Happy (early) love day, loves!

"The minute I first heard my love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along." - Rumi


She can see him sitting on the corner of her desk but she doesn't take her eyes off her computer screen, finally after getting in the groove of annotating the files he was going to need for court the next day.

"Hot date tonight?" he asked, his voice low as he placed one hand down on the desk, leaning towards her. She scoffed, her exhaled air blowing her bangs slightly out of her eyes, fingers not slowing down even for a second.

"If you call sitting on my couch watching Sleepless in Settle with a bottle of wine hot, then yes, Harvey..."

"Well that depends…"

Her eyebrow raised, "On?"

"On what you're wearing while you're doing it…" his voice is so low now it's almost like a whisper, and her fingers freeze, for just a millisecond. She raises her head then to meet his eyes, tipping her head to the side. All the sounds around them suddenly unfocused, as if they're underwater .It feels as if they stare at each other for just a fraction of a second too long, until he blinks and the moment is over – the noises of the office filtering back into what all of a sudden seemed to be a private conversation between the two of them.

She laughed softly, turning back to her screen and continued the sentence she'd been typing.

"You're an idiot", she breathed as he stood back up, and she didn't need to glance up at him to know how big the grin on his face was.

She doesn't see him again until after lunch, and she can tell by looking at his face as he pauses by her desk directly in front of her that perhaps his business lunch with Cameron Dennis was more liquid than lunch. Raising her eyebrows at him, she say anything, she doesn't have to.

"Something's troubling me"

This time she stops, crossing her arms across her chest and looking up at him with an amused smile.

"Oh?"

"It's surprising you don't have a valentine…"

She laughed, leaning back in her chair, swivelling on it slightly from left to right. "Is it?"

Smirking slightly, he nods, his left eyebrow raised.

Pushing down the different colours on the top of her pen, she exhaled, "It's been awhile since I've had an eventful Valentine's Day, Harvey"

"When was it?" he asks, reaching over to play with the red streamer she'd hung off her computer's monitor that morning ignoring his scoffs.

She pauses, her eyes scrunching up as she tries to remember,

"Ooooh third grade? Jacob Wright handmade me a card and gave me a heart-shaped lollipop..."

He laughs, louder than he normally would in the middle of the day but he doesn't even seem to be nervous. Flicking the streamer towards her, he shoves his hands in his pockets. "You're saying I only have to compete with a seven year old", he muses, shaking his head.

She smiles, rolling her eyes at him.

"Go do some work Harvey"

It's getting nearer and nearer to home time and she can practically hear the bottle of wine calling her name. With a sigh, and considering whether she should stop at the store for a pint of ice cream to go with her Thai take-out, she logs off her computer and leans down to grab her purse from the ground, hearing footsteps approaching as she sits back up, purse on her lap.

"Enjoy your movie", Harvey grins as he passes, buttoning his coat. Leaning over her computer screen, he drops a piece of paper on her keyboard.

Curious, she picks it up, unfolding and smoothing the A4 sheet as she reads a handwritten, "Will you be my Valentine?" and two small boxes underneath where he's labelled as YES and YES. She chuckles, biting her bottom lip.

"What, no lollipop?"

"Why, would you like something to-"

"Don't", she holds up her right hand to interrupt him, but she's smiling.

Playfully he rolls his eyes, winks and with a "Goodnight Donna", he's gone.

Years go by. Cases, and trials and fake memos and maybe you shouldn't be my boss anymore and I just said that to make you feel better and I just had to know and I looked around and you weren't there, and then I do. Life happened, and Donna swears she can't believe how quickly it all passed to get them to where they are but it's funny how as quickly as it felt, she can still remember every single day.

Sitting in their new house in Seattle surrounded by cardboard boxes, she sighs. After months of staying in a nice, but small rental they were so grateful to find their home when they did. They had scoured what felt like every penthouse and apartment in the city and nothing had felt right, until their realtor suggested maybe a house would be more to their liking. It only took for them to step out of their car to feel as though they were gazing at the rest of their lives. It was a big house, with one or two more rooms than fit them right now, but even the existence of them seemed to breathe an air of possibility that Donna never thought she would ever experience, all through the space and their lives.

Hearing a key in the front door she smiled, crossing her legs, head turned expectedly towards the hallway. Seconds later, Harvey appeared holding two white plastic bags over his head. "Food for my wife?"

She chuckled, reaching out her arms in his direction although not even attempting to stand. "I'm so tired, I've decided I'm not going to move from this spot to eat it" she announced, wrapping her arms around his neck as he bent down to place a peck on her lips.

"That can be arranged", he smiles, turning away from her, "I'll get the cutlery"

"And napkins!" she calls after him, her attention already firmly directed at the food in the bags, taking the containers out and placing them on the wood floor.

"I have a confession", he says as he returns, a concerned expression screwing up the corners of his face, placing two forks and a wad of napkins beside her. Walking back towards the hallway, he bends down and picks up a massive bouquet of red and pink assorted flowers, the size Donna had usually only seen at managed events, "I didn't realise what today was, with everything going on and this was all I could manage in the time between the guy in the restaurant asking me what my wife and I were doing for Valentine's Day and when the food was ready."

Donna stands, taking the flowers from him and depositing them on top of the nearest box. Cupping his face in her hands, she smiles, smoothing his cheeks with her thumbs. "Harvey, don't look so worried! I completely forgot until Rachel texted me this morning and asked what we were planning to do. Where did you even get these so late?"

He shrugs, his hands coming to rest on her waist, "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, even in Seattle."

She laughs, leaning in to press her lips against his. He leans into the kiss, and she pulls back slightly, biting her bottom lip softly. "I have something for you, it's only small so don't get excited."

Turning to reach the bookcase behind her that they had only built that afternoon, she picks up something hidden in the corner of one of the shelves. Stepping towards him, her cheeks flushed she holds out what looked like a wooden square.

He takes it from her inquisitively, "It's a photo frame"

"Observant. Turn it over"

Turning it over, his breath catches in his chest.

A slightly crumpled lined piece of paper that once had been in his legal pad in the DA's office.

Will you be my Valentine?

And a big red tick through both boxes.

His eyes begin to sting slightly and he blinks hard, looking back at her. "How?"

She gives him a watery smile, her hands coming to cover his on the sides of the frame, "I never threw it out. I had a feeling that I might need it again sometime"

He kisses her again, one hand pulling out from under hers to pull her closer to him. "This is the best thing I've ever got Donna. You are the best thing I've ever got"

She chuckles breathily, "Well I could have told you that when you first gave you that"

Their eyes meet, and they smile, their thoughts connecting, both of them thinking how incredibly lucky they ended up where they are. He leans back in, his lips pressing against hers, his tongue running along her bottom lip.

"I guess I have a bit of making it up to you after giving you just those shitty flowers"

She hums into his mouth, the corners of hers turning up at the sides,

"I'm sure I can think of a few ways how. Happy Valentine's Day Harvey"

"Happy Valentine's Day Donna"


Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day, whether it's spent with/or celebrating at a distance with someone special, or family or just yourself. This world could use a little more love these days.

As always, any feedback would be so greatly appreciated.