Merry Christmas, Darling
Harvey Specter, husband and father, stood at the window of his spacious office miles above the meanest city traffic. He stood with his familiar expensive scotch in his hand. From his point of view he could see the twinkling lights of the city. There seemed to be more of them at this time of year than normal as Christmas was coming. He still had no idea how it happened. One minute he was a happily married husband and loving father who enjoyed every moment with his daughter and watching her grow from the tiniest helpless baby to a little person with her very own personality, and the next he was bereft of them both.
Harvey took a sip of his scotch and then walked away from the window and stared at the amber liquid in the glass. He put it down on his glass coffee table, undid his tie, and sat back down at his computer to finish the brief he started. He had simply started to type when his solitude and sudden loneliness had gotten the best of his soul. He moved his computer back from the edge of his desk, laid his head down and started to weep. His wife, Donna, and their 9 month old daughter, Amanda lay in the hospital fighting for their lives.
"Hey Harvey," said Mike Ross, Harvey's other best friend (the first was his wife, Donna) in the world, from the doorway to Harvey's office.
"Oh, Mike," Harvey's head quickly came up and he eyed his friend.
"What are you doing here?" Mike came over and sat down next to his friend and mentor and patted his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Mike could see how much Harvey was hurting. His friend was normally all wrapped in case files this time of night dictating to his wife what needed to be done and listening to complaints from that said beloved wife and secretary that Amanda had to be put to bed.
"You know I needed a break. I couldn't sit there any more listening to the machines. I sat with Donna for an hour and then I sat with Amanda for about an hour until the nurse came to kick me out. They said they would call me if there was any change in either of them." Harvey looked at Mike. His jaw was clenched so hard that Mike was afraid that Harvey would grind his teeth to nothing.
"So I suppose you've heard nothing yet." Mike said. "Is anybody with them?"
"Donna's sister, Julia, said she would wait until I could come back. Mrs. Paulsen is in the pediatric wing with Amanda. They both said they would call me…." Harvey laid his head back down on his crossed arms in defeat.
"What did the doctors say?"
Harvey raised his head up enough for him to spot Mike looking at him with a big blue somber stare.
"He said if it had just been the car accident then he wouldn't worry too much, but on top of it, Mandy caught pneumonia and Donna has some type of kidney infection. Mandy is allergic to antibiotics so they are giving her steroids which has bloated her up but not taken away the infection. She was blue, Mike! My little girl was blue! Oh, it gets better, Mike," Harvey stated loudly rising to his full six foot height and backing his chair away from his desk so hard that it Mike would not have been surprised had it gone through the 50th floor window behind Harvey.
" Then I find out that Donna is six weeks pregnant and cannot have any medication which would endanger the pregnancy. So they put her on full dialysis to see if that doesn't help. In the meantime they hope to save the baby and my wife." Harvey ran an impatient hand through his hair, took his glass of scotch and hurled it at his beloved record collection.
"Harvey!" Mike exclaimed trying to get Harvey calm down a little. It was around 7:00 pm in the evening. There were still people milling about Pearson Specter Litt but not many it being too near the holidays for people to remain dedicated to their life's work.
Harvey walked to his couch and hung his head.
"How did life get so complicated?"
"This is life, Harvey," Mike said coming to join his friend on the cushiony couch beside him.
"I think this is why I never wanted any of this in the first place. A wife and a child, what was I thinking?" Harvey said solemnly
"You were thinking with your heart and allowing yourself to feel. That IS the secret of life. Possessions, work, and fleeting acquaintances are not life. I know you felt a thrill at that pace. I had felt it too to some extent before you gave me the chance to change my life. Tell me, Harvey. If you could go back to the way your life was before you married Donna and had your daughter, would you change it back?"
"Right now, I'm wishing I was never born."