Louis marches through the hallways of Pearson Specter Litt, encouraged and driven by the recently acquired energy after the phone call with the cat lady.
It would definitely require some effort to wait until he would finally meet Balthasar, and to focus on Van Dyke and the whole shebang in the meanwhile.
And, god knows, Louis never has been the patient kind.
Approaching Harvey's office, delicious and most welcome smells start intensifying with every step further.
"Harvey, do I smell bagels and coffee in here? Oh thank god, I can really use a breakfast right now, or if it would be up to me, even more like a brunch maybe, with one or two Mimosas if you know what I mean...oh."
Startled by the spectacle surprisingly unfolding in front of him as he is about to step into the office, Louis stops in the middle of the entrance.
Obviously abashed by his sudden appearance, Donna and Harvey, both heavily breathing, greet him with a raucous "Louis"
"Eeh Mm…"
Louis, wringing his hands and putting on a sheepish grin across his face due to the uncomfortable situation, tries to play it down in his limited ways.
"So… Ehh… I see you guys have coffee here… Right, ehh… So… I just take... one…?"
Finally shaking off his stupor, Harvey clears his throat.
"Of course, sure, Louis, go ahead. I also got some bagels, so…"
"Great!"
Going straight for the bagel bag, inspecting its contents, Louis spots his favourite.
"Oh Harvey, I can't believe this! How did you know that I love goat cheese?"
"Wait, ehm, that's Rachels. You know how picky she is when it comes to food, so, anyway, I got you the salmon one. And as you're already on it, grab the second salmon one for me as well. We should all eat something, it's been a hell of a night. Donna? You're in?"
Even Louis notices the anxious glimpse Harvey throws in Donna's direction, while she maintains to prefer examining the carpet fibers under her feet.
"What? Oh sure, yes, that's a good idea. I just… I just… I'll be right back."
Her forced smile couldn't trick neither Louis nor Harvey, as she storms out of the office, heading to the ladies room.
.
Donna's joints assimilated to the same consistency as rubber, up to the point she wasn't quite sure she would make it all the way down to the restroom with dignity, or just stumble and end up face down on the floor in the middle of the hallway.
Her heart kept circulating the vast amount of adrenaline and endorphins in her bloodstream, bringing her on the verge of passing out.
It was too much for her system, and it was too much for her as well.
Tears of relief almost smeared more mascara under her eyelids when her fingers turned around the knob of the ladies room, providing the solitude that would allow her to sort her mind.
And to calm the fuck down.
God, she wasn't 15 anymore.
She was a grown woman.
But either way, her body had a different opinion on that matter.
Oh god.
Harvey's lips were inches away from hers, sensing his heavy breath merging with her own…
And then...Louis popped up.
She didn't even hear him coming, the rush that made her completely numb for the outside world only faded when Harvey removed his hand and then himself off of her.
And by then it was already too late to straighten her posture or to regain control over her features.
It must have been written all over her face what almost happened, and there was no way Louis did not detect that.
Harvey's teeth are about to sink into the sesame sprinkled crust of his bagel, as Louis clears his throat, following it up by a deep sigh.
"Harvey…"
Harvey rolls his eyes and puts his bagel down, the annoyance of yet another interruption by Louis Litt murmuring under the surface cuts its way out of his chest to resume in a sharp response.
"What the hell is it Louis?"
"Harvey, it may not be any of my business, but…"
"If you're already assuming that, then let me assure you that there is a 100% chance that you are absolutely right about that."
"Harvey, listen... "
"It's none of your business, Louis, you already figured that out all by yourself."
"You're right, it's not. But… just tell me one thing, Harvey. Does Dr. Agard… eh...I mean Paula, does she…? Did you guys...like...broke up?"
Harvey's blood pressure suddenly increases to levels beyond any medical charts, as soon as he hears Paula's name.
Immediately flooded by a new outbreak of anger, and let's face it, an expanding fusion of guilt and shame that he spent plainly and most conveniently ignoring for the past hours, now crawls back up to the surface, clouding his conscience and provoking a rather fierce response.
"Goddamnit Louis, what part of 'It's not your fucking business' didn't you get? Didn't I made myself pretty clear about that? Shall I write it down for you? Or maybe your deranged brain isn't able to proceed this piece of information properly either way. IT IS NOT ANY OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS, LOUIS! And now get the fuck out of my office!"
"But, Harvey… I didn't mean to…"
"Just get the fuck out of here, will you now? I don't have the time or the nerves to look at your moronic face for another second. Get out!"
"But Harvey… what about Alex? Van Dyke? What…"
"You're off this case Louis! I don't need your help on this one, or your help at all. Just get out of my sight!"
"But…"
"Out! Now!"
When Louis finally follows his orders, hastingly leaving the office in a quite agitated manner, Harvey realizes that he might have slightly overreacted, and released his anger on the wrong person in the process.
The piercing headache that has been pounding behind his temples for what seems to be decades by now, rapidly intensifies, interfering with his ability to think straight.
But the twisted feeling in his gut remains intact.
Louis has some trouble to hold back the tears, those sneaky little bastards, revealing his aggrieved state to the whole world after Harvey's outburst on him.
He tried to help, and how did Harvey thank him for that?
By screaming at him and throwing him out of his office and off the Van Dyke case.
Great, just fucking great.
"Louis! What the hell? What are you doing here? I thought we were supposed to meet at Harvey's office?"
Louis turns around, only to see Mike's irritated frown.
He must have walked past him, without even noticing.
No wonder Mike looked confused.
"Mike…"
"Louis, what the hell is wrong with you? You look like someone just pissed in your prunie. Is everything ok? Are there more bad news about Van Dyke?"
"No, but guess what, Harvey just threw me off the case, that's what."
"Wait, what? He can't do that! What did you do for god's sake? Harvey knows how important this is."
"I… I didn't do anything, Mike. I just asked him about Dr. Agard and…"
"Wait, you did what?"
Mike's lips form a straight line, his jaw muscles tighten up, then he resolutely grabs Louis by the elbow and pushes him into a nearby conference room.
Firmly closing the door behind them, MIke's voice reaches a squeaking note.
"Tell me you didn't do that Louis!"
Compelled by the what seemed to be the beginning of another lecture, now carried out by MIke, Louis goes into defense mode, shrugging shoulders and head shaking included.
"Why? Why shouldn't I do that? I'm his best friend, I'm Donna's friend, I know Dr. Agard, and don't tell me you and I both were imagining things back then when we clearly both noticed something major happened between Donna and Harvey. And now I walk into his office, smelling bagels and coffee and what do I see? They almost were doing it on his desk!"
Interrupted by Mike's eyes almost popping out of his skull and the following jaw drop, Louis revises his statement a litte.
"Well, not 'doing it' doing it, but they were doing something and it wasn't playing chess, Mike!"
"Ok…"
Mike wanders off to the small table in the corner of the conference room, that the staff kindly stocked with a couple of glasses and a bottle of Evian, pouring himself a glass to moisturize his dry throat after this new round of shocking revelations.
"Ok Louis, I need to tell you something, but you have to promise me, whatever I'm gonna tell you, it is going stay in this room. Understood?"
"Of course, MIke, you can tell me everything! My lips are sealed!"
Performing the pantomime gesture of sipping his lips shut, locking them up and throwing away the key, Louis earns a enervated grunt in return.
"So, Rachel told me what happened between Donna and Harvey earlier. Apparently Donna kissed him. Just like that."
"Oh my god ,MIke! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! How…? Why…? I mean, why now? Oh my god, it is all my fault!"
"What the...? No, Louis, it's not your fault, trust me. It was about to happen with or without you, or me for that instance. And now…"
"And now Harvey threw me off the case because I dared to ask about Paula. It's not looking good Mike. You know Harvey."
"Yes, I know Harvey, Louis. That's the whole problem."
"I have to talk to Donna."
"Louis…"
Louis misses the not so subtle alert in Mike's voice, continuing his deliberations.
"I have to tell her that it was a ..."
"Louis, you can't talk to Donna about this! You're not even supposed to know! Hell, I'm not even supposed to know! You promised me that this information wouldn't leave this room, and I always thought you're a man of your word."
"But Mike…"
"No, Louis! You can't talk to Donna about this, unless she brings it up first. And now let's get back to Harvey's office and deal with Van Dyke. Alex must be there by now and…"
"But Harvey threw me off the case…"
"Forget that, Louis. He just lost it. I bet he regrets it already. Just ignore it and act like nothing happened. We need you on board, and Harvey needs you on board, and he knows that. We have bigger fish to fry right now. And besides, you said coffee and bagels? I wouldn't miss that for the world."
Watching Mike heading down the hallway, Louis succeeds to conquer his resentment, fueled by the support Mike so generously has armed him with, now being able to withstand any future attacks from Harvey with this new ally by his side.
Making an effort to catch up with Mike's pace, Louis rushes after him.
She just can't deny it, despite of all her efforts, she still looks like shit.
The make up crumbled under her eyes, revealing the deep purple shadows underneath.
She can't go out there again.
There were a dozen of things she needed to take care off, like telling everybody about Lisa, or Elisa for that matter, but there also was this obviously shitty, yet very expensive concealer she recently bought and which totally failed its purpose.
It turned her into a panda.
She left Harvey's office without her bag, so her ressources were pretty limited.
She had water.
She had soap.
She had...cleaning towels.
Ok…
There was not much she could do with this even in MacGyver theory.
But wait a second…
Didn't she always have an emergency kit stored in the left drawer in her new office?
Yes, she did.
And it had it all.
Reassuring herself that she couldn't do much else in this restroom anymore, Donna steps out to the already filled hallway of Pearson Specter Litt.