A/N: A glimpse into the inner workings of Pearson Hardman's HR department and how they view Donna and Harvey! This is also, the second chapter of the other fic, HR Department, which goes over Donna and Harvey's reaction to this incident! Hope you guys enjoy, as always critiques and reviews are always welcome. Plus, feel free to send me suggestions over who else's pov I should write from!

(Also, if anyone would want to try and write a collection of moments with Darvey acting inappropriate at the office, aka the file mentioned in this one-shot later on, please do!)

H.R. Department's view

Taylor swallowed the lukewarm glass of water she was just offered by Carmen's secretary as she waited outside in the waiting area. She had been at her job in the HR department at Pearson Hardman law firm for exactly two months, and she was called in for a meeting with her boss, Carmen this morning. She had gotten the email requesting the meeting last Friday, and sweated out her anxieties over it over the weekend- and the past hour.

Taylor wasn't dumb, she knew the boss didn't call a meeting this early on at her time here for a kudos for a job well done, not in the corporate world and not when she hadn't done anything eye-catching or worthy of praise- which left one thing on the table: a lecture on an irrevocable mistake she had made that can't be undone, which was so detrimental- it caught the eye of the head of the HR department. Taylor had to dig the tip of her nails into her sweaty palms, trying to inflict a pain that was distracting enough from her impending firing and embarrassment.

God, she just had to screw up big time on her first job out of college. She'd racked her brain trying to narrow down what exactly her mistake might've been that she was about to be lectured (if not eviscerated) for, trying to defend her actions, perhaps blaming her naïveté on it. However, Taylor had no idea what it might be. Taylor was still in the early stages of her job, she still felt like a slight fraud at the firm, a victim of the imposter syndrome. She felt like every email she sent was wrong, every meeting she attended was spent remaining quiet, every person she tried helping looked at her like she wasn't meant to be in charge- so yeah, Taylor had no idea which one of her actions was about to cause her firing.

"Miss Hanson, Mrs. Munenez is ready to see you now." the friendly secretary spoke, interrupting Taylor's monologue in her head. Taylor smiled tersely at her before thanking her, getting up, and smoothing down her pleated pants. She took in a deep breath before entering Carmen's office.

"Taylor, please have a seat." She motioned to the chair across from her desk, not glancing up from her monitor, preoccupied with typing something on her computer.

"Thank you." Taylor squeaked out a response, shakily trying to let her vocal chords be wrung of nerves.

"Just one moment…."Carmen fiddled around with her keypad before sighing. "Ok! Sorry about that busy morning. Right Taylor you must be wondering why I brought you in here today."

Taylor nodded before verbally agreeing. "Unfortunately it is a bit of a sensitive topic, but necessary to have." Carmen grimaced before clasping her hands tightly together, reminding Taylor of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.

Ironic considering she was about to be fired.

"I believe your job entails hearing about all misconducts an employee or employer may have and filing it away through the proper channels." Carmen paused as if waiting for a response to her rhetorical question, to which Taylor simply nodded to. "Last Wednesday you had as associate, a newly hired one that is, file a complaint against inappropriate- ahem- sexual misconduct at the work place."

Taylor immediately knew who she was talking about, as it was her first time filing a sexual related issue in her new role. "Yes! Yes, Mr. Todd Flanks filed one."

Carmen nodded. "Yes, and do you recall who it was against? It was Miss Paulsen, have you met her yet?"

Taylor shook her head slowly. "Miss Donna Paulsen is an astute, highly respected employee here that's been working within the firm for almost eight years."

Taylor swallowed down her first impulse to ask if they were talking about the secretary who was accused of both being a victim of inappropriate sexual comments, and ensuing them- by Todd.

"You'll come to learn about her and how valuable she is to our firm, specifically our department actually Miss Hanson. She has…connections and ways that make her an asset to us and how we keep the firm afloat. She also happens to work in close relation to Mr. Harvey Specter."

Finally, Taylor found the nerve to speak up. "Yes, he was actually also involved in the file complaint. They seem to have both been acting inappropriately at the office, according to Todd he overheard some salacious commentary and close encounter, that made him feel that something below the board was playing out considering Mr. Specter is Ms. Paulsen's superior."

Carmen snorted and muffled it behind a cough, causing Taylor to frown. For an HR manager, she had a funny way of showing concern over sexual harassment at the firm.

Carmen smiled bemusedly at Taylor. "I apologize, it's just, very few people in the HR department seem to remember that little fact."

"Uhm, you mean their positions at the firm?" Which all of HR should be aware of… Taylor added in her head.

Carmen shook her head before waving her hand dismissively. "I know you meant well, were just doing your job, filing the complaint on behalf of Mr. Flanks, however both he and you are unaware of Mr. Specter and Donna's relationship."

Taylor raised a brow. "Are they married, or in a HR approved relationship because I double checked the system for any paperwork entailing that-"

Carmen shook her head once more. "No, no. They're just… incredibly close friends who blur the lines a little. While it was admirable that Todd thought he was enclosing a potentially dangerous situation, there is nothing going on between them that is breaking any of our HR rules, or the firm's policy."

Taylor hesitated for a second, trying to understand the situation she was in, if this was a firm covering up its tracks against an esteemed high end lawyer who made them millions, or if Carmen was being sincere.

"Miss Paulsen herself had called me personally hoping we would unfile the complaint as it was a misunderstanding. Now normally with an error like this, I'd simply let you deal with the reversal, have you clean up the mess simply by filing the proceeding papers to retract the complaint. However with Donna and Harvey… it's a different situation."

Taylor let out a breath of relief, by now the realization she wasn't getting fired had finally sunk in, and secondly, she believed by Carmen's sincerity that Miss Paulsen was in fact not in danger… and neither was Mr. Specter, apparently.

Carmen pulled out a thick file from somewhere beneath her desk, and passed it to Taylor.

Taylor opened it up and widened her eyes in surprise as she kept flipping through it. "Is this-"

"Every complaint ever filed against Donna and Harvey be it separately relating to their conduct with one another, or filed together complaining about them breaking the policy against language that was considered to be encroaching on the firm's policy against PDA."

"And this is all in the system?" Taylor asked, wondering why their names hadn't popped up before her in research.

"No, god no they would've been fired years ago if that was the case. You'll soon learn working here that they seem to be always toeing the line with another. Harmless flirting you could call it."

"So like.. A 'will they won't they' situation?" Taylor offered. Carmen frowned in response. "I suppose. The point is, after the first ten misconstrued situations relating to them, we realized we should simply stop filing anything related to them officially."

"Why keep this file then?" Taylor asked as she kept looking through it, seeing various forms of physical evidence of the secretary and lawyer being overhead and critiqued through the HR system.

"Two reasons. One it comes in handy in situations like these, when I have to convince an employee I'm not a corrupt HR manager covering up murky business in the firm."

"And the second?"

"The second…let's call it personal."

Taylor frowned. She wondered if Carmen meant a fail safe personal cushion somehow, on the off chance things did sour between the two employees, or if she ever quit and had to explain the situation to another HR head.

Taylor stopped perusing the file that read like a teasing salacious love story that took place in the work office. She closed the file shut and slipped it back across to Carmen.

"Well, regardless of the past I would like confirmation from Miss Paulsen herself about this incident and that she does in fact want to proceed with annulling the complaint. You understand of course?" Taylor added in the end, realizing challenging her boss in their first meeting was not a good first impression.

"Of course, I wouldn't expect less." Carmen said, a slight shock coloring her tone.

Taylor got up assuming the meeting was over. "Alright then, thank you for your time Miss Munenez."

"And Taylor?"

Taylor paused before she started the trek out of the office. "It was nice to officially meet you."

Taylor smiled and repeated the sentiment, glad she had survived the meeting and held her own at the end.

Carmen smiled to herself, chuckling at the fact she had to have yet another meeting about Donna and Harvey. She was impressed that Taylor had the gaul to challenge her and double check that everything was above board when it came to Donna and Harvey. Most other employees had simply nodded, accepted the protocol either immediately or hesitantly, some jumping up on the chance to gossip about the golden couple.

If Carmen were to be completely honest, while she judged those who gossiped and belittled the couple, stereotyping them and her dear friend Donna- she wasn't (unfortunately) above the entire firm's fascination with the couple. While the file was still around for safety and HR regulation issues that might arise in the future, another reason Carmen kept it around was on the off chance something did finally happen between Donna and Harvey.

As Carmen added the recent Todd incident to the 'Darvey' file as Carmen had cutesly named it, (just in her mind) she thought how cute, if not slightly creepy and crass, of a wedding gift / general heartfelt gift the file would make.

She pictured Donna and perhaps even Harvey perusing the almost decade long book of evidence of the love they had towards one another, and the undeniable, almost policy breaking chemistry they had shared since day one. She imagined Donna blushing over reading her own dirty comments directed to Harvey, or the hundredth complaint being made that there was a chance Harvey may have been harassing her with one too many flirty comments.

Carmen sighed, never being able to decide if she found them a nuisance to her job or a bittersweet perk of amusement. She shoved the file back in her lower cabinet drawer, putting the thought of Donna and Harvey away for now.