Chapter 7: The fallout
2015- February
Donna was officially freaking out. She could go to prison! What would Ava do without her? Would she be taken away from her? Oh god! Her poor baby!
She had asked Rachel to babysit Ava while she stayed late at the firm. She was extremely stressed and did not want to worry her baby.
Harvey had gone ballistic. He was doing everything in his power to put a stop to this. When it came to Donna, he did not care if people were getting away with murder as long as she was safe.
Eventually it had all worked out and here Harvey was late at night, at Donna's apartment having dinner with her.
The six year old despite her protests to stay up had been instructed to sleep as tomorrow was a school day.
Harvey and Donna were reminiscing about the god awful dinner party which happened before Ava was born.
It was then that one conversation led to another and the last thing she remembered was Harvey saying "you know I love you, Donna" before leaving her place.
She was absolutely flabbergasted on hearing this revelation. However, the next day on confronting him about it she realised that he only said that because perhaps he pitied her.
It was then that Louis was telling her how lucky Harvey was to have her in his life, that the idea to move to Louis's desk in order to move on from Harvey hit her.
She had gone to his office to her this decision when he said "Donna, I think you're one of the most amazing women I know. But you do have a child and I could never bring her in the middle of the mess, if we didn't work out. So just because I don't want more-"
"I'm leaving you Harvey" she had said. And later explained to him that she was going to work for Louis.
3 MONTHS LATER
Harvey had started seeing a therapist for his panic attacks which had been triggered because of Donna leaving him. It turned out that he had a lot of unresolved issues because of his mother that would keep him from having real relationships.
He and Donna were barely talking. Hell, he even met Ava only once in the past three months when she had come to the firm in the evening.
"I miss you so much Harvey!" Ava had told him. "I miss you too, Ava, so much!" Harvey had replied as he hugged the six year old. Donna from far away had witnessed this encounter and it killed her from inside to see her daughter so upset and long for her father figure.
It was a Saturday afternoon and Ava was throwing a fit. She had told her mother that she didn't care if she and Harvey were friends or not, she wanted to see him. She was inconsolable. So Donna had decided to let her spend her Saturday afternoon with Harvey.
She had tried calling him but he didn't pick up. Donna thought he was doing that intentionally. However, in reality he was in a therapy session. When he got done from the session after an hour he saw two missed calls from Donna.
He immediately called her because he knew she wouldn't have called him unless there was an emergency. "Harvey!" Donna answered in one ring. "What is it?" He came straight to the point as he did not want to talk to her. He was still somewhat annoyed with her over the whole Louis coming after his salary situation and she being loyal to Louis.
"It's Ava, she is inconsolable! She misses you." "I am on my way" he cut the call immediately after that!
Donna was furious with this situation. Her child was tied to him but she wanted to move on from Harvey.
Harvey had made it clear he did not want a relationship with her. On the other hand she had realised that she was in love with him except she couldn't do anything about it. She felt rejected. She also had a life to live. She had casually gone out with dates with this guy named Mitchell, however, she was not quite sure how Ava would react to him.
She was deep in her thoughts when she heard knocks. It was Harvey. Before she could get up to open the door, Ava bolted towards the door and opened it.
Ava could not even reach till Harvey's waist. So he lifted her up. "Don't ever leave me Harvey!" She cried out loud. "I could never ever leave you Av! How about I take you out for ice-cream?" "Yes! Let me put on my shoes" Ava rushed towards her bedroom in search for her brand new shoes which Harvey had gifted her for Christmas.
Donna had witnessed the whole scene and her eyes were glistening with tears. She wanted to go over and hug Harvey. She missed him too. So much! But he broke her heart and she could not do anything about it!
"I'll bring her back in two hours" Harvey stated and Donna merely nodded. "Mommy, should I bring you your favourite ice-cream?" Ava asked as she felt bad for throwing a fit. She was a good kid after all. But she only wanted to spend some time with her godfather.
"It's alright, sweetie" Donna gave her a forced smile. "Love you mommy" and with that Ava and Harvey headed off.
When Ava got back, she did in fact bring Donna her favourite ice-cream. Technically it was Harvey who had bought it as a peace offering.
Few months later she found about Harvey's panic attacks through Louis's Dictaphone and that had affected Donna deeply.
Later on everything just seemed to be going down the hill with Mike's arrest.
Donna had gotten back to Harvey's desk in order to help him with the trial.
But that woman Anita Gibbs was no joke. She had gotten Donna's father involved for inflating his assets. But eventually Harvey and Mike came through and they lived to fight another day with Donna's dad being out of danger.
The jury was to give the verdict tomorrow. Donna was extremely restless. Ava who was now seven knew something was wrong because the past few weeks she was spending more time with her babysitter as Donna was working late to help with the fiasco.
But both Donna and Harvey did their best to protect her from any of this.
It was almost the middle of the night when she heard knocks. She knew it was Harvey.
Once she had gone to work for Louis, Harvey had stopped calling her during odd hours of the day. He still came by her place every weekend to hang out with Ava. But he dropped the kid off by 7 pm.
"Harvey, what are you doing here?" She enquired softly. Although she did know why he was here. He was thinking of turning himself in but he could not make such a huge decision without running it by her.
He filled her in on the day's event and she was trying her best to convince him not to turn himself in.
Before they knew it their civil conversation had turned into a screaming match and it had woken Ava up. She did not interrupt them right away. She was trying to eavesdrop.
"Harvey, I don't want to lose you" Donna was saying "Think about what your actions would do to Ava. We can't live without you Harv"
"Donna, you don't understand... it's my fault"
"No Harvey, its Mike's fault just as much" "Then why should I be the one to throw him under the bus?" Harvey questioned.
"Don't leave me Harvey!" Ava said in fearful voice. All she had been able to comprehend was that Harvey was leaving. She had no idea what turning himself in meant.
"Ava, you should be in bed, sweetie" it was Donna who answered. "I was sleeping mommy but I woke up because I heard you guys shouting. Where is Harvey going, mommy? Harvey, please don't leave me" the little girl looked frightened and almost on the verge of crying.
Harvey went up to Ava, and dropped to his knees to match her height. He wiped her tears with his hands and hugged her.
"All I'm asking you Harvey is to have faith in the jury, like I have faith in you" Donna said and she joined her two favourite people on the floor.
Harvey then included Donna in the hug. And all three of them hugged each other as if they were a team. He kissed both of their foreheads.
How could he turn himself in now, without a fight when his whole heart (Donna and Ava) was begging him to stay strong? He had to fight, for them and for Mike. He was going to convince Mike to wait for the jury.
He ended up tucking Ava in bed and staying over at Donna's for some time. Once, Ava had gone back to sleep again. Donna convinced Harvey to get some sleep as well.
"Is it weird if I tell you I don't want to be alone tonight?" He had said. Donna reached for his hand and took him inside with her to her bedroom.
She did not know what the results would be tomorrow but tonight she just wanted to be close to him and apparently he wanted the same thing.
They slept in each other's arms that night.