Donna kept tabs on him over the years.
It wasn't necessarily even a conscious choice, but whenever his name appeared in the paper, whenever he came up against another lawyer at her firm, whenever she saw his name listed on the court docket she noticed. She followed his career, his prominent cases. He was successful, climbing the corporate ladder although there seems to have been a few hiccups along the way.
But he was a senior partner now. She wonders how he feels, one step away from what she knows was his ultimate goal, his name on the wall. She's happy he's succeeding.
It had been seven years. Long enough that the memories of the six months and one night they shared together had faded, though never completely. They would return to her each time she heard his name mentioned, fleeting thoughts of what could have been.
The last time Donna had seen him in person was two days after they slept together. She'd met him at the diner near her apartment, curiosity running rampant in her veins wondering just why he had asked to see her.
A part of her had hoped he might ask for more, with her. She had wondered if maybe he'd felt the same things she did that night, a tempting glimpse of possibility of what they could be together and wanted to ask her to explore it.
However in the end his concerns were purely professional, wanting to see if she needed a reference from him or wanted him to make some calls to help her find a new job. Their meeting was awkward and strained and while he was genuinely concerned about ensuring she found new employment, she was never entirely convinced that was his only motivation for meeting that day. There had been a hesitancy in his words, like he'd wanted to say more but couldn't.
That morning feels like a lifetime ago most days. They had gone their separate ways, new jobs at different law firms and despite living in the same city, working in the same field, their paths had never directly crossed again. Initially it was intentional. She hadn't loved him, but she also knew she could have fallen for him easily and that was a messy, undoubtedly pointless, complication she'd had no desire for. Distance was a safer, healthier choice to begin with. The rest Donna put down to fate, some strange entirely unlike her belief that if they were meant to return to each other's lives then it would simply happen.
And so after seven years she's virtually put Harvey Specter out of her mind. Until a random Tuesday morning when she overhears a conversation in the elevator on her way to work that changes everything.
She's sipping her favourite coffee that she picked up that morning as a treat, knowing she's in for a long, busy day. Her boss has a trial starting tomorrow and Donna knows she'll be spending the whole day and better part of the night keeping him calm and focused. George has a tendency to stride off on tangents when the pressure is on and he'll be counting on her to manage his preparation methods.
Two senior partners from her firm are also in the elevator as they travel sixty floors skyward and initially she has their conversation tuned out until one says, "Hey did you hear Specter might be in trouble?"
"Specter, you mean Harvey Specter? That cocky prick over at Pearson Hardman? Can't say I'm surprised," the other lawyer huffs, words dripping with clear envy. Donna knows for a fact that Harvey beat this particular partner in a case a few years back and he's always held a grudge.
"Yeah, I was chatting with a friend from the DA last night, apparently they're coming after him for burying evidence or something."
"Sounds about right, I knew he was shady. Guess the best closer in New York is nothing but a cheater after all." Smug satisfaction coats the man's words.
Donna's skin prickles, some emotion churning in her gut she doesn't quite understand. Harvey was no cheater, he might have liked to play in the grey at times, but there were some lines he'd never cross. Unlike someone else who worked there. Her intuition kicks into overdrive, and even without any more facts she just knows who's behind this.
Cameron Dennis. She never trusted him for a second. Harvey always had a blind spot with him, blinded by the accolades the man used to drop on his shoulders, by all the talk and sheer confidence he projected, by his belief Cameron was making the world a better place. But she had always known better, always suspected that some victories came just a little too easily to him to be fully above board. A theory that had been proven correct when she'd dug into his files.
The coffee cup shakes a little in her hand and she's grateful when the doors of the elevator finally open on her floor. She hurries to her cubicle, thankful her boss isn't currently in his office. She scrolls her phone for the entry of her old friend from the DA's office and makes the call.
She's hoping to learn that it's all a mistake, that the partners have their gossip wrong, but by the time she hangs up with Julia she feels real fear for the fate of the man she once worked for.
It's bad. Really bad. Cameron Dennis was finally being investigated for all the shady shit she knows for a fact he's guilty of, coerced confessions, falsifying documents, burying evidence. But in true Cameron fashion he'd already cut a deal to get out of it, one that threw Harvey under the bus instead. Anger bubbles in her chest.
For the first time in years Donna thinks about the folder she has stashed away in her cupboard. Of the documents and evidence she took, just in case, when she left the DA. A layer of protection and defence against a future attack on a man that at the time she didn't even know if she would ever see again. She had forgotten all about it until right now, isn't even sure why she continued to hold on to it as the years passed. But deep down she knows it's because she was waiting for something exactly like this to happen.
She takes a few deep breaths, begins to weigh her options. She doesn't owe Harvey anything but she also can't just sit by and watch him be disbarred, maybe even wind up going to prison, for something she knows he isn't guilty of.
She could just go see him, give him the documents, but the thought fills her with trepidation. She's not sure how he'll react to her suddenly butting into his business after all this time. She considers simply having the documents delivered anonymously, but a small part of her worries Harvey won't use them, still blind to Cameron's true intentions. She also can't go to Alexandra Leeds, the woman investigating Cameron and by default Harvey. Taking those documents was highly illegal. In the end she knows there's only one option available to her.
Gathering up her purse Donna heads back to the elevator. It's a terrible day to take time off from work but what she needs to do can't wait a moment longer. She leaves a voicemail for her boss, telling him an emergency came up and she'll be back as soon as possible. She knows her absence will only add to George's stress levels but right now her concern rests firmly with her previous boss, rather than her current.
In the taxi on the way back to her apartment she makes the necessary calls to arrange things. As soon as she arrives home she retrieves the seven year old folder from a drawer. She scans through the files, confirming once more that they hold all the evidence that should be needed to clear Harvey's name.
Donna has contacts everywhere, including Pearson Hardman of course, although until today she's never had to utilise them. So it wasn't hard to get herself to the door of Jessica Pearson's office, specifically at a time when Harvey wasn't in the building.
She takes a brief moment to survey the woman, Harvey's boss, the managing partner of the firm, trying to get a feel for her before she makes her request. Then she knocks on her door.
"Jessica Pearson?"
"Can I help you?" She's stunning really, immaculately put together, radiating power and Donna instantly gets the impression she's about to be politely dismissed.
"I'm Donna Paulsen. I need a minute of your time. It's important," she adds firmly, projecting her own level of confidence and the other woman eyes her curiously.
"Well Donna, since you managed to talk yourself all the way to my office door, I guess I should hear what this is about." She waves her into the office, and Donna takes a seat on the chair opposite her.
"I used to work with Harvey, I was his secretary when he was at the DA's office. I left when he did," she explains, looking to get straight to the point.
Immediately there's a flash across Jessica's face, it's fast, she reins herself in impressively quickly, but Donna doesn't miss it. She feels like the other woman suddenly knows exactly who she is, like the pieces of a puzzle just slotted together for her. It's slightly disconcerting she finds, something Donna herself is more used to doing than being on the receiving end of.
Jessica nods for her to continue.
"I know Harvey is in trouble." She pauses, waits to see if Jessica will confirm as such but her poker face remains in place. "I know he's about to go down for what Cameron really did."
Jessica deflates just a little at her words, a slip in the facade letting her concern shine through. She cares about Harvey, Donna can instantly tell, far more than as simply an employee whose fall from grace would reflect poorly on her firm. She knows she's made the right choice coming to her.
She pats the thick envelope resting on her lap. "Harvey would probably never use this. And I don't think he'd be too happy if he knew I had it. But this can save him. Will you help him?"
She hands the files to Jessica who immediately starts flipping through the documents.
"You took quite the risk taking these, you've had them all this time?" She gives her a calculating look and Donna knows she's making assumptions.
"Harvey didn't see it for a long time. Cameron can be good when he wants to be. But he never had me fooled. I didn't want to give him the chance to fool others." It's as much of an answer as she's willing to give Harvey's boss for why she took the files.
"So this will help? You'll be able to use this?" She continues, a little more forcefully than she intended. But she needs to know Jessica is going to fix things.
"It will."
"Good." She stands then, confident to now leave things in Jessica's capable hands. "Thank you."
"Do you want me to tell him it was you?"
She pauses with her hand in the door, surprised by the question.
"I don't think it's a surprise you've come to me at a time when Harvey is at court," Jessica adds.
She's quick, misses nothing and Donna has been nothing but impressed by the woman during their short meeting.
"No it's not. And no if you don't mind I'd prefer you didn't."
Jessica nods slowly, once again reading between lines. Donna hesitates another moment before adding her final request.
"Just protect him. And make Cameron pay."
"I fully intend to."
She doesn't hear anything more from Jessica but two days later her contact at the DA tells her Cameron has resigned. The investigation has been suspended and Harvey Specter's name is in the clear.
It's a relief. She fully trusted Jessica to make it happen after their meeting, had no doubt in the woman's abilities. But Cameron was slippery, and an unease had sat over her until that moment.
She wasn't sure she'd made the right decision all those years ago, taking the files with the evidence of what Cameron was doing was a huge risk, but now she feels completely vindicated in her choice.
Harvey was a good man, even if he didn't always show it or even believe it himself. Protecting him had been the right thing to do.
A week passes and she has nearly put the entire situation out of her mind when she leaves work for the day and comes face to face with Harvey for the first time in seven years, leaning against the wall opposite the elevators in the lobby of her office building. Waiting for her it's clear from the way he pushes off the wall and takes a step towards her the second she exits the elevator.
"It was you."
He looks good. It's the first thought through her mind. He was always attractive of course but the intervening years have been kind to him. The three piece power suit, the posture, the hair. It's a lot to take in.
"Harvey. It's been a long time."
She buys herself a minute because it's a shock to the system, having him standing right in front of her after so long and because she can't quite tell where his emotions are at. He's obviously here to confront her about what she did and she can't guess if he's annoyed she interfered, if he's grateful, happy to see her again after so many years. She can't read him like she once could.
"Why did you do it?"
"You were in trouble." The answer really was as simple as that. She had no ulterior motive but to protect him. It's why she hadn't wanted Jessica to tell Harvey it was her, because this hadn't been about fate bringing them back together. This had purely been about saving him. Although she had of course wondered if he'd figure it out anyway.
He works his jaw, an expression that Donna remembers well.
"It wasn't your fight," he eventually says, but his voice has softened.
"It wasn't yours either Harvey. I wasn't going to let you go down for the shit Cameron did. Not when I could stop it."
"You took a huge risk taking those files. You could have wound up in a lot of trouble."
He's not wrong but her own safety had never been her top concern.
"It was worth the risk."
"How did I not see it," he mumbles, looking away from her. "You never fell for the facade."
"Because even though you don't like to admit it, you're a good guy Harvey, and you thought he was as well."
"Well I wouldn't quite say that," he says, a smile ghosting over his lips. Clearly he still hated being called out on his decency.
"No, but you should say thank you for saving your ass," she quips, returning his smile.
He laughs, nods a little bashfully. "I guess I probably should." Harvey meets her eye directly then, sincerity ringing in his words. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." The words slip out of her whisper like, suddenly caught up in his gaze for a moment, her pulse strumming loud in her ears. There's something magnetic almost between them, there always was, and even after seven years of separation Donna can feel that draw towards him, unlike anything she's experienced with anyone else.
It's Harvey who breaks the moment, clearing his throat and looking down, his feet shuffling him a few steps further away from her.
"It was nice to see you again Donna."
She thinks that maybe he's dismissing her, that he feels their conversation is over now his suspicions were confirmed. So she nods, says "You too Harvey," with a small smile and moves to walk past him and back out of his life.
"Hey," he calls after her. "Do you want to go get a drink? For old times sake?"
She considers the plans she has with a friend that night, tickets to the theatre for a show she's been looking forward to. But he's looking at her hopefully, boyish and eager and she bites her lip unconsciously, thinking about the fact that if she leaves right now it might be another seven years before she sees him again.
"That would be nice Harvey."
They go to a bar around the corner from her office. Harvey orders them both scotch. The first sip burns, she hasn't had it since the last time they shared drinks from the bottle Harvey pinched from Cameron. She wonders why that is, she used to enjoy it.
It's a little awkward initially. They used to know each other intimately, they worked together, slept together, but it's been the better part of a decade since they last sat down opposite each other and the natural ease that once existed between them feels a little hazy.
But as the drinks help them relax, one clumsy question leads to another and then slowly that awkwardness begins to dissipate as they fill each other in on the missing years of their lives.
She hears about his cases, his climb up the corporate ladder, his tussles with Jessica, although she can read underneath his words just how much Harvey respects and admires her, as well as his seemingly never ending battle of one upmanship with a fellow lawyer named Louis Litt.
"He didn't really try to take his cat to court, did he?" She wheezes, swallowing down the last of her cosmo, having switched drinks after the first round, no longer able to keep up with Harvey on the scotch front.
"Donna, he threatened to sue the judge himself when he demanded he get rid of the thing out of the courtroom." Harvey grins at her, loose and wide and she feels transported back seven years, like no time has passed since the last time they traded stories over drinks. It's nice, feeling like they've just picked up where they last left off.
She asks about his family next. He tells her about Marcus, settled down, married with two kids, his restaurant a success. The personal lives of the two Specter brothers couldn't look more different she thinks.
"Wow, so you're Uncle Harvey now."
He wrinkles his nose at the name, but she can tell it's for show. That it's a role he probably secretly loves. It hasn't taken her long to be able to read him again she realises.
"Is your dad still playing in the band?"
Dark clouds thunder across his face instantly and she knows the answer before he has to say anything.
"Oh Harvey, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
"It's ok." He shrugs, glances down at his drink, swallowing heavily. "It's been five years now."
Her hand finds his and she squeezes his fingers tightly. Maybe it had been five years but she can still see the grief fresh in his eyes. She doubts he's ever allowed himself to deal with those emotions properly.
"He was a wonderful man, and I know how important he was to you. I'm so sorry you lost him."
I'm sorry you had to go through that alone is the thought that actually circles in her brain unexpectedly. She's surprised by how strongly she wishes that she'd been able to be there for him.
Even though the moment is heavy with sadness Donna can't help but be aware of her hand on his, of the heat of his skin, of the way Harvey's eyes now can't seem to look away from her touch. She thinks about how this is the first time she's touched him since he was naked in her bed. Her heart starts to race.
"I always loved the jokes he told me when he rang," she blurts out, looking for a way to break the moment. She slips her hand back into her lap where it's safer.
She and Gordon had chatted often on the phone while she was Harvey's secretary. They'd even gone to watch him play one night, not long before everything ended.
"Sometimes I think he used to ring just so he had a chance to tell you whatever new one he'd heard," Harvey says with a soft smile, shifting away from sorrow.
They reminisce some more about his father and she keeps waiting to see if he says anything about his mother, but he firmly avoids the topic and Donna figures not even his fathers death has been enough to mend those fences.
"So it's your turn now, tell me about your life," he says after finishing off his last story, and there's keen interest on his face.
She fills in the blanks, her work, a few off off extra off Broadway productions, her recent apartment move a few weeks ago.
"Guess it's lucky I decided to try your office first before I knocked on your door," Harvey says, and there's a slow lazy slant to his tone that sends goosebumps down her spine.
"It was."
She buries the surprisingly appealing thought of Harvey showing up on her doorstep and her accompanying blush with another sip of her drink.
"Did you move by yourself?" he asks, trying so desperately to sound casual that she can't help but chuckle.
"Is that your way of asking if I'm seeing anyone?"
He smirks, caught red handed but willing to own it.
"Just making sure you're not married with 2.5 kids or something like that."
"No. Nothing like that at all."
She could have been, she thinks, if she'd stayed with Mark. But for reasons she's never been able to explain to herself she just knew he wasn't the one for her. There have been a few guys since then, all of them with good potential, but like Mark it always felt like there was something missing. She just doesn't know what it is.
"What about you?" She toys with the stem of her glass, curious, although fully expecting only one answer which he confirms.
"Nothing serious." He shrugs a shoulder, leaning back in his seat and she can't help but notice that he slides ever so closer towards her.
"Still living the bachelor life to its fullest then huh?"
"Always."
"I just hope you've got better at remembering their names," she teases.
"Hey I never forgot yours. It's Debbie right?"
"You're an idiot."
She laughs and Harvey joins in but that smirk is there, and it's the first time they've really come close to addressing the elephant in the room, the fact that they slept together, and it sends another buzz through her.
"I've missed this," he says, continuing to smile at her. "I'm really glad we're doing this."
"I am as well," she agrees, not realising until that moment just how deeply she really had missed him. Harvey had left a mark on her soul she'd never fully been able to erase no matter how strongly she'd tried to convince herself.
Their conversation takes a turn after that. Harvey gets flirtier as the night continues, his words full of innuendo and several barely disguised references to their night together and Donna can't help but reciprocate. He continues to sneak closer and closer to her in the booth. He's probably trying to be subtle about it but she doesn't miss it.
It's not new. Harvey spent the entire six months they worked together hitting on her repeatedly. But it feels different now, because of the time apart and because they've already gone there once and she knows just how good it was.
"What's your secretary like?" she asks, curiosity getting the better of her eventually, some strange level of territorial fire inside her making her wonder about the woman who now gets to sit beside him each day.
"Are you feeling jealous?"
"Just wondering who to send my condolences to for having to put up with you every day," she jokes, refusing to be drawn into admitting such a fact. "What's her name?" Donna wonders if she knows her, suddenly wonders if Harvey tries to sleep with her as well, or if maybe he even does regularly.
He hesitates, a furrow building between his brows.
"Harvey, please tell me you know your own secretary's name."
"Of course I do….it's Joan...or maybe it's Jane," he frowns, clearly confused and she just shakes her head at him.
"She's new. Jessica only hired her last week," he whines, trying to defend himself.
"I thought a senior partner would get to choose his own secretary?"
He suddenly looks a little sheepish, glancing away from her as he mumbles, "I might have some difficulty keeping one for long. Jessica got pissed after I fired the last one, told me I'm not allowed a say anymore." He rolls his eyes like a petulant child but she catches a glimpse of embarrassment on his face.
"No one could measure up to me huh?" She means it as a joke, but the look on his face makes her wonder if she actually just hit the nail on the head.
"Anyway enough about my secretary, I want to return to our earlier topic of conversation," Harvey says, a dark gleam in his eyes as he purposefully changes direction.
"Which was?"
"You're single."
"I am," she answers slowly.
"And I'm single,"
"You are."
"And we don't work together."
"We don't."
Of course she knows exactly where he's heading but she's happy to let him lead them there.
"Do you remember how good we were together? Because I still do." He darts his tongue out, wetting his lips and Donna can only stare, thinking about what it would be like to kiss him again.
"I do." She can't deny the fact even if she wanted to. Images and memories of that night together have been dancing behind her eyes all night. Being around Harvey again made it impossible to forget all the things he made her feel.
By now he's obliterated any space between them, his leg pressed fully along the length of her own, the heat seeping into her skin, her senses electrified.
"But you know, it has been seven years, maybe we need a refresher. Just to make sure the memories are accurate." He smirks widely at her, his eyes filled with hunger as they skim over her body making her skin tingle. She'd begun to suspect he would make a move about half way through their night so she's not surprised at the turn of their conversation. What she is surprised at is that she's seriously considering saying yes. That hadn't been in her plan.
"Accuracy is very important," she slowly replies a little breathlessly, enjoying the thrill of watching Harvey's eyes blow dark and wide.
She wonders if this is why she never reached out to him before, why she told herself she was leaving things to fate, an easy excuse, because she knew this was where it would always lead between them. But really what was the harm? They were both single, both strongly attracted to each other, and they already know the connection is there. Even if she didn't plan for the evening to go this way she can't think of a single reason not to take him home for a repeat of the night they shared.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Harvey murmurs low and rough against her ear, his body curved around hers, hand hot on her knee.
There's no way she wants to turn him down, no reason she should. Except that she might fall in love with him of course, but the throbbing in her body wins out over any sensible, logical thoughts.
"Let's go."
The air is thick with tension in the taxi on the way to her apartment although they manage to contain themselves, both due to public decency and because of the nerves fluttering in her stomach thinking about taking that first physical step with him again. She wants to wait, to savour the moment she finally kisses him again after all this time.
That thought alone should be enough to tell her this isn't some ordinary hook up, that this is different and might turn out to be a terrible idea, but she ignores it.
Donna ushers him inside her front door, quickly depositing her coat and purse on the side table.
"So this is your new place?" Harvey asks.
"It is."
"It looks amazing."
However instead of looking around her new place Harvey's eyes are in fact locked directly on her lips, and she's pretty sure she could have had fluorescent pink wallpaper and he wouldn't have even noticed.
"You're not even looking at it."
"Exactly," he says, grinning down at her.
He leans in then, with just a slight touch of hesitancy that she finds endearing, before sliding his lips softly against hers. It's electric, far more thrilling than a simple chaste kiss has any right to feel. He pulls back for a second before moving back in, firmer and more insistent this time and she opens to him, slips her tongue between the seam of his lips. The kiss tastes like scotch and vodka and that Harvey taste Donna had never quite been able to expel from her mind after all these years.
She groans as their tongues move against each other and Harvey pushes her back against the wall, hands trailing up her waist, moulding around her breasts as he deepens the kiss even further. She loses her hands in the soft strands of his hair, one leg wrapping wantonly around his calf. It's instinctive the way they touch each other, like they've done it a hundred times instead of one night seven years ago.
Harvey's lips track down her neck, wet kisses along her collarbone as he rolls his hips into her and they've barely been in her apartment for two minutes and yet he's already got her so far gone she doesn't care if he fucks her right here in her hallway agaisnt the wall.
"Where's your bedroom," Harvey pants, appearing to read her mind.
They leave a trail of clothes behind them as she leads him to her room, Harvey pressing her into every available surface along the way, both their hands and lips exploring each newly exposed piece of flesh until they finally tumble onto her bed, only their underwear still left in place.
"How are those memories holding up?" he murmurs against her skin, his tongue sliding wet and warm over the curve of her breast.
"Pretty accurate so far," she breathes. "Sorry I don't have any whipped cream this time."
Harvey chuckles lightly as he tugs down the lace cup of her bra and runs his tongue over her nipple. "Still tastes just as good without it." She moans as he sucks her nipple into his mouth, his hand moving between her thighs, fingers slipping underneath the fabric of her damp panties.
Donna's head falls back and her eyes slam shut as he strokes her expertly, spreading her wetness through her folds and rubbing soft circles on her clit, and god maybe she really had forgotten just how good he was at this. He has her mewling in a matter of minutes, her fingers clutching at her bedsheets as he works her nipple and clit incessantly and then she's coming suddenly and unexpectedly, the sound of his name echoing around her bedroom.
"Looks like I haven't forgotten a thing," Harvey says smugly, masculine pride dripping off his words. She can't even form a retort, her body still quivering as he sucks his slick fingers into his mouth before leaning down to kiss her.
He keeps kissing her as he finally removes her underwear and his own briefs, before settling his body over hers, his weight delicious, the expanse of their naked skin pressed together and the feel of his erection, hot and hard along her inner thigh making her whimper.
Donna reaches for him, enjoys hearing his own groan as she gives him several strokes, revelling in the feel of him in her hand, until Harvey hisses for her to stop, pulling free from her hold.
"If memory serves you had more staying power than that," she whispers hotly into his ear, grazing her teeth over the lobe. She twists on the bed, reaching into the draw of her bedside table. She extracts a foil packet and hands it to Harvey.
"Is that a challenge?" He murmurs, carefully sliding the condom in place while she watches, her teeth digging into her bottom lip and body throbbing with anticipation. Once properly sheathed Harvey thrusts himself through her folds, the head of his cock bumping her still sensitive clit, making her whine and tilt her hips, desperate for him. He hikes up on leg and slowly sinks inside her and Donna groans at the stretch as he fills her, and maybe her memory wasn't as perfect as she thought because she definitely forgot just how big he is.
He starts slow, almost painstakingly so, pulling all the way out and then pushing all the way back in while his lips traverse her body, sucking on the curve of her neck, her nipple, returning to her lips. It feels divine, the fullness, the way he grinds his pelvis against her clit with each thrust. She's moaning almost uncontrollably, nails grazing the skin of his back and tugging at the hair at the nape of his neck.
"I always loved how loud you were," Harvey growls in her ear, eliciting yet another moan from her.
Gradually he starts to speed up, pinning her hands above her head with one hand as he really starts to really thrust, hard and deep and fast, driving her towards the brink once more and all Donna can think before she explodes a second time is just how much she wishes it hadn't taken seven years to be here again.
Not just because the sex was mind blowing, not just because he made her feel better than any other man ever has, but because she didn't know until now just how much her life was lacking without Harvey in it.
She's laying on her stomach feeling drowsy, the sheet skimming low down her waist. Harvey is sprawled beside her, leaning up on one shoulder as he draws patterns across her bare back with his fingertips. Her skin still tingles with every touch even after two rounds.
"You've got more freckles now," he mumbles quietly, sounding lost in thought.
"The struggle of being a redhead," she sighs.
His hand stills on her back, palm spread warm and wide over her spine. "I wanted to bring you with me. To Pearson Hardman. Jessica refused." Donna flicks her eyes up to his face in surprise at his unprompted admission. "Associates don't get secretaries," he recites. "She wouldn't budge."
His confession catches her off guard. Harvey still wanting to work with her after they had slept together was a little unexpected. It's not something she had considered at the time, both because of her rule and because of what she had felt that night and because Harvey wasn't the kind of person to keep his sexual conquests around. Not that she actually believed he had really viewed her that way, but still, she's surprised.
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want to find out what sort of lawyer I could be without you." He looks at her almost a little shyly. "You made me a better lawyer, I liked us being a team."
She raises her eyebrows at him.
"What?"
"I'm just surprised to hear Harvey Specter admit he needed someone." She pokes him lightly in the chest.
"I take it back, I did just fine without you."
"Oh no it's too late for that," she grins at him and he rolls his eyes at her. In truth though she's shocked by his explanation, but his sudden bout of honesty and by the amount of warmth it spreads through her chest. It's nice hearing that their effect on each other hadn't been purely one sided.
"Let's call it a temporary moment of weakness," Harvey mutters, leaning in to kiss her, soft and sweet and the action takes her by surprise. There's a tenderness to the kiss that feels dangerous.
"Would you have said yes?" he asks, pulling back, a puppy dog look on his face.
"I….don't know." Although if he'd looked at her like that back then, if he'd said those things to her, she probably would have caved immediately.
"I was right though, we make a good team don't we?"
"We do," Donna agrees with a smile, not missing the present tense of his wording.
Harvey leans in again, capturing her bottom lip between his own and sucking softly. She hums into the kiss, deepening it, fire once more quickly reigniting low in her belly.
"A very good team," he repeats as he rolls them over so she's sitting in his lap, sheet now languishing at the bottom of the bed. His hands stroke over her breasts. "Truly the best," he repeats as he brings his mouth to her nipple. She groans as he swirls his tongue across her skin, all thoughts of what he'd just told her disappearing from her mind.
After another round she drags him into her shower where he proceeds to make her fall apart yet again. After drying off Harvey heads to her kitchen to get her both some water while Donna wraps herself in her robe and returns to bed, body still tingling from her latest orgasm.
He's stayed longer than she expected he would, and she gets the sense that like her Harvey is in no rush for their night together to end.
He soon returns, clad in boxers, hair still sparkling with water droplets from their shower, looking far more attractive than any man has the right to be. He's trouble with a capital T she can't help but think.
"You didn't tell me you had strawberries," he says with a wicked grin, waving the container at her and she laughs at his eagerness.
"Like you could go again," she teases. Truth is Donna doesn't think even she would be capable of another round after what he just did to her.
Harvey narrows his eyes at her. "I can still eat them," he retorts, plucking a strawberry between his fingers and taking a bite. He settles back on the bed beside her, dropping the strawberries between them.
She takes one, suddenly feeling famished and they soon find themselves lost in conversation, jumping around between stories from their time working together and the seven intervening years as the hours tick over from being late to early.
It's easy, natural, the way it has always felt with Harvey. Whether they're prepping for court, sharing drinks across his desk of an evening, chatting about childhood stories or having incredible sex, it doesn't matter what they're doing it always just feels right and normal to be doing it with him. She has never felt so entirely comfortable with someone who also equally electrifies her at the same time.
Donna can feel it once again, niggling at the back of her mind. She could fall, simply and easily and hard. Because right here feels like the thing that's always been missing with anyone else. For the first time since she laid eyes on him through the parting elevator doors that evening she wonders just how they're meant to go back from this night. She wants Harvey in her life. She's just not sure how that's meant to happen.
"Never thought I'd see the day you had a protege," she muses after he makes mention of his new associate again, the topic dragging her out of her internal thought process. She finds it hard picturing Harvey having the patience to mentor someone.
He studies her for a moment, like he's debating saying something, seems to decide against it before once more changing his mind.
"He's a fraud."
"What?"
"Mike Ross. He never went to Harvard. Or any law school for that matter. I knew and I hired him anyway." He has the grace to look ashamed.
"Why would you tell me that?"
"I don't know." He shrugs, as though he truly has no idea why he just let out such a massive secret. "I didn't want to lie to another person." It feels like what he's really saying is, he didn't want to lie to her.
"Harvey, what were you thinking hiring him?" She can't believe she saved him from Cameron Dennis's attack only to find he's at risk of being caught over something far worse. "Do you know how much shit you could get into over this?"
"No ones going to find out Donna."
"Harvey." She knew he liked to stretch the rules, to play in the grey, but this, literal fraud, isn't something she ever thought he'd do. "Why?"
"He's brilliant. Knows the law better than any real lawyer I've ever met." Harvey sighs, running a hand through his hair. "The kid got dealt a shitty hand in life. He deserved a chance."
The real explanation is unlike anything she expected.
"You hired him because you care about him?" She says a little incredulously. It's not that Harvey doesn't care, hidden under the exterior layers of his cocky persona was a good guy, but this, this risk for someone he didn't even know at the time, it stuns her.
"I did not. You know I don't do that."
She laughs softly. "People change Harvey."
"Not me."
He pounces then, tugging her underneath him, and buries his face in her neck, sucking on her pulse point as he pulls her robe apart, clearly intent on stopping her from making any more observations or commentary on the bombshell he'd just dropped on her.
But she knows he's wrong. Harvey was changing, maturing. He still has a long way to go if this wildly misguided attempt at helping someone was anything to go by, but his caring makes you weak armour was looking a lot less set in stone.
Donna lays watching him sleep, deep in thought, for a long time, the late morning sun peeking around the edges of her curtains. He stayed, unlike the first time and it doesn't mean anything more than it was late and they were exhausted but still, he stayed.
Sleepy eyes eventually blink awake beside her, a grin quickly creeping across Harvey's face as he takes in his surroundings.
"Good morning," he mumbles, voice still rough from sleep, sliding a hand down her side. He looks adorable with his messy hair, younger, relaxed.
"You need me."
"I sure do." His grin grows wider and he angles his hips so that she can feel his erection press against her thigh.
"I don't mean like that," she chuckles while forcing down a moan, intent on staying focused and committed to the decision she'd made as she watched him sleep. The idea that had been circling around her brain all night. "I mean, I want to come work for you. Be your secretary again."
"You do?" He looks puzzled, eyes wide, like this was an option he'd never allowed himself to even consider. "Why?"
"Because you nearly got disbarred for burying evidence. Because you told me you hired a fraud. Because you don't even know your current secretary's name. You need me Harvey." There's plenty more reasons she could list, things she'd picked up on and filed away during their conversation over the past twelve hours. She doesn't mean it arrogantly, but he was right, they make a good team, and something tells her Harvey needs her back by his side.
And more than that, she wants to be back at his side. She's missed him, missed what it feels like being around him. He was her friend and there's been a Harvey shaped hole in her life for seven years. She also believes in him as a lawyer, and she wants to be there beside him when he achieves his goals. Her current boss is fine, but she doesn't get the thrill working alongside him like she did for those six months with Harvey.
"I'm assuming if I agree this is the end of this?" He waves his hand between their bodies, naked under the sheet.
"It would be. You know my rule. "
"What if I disagree? What if I wanted more of us like this instead."
"I'd say as fun as this was, you need me more professionally than you do personally."
"Why can't it be both? There's something here isn't there Donna?"
Butterfly wings flutter in the pit of her stomach because she thought he just meant he wanted to keep sleeping with her, but now it sounds like he means something else, something more. It doesn't change her decision though.
"There could be," she says slowly, not quite able to believe the direction this conversation has taken. "But you're not ready for that."
Harvey's not wrong, there's something between them, there always has been. She can feel it sitting in her periphery, all the feelings resurfacing that she hasn't allowed herself to go near because she's afraid they'll swallow her up. Because he isn't ready, and in truth neither is she and if they tried that sort of relationship now Donna is certain they would crash and burn. One night around Harvey again is enough for her to know that she'd prefer to have him in her life in a lesser way, rather than not at all.
"How do you know? You haven't seen me in seven years."
"Because I know Harvey. We're not ready for that. Not yet anyway," she adds, dangling the prospect of one day in the air between them.
He nods slowly, considering, debating what she's offering. She thought he'd jump at the chance of having her work for him again. She never expected him wanting more would be the conflict in his decision.
But then he sighs and smiles at her. "Alright. But aren't you forgetting one thing? Jessica barred me from having any say on my secretary, remember?"
Donna gives him a pointed look. "Tell her who you want to hire. Something tells me she won't say no."
"You're pretty sure of yourself."
"Because I'm always a sure thing." She grins at him and he reciprocates, his smile stretching wide across his face.
"So you're really coming back to me?" His eyes sparkle with something she can only think to describe as joy.
"I really am."
"In that case I think there's something we have to do one last time," he smirks, flinging the sheet off the bed as he pounces on her.
Two weeks later Donna steps off the elevator on the fiftieth floor of Pearson Hardman. Harvey is right there waiting for her, looking like a mixture of giddiness and lingering disbelief that this was actually happening.
"You're here."
"I am."
"Then let's get to work."
In the span of one morning she quickly puts Harvey's cocky young associate in his place, although she can already see what it is about the kid that drew Harvey in. She enjoys knocking Louis Litt down a peg when he initially thinks he can walk all over her and by the end of their conversation he's like putty in her hands. She also meets the entirely lovely Rachel Zane with whom Donna immediately senses she's about to become great friends with.
She encounters Jessica Pearson for the second time later that afternoon. Donna is laying out Harvey's calendar for the following day on his desk when she glances up to find her watching her.
"Something tells me I should have hired you all those years ago," she says.
"You really should have."
"Look after him," Jessica says and Donna gets the distinct impression she doesn't mean only professionally.
"That's exactly why I'm here."
To look after him, to protect him, keep him on track, make him the best lawyer New York has ever seen.
And then maybe with time, more.
THE END
A/N - So, it's been a little while. I've been struggling for months to find my way back to writing and it's a relief to finally manage to pull something even if their voices still feel a little lost to me. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this, I was really intrigued with the idea of their path in life having this sort of inevitability even if it didn't initially follow the same course. Also while in this alternate universe Harvey still makes Senior Partner and then meets and hires Mike in the same circumstances I actually don't believe Harvey's career trajectory would have followed exactly as on the show if he hadn't had Donna by his side all that time and therefore he never would have hired Mike. However for the sake of this fic I've chosen to ignore all that which is the beauty of fanfiction! Thanks for reading.
(Also thank you to those special people who let me complain and vent and cry about my writing struggles for the last three months. Your patience means the world to me xx)