- I

Between Harvey's leaving and the moment Donna was herself in, she couldn't recall what happened. She was resting on her bed, in her pajamas, and the images were all blurred.

Louis, Rachel, Mike and Jessica were all there for her.

Rachel only left Donna's apartment after much reassurance that she was going to be okay. After all, they were only a call away if she needed anything and her friend needed to spend time with her husband. Rachel leaving her apartment was the least blurred memory she had.

Donna was aware that she needed to rest, but even though she was in her bed for hours, she could not fall asleep. She was consumed by her thoughts, reminiscing on all the events of the last days and imagining how Harvey was doing in jail. If he was eating or sleeping well. If he was not getting himself in any trouble.

She got up off the bed and went for a walk, as sleeping was not an option. It was late, but she ignored Harvey's voice echoing in her head: "Are you insane? Walking on the streets this late?".

After she left her building, she walked for a few blocks, choosing the most crowded streets. Even though she was feeling lost, a bit of self consciousness lasted, so she knew it could be risky to keep walking this late and she needed to at least try to take the most safe route to wherever she was going.

About 20 minutes later, walking with no destination in mind, she noted where she was: in front of Harvey's building. She sighed in defeat and without second thoughts; she went inside, taking the lift to his floor. Already in the lift, she glanced at her hands clenching both hers and his keys, which she subconsciously had picked up. She shrugged.

The elevator's bell rang, letting her know she was on the right floor. She walked until she was facing his door, hesitating for about five seconds before placing the key in the lock.

It was odd for her to be there. The penthouse was dark, cold, totally empty except for the furniture. It was crystal clear that there was no one there. Not that she was expecting Harvey to be there, but the idea of his place looking so easily adapted to his absence after merely a few hours of his moving was a little depressing.

She lit the room and even with the lights on; it still seemed dark‒lifeless. She walked through the kitchen, living room and then his bedroom. Void of any thought, she laid on his bed and the sudden whiff of his scent lulled her to sleep.

The secretary woke up in the first rays of sunshine, blinking a few times to get used to the light until recognizing where she was. Donna bent her head whilst the memories of the last events came crashing back. Still drowsy because of the few hours of sleep, she looked for her cellphone and was surprised by the hour; it was already 8 a.m..

Usually, she was at the office a little before this time to assure everything was in place when Harvey started his day at work. Even though she now didn't have him, she still needed to go to the firm.

They hadn't debated her fate at the company. Louis, as well as Jessica, had Gretchen as their secretary since she went back to Harvey's desk. With no position for her, it would seem unlikely that she would continue serving at PSL. All she required was her week's notice so she could find another job, and this was precisely what she had to talk to Jessica about.

In a hurry, she left Harvey's condo and went back to her apartment. Almost an hour later, she was ready and picking her way to the firm so she could have the conversation with Pearson and Litt. The route to the firm didn't take longer than expected. The traffic was free and in no time she was pressing the button calling the lift to the 50th floor.

With the doors open, she inhaled, summoning the courage to enter the place. As she passed in front of the two receptionists, she could sense something was off, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. As she was stepping through the place, passing over many offices, she noticed that most of them were vacant, with no associate or partner inside. Maybe a meeting that she didn't know about was happening?

Her heart seemed to stop beating when she reached Harvey's old office and her cubicle. She didn't waste time there and kept walking until she reached the place where the junior's associate used to sit. What she saw made her drop her mouth.

Jessica, Louis, Rachel and Mike were there, standing in silence. Every single desk was deserted, with no associate. Everyone had left.

"What the hell happened here?" Donna asked, but she already knew the answer.

"Everybody left, Donna. They jumped the ship before it sank." It was Jessica who answered while glaring at the wall dumbfoundedly.

They were all in disbelief. Among the hearing, Mike's being a fraud and one of the name partners being in prison, the firm's reputation was not that positive and the trust in them would be damaged, but they didn't expect that everyone would leave without. No loyalty on site. Everybody had just given up, and possibly taking most of the clients with them.

With the associates, every other employee from financial, accountancy and controllership had gone. They also received a subpoena where every case Mike had worked would have to be reviewed. Add to that, the other partners were claiming their clients.

At that moment, it relieved her Harvey wasn't there to witness his firm, his home, and family falling apart that way. And now, to her, it would be another change. She had woken up, at some point, ready to speak with Jessica and work out on the amendments to her leaving. But, considering the particular way things were going, she knew she couldn't leave and needed to help them somehow.

There was not even a day since Harvey's absence and everything had already turned into chaos — his absence was more than noted. After their shock, considering everything that had happened, each one of them started to move. They needed to save the clients—the biggest ones and the maximum number possible. With common agreement, Jessica took the responsibility of calling every client to convince them the firm was reliable. Louis, with his financial skills, took the responsibility to take care of their financial records and to measure the impact of clients' loss.

Being Rachel and Mike, the only standing lawyers, they took care of the ongoing processes, ensuring none of the deadlines would be missed and covering all the work it was expected to be performed by the associates and paralegals.

So, for Donna, laid the duty of getting information here and there, organizing some client's papers and thinking of strategies to get them out of the situation, or belittle the damages resulting from the current crisis the firm was going through. Among this turmoil, Donna took some time to phone the prison where Specter went to only to find out, to her desperation, he couldn't take any visits, besides his attorneys, for the next three months.

She froze at the prospect of not seeing him for 90 days. The phone on her ear, a voice asking for a response until they gave up and dropped the call, while the redhead remained there, speechless, looking aimlessly ahead but not seeing a thing, until Rachel's voice brought her back.

"Donna?" the paralegal called a few times. "It looks like you saw a ghost," she said, a bit alarmed. "Did something happen?"

She nodded in response, trying to organize her ideas and process what she heard. "I can't go visit him," she says, putting the phone back on the hook.

"Donna." Zane took some steps, getting inside Harvey's old office, and sat in front of Donna.

"I called the prison, Rachel. He can receive visits from his lawyers for the next three months. And only after this time, the family and friends can go in there." She spoke in an almost murmur.

"We're going to find a way, Donna. Don't worry. We're going to find a way and soon you're going to visit him. Trust me." Rachel reached for Donna's hand and smiled at the redhead, who didn't profess a word. The paralegal knew her friend wouldn't talk, so she left the secretary alone to process that after seeing her boss practically every day for the last 12 years, she wouldn't see him for the next three months.

Donna had to deal with the fact that she wouldn't have him on a daily basis. Neither would exchange text messages on the weekends or chat about movies they watched together, each one in their own place. She wouldn't ask for new restaurant suggestions even when in the end, he would order a burger and she would order in that shitty Thay she loved. She wouldn't try to convince him to go to a theatre play with her.

He would no longer be a call or a text message away. The current distance was the longest they'd been away, physically and emotionally, since they'd met.

…

The following week after his first day away was as intense as the initial day, if not more. The company was a chaos and neither she nor the others could give up. For the firm to keep working, each one of them needed to give their best. That's what happened: during the next weeks, everyone made their part to help the firm remain as strong as possible and to not lose the most important and biggest clients.

It was not an effortless task; they all worked overtime to keep up with the routine of the clients who stayed. Hiring new associates was also difficult, especially for Louis, who had to give up his rule of hiring only Harvard students and even with it, it was complicated to find applicants from reputable universities.

In order to not give up their space in the building, they had to rent out some offices to a stockbrokers company. Which proved to be a huge problem for Louis in the beginning, sharing his sacred territory with unknown people, who didn't obey his rules and had such different behaviors.

Donna intervened in the situation, trying to control Louis' nerves and also the stockbrokers'. The entire process was extremely tough and stressful for each one of them.

In the end, after deep effort from everyone who stayed, they were successful in getting enough money to keep the firm for a while so they could focus on preparing for whatever it would come next.

When they thought they could finally take a breath and maintain the company financially, Mike got the next hit. After receiving the subpoena in the first week, they decided Mike should be away for a while, since, although he was not convicted, he was still a fraud and the rumor was now common knowledge.

The young lawyer started his fight to get into the bar so he could finally practice law again and during that time, he ended up going to work at a client's firm.

Even though the things at the firm were totally a mess, Donna didn't let him be off her mind for a second. For many moments, she held herself from saying "we have to call Harvey" or from taking the phone to call him or from entering his office looking for him.

One time she entered, in a hurry, in his office, not a thing out of place, except for him. He wasn't there, so she took a place in his chair, waiting for him. But she realized he wasn't there and he wouldn't be there. This acknowledgment hit her like a train. Every time she felt his absence, which was constantly, she had to hold some tears until the situation turned into something bearable. So when she reached a time when a sob hadn't come during the day, she couldn't say the same at night. Once she was alone on her bed before she could sleep, she cried her eyes out to get rid of all the anguish she carried during the workday.

- II -

It was the second month since Harvey had been away. That was how Donna was counting time and mentally doing the math for how long it was before she could visit him and how much longer before he got out of there.

On top of all the chaos at Pearson Litt, the redhead still had to deal with his absence. People said that the feeling of emptiness would pass and she would soon get used to it, but she very much doubted she would get used to being in the office without his presence. Even when she went to work for Louis, which for Harvey it was like she was abandoning him — and in a way it had been a little of that — she knew he was there then, that he was well within reach, but now things were different.

Even though, because of legal privileges, Jessica and Louis had gone to visit Harvey and assured her that he was handling everything well, she did not know what was happening to him, if he was okay or if he was eating well.

Besides, of course, things in prison shouldn't be easy. Specter had a temper and it could quickly get him into trouble with any of the prisoners in the place.

Each unexpected entry of Rachel or Louis into her room was a glimmer of hope that they had finally allowed her to visit him. Even working for the firm, as she wasn't a lawyer, she couldn't be on the list of people who could visit him.

With each passing day, the anguish of not being able to see him was painful, so much so that she lost hope she could speed up the visiting process. But then, that day, late in the afternoon, Rachel walked into her office.

"Donna?" Rachel approached her friend, who was lost in some papers in Harvey's old office.

The place was the same. Not a thing had changed since he had gone, for none of them had the courage to do so. Keeping his office that way gave the impression that he would come back at any moment.

For many times, the redhead entered the place and spent the entire day there working. It was like he had never gone, as if he was in a meeting, and this feeling kept her sane in this process of grief she was dealing with.

"Yes, Rachel?" she responded, glancing up at the lawyer with a folder in her hands.

"It has been two months since—" she paused, pondering her last words, timorous from what emotions would bring to Donna.

"That's okay, Rach. We can say that he is in prison and he is not here," she said firmly.

"Okay." Rachel finally entered the office and sat on the chair in front of Donna's. "Our gift to you." She handed the folder to Donna.

Donna could sense it was something good as she read Rachel's expression, and she smiled. Her face brightened like old golden days, wearing a smile Rachel was no longer used to see since Harvey had left for prison.

"I-I. Thank you, Rachel!" It was the only thing she could say.

In the folder Rachel was carrying, there was a document saying that, after 2 anguish months without seeing him, Donna could visit him in prison and she couldn't be more excited about it.

Author's Note:

This chapter was a short one because at the time I wrote it, I was going through a very hard time in my personal life: break up, peak season at work. You know, adulthood in its best definition. So I was lacking inspiration and after that I took a long time to get back into writing.

Thank you for reading. I hope you'll enjoy it. Oh and thank you Adri for being my beta on this one. Love u!

With love,

Jana.