any progress on their road of reconciliation, Harvey could care less. He had scared her off with one of this glares anyway.
She doesn't respond. He expects that. Which is why, for the rest of the week, he keeps putting coffee on her desk, each day with a new caption.
Tuesday- I'm sorry I'm an idiot.
Wednesday- I'm sorry I've been so selfish.
Thursday- I'm sorry I laughed when you were devastated N'Sync broke up.
Friday- I'm sorry I don't deserve you.
The last one had been a kicker. He couldn't think of anything else to say before that moment, and the barista (her name was Lisa apparently) was getting real annoyed with him by the minute. He had just been about to put I'm sorry I can't stop thinking about you before he thought up with the actual one.
He wasn't sure if the latter had been any better.
The weekend was slow; Harvey spent it organizing his records collection while watering his cactus. He had been surprised at himself for not letting it die, but the thing had kind of grown on him, neeldes and all.
Monday's coffee was It's always been you. And just as expected, nothing on Donna's end. But he was pre-tty sure he was going to get a house call tonight.
Which he did. Because people tended not to realize that even though the knowledge Donna carried for Harvey was to be feared, his knowledge of Donna was equally frightening.
Thus, the knock on the door came to him as no surprise. He had been reading The New York Times, the arts section as a matter of fact. He wanted to see if there was anything good he could take Donna if all went well tonight.
He took a minute to relax and straighten out his appearance. All or nothing, he thought.
When he opened the door, he expected to see Donna seething and about to rip his face off. But all his mind could do was focus on how unfair it was for a person to look good in business attire and in just a jacket, tights, and boots.
He shuffles her in and she rambles on and on about you have to let me live my life, Harvey; you can't just not talk to me for a month and then do this out of the blue and I'm not just hopelessly waiting around for you, you know; and by the time she utters the words, what do you even want from me, Harvey doesn't even let her finish. He closes the gap between them, holds her, and kisses her.
To his pleasure, she kisses back. But before things escalate, he has to make his intentions clear. So he pulls back. And for a second, he sees the vulnerability in her eyes, the fear that he doesn't want this. He knows, at that moment, this would be the best thing to happen to him and he'd better not fuck it up or fuck them up.
Slowly, rationally, and convincingly (he ain't the town's best closer for nothing), Harvey explains his feelings for her and apologizes for not realizing them sooner. It's not as graceful or as poetic as it'd hoped; he'd just been honest. He had really been doing that lately, some floodgate in him had apparently opened and he couldn't stop himself from having feelings anymore.
Donna blinked, unbelieving. It was unreal, impossible. But at the same time, everything she wanted. So she walks towards him, wraps her arms around him, and they continue their make-out session.
And even though Harvey wants to take it slow in order to show her he wants this done right and that she isn't just a one time fling, she doesn't. Which is also how he ends up having the most mind blowing night in bed as well as in his glass shower. He had forgotten how good Donna was at.. this. But he'll never forget it, and he's pretty sure he isn't going to get any shit done with the way his brain keeps replaying how her body moves around him or how she sounds when they both reach their peaks.
As they settle to sleep for the night, Harvey moves up right behind her and puts an arm around her waist, not sure if he was telling her or rather, himself that he wasn't gonna let her go.
Work remains the same. Donna (to Harvey's consistent annoyance) continues to work for Louis, but now she is the one that brings him coffee. They also contain messages on the cup, like wanna go have elevator sex?, do me in the file room, i'm not wearing any underwear, all that never fail to bring him on the edge of doing very inappropriate things to her in the nooks and crannies of the office. He is grateful that Lisa the bartender luckily did not write these; he know her handwriting after twelve years and is secretly pleased she takes the time and risk of Louis catching her to write him such dirty things.
The time comes and goes, but harveyanddonna stay constant. The sex eventually boring for Harvey if he stayed with a woman too long, but with Donna, he always thinks, extremely hot, amazing, and ohmygod where did you learn how to do that. Eventually, he realizes it never gets old because it's with Donna and she's everything he wants.
Six months after the It's always been you cup of coffee and several more explicit ones, Donna moves in with Harvey. She keeps her apartment, though, as a sanctuary for her personal alone time to which Harvey doesn't understand. He doesn't think he can sleep anymore without the presence of her around.
"Why would you ever want to spend time away from me?" he asks. All she does is laugh and respond with "You're an idiot." They usually end up kissing, which Harvey doesn't mind at all.
He proposes to her a month after in an empty theater on Broadway he completely rented out. He was sure to make it not cliche, just classy and elegant, like her. He had however, still gotten down on one knee when the time came.
"Donna, I know we've already been married for a couple of years, but if you would do me the honor to actually be my wife, you know, on paper and by the law.."
She wasn't expecting it, for once in her lifetime. Things had been going well with Harvey these past couple of months, but she had been afraid of discussing their future because she knew how he felt about commitment, but this was-
"Yes," she whispered.
But not wanting to be a complete mess, she retracted with,
"I mean, I guess."
He laughs and she pulls him up for a kiss, and for the first time Harvey feels his heart burst with happiness.
On the first day after their engagement, Donna finds a "fiancee" written on the coffee cup at her desk. She grins, while simultaneously playing with the enormous rock on her finger. Tiffany and Co. Harvey had done his research.
The two get married in the evening on a warm night in June, in a small but private garden with fairy lights strung everywhere. Mike is the best man, Rachel the maid of honor. They are both smiling happily, and Rachel's no doubt in tears, because they know more than anyone that it has taken too damn long for Harvey and Donna to get to a point everyone but them knew they were already headed.
When the bride walks in, a collective gasp is heard through the crowd because Donna is stunning in white. When Harvey sees her, he feels like his diaphragm isn't working properly because he can't breathe; that's just how beautiful she is. For the rest of the ceremony, he can't keep his eyes off her. She smirks at him multiple times, well aware of her effect on him.
Louis officiates the wedding, with Jessica sitting in the front row, looking as calm and powerful as usual. But there is also a smile on her face that stays for the whole ceremony as well, because while Harvey and Donna have found love, Jeff Malone is two days away from whisking her on their annual trip to Paris.
The ceremony is awesome, to say the least. It's funny, witty, with just the right amount of cheesiness. At Louis's you may now kiss the bride, Harvey grabs Donna and lands a big one on her, also accidentally kissing her too long because he's so addicted to the way her mouth fits perfectly into his. He is unashamed, though.
The reception is delicious, and dancing with Donna is something Harvey will never forget in his bank of best memories. Holding her, moving side by side with her, and twirling with her is something he plans on doing very often- in the office, at home, and everywhere else possible.
Donna throws her bouquet and the person who catches it is surprisingly Shiela Sazs. But really, it's only a surprise to her because at that moment, everyone clear the room for Louis Litt to propose. A million times yes! is Shiela's response. Harvey is holding Donna's hand and they smirk at each other, also signaling that it was time to go because the limelight was no longer on them.
Ray drives them away, of course, into the Ritz-Carlton where Harvey revels in removing the white layers off of Donna and her reaction when he takes off her garter.
As he lines himself up with her, he realizes the sex will never be the same for him, not unless it involves his fiery redhead that he now called his wife. And he was proud of the fact that it didn't scare him, not one bit.
Three months later, Harvey arrives to work happily married with yet another coffee cup on his desk. The previous ones had just been random ones, like now that i'm your wife, can you please forgive me about miles davis or i can't believe i pulled harvey specter out of the bachelor market.
Today, it unmistakably read, World's Greatest Dad.
He was startled as he read it a million times over. But the words weren't changing, but his life was about to.
He quickly walked over to Donna's desk (named partners never run) where she didn't even look at him and handed him a sonogram instead.
There, he saw the very blurry pictures of the life he had helped create.
"Donna," he croaks, tears brimming his eyes, "I'm gonna be a dad?"
"Yeah", she said back softly, finally looking up to meet him in the eyes.
He swallowed, responded with the words he luckily never needed a coffee cup to say,
"I love you."
They ended up having a little girl, Ariel Olivia Specter, named solely for her flaming red hair. She became the second love of his life (only after Donna, of course) and he did everything he could not to cry when he first held her.
Harvey thanked his stars every day from that point on, that he had been able to get his head out of his ass and go for what he wanted in life. All it took was a sharpie marker and some coffee cups.
just a one-shot idea that wouldn't get out of my head, hope you liked!
sorry about the slow updates for the other two, school's just started and i'm taking time to adjust to a new quarter, lol. but i'll be back soon!
xoxo happyoreokidd