With slow steps Harvey and Donna make their way out of his office; his left arm tightly wrapped around her waist and her right hand holding onto his shoulder. Just as they walk out, Mike approaches the office. "Harvey!" He calls out, "I think I figured out a way to put pressure on Neil, look at-" "Not now, Mike," Harvey interrupts him. Mike raises his eyebrows at the sight of him and Donna together, looking like they're about to leave. He opens his mouth to say something about leaving in the middle of a crisis, but Harvey cuts him off before he even got started. "I have to take Donna to the hospital." He doesn't have time to explain any further, he feels Donna leaning more of her weight into him and he wants to get her in a cab as soon as possible.
Mike's jaw drops, and only now he notices how pale Donna's face is and the way she holds on to Harvey. "What-?" He starts asking the question, but once again Harvey doesn't let him finish. "We have no time to explain. I'll call you later. Can you deal with Neil by yourself?" Mike nods without a second thought. His friends are in trouble and he'll do anything to alleviate the stress the both of them are clearly feeling. "I'll flag down a cab," he offers, running outside.
Harvey presses a soft kiss into Donna's hair. "Come on," he mumbles, and they start walking again, taking slow steps. It's not far from his office to the exit, but he can feel it's costing Donna a lot. Her fingers gradually dig deeper into the muscles of his shoulder and with the arm that's around her waist he can feel the tension in her back muscles increasing. When they get to the door, Harvey blows out a relieved breath when he sees Mike has managed to stop a cab. He hurries back to the couple and wraps an arm around Donna as well. Together, they walk her over to the car, where Harvey helps her get down onto the backseat. He softly squeezes her shoulder before rounding the car. Over the roof, he gives Mike a nod and a tight-lipped smile as he gets in the car himself.
While the car merges into the traffic, Harvey scoots closer to Donna. She leans into him again, resting her head on his shoulder. He wraps both arms around her, holding her close as he presses a kiss into her hair. "You're gonna be okay." He murmurs, resting his hand on her arm and giving a soft squeeze. She doesn't know whether he's trying to convince her or himself, but his words really do make her feel a little better. He softly runs his fingers up and down her bare arm and she lets herself relax into him. He presses another kiss to the top of her head and then lets his head rest there, against hers.
During the ride, Harvey notices Donna's body tensing up every time they pass over a bump or a hole in the road. It took him a while to notice the pattern. When it happens again, he gives her shoulder a soft squeeze, "what's the thing with the bumps?" He asks carefully, pulling back a little to look at her face. She's got her eyes tightly shut; her face contorted with pain. "Hey," he softly murmurs, sliding his hand from her shoulder to her back. She squeezes his arm, signaling that she heard his question. He waits until she has managed to recompose herself and opens her eyes to look at him. "It hurts," she answers through gritted teeth. He softly rubs her back, "we're almost there," he promises. She nods slightly, and he moves closer, letting her lean back against him.
When they get to the hospital, Harvey barely waits for the cab to come to a halt before jumping out and rushing to open the door for Donna. He helps her out and then steadies her by wrapping both arms around her waist. He holds her against his chest until he's sure she's stable enough to carry her own weight. Then he lets one arm go, wrapping the other around her just like before. They make their way inside, where a nurse immediately jumps up at the sight of them. "I'll get a wheelchair." She offers, rushing off and getting back within a minute. Harvey eases Donna down and grabs her hand as the nurse wheels her to a bed between two curtains. She quickly writes down Donna's data and then smiles politely, "a doctor will be by soon."
A few minutes later, Donna is lying in the bed. In her tight designer dress and expensive heels she looks out of place, but Harvey isn't looking at that. The only thing he sees are her closed eyes and her scarily white skin. His heart hurts seeing her like this, and he feels so powerless. He can't do anything to make her feel better and it makes him anxious. His heart is pounding a little harder than usual and his chest feels tight. He tries taking deep breaths, because having a panic attack right now will do nothing to help. In fact, he's quite sure that Donna would worry about him, even in this state, and worrying her right now is the last thing he wants to do.
"Mrs. Paulsen-Specter?" A young doctor walks through the curtains. Donna opens her eyes and nods. He shoots her a polite smile, "I'm Elliot Johnson, a resident here in the ER. I'll be asking you a-" "You're a what?" Harvey interrupt, the words only now catching up to him. "A resident," Johnson turns his gaze to Harvey, who frowns at him, "then you'll get out of here and get my wife a real doctor." The frustration and anxiety that have been building up finally found a way out and he's glad to take it. This is a way to fight and right now that's the only thing he wants because he's not going to sit by and watch his wife feeling this terrible.
"Harvey, don't." Donna's words are so familiar. She's said them many times before. Sometimes while pointing a finger at him, sometimes smiling, other times looking stern and serious. But never before has it been like this. Never has she felt so weak and has her voice sounded so soft. But she lays her hand on Harvey's arm and she knows it doesn't matter emhow/em she says it, he hears her. His head is turned towards her and his gaze softens. He just looks at her and realizes that she doesn't need him to fight. She just needs him to be there with her. And it doesn't matter how powerless that makes him feel because it's not about him. So, he takes her hand and then curtly nods at Johnson. /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNoSpacing"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After asking some questions and doing a short physical examination, Johnson decides to take Donna for some scans, requesting Harvey to take a seat in the waiting area. He hesitates, about to throw a fit, but Donna softly squeezes his arm and he lets his shoulders drop. He leans in for a quick kiss and then wanders to the waiting area, where he slumps down in an uncomfortable plastic chair. He fishes his phone out of his pocket and taps on the call-button next to Mike's name. He promised to call the kid to explain, and he needs something to keep himself busy.
"Harvey." Mike answers at the first ring. Suddenly, Harvey doesn't know what to say anymore. It's not even been two hours since he found Donna sitting in his office, but it feels like the world has flipped upside down in the meantime. "What's going on?" Mike presses through the phone. "How's Donna?" Harvey takes a big breath. "When we got back from that meeting she was in my office, wanting to talk," he starts, "I said I didn't have time, we fought, she got up and then suddenly she was on the floor… Apparently she's so much sicker than she admitted and I feel like such a fucking idiot." He had actually felt a little proud the night before, when he noticed something was off. What he didn't know was that he only saw the tiniest tip of the iceberg and now he only feels guilty for not realizing there was so much more going on.
"But fainting and not feeling well are not necessarily reasons to rush to the hospital, right?" Mike asks, pulling Harvey out of his spiraling mind. "She's got a very high fever," he explains, "and that paired with stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and the fact that she got a lot sicker in the past 24 hours made the doctor think we needed to get over here." He hears Mike blowing out a long breath, "shit…" He mumbles, "so what now?" Harvey swallows, "they asked a few questions and then did a few tests," he pauses, "that was bad, Mike… She's really sick, I have never seen her like this."
Harveys mind wanders back to the physical examination Johnson did; he started out by lightly tapping on Donna's abdomen. It seemed so innocent, but even that light pressure caused her so much pain that she had let out a soft moan and squeezed Harvey's hand so hard that he felt his bones press together. "The doctor decided it'd be best to get a few scans to see what's going on inside, so they've taken her up now. But they're quite certain she has to stay overnight, and I can see the seriousness on everyone's faces." It's quiet for a beat, before he hears Mike's voice again, "you're in a hospital. Everybody's serious all the time," he tries a joke to lighten the mood, but Harvey doesn't respond. "Is there anything Rachel and I can do for you guys?" He then asks. Harvey sighs, "not really. We just have to wait and see." "Do you want us to come to the hospital?" Mike offers, just wanting to be sure that Harvey knows he's not alone. "No, it's okay," Harvey responds, "there's not much to do here. And… Donna's exhausted and sick enough as it is." He sighs, rubbing his forehead, "I'll keep you, updated, okay?"