Author's Note:
I promise I am continuing this story. This is really a short filler/table-setting chapter, but I've outlined chapter 4 so it won't be another year-long wait (hmmm I'm noticing a trend...)
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Hope everyone is safe and well x
Harvey wakes on Saturday feeling more than a little tender. It's been a long time since he's had a hangover, but they're definitely getting worse with age. He checks his phone while he's having coffee. There are three messages from Mike and one from Louis. But none from Donna. He's not surprised. There's no way she'll be the one to seek him out.
He mentally flags Louis' message for later, opening Mike's first:
I'm glad you left before you could make a real asshole out of yourself.
Then:
Rachel's having breakfast with her Mom. Are you free?
And finally:
Just kidding, I know you are. I'll bring bagels.
He hears a timely knock and resists the urge to roll his eyes at Mike's theatrics. A few seconds later, he opens the door to a grinning Mike. He holds up a white paper bag.
"I have breakfast and pain killers. What are you hungry for?"
"You're a nightmare," he says, stepping aside to let Mike inside.
"Painkillers first then."
Mike tosses the bag to Harvey – who only just catches it, his reflexes off this morning.
"Smooth."
He follows Mike into the kitchen, slumping straight onto a bar stool. Mike fumbles around in the above cabinets, then pulls out two plates and fetches two knives from the drawer below.
"Cream cheese?"
"In the bedroom."
Mike eyes him strangely.
"Where do you think it is? In the fridge."
Mike smirks. "Gotta say, I'm relieved."
Harvey fishes the painkillers out of the paper bag and swallows two, chugging them down with the remnants of his coffee.
Mike lays out the cream cheese puts a bagel on each of their plates. He takes his knife, cuts one in half and pushes the plate in front of Harvey.
"Now don't say I don't take care of you."
"This is quite a spread."
Mike bites into his own bagel for effect and Harvey can't help but laugh at the goofy display. He knows Mike is here for his benefit and the concern is, well, honestly, it's a little embarrassing, but it's been a long time since he's hung out with someone other than the people he works with. He's reminded again that Mike no longer fits into that category.
"Sorry I didn't say goodbye last night."
"Hey, I'm just glad you didn't punch me in the face. For a second, I thought you were going to go there."
Harvey raises his eyebrows. "You know I'd kick your ass."
"Nah, you're too sloppy when you're drunk."
"I wasn't sloppy."
"No, you were pissed off."
Harvey takes a deliberate bite of his bagel.
"Thomas seems like a good guy."
"Do you want me to throw this bagel in your face?"
"Sorry, I'm done joking. Last night you just seemed so…"
"What?"
"Defeated."
Having suddenly lost his appetite, Harvey pushes his half-eaten bagel away. He finishes off the last of his coffee, willing his headache to go away.
"Thomas is a good guy," Harvey admits.
Harvey pulls his phone from his pocket, looking for a distraction. That's when he reads Louis' text:
Don't give up until she knows how you feel.
For once, Louis' timing couldn't be more perfect.
Donna spends a lazy Saturday with her fiancée, tucked away in her apartment with a book in her lap and her feet resting comfortably on Thomas' thighs. She lives for quiet days like these. It goes without saying that she loves her work, but her demanding hours leave little time for herself. She's thumbing through her well-worn copy of The Goldfinch when Thomas says, "Harvey didn't stay long last night."
Donna's heart quickens.
"Big parties aren't really his thing."
"I would have thought he'd make an exception for your engagement party."
She shrugs, making a show of returning to her book.
"He made good use of the open bar though."
Donna's eyes flick from the pages up to her fiancée's face.
"Would you like to send him an invoice?" she says with a smirk.
"Not the point I'm trying to make."
Donna calmly closes her book. "What is the point you're trying to make?"
"I just think he was acting weird. He shows up late, stays for an hour and then leaves without saying goodbye?"
"He said goodbye," Donna says without thinking.
"When?"
"Before we thanked everyone for coming."
"He must have left in a hurry."
"He was probably just tired," Donna says quickly. "He came straight from the office."
Thomas nods, rubbing his jaw, clearly lost in thought. "I think we should have him over for dinner."
"Thomas, I see the man every day."
"Harvey has problem with me."
"He doesn't. It's water under the bridge, trust me."
"I don't know…the man has barely said two words to me since then."
"Well you're not marrying Harvey."
Thomas laughs, rubbing her feet. "Donna, you've worked with the guy for a long time. I'm not saying we have to be best friends but surely we can be civil."
"You're civil now," she insists.
His hands still. "Did you two have a fight or something?"
"We didn't have a fight."
It's a lie, of course, but Donna doesn't feel like dredging up their fight from when she first got engaged. It's been months and she hasn't even unpacked that argument herself.
"Well, good," he says. "We'll have him over for dinner next week."
Donna forces a smile. "Great."
It's 8:30am when Harvey strides into the offices of Specter Litt Wheeler Williams. He finds Donna already in her office, her phone against her ear, a smile etched across her features. She's wearing that red/maroon dress that he loves; it has some sort of cape thing that he doesn't quite understand and it's almost sinful the way he has a near perfect view of her cleavage. The light catches her hair just so and –
She catches him staring.
He bites the bullet, approaching her office instead of watching her from the outside. The smile falls from her face as she finishes the call.
"Thank you, I'll see you at three tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" he asks innocently.
He catches her annoyed expression before she can mask it. For a woman who was once in control of almost every detail in his life, she hates it when he pries into hers.
"I'm glad you're here. I wanted to run something by you."
"Okay, sure," he says, his interest piqued.
"Thomas wants to have dinner with you. With us. As in, all three of us."
Harvey genuinely can't think of anything worse.
"This wasn't my idea," she assures him.
"Oh, I know that."
"You can say no."
"And look like the asshole?"
"Well, that normally doesn't bother you."
Harvey gives her a close-lipped smile. "I get it. He's threatened by me."
"Harvey, it's not like that," she argues. "Thomas is not like that."
"Donna, every one of your boyfriends has been like that."
"Thomas is not my boyfriend, he's my fiancée," she says, clearly annoyed. "And as for my previous boyfriends, don't you think they had good reason to feel threatened?"
Harvey smirks.
"Right, and you and Scottie were such good friends."
Donna sighs. Harvey can see that he's riling her up and honestly, it's the most fun he's had in weeks; the closest to normal things have felt since Donna got engaged.
"Will come over and make nice or not?"
"Why is this so important to Thomas?"
"He just wants to get to know you, because…you're important to me, you ass."
Harvey grins, "That's all you had to say."
"Thursday night."
"What, I'm not good enough for a Friday night dinner?"
"Harvey, I swear to god –"
Harvey rises from her desk. "I'll be there," he promises.
"Thank you."
Harvey leaves her office and she breathes a sigh of relief. The last thing she wants to do is have Harvey and Thomas together in the same room, sharing the same meal. But Harvey didn't mention anything about what he said – or didn't say – at her engagement party, so she assumes they are just going to add that to the long list of things they don't talk about.
Just like when he said, 'I love you'.
Just like when you kissed him.
Just like when he ended things with Paula.
Harvey is nothing if not consistent.
Even so, this three-person dinner party is a recipe for disaster. She needs a buffer.
She picks up her desk phone and dials Louis' extension.
"What are you doing Thursday?"