It was the greatest role Donna would ever play, and her success depended on no-one ever knowing she played it. Despite the serious matter of why she was about to break into her workplace, she was exhilarated by the prospect. It helped that the eventual outcome was extremely desirable as well. This wasn't going to be a repeat of the Liberty Rail debacle that she tried to forget. Pearson Specter Litt was her domain. She belonged there. And unlike with Liberty Rail, she didn't have to falsify another identity (no, portray; she was an actress, not a liar) to achieve what she needed to do. Attention was her worst enemy today.

The first step was the costume. She knew that security and staff alike were on alert for a woman who was using either crutches or a wheelchair. It didn't match Donna's current description; her cast adjustment allowed her to walk unaided, and at reasonable pace thanks to two days of practice around the block. She had found a black pantsuit in her wardrobe that with some adjusting and sewing skills could fit one of the legs over her bad leg. The other foot wore a flat-heeled but nonetheless stylish boot that looked similar enough from a distance to give her enough time to walk away before anyone scrutinised her legs more closely.

The security on the ground floor were easiest to get past during what she had dubbed on her plans 'The Changing of the Guard'. Even more so when their eyes were trained to look for a woman with long red hair. When she saw the first guard leave his post to end his shift, Donna swept by, giving his replacement a wink. He smiled back. His untrained eyes failed to notice that the cute woman with the dark brown bob actually got her hair from a costume store. Just as Donna had planned. She stepped into the elevator, and allowed herself a gleeful little laugh as she prepared herself for what came next.

Game face on. Donna pulled out a folder from her bag and started examining it very intently, keeping her head down as she made her way to Jessica Pearson's office. This was the riskiest part of her mission, which was why she put it first. Jessica had been negotiating a settlement for a client for the past half hour. This usually meant that either she would be out for another forty five minutes, or that it would be wrapping up within ten minutes. And Donna wasn't quite the gambler that Harvey was. Her aim was to be in and out as quickly as possible.

She was armed with multiple copies of the document that Sadie had left behind in her apartment, and Donna was intending to put them in different places across the office. No more secrets. Soon, everyone would know what Harvey's secretary was up to. In an ideal world, it would be Harvey himself that would uncover the truth first, but she wasn't picky. It would get to Harvey soon enough. Even if Donna had to hand deliver the dossier herself.

The document almost scared Donna a little. She knew the minute that she picked it up that it had to be dealt with. Addressed to Terrence Wolf and signed off by Sadie, it detailed information on cases, clients and other sensitive information that was restricted to the firm. But what was unclear was the intention of the document. Was it part of a job application? Or was she working undercover like Donna had guessed? At any rate, it was one heck of a lie that Sadie had been feeding her boss, and Donna was going to put an end to it. Her first stop to Jessica's office was to try and locate Sadie's personnel file to see if there was anything that would link her to Terrence Wolf.

No-one paid any mind to her as she went through the hallway. The route she took was one that she had walked hundreds if not thousands of times over the years. It wasn't until she got to the door of Jessica's office where she started to feel a little apprehensive, but she tried to shake the feeling off. She wasn't Donna Paulsen, a woman who had no business that day being in the firm, let alone Jessica's office. She was Donna frickin' Paulsen who was going to get to the bottom of this and save the firm. From experience, she knew exactly where to find the personnel files that Jessica kept on hand; in a drawer behind her desk and slightly to the left.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Louis' booming voice frightened the living daylights out of Donna, and she clumsily dove to the ground to hide. Thankfully, Louis was still yards down the hallway out of sight of Jessica's and his exclamation was directed at what sounded like a naïve associate.

"You were going to give this to Jessica? Over my head? Un-goddamn-believable. This is garbage. You're gonna walk yourself right back to the library and you're going to find yourself something called a dictionary. Do you know what that is? And then I want you to pick it up, and beat yourself over the head with it. And then, you can start this over from scratch, and then you will give it straight to me before you even think about giving it to Jessica. Got it?" Definitely an associate. And from what it sounded like, both the unknown associate and Louis went back in the direction from whence they had come. Donna gave it a few seconds to guarantee that no-one was about to come back and find her with her hands deep in Jessica's files.

It was a longshot, but Donna had to try it anyway. She opened the drawer, and sure enough it contained personnel files. Only on a small number of employees, however; Sadie's was missing. It was likely to be in Harvey's office somewhere. This meant that Donna could get out of Jessica's office immediately. She climbed back to her feet and cautiously made her way to the door to check if the coast was clear. There was no one who was looking in her direction, so she slipped out the door and pretended to bury her head in her smoking gun.

She bypassed Louis' office, and it gave her an idea. It wasn't part of the original plan to leave a copy in Louis' office, but in Donna's absence she figured that Sadie had probably been in and out of his office multiple times in recent days. Another place where Sadie could have plausibly left her by-law breaking betrayal. With a satisfying smile, she slipped a copy in between some documents in Louis' in-tray.

When she got close to Harvey's office, it was disconcertingly empty. Donna already knew that Harvey was absent (waiting for her to return), but Sadie's absence from her desk was unexpected. Donna had been ready to make a fake phone call to get her away from her desk, but Sadie being absent meant that she had no idea how much time she had before facing being caught. At least she had the advantage of knowing the ins and outs of Harvey's office and where to leave things without losing any seconds to hesitation. One to his second desk drawer, three tucked in different case briefs that Sadie had just finished proof-reading, and a copy tucked in the newspaper that he would glance over with a glass of scotch if his day went well. That would depend on how things played out when she got home.

The temptation was strong to plant one in Sadie's desk, but she knew she had done enough. It was lucky for Donna, because if she had looked more closely at Sadie's desk, she would have been likely to commit a more violent crime. Violating a trespass order was enough illegal activity for one day. Now she could go home and wait for the inevitable fallout, and Sadie would finally get just what she deserved.

But she wasn't out of the woods yet. Just as Donna was about to step into the elevator, the dry-cleaning slip from Donna's blazer fell out of her pocket. Unfortunately for her, a familiar face had arrived in the elevator to return it to her.

"Excuse me ma'am, you dropped your – Donna?!" In a panic, Donna yanked Mike back into the elevator and slammed the emergency stop button once the doors had closed. She was regretting letting her guard down before she left the building. A rookie mistake. But of all people to recognise her, Mike was the most favourable option.

"What are you doing here?!" Mike hissed, instinctively glancing around the empty elevator to ensure they were alone.

"I'm not here. You didn't see me. Understood?" Donna still was still gripping Mike's tie, tugging it as she emphasised her words. He winced and she reluctantly released him.

"This is illegal! You're not meant to be here!" His first statement was technically true, but the second statement Donna considered to be arguable. She found it slightly hypocritical that he was the one to lecture her on illegal activity.

"Do you really want to go there, Mr Harvard Hotshot?" she asked him with mock innocence.

"Come on, Donna, you know that's not fair." Mike had thought that he was finally safe from having to worry about his past transgressions, and he considered it a low blow for her to bring them up again to defend her own behaviour.

"Who said I was fair?" None of what had happened lately was fair. Harvey's failure to talk about his feelings, her broken leg, the restraining order. None of it.

"Everyone. You're the one who sets Harvey on the straight and narrow." The present tense stung. Mike was supposed to say that Donna used to set Harvey on the straight and narrow.

"I'm not talking about this anymore. I hereby implement Fight Club." Donna said, staring very hard the button panel in the elevator. The use of Harvey's code was enough of a distraction. What Donna really needed was to make sure that Mike wouldn't tattle. Then, and only then would she allow the elevator to start moving again. In the meantime, she would try and use his language to coax him into doing as she asked.

"Donna, this isn't a Fight Club situation. You can't just 'implement' it whenever you want." As much as Mike respected Donna and the way she knew people, she sometimes just didn't quite get it when it came to films. Let alone the code that he and Harvey had spent a long time cultivating.

"You've already violated rule number one. You're not getting another word out of me on the subject."

"I can't believe he told you the code. That was meant to be secret," Mike lamented, shaking his head sorrowfully.

"You're such a child," Donna replied, rolling her eyes. He didn't appreciate Donna's lecture when she was meant to be the one in trouble.

"Oh, I'm the child? You're the one who sneaked into the building looking like a Bond villain!"

"First of all, I shouldn't have been in a position where I had to sneak in at all. Second of all, I'm doing this for the greater good. You have to trust me." Mike's suspicious eyes were fixed on Donna's wig.

"Does Harvey know you're here?" Donna, please don't tell me that you're doing something that will make him mad. If Harvey knew what Donna was doing, then Mike would feel better about the matter, despite the illegality of the situation.

"This is for Harvey." She stared him down. Donna knew one of the few things that Mike would allow would be if it were to help Harvey in some way. Even if he didn't know about it.

"That doesn't answer my question." He didn't break her stare, but his expression was far more troubled than hers. He knew that if Harvey found out that Donna was doing something else illegal behind his back, then he wouldn't take it well. Especially given what a mess he had been in since Donna had left. Mike was used to people being evasive, but Donna's answer all but confirmed his suspicions.

"Would you really want to know if I was breaking the law behind Harvey's back?" Plausible deniability had rarely worked for Mike in the past, but in this case it was definitely preferable to the alternative. No matter what Mike could claim, he knew that if Harvey found out Harvey would consider Mike to be a culpable accomplice. Especially after what had happened with Liberty Rail.

"No…" The less Mike knew about any illegal activity, the better. He had never asked to be privy to anything between Harvey and Donna, and he wasn't about to start now.

"Good." Donna hit the emergency button again, and the elevator finally started its descent. Mike would have to take it all the way back up again, but that was the least of her worries as she stepped out, finally satisfied that she had completed her mission.

"You're mean as a brunette!" Mike called after her as the doors closed on him.

To ensure her cover wasn't blown, Donna had stashed her wig in her bag, and made one hasty trip to the grocery store so she didn't return home empty handed. She was mainly picking up food for dinner, but she figured that she and Harvey could celebrate Sadie getting what she deserved with some frozen yoghurt. Even if Harvey didn't quite know it yet. Dessert was the perfect celebration. Harvey wasn't alone when she arrived home, however. He was seated at the table opposite the one person that Donna had been working to thwart. So that's where she'd been! The sight of Sadie sitting at her kitchen table made her feel nauseated.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was just a little bit too high-pitched for her attempt at happy surprise to be believable.

"Donna, it's okay," Harvey stood up to ward off any impending fights. He could see through Donna's fake glee, and he knew it could turn ugly. Donna could throw a punch when she had to, and Harvey had it on good authority that Sadie could be scrappy at the best of times. He didn't want to risk it getting violent.

"I thought you came alone," Donna said; her mouth was all smiles, but her eyes meant death and they were directed exclusively at Harvey.

"Actually, Donna, I'm not staying. I just wanted to grab those files I left with you," Sadie said a little nervously. Donna knew what the real target was. After her (mostly) successful mission, she was more than happy to oblige. She stepped into her bedroom to grab the files, and managed to slip the original copy of the report back where it came from. That way, Sadie's guard would be down until the truth was uncovered.

"Did you get through them all?" Sadie sounded earnest, but it was obvious to Donna that she was gauging whether Donna had found the incriminating information.

"No, I didn't get around to it! I decided to take a break for a few days." Donna had absolutely no problems lying to Sadie.

"Oh, I'm glad. I'm happy to see you're feeling better." They both exchanged smiles that didn't meet their eyes. Sadie's from worry, and Donna's from a degree of hatred. Harvey wouldn't claim to know everything about women, but he knew enough that Sadie and Donna's polite conversation troubled him more than if they'd started brawling there in the kitchen.

"You better get back to work, Sadie." It was as much for Harvey's piece of mind as it was for Donna's sake. Sadie took the hint. The door closed, and it was as though the entire room breathed a sigh of relief. Donna dropped her cheery façade and swapped it for a sullen glare directed at Harvey as she seated herself at the kitchen table. Her melting yoghurt didn't taste anywhere near as sweet now, but she continued to irritably stab her spoon in and take mouthfuls anyway. The second carton sat untouched on the table.

"Is that for me?" Harvey asked, gesturing to the second carton. It was a rhetorical question, because it was his favourite flavour and he knew that Donna rarely bought that flavour for herself.

"You don't deserve it anymore," Donna replied, sliding it away from Harvey.

"Is that so?" Donna glared at him for a full minute, before pushing it back in Harvey's direction and finding him a spoon. She couldn't let it go to waste, and she had to remind herself that Sadie would hopefully be gone for good in less than 24 hours.

"You let her in my house. You know how I feel about her!" Donna said, swallowing a mouthful of cookie dough. "Why are you even here?" she added irritably.

"Your radio silence was a little strange. I just wanted to make sure that you were still alive. And there was something I had to tell you in person." Oh, no. Donna knew what he was about to say, and she had to pretend like what he told her was correct. She set down the yoghurt and spoon, and gave him her full attention.

"I spoke to Terrence Wolf," Harvey began, looking at Donna with a very grave expression. She did not speak; she didn't trust herself not to make a sarcastic comment or something that would give the game away before he found out himself. The whole point of her mission had been so that Harvey found out the truth himself, or at least so it looked like Sadie had incriminated herself.

"You were wrong about Sadie. She was meeting with him because she was a witness for one of his cases. " Donna bit the inside of her cheek to contain her retort. But the thought of him finding the truth out the next day was encouraging enough for her to stay in character.

"I know you were sure, but her story checks out." He still wasn't gloating. It was a far cry from the way he had mocked her when she had first told him her suspicions.

"You don't sound too pleased about it." Donna finally found her tongue.

"Because she lied, but it wasn't to hurt me." Harvey's brow was furrowed slightly; his reaction was hard to gauge. It was as though he was questioning Donna – was that the same reason why Donna had lied to him? He seemed lost. Donna finally looked away. The actual truth would crush him. For the first time that day, she realised that the reveal might not be as jubilant as she had been hoping. Harvey took betrayals hard, and he did seem to actually like Sadie. He continued to explain why he wasn't beaming over his supposed victory.

"I understand why you didn't tell me about what happened with Liberty Rail. I know you were trying to help. I should have been more understanding." Oh, God, Harvey was jumping the gun. It was great that Harvey had gotten his head out of his ass and was ready to see Donna's side of the story but he was just one day too early.

"Harvey, stop." Donna put her hand on top of his to cut him off. Her voice was unexpectedly shaky. She didn't think it was fair that he told her all this when there was one last secret that he had yet to discover. Donna would let him make up his own mind once he found out about Sadie.

"Harvey, I know what you want to say, and I'm going to give you the chance to say it, but can you trust me and wait one more day?" To Donna's surprise, Harvey smiled at her request.

"You know about the dinner." What? She certainly knew nothing about any dinner plans.

"What dinner?"

"The dinner to celebrate your return to work tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Did Harvey know what she had been doing all afternoon and that Sadie would be out? If so, then Mike had a lot to learn about not being a snitch.

"Didn't you read your trespass notice? Today's the last day." Son of a bitch. If Donna had waited one more day, she'd have been able to plant the documents without having to worry about breaking any laws.

"That would mean I'd have to acknowledge its existence."

"Well, you can throw it away now." Donna cast her eyes downward guiltily. She had torn it up in a fit of pique after Sadie had stopped by her apartment the first time.

"You already destroyed it, didn't you?" he was meant to sound accusing, but there was no hiding the pride in Harvey's voice.

"Well, I figured you'd be more than happy to give me another one," Donna replied sardonically. Harvey's smile widened.

"I realised too late what a mistake that was. We need you." Such words were Donna's kryptonite. Her insides always softened at Harvey admitting how important she was to him.

"Well, if you need me, then I guess I have no choice, do I?" She couldn't help but smile. This would also mean that she could guarantee that Harvey found that document, and she would be able to witness the consequences in person. Harvey nodded.

"Then we'll talk tomorrow. It'll be good to have you back." With any luck, things would return to a happy equilibrium by the evening. Seeing as they'd be closer together again, the odds were good that it would be a fulfilling day.

A/N: I just want to say that you guys are all awesome. Thank you for all your comments and support, they mean the world to me! The ideas for this chapter came off the heels of all the promo material for season 5, which has been exciting (and maybe a little worrying at the same time) to see! Next chapter will be the last chapter in this story. I hope you've enjoyed it all so far, it's been so much fun to work on this. You've helped make it all the better :)