Ch 5 – Fate Don't Know You
Let's burn the pages
We'll start anew
Right through the ages, to prove
Fate don't know you like I do
This is the final boring call for flight S29, please make your way to gate C
The intercom announces as Harvey makes his was to the gate mentioned. He opted to take the last possible flight to Utah, in order to spend most of the day getting work done from home. He hadn't heard from Donna since their afternoon lunch at the office and she was probably already lounging by the pool somewhere, Kessler in tow.
He wasn't a fan of Louis opening the retreat to significant others to attend, though he understands it was a reason to justify bringing a very pregnant Shelia along. Sure, they still had "staff only" things scheduled, but the last thing he needed was Thomas watching his every move when he was around Donna. Now that he thinks of it, he doesn't recall her ever mentioning bringing Thomas, and he never thought to ask if she was. Sure, she joked around about blowing off the day full of staff events to hangout with him, but they were just joking around, like they always did. She must be bringing Thomas, he can't imagine she wouldn't be.
She downs the rest of her coffee and tosses it in the trash before making her way to the gate her flight was boarding from. She was already exhausted from all the hours she'd put in at work this weekend and she was looking forward to a lonesome flight to gather her thoughts and hopefully help get her life back in order. Though she was glad she decided to keep busy this weekend, her mind kept wandering back to it. She was a grown woman, she wasn't supposed to be in a situation like this, yet here she found herself.
Rachel was the only person she'd told, and she was hoping to keep it that way, at least for a few weeks while she figured out what she was going to do, god she felt nauseous. The message she'd received in Harvey's office, cutting their lunch short was from Rachel, telling her if she needed a friend, she'd be on the first flight out, but she declined the offer and decided the firm trip was a good distraction.
She decides she just won't allow herself to think about it while on this trip, starting right now. And with that she adjusts her purse over her shoulder and joins the line to board the plane.
He exhales dramatically as he enters the line at the gate when he spots a head of red curls two people in front of him. He excuses himself and the man between them steps aside allowing him to tap her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me ma'am, you're going to have to bag check that thing" he says with a voice deeper than his own
"I'll have you know this bag cost more than…" she pauses, whirling around to see him standing behind her and playfully smacking him with the purse, "You jerk!" she laughs
"Costs more than what? Now I'm curious" he smirks
"You should know, you bought it" she tosses a grin in his direction and readjusts the bag on her shoulder
"What are you doing here?" he questions
"Going on this retreat, the same thing you're doing here"
Harvey rolls his eyes ever so slightly, even though her flirty tone has him in an immediate good mood.
"I guess I thought you'd be there by now, poolside, drink in hand"
"I had a few things to take care of at the office. Who knew an entire firm up and taking a vacation was a HORRIBLE idea"
"I did" he grins the trademark Cheshire cat grin
She rolls her eyes and playfully shoves into his arm
"Where are you sitting?" he gestures towards her ticket as they move up in line
"Next to you" she winks, turning to hand her boarding pass to the flight attendant. His cheeks flush with red and he tries to tell himself to get it together, (she has a boyfriend for god's sake he reminds himself) as he passes his boarding pass along and begins to follow her through the tunnel towards the plane. He loses sight of her while he's directed to his seat and puts his briefcase in the overhead bin before making his way to his window seat in aisle 12. He surprised to find her in his reserved seat, grinning up at him, legs crossed in heels far to high to be worn on a plane, fitted red dress that he knows will be on his mind for days to come.
"What…"
"Am I doing here? I told you I'm sitting next to you"
"But how did you.."
"Know where you were sitting? I'm Donna" she smiles, "Plus that nice young man over there" she gestures to a kid who's about 20 and ogling her, "switched with me"
"Ah, of course he did" Harvey smirks
"What's that supposed to mean" she challenges
"Nothing, nothing. Just that if I was a 20 year old male and a woman who looked like you asked me to jump out of the plane I would do it" he concedes
"A woman that looks like me?" she picks at the highlight in his statement
"Yes, someone that beautiful can cause a lot of trouble" he compliments
She blushes at his compliment. In all the years she'd known Harvey, he'd given her millions of compliments; even compliments on how she looked, but he had never flat out called her beautiful before. At least not to her face.
"Are you saying you wouldn't do it if I asked you now?" she prods
"Pretty sure I paid extra for that window seat" he points to the open window in attempt to change the subject. The sun was beginning to set, causing a reddish glow to cast upon her face, illuminating each individual freckle as he looks her over. She smiles sweetly up at him when she catches his eyes and he humbly slides into the seat next to her, embarrassed she caught his lingering stare. They sit silently for a few moments, settling into their seats; Well, Donna settling into Harvey's seat, and Harvey into some kid who couldn't help but say yes to Donna's seat. Poor thing, he had fallen victim to her charm one to many times himself, he knew how hard it was to say no to those big brown eyes. He's been so caught off guard by her presence on the flight that he almost didn't realize, Thomas wasn't with her. He tries to rack his brain and remember if Louis mentioned Thomas having to work during the retreat back when they worked on his case, but he draws a blank. Maybe he should just man up and ask her, but the last time he hinted at her personal life she shut him out and he blamed himself for cutting their afternoon together short.
pHe's still lost in thought when they're told to prepare for takeoff, and it isn't until they're in the air that he remembers Thomas' company was opening a new branch in Europe this week; as part of the deal he negotiated for them with Louis. He supposes there's no need to ask why he wasn't present if he already knew the answer.
She reaches for a bag of pretzels from her bag and offers him some, snapping him back to reality and away from his thoughts.
"So, I never asked you, why are you on such a late flight?" she asks
"Avoiding all chances of seeing Louis in a speedo" he remarks, managing to keep a straight face filled with slight horror; aware that though he's joking, Louis may actually own a speedo.
His statement causes her to giggle and her hand, which once held the pretzel bag out to him lingers over his arm that's rested on a shared arm rest. It's only a slight graze of her fingers across his forearm, but her touch is electric, his skin tingling where her fingers ghosted over it.
"Actually, I had some work to get caught up on since we're being forced to take a few days off" he adds
"It might be nice to take a break, you've been working so hard lately" she reassures and yawns at the end of her statement, the work of the weekend finally catching up to her.
"You have too" he observes, "even weekends"
"Ya, well, the distraction was nice this weekend" she mumbles before turning her attention towards the clouds
Her words are dripping with ambiguity and he's tempted to ask what she wanted to be distracted from but holds back in fear of overstepping. He watches as the stewardess begins to make the rounds, offering people drinks and turns his attention back to Donna.
"Want to play a little game?" he grins
"What kind of game?" she asks
"An odds game. If you can guess someone's drink order before they order it, I owe you a drink, but if you guess it wrong, you owe me a drink" he explains
"Are you really doubting my ability to read people?" she says in mock offence
"Just putting that little gift of yours to the test"
"Alright, that guy right there, in the sneakers and jogging pants" Harvey points to the man seated a few rows behind them.
"Ginger ale" she says without missing a beat
"There's no way you can tell by looking at the guy for 2 sec…." Harvey pauses when the stewardess hands the gentlemen a ginger ale.
"You were saying?" she says cockily
"Easy there tiger, you got lucky. Let's see if you can guess that women's, in the gray pant suit"
"Martini, dry….. with a twist" she says after studying the women for a moment
A few moments later they overhear the women order exactly what Donna had predicted. The stewardess makes her way to them now and asks what they'll have. She orders two scotch's, neat, and waits for Harvey to hand the women his credit card, a victorious grin washing over her face. He can't help but chuckle at how happy his childish game managed to make her and as the women leaves to grab their drinks, he turns to her and gesturing towards Donna says, "This women right here, a force to be wrecking with" which sends them both into a giggle fit.
After polishing off the drinks Donna begins to yawn again and leans her head against the window as she begins to drift off. Somewhere between her falling asleep and the plane landing she has switched from resting her head against the window to resting her head against Harvey's shoulder and he had also dozed off. He woke first, taking a moment before he realized where he was and peering down at Donna fast asleep nestled into his side causes him to smile. She looks so peaceful and he hates to wake her, but the plane is beginning it's decent and he has no choice. She wakes up slowly and blushes when she realizes she's cuddled into Harvey's side, mumbling something of an apology as she sits upright and fastens her seat belt.
They make it to the resort in good time and Harvey unloads their bags from the taxi before meeting up with Donna again at the check in desk. It's late and he supposes their colleagues have already retired for the night, so he offers to help with her bag before returning to his own room. He grabs his key from the concierge, and they begin on their way to her room. They make it to 206, ironic he thinks to himself, and he places his bag down before checking his key to see which room is his. Fate must be looking out for him because his key reads 207.
"Looks like were neighbours" he says, waving the key in the air and moving to open his door
"Goodnight Harvey" she calls after him, opening her door and pulling her suitcase in after her. She was beyond excited to had to bed and they had a fairly relaxing day scheduled for tomorrow which meant she might even get to sleep in a little bit.
"Goodnight" he responds, shutting the door to his room and looking around. The room is a decent size and comfortable looking and he drops his bag on the bed and goes to find the washroom to wash his hands. It surprises him to see that the washroom is rather large, containing two sinks and both a shower and a bathtub. He's drying his hands when he hears a swift "oh my god" only to look up and find Donna in her night gown in front of him.
"What are you doing in my bathroom?" he asks, confused
"I was about to ask you the same thing" she responds, gaze moving to the door behind him, before turning back towards the door she entered through. He follows her gaze and it starts to make more sense, the rooms must have a joint washroom.
"This must be a mistake, I'll call and get it sorted out" he reassures, turning back towards his room and pulling out his phone to dial the front desk. Once he hangs up with the front desk, he isn't sure whether or not he should go back through the washroom to her room or go around, so decides to go around and knock.
She answers in the same silky nightgown she entered the bathroom in, and it takes most of his willpower to keep his eyes locked on hers.
"Front desk said this is what was booked" he says, irritated
"I called Louis and he said all the rooms were like that, and it was part of the bounding experience" Harvey rolls his eyes
"Who is Louis sharing with?" she asks to lighten the mood, knowing there is likely no way out of this
"Katrina, poor soul" Harvey smiles. Damn it, she always knew how to turn his mood around. A few minutes ago, he was ready to knock Louis out and now here he was grinning like an idiot.
"Look Donna, if it's going to be a problem I'll go down to the front desk and request a new room first thing tomorrow"
"It's alright Harvey, we're adults. I think we can figure out how to take turns and share a washroom"
"You sure?"
"I'm sure. Unless you start taking longer than me to do your hair, then we might have a problem" she laughs "Besides the doors lock from the inside, it's not like we'll be walking in on each other" Great. That was a visual he needed. He hadn't even thought of that.
"Alright, well, I'm going to bed, but I'll see you at breakfast" she smiles before he wishes her a goodnight and she shuts the door behind her. She wanders into bed and pulls the covers up around her, closing her eyes and exhaling.
Harvey makes his way back to his room and begins to get ready for bed, unpacking a few things and flipping off the lights before sliding into the bed. He can't believe Louis would go as far as shared washrooms to promote firm bonding, but then again, he can totally believe it. If fate was toying with him, it was doing one hell of a job, but the cards appeared to be on his side and Harvey didn't lose; some time away from the office, Donna being on his flight, their random room assignments and Thomas Kessler was no where in site, this was his opportunity to show her what she meant to him. He was by no means trying to interfere with her relationship, however he has to show her what she means to him before it was too late. If this cruel trick of fate was presenting him the opportunity to finally tell her how he felt, he was going to go for it. He decided she had a right to know, she deserved to know.
As always I'd love to hear what you guys think! :)