Since it's been way too long (again) since my last update (I'm really sorry for being that slow, I know that almost half a year is quite a long time) I put the last few lines in this chapter again (the text in bold and italic), in case anyone has forgotten how the last chapter has ended. I know the chapter is shorter than usually but nonetheless have a good read!

Chapter 10 - Something New

"Would you believe me if I told you that I'm not that same person anymore? That I don't care about all those other girls?"

The air around them seemed to thicken and heat up with every second, adding up to an almost palpable tension. She swallowed under his earnest and firm stare, his raw and honest words making her forget how to breathe for a moment.

Then she looked straight back into his eyes and what she saw hit her like a ton of bricks. Nearly black pools that seemed to be filled with heavy emotions and unspoken words. And a vulnerability she had never seen on him before. Not even on anyone else.

She forgot what she was about to say, overwhelmed by what he had just shown her with his eyes, but she found her voice again eventually. With her alarmingly fast heartbeat drumming in her ears she swallowed and responded with a low and raspy "Maybe?"

His eyes shifted from her eyes to her lips again with every heartbeat. He was breathing heavily and his throat felt constricted. He felt the familiar flutter and warmth in his stomach and then he couldn't stop himself anymore. He raised his hands, gently placing the left one in her neck and the right one on her cheek, softly caressing it with a slow stroke of his thumb. He paused for a fraction of a second, searching her eyes to look for anything that could make him stop.

He didn't find anything, on the contrary, she had a silent plea in her darkened eyes, pupils slightly dilated. He came closer and eventually softly slanted his lips on hers, shutting his eyes in the moment they met, but he didn't dare to deepen the kiss. He didn't want to push her, and even though she hadn't made any kind of counteraction when she had plenty of opportunities to do so, he was still shit-scared that he'd do something wrong. That he had misinterpreted everything. That he would end everything. That he would screw up like he usually did. She had her goddamn rule after all.

But she didn't wait long until she responded to his kiss and enhanced the pressure against his lips, slowly moving her hands up his upper body. He could feel her fingers scraping over his chest, even through the fabric of his T-shirt, and it felt like her fingertips left a track of fire on him. Her hands ended up wrapped around his neck eventually, and she then parted her mouth because she could already feel his tongue brushing over her lips. A small moan escaped her when their tongues finally met, and she could feel how his lips twisted to a smirk. He obviously seemed to be proud of himself that he was the cause for her reaction, but only a few seconds later it was him who let out a groan and it was her turn to grin into the kiss.

It seemed like almost everything between them was a constant fight. But not with the goal that one of them won. It was about the battle itself, them challenging each other. Because there were quite some thing they were good at together, and that was definitely one of them.

When they finally parted, they rested their foreheads against each other, not wanting their proximity to end right know, and they could feel each other's warm breaths brush over their cheeks. His hands were placed on her waist, gently pulling her as close to him as possible, and her hands rested on his shoulders, her palms almost burning his skin, even through his shirt.

Suddenly, he began to chuckle nervously out of nowhere and she pulled her head backwards to look at him with a quizzical and wondering expression on her face. Her voice was still low and a little hoarse when she asked him astoundedly, "What?"

"Do I have to move out now?" He cautiously drew his hands back and lifted the right one to scratch the back of his head. He phrased his question half-jokingly but inside he was actually extremely nervous and anxious of how her answer would turn out.

Her countenance softened at his question, and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth to stop herself from grinning at him being so adorable in his own way. She realized he was scared that she would tell him to leave because of her rule. She thought to herself that that was actually quite cute but she would never tell him that. Knowing that at first he would be offended by her calling him that, but then he would never stop teasing her with it.

She lowered her gaze to look at the space between them, then she took one of his hands eventually, entwining her fingers with his and squeezing his hand lightly. Then she raised her look back up to his eyes before she answered with a soft smile. "No," she whispered, and she felt him exhaling in relief and relaxing his tensed muscles.

Harvey let the information sink in for a few moments, then a huge grin started to spread across his face. He held her look for another second before he captured her lips again, this time more passionate and bruising.

His fingers slowly wandered south, lifting the hem of her shirt slightly and grazing the skin beneath it. She shivered slightly, and Harvey felt goosebumps forming on her skin. Simultaneously, Donna already hauled on the hem of his shirt and guided him slowly backwards in her bedroom. He reacted equally, gently pushing her backwards, towards her bed.

He still remembered the last time he was in her room, the awkwardness of the situation back then. He was glad that had changed, and this time he didn't have to promise to not even think about touching her.

—

The next morning, when the first rays of sunshine found their way through the window, Harvey slowly woke up with a familiar scent in his nose. At first he wasn't able to place it, and his brain was still quite sleepy and slow, but then he remembered. With his eyes still closed a small smile began to form on his lips, and a flood of happiness run through his whole body at the thought of what happened last night.

A small part of him still couldn't believe all of this really happened, so he slowly opened his eyes and gently turned around. When he finally saw Donna lying next to him, sleeping peacefully, her red manes spread across the pillow, he felt another flutter in his stomach. He looked at her for a few minutes, not able to train his gaze away from her yet, and still hardly believing his luck.

He thought about the other two times they had shared a bed. It had been similar in some ways but yet so different in so many ways. This time, there was no awkwardness in waking up next to her, no uncertainty about what they want or not want. Also, this time he felt her warm skin against his own, he only in his boxer shorts, her wearing a tank top and shorts.

When he felt her beginning to stir, his grin grew even wider and he gently moved closer to her. She was lying with his back turned to him, so he lifted the blanket a little and wrapped his arm around her waist. He tenderly pulled her backwards against his chest, pressing a soft kiss against her head and deeply inhaling her scent. Then he mumbled a husky "Morning beautiful."

Donna reached for his hand on her waist and interlaced her fingers with his. After a small squeeze of his hand, she turned around in his embrace to face him, shyly smiling up to him and answering with a low voice, "Morning."

After gazing into each others eyes for a few seconds, with the happiest grin on both of their faces, Harvey raised his hand and put a strand of Donna's hair behind her hair. She slightly blushed at his action and wanted to lower her head, but Harvey hindered her motion by putting his fingers under her chin and gently directing her head back up to him again.

"You know you don't have to hide," he whispered softly, with a smile on his face.

She swallowed shortly before answering. "Yeah, I know," she began, "I just never realized how cute you can actually be." She finished with a huge smirk.

A small laughter escaped his throat. "Well, I didn't know either," he said, "I guess this has to be your fault then." With a wide grin he winked at her.

"Oh, well then I guess I have to apologize," she retorted with a similar expression on her face.

"Nah, it's okay. I like having someone around me who thinks I'm cute," he smiled widely. Then he gently stroked her cheek and slowly leaned towards her, placing a soft kiss on her lips. When he opened his eyes again he looked straight into hers and whispered with the most sincere expression and voice she has ever witnessed, "And I won't ever let you go."

Donna felt a sting in her eyes, overwhelmed with his words and her own feelings. Her throat was constricted and she knew she wouldn't bring out a word, even if she tried. So she just kissed him back, putting all her emotions in it, hoping he would understand that for her it was exactly the same. Hoping he would understand what she felt.

Then she wrapped her arms around him, feeling the sudden urge to just hold on to him. When she felt him hug her back tighter, keeping her even closer to him, she knew that he understood. And in that moment she felt as happy, safe and loved as never before in her whole life.

—

After they had the entire rest of the weekend for themselves without their two other roommates being there, they managed to keep up appearances and not let Rachel or Mike notice that something has changed. Donna had asked Harvey to not tell anyone yet, she didn't want anyone to know at the moment, so that they could keep what they have for themselves a bit longer.

At first Harvey didn't seem to be very happy about her request but then he agreed, he'd do anything for her after all. And he definitely didn't want to loose her so he decided to accept what she asked from him.

On a rotation basis they slept in her or his room, and they sneaked out quite early in the morning so that the other two tenants wouldn't notice anything. This plan worked quite well because both of the other couple were long sleepers and so they never crossed path with one of them. The actually more problematic time was during the day, especially in the afternoon when all four of them where at home and spent time together.

Even though Harvey and Donna tried to keep a low profile there were some changes in their behavior and interactions. The changes weren't really obvious for someone who didn't pay a lot of attention - like brushing hands while passing each other, standing and sitting closer next to each other while cooking or watching TV or hidden looks they give each other - and apparently they were subtle enough that neither Rachel nor Mike noticed anything or became suspicious about anything.

About a week later, Harvey had just opened the door of Donna's room and stepped outside. He let out a small yawn, ran his hand through his hair and then half-turned around to silently close the door. When he turned back and wanted to take a step towards his own room he suddenly noticed that Mike was standing in the hall, staring at him with an opened mouth and widened eyes. Harvey immediately froze on the spot and swallowed.
'Damn.' Then his mind was completely blank, and he was just waiting for his friend to finally find his voice again.

"Did you just -" Mike blinked in surprise, not trusting his senses completely due to his currently still quite tired condition. "Did you just come out of Donna's room?"

Okay, I know that it's a bit mean to end another chapter with a cliffhanger - after I let you wait so long since the last chapter. But I have to say that I've written the ending scene a while before the rest of the chapter, and I wanted to make a cut at this point. I'm sorry for that, but I'm excited to tell you something else: The next chapter is going to be tha last one, so this fic is actually going to come to an end! I don't know yet when I'm gonna have time to finish writing the final chapter, but I hope that I'm going to get to writing it during my summer break at the latest.

Until then: HUGE thank you to all of you who read, review and enjoy this story, it always makes me feel so happy when I see people enjoying what I write, it really means a lot to me!