Notes: Fell in love with Alabama Shakes, in my search for Harvey impetus Music (Great band, check their Spotify Popular tracks. Don't Wanna Fight, Gimme All Your Love, You Ain't Alone, & I Found You. Really great. Can't remember if they've been on the show yet or not.
Also, I've decided not to include too many Louis / Donna chunks in this, because the writer's do such a great job of their Duo, I'm more excited to see what they write. Their now reinforced dynamic is going to be my favourite part of Season Five. That and Harvey's frowny face.
As for S5 Spoilers...some great bits I hadn't thought will be coming up in the series, so interested to see that play out on screen.
Big thanks to Everybody! You're Legends... A~
Chapter 7
My life, your life
Don't cross them lines
What you like, what I like
Why can't we both be right?
Attacking, defending
Until there's nothing left worth winning
Your pride and my pride
Don't waste my time
I don't wanna fight no more - 'Don't Wanna Fight' By Alabama Shakes
"Well if it isn't my old assistant." Mike sidled up to Donn- Amy's, new desk. He mentally corrected himself. But it was so difficult to shake. He'd only been here two years, and yet it was still hard to adjust to. And even though Amy's arrival had been natural and welcoming, it was still odd to imagine her in Donna's old position.
The redhead had left more than her stamp on Harvey Specter's surroundings. His office, his trademark, his heart...
Good thing Amy was resilient.
"Didn't we already do this Introduction?" She smirked. "Like a week ago?" She smiled knowingly.
"Yeah. We Did. I just like to...remind myself of when I...actually had an assistant." He smiled whimsically.
"Oh...I miss you too Mike," She played, reaching for his cheek patronisingly. "I've gotta say...I always wondered about this place after you left us. It's….not too bad." She remarked.
"You mean, after I got fired?" He laughed frankly, smiling.
"You were a...really lousy banker." She smiled, joining him.
"I was, wasn't I." He agreed, leaning further over the desk.
"He's no better of a lawyer, either," Harvey remarked dryly, walking past them both. For a moment he was out of sorts, until he turned, frowning strictly at Amy, who sprung from her seat, files in hand. "And quit flirting on my time." He told her, gruffly, giving her a look.
"Do you even know what flirting is?" Amy remarked with an amused look, handing him his morning files. Unperturbed. Mike's eyes smiled something mirth-ridden behind her.
Harvey merely glared back, his mouth opening slightly to object before she pointed to his desk, interrupting him. "Coffee's over there, Boss. Ready and Waiting." She replied, a smooth smile detracting from her previous comment.
He merely groaned in reply... marching into his office with a substantially narrowed gaze.
There was no use in fighting it. He needed a wiseass outside his office. And he couldn't have Donna, so...
He would endure.
He heard Mike's footsteps enter the office.
"And you," He remarked, pointing to his younger counterpart as he shut the door. "Don't flirt with my assistant."
"What?" Mike blinked, frowning.
"I know you started it." He glared accusingly.
"How do you know?" Mike frowned at the insinuation.
"I know." He said, giving him a pointed look, as Donna's voice echoed in both their heads.
"Bullshit...I wasn't...flirting." Mike frowned, eyeing his Boss with an obscurity.
"Shame on you." He played, shaking his head. "Especially with your fiancee just down the hall." He tutted, a slightly fatherly look about him.
"We have a rapport." Mike argued to the contrary, shrugging as his eyes flicked briefly and rather nervously to the luscious dark brown haired girl sat at the desk behind them.
"You're lucky it's not on anymore." Harvey goaded, smirking as he referenced the intercom next to him.
"You're lucky Donna's not here to back me up." He said, with ballsy.
It was a bold move.
But Harvey was having a good day. He could tell, as he straightened, leaning forward with an enjoyment. "Donna would kick your ass for what I just witnessed out there. You're lucky it's just me." He warned good naturedly.
"Speaking of which...sealed the deal yet?" Mike enquired, going for the jugular.
It was a low blow, but somehow all too fun just to see the man sweat it out a little.
Finally in the hot seat again...
"Actually...Donna and I are...just friends." He replied evenly. Smugly, even.
"I'm sorry...are you moonlighting as a rubber band?" Mike countered.
Harvey's face fell instantly, rolling his eyes at the kid's remark. "She has a...boyfriend, Mike." He said, a little quietly.
It immediately dampened the mood.
"Oh shit." His face fell then, his blue eyes wincing slightly in support. "Sorry." He said, feeling like an ass.
"Like I said," Harvey reaffirmed, looking to his paperwork, before looking back to his friend. "We're just...friends." He cleared his throat. "Now, back to work, huh?"
"That's what we're here to do." Mike nodded, his fingers tapping on the edge of the leather office chair as he waited for Harvey to start their day. "Work." He replied.
"You finally understand that?" Harvey joked, smirking.
"Funny." Mike remarked.
It occupied him a little later in the day, the idea that they really didn't do as much work as he'd envisioned when looking from the outside in...
I want to hold the hand inside you
I want to take a breath that's true
I look to you and I see nothing
I look to you to see the truth
You live your life
You go in shadows
You'll come apart and you'll go blind
Some kind of night into your darkness
Colors your eyes with what's not there.
Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew
A stranger's light comes on slowly
A stranger's heart without a home
You put your hands into your head
And then smiles cover your heart
Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew
He was tired of coming here now.
Tired of having something...valid to bring with him each time.
And not so surprisingly - Donna-focused.
"You look like something's..weighing on your mind Harvey?" Valerie asked him, leaning forward with a kind interest.
"Wanna guess?" He quirked an eyebrow, his tone forcibly dull.
"I don't like to cast aspersions." She replied evenly. "Why don't you tell me?" She encouraged, her hands gesturing from their held form.
"Donna and I got into a fight…" He said tiredly, sighing.
"About?"
"She...found out that I paid her salary when we first joined the firm."
"Right." She said, sitting back to write something on her pad. He frowned immediately.
"What?" He asked, frowning.
"Why did you pay her salary?" She asked him.
"I said before, that Jessica had said that 'First Years don't have their own assistants'?" He offered, watching her nod for him to continue. "And well...I needed her expertise, I wanted her to be there, so when Jessica told me that the difference came out of my own wage, I was...happy with that." He answered, shrugging.
"How long did you pay her wage for? Just out of interest." She asked then.
"Umm...Five years? When I made Junior Partner, it just got kind of realigned, because we both got a raise. Donna helped alot with the promotion, and Jessica was happy to pay." He said, until the thought occured. "I did make it a condition with Jessica that Donna never find out. But...then I...stupidly told Mike; who can't keep a god damn thing from his fiancee Rachel - another associate at the firm - and she….must have...told Donna."
It was a 4-person square that completely lacked any kind of confidentiality.
"So...why did you feel the need to keep that information private in the first place?"
He gawped, his eyebrows raising like it was the most obvious answer in the world. "You met her. If she had found out that she was a package deal, she would never have agreed to come with me in the first place."
"And how does that make you feel? The idea that she wouldn't have come to the firm with you?"
"She actually asked me, during the fight, what I'd have done if Jessica had said no."
"It's a good question." She smiled. "And what was your answer?"
"I told her...I'd have made sure Jessica said yes."
"So for you...would you agree that it was a non-negotiable? Donna coming with you?"
"Yeah. As long as she wanted to, I would have made sure it happened."
"Why?"
"I needed her."
"Okay," She said, sitting up. "So...tell me, how...are you doing, since she left your desk?"
"Well….Amy's practically a replacement for Donna. Not in every way, but enough to make my job run smoothly. She's experienced and she knows Mike, so...it's doable."
"So, you found that there was someone who could...fill her place?"
"No. Just...do the job. It's not everything...but…" He paused then.
"But what, Harvey?"
"It's enough. It's not perfect but it's enough."
She nodded for a moment, as if moving into her own thought. "What would you say is missing? What could make it perfect for you."
"I don't know."
"How do you feel, relative to the situation?"
"I miss her." He offered, his eyebrow quirking in defense. "But...I upset her with the kiss...thing and I need to work on my angle."
"Your angle?"
"You know, being friends. Like you told us to."
"Do you have anything planned to that effect?"
"Well, first I need to get her to speak to me. But again...you won't let me bribe her. It's worked so well in the past..." He half-joked.
"Care to elaborate?" She asked, hanging on the intention in his words.
He frowned, feeling like he'd walked straight into it. "I ugh...I used to buy her bags, and shoes when she helped me out with things, on cases or cracking an objective, like promotions or...you know. I'd sometimes take her out to dinner. Breakfast. Stuff like that."
"So you didn't only pay her salary?" She clarified.
He noticed the woman smile, shaking her head a little.
"What's that look for?" He asked, his voice accusing.
"Harvey. This is probably going to sound worse than I intend it to, but...Bosses don't usually take their assistants to dinner and out shopping."
"Donna's not like other Assistants."
"Meaning?"
"Same as, I'm not like other Lawyers. We're different. She's amazing at what she does, so why not reward her for that? Its the least I can do..."
"I understand promotions. But usually with a working relationship, the level of gifts that you describe are not typical with working-only relationships."
"Right. So if I tell you that I used to give her my corporate card for everything, you're gonna read too much into that, too?" He threw at her, his impatience drawing.
She smiled then, a slight cover against his comment. "Okay. Have you ever bought anyone else gifts in your firm? Your Boss, or your Associates?"
He frowned slightly, a distinct air floating around in his head. "Well...Donna used handle a gift for Jessica's birthday, and girlfriends and other things like that. Why?"
"So you've never rewarded another colleague in the same way that you did with Donna?" She asked him.
"Not really?" He frowned. "But...I guess it makes me a...good boss." He smirked self-satisfactorily.
"Do you not think that...perhaps it's these kind of things which may have led her to suspect that there was something more between the two of you?"
"I..." He stumbled on the words to answer, a realisation peeling over the back of his mind.
"You take her shopping. Buy her dinner. Pay her wage. There's….I'm not going to lie, Harvey. Those kind of characteristics are similar to that of a husband and wife relationship."
"She's not my wife." He countered roughly. This was starting to reach a place that he was extremely uncomfortable with.
"Of course not." She agreed. "But...let's imagine for a second, just hypothetically that...it's the fifties. You've told me of your interest in that era before. Imagine that you're...married. To Donna. And...Donna, assists your day to day. Picks up your dry cleaning, makes sure you have everything that you need to get ready in the morning. Cleans your house. Buys the groceries and her clothes and your clothes all with your money. You give her an allowance every month, out of your wage packet that she spends on what she wants or what she thinks you need. She schedules all of your time out of work, makes sure you have dentist appointments, and a good hairdresser, buys presents at christmas and birthdays and holidays. Looks after your kids - let's say they're called….Mike and Rachel - Hypothetically of course. And perhaps...you slept together a lot at the beginning; but maybe things have slipped, with kids and school and promotions and work and perhaps she has a hobby now etc, so maybe you both don't have the time. You might have...mistresses, that although she doesn't know about, are just for sex of course, because otherwise she's fulfilling your needs as a wife. And at night, you go home, and you sleep beside her. Now, out of all of that, that entire picture...where is there a clear difference between the kind of relationship you spoke of both having at work for over the ten years, and the one you have in the scenario?"
Fuck.
It hit like a hard nail in the head.
Damn this woman.
Damn Donna.
Damn it all to hell.
He looked up, indignation creeping up and onto his features. "We don't live in the same apartment." He said irritably.
Her level smile irritated him for the remainder of the day, playing over and over again in his head..
I was on a heavy tip
Tryna cross a canyon with a broken limb
You were on the other side
Like always, wondering what to do with life
I'd already had a sip
So I reasoned I was drunk enough to deal with it
You were on the other side
Like always, you could never make your mind
And with one kiss
You inspired a fire of devotion
That lasted 20 years
What kind of man loves like this
-'What kind of man' By Florence and the Machine
Louis Litt was...on the very top of the world.
He had the best Assistant in the known Universe,
And the best 'real', qualified Associate in the firm. (Take that, Mike.)
Named Partner.
His name of which, now stood...in rich gold letters in the lobby..
He had it all.
He was literally indestr-
"Louis?" A voice broke him out of his secluded mindset.
"Hmm?" He hummed, his eyes looking up to see a redhead frowning at him. "What did you say?"
"Ugh...nothing? I was...waiting for you to...finish." She replied, narrowing her gaze further at his dumbstruck face. "You okay?"
"Where was I?" He asked, frowning unnaturally.
"I don't know, I'm not in there." She said, pointing to his head.
"You were a little bit." He rambled quickly.
"What?"She frowned, her eyes narrowing.
"What? Nothing." He shook his head minutely, leaning back against his chair.
"Okay, until whatever this is, passes," She said, indicating his form with a stiff point of the finger. "I'm going to go back to my desk. You let me know when you've...decided on a course of action?"
"Right. Sure." He said, pulling at his collar as he watched her retreating form.
When she scrutinised him all the way from her desk, he straightened, picking up his pen to stem the restlessness in his fingers, relaxing only when she finally drifted back to her work.
Her eyes fixed on his in flash, causing him to stiffen unnaturally.
She was good.
Better than good.
She was phenomenal.
She could be his...Hilary…
So much is going on
But you can always come around
Why don't you sit with me for just a little while?
Tell me, what's wrong?
If you just gimme all your love ohh
Gimme all you got, baby
Gimme all your love ohh
Bit more
So tell me what you wanna do
You say a word that doesn't fit with you
Why don't you talk to me for just a little while?
I can only try to make it right
~ 'Gimme' all your love By Alabama Shakes
During the fifteenth stir of her coffee, she had come to a realisation.
She, Donna Paulsen was...a rubber band, where the indelible Harvey Specter was concerned.
She would always just...ping. Right. Back. Annoyingly so.
She'd spent the rest of the night tossing and turning and generally making herself as unprepared for work as humanly possible.
So much so that she'd not put an ounce of thought into what she was wearing, and instead picked out something in a haze of tiredness and the past ten years of routine.
She was waiting for him.
And in truth, she didn't really know why.
Firstly, she was still pissed at him, for once again being the emotional mute in their strange 'non' relationship.
But the fact was….she missed him. Too often, these days.
Trouble was...she didn't know where to place him now that he had kissed her.
They were trying at friends.
Louis's office didn't fit.
His office didn't fit.
Her apartment was like a graveyard of their previous bad mistakes.
That left...His apartment - which she still peeled with distaste at the thought of entering again - and...the whole of Manhattan.
So the question was….
What should she do in Manhattan, with a man that wasn't her boyfriend? A man that she missed the constant interaction with? A man that no longer, took her shopping for bags and shoes like it was the most natural thing in the world?
A man that had previously deep fried her heart, then left it...soggy and cold and wet on the side like a limp afterthought.
When she heard the door clatter dimly, she restrained a smile, one that the rest of her body leaned into willingly.
He stood there, two cups in hand, and a mismatched look on his face playing at casual.
"Apology Coffee?" He inferred, lifting them slightly before sauntering over to her, as she leaned casually against the countertop.
"What kind?" She asked, playing coy.
He gave her a look, like she should know better. "A Vanilla Non-fat latte with sugar and whipped cream, of course." He replied, a little too cooly for her liking.
She quirked an eyebrow, resistant a smile and straightening as he handed her the cup. Her eyes flicked to the words on the side of hers.
The 'I'm Sorry'.
And written in his own scrawl…
She stifled the bend in her voice. "What did you do, wrestle Jake the Barista for this?" She remarked, indicating the handwriting.
"The kid with the carrot top?" He clarified. "No...I just...stole an extra holder and wrote it in my office." He answered frankly. "That kid loves you."
"Redhead Power." She remarked, a warmth spreading over her face. "Thank you, Harvey. It's very thoughtful." She smiled genuinely.
"I've been known to be...occasionally. And without your help." He replied, smirking.
"It's like I have nothing left to teach you now." She sighed, a deliberate and dramatic sadness in her voice.
"Oh, I don't know about that," He countered, taking a sip of his drink.
She smiled.
"You look…" He said, observing her.
"What?"
"Nothing." He shook his head. As if deciding against the comment or idea or whim. "Nevermind."
"What, Harvey?" She pressed.
"You look like the...old you, today." He remarked, regarding her form with a softness.
She looked down to her dress, the realisation dawning on her as the blood slowly and discreetly trickled out of her face.
Electric Blue.
Panels.
Power Dress.
The Old her...Shit.
"I uh...dressed in the dark this morning." She shrugged, disarming his rather smooth and pleasing stare at her.
"Well...the dark clearly agrees with you." He complimented.
It was that fraction of weight in his eyes that held her, pendulous and kept in their two person focus.
He cleared his throat, looking down for a moment, a little self-conscious for a man of his stature. "So, hows it going, anyway?" He asked her, his fingers tapping on the countertop.
She was immediately grateful for the topic change, her shoulders relaxing. "Good. Louis is being rather weird today, though."
"Isn't that Louis everyday?" He remarked then, his face hardening slightly.
"Yeah...I guess." She smirked. "Being with him twenty four seven definately emphasises that point." She said, her eyes widening.
"How you put up with a minute of him is...admirable." He said, throwing a look of clear distaste into the air.
"Well, I put up with you." She remarked, playfully. "Practise."
"I'm the chip in the wall compared to Louis' wrecking ball." He countered, the pin sized twitch in his left eyebrow.
She tilted her head, a disappointed look on her own face. "Harvey," She chided. "Are you ever going to stop hating him?"
"No. He has you now. The Di has been cast." He stated, a slightly comical looking pout on his face..
"This isn't Game of Throne's, you know." She smirked underneath the lid of her vanilla flavoured treat.
"Don't I know it." He threw, something suggestive in his voice.
"You're picturing naked writhing bodies on a fur rug aren't you?"
"Well, now I am." He remarked coyly. "And it's a table, actually." He added with a smirk.
"Of course it is." She nodded, rolling her eyes. "I forget that you're such a...guy, sometimes." She huffed.
"Thankyou. I'll take that as a compliment." He said, lifting his chin.
"I wouldn't." She countered lightly, waiting for that fraction of a second where he double took her, giving her an arduous look. "Man-child." She threw at him.
"Hey. I can grow a beard." He argued, a streak of woundedness emanating from his core.
She knew how to cut… Ever the marksman.
Her eyes focused on him.
In the time since she'd left, she'd tried very hard not to analyse him.
It was a sixth sense. She could do it with anyone, but she liked to do it with him.
She missed it. Even though it was a crutch. She still missed it. Her eyes flicked up, noticing his shirt collar.
Untempered. And uneven. A Pale white shirt and a silvery blue tie.
He was planning things.
Lighter, but unpredictably so...
"Have you looked like this all day?" She asked him, her eyes narrowing at his pristine form.
"Uh… yes? Why?" He lied, sipping his coffee before the beat between them ran out. He practically ran home and changed after his session to avoid the suit he'd sweated out an epiphany in. Harvey Specter never sweated. "What?" He pressed irritably, his consonants splashing against the shortness in his voice.
"There's something...overly prepared about you. But," She suggested, giving him a look, before stepping towards him, her peach nails reaching instinctively towards his collar. Suddenly he felt the fabric, uneven against the left side of his neck.
He mentally kicked himself. He couldn't even dress himself anymore. If Mike knew everything...boy would he get some shit for the little girl he'd become...
"Woah?" He ducked out the way slightly, still holding his cup, a slightly disjointed look of shock on his face.
"Really?" She shot another look at him, more challenging this time, before grabbing his cup and placing it alongside hers, flicking back to him.
"Don't even think about it." He warned. His face was admonishing, but there was something slightly...alert in his eyes. She paused, besting him before he finally relinquished control.
Like always...
"You know...just because I'm not your assistant anymore," She said, tugging on his collar. "Doesn't mean that you can let all this go." She huffed, her hands finding the other side of his collar to match it. He stiffened slightly at her touch and proximity, his rather round eyes fluttering slightly with a mismatched frown as he trained his unfocused gaze on her face. He noticed the lines around her mouth, and the way her eyelashes stopped dead from a thick black to a fine coppery blonde as they lost themselves into the root, framing the acute attention in her eyes.
He hadn't seen that look for a very, very long time.
That pin prick sharpness, that focus in the hazel of her eyes. He felt her fingernails brush the side of his neck, before they moved to his tie, straightening the knot out, and lastly his lapels.
He felt the firm press of her knuckles into the silvery fabric of his jacket, short fingernails sliding from the top to the bottom with grace, as they met in the middle near his jacket button. He let out a small inaudible gasp, to which her eyes drew their attention to, just as her hands smoothed down the top of his lapel. He swallowed, the thickness of a lump in his throat, as he looked briefly to her hairline, watching her bite her lip slightly in concentration, before taking a large step back.
"There. Now you look like a named partner." She remarked, before abruptly picking up her cup. "Thanks for the coffee." She said, before sliding quietly past him.
He felt glued to the spot for a moment, his nipples oddly erect, and his head filled with her skin and her freckles, and her smell and the feeling...of her hands, trained, on him.
He had to shake this….whatever it was.
Just Separation Anxiety.
That was all it was, he thought to himself.
She wasn't his surrogate Wife. Or his Mom. She was just...a woman that used to work for him.
An important one.
One that he wanted in his life...
He drew a long breath, before taking a rather long lunch.
He dashed the idea to drag her along with him.
But the entire thing played on the uneven parallels of their relationship as it stood today.
"Donna! Where's the Calgan File!"
Louis's face came into view from the second she rounded the corner back to her desk. She lurched back slightly at his immediate proximity, blinking at his rather agitated expression.
"What?" She asked sharply.
"What? Did you hit your head? The Calgan file? I needed it eighteen minutes ago for the conference call this afternoon?" He repeated, before his beady eyes flicked to the paper cup in her hands. "Wait a minute, did you do a...starbucks run? Where's my non-fat chai tea latte with a shot of vanilla?" He asked quickly, alarm on his face.
Her shoulders dropped, as she side stepped him, shaking her head. She placed the cup on her desk. "Louis, the file has been here, on my desk. And the post-it, on your desk, in pink, explaining that when you're ready it's on my desk. Did you even read it?" She asked him carefully.
He blinked twice, his stance widening before he answered, swiping the file from her hand. "You didn't answer my question." He said, narrowing his eyes, until they caught the scrawl on the side. "Who's apology?"
"Harvey got me it." She huffed.
"Oh." He snapped. "Right." He said, before turning on his heel and making to his office.
She sank to her seat, sipping her coffee.
She wasn't even going to touch that situation…
Not with Harvey's apology spinning in her head. And a date with Paul looming with a sudden lack of clarity...
The next day, Harvey kept his head down, and moved fluidly into the afternoon.
She didn't appear and he didn't go looking.
He waited...quietly and patiently in the lobby for an appointment he had scheduled. Like a good little boy.
When his morning meetings adjourned, he was ready.
He wasn't sure why...but today...He would ask the questions.
"I've got to say, Harvey. I was shocked that you booked an extra appointment." His therapist started, getting comfortable in her seat.
"I've been thinking...about your hypothetical." He told her, all business.
"And?" She offered with a hand.
"I think you're right. It wasn't healthy...what we were. What we had."
"Okay. What would you change this time around? If you were giving the opportunity?" She asked, clasping her hands together as she straightened in her seat.
"Nothing." He said, sure of the answer as his cheekbones sharpened to the fact.
"Nothing? You'd keep it all the same?" She blinked.
"Until this point. Yeah." He clarified.
"Can I ask you why?"
"Because it's just...who we are. She interferes. I let her arrange my life. We just...fit like that."
"You said...until this point?"
"Well. Things still have to change, now that we….don't work together anymore. But I'm not about to sit here and regret the last ten years. I got to the top. She stayed with me the whole way and to an extent, got me there. So now...I'm going to work towards...being friends." He finished, swallowing.
"I'm glad to hear it. Any progress in that department?"
"I brought her an apology coffee. With 'I'm sorry' written on it'. Little touch." He smirked proudly.
"In your handwriting or…?"
"Yes. My handwriting. If I hadn't she would have made a thing out of it." He explained, a natural smirk falling out.
"Wow. That's a step. I'm impressed." She smiled.
"Yeah. And she appreciated it...but she ugh.."
"What?"
"Donna...the way she prepares me for work. Fixes my tie. Straightens out the creases. It's like she's..."
"What, Harvey?" Valerie asked, leaning forward as her stiff, slightly flat bob sharpened at the edges.
"My wife. Or mother. Like you said. She...takes care of me. I never realised before. She's...the reason I look like I do. Across the board."
"Would you care to elaborate, for me?"
"My haircut. It was a barber she picked out. My suits...the best tailor, on her advice. When I look like shit...she fixes me. She...did it. Again. After I gave her the coffee. My collar wasn't 'fitting of a managing partner'." He smiled to himself.
"Did she say that?" She asked plainly.
"Actually, she told me that just because she wasn't my assistant anymore, didn't mean I had to let 'all of this' slide." He snorted, thinking for a moment. "She's linked...to my mother, isn't she?" He squinted, thoughtful for a moment.
"I would say so. Yes." She nodded with a half smile.
"I just don't know...she was dressed like the old her, too. When she did it. It kind of threw me."
"Well, Harvey." She cleared her throat. "Within these sessions, we're focusing on your side. But...she still left you after a very long time of focusing on you and your career and then onto another man. One that she doesn't have a long and unspecified past with. One that I'm assuming she hasn't slept with, also?" She added, a slight question on her lips.
"God I hope not." He said colourfully, sneering at the thought.
"What's the face for? I take it you don't approve of her new Boss?" She asked him, her scrutiny sharpening like a tack.
"Louis has...always...wanted Donna."
"Romantically or just professionally?"
"Both, probably. Professionally, definitely. I always used to yank her chain that he had a real thing for her. Hell, he's practically gone from pissing his pants to pissing around her desk when I walk past like he's afraid I'm gonna eventually get my way again."
"Would you have had less of an opinion if she'd have chosen another Managing Partner?"
"Not really...look, I suppose she's...good for Louis. In a way. She always knew how to get around his...extremely irritating nature. I just…"
"What?"
"The idea of her...doing for him what she used to do for me, is...just...makes my skin crawl."
"But you two never had sex after the one time?"
"I'm not talking about sex."
"And yet your...description matches that. Like what she does for you is so sacred that she daren't do it for another man. There are very few things that you could place to that, sex being one of them."
"Look..it's...like when she was in here, and talking about the intercom being on constantly. Like...it's the same. I feel the same about her being her best for Louis. Preparing him for court, or fixing his tie. It's a two way street."
"How do you think that you could solve it...being a non issue for you?"
"Isn't the answer to that going to be a little...counter-productive?"
"Maybe there's...more than one answer?"
You ain't alone, so why you lonely?
There you go on the dark end of the street
Are you scared to tell somebody how you feel about somebody?
Are you scared what somebody's gonna think?
Or...
Are you scared to wear your heart out on your sleeve?
You Ain't Lonely By Alabama Shakes
"Now, you've mentioned that your Associates are engaged, a number of times. I also wanted to focus on that today." Valerie said, taking a rather large sip of her coffee.
Great, he thought to himself. Like Mike hadn't been enough of a topic since he'd brought the kid into the firm...
"Fine." He said, clasping his hands together.
"So...when did they get engaged?" She asked him.
"Gotta be...a couple of months now." He answered. "It was around the time that Donna...left."
"So...did they tell you?"
"Not at first. A lot...went on. Obviously." He said tiredly.
"What was your first reaction to that?" She asked, sitting forward.
"That they're both idiots." He scoffed. "But then again...they moved into together after only a few months, so. They're definitely idiots."
"Why do you say that?" She asked, smiling warmly.
"Mike has this...habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve for pretty much everything. Cases. Rachel. Everybody. He pretty much follows his heart around," He explained, undoing a button of his jacket. "When he first came to the firm, he had a real problem over-identifying with every witness, every shmuck who could spin a good yarn. Rachel was no different. He pretty much ran behind her like a little puppy dog until she agreed to put a collar on him."
"You say 'put a collar on him'?"
"Donna nicknamed him the puppy dog. It just kinda...fit."
"What did Donna think of her two friends getting together."
"Well...we tried to...deter them for a good while. Tried to...knock some sense into them."
"Did Donna help with this?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you think that it was such a bad idea?" She asked him, sitting forward a little straighter.
Great timing. The secret…. He mentally scolded himself.
"Because work strictly forbids inter-office relations." He half-lied.
"Do you know who instilled this rule?"
"Jessica."
"How do you feel about the rule?"
"Dont shit where you eat. It's simple."
"And yet...after ten years, you and Donna were faced with a similar situation?" She added, a sense of intrigue on her features.
"We're different." He replied blankly.
"Okay. What would you say makes you and Donna different from both of your friends?"
"We're...more experienced. Friends first. We know each other. We didn't just jump into something."
"And you don't think that your friends know each other? You realise, that the average couple gets together after an average of 1 month to 3 months of casual dating, and then moves in together after an average of 1 year together."
"Yeah, and divorce is on the rise. What's your point?" He replied irritably.
"I'm wondering, based on averages, what the ideal amount of time you deem acceptable?"
"Look. I don't judge, unless it affects my work. People get together all the time, but...I guess...it just came at the wrong time, considering that Donna had just left and I was…"
"What, Harvey?"
"I was...wondering what I was doing with my life." He sighed, suddenly focused on a piece of lint wobbling on his pant leg.
"Okay. Now...you've never said that before." She pointed out, writing down something on her pad.
She hadn't done that for a while. It clearly meant something...
"That's because, after I thought it, I drowned it in about a gallon of whiskey." He remarked heavily.
"And now you've said the words? What do you make of them? In retrospect?"
"In retrospect? I was raw. Donna had left, suddenly, after everything we had been through and...I was alone. For the first time in a...long time."
"Do you feel alone now?"
"Kind of." He shrugged.
"But you have an assistant now?" She clarified.
"I do. But you and I both know it's not just about the assistant anymore." He told her pointedly.
"No, it's not." She smiled. "Now. I'd like to finally talk about...your Mother."
"You're just going to keep on asking aren't you?" He smirked then, some what impressed by her lengthy persistence.
"Perhaps. Maybe you'll do me the honor of bringing it up every so often." She joked, the whimsy gentle in her voice.
"Nice try." He smirked, raising an eyebrow.
"What does Donna think. About your Mother?"
"She...did her best to divert my attention away from her calls. She could tell by my shirt if i'd had run in with her. And usually, she'd...skate right over it."
"Has your mother ever met Donna?"
"Once. It wasn't pretty." He smiled then.
"How did Donna deal with that?"
"She was….magnificent." He smirked in remembrance.
Still so much more to write! Keep with me guys and as always feed the kitty! XxX
