DA's Office - Pt VI
Harvey huffs in frustration at the finger Donna waves motioning for him to wait. She's reading a magazine of all things, and he taps his foot impatiently, glancing over to see what has her so entranced.
"You can't be serious?" he scoffs, reading the upside down letters spelling out the horoscope section.
Donna lowers the glossy page, narrowing her gaze. "Astrology is science," she deadpans, being completely serious. "Look, right here—" her nail hovers over the short paragraph "—it says interruptions at work today will be hazardous for productivity."
He rolls his eyes as she continues to skim further down.
"You're a Leo, and yours says… you should listen to your incredibly smart, witty and brilliant secretary."
She smirks at him, and he plants his palms on the desk, refusing to buy she's into the whole zodiac thing.
"You're saying you actually believe, this—" he jabs the article "—is going to come true today for one-twelfth of the world's population."
"Of course not." She tilts her head implying the suggestion is absurd. "You need to use your rising sign to project your own interpretation, obviously."
"My what?"
"You're a Leo—" she drags her hand from the lion caricature to the fish "—with a rising sign of Pisces. See?"
He has no clue what she's talking about, but her bottom lip pouts expectantly, and he gives in with a sigh. "Which means what exactly?"
She fights her amusement, enjoying herself a little too much as she glances around the office, beckoning him closer with a hushed whisper. "That you act tough, but under that gruff exterior, you're really just a big softy."
He snorts at the accusation. "That's ridiculous."
"Not according to the leading experts in the field of astrology." She leans back, hiding a grin when he snatches the magazine, dumping it in the bin under her desk.
"How's that for soft?" he challenges, pleased with himself, until her mouth winds around an innocent smile that makes his stomach flutter.
"What was it you wanted?" she asks sweetly, clasping her hands together.
"I—nothing," he stammers, realizing if he admits why he came over, she's now going to read something into the request.
"So I shouldn't order the flowers you were about to ask me to send to Vivien?"
She hooks up an eyebrow, her full amusement showing, and it suddenly dawns on him he's being played—that she knew about his date, and is toying with him. "You never check the horoscopes, do you?"
She shakes her head.
"And you have no idea what any of it really means."
"Not a clue," she beams, "but that was fun, and way too easy… this Vivien clearly has you off your game."
"My game is perfectly fine." It isn't. But that has nothing to do with the brunette he's chasing, and everything to do with his secretary, who keeps secreting into his thoughts, filling his head with ideas of what a date with her would look like, instead.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're really a hopeless romantic," she teases, smiling as he grumbles his way around the desk.
"That's it… I'm firing you."
She smirks and reaches for her headset, slipping it on and waiting for the door to his office to close, counting back from three.
"Donna, I need the—"
"Right in front of you," she answers, her Donna powers far superior to any magazine clairvoyant, and leading her to dial the florist she already picked out.
When the man on the phone asks for the payment details, she charges the arrangement to the credit account Harvey gave her access to.
Petty cash, he explained, to save reimbursing her expenses.
...
He ends things with Vivien a week later, and she doesn't tease him.
They have a quiet drink in his office after everyone has left, and he introduces her to some of his father's music.
Because they have fun with each other, but they're also there when it counts… and that means more than gestures of chocolates or flowers.
He already won her over, and she's not going anywhere.
