She woke up, thoughts still clouded from the alcohol.
There were a few seconds of peace before it hit her and the nauseous feeling came over her.
The pictures from last night flashed through her mind all at once and all she wanted was to crawl underneath her blanket and never get out of her bed. Three of her alarms had already gone off and it was much later than she would usually wake up but she still felt dizzy from the red wine.
Under the shower her state of mind finally cleared up a little bit and she realized that she had to face him today, no matter what had or not had happened last night.
That was exact reason why they should've retained their safe distance. They messed up and now they had to pick up the broken pieces for their relationship and somehow put them back together.
She took extra long to get ready, just to avoid his presence for a few more minutes, though she knew, she couldn't run away from him any longer but she needed time to gather herself. Donna had opted for a tight fitting emerald green dress that flared out at her waist, it was a little shorter than her usual dresses. Not that she had the intention to impress Harvey but she just wanted to feel good about herself, because today of all the days, she needed it.
After she had arrived at the firm she made her way to her bullpen office where she tried to avoid looking into Harvey's at all costs. She wasn't ready to face him just yet before she had figured out what yesterday night had meant, but to her surprise, he wasn't even there.
Not that he had just left his office, he hadn't even arrived yet which was untypical for him.
Maybe he tried to avoid her as well, she thought.
Before she had time to overthink his behavior even more than she already did Rachel had walked up to her with small but fast steps. She approached her with a smile on her face and Donna was glad about the distraction.
"You look cheerful", Donna said, trying to sound happy, wanting to distract the focus from herself. Rachel placed her arms on her bullpen office to lean over it and looked at her friend with a questioning look.
"Normally you are the one who does this mind-reading thing but- Are you okay?", the paralegal asked a little worried.
She knew that something was off with Donna. Usually she had that little smile on her face but today, she seemed more reserved.
"Sure Rachel, it's nothing", she may have been a good actress but she couldn't fool Rachel.
"I can see that you're not", she gave back in a soft tone. Donna lowered her gaze to the documents in front of her, keeping this from Rachel would be impossible so she decided to stick with the truth and be honest with her.
"How about we have lunch together?", she looked up to her, forcing a smile that she knew wouldn't convince her.
"That would be nice", Rachel replied in a warm tone. She has never seen Donna like this and was seriously worried about her. Whatever had happened, it must've affected her a lot.
Donna let out a huge sigh when Rachel made her way back to her office. There was no way out, Rachel wouldn't let it go, unless she told her, but what had actually happened?
She and Harvey had an amazing night that felt… But what did feel like? Too good and too comfortable than it would be appropriate for them. It felt better than with any other guy that she has been with before. What happened then was the part that she had trouble wrapping her mind around.
Their far than innocent embrace had nearly turnt into a kiss. An embrace that made her feel safe and at home and a kiss that wasn't supposed to happen and didn't but at least for her part, needed in so many ways…
There still were a few hours until lunch and the chance that she would see Harvey before was definitely there.
He woke up later than usual as well with the urge to stay in his bed forever because he was afraid. Afraid of seeing Donna after what had happened last night. In addition to that he felt bad for what he did. Trying to kiss her was wrong on so many levels. He shouldn't have messed with their friendship and he shouldn't have put her in that position. Usually he wasn't the guy to be rejected by a woman but Donna made it clear to him that she didn't want it but he had trouble to cope with that. Surely, the wine and scotch he had added a fair share to his later actions but he knew that it wasn't right to blame all of this on the alcohol. He should accept it was what he told himself, but how was he supposed to face her? Should he pretend like nothing happened or even apologize?
He was clueless on how to handle this. Usually when he didn't know what to do he asked Donna. His moral compass, the one who fixed so many things in his life, his everything.
Now, she was the only one in this world he couldn't go to with this. That was what bothered him the most.
Because of him, things got weird and he couldn't handle it when things were off with her. Especially during times like these where he needed her more than ever.
All of this was still running through his mind when he stepped out of the elevator, two coffees in his hand, black coffee with vanilla for him and one venti mocca latte with extra vanilla as well. It was for Donna because on the ride to the firm he came to terms with his actions from last night and now was sure that he somehow needed to apologize to her but he didn't know how, so he decided he should let the coffee speak for him.
In the lobby Mike was already impatiently waiting for him. "Where the hell have you been?! It's two hours later than usually", Harvey didn't even stop, just kept walking, forcing his protege to keep up with his pace.
"What are you?! My time manager?", Harvey gave back with in an annoyed voice. He had more important things to do than discussing things like these with Mike.
"At least you brought me coffee", Mike recognized that Harvey wasn't in a good mood.
"Not for you, wannabe-lawyers don't deserve my coffee", Harvey replied monotone.
"Then who does?", Mike asked trying to calm his bosses anger, not knowing where it was suddenly coming from. As they were turning around the corner to his office, he got a vague idea. Stephen was leaning at Donna's bullpen office. She was wearing a soft smile on her face and Mike could basically sense Harvey's anger increasing with every feet they walked closer towards them.
He shot a quick look to his left. Harvey's jaw was clenched and the expression on his face was even more annoyed than earlier at the elevators.
"What is this fucking douche doing here?", he said more to himself than to Mike who thought it was the best not to answer to his rather metaphorical question.
Mike flashed a smile towards Donna and mouthed a "Hi" to somehow reduce the angry tension that was rising with every second the four of them were there.
Harvey on the other side didn't feel like being polite at all.
He acknowledged neither Stephen, nor Donna while walking right past them into his office.
"Where are the Hessington Oil files?", he didn't direct his question to Donna but it was clear that she was the one being asked.
"On your desk", she gave back, just rolling her eyes at his sudden ignorance. Mike who had just witnessed the awkward situation between the two followed his boss with quick steps and closed the glass door of Harvey's office behind him. He turned around and looked at him, head tilted like a disappointed puppy.
"What?", Harvey asked, more annoyed than before if that was even possible.
"Harvey, what ever happened with the two of you, I don't think she deserved to be treated like that", Mike gave back, trying to sound calm.
"Mike, I don't need a lecture from you, you can go now", his voice had gone more harsh and he leant back on his chair letting out a huge sigh. His protege was on his way out when Harvey raised his voice once again "And Mike… Take the coffee", he tried to state as an offer peace because he knew that the puppy didn't deserve being the one he was letting his anger out on.
"Thanks", he flashed a shy smile at his boss, grabbed the coffee and made his way out of the office.
Now he knew who the coffee was for. Donna, that explained the taste of vanilla in it, Harvey might be a douche but he truly cared about her.
Harvey didn't waste one look on what was happening outside of his office and got straight back to work. He didn't have the energy to handle it right now, so he put all of what was left into his work, telling himself it would calm his mind to at least beat Stephen on the case. They were supposed to work together on this but to him it was battle. A battle he had to win for his own ego and maybe to prove to Donna that he was better than him, he knew he was better but he wanted her to see Stephen loose.
Donna didn't dare to waste a gaze on him too. She was mad at him. Maybe even furious. For what had happened but what bothered her the most was how he treated her. Without any respect, acting like she meant nothing to him, like she was a total stranger.
When lunch hour came closer she didn't bother telling him she was leaving with Rachel. He probably wouldn't even notice that she was gone and wouldn't care one bit anyway.
Rachel was already waiting in the lobby, her coat in hand and with a wide smile on her face. Donna herself had thrown over a black Burberry coat with her matching Hermès bag. She was grateful for the opportunity to spend time with her friend away from the office, away from Harvey.
"Hey, there you are", Rachel said with a smile on her face as she was greeting her friend with a quick hug.
"I really needed some time out of there", she said, already feeling much better when they were leaving the building, making their way to a little bistro Rachel had discovered recently.
They sat down on a table next to the big glass windows.
Now that they sat down, Rachel inspected Donna closer, trying to find out what was different about her today. Her instincts told her that something was off but she couldn't exactly make out what it was. Mike had told her what happened in the morning so she wasn't totally clueless about her Donna's and Harvey's little falling out.
"Mike told you, didn't he?", Donna asked her friend with a soft smile. Rachel was completely ripped out of her thoughts.
"He did", she sounded a little guilty and that was exactly how she felt. It wasn't really any of her business but she wanted her friend to be happy and didn't want Harvey to interfere with that.
"It's fine, he looked like a sad puppy when he left Harvey's office so I figured he needed someone to talk to", she gave back with a chuckle.
"Yeah, he did", Rachel replied, mimicking her expression.
"Harvey and I-", she didn't really know how to put the things that happened into words. The young woman sitting on the opposite side of the table listened to words attentively.
"We… He asked me out for dinner yesterday night because he wanted to celebrate us working together again, you know we never had the chance to do that and suddenly he must've had a change of heart or something", she stopped there because the food that Rachel had ordered for them had arrived.
"So he asked you on a date?", Rachel asked with a curious tone in her voice.
"No", Donna replied quickly, "It wasn't like that, really. We just had a nice night, good food, a lot of talking, he walked me home and then-", she didn't dare to say it out loud.
Rachel suddenly got an idea of what could've happened and her facial expression suddenly turned from calm and attentive to absolutely shocked.
"You two had-", before she has the chance to voice her assumption, Donna already shut her up.
"No, we did not", she threw in to avoid any possible misunderstandings.
"He walked me up to my apartment, we hugged and then we nearly kissed, but I couldn't because-", to be honest with herself she didn't even know why. Rachel looked like she wanted to jump up and down.
"Why didn't you? You two…I mean you two have chemistry", she added with a knowing look on her face.
"I guess you can never go back", Donna said more to herself than to Rachel.
"Donna that's huge", she voiced still trying to process what her best friend had just told her. She and Mike used to wonder if something had ever happened between them because they seemed to be so close and comfortable around each other but now that Donna was openly admitting to that, she couldn't wrap her mind around it.
"And now-", she didn't know how to continue. Everything that she had feared, happened today and she was avoiding the thought of going back to his desk after lunch break.
"Everything is messed up and the thing with Stephen doesn't make any of it better", Donna voiced in a tired voice.
"Is he jealous?", Rachel gave back curious.
"That would be an understatement", Donna replied with chuckle.
"Actually, he kind of told me that it bothered him", she continued.
"He really cares about you, doesn't he", it was more of a metaphorical question that both women knew the answer to.
"It only bothers him because he doesn't like sharing me which by the way, he doesn't even have to but of course he doesn't see that, instead he's treating me like a stranger", Donna implied in an annoyed tone. It was typical for Harvey to just be angry at anyone about a situation that wasn't even worth it, and at least to her it wasn't.
"Maybe you should talk with him when he cooled down a bit", Rachel suggested to be honest she didn't know what the right thing to do was in this situation.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Giving it space might be the best for now", she said forcing a smile. Space wasn't exactly easy when you were working fifteen feet apart from each other and basically relying on the other person.
They were a team and had to stay one if they wanted to succeed.
Rachel and Donna have already extended their lunch time to a maximum when they arrived back at the office and Harvey, against Donna's assumption, had recognized her leaving the second she did. He might pretend that she wasn't there but had to keep track of her every second and it annoyed it him because he could only suspect what took her so long.
Trying more or less to cool down, he deep dived into work and the latest documents that Donna had left on his desk before he had arrived. In the corner of his eye he saw emerald green fabric swaying in her little bullpen office. Somehow he was relieved that she was back but on the other side he started wondering even more what she has been doing and where she had been and the most important question was: with who? He could only guess and only had one particular douche in mind but it was her life and she could do whatever she wanted. It made him angry. More than he would ever admit. Usually they told each other where they were going but this time he figured that she didn't want him know.
She had stepped out of the elevator with a weird feeling in her stomach. Usually she wasn't the one to flee a conflict but right now she simply didn't have the energy to do so but for a matter of fact, it was inevitable anyways.
Making her way around the corner she saw him sitting in his office, brows furrowed. His dress shirt was tight on his body with his muscles flexed. He looked stressed. If they were on normal terms, she would've entered his office, trying to help and relax him a little bit but that wasn't an option now.
Instead, she walked straight up to her bullpen office, settled down and started working. He fully ignored her so she figured she could do the same. Time passed quickly when Rachel came out of her office to tell her friend goodbye.
Donna didn't want to leave yet. Harvey was still there and she didn't want him to be even more annoyed because she took an early night.
It was way past nine when she started getting tired and had trouble concentrating. She didn't want to leave yet but she was exhausted. It was wrong not to tell him she'd leave so she grabbed her coat and her bag and made her way into Harvey's office.
"Hey", she voiced with a soft smile on her face despite everything that has happened today. He looked up, a little stunned by her, like always and replied in a rather cold tone.
"What do you want?", his efforts of cooling down had obviously failed. Annoyed by his rude reply, her brows shot up. If he wanted to play mean, she would do the same.
"I'm leaving for the night", she gave back, mimicking his rather cold tone. His jaw was clenched and his usually warm looking eyes gazed at her coldly.
"Good", he said, lowering his gaze to the documents in front of him. For him the thing was over.
"Have a nice night", he added in a sarcastic tone, not even acknowledging her but he immediately regretted saying.
"Sure, I'm going to have a nice night", she scoffed back, her stares burning wholes in his three piece. Right now she hated him so freaking much. He had no right to treat her like that and the audacity he had was still hard to wrap her brain around. Her soft voice and all good and nice intentions were long gone and all she wanted to do was yell all the things at him that have build up in her throughout the day.
"You know what Harvey, that's why yesterday…", she shouldn't have opened this can of worms but it was too late. His ignorance faded and he slowly looked up to her, fury in his eyes.
"Yesterday what?!", he got up from his chair now, making his way around the huge table to her, now standing only a few feet away from her.
"You wanted to kiss me yesterday and now you're acting out because Stephen and I…-", she cried out, not able to control her emotions. Harvey was shocked by what she had just said.
"Stephen and you what?!", he was screaming at her now. His anger filled the entire office and he got more and more furious by the second.
"It is none of your business. And now you treat me like a stranger, worse, like you hate me and I can't-", she didn't answer his question about her and Stephen out of pure provocativeness but her voice broke there and her only focus was on suppressing the tears that were now forming in her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of him.
"See and that's why we will never work", she continued slowly.
"It was a mistake and I don't care what you do with him. In fact, I couldn't care less", he stated in a strong voice. Seeing her like this broke him but he couldn't to admit any of that.
"That's what I am saying, it bothers you but you can't admit it", she was so freaking tired of all this running back and forth.
"You don't understand, Donna. I don't care", his voice was harsh and cold. He stepped closer to her and it physically hurt him to see a tear rolling down her cheek, but he couldn't control his anger about Stephen.
"Screw you", she voiced and turned around. She couldn't stand to be around him for one more minute. Tears were now uncontrollably streaming down her face. The attempt to shield them with her hair failed as she ran into Mike but didn't dare to face him, making her way even faster to the lobby.
Mike, who was on his way to Harvey's office sparked an idea of what might've have happened. He has never seen Donna like that and he could figure that Harvey had something to do with her being so emotional.
"Harvey-", just as in the morning he starred like a disappointed puppy at his boss but before Harvey could say anything, Mike interfered.
"You know…", he paused there for a second "Hurting the people you love doesn't make you love them less", that was all he said before he threw the files on the couch and left.
Harvey was angry. Angry at the world and angry at himself.
He acted out on her and did the one thing he has always despised other people for. Hurting her.
Like so many times his temper and his anger got the best of him.
She was exhausted. Physically and emotionally. Without any care she threw her coat and shoes some where in the corner of her hallway. Her expensive bag was left on the ground as well. Just wanting to go to bed, fall asleep and forget about this awful day, she made her way to the bathroom to remove her makeup. The person she saw in the mirror only looked a like wasted version of herself. Her waterproof mascara wasn't so waterproof after all and her blush has faded throughout the day. Her usually so radiant looking freckles were lacking a glow and her hair was messier than ever.
Nevertheless, she still looked amazing, just incredibly sad.
After a few minutes she was done, with a slightly less wasted appearance she hopped into bed. She hasn't eaten yet but due to the recent events she didn't feel hungry at all, the opposite, the conversation with Harvey made her feel nauseous.
When she was finally slipping underneath her covers her phone blinged. It was a message from no one else than Stephen Huntley asking her out to the theatre the following day.
They have talked about Shakespeare and theatre plays when Harvey had interfered earlier. She was more than happy about the distraction so she replied that she'd love to.
Stephen was charming and he hasn't been anything but nice and polite to her even though she was very fond of his intention, but now she wasn't opposed to do the idea. Feeling a little better, she dozed off only a few minutes later.
Harvey had spent the night drowning his sorrows in scotch alone in his apartment, trying to forget her. Never had a women had this effect on him. Only Donna had so much power over him to make him feel miserable but this time it were his own actions that made him feel that way. Still, plenty of reason to drink one glass of scotch after another.
The morning after he felt terrible. His bones were aching and he had no intentions to go head right to the office so he decided to go for a run to clear his head.
Donna woke up feeling better than the night before, a little excited about her date. She ordered a dress for the evening, doing anything to distract herself from Harvey and their fight the night before. Today was supposed to be a good day for her was what she told herself. If it weren't for Harvey, it would be a perfect day; not working late, front row at the theatre and a handsome british date. She took longer than usual to do her hair and her makeup letting herself time to relax. She deserved that after last night.
Even with all the effort she put into her acting, she couldn't fool Mike in the elevator later that morning. He had his puppy dog look in his eyes when he gazed at her on their way up to the office.
"Just say it, Mike", she said, starring forward at the metal wall. They were alone, so he felt free to speak.
"Are you two okay, Donna?", he asked shyly.
"We will be, don't worry", she replied not being able to look him in the eyes.
"Just so you know, he cares about you, deeply", the young lawyer gave back with an encouraging smile.
"Maybe, but he has a weird way of showing it", the redhead said in a sad voice but before Mike could say anything, the elevator doors had opened and she made her way to her bullpen office with fast steps. Harvey wasn't in his office and she somehow was relieved. At least she had a few spare moments before he would start to ignore her or treat her like she was beneath him but he didn't let her wait long.
With fast steps he approached his office, not daring to look at her for one second. She just rolled her eyes and went with it. There was no energy left in her to fight so she figured it would be best to let to go. Only a few more hours and she'd spend time with someone who actually made her feel wanted and appreciated.
This time Harvey didn't ignore her to be particularly mean, he simply didn't know how to face her, how to act around her.
He said some terrible things last night which he had acknowledged by now, only took him a bottle of scotch. He got straight to work but he just couldn't get his mind off the redhead sitting at the other side of the glass wall.
She looked gorgeous but this time it would be inappropriate to look at her or even compliment her and he figured she might need some space from him. It was the first time that he was shy around a woman and completely clueless what to do.
He needed time to gather himself, so he figured that he might talk to her after work when it wasn't that busy and he found the right words, words for which he was so desperately looking for.
Donna on the other side felt like nothing had changed after last night. He still acted ignorant towards her and it hurt her. She didn't want to admit that but it made her feel bad and she couldn't even distract herself from that feeling.
Stephen texted her several times throughout the day to which she happily replied. It was a welcoming distraction to the icy atmosphere between her and Harvey. She got even more excited when her dress arrived a few hours later and she got ready in the bathroom. It was a stunning black dress with an open back made out of silky material that hugged her curves perfectly. When she touched up her makeup, Rachel entered the bathroom.
"You look amazing, Paulsen", Rachel stated with a wide smile on her face. She was glad that her friend felt better. Mike had told her about the incident yesterday night but she decided not to confront Donna with it, she didn't want to ruin the good mood the redhead was in.
"I know", Donna replied, mirroring Rachel's smile.
"And who's the lucky guy you're wearing that stunning dress for", she asked with a smirk on her face.
"First of all, the dress has nothing to do with the guy, but well it truly is stunning", Donna gave back with chuckle, waving the brush over Rachel's nose "And it's Stephen", she added nonchalantly.
"Oh, the flirty British-Ha…-", she forced herself to stop right there, she already said enough. Donna's eyebrows shot up and she slowly let the brush down, putting it back into her makeup bag, pretending that she didn't hear anything.
"Sorry Donna", Rachel didn't dare to look her friend directly in the eyes.
"I'm just lucky that you're happy, I'm sure you two will have an amazing night", she continued with an apologetic voice.
"It's okay Rachel, it's not like I don't know how people compare him with Harvey all the time", she gave back, slightly annoyed.
"But he's different, I mean first of all his charming, shows interest and you know, doesn't treat me like a stranger", Donna didn't mean to say the last part of her sentence out loud because she didn't want Rachel to worry about her and Harvey even more.
"I'm sure he's amazing", Rachel replied with a soft smile.
"And you and Harvey are going to be okay", she added before she hugged her friend goodbye and left the office. Donna packed up her things and walked up tp the elevators. She was supposed to meet Stephen in the lobby.
The elevators took longer than usual and she didn't even have to guess who it was when she heard steps approaching her.
It was Harvey, she just knew know his steps sounded and somehow she was able to feel his presence behind her. It was ridiculous.
"Donna", he said unusually soft when she turned around.
"You look incredible", he stated when he got to look at her in her new silky black dress, totally stunned by her. Her fair skin looked radiant and her hazel eyes were sparkling at him.
"Thank you, I guess", she replied in a rather questioning tone because she was sure that telling her how good she looked wasn't the only reason why he approached her.
"I've been wanting to tell you that I am sorry", he said, looking to the ground, a little bit intimidated by her.
"For saying all these horrible things to you, I was-", he stopped there for a little second "It bothered me. You and Stephen… I don't know, I was jealous and to be clear I care about you", he continued still looking at the ground.
Donna was a little bit surprised that he finally found the courage to make amends.
"It's okay, it just hurt a bit to hear you say all of this things", to say that it broke him when she said this was an understatement.
"I know you were just about to leave but maybe you want to have a drink at my office?", he was shyly testing the waters.
"Sorry Harvey, I'd like to but" she didn't really know how to say it "Uhm, Stephen and I are actually going to the theatre tonight", she gave back slowly. Harvey looked at her, trying to hide the sad gaze that was showing on his face.
Despite all the anger that was boiling inside him, he tried to keep a happy face. For her. She didn't deserve to be treated badly by him.
"Then… have a good night", he voiced before he turned around and made his way back to his office where Mike was already waiting for him.
"Where have you been?", the young lawyer asked impatiently.
He was laying out numerous files on the floor when Harvey entered the office.
"I've been…- Well it's none of your business anyways and what the heck are you doing?", he asked confused trying to change the topic.
"I am trying to clean up this chaos to make it make sense", the young lawyer replied, nose buried in documents. He was sitting on the floor, piles of files stapled next top him.
Harvey decided to sit on the couch, focusing on the latest deposition files.
"Something doesn't make sense about this Huntley-douche", Mike mumbled more to himself than to Harvey. He had picked up on Harvey's reluctance to Stephen. Of course Harvey had heard Mike's comment and was all ears when it came to Stephen Huntley. Everything he could get in his hands that was going against him was worth a million dollars.
"What do you have?", Harvey had now turned his full attention to the young lawyer who was hectically going through the papers.
"I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong but all if this makes it look Stephen had something to do with all of this and not just on the lawyer side. They've been one step ahead of us all along and I think I figured out why. He's responsible for this. He did it, Harvey. We have our guy", everything in Harvey's head went blank. The only thing that he could think about was Donna. She was with him, maybe even alone and he couldn't handle the thought of her getting hurt in any way.
"Donna is with him", he let out, about to take out his phone to call her. He needed to make sure that she was okay. It was the only thing he could think about now.
"Wait Harvey, stop, don't tell her on the phone. Tell her to come here but don't tell her, please. I need to go get Jessica", Mike said and left the office.
Harvey called her three times in total but she didn't take the call the first two times. The third time she answered.
"Harvey, you know I am on a date. I thought you knew that you shouldn't call-", she voiced in a quiet but still annoyed tone but Harvey cut her off "Donna, listen this is not about your date but I need you to come here right now. It is important-", he said forceful.
"Harvey, I am not gonna do that. Can you not be happy for me for once?!", she gave back angry.
"Please, this is not about us. It is-", he stopped three and remembered Mike's words, "Please come here. I need you. It's important, Donna and don't tell him", he tried again. He just wanted her to be save whatever it took.
"I hate you, Harvey", she let out with a huge sigh but it somehow sounded like she was about to make amends.
"Please, Donna-", but she already ended the call. He didn't care if she was dating him or not right now. His only concern was her safety which definitely wasn't ensured when she was with Stephen Huntley.
Who did he think he was?! Donna was out of her mind.
The evening with Stephen has been great so far. They went to the theatre, the seats were amazing and now they were about to head out for dinner. He was a great guy and the time she spent with him was filled with laughter and a lot of flirting. Though she had to admit that Harvey had crossed her mind a couple of times.
When he had called, she didn't know how to take it. Was he just trying to ruin her date? She knew that he didn't like the thought of her and Stephen being a thing or did he really need her? But what was that at the middle of the night. He sure had other people who could take her place in whatever he needed.
Trying to put Harvey's call out of her mind, she focused her attention on Stephen again. They were about to order at a very nice and exclusive restaurant. It looked amazing but it didn't have that special spark as the one Harvey took her to.
There he was, back on her mind again and to be honest she had never stopped thinking about him. She needed to leave.
He sounded so worried on the phone that she had to make sure everything was alright.
"Stephen, I have to go, I am so sorry", she uttered, already standing up to grab her coat and her bag. Tears formed in her eyes because she let him screw it up again. Stephen seems like a great guy but she would threw all of it away just for Harvey.
"Is everything okay, Donna?", he asked a little confused, getting up from his seat as well.
"I don't know, Stephen but I have to go", she left before he could say anything. She hailed a cab and to nervously made her way to the firm. He didn't say that he was there but she was sure. He needed her for some work emergency but she had a weird feeling about that. Something must be wrong.
With fast steps she made her way to the elevators, no clue what she was expecting up there.
Harvey, Mike and Jessica where sitting in her office by now, trying to make a plan on how to handle the situation.
They were sure that they needed to confront Stephen as fast as possible. Mike and Jessica wanted to order him to the firm right now but Harvey interfered. He didn't want to Donna to be there if she'd even come. He was sitting alone in his office making some calls to Eva Hessington when he heard heels walking down the hallway towards his office. They didn't sound like Jessicas so he was sure that it was Donna. He immediately ended the call and got up from his seat. There she was, looking absolutely stunning in her black silky dress.
"Harvey, explain to me why it was so important that I had to come here or I am leaving right-", but she couldn't finish her sentence. Harvey, with a worried gaze in his eyes made his way around the table and pulled her in to a close hug.
"Are you okay?", he mumbled into her hair
She was entirely caught by surprise when he pulled her in but she didn't push him away. After a few seconds he loosened the hug but let his hands rest on her waist.
"Harvey, what is going on?", she asked confused.
"Maybe you should sit down", he replied softly.
"You're making me nervous", she voiced curiously.
"It's about Stephen…", he paused there and sat down next to her on the back leather couch. Before he continued he took her hand in his. It was odd for him that he felt the need to comfort someone.
"He might not be the guy, we thought he is. He committed crimes. He is responsible for the-", before he could anything more, she interrupted him.
"I was with him, I went out with him, I flirted with him and I didn't know", her voice broke there and a tear started rolling down her face.
"Donna, none of us suspected anything, it's okay you're here now and you're safe", he tried to stay calm but the fury in him grew. He wanted to beat the shit out this guy for making her cry. He'd fight anybody who hurt her, he couldn't handle that.
She tried to suppress any more tears but this time it didn't work.
Harvey pulled her closer and laid his arms around her.
"It's okay, Donna" he whispered into her hair, he figured that she just needed him to be there right now.
"How about I call Ray, so he takes you home", Harvey offered in his special soft voice he only had when he talked to Donna.
She just nodded and sat up straight but Harvey's arms were still wrapped around her.
He walked her to the car to comfort her as long as possible.
She looked so sad and it broke him. When he got to Jessica's office the anger was raging in him.
"How do we take that son of a bitch down?", he asked, jaw clenched while he was walking towards Jessica and Mike.
"Is Donna okay?", Mike asked a little bit worried.
"She will be", Harvey voice sounded slightly calmer when he talked about her.
"He'll be here any minute", Jessica said in a cold voice.
"I will confront him and the FBI will come after that", she added, sipping on a glass of scotch.
"Why won't you let me do that?", Harvey asked a little annoyed. He was the right person to do so.
"Harvey, don't you see. You are too personally involved", she remained calm. Harvey only saw Donna in this but Jessica could represent the firms best interst right now.
"If you say so", he turned around and grabbed a glass of scotch for himself. He definitely needed it right now. He could sense his presence when Stephen approached the office. Harvey was disgusted by him. He wanted to physically hurt for how he played and hurt Donna. Jessica saw how this affected him so he asked Harvey and Mike to leave them alone.
The two of them made their way to Harvey's office. Mike knew how tense he was so he didn't say anything.
"He will get what he deserves", he finally said, trying to calm his bosses nerves "And Donna…-", he didn't know what to say anymore. Harvey who was pouring his second glass of scotch now, was looking at his younger protege with sad eyes.
"He hurt her and I can't just let that happen", he raised his voice again. In the corner of his eye he saw Huntley walking off to the bathroom. Now was his chance to confront him.
He got up and followed him with fast steps.
"Harvey, don't!", he heard Mikes voice behind him but nobody could stop him now.
He made his way into the bathroom in rage. Stephen was standing in front of the mirror, wiping his hands clean.
"You son of a bitch", he yelled clenching his fist and ramming it into his jaw which threw him against the wall. Stephen, who was stronger than Harvey had originally anticipated, got up fast and hit back. Harvey felt blood running down from his cheekbone but he didn't care. All he cared about was taking revenge for Donna but before he could take one more hit, Mike had pulled him away while the FBI handcuffed Stephen and walked with him away.
"Harvey, what were you doing?!", it was more of a metaphorical question that he asked his boss.
"He deserved it", was the only thing he said before he walked away and left the building. He needed to see her, now.
It was late but he didn't care. The urge to make sure that she somehow okay overweighed. Impatiently hailing a cab because he didn't want to bother Ray that late, he checked his messages. There weren't any from Donna, but he wasn't surprised she probably called Rachel or some of her other girl friends.
He basically ran up to her apartment and knocked on her door impatiently.
After Ray had dropped her off, she made her way to the bathroom. She just wanted to get out of that dress.
It was beautiful but it now had too many bad memories attached to it so she changed into a lacy, short black neglige with a huge light grey cardigan on top. She wanted to go to bed as fast as possible and she had already laid down comfortably in her bed when she heard familiar knocks on her door. It was crystal clear to her who that was.
"Harvey-", she let out in soft voice when she opened her door and saw him standing in front of her. He had cleaned up the wound on his cheekbone in the cab but she still recognized that he was hurt.
"What did you do?", she had a vague idea of what had happened.
"It's nothing. How are you? I hope I didn't wake you", he replied. She looked tiny, without her heels and in that big cardigan that was covering her.
"It's fine. To be honest I couldn't sleep anyway but it's okay", she lied. He could still see the traces of run down mascara on her face.
"No you're not", he stated and his face got even more worried.
"No, I am not", she voiced, forcing a little smile underneath the tears that were building up in her eyes again.
"Come here", he quietly said and stepped closer to pull her to his chest. Her hands were placed on his chest and she let out a little sob.
Harvey immediately pulled her closer, drawing small circles on her back. It ripped him apart to see her like that.
What made her sob was that all over again, it didn't work out with any of the men that she had been seeing. It wasn't the thing with Stephen in particular that made her sad, more that she couldn't find happiness with any of the guys she forced herself to want so desperately. She wanted the man she couldn't have, the man where she felt like home in his arms.
"I'm sure he will get what he deserves", he tried to calm her down.
"Pretty sure, you already took care of that", she loosened the hug and took one more look at the bruise on his cheekbone.
A little smile was growing on her face. It was ridiculous but it somehow flattered her that he fought him. For her.
"I couldn't stop myself, I mean he hurt you and I couldn't let him get away with that", he tried to explain himself.
"I just hope he looks worse", she gave back, looking up at him. His hands were still resting on her back and hers on his chest.
"He does", Harvey reassured her with a soft smile. She stared down on his chest afraid to ask the next question.
"Will you stay with me?", she voiced and raised her gaze with a questioning look.
"Always", he gave back and started smiling before he pulled her in again, holding her tight like he never wanted to let go of her.