This story is set somewhere in between Donna and Harvey's meeting and the end of season 2 because that's roughly all I have seen so far. I got this idea when I saw Harvey interact with Zoe's niece in one of the season 2 episodes. He would be the cutest dad ever, especially in the beginning, when he has no idea what to do. And of course, in comes Donna, his knight in shining armour. Please don't be to hard on me because English is like my third language so there could be some spelling mistakes or weird sentences. Anyway, enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything expect for Sarah (the character, I wish I owned Sarah Rafferty). All rights belong to Aaron Korsh.
"Donna? I need you." Harvey sounds serious but Donna isn't planning on giving her night off up for his splurges.
"Harvey, it's my one night off this week and I would really appreciate if you could just leave me in peace for tonight."
"I wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't important." Harvey's voice has an undertone of despair in it.
Donna sighs as she gets up to put on her shoes. "I'll be there in 15 minutes."
.
When Harvey opens the door 15 minutes later, Donna is taken aback by his exhausted appearance.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see you." He opens the door a bit further to let her in.
"What's the matter?" Donna is getting worried now that she's seen him.
She follows him into the living room but stops dead on her tracks when she sees a redhaired girl on his couch.
"Who's that?" She eyes Harvey suspiciously.
Harvey lets out a deep sigh. "That is the reason I called you. Her name is Sarah."
Donna looks from the little girl, to the bags that sit next to the couch, to Harvey.
"Please don't tell me one of your exes showed up here claiming she's yours, and left her."
Harvey looks like he wants to make a sarcastic comment but he seems to be too tired to go into a discussion.
"She's my best friend's daughter," he starts his explanation. "He and his wife were killed last week in a house fire."
Donna clasps her hand to her mouth. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."
Harvey waves his hand in a gesture that could mean anything between 'you're forgiven' and 'I don't have the energy to fight right now'.
"Sarah got out without any injuries but she was put into a foster home because there's no family to take care of her."
Donna has a feeling she knows where this story is going but she lets Harvey finish anyway.
"It turns out Patrick choose me as the legal guardian for Sarah if anything ever happened to him and Stephanie."
Harvey turns to look at Sarah, who is mesmerized by an episode of Sesame Street. He sighs deeply and turns back to Donna. "I don't know how to do this. I've never taken care of a kid, let alone raise one on my own. Which is why I called you."
Donna raises one eyebrow. "Because I have so much experience with kids?"
"You have a niece, don't you?"
Donna chuckles. "Yes, a niece that I see every once in a month and return to her parents after a few hours. That's something completely different. Besides, Lucy is six. This girl is what? Three?"
"Two, actually," Harvey corrects her. "Donna, please. I need you. I have no idea what to do."
Donna looks at his sad puppy eyes for a moment and nods. "Of course I'll help you."
.
"First of all, you need diapers and porridge for her. I can go to the night shop to pick up a pack of diapers but I'm not sure if they have porridge."
She looks up to see Harvey stare at her.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm just really happy you want to help me."
Donna smiles at him and restores her attention back to the list.
"You need a bed for her, a high chair. Ooh and a car seat."
Harvey has laid his head on his arms and grunts. He's never realized a child of such a young age would need so much.
Donna turns to face him and pats him on the arm. "It'll be fine. Do you know if her room was destroyed by the fire?"
Harvey sits upright and shakes his head. "No. The fire wasn't at their house, it was in a cottage."
Donna faces lights up. "That's great. Maybe we could use all of her own stuff."
Harvey immediately gets up and picks up his phone. "I'll ring the landlord right now."
.
While Harvey goes to look for the phone number of the landlord, Donna makes her way over to Sarah. She drops herself on the couch next to the girl.
"Hi Sarah."
Sarah looks up at her and reaches for her hair. Donna softly smiles.
"We have the same colour hair." She carefully touches Sarah short curls. "I like your hair."
"Mommy?" Sarah asks with a tiny voice, hoping this lady who looks a bit like her mom can tell her where her mom is.
Donna's heart aches for the little girl as she shakes her head. "No sweet heart, I'm not your mommy. My name is Donna."
Sarah looks down at the stuffed animal she has on her lap. She seems to ponder if Donna is to be trusted with her treasured elephant. After a moment, she hands it to Donna.
Donna takes it and turns it to face her.
"Hello there. What's your name?" She waits for Sarah to answer but she's met with silence.
"Do I have to guess?" Donna looks questioningly at Sarah who violently nods.
"Okay. Is it Dumbo?"
Sarah shakes her head.
"How about…Mr Elephant?"
Sarah shakes her head again and lets out a chuckle.
Donna pretends to think deeply. "Ooh I know! Elmer."
Sarah burst out in laughter and shakes her head again. "His name is Ellie."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you Ellie." Donna pats the elephant on the head and hands it back to the little girl.
She turns to see Harvey standing in the doorway.
"And you said you have no experience with kids." He raises an eyebrow and smiles at her.
He has been standing in the doorway long enough to see Sarah open up to Donna in a way she hasn't done to him yet.
"She has actually said more to you in those few minutes than to me the entire evening." Harvey makes his way over to the couch and crouches down in front of Sarah. "How about I take you and Ellie to bed?"
Sarah shakes her head and tightly clutches her elephant.
Donna gently kicks him in the side. "Rule number 1 of parenting. Never bring it like a question."
She smirks at Harvey as she picks up Sarah. "We're going to bed."
.
Almost an hour and a bunch of bedtime stories later Donna and Harvey are on the couch again.
"I didn't know putting a child to bed was an Olympic sport." Harvey leans back on the couch and closes his eyes.
Donna laughs and puts her glass of wine down. "I could've told you that."
"Well, thanks for not telling me. I don't think I would have tried it if I knew it was this exhausting," Harvey says as he tries to suppress a yawn.
He opens his eyes again and looks at Donna. "Thank you so much for helping me. I don't know how I would've done it on my own."
He takes a sip of wine and leans back on the couch again. "I honestly have no idea how I'm going to do this on my own."
Donna smiled softly. "You're not on your own, Harvey. Don't you know it, you are never on your own."
That was chapter 1. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to review!