A/N: Hi, guys! Thank you for taking a chance *wink wink* on this Darvey AU fic. Kath and I have been working on this since late last year. We thought we'd be able to post it by December '21 but ha of course life happened and it got pushed back. We are still writing to finish this story but we have a couple of chapters ready for posting. Here's the first one! We hope you like it. And we'd love to hear your comments so reviews are very much welcome. :)

Harvey is in the middle of a deposition with Mike when his phone rings. He sees the name of the caller and he immediately gets up from his seat, walking towards the door as he says, "Excuse me. I have to get this."

He answers the call, panic in his voice as he presses the phone to his ear. It has been a long time since she last called him, their conversations now are only through messages and are mostly just about their daughter. If she's calling, then it must really be something important. "Donna, is everything okay?"

"Harvey, hey." He hears her soft voice from the other end. "Yeah, I just wanted to tell you something about Avery."

He stops in his tracks, he's left standing in the hallway and waiting for what she's about to say. "Is she okay? Did something happen?" His paternal instinct taking over, the need to be there and protect his daughter.

"She's uhm… fine," she pauses before continuing. "She will be." He hears her take a deep breath as well as the faint sound of bustle she seems to be in the middle of. He knows she's at the hospital, still updated with the schedules of her shift, but he feels there's something else with the slight commotion he hears.

"Donna, what's going on?" He asks again, his voice now filled with worry.

She tries her best to stay calm and bring up this subject in the best way she could think of just so he wouldn't worry. "She had appendicitis so she needed an appendectomy."

He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. "English, Donna."

She sighs, not knowing how else to explain it to him. It's a relatively easy procedure, one that has been performed a million times over the years. She's confident their daughter will make it through. She just hopes he understands that too.

"Look, she's fine. She just needed a quick surgery for it. She's in there right now. Nothing to worry about, I promise. I just want—" Her voice falters, second-guessing the next words she'll say to him. She clears her throat before starting again. "I just wanted you to know."

And I wish you're here. She doesn't say the last sentence, but god she wanted to. She's a doctor, she must be used to these situations. But a part of her, the mother inside her, that's the one that can't help but worry. And she wishes for the only person who can calm her down would be by her side right now.

"Surgery?" His voice raises as he asks the question. All the words that come after that no longer register in his mind. His daughter is in surgery and he's still in a different state. Panic builds from within him and before he knows it, his feet are moving and dragging him to the elevators. "Donna—"

She hears her name being called, a fellow doctor trying to get her attention. 'Just a second, Dr. Marcel,' she says. She tunes back into her call with him, "Harvey, I have to go. But I'll keep you updated, okay? I'll call again after a couple of hours."

"Donna, wait!" He shouts for her again but the call has already been disconnected. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he quickly gets in the elevator and texts Ray to meet him out front. She said she'll update him again in a couple of hours, but that won't be enough for him. He needs to know how his daughter is doing, he needs to be there for her, by her side now more than ever.

He's going to Chicago.