*RE-BETA'D AS OF 03.02.16*
Full Stop - Part 2
By Atheniandream
Notes: Thankyou for the reviews! General Spoilers for Part 2 of Season 2.
I'm am yours now,
So now you don't ever have to leave
- XX 'Islands'
The 6th time, or maybe it was the 1st … She wasn't sure what started it.
She'd never seen the skyline like this, rippled colour, blurry and expansive through blinking eyes, lips forming a pout with each long tongue stroke that ran from her wrist toward her collarbone, the need to writhe and arch halted by the firm grip on her wrist keeping her still as his warm weight settled, pressing between her thighs to hold her down. Little pant puffs of air escaped with every inch he closed towards her mouth. His lips hovered, just a second long enough for his blackening eyes to search hers, wide and dear-caught at the notion that he, they, were about to cross a very meaningful line...
"Donna, I- "
Beep-Beep-Beep-
Her face nearly hit the nightstand grabbing for her alarm and its unwelcome calling out of a very sensory memory.
She avoided thinking about 'The Other time'.
It was the reason she avoided his bedroom, avoided that look – it never happened again after that one time so it never seemed as hard a rule to keep – why she avoided going to his apartment in the evening or at all. All moments that were inappropriate for their working relationship, had been deemed 'classified' and locked in her head-safe with a combination lock on it.
Groggily, she made her way to the kitchen to turn on her coffee maker, turning on the radio, the TV, flicking through the repetitive news channels, anything to bring her into the modern world where fantasy and dreaming were not conducive with society, and to hopefully encourage her out of the emotional fog that had addled her brain.
The last few weeks had roped her in to a tense state, with increasing appearances from Zoe, mixed in with a heavy dose of Scottie – presumably coming back to start the ball rolling with Harvey whilst she was in town, had left her feeling uncomfortably heavy. She'd started leaving work earlier, just five or ten minutes if she could get away with it and Harvey was busy. Work had seemed so much harder now, tensions fraying the edges of Harvey's general moods, Mike acting up and seemingly carrying a negative attitude around the office, teamed with Rachel still burning and Katrina Bennett running around in the bullpen like a desperate actress seeking a role.
Pearson – No longer Hardman felt like an overbooked flight with a plane she was desperate to get out of.
When she pulled her building door to, she was surprised to see him leant casually against the boot of the limo.
She shook her head. "Three times in one year? This is getting to be a habit, Harvey." She chimed, trying to piece together a sound reasoning in the subtle details of his suit and expression.
"Actually this is the first time *this* year." He points out. "I was in the Neighbourhood." He sigh. "You want a ride?"
She pretended not to notice him playing with her, waggling his eyebrows as she came to stand level with him. It was clear that he'd had a good morning. It was also clear, where that had come from. "What could possibly encourage you to be at this end of town on a Monday?" The moment she said it she knew she didn't want to hear the answer. ¸
"Zoe lives a couple of blocks down." He replied simply, opening the door for her.
"I might have guessed." She said slipping onto the seat. "Hey Ray, he got you out a little early today. How are you?" She said, looking directly into the review mirror.
"Better for seeing you Donna. Beautiful as ever I see?" He remarked, shaking his head a little causing a peel of laughter to ripple out of her chest. Ray was a good man. She always welcomed his company, and had never been so thankful for a third wheel at this time. "Thank you Ray," She smiled, noticing Harvey fidget next to her.
"So, you stayed over huh?" She baited; a hint of ridicule deep in her voice.
"Why the sudden interest in my personal life, Donna?" He rebuffed, besting her scrutiny with a look of challenge.
"It's not sudden." She swallowed, covering it with a shrug. "I always ask about your conquests…especially Scottie. How is Scottie these days? Don't tell me you've been turning down a chance to 'catch up' on…things." She offered with a devilish smirk.
"Witty." He remarked.
"I try." She sighed, looking out of the window.
"You know I don't fool around with married women Donna." He countered, his voice serious all of a sudden.
That shut her up then.
She did know him.
What was left of the previous play-boy.
No matter how many notches he had on his bedpost, Harvey was not an adulterous man.
Too much of a bad childhood stood in the way of him ever crossing that line.
She looked out the window once more, the outside with its slowly streaking sidewalks and people going about their day, snow piled in corners as people hugged themselves against the January weather. She loved being driven in the city. It was rare that she sat there, comforted by the sheer elegance and smooth course about the street. Like being in a bubble, a fish-eyed lens of the world all wrapped up in leather and steel with the distinct smell of Harvey. It was in these moments that her place in the world fell away. All job titles, all restraints removed. For the moment she could just be a woman being driven in the back of a limo with a man…
He had already gotten out his side and was holding the door open for her before she was successfully sucked back into the here and now.
"Donna? Are you planning on coming to work today? Or do I need Ray to drive around the block?" He asked; a slight hint of frustration she could tell was him wanting to ask what was wrong with her but never actually allowing himself.
She didn't reply, and instead gave him a slightly ambiguous look as she swanned past him into the building.
She thought she could hide, through everything she thought that there was at least one person, who would know NEVER to ask a question to something that she didn't want to answer.
"Donna, can I talk to you for a sec?"
Unfortunately the kid was razor sharp. She looked up above her monitor to find Mike peering down at her with a strangely worldly look in his puppy dog eyes.
"I'm busy Michael. Run along." She quipped, hoping that he'd take the hint.
He didn't.
"Donna I'm serious."
"And I'm Donna. Sense the tone." She edged, glaring at him.
He ignored her, and much to her surprise, he'd already wheeled her out from under her desk and had pulled to her feet before she'd found it in herself to object. In her shock her mouth had stopped working and her eyes had searched for Harvey, who was talking and looking out the expansive window in his office.
"Mike, what the hell do you think you're doing?" She spat at him under her breath as he yanked her down the hall.
"Doing what you've done for me. Would you?" he motioned for her to follow him, trying to regain a casual poise although she had no idea where he was headed until he dragged her into the disabled toilet, locking it behind him.
"What the heck are we doing in here? Have you had a pulmonary embolism? Did you fall? Or are you just very *very* high again?" Irritation at being backed into the corner was starting to make her skin itch.
"What's going on with you?" His face was immediately dead pan.
"What?" She said.
He frowned, "You've been weird lately, more so since you got back." He noted.
"Excuse me?" She frowned, a fire starting to churn in her stomach. The way she thought a Mother would feel at her infuriating son for daring to question her. Before she could disarm him he was straight in.
"Look Donna, I'm only doing this for you because you did the same for me, and I feel like Harvey is starting to notice something."
"Notice what? Mike, you're a little young for me," She offered, trying to distract him. "You still have a case of freshman face."
"Donna! I'm talking about Harvey." He corrected.
"What about Har-" She was stopped by the clearly marked 'Are you serious' look on the young guy's face.
Silence fell between them for a moment, a fixture of confusion and balled up energy waiting to be released.
"You love him. Don't you? I mean, you're in love with him." He asked her.
She felt all the blood rushing out of her, and a grizzly squirm in her gut. "Mike, you really are a dumba-"
"Don't pretend with me Donna! I believed you, you know. On the stand, when you said it wasn't that simple. But you're wrong, it is. You're in love with him."
She laughed dryly at him, swerving away from him, trying to find an argument to fight against and yet feeling almost empty.
"I have worked for him for 10 years Mike," She warned, her teeth gritting at the admission.
"And you've loved him for what, half of that at least?"
She sighed, moving in a line and back again.
The kid had her. Big Time.
"Well, you seem to know everything, Mike. You tell me." Her joke fell flat.
He had never seen the woman look so exposed.
"Look...I'm only saying this because I'm seeing it, Donna, and because I care. Since he's started dating someone he might actually care about, I've seen you act stranger and stranger. You're giving him the third degree about him not involving you, and grilling him about the status." He reasoned. "He's going to start noticing something's wrong soon if he hasn't already."
She had nothing to say again. This was an oddly common occurrence in her life when it came to this subject. She didn't like it.
So she did the only thing left to do.
She told the truth.
"I don't know what to do, Mike. I'm pretty sure I'm losing it,"
"Because you feel like you're losing him."
She nodded.
"You have to tell him."
"I can't." She shook her head.
"You have to." He pressed.
"I know how it ends Mike," She warned, turning her face away from him as the wateriness started to cloud her eyes.
"Donna, I-"
"I said I know...how it ends. " She smiled for the first time at the kid. He really was a good person. "I want to keep my job, Mike. I love my job."
For a second there were the same wild eyes that she'd given him in the copy room as she'd held that fake memo.
He walked slowly past her, pausing to reach for her upper arm. "I think you love him, more."
She felt the door unlock and a wave of corridor sound engulf the stall.
"You may be right about that." She said to herself.
She felt like her skin was on fire.
Please feed the kitty!