Not necessarily COVID-related, but a little fic that has been spinning in my head for a while and I thought it could fit in here just as well.
Being stuck at home carries an innumerable amount of challenges, but Harvey and Donna also managed to find some advantages. The most important one being the amount of time they can spend together. Simple things like waking up together and taking to time to have breakfast. Or taking breaks at the same time for coffee or lunch. Cooking together. Spending their nights on the couch, getting into each others favorite shows – and discovering new ones together.
Mostly, however, Harvey and Donna use their spare time to get to know each other even better than they already did. And most of that getting to know each other is done in bed. Physically, of course, because after a decade and a half they can't get enough of each other. But, as it turns out, being tangled together under the covers also provides an intimacy for conversations they never had before, whether it's after sex, before they go to bed or when they have just woken up.
One Saturday, it's almost noon when Harvey and Donna are still in bed. Often they use their free morning to go for walks, but today it's dark and rainy and cold and neither of them felt the need to leave their warm cocoon – although Donna persuaded Harvey into getting them coffee and breakfast an hour or so ago. She is lying on her stomach, reading a book while Harvey is next to her. He was scrolling through his phone for a while, but now he has put that down and has rolled on his side. He is close to her, trailing his warm fingers over her bare back. It's a lazy movement, not sexual in any way. Just a means to be even closer together.
Harvey's fingers first move absentmindedly, but after a while he pushes the blankets back, creating patterns over the freckles on her back. He loves the constellations on her pale skin, the way there are a million different ways of connecting them. Her skin is soft and smooth under his fingers as he traces from one spot to the next. "That's nice," Donna murmurs after a while, turning her head to look at him. He smiles at the blissful and relaxed expression on her face. His hand stills for a while when he leans in, pressing a soft kiss on her lips.
Donna sighs happily when Harvey resumes his movements. Never before has she felt so much at ease with someone else. Her and Harvey have been cooped up in their apartment for months now, but it hasn't created any kind of tension between them. If anything, it has created a new kind of intimacy with each other. She never felt like they had to make up for lost time, she prefers to treasure the time they have now. And mornings like this, simply enjoying each other's presence, taking each other in, makes her heart swell with so much happiness and so much love.
Slowly, Harvey's hand move upwards, lightly running over the edges of Donna's shoulder blades. His fingers tangle in the red locks that fall over her shoulders, and he gently pushes her hair to the side. It falls over her left shoulder, and he leans in closer, softly kissing her right shoulder. She hums softly, a sound he recognizes as contentment. His fingers move up again, tracing over the dusting of freckles in her neck, all the way up to her hairline. His thumb brushes through her silky smooth hair as his props himself up on his elbow, taking her in.
"Donna?" Harvey suddenly asks. "Hm?" She replies distractedly, engrossed in her book. "What's this mark?" His fingers gently move back and forth over a small line on her neck. It looks like a faded scar, a small one, close to her hairline. He has never noticed it before, but then again he has never spent so much time getting to know every detail of her body. "It's nothing," she replies without missing a beat. But he has just spent a long time watching her and he notices the muscles in her shoulders twitching a little. "Donna?" His hand moves a little lower again, his palm now on her back, slowly rubbing large circles over her skin.
Donna turns her head a little, meeting Harvey's brown eyes. Brown eyes that are warm and soft and curious, although maybe she can see a little worry behind them too. "I had a mole removed," she explains, offering a comforting smile before turning back to her book. Harvey's fingers trail upward again, tracing the scar. It's just a thin horizontal line, but now that he looks more closely he can also see two small dots on either side, presumably stitches. "Why did you get it removed?" He then asks.
"It was thickening a bit. Maybe growing too. A little suspicious, so I got it removed just to be sure." Donna softly answers, carefully choosing her words. Harvey's fingers still trace over the scar, but when she looks at him, she realizes it's an unconscious repetition as he seems lost in thought. "How do you even notice a mole there?" He wonders. It took him over a year of discovering every inch of her body before noticing the mark, that's in a place she can't even see.
Donna rolls herself on her side, making it easier to look at Harvey. His hand falls from her neck to her waist, where he resumes his gentle strokes. She faintly smiles at him, "I felt it," she explains, "when I tied up my hair. And my mother used to tell me, back when I was a kid, to watch my freckles closely. Because they have a slight chance of evolving into cancer." She notices a worried line appearing on Harvey's forehead, one that she anticipated, which is exactly why she wasn't too keen on having this particular conversation. She doesn't want him to worry about slight chances.
"Was something wrong with it?" Harvey asks his next question with a low voice. He can't believe he never knew this before, but when he sees Donna's guarded expression he knows there's more to the story. He runs his fingers upwards from her waist, over her ribs to her face, where his thumb gently strokes over her cheek. "Donna?" He softly encourages her. She is silent for a moment longer, and he can already see the answer in her eyes, "yes," she eventually tells him, "it was cancer. Melanoma."
Slowly, Harvey's hand moves back to Donna's neck. Now that she's lying on her side, facing him, he can't see the scar, but he knows roughly where it is. "Are you okay now?" He asks his most pressing question. A small smile breaks through on her face, "yes, Harvey. It was removed and I'm fine now. Have been fine ever since." He just nods, his brow still furrowed as his hand trails down her back, over the freckles he loves so much, "I'm going to keep track of them," he promises her.
"You're sweet," Donna smiles as she leans in, softly kissing Harvey. He pulls her a little closer to his body, but breaks the kiss after a moment. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" He wonders, his eyebrows knit together in a frown. Her smile fades and she bites her bottom lip, carefully weighing her words. "It was back when you were with Paula," she whispers, her eyes looking anywhere but at him, "after… I kissed you." Slowly, her eyes meet his, "we weren't exactly in a place where I could talk to you about suspicious moles." She murmurs.
Harvey's heart breaks a little at Donna's words. They have discussed that particular period in their history and he knows she wasn't exactly in the right state of mind back then. But he hadn't know she had to deal with this on top of the emotional distress they caused each other. He pulls her body a little closer, his eyes holding hers, "I'm sorry you couldn't talk to me," he softly tells her. She quickly shakes her head, "it's okay. You didn't know," she offers him a reassuring smile, "besides, the doctor removed it and that was it. It was not that big of a deal."
For a few moments, Harvey just looks at Donna, searching her face for any clues that she is downplaying the experience for his benefit. But she truly seems alright, and he nods at her, leaning in to steal a kiss. When he pulls back, he smirks, "you know… I think I need to do a thorough observation of all your freckles," he softly tells her, "just to make sure I see if anything changes." She chuckles lightly, rolling back on her stomach and picking up her book again, "go ahead," she smiles over her shoulder. Harvey smiles back, pressing a quick kiss to her temple before running his hand to her back again, his fingers starting new patterns over her skin.