Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I love reading them. This chapter follows Harvey a year before the last chapter finished. I hope you like it.
1 year ago
"Dad...DAD!" Wyatt shouted for Harvey's attention.
"You're not going to be late, I promise" Harvey stated as he entered the kitchen to a very stressed out 10 year old.
"Dad," Wyatt moaned, "It takes you at least half an hour to get your hair right and then Ray drives like an old granny, and then you insisted that we pick mum up, rather then meeting her there, and don't get me started on New York traffic!" Harvey struggled to keep up with the rate at which Wyatt was talking.
"Hey! Picking your mum up is about her safety. It's about making sure she doesn't get attacked. Did you get some breakfast?" Harvey responded once his brain had registered what Wyatt had said.
"No it's not. Mum has lived in New York forever and she's never been attacked once. It's about you spending more time with her… and yep I had breakfast." Wyatt gave Harvey the signature Donna 'I know everything' face.
Harvey avoided the comment and picked up his baseball hat from the counter and placed it onto his head. "See, I don't need to do my hair."
"It's just like you to avoid the topic, Dad." Wyatt jumped down from the stool and picked his baseball mitt up off the counter. Harvey sighed watching Wyatt head to the door. He'd always been close to Donna and raising Wyatt together had only made that bond stronger. However, it had never been anything other than two friends raising a child together. Both had had other relationships, Harvey more than Donna but in the past two years things had changed. It had been a gradual change for Donna but things had changed suddenly for Harvey. He finally realised what had been right in front of him. They always had Wyatt to think about, their arrangement worked so well; yes Wyatt didn't have married parents but he was healthy, happy and smart. It beat having a cheating parent or two parents that hated each other. Every time they had been close to something real happening between them Donna would put her sensible hat back on and call everything off. Harvey was running out of ideas of how to prove to Donna that they could do this, that he loved her and he could do the commitment thing to someone other than their son.
"Dad!" Wyatt shouted.
"Alright! You would think this was a World Series game, not a Saturday morning baseball game." Harvey responded as he headed out of the kitchen.
Baseball game.
Harvey and Donna sat in the stands together watching Wyatt pitch. His team were up 7-2 but that didn't stop Harvey quietly commenting on the weakness in Wyatt's game.
"You see, he just needs to get the balance on his feet better there and he will get a much faster ball." Harvey looked to Donna.
Donna was not amused. "Harvey he just got out the last batter and two in the first innings. Plus he's only ten, cut him some slack."
"I do cut him slack, I don't say any of it to him directly. I tell him to have fun and play hard," Harvey bumped his shoulder into hers to get a smile.
"Well I don't need to hear it either then," she smiled. "Our kid is growing up fast, Harvey."
"I know," Harvey took Donna's hand as they watched Wyatt. "Donna?"
"Harvey?" Donna responded dragging the syllables in his name out.
"I was thinking instead of the rest of this weekend being just me and Wyatt. Maybe you could come for dinner tonight and then we could spend the day shopping tomorrow?" Harvey squeezed Donna's hand a bit tighter and hoped that ending on the possibility of shopping would persuade Donna to spend the rest of the weekend with them.
"Harvey, Wyatt isn't little anymore it's not like when he was five and didn't think anything of me staying at the condo," Harvey was about to jump in, "I know I stay in the spare room but he is picking up on whatever has been between us lately. I don't want to confuse him anymore," She pulled her hand away from Harvey's.
Harvey pulled her hand back. "I miss my Harvey, Donna and Wyatt time. We used to spend lots of evenings together after work and weekends,"
"You have Harvey, Donna and Wyatt time right now, Harvey. You're missing it by acting like a baby and not thinking all this through,"
Harvey released Donna's hand this time and turned back to watch Wyatt. They didn't speak for the rest of the game.
"So, what did you think?" Wyatt said as he returned to his parents after the game. He stared at them as neither answered.
Donna broke the silence, "You were brilliant, sweetie" She put her arms around him.
"What did you think dad, I tried to work on my balance," He waited expectantly for Harvey to answer.
"You did great, kid. I could see you were working on your balance. I have just the reward."
"What?" Wyatt looked to Donna puzzled.
"Well, me and your mum discussed how well you have been doing at school and how hard you're working here that we thought you might like these," Harvey pulled some New York Mets tickets out of his jacket pocket.
"Wow, thanks!" Wyatt pulled both of his parents into a hug. "Three tickets?"
"Yeah, I thought it would be nice for you to be able to take a friend. Stop you getting bored of your old Dad,"
Wyatt thought about it for a second, "How about me, you and mum go?"
Donna jumped in, "Sweetie, you know I only like baseball when you're playing," Wyatt dropped his head. He was trying so hard to make his parents realise what was in front of them.
Harvey looked up from Wyatt who was kicking the gravel on the floor and over to Donna who was mouthing 'This is all your fault,' at him. They had only agreed a ticket for him and Wyatt. He had played straight into Wyatt's hands.
"Let's not worry about it now. It's getting late and I'm sure you and your dad have some fun planned." Donna put her hand around Wyatt's shoulder and started to lead him towards where Ray would be waiting when Harvey's phone rang.
"Mike, it's my Wyatt weekend," Harvey said taking his annoyance at the whole Donna situation out on the associate.
"You need to deal with that by yourself, the case is sorted anyway there is no way Douglas is coming back from our evidence." He continued to take his frustration out on him. Mike was distressed though and adamant that Harvey was needed at the office.
"Fine, fine. If this is something stupid then you're fired, do you understand?" Harvey paused and continued to listen, "Okay, I will be there as soon as I can."
Harvey hung up the phone. "What was all that about?" Donna asked
"Mike, supposedly something has gone wrong with the Douglas case. Look, he sounded really stressed I need to go and check on him and sort whatever mess he has made out." Donna nodded, knowing how important this case was to Harvey. He was taking down a CEO of a company who's illegal behavior turned out spanned further than wrongly firing one of Harvey's friends, the reason he got involved in the first place. Turned out he was involved in every illegal activity going and nothing would surprise Donna about Mr Douglas anymore.
Harvey bent down to Wyatt, "I will be gone for about an hour tops, okay? You and your mum go and order some food. I'll go into work and then pick you up from your mum's. Then we can watch any movie you want when we get back to the condo. Sound alright?"
"Sounds good." Wyatt chucked his baseball up into the air and caught it back into his mitt.
"Okay, you take Ray." Donna nodded the tension from earlier still between them.
"Don't you want Ray? She asked.
"No it will be quicker to walk. Send Ray to the office after he drops you off though. Right, bye kiddo, see you in a bit."
"Bye Dad." Wyatt said turning to walk towards Ray again.
"We will save you some food." Donna smiled at Harvey before following after Wyatt.
Harvey watched them get into the car, before turning around and heading towards the office.
Harvey kept his hands in his pockets as he walked; he kicked the ground as he went just like his son had a moment ago. He knew now was the right time for him and Donna. He wasn't worried like Donna about things not working out, because he knew they would. But he knew where Donna was coming from and with his track record. He would be worried if he was her.
Just before he reached the office he spotted a jewellery shop across the road. He knew what would persuade Donna he was serious. Ten minutes later he was out of the shop and holding a blue Tiffanies box with the engagement ring to match Donna inside it. Tonight when he picked Wyatt up, he would use his Harvey persuasion techniques to get Donna back to the condo and once Wyatt was in bed he would propose. He could think about all the romantic details he needed to iron out after dealing with Mike.
Before Harvey reached his office he remembered he still had the baseball hat on and so shouted down the hall "Mike if you make fun out of the hat I will.." Harvey stopped, as soon as he saw who was inside his office.
"Harvey, so nice of you to finally make an appearance. I don't take kindly to people who make me wait…"
"I don't take kindly to people who hold guns up to my associates head in my office either, Mr. Douglas." Harvey made eye contact with Mike to check he was okay. They hadn't worked together very long but Harvey could read Mike and knew he was terrified. He scolded himself for not picking it up earlier on the phone. Donna distracted him earlier.
"What do you want? You played your last card and the case is over. You lost. Accept it." Harvey stated nonchalantly as he walked to his desk and slumped down in his chair. He wasn't going to intimidated like his associate.
Mr. Douglas only laughed. His goon with the gun to Mike's head quickly joined in.
"Mr. Spector. I have never played my last card." He lent in towards Harvey leaning on his desk. "You, however, have played yours."
Harvey lent back in the chair and smirked, "What gives you that idea? I might not lower myself to illegal activity or hold someone at gun point… but I always have something left."
"John," He put his hand out to accept something from his goon and placed it face upwards on Harvey's desk, "You have no moves left Harvey."
Harvey looked down. It took him a second to realise what it was. A picture of him, Donna and Wyatt from their visit to Boston last year; Harvey looked up to its normal home, Donna's desk, to see it missing. Harvey's attitude changed immediately, this whole thing had seemed like a joke until right now. It just got real.
"You see Mr. Spector. I will always have cards left to play, as I'm not afraid to hold someone up in their office, and, unlike some, I don't have any weakness. Was it a good game this morning Harv? Did he win?"
Harvey stood up face to face with Mr. Douglas and was about to hit him.
"Now, now, now, Harvey. Where is that going to get you? John here will just shoot your associate if you come anywhere near me."
Harvey looked to Mike and then back to Mr. Douglas "What do you want? The case dropped? It's not going to happen."
"Oh it will, Harvey. That case is going to go away and you're going to bring it down. You see, I'm going to walk away from this a free man, with all of my money and compensation for the damage your company has done to my name." Harvey went to interject but Mr. Douglas raised his hand to stop Harvey. "Harvey, if you don't, then I will go and find that lovely secretary of yours and your son, and I won't be as polite to them as I have been to your associate."
"If you dare touch them I won't be responsible for what I do." Harvey stepped closer to Mr. Douglas again.
"Now listen to me, Harvey. You may think that you're better then everyone else, that you're at the top of the food chain, well you're wrong. I AM! You have put the most important people in your life in danger. You have done that and I'm always going to be watching them. Every move they make, I will be watching. Now you're going to make this case go away or I'm going to have John shoot this moron, then collect Donna and your kid and make sure you don't ever see them again." Mr. Douglas moved and sat down on Harvey's couch and smiled "Time's ticking, Harvey. I don't want give you any more incentives."
Harvey relented. He was right, he had nothing. Even the police wouldn't be able to help. Mr. Douglas had control of most of them and even then how could they protect Donna and Wyatt forever. He had to let him get away with it to save them. A few phone calls later, including to a very annoyed Jessica who couldn't believe Harvey would make such a costly mistake to go after the wrong man, it was done. All the evidence was destroyed.
"Well Harvey, I'm glad you came to your senses." He pulled himself off the couch and headed towards the door.
"That's it, Douglas. Don't you ever go anywhere near them." Harvey shouted.
"Oh Harvey. We're not done. I'm not going away. They are never going to be safe again. I mean I suggest you go, leave New York, and never talk to them again. That's the only way they will be safe. I told you Harvey not to get into the ring with me. I never lose."
And with that Mr. Douglas and his goon were gone.
"Right, we need to call the police." Mike said as he grabbed the phone from the desk. Harvey pressed the hang up button. "What are you doing?"
"We're not calling the police, Mike." Harvey sank further into his chair and stared at the family picture in front of him. Suddenly that ring felt really heavy in his pocket.
"What? Harvey I know that was traumatic but I just had a gun pointed at my head for the last 4 hours!"
"A gun was pointed at my sons head as well! And Donna's" Harvey's gaze didn't change, locked on the picture.
Mike studied his mentor. He was unrecognisable.
"So what are we going to do?"
"Nothing." Harvey said blankly.
"What do you mean nothing?"
Harvey pushed everything off the desk in rage causing Mike to jump. "I mean nothing!"
"Okay okay. I think I should go but I will be downstairs in the bull pen if you need me," Mike looked for Harvey to respond but got nothing. Harvey just stood planted to the floor with the paraphernalia of his desk scattered around his feet, including the picture.
Once Mike left, Harvey sat back down and removed the ring from his pocket. He placed it open on the empty desk in front of him. He stared at the ring thinking about what Donna might have said when he proposed, what their wedding would have been like and the daughter they could have had. He had to keep them safe. He should leave. Take all his stuff and go. Mr. Douglas was right, it was the only way he could never use them against him again. He imagined his life without them. He wasn't strong enough to never see them again. He needed to distance himself from them; stop office visits, baseball games, evening visits and weekends. He shut the ring box and made a space for it to fit inside his desk drawer.
Present day
Harvey listened to Donna's and Wyatt's laughs as they reached the elevators to go home. He desperately wanted to go with them. He looked back down at the ring before replacing it back in the spot it had occupied for the last year. He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing or not, but it had worked this long.
1 year ago
Donna watched Wyatt, who had his face pressed up against the window, watching for Harvey. He was still dressed in his baseball uniform from earlier. "Wyatt, I think you should go to bed."
Wyatt turned from the window. "Dad said he would be back to pick me up after work and he wouldn't be long…"
"I know, I have tried to call him but I guess Mike is keeping him busy," Wyatt turned round to look back out of the window again, not happy with the reply.
"Wyatt. He will be here soon, it's just getting late and you've had a long day." Donna sat next to him.
"He promised."
"I know, sweetie. Look, he will be here when you get up."
Wyatt looked at Donna, unsure whether to trust her.
"Has he ever let you down?" Donna smiled at Wyatt.
"Nope." Wyatt jumped down from the window and headed to bed.
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