Ch 4 – December 15th A Specter Family Lunch
They join the rest of the family at the table and Harvey is seated between Donna and Marcus. Marcus begins lunch with a beautiful toast, thanking the family for being there for him and Katie on their special day and concluding with a heartfelt statement about how much he loves his wife and how he can't believe what a lucky man he is. The speech is so genuine it brings a tear to Donna's eye. Harvey notices and squeezes her hand under the table, throwing a gentle smile her way.
There is a weird déjà vu feeling, both taken back to a time when they stole glances of one another while Louis delivered his speech about Norma.
Don't let the ones you love go by without telling them how you feel, because life slips by and then its over…
He should tell her, he thinks. But expressing his feelings has never been his strong suit and he wouldn't even know where to begin. He can't risk losing her again, she's too important to him.
As expected, Harvey's family has lots of questions for them. How long have they been together? 6 months he tells them. Are there kids in the future? They both blush at the thought and mumble something that resembles "someday." First date? They went to their restaurant, followed by a romantic walk in Central Park. They answer with ease, having anticipated this line of questioning. What they hadn't anticipated was Marcus asking when Harvey had finally manned up and realized he was in love with Donna. Which leads to a shell-shocked pair sitting silently at the table, staring at one another, willing the other to answer. Just as Donna is about to make-up a story that was likely from one of those rom-coms she loves so much, Harvey clears his throat, knowing he is going to need to be the one to answer this.
He stares at his plates and quietly begins,
"I knew Donna was special from the moment I met her. Here was this woman, approaching me in a bar, a complete stranger, asking me if she can come work for me."
He looks at Donna, "You knew exactly what you wanted and you weren't afraid to ask for it, I knew right then and there I needed you in my life."
She's listening intently, lingering on each word, curious to see where he's going with this and wondering how he is managing to come up with such a great story.
He continues, "Then you came with me to the firm and I couldn't have been happier, but things shifted between us" his voice softens a bit. He's to busy looking at her to realize the entire room is hooked on what he's saying. His eyes find hers and hold her gaze. Her eyes are questioning him, and he knows she's wondering where this story is coming from. He smiles at her then, recalling the memory and continues,
"It was a Tuesday. She was sitting at her desk outside my office. She was wearing that green dress she knows I like; even though she pretends she doesn't know it's my favourite (she blushes, not realizing he knew that she knew) She answered the phone as she always did and scribbled something down before going back to organizing file folders on her desk. A typical Tuesday at the office but sitting there watching her work, wondering how anyone could be so perfect, it just hit me. I was in love with her."
He finishes, running out of breath and blushing slightly. She's staring at him intently now, moved by what he has just said. Katie and his mother chime in with a chorus of awe's and Marcus throws in a comment about being whipped. But all he sees is her lips forming a small smile. He's never told her that story, he's never told anyone that story, not even his therapist, and for a moment it surprises him that this is the moment that comes to mind, that it really is the first time he thought he might be in love with her.
For the second time that day she's speechless. She remembers that day because the last time she wore that dress was before the Hessington Oil trial. How could he possibly remember the details of that day. Unless… unless what he is saying is true. For a moment they both seem to forget that they are sitting at a table surrounded by Harvey's family members and she questions "But that was years ago?" He answers not looking away, afraid to break eye contact, "Only took me this long to tell you" Her mind is spinning and she has so many questions, most importantly she wants to know if there is any truth to what he just said. She's about to ask when the sound of Katie's voice tears her away from the moment.
"Well aren't you to just the sweetest things!" she exclaims.
The moment is lost, and she's left with a million unanswered questions. Lunch finishes up; everyone moving back to smaller, less significant conversations and Lily asks Katie and Donna to help her prepare dessert in the kitchen. As she heads to the kitchen, Harvey gets up to help Marcus clear the plates. He catches her in the doorway before she leaves and whispers, "We did it, we survived family lunch" and she can't help but giggle at how childish he can be.
"Gotta play by the rules love birds" Marcus calls pointing to a piece of mistletoe above their heads.
"Common Marcus, what are we teenagers?" Harvey challenges
"I don't make the rules, I just enforce them" Marcus grins
He looks at Donna and she gives him a small wink and a nod, she knew what she signed up for when she agreed to coming this weekend.
He steps towards her, her back against the door frame, so that his hand rests against the frame beside her head. He slides his other hand along her cheek and up towards her ear and in an instant his lips are on hers. He's suddenly following her lead and he finds himself deepening the kiss, his tongue seeking out hers (rather then the innocent peck he intended to give her.) Her hands snake there way up through his hair and he tugs on her bottom lip, pushing her further against the wall, willing his body to get as close to hers as the layers of clothing between them will allow. Kissing her is better then he remembered it being, if that was even possible. It was as though all the tension that built up between them throughout the years had made this kiss worth the wait. She may claim she felt nothing the last time she kissed him, but he knows she feels this. They pull apart for air, noses resting against eachother, when Marcus clears his throat.
"Way to keep it PG uncle Harvey" Marcus teases as Harvey's niece and nephew cover their eyes and utter a few 'eww cooties' before running off to play.
Donna blushes, embarrassed to be caught making out with her former-boss turned fake boyfriend in front of his family.
"I'd say more grandkids are on your near future mom, seeing as Harvey can barely keep his hands to himself" Marcus chuckles looking down to see Harvey's arm still wrapped around Donna's waist.
Harvey follows his stare and let's his hand fall, slightly embarrassed to let himself get so carried away with her in front of his family, but still beaming from that kiss enough not to care.
"Oh hush" Katie says to Marcus, "They're in love let them be" sending a smile in her brother-in-law's direction.
He notices Donna is still quiet and can't tell if that kiss affected her like it did him, or if she is so mortified about swapping spit in front of his mother that she doesn't know what to say; a rare occurrence for her that seemed to be happening more and more lately.
"Would you excuse us, I'm going to give Donna a tour of the rest of the house before dessert" he says, leading her out of the room and down the hall.
The pair head outside and stand on the porch. The fresh air doing them both some good. Neither one of them wants to speak first. She figures she might as well start.
"What you said at lunch, that was part of the charade right?"
He avoids her gaze, "You tell me"
She's frustrated, and tired of playing this game with him. She wants answers.
"NO HARVEY, you just told a room full of people about the time you first knew you loved me, and we both know you didn't pull that story out of a hat!"
"Donna you know that I love you"
And they are back to square one. A place that took them years to come back from, but she doesn't care she needs to know.
"Love me how?"
"Donna, we can't do this here" he says, beginning to pace back and forth across the porch.
"No Harvey, you can't do this ever! You're so afraid of losing me that you're afraid to risk anything at all!" she yells "You have no problem flirting with me but when the moment becomes too real you shut me out!"
"Oh, I'm afraid?! If you're so willing to risk everything then tell me this, did you feel anything when you kissed me that night in your office? Because you can't tell me you didn't feel anything this time!" he challenges
She looks away, unable to answer with what he wants to here; with the truth.
"That's what I thought" he says
They stand in silence for a few moments, neither one knowing what to say next.
"Donna"
"Look Harvey, we've had a long day and that was a lot to deal with in there, let's just forget I even brought it up" she looks defeated.
"But Donna, what if I don't want to forget? That story, that Tuesday, I couldn't make that up if I tried. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to kiss you again…"
He steps closer to her and runs his hands gently down her arms, sliding his fingers between hers. She looks up at him questioningly to find him staring at her in a way that makes her heart flutter.
He knows this is his chance to finally tell her what he's been bottling up for years. He can either speak up now or risk losing her for good.
"You want to know how I love you? I…"
"There you two are! Oh sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting, the kids wanted to know if you wanted to join our game of charades before we start the bachelor/bachelorette events" Lily says.
But before either of them has a chance to reply the two smallest Specter's are grabbing their hands and dragging them towards the living room for a game of charades.
Harvey sends Donna a smile from where he's seated across the room. He just can't catch a break on this damn trip! He decides that after Marcus' bachelor party (who needs a second bachelor party for a second wedding anyways?) he was going to tell her what he should have told her years ago.
Because who doesn't love a good Darvey fight! This was insanely fun to write and I'd love to hear more about what you guys think!