A/N: Fair warning. This chapter is a little short. But the turn around time was quick and chapter 8 is in progress. My ride or die girls Heather, Stephanie, and Blue push me to be a better writer with every chapter and I hope it's working.

Please take the time to leave a review. It's important to know someone is listening.

Chapter 7:

Thomas lets out a puff of air as if he had been holding his breath in anticipation of Harvey's response. He shakes his head absently as if he's mentally putting all the pieces together.

"Does she know?" he finally asks.

At the sound of Thomas's voice, Harvey pulls his eyes from his distant gaze into nowhere and looks back at him.

"No. She doesn't," he shakes his head. Swallowing down the regret that rises in his throat.

"Is she in love with you?" Thomas decides not to hold back. He is in this deep, and may as well get it all on the table.

Clearly caught off guard by the bold question, Harvey coughs into his hand. He slides his foot over a loose piece of gravel while contemplating the answer to Thomas's question. Is she in love with him?

"God, I hope so," Harvey says more to himself than Thomas, looking past him and out at the night sky.

His reply is not at all what Thomas expected. His honesty surprises him. Moves him.

The men stand there silently for several minutes. Harvey letting the realization of all his confessions to Thomas sink in. Thomas reflecting on his time with Donna, and all the turmoil of the past few days.

"Give me some time to process all this, Harvey. I'm not making any promises, but I do appreciate your candor tonight. It casts a new light on this entire situation."

He simply nods at Thomas. Harvey knows he is a good man. He knew it before, but he has proven it here tonight.

Thomas starts to walk away but stops and turns back to Harvey with eyes full of emotion and a huskiness in his voice.

"Donna is an incredible woman. If she is in love with you, you're a very lucky man."

As Harvey watches Thomas walk down the street, he lets his guard down enough for a single tear to escape from his eye. The weight of his love for Donna threatens to suffocate him right here on the street.

After taking a minute to pull himself together Harvey gets into the Lexus.

"Sorry for the wait, Ray," he says as he shuts the door.

"No need to apologize, Mr. Specter. Headed home, sir?" Ray asks, glancing in the rearview mirror.

Harvey looks up and meets his eyes briefly, then gazes out the window thoughtfully.

"Donna's," he responds. "Take me to Donna's."

Ray puts the car in drive as a slow smirk spreads across his face.

Harvey dials Donna's number, again, for about the tenth time today. And when he gets her voicemail yet again, it's something other than love that's boiling inside him.

……

Donna gets out of the shower not really feeling any better. She had hoped that maybe the hot water would help relieve the tension in her shoulders and the guilt in her gut. Instead, it gave her the chance to have a good hard cry, which left her with puffy eyes and a stuffy nose. With a towel around her waist and another wrapped on top of her head, she heads into her bedroom and immediately notices that her phone screen is lit. When she walks over to take a closer look, her fear is confirmed. Harvey had called. Again.

She knows he was probably pissed off, or at best, irritated with the fact that she hadn't shown her face or called him all day. She knows the longer she waits the worse it is going to get. She plans to just throw on some PJs and then call him back.

"Rap, rap, rap." Three loud, quick knocks on the door and her breath catches in her throat. How is it that she can easily tell his mood based on the way he knocks?

"Just a second. Just… one… second," she calls out as she pulls the towel from her hair and grabs her robe from the hook in the bathroom.

Great. Let's just have it out while I'm buck fuck naked, she mumbles under her breath on her way to greet her guest.

"Harvey," she says with a nod, already backing out of his way, expecting him to storm right in.

Instead, he doesn't move from the threshold. He isn't gawking, exactly, but his mouth is slightly open.

"For God's sake, what? I just got out of the shower. Are you coming in or…," she starts to shut the door on him sarcastically. She knows she's being a little bitchy but they always say offense is the best defense. Or something like that.

Harvey puts his hand up to stop the door from closing and licks his lips. He distinctly remembers being upset on his way over here but suddenly he can't remember why.

"I'm really sorry I was so unavailable today," Donna starts apologizing as they walk into the living room.

Ah. Yes. That was it, he thinks, scowling.

"You just wouldn't believe the day I've had," she adds, not really knowing where she's taking this, which is so unlike her. "Drink?" she asks, struggling to keep her voice indifferent.

How easily they fall back into this pattern. One moment, so intimate and open, the next, guarded and distant. She was just as guilty of it as he had always been.

"I could use one," Harvey speaks for the first time since arriving. "Tell me about your busy day," he says as she hands him a glass. He knows they shouldn't be playing games. He should tell her he knows she went to Thomas. He should just tell her about the conversation they'd had. He should just tell her… everything.

"Well," Donna stalls surprised by his follow up question. "I had a meeting this morning, and I wasn't feeling too well afterward." She tries to keep it vague and avoid an all-out lie. "So I came home to rest for a bit and decided to work from here."

"Morning meeting? With whom?" he inquires after sipping on his scotch.

The double meaning in his phrasing is not lost on her. And when she meets his eyes with her own, she knows he knows. His eyes bore into hers with an intensity saved for special occasions.

"Harvey--"

"You went to him? You went to him when you knew I didn't want you to. And you tried to keep it from me." His voice is thick with emotion and there's a wildness in his eyes that makes Donna look away.

"That seems to be how it works between us now. You, keeping things from me." When she simply looks up at him with no response, he's the one who breaks eye contact this time.

"That's not fair," she says shaking her head as her facade quickly fades.

"Not fair?" he spits out on a humorless chuckle. "I'll tell you what's not fair. I opened up to you last night. And in my office. I don't know about you Donna, but all that meant something to me! You think letting you in like that was easy for me?"

His tone is more hurt than angry, but either way, it's tearing Donna apart.

"I'm sorry, Harvey!" The tears are falling now, and things have come full circle. He's angry. She's crying, apologizing.

Something in her voice breaks through his exterior. He can see her pain so clearly. Feel it in his bones. And it breaks his heart.

"Why did you go to him?" his voice cracks as he steps toward her. "After last night? Why didn't you just trust me? I told you I'd handle it." There is no malice in his words. As he reaches up to place a hand on her cheek. Relief washes over her at the intimate contact.

Donna places her hand on top of his and leans her face into his palm. The comfort of his touch sends the healing warmth through her body that she had been seeking.

"I wanted to fix it," she whispers, her face mere inches from his. "I'm so sorry, Harvey. I think I only made things worse." Donna breaks down as she steps into him and wraps her arms around him. She doesn't feel like she deserves the safety of his embrace but she's afraid without it, she will fall to pieces.

Harvey doesn't respond right away. He just holds her, tightens his grip around her waist and pulls her into him. God, how he has longed to comfort her this way. All the times she has stood before him with tears on her cheeks and pain in her eyes. How he had wanted, needed, to hold her. Just the way he was holding her now.

Harvey gently strokes her hair as she cries into his chest. "He came to see me," he says, as he lays his cheek on the top of her head.

"He told me you had gone to see him," he continues as she tries to pull away to look at him, but he holds her in place. "Just... Listen for a minute." He pulls her tighter to comfort himself as much as her. "I felt stupid for not knowing you had been there. I felt betrayed, Donna. Deceived."

He eases back so he can look at her. Tears are streaming down both her cheeks and more are threatening to follow. "But you weren't betraying me. I see that now." Harvey takes his hands and places them on each side of her face. The sheer size of them engulfing her as he wipes the tears with his thumbs. "You were trying to protect me." There is a brief sparkle in Donna's eyes as she blinks rapidly, surprised by his empathy.

"It was stupid… and reckless…," he continues as a grin spreads across his face, watching the transformation on hers. Donna lets out a small gasp as she pushes against his chest in mock protest.

"I thought I could change his mind," she sighs as her hands drop down in defeat.

"How? Harvey raises his hands from his side in genuine curiosity. "You thought you could just walk in there and change his mind about me?"

"Yes! I wanted to make him see that you're a good man!" she fires back, raising her own arms in frustration. "That you don't deserve any of this. That any line you have ever crossed was crossed out of-"

"Out of?" he prods when she stops mid-sentence.

Donna sighs. She looks up into those big brown eyes and she knows he's ready. She's ready.

"Out of love." Her tone is so soft, her eyes, so warm. Harvey feels weak in the knees. He fights the urge to kiss her. To step forward and dive in with every morsel of his being, but he knows that if he opens that valve now, there will be no shutting it. Not today, not ever. And they needed to finish this first.

So as his eyes fill with emotion, he clenches his jaw and his fists alike, but he does not move or speak. He responds instead, with a quick nod.

"But it didn't work," Donna continues. "Everything I said just seemed to upset him more. And now I don't know what he's going to do." She sits down on the couch, the exhaustion of the day weighing on her. "What horrible things did he say to you, Harvey? Please tell me the two of you didn't fight."

"He wasn't horrible, Donna." Harvey sits down next to her on the couch. Their knees, touching. "He just wanted answers. Answers to some pretty tough questions."

"Liberty Rail?" she asks. "He eluded to knowing something," she adds when Harvey raises his brows.

"Yes. That. And a few other things," he says looking away from her.

"Did you tell him? I mean, did you give him what he wanted?" she asks as her voice breaks and the tears threaten again.

"Yes," he answers in a husky tone. The tone that means his walls are down. "I think he's going to drop this whole thing, Donna."

She catapults herself into his lap and he's completely caught off guard by it. She nuzzles her head into the crook of his neck and wraps her arms around him. "I'm so sorry, Harvey. Sorry I went to him. Sorry I put you in this situation. Sorry that I pushed you to tell me about Thomas's deal." Donna is spewing out apologies so fast, that through the tears and labored breathing he can hardly make them out.

"Hey, hey, hey," he says, wiping the hairs that are clinging to her skin away from her face. "This is not all on you and you really need to take it easy on yourself." He squeezes both her shoulders and looks into her hazel eyes. It's so damn clear to him now, he can't understand what had taken him so long. "You're the most important person in my life."

And there it is. His simple truth. Something he couldn't admit for nearly fourteen years, he has said aloud twice today.

Donna's eyes widen as she looks into his and the reality of his confession seeps through her veins. Harvey's eyes well up with tears as he watches the effect his words have on her and he decides he can do one better.

"I love you, Donna. I think I always have." The crack in his voice just amplifies the sincerity of his words, and Donna closes the short distance between them instantly.

The kiss is deep and slow. The taste of salty tears blends with the flavor of his mouth that she has always craved. His tongue glides around hers. Up and over as he leans down and tilts his head. He pulls her up so she is straddling him and he wraps his hand around her neck as he groans deeply at the pressure in his groin.

He wants her. There is no doubt about that. But this is so much more than that. For the first time in his life, he craves the intimacy. The touching, holding, kissing. His hands slide from her face down her arms as he is flooded with a wave of relief that washes over his whole body. All these years of holding back, of pretending, and denying. It feels so damn good to just let go. To just give in.

Donna is the one who pulls away first and Harvey wants to just pull her back in, afraid to lose the connection for even a moment. But then, she smiles and takes the breath from his lungs.

"I love you, too, Harvey. So much more than you know." Her eyes bore into his and he believes, with all his heart, that she means it. Every single word.

Donna lays her head back down on his chest and adjusts her body, bringing her right leg over with her left. She snuggles in as close as she possibly can and Harvey wraps his arms tightly around her.

She closes her eyes and listens to the steady pounding of his heart. She feels safe. Loved. Perfect.

They sit together in silence. Their minds reflecting on the past and their hearts swelling for the future. They had finally found their way to the place they both belong.

Within minutes Harvey notices Donna's breathing has slowed to a steady and consistent rhythm. She was fast asleep. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. The scent of her fills his nose and overwhelms his senses.

Harvey softly kisses her on the forehead. "I love you, Donna Paulsen," he whispers. He likes the way it sounds when he says it out loud.

Harvey rests his head on top of hers as his eyes grow heavy and he slowly drifts off.