HI again, folks! This story has taken on a life of its own all of a sudden. Machel fans will be happy as the story will encompass one pup and his bride that we have missed this past season. Thank you to all of my followers and those who have favorited this story. I also promise to update the other two #Darvey fics I have currently in the works. Love - Carebearmaxi

Mr. and Mrs. Specter: New Ventures

Chapter 15

They arrived at the office and headed straight for Jessica's office. Jessica was on the phone but waved to them brushing them inside as she finished her call.

"Hey, Jeff, the heir apparent and his wife just walked in. We'll talk later," Jessica said on the phone. Then in hushed tones she told her husband on the other end in Chicago that she loved him. Jessica hung up the phone and stood.

"Jessica we didn't mean to interrupt. I was just taking our new Chief Operating Officer to her new office," Harvey said proudly. He was dressed in his best dark blue Tom Ford three piece suit with his silver/grey tie. He dressed specifically in this suit because this was the one that Donna said turned her on. He knew instinctively that they probably would not get another Friday night like the one last week, but he just liked to keep his wife on her proverbially toes.

Donna was also dressed impeccably in a matching dark blue Victoria Beckham dress with her feet encased in beige Jimmy Choo pumps. The dress hugged Donna tightly in all the best places which showed off her post baby figure with all its best assets. Donna never had to worry about what dresses were Harvey's favorites because when they were alone he could not keep his hands off her and always told her he liked her birthday suit the best.

"Good morning, Specters, take a seat. I understand there were a few items on this agreement that you questioned."

"Yes, well, on page..." Harvey started to say and then Donna interrupted him.

"Sorry, Harvey, I appreciate your input, but this is my partner's agreement so I think I should ask the questions," Donna stated laid a stilling hand on Harvey's as he flipped through the redmarked pages.

"I just had two questions, really. One was about the clause where my partnership cannot be bought out if I step away from the firm and resume my business or another position someplace else and also why can I be voted out of my position if there is a change of managing partners from either you or Harvey?"

Jessica sat back and said, "Well, you know what would happen if Mike's secret comes out. We would all be implicated in the fall. Harvey, Louis, and I could lose our licenses if anything ever comes out about that. Since you are a secret partner, you would not be implicated and you do not have a license to lose. If this would happen your buy-in would be safe, but you could not collect on it as then you could be open to prosecution, too. So that is for your own protection. As for the other stipulation, this works in your favor as well. If we are removed for something other than an agreed stepping down or a merger, you are still protected. You may have to prove yourself to a new managing partner as a COO, but at least you would not be seen as part of a mismanaged office or you would be treated equally as any partner that brought a scandal to the firm."

Harvey said, "I thought you were loosely referring to Mike in this respect. Thank you for thinking of protecting her if something should go awry."

"Of course, Harvey. She is not only a valued member of this firm, Donna is also your wife and mother of your children. If anything should ever happen this would be one less portion of damage control."

Donna looked from Harvey to Jessica. She supposed Jessica did mean the best for her and especially her and Harvey's children. Donna just hoped that nothing like that would ever happen.

Donna and Harvey stood and Jessica stood and offered her hand to Donna.

"Welcome back, Donna. It's good to have you here. Now, just to let you know you're first order of business is an efficiency report and a revamping of the health benefits for the support staff and associates."

"I will get right on that and get you something by the end of day tomorrow?" Donna asked.

"Give it to Harvey. I'm leaving day after tomorrow. We found a child to adopt," Jessica said.

"Congratulations!" Donna said surprised. She stepped forward giving Jessica a hug and then Harvey did the same. Harvey came back to where Donna stood and put his arm around her waist and squeezed. He was so pleased for Jessica. He knew how special being a father was and he could not have wished parenthood on anyone more suitable than his mentor.

"Well, I will send you over all the details of the little guy when you get settled. I am so happy you will be here again. For the firm and for your husband. He really has been a pain in the ass since you left."

Donna smiled and turned Harvey around before he could snap off a quick rejoinder.

"Louis, what are you doing in Donna's new office?" Harvey asked.

"I wanted to be here to welcome her when she arrived," Louis said stepping forward and hugging the life out of her. Louis always gave great hugs. Donna stood back and stroked Louis' arms.

"Thank you, Louis. I am so happy to be back," Donna said. Then Louis nodded and walked out back to his own office down the hall.

Gloria came down the hall next with a box full of items which were from Donna's old desk outside Harvey's office.

"Welcome, Donna, I am sure you will want to place these in a special spot. I kept them because somehow I knew you would be back," Gloria said as she stepped forward to hug Donna.

"Thank you, Gloria, for taking care of him and making sure he takes care of himself. I know he can be a handful, but I am very glad that he comes back to me at the end of the day."

"No problem. Just doing my job. See ya later. Harvey," Gloria walked out of her office.

After Gloria left, Harvey rooted in the box to see what was kept from Donna's old desk. He finally picked up an object which he was not sure that his wife had kept.

"I didn't know you kept this?" Harvey said holding the can opener in his hand.

"Of course, I kept it. It's part of our history," Donna said taking the can opener from his hand.

"Because of that it is going in a place of honor."

"Which is where exactly," Harvey murmured as he looked around the room. He had planted a large photograph of their wedding portrait in the middle of Donna's white laminated wood shelving. He placed it just in front of it.

"Harvey," Donna said. "That's blocking the picture."

Harvey screwed up his face, stepped back and said, "No it's not."

Donna stopped rooting in the box and moved to her shelf.

" I like it here better."

She had taken the can opener and placed it on the shelf above with two small volumes of Shakespeare standing vertical in small medieval looking bookends. One volume was a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets and the other was a copy of Romeo and Juliet. Love and tragedy which until she and Harvey married she thought that's what their relationship would always be. She was so glad she had been mistaken.

Harvey was having a hard time tearing himself away. He looked out her window and helped her put away some of the equipment that she had ordered for her office use a couple of days ago. Her new workpad sat in the middle of her glass desk with a note from Benjamin that told her how happy he was that she was back and that all her needed software was transferred from the server to her pad.

Donna sat down in her executive chair. She sat back and took it all in. This was hers. She had earned this. Then looking up at her husband who stood looking out the window with an odd almost concerned expression to his face, she asked, "You'll be fine, Harvey. I'm here."

"Yep," Harvey said resignedly turning briefly to see the questioning look in his wife's face. "I'm not her, Donna. I'm so used to being able to do things..."

"Your way," Donna finished. "For your own good and your own family but now you'll have to do them for the firm as a whole and think like that. You know you're a badass when you think like that."

Donna rose from her seat and joined him at the window. She stroked his arm and took his hand in hers clasping their fingers together.

"I suppose I don't need to feed that huge ego of yours that you will be a great managing partner," quipped Donna giving Harvey a sidelong glance. "You could look at it as when you became a father. You didn't think you could hack one little baby who when born was in a lot of trouble, but now you have three. You are a wonderful father. So, now you'll be a father figure just to a much bigger family. We've always been family here. When difficult decisions come up, think what's best for your family."

Harvey smiled and turned putting his arms around his wife. He looked into her big dark green eyes and saw the intelligence and her uncanny ability to read people so precisely. He drew her into his arms and they stood like that for a few minutes until they heard a soft cough interrupt their moment of stillness.

"I heard my favorite "mom" was back," Mike said as he and Donna came together in the middle of her beautiful spacious office.

"I'm not your mom, you know," Donna said kissing Mike on the cheek and giving him a huge hug.

He kissed her cheek back and said, "Yeah, kind of."

Donna just smiled and affectionately punched Mike in the shoulder.

Harvey looked behind Mike expecting to see his wife right behind, but she was not.

"So where's Rachel?" Harvey asked.

"She's in court. Keebler case," Mike said.

Harvey just smiled at that.

Donna then said, "Ok. This COO has to get ready for a budget meeting and I need to get caught up. So, everybody out!"

Harvey lingered for a minute looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"That means you, too."

Mike saluted and pulled Harvey by the arm and said, "You heard your wife. Out!"

The next couple of days were a little bit of an adjustment. The days were crazy getting both older children to school and making sure little Mackenzie was fed, diapered, and loved. The days in the office were getting easier for Donna. Harvey moved into the office next door when Jessica moved to Chicago. Mike was made a junior partner and had taken Harvey's old office. Rachel still maintained her office down one floor. Although she had not been named a junior partner yet, it should not be long. Along with Louis the close knit hierarchy of PearsonSpecterLitt worked like a well oiled machine.

Winter came in very chilly and snowed every other day. Donna and Harvey took turns having Ray drive them into the office on those days when the children would be home and Roberta could not make it over from Julia's apartment. Donna had said they would find a good nanny for the children, but Roberta Paulsen was just like her daughter and had no problem doing it all and making it look easy. Roberta had reminded her grandchildren's parents that for many years she worked outside the home and raised three daughters by herself. So, she had been adamant when she had told Harvey and Donna where they could take their idea of an impersonal nanny when the children's grandmother was more than happy to be there. If truth be told, Harvey and Donna were very glad that Roberta had taken such an offense at their suggestion because they knew their children were in no better hands.

So, Harvey would venture to the office on those snowy days when it coincided it with a court date or meeting with clients that could not be postponed due to weather. Donna worked from home on the other days. Calling all of her own meetings, she wielded the power of when and where. They had fallen into a routine during the snowy weeks. The renovations of Donna's yoga center had been completed in late November and she began the negotiations of selling it to Amelia. Everything had been negotiated and the papers signed early January when Amelia opened her first classes at the center.

Donna had started attending yoga in February on Saturdays with Amanda. Amanda understood little of the disappointment that her mother felt when walking in and out of the class. However, this class gave Mandy and Donna a little mother daughter time and it demonstrated to Amanda the benefits of having non-competitive exercise. It was a tad different than the baseball, soccer, and other competitive sports with which Amanda had been participating since she was four years old. Harvey was a big proponent for both children for those types of sports, so that was his father/daughter time or father/son time.

Donna felt a little remorseful realizing that the center she had begun and worked hard to obtain and make hers was no longer hers. She was happy to have been able to negotiate a good deal with Amelia who was now the proud owner and instructor of Donna's Yoga Hut only now it would be Amelia's Yoga Center. Donna then would remember her position at the firm where she had worked for so long and that COO had become all her own. Besides she loved working with Harvey as an equal and not as his assistant. She did not know but somewhere along the line Harvey had come to realize she had always been his equal even those times when he had to pull rank on her. Harvey had always been her biggest fan and vice versa. Once in a while domestic spats would spill into the office and office disagreements would be hashed out at home. They were both careful, though, that they apologize to each other or agree to disagree before the sun would go down on the day.

One early February morning in the office, Harvey had intercepted the office mail distributor and picked up a large legal envelope addressed to Donna through the firm. It contained the ongoing paperwork for the suit which Fox, Lazo, and Tennyson had brought against Donna in the early fall. Harvey had met with them several times trying to close them and coerce them into understanding that there was no way his client was responsible for the compensatory damages that their insurance company had not covered. Donna had not attended the meeting because as her lawyer Harvey had said her presence was not necessary.

He came into her office and stood in front of her placing the envelope in front of her. It was early February and, fortuanately, not a day where one had to work from home.

"Hey," Donna said.

"Hey," Harvey responded. "This looks like the final paperwork on the suit that David Fox and his cronies brought against you.

Looking up at Harvey, she asked, "So, what are they saying now?"

"I will look but there should be no more to be said. I told you they owe you. This should just be the formal final court copy for you to sign."

Donna moved her pad and picked up the volumious envelope.

"Harvey this doesn't feel like settlement papers."

"Open it," Harvey said knowing how long she handled legal work and how familiar she was with it trusting her completely that she knew instinctively something was off.

Donna opened the envelope and took out the folded official legal parchment and her copy on plain white legal paper.

"Everything, ok?" Harvey asked. He looked down onto Donna's head bent at the neck while she read the papers and then his gaze darted to her hands noting her usual dark nail polish and saw how swiftly she started to rifle through the pages.

Donna looked up at her husband whose questioning expression was complete with raised eyebrow. She did not utter a word but looked at him expectantly.

"What is it?" Harvey uttered not moving an inch from his position.

"This isn't the settlement papers. These are another set of suit papers claiming that Mike posed as a local government official and purposely set wheels in motion for the arson which took not only my company but portions of their building." Donna lowered her head and swallowed hard. What the hell?

"Harvey, you didn't put Mike in that position, did you?"

"No, but I did have him go over the studio during the delay before the opening to check out the firecodes. I had obtained construction passes for him from the fire department. I was suspicious why the firecodes were an issue. However, he did not need to pose as anything as he had legitimate passes."

"Tell me he didn't do what I did?"

"Tell them he was a government official? There would be no reason. These were fire codes not major evidence against a corporate entity."

Donna was not wasting time. She called Mike at his new desk and he came hurriedly down the hall.

Mike stepped over the threshold slowly after spotting the change of atmosphere in the room.

"Ok, what did I do now? You two look like I came home late and banged up the car."

"Take a seat, Mike," Harvey invited. "We have something we need to ask you."

"Relating to the civil suit that the holding company that houses my former yoga are alleging that you caused the fire," Donna said looking straight into his eyes.

"Alleging? That sounds more like terminology for a criminal case than a..."

"Yep," Harvey said when Mike hit the nail on the head. "How did you present yourself to the contractors who had been working on Donna's studio?"

"I did what you wanted me to do. I didn't say anything I just showed the official papers from the Fire Department..." Mike said.

"You mean you didn't talk to Bruce who was my general contractor?" Donna asked.

"No, I knew him and he probably would not have let me look where I knew I had to look. The fire extinguishers, the outlets, the circuit breakers which I tested by turning them off and on. The IT room to make sure all was plugged in safely. Why?"

"Because I settled the one suit with these bastards, but now they claim that you Michael James Ross illegally set foot into this establishment and set the arson in motion."

"I didn't think the security cameras were working in that part of the building. I did use my own name on the badge I made," Mike said looking down at his shoes and then back at Harvey and then Donna.

Harvey was about to berate Mike, but Donna interjected,"There was another young man dressed in green overalls a couple of hours before the explosion. I had asked Amelia when I smelled gas. Amelia said he was from the county and needed to inspect the fire hazards again.

"Was there not an explosion?" Mike asked.

Harvey lowered his head and said, "Yes. The police investigation said it was arson started by a deliberate ignition from the electrical lines. Apparently now they are saying that the police investigation covered the truth of the cause. Fox, Lazo and Tennyson are saying that a homemade bomb caused the fire."

"So they are claiming that I planted a bomb?" Mike asked thinking two ways.

"Donna, did Amelia mention the other man to the police when she was asked?"

"I don't know. I was in the hospital. I would think she would have, but someone better ask her. However, I suppose our security footage from that day was burned along with everything else."

"Well even if it isn't the camera was probably properly taken out prior to the planting of the bomb." Mike said. "Unless he wanted to be caught."

"Harvey, what does all this mean?" Donna asked frowning up at her husband.

"It means FLT is saying that Mike is guilty of domestic terrorism and that it was deliberate because it was your part of the building where the bomb was found. This has gone above a civil suit I'm sure you figured that out by now."

"Harvey we need to know what they have," Mike said.

"Yes, but you aren't the one that can approach them,"

"Let me do it, Harvey. Did you happen to see who their counsel is?" Donna said.

"No, I didn't. Who is it?" Harvey asked his mind doing all types of somersaults flipping through the years and all the opposing lawyers he came across.

"Allison Holt," Donna simply stated and watched while Harvey's face changed expression.

"Allison Holt? You mean the lawyer way back when that bogus Coastal Motors document was planted?" Mike asked.

"One and the same," Donna retorted. Harvey had still not said anything.

"She's not still with Bratton Gould after all this time, is she?"

"Look for yourself, Harvey," Donna said as she handed him back the legal packet.

"Looks like she's name partner of her own firm now. Figures," Harvey said as he flipped the pages back and held onto it.

"I will handle this. No need for you to go with me, Donna. You are being made to look as complicit as Mike. I am your lawyer. It's my job. I will do it," Harvey said.

"Mike stay low. You don't need anything else to come out if you are arrested."

As Harvey left, Mike stayed him, "If they think I did this then why haven't the authorities come to arrest me?"

"I don't know, but I'm going over to Allison Holt's office and see what she knows," Harvey said as he hurriedly walked out of Donna's office.