Prompt #24 by teganlyon: "When Christmas plans fall through for Harvey, Donna, Mike, Rachel, Louis and Jessica, Donna offers to throw an impromptu Christmas lunch. It ultimately descends with everyone getting far too drunk and Harvey and Donna shamelessly flirting with one another. Bonus points if they hook up before the day's over."
Donna's face burned brightly as she hid her eyes in her champagne glass. The move didn't stop a soft kick at her ankle. Which could have been Rachel beside her or Harvey opposite her.
When Louis had suggested a pre-Christmas lunch, she hadn't expected Harvey to ordain them all with his presence. Every other year, he'd worked through all the firm's merriment. Normally they'd all be at a restaurant, not sitting in the boardroom, and she wouldn't see or hear from Harvey until the next day.
But when their reservation had suddenly been canceled, not only had Harvey suggested the office soiree, he had turned up with enough champagne to sink the Titanic.
He'd been flirting more obviously too, which made her glance between him and Rachel. Only, he continued to stare at her, so she pulled her feet back, hooking them safely under her chair.
"I'd like to make a toast." Louis stood up and tapped his glass. "To…"
"Shitty Thai and good company." Harvey raised his glass and grinned.
Mike quickly realized the interruption was a ploy to stop a boring speech, and he raised his drink as well. "Here, here!"
"But I wasn't… Fine." Louis grumbled as he caved to Jessica's bemused look. "To Christmas and family. May the firm live long and prosper."
The room erupted in hearty claps. Even Harvey joined in. And Donna narrowed her gaze across the table. "What has gotten into you?"
"It's Christmas, Donna. A time for eating, celebrating…"
"Drinking?" She watched him take another exceptionally large sip of champagne. Something was definitely going on with him.
"Dancing, other activities." He raised an eyebrow, happily letting the flutter of bubbles on his tongue loosen his lips.
"Normally for you it's a time for bookkeeping and filing," she shot back.
He checked to make sure Mike and Rachel were still busy talking beside them and lowered his voice with a smirk. "Someone has their panties in a twist. Need help with that?"
She uncoupled her ankles and kicked him hard in the shin. "Stop it."
"Come on, Donna, I'm just teasing."
"Really?" Maybe he was just happy. But it was more likely he was either bored or came to prank Louis. It didn't really matter to her. Except that he was getting tipsy, and she suddenly felt like a babysitter.
Deciding she didn't want to spend the rest of her afternoon taking his place as the Grinch, she filled up her glass with the bottle between them, and slid her lips slowly over the rim, letting the fizz cool her warm cheeks.
Beneath the table, Harvey felt the heel of her shoe as it relaxed against his ankle, and he nodded his approval.
Touche.
2 hours earlier
Louis was in a blind panic, his knuckles stretched impossibly tight around his cell as he yelled into the receiver. "Unless you want your entire restaurant sued, you'll check again!"
Donna swooped the phone out of his hand and ended the call. "Louis, you need to calm down."
"How, Donna? How am I supposed to calm down when I have twenty associates getting ready to go to a company paid lunch at the most exclusive restaurant in town?! This is the one day of the year they don't think I'm an asshole."
"It was a mistake, Louis. It's not your fault."
Louis captured his face in his hands. The associates wouldn't care. He would be ridiculed and called a scrooge.
"Just give them the time off, Louis."
Harvey's voice echoed in the doorway and Donna turned to the sound. "I think you're missing the point. The lunch is a token, a gesture of Christmas spirit."
Louis snorted. "Remember who you're talking to, Donna."
Harvey huffed and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Give them your company credit card, let them go out and have some actual fun. I guarantee you, they'll crown you king on Monday."
"Are you fucking crazy?" Louis balked at the idea. "They'll bankrupt the entire goddamn firm."
"They're not going to do that, Louis." He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "They'll see this as an act of mutual trust."
"Would you have trusted us?"
Harvey smirked. "God, no. You should probably call the bank and cap the limit. And if they're out of the building, that means we can have a little shindig of our own." He pushed off the doorway and beckoned for Donna to follow him. "If you're not too busy, I could use your help putting something together."
Donna's mouth dropped open, but she picked it back up and cleared her throat. "Ummm… Yeah, sure." She went to follow Harvey out of the room but was pulled back by Louis' sharp grip around her wrist.
"Donna, did that really just happen, or am I having a stroke?"
"It really happened," she admitted, bewildered.
.
.
Nope. Mike simply didn't believe his eyes when he saw Harvey directing boxes of champagne into the partner's kitchen.
He'd heard from Rachel, who'd heard from Donna, that Harvey was actually trying to lift everyone's spirits with an impromptu Christmas luncheon.
Even though it looked like the rumor was true, he stepped in to help with a cautious approach. "Hey. Are you feeling okay?"
"Great." Harvey grinned and patted Mike on the back. "Do me a favor? Take some glasses into the meeting room and see if you can find some buckets to fill with ice."
"Okay. Sure…" Mike stumbled. "It's just… Did anything strange happen last night? Like three ghosts showing up to teach you the meaning of Christmas?"
"Very funny, Mike." Harvey picked up a knife and sliced open one of the boxes. "Hey. Why don't you go down and visit our friend at the coffee cart?"
Mike's eyes bulged at the suggestion. "You're not serious?"
Harvey's expression didn't change. He certainly looked serious, and Mike took a step forward. "Here? Harvey, it's not even the middle of the afternoon! What about Louis and Jessica?!"
"The associates are gone. The only person who didn't go with them or go home is Gretchen. And the only person she'd call security on is you for being a pussy."
Mike held up his hands. God knew he wouldn't be opposed to some recreational pot. If the others were willing, maybe he should set Harvey's repressed Christmas spirit free.
Present time
Rachel grinned as she reapplied her lipstick in the firm's bathroom mirror, and she tried to keep her focus as Donna strutted out from a stall with an extra sway to her hips.
Two hours into their lunch and things had kicked up a notch. They'd moved from the meeting room to Jessica's office, where heels had been discarded and ties flung aside.
What had her staring at Donna's reflection in the mirror was how her best friend and Harvey had been coupled up on the couch. Donna all but had her knees curled in Harvey's lap, while his hand had floated to her back on more than one occasion.
"Okay, spill." Rachel prodded. "What is going on with you and Harvey?"
"Nothing," Donna denied innocently.
"All the flirting and touching. That's not nothing, Donna."
She sighed. Rachel made it sound like they'd been dry humping each other or something. But they'd just been comfortable as the group drank and laughed and joked around.
Her brows pinched together as she washed her hands. She couldn't remember the last time they'd all been so carefree. A result Harvey initiated. She'd almost forgotten he'd gone out of his way to get them all in a room together.
"Oh my God. You don't know what's going on, do you?" Rachel quizzed her best friend in shock.
Donna opened her mouth to defend herself, then snapped it shut. She didn't know. Harvey had baited her with his teasing charm, and she'd fallen for it. But the Harvey Specter she knew didn't organize social gatherings. And definitely not at Christmas. It was time to get some answers.
.
.
Harvey took a sip of his single malt whiskey, glad he'd traded up from champagne as his eyes roamed the cityscape. He'd decided to come up to the roof for some air and didn't regret the decision, even when the door opened and disturbed his privacy.
Donna appeared beside him with a worried look, and he smiled. He knew she'd sober up and question him, eventually. A conversation he hadn't really wanted to have until now. "Marcus called last night. He was in the hospital this week having tests done." The words punctured the air between them, and he quickly reassured her. "He's fine. The doctors gave him a clean bill of health."
A sadness hung from his shoulders that Donna didn't understand. She would if Harvey's merriment had been in celebration of the news. But she got the sudden feeling that hadn't been the case.
"He didn't tell me, Donna." Harvey mumbled, trying to explain the grief he felt. When his brother had been diagnosed with cancer, they hadn't been on good terms. He'd learned from Donna when the man had gone into remission. And he thought they'd mended those fences, but now he didn't know. "I would have been there this time. But he didn't even think to call. Then he invited me there for Christmas like I was an afterthought."
"That's why you brought everyone together today?"
He nodded. "You said I needed my family. What I need is people who actually want me around."
She mulled over his words and felt a small stab of hurt. "So you were trying to prove you have other options?"
"I guess." He finished the last sip of his drink and turned to her. "Except I stopped trying to prove something hours ago."
"Why?"
"You."
He'd been drinking before lunch and had even gotten a little high. He had masked his feelings impeccably until Donna had let her guard down, and he'd realized he didn't need to pretend to have fun. He'd slowed down his drinking and enjoyed himself. "You make it easy, Donna. To forget, to face things when I need to. I shut my family out for years. I'm tired of making that same mistake."
"What are you saying?" she asked, confused when he sat his glass down and reached out to take her hand.
"I'd like to spend Christmas with you. I thought maybe we could go down to see Marcus together."
Her heart thudded in her chest. She didn't know what he meant, if he just wanted her to act as a buffer, and she swallowed nervously. "As friends?"
He shook his head and grinned. "As more than that."
With a tug, he clasped her waist, and she smiled up into his hopeful gaze. "Okay."
.
.
"Could someone please take down that Mistletoe?" Mike groaned, which earned him a slap from Rachel.
"Leave them alone." She grinned at Harvey and Donna, who had been locking lips under the sprig for at least five minutes. "I think it's cute."
Jessica leaned back in her chair, stretched her ankles on her desk and smirked. "I think someone owes Gretchen and I our winnings."
Gretchen shook her head and laughed. "Easiest money I ever damn made."
Mike, Rachel, and Louis collectively groaned.
"Okay, but seriously. How did you know it would be this time?" Mike pulled out his wallet to pay up.
Jessica smirked and motioned at Harvey. "Who do you think put up the mistletoe?"