Happy Friday :)


Donna's eyes flew open at the sound of the heart monitor beeping from the bed across the room, hyperventilating erratically. Panicking, she didn't know where she was and briefly forgot the events of the day. She sat up violently, instinctively putting herself in a better position to defend herself should the need arise and became aware of Harvey's presence next to her. Hating feeling remotely restrained, she pulled her hand free before she became aware of the pain flaring in her chest and side. However, she just panicked even more. Why was she in so much pain? Why was Harvey here with her? Why was another machine blaring next to her?

'Mrs Paulsen-Specter! Calm down, you're safe but you're going to rip your stitches if you don't lie back down,' a doctor tried. The hyperventilating continued as Donna couldn't understand what was happening. The weight next to her shifted, making her even more afraid. Was Harvey leaving her?

'Donna,' he spoke softly, trying to calm her down, 'hey, it's me. Breathe, Donna, breathe. Close your eyes and breathe, that's it. Keep going.'

Obliging, she closed her eyes and tried taking deep breaths but had to stop when it hurt her chest too much. Blindly, she reached out and felt Harvey's hand around hers again, comforting her. She felt another hand gently supporting her back, encouraging her to lay back down and she gasped in pain, but quickly tried to cover it up. Her eyes flew open again, but she calmed down once she realised it was only Harvey. She smiled weakly at him, which he did return, though his eyes were filled with worry and concern.

'I'm fine,' she said sternly.

'Well, I'll be the judge of that,' replied the doctor, who looked annoyed that Harvey had done her job better than she had. She quickly unwound the bandages from around Donna's chest and examined the stitches. 'Well. By some miracle, you are indeed fine. Take it easy though, Mrs Paulsen-Specter.'

The doctor walked off as Donna shouted, 'Just Donna is fine!' Tired, she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. She could feel Harvey running his fingers up and down her left arm, dodging the bruising as best he could. She flinched away as he moved towards her face.

'Hey, what's wrong?' he asked as tears filled her eyes. Donna just shook her head, causing the tears to roll down her face. 'You can tell me.' She couldn't tell him. She couldn't talk about it because she knew he was worried about her enough, without even knowing what was really going on. Desperate to provide some comfort, she felt Harvey stroking her hair, smoothing it away from her face. He found a hairband in her handbag and did his best to tie it up for her. He knew how she hated sleeping with it down.

She closed her eyes and forced her breathing to slow, pretending to be asleep so she didn't have to engage in a conversation. Eventually, Harvey's breathing mimicked her own superficial breathing, and she lay awake the rest of the night, able to take a small amount of comfort from the fact that he was at least resting. As nurses came round to check on her, she feigned sleep. The sedative still made her eyes heavy and she was tempted to fall asleep, but every time she did she felt the fear creeping in. And when she finally gave into the exhaustion, she almost immediately jerked awake again after some terrible flashback. The room span and her head pounded with tiredness, but she couldn't sleep after what had happened.