A.N.: Hi, guys. I don't exactly remember how this idea came to me, but I was definitely talking to my awesome Brazilian trio and it got stuck in my head (Beatriz, Madonna and Nalu – thank you for the incentive aka threats to write this, and for reading/approving it). I've been pretty busy and with no time to write, but I really wanted to see where this would go, so I decided to sit down and "type with the flow". I made use of some poetic license concerning some small details and twisting what happened in one of the episodes mentioned a bit, so I ask you to keep an open mind to it. I apologize in advance for any mistakes, I don't have a Beta and I'm always eager to post things as soon as I finish writing them. I hope it's good enough to entertain you for a few minutes.
He had never known Harvey before Donna. They were already a thing when he met both of them. And "thing" here doesn't mean "in a romantic way", but they were a "thing" in the real meaning of the word:
Definition of thing
1: an object or entity not precisely designated or capable of being designated.
At first, she was only Harvey's secretary and the one to actually hire him. They talked mostly on the phone through the years, but whenever he did see her, he would get glimpses of the puzzle that was Darvey – that's what he named them once (and laughed by himself at his own joke).
She'd rarely go to court with Harvey, and in the rare times she did, they'd be too focused on whatever was about to go on, the subject never getting his attention. He drove her by herself too, on the rare occasion she had to run some errand for Harvey, and he loved when that happened, since he came to love Donna, her fun nature and her genuine interest on him that always made him talk nonstop about his life.
However, when the two of them were in the car together, he was all ears, trying not to be too obvious about the fact that he is eavesdropping. He just really wants to figure the two of them out.
Most of the time they tease each other, the fun banter between them as natural as it is to breathe. Nevertheless, once or twice he's awarded with a soft moment between them, making him hope that the two fools would finally take the plunge, like an old lady obsessed with the main couple from a soap opera.
Like this one time Harvey called him earlier than usual and told him to get to Donna's. He had taken her home the night before, her letting him know that Harvey decided to take a walk. Harvey let the door opened and he could hear the two of them talking.
"I am," Harvey answered to whatever she said. He couldn't listen to her from afar.
"I was thinking I could give you a ride."
"You just gave me a ride last night." She was within hearing distance now.
"Yeah, this time I thought I'd join you.
"Harvey," she paused. "We put in 15-hour days, 12 feet from each other. You really wanna go to work together?"
"Who said anything about work?" That made him try to listen more closely. "We have breakfast at Nougatine and an excursion to Hermes that may or may not involve a new handbag." Maybe Harvey did something wrong and was trying to apologize?
"You've been needing a new handbag."
"You can never have too many handbags." They were already teasing each other, so definitely not trying to apologize.
"You're a woman after my own heart." He chuckled. He loved Donna's wit.
Harvey opens the door for Donna and he starts the car. She stops before getting in, "Harvey… why are you doing this?"
"Donna, we've all been through a lot. We deserve a little celebration." Maybe there was something going on at the firm?
"Well… in that case, you have had it pretty rough. We're gonna need to get you more than one handbag." Here he makes no effort to try to hide his mirth.
Harvey answers her and closes the door, going around the car. In the meantime, he looks through the rearview mirror at her.
"Good morning, Donna." He says with a smile.
She looks at him through the reflection with a smile of her own, "Good morning, Ray."
Breakfast turns into lunch and he only takes them to the firm past noon.
He had never seen Harvey with a gift to Donna on his own. Therefore, he assumed the redhead took care of that too, as she did with everything else in his life. Flowers didn't fall into the gift category, though. He remembered a time Harvey waited for her outside the building, bouquet in hand, ready to take her to her closing night. He never missed one. He thinks it's a shame she hasn't been in a play in a while.
Harvey's attentive gestures to her plus their banter and flirting always made him believe it was only a matter of time until they realized what was right in front of their noses and got together. Not even Harvey's one-night stands or his relationships with Scottie and that blonde British woman made him doubt that. Except for the times Donna had stopped working for Harvey.
The first one, years back, didn't worry him as much. Because even if a guy named Cameron started calling him concerning Harvey's whereabouts, he still got to take his boss over to her house a few times, and soon enough she was the one contacting him again.
The second time, however, made him think he'd never see her again. When he started getting calls from a nice woman named Ms. Bodinski, he tried to casually ask Harvey about Donna, only to have his head nearly chopped off by the man. So he kept to himself and hoped she would come back, just as she had done before.
Some long weeks went by until he finally got to hear her voice again, and he made sure to tell her how he had missed her smart act (he only made the mistake of commenting on her beauty once).
Soon after that, he stopped getting the calls from her, but Harvey volunteered the information that she was no longer his secretary because she had become the firm's new COO. He missed their quick chats, but he was happy for her, as he made sure to tell her one night when he was waiting for Harvey outside and saw her leaving the building.
It was a bless and a curse being in his position. Although he got to witness some intimate moments, he couldn't satisfy his curiosity by asking Harvey what was going on. Just like the time when Harvey himself tried to get Donna away from the firm.
"I'm sorry, Harvey, but at this rate we'll never get there on time. Something must have happened up the street and we're barely moving. I'll try to get us out of here as soon as I can." He said with an apologetic tone while looking at Harvey through the rearview mirror.
"Don't worry, Ray. Just turn around and go back to the firm when possible." Harvey said, already dialing someone on his phone.
"Stu, Harvey speaking. Listen, I won't be able to go there and talk to you in person, but I still need that favor."
He pauses, no doubt getting a "go on" from the man on the other end of the line.
"We have just been through a case where a guy who used to work with Donna and me put her on the stand and questioned her ability and credibility as COO. Your comment about holding on to her led me to believe you'd hire her if you had the chance, am I wrong?"
Another pause. And he couldn't understand where this was going.
"Good. So make her an offer. Give her a chance to prove that Andrew Malik was wrong and that she does deserve a job like the one she has now." He takes his eyes from the traffic and looks at Harvey. The other man's expression is pained, yet determined. 'What the hell was going on?'
"It'll be up to her. If she accepts, so be it." Harvey ends the call and stares blankly outside, and he is left in agony without knowing what happened after that.
Turns out Donna didn't leave and, coincidentally, he never saw the blonde British again.
After that, he would listen to Donna's name being mentioned once or twice, either when Harvey was talking to her or about her to someone else, but there was no drama nor development in their dynamics that he knew of.
Until the day he picked both of them up from Mike's wedding, that is.
"Good evening, Ray," Donna says with a tired smile as soon as she enters the car. Harvey closes the door on her side and goes around, as he always did.
"Good evening, Donna," He smiles right back. "It's good to see you." He doesn't wait for a reply, refocusing on the traffic as soon as Harvey closes the door on his side.
"Sorry it took me so long, I was talking to Robert." Harvey explains. "You must be tired. You've really outdone yourself planning this whole night, Donna."
"It was the least I could do for them…" She said with a bittersweet smile. "And I told you I didn't need a ride." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Nonsense."
They relax in the backseat, in silence, each one looking through the window by their side. He takes the opportunity to turn up the radio volume a notch - one of Harvey's CDs playing what he had already learned to be his father's music. With a quick look at Harvey, he sees a peaceful smile form on the other man's face, just to be replaced by a frown.
Harvey exhales and Donna notices. "Hey," she says.
The silence stretches for a while before Harvey finally says something, "They are really leaving, aren't they?"
"They are," Donna's voice is the sweetest he has ever heard. "But they'll always be a phone call or a flight away. They're simply moving, don't think of it as them leaving." He didn't know there was an implicit "you" at the end of her line.
He stops at a red light and chances a look at the couple in the back just in time to see Harvey nodding, even though his expression is still pained. And then he sees something he had never seen before: the two of them touching.
Harvey reaches for her right hand, which is resting on her lap, and intertwines their fingers. The two of them share one more look before turning their focus to the movement outside again.
The lights turn green and he focus on the movement ahead. He still checks on them from time to time and it's only when they reach Donna's apartment that Harvey finally lets her hand go.
And that had been the last time he had parked by Donna's sidewalk. That is, until that moment.
Ray pulls up outside Donna's building and he can't help but wonder what Harvey's doing there so early in the morning. He had been dismissed the night before right after driving Harvey from the hearing back to the firm.
A part of him wanted to believe Harvey had stayed there and that the two of them had finally got together, but after so many years watching their strange dynamic makes him dismiss the idea just as quickly as it came to him.
A few minutes after he texted Harvey to let the man know he has arrived, he sees both of them leaving the building. The first thing he notices is that Harvey is wearing the same suit from the night before.
As always, Harvey opens the door for Donna, the redhead quickly finding his eyes on the rearview mirror.
"Good morning, Donna," he says with a smile.
Before she can answer, Harvey enters through the other side and sits extremely close to her.
He can't hide his curiosity, his eyes going a bit wide at the unusual gesture.
However, it's Harvey's arms going over Donna's shoulders and pulling her closer that makes his jaw drop. When the other man kisses the side of her head, he's pretty sure his eyebrows touch his hairline - that's how shocked he is.
Donna's chuckle brings him back and he looks at her through the mirror.
"To Harvey's apartment, Ray." He nods with a smile so big that he thinks his cheeks might hurt in a while.
He sets the car into motion and looks at them one more time, locking eyes with Donna again and getting a wink from her.
He focus on the traffic and turns the volume of the radio up while still smiling.
He'd definitely be seeing Donna on a regular basis from now on.
Okay, so, Elle asked me for a car sex scene, but I told her that would be impossible, since the whole thing is from Ray's POV. However, after some thinking and a dose of inspiration from Blue, I thought of a little scene that could be fun to write (although not enough to be M rated). So let me know what you think and I might add this little bonus later on. Thanks for reading!