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THE BEST PART OF ME
Chapter 21 – Congratulations
"Mr Specter, Miss Paulsen, thank you for coming down. Please take a seat."
Anita Gibbs ushered them forward and they were met by the familiar dark blue-grey painted walls of the DA's office meeting room. It was the same room Donna had been placed in when Mike was being investigated. Donna remembered how this woman had used her father to try to make her turn on Harvey and she still hated her for it. She didn't trust her for one second.
Donna took a seat, with Harvey next to her as Gibbs sat across the table from them. Her gaze settled on Donna's belly and she rolled her eyes. Donna knew what she was thinking. She remembered back to Gibbs' interrogation from a seven months ago 'maybe he's even more than your boss'. Donna felt Gibbs look at her as if she were cheap, but then she'd never be able to understand her and Harvey's relationship. All she saw was a woman who'd let her boss knock her up. Donna felt sad as she wondered if that's what most people saw when they looked at her.
"Okay, so I've reviewed the evidence but forward by Mr Dawson's defence team and I've got to level with you both. It doesn't look good."
Harvey clenched his jaw. "We know," he said as he leaned forward and rested his hands on the table in front of him. "But we also know that this is all down to Charles Forstman."
Gibbs' eyes almost popped out of her head. "Charles Forstman? I helped put him away."
"Then you know his history with me."
Gibbs sat back in her chair, clicking a pen against the table as she thought some more. "Well, Mr Specter, I must say this is all getting very interesting. Are you saying Charles Forstman is behind all of this? Why?"
"He's using Donna to hurt me. He knows we're together and we're going to have a baby. He hates me and he's been looking for a way to destroy me ever since I got him sent down. He saw Donna at Danbury when she went to visit Mike."
Gibbs turned to Donna. "Did he speak to you?"
"Yes, he said 'send Harvey my congratulations'."
"Okay, so let me see if I'm following this correctly. Charles Forstman's a wealthy guy. You're saying he was behind Dawson buying stock in Eagle Star? How would he know the ins and outs of the client's merger?"
"I don't know for sure," said Harvey. "Eagle Star wasn't directly my client. I didn't sign them. They were always Daniel Hardman's and I landed them when Hardman left the firm. Now, Hardman is acting for Dawson and he has connections with Forstman too. Both of them got together to blackmail one of our partners a few months back. Jack Soloff is his name. He doesn't work for us anymore."
"Nobody works for you anymore," mutters Gibbs under her breath. Harvey purses his lips into a pout until she flaps her hands dismissively in an apology everyone knows she doesn't mean.
"Okay, lets say I'm running with you on this for now," says Gibbs as she flips through some paperwork on the table in front of her. "Miss Paulsen, I can see money was transferred to Dawson from an account set up in your name."
"A fake account," interrupts Harvey as he passes her the paperwork they'd collected on the Cayman Islands bank account. Gibbs takes the file and asks if she can keep it. Harvey says yes.
"I guess you'd have to be pretty stupid to set up a fake account in your own name," says Gibbs as she thumbs through the papers, skim-reading them.
"Plus, I don't have that kind of money in the first place," says Donna. "Plus, if I was in on this with him, then where is my share of the five million bucks?"
"Yes, I get that," says Gibbs. "And you dated this guy, what? Eight years ago?"
"Yes and he wasn't happy when we broke up. He made me choose between work and him. I chose work."
Anita peered over the top of her glasses, pointing her finger in Harvey's direction. "You mean you chose him?"
Donna nodded.
"Okay but there's one huge thing that doesn't make sense here. Supposing I buy that this is Forstman and Hardman coming after you and that either one or both of them was responsible for the deal in the first place. How did they know Dawson? How did they connect the dots from Dawson to you to Harvey Specter? Those dots are very far apart and I can't see how they joined up eight years ago."
"I didn't do this," says Donna, starting to worry that Gibbs was going to place her under the spotlight.
"I'm not saying you did. I'm just trying to understand how they pre-knew eight years ago that they'd have this to implicate you in order to get to him somewhere down the line?"
Harvey shifts awkwardly in his chair. This was something he'd been wondering about himself. "This is what they do. They plot and they have back-up plots and back-ups for the back-ups. They probably have another dozen things to come after us for if this fails. Hardman has used Donna before. He planted a fake memo a few years ago which implicated me in a cover-up, but he used Donna's name and she ended up getting fired. I think this is the same as that. Look, Donna and I have worked together for twelve years. Everyone knows we're a rock solid team. That account was fake and I think Hardman set it up knowing he'd be able to implicate me or her if he needed to at some point."
"Yet Dawson kept the money."
"Five million bucks is small change to Forstman," says Harvey.
"And Daniel Hardman has this kind of money too? He could have set the deal up."
"Yes he could."
"Right, okay well I think this will all do for now. I will need to look into things further, but you're not under suspicion Miss Paulsen. Thank you for co-operating."
Donna nods and picks up her bag to leave.
They walk to the door. "Oh and congratulations, I guess."
Harvey and Donna both swing around in astonishment, Harvey's eyes almost popping out of his head.
"What?" says Gibbs.
"Erm … nothing," says Harvey.
"Thank you," says Donna.
They're both shell-shocked as they walk out of the DA's office. "Did she really just say that?" says Harvey in a hushed tone.
Donna laughs. "Yeah. That unsettled me a bit."
"I feel like I just got a Christmas card off Cruella de Vil."
X X X
Back at the office, Donna and Harvey bump into Jessica at the elevators.
"How'd it go?" asks Jessica as she walks the hallway alongside them.
Harvey knots his brow into a frown. "Fine. Strange."
"Really?" asks Jessica. "How so?"
"Well Donna isn't under suspicion. She listened to us, accepted what we told her, then she offered us her congratulations."
"Ugh, that is weird," said Jessica. Donna giggles. Jessica stops dead in her tracks and looks at her, narrowing her eyes. "There's something different about you."
"Erm … I'm pregnant?" offers Donna.
"No it isn't that. It's … your shorter … oh my God, no."
Donna's face drops as she looks to her feet. "Yes. I'm wearing flats."
Jessica looks as though Donna has just told her she has a terminal disease. "I'm so sorry."
Harvey can't believe what he's hearing. "Jessica why the hell did you have to mention her damn shoes. She's been crying about them for a week."
"I have not!"
"Yeah you have. They're just freaking shoes for Christ's sake!" He walks off to his office leaving Jessica and Donna to shake their heads in disbelief.
"You'd have to be a complete idiot to not understand what it means to have to wear flats," says Jessica sympathetically.
"And he is an idiot," says Donna.
Jessica agrees. "He's such a goddamn idiot."
X X X
The date of Dawson's trial eventually arrives after Gibbs postpones it for a month to investigate all of the new evidence Harvey and the PSL team digs up to exonerate Donna.
Over the last five weeks, Donna has moved in with Harvey, selling both her apartment and the one he had purchased in the same building as his condo. There's been rumblings about buying a new place together, but Harvey is resisting. He's not ready to give up his bachelor pad yet. Donna doesn't press him. She knows it's going to take him a while to come to terms with all the changes that have happened in his life. She also knows that all the baby paraphernalia that is on the horizon will alter his man-pad to such an extent that he'll probably be the one who makes the decision to quit and up-sticks to the suburbs.
"How are you feeling about the trial today?"
Donna swallows and tries to fake a smile. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
They're finishing their breakfast and Harvey tops up his coffee mug. Donna groans. She still can't stomach caffeine and the smell makes her stomach churn.
"Sorry."
"What for?"
"The coffee."
Donna smiles, "that's okay. I'm sure I'll be back on the caffeine soon enough."
"In just two months," says Harvey. "Shit. Two months. I'm going to be a dad in two months."
"You've just realised?" laughs Donna.
Harvey grins. "I've just realised it's two months. I don't feel ready."
"Neither do I."
"Do you think we can do it?"
Donna gulps and looks flustered. "No idea. But I know I've never been more terrified about anything in my entire life before."
Harvey sits back in his chair and smiles broadly at her, his eyes sparkle as he looks at the woman he loves. The woman who now – astonishingly – belongs to him. "I'm scared shitless one minute yet I'm losing my mind with excitement the next. Is that how you're feeling?"
"That's exactly how I'm feeling."
"It's mad how we got here isn't it?"
"Yep."
"It's insane I haven't fucked up yet, isn't it?"
Donna's eyes grew wide and she grinned at him. "Totally."
"So you're saying I'm doing well in the .. erm … boyfriend department?"
Donna stood up and walked towards Harvey, standing between his knees and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I guess I could say that." She leans in for a kiss, ignoring the taste of coffee on his tongue. "But there's always room for improvement."
Harvey pulls away, squinting at her. "In what way?"
"You need to clear out your guy den. We need the spare room."
"Okay," groans Harvey. It wasn't as if she hadn't been asking him for weeks. "If I do that, would it make me a perfect boyfriend?"
"Hmm … no, I think if you do this …" Donna straddles him and loosens the belt on his trousers as she kisses him again. "… then this would make you a perfect boyfriend."
X X X
They're not needed in court until day Two. Harvey had popped in to check out what was happening yesterday and he reported back that Gibbs had Dawson and Hardman on the run. He had locked eyes with Dawson a couple of times. He'd let him know that whatever happened with his trial, the matter wouldn't be over between them. Dawson looked sheepish.
They had been sitting outside the courtroom waiting for Anita Gibbs to call Donna to the stand for the past hour. The wooden bench was uncomfortable for Harvey, never mind Donna, who at almost 33 weeks pregnant was having regular back pain.
"You okay?"
"It's my back." She tried to stretch out, but winced as she straightened up. Harvey's hand shot to her back and he started to rub it.
"You shouldn't have to sit here. I should go find you a more comfortable chair."
"It's okay. I think I'd have trouble sitting for a long time on anything. We're not doing this again, you know. It's too hard."
Harvey grinned. "Whatever you say."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean whatever you say. You haven't had one baby yet. You don't know how you're going to feel until our little girl is here."
"I know I don't like being pregnant."
"I think it's cool."
"You're not fat and in pain and you weren't sick every day for two solid months. You also don't have to wear flats."
"Hey, it's not a bed of roses for me here you know. I have to sleep with you."
"What?"
"You snore."
Donna raises her eyebrows at him. "I snore?"
"Yeah, you wake me up every night and I have to roll you over."
"Remember what I was saying earlier about you being a perfect boyfriend …"
Harvey grinned. He was teasing her and he was enjoying it. "That's me!"
"No, that was Mitchell. I wonder how he's doing. I've been thinking of giving him a call."
Harvey didn't take the bait. "That's funny. I was just thinking the same about Scottie."
Donna punched his arm playfully, but winced again as the movement caused her back to jar. Harvey started rubbing again, but soon noticed Donna's face had changed. He straightened his suit and moved in closer to her, his eyes full of concern.
"What is it?" She didn't answer immediately and Harvey could see there was more wrong than just back pain. "Donna, what's the matter?" he asked again with more urgency in his voice.
"I'm wet," she said with a mixture of confusion and fear flashing across her face.
"Wet? How?"
Donna stood carefully with Harvey's help and they both panicked as they saw the bottom of her pale blue dress was damp. "Oh my god," said Donna as she gripped Harvey's arm. "I think my waters have broken."
Harvey didn't know exactly what this meant, but he could tell by Donna's reaction that it was bad and he instantly jumped to attention. "Ray's outside. We need to go. Can you walk?"
"I think so but …" Donna clutched her belly as a pain shot from her back to her stomach. "Oh my god, it's too soon Harvey. I can't do this now."
Donna was trembling with fear as Harvey took hold of her and guided her out of the courthouse. He told a guard to tell Anita Gibbs that there was an emergency and they had to leave. The guard nodded and went straight back to the courtroom.
Harvey helped Donna down the stone steps, shouting at Ray to open the car door.
Ray helped them inside then he sped off to Mount Sinai hospital.
Harvey had experienced shock, stress and anxiety so many times in his life before. His mother's affair. His father's death. Donna leaving him. Mike's trial. But as he sat in the back of his Lexus, charging through the streets of Manhattan with his baby in jeopardy he knew without any doubt that he had never felt this level of fear before in his life.
He didn't believe in god, but as he sat in the back of the car with Donna clutching his arm in pain every two minutes, he prayed. He prayed with everything he had that Donna and his daughter would be okay.