To the Limit
Category: Drama/Action/Angst/Romance
Summary: Harvey and Donna uncover a pharmaceutical conspiracy that tests their moral obligations to the firm and forces out their desire to protect one another at any cost.
AN: It's been a while since I've posted a multi-fic :) I've had some serious writer's block and the only way I could get over it was by trying something different. This style has been challenging but also so much fun! Thank you to Southsidesister (darvey_love) who can edit anything with so much knowledge of how words work. And thank you to any Darvey fans who found themselves here and are giving this a go :)
...
...
Ready to leave for the evening, Donna approached Harvey's office with a tired but content smile. They'd fallen back into the habit of saying goodnight to each other, a courtesy which had disappeared towards the end of his relationship with Paula, among other things, such as morning coffee runs and late-night drinks.
The small gestures had slowly slipped back into place, bringing with them a familiar wave of nostalgia, and it felt like they were steering toward solid ground again.
Which is why, as she pushed open his door, her lips pursed together with a soft air of authority. He'd been burning the candle at both ends recently, and she was going to suggest he leave with her, but when she spotted him hunched over in the farthest corner, she paused.
The nook closest to his father's records was only ever occupied when he was lost in thought or struggling with something. If she ever caught him in the least comfortable chair, he would rarely churn out a response, so Donna was hesitant to intrude. But, the absence of Mike had also begun to worry her. Normally, Harvey's partner in crime would be hanging around, and assuming Harvey had sent the man home, she was ultimately unable to ignore his demeanor.
Making her way over to his couch, she smoothed down the underside of her dress and sat down, taking in the view of his pushed up sleeves and crumpled shirt.
She knew he required space to think, but the troublesome case he'd been working on had eluded her radar, and the way the document in his hand moved away from her suggested his evasiveness had been deliberate.
Yet, there was no hiding the sea of files spread out, or his almost pained focus as his fingers tightened around his glass. The only sign that invited her company was the fact he hadn't already sent her packing. "How bad?" she asked.
Harvey gave his rigid jaw an ounce of leeway as he threw the folder down and took a sip of whiskey. If anyone other than Donna had walked in, he would have diverted them from the colossal shit-show on his coffee table. But there she was, her steady gaze defying his urge to keep her prying eyes at a safe distance. He'd never forgive himself if she landed in harm's way, but he also needed her to protect him from himself.
With a deep breath and a reluctant nod from him, Donna picked up the pages and skimmed through them, not entirely sure what she was looking at. She wasn't a lawyer, but she had logged enough hours with Harvey and Louis to be able to spot red flags without the aid of highlighted passages. Several fraudulent transactions and heavy implications jumped out, but a bigger transgression bothered her. She couldn't fathom why Harvey had been digging into one of Louis' clients — formerly Jessica's — without anyone else's knowledge, including her own. "What are you doing with this?"
He slouched forward, placed his glass on the table, and rubbed his face with a weary sigh. He shouldn't be sitting on the information in the goddamn first place. The chance of someone stumbling across everything he'd found was impossibly slim. But his protégés' eidetic memory had led him to a breadcrumb, which rolled into a thread that he'd tugged and unraveled. "Mike was doing research on a case Jessica filed for Godheart five years ago. He picked up some reversed numbers, which I convinced him were a mistake. He has no idea about any of this."
At the time, he'd been willing to believe the inconsistencies were just a slip up by the opposing counsel. Turned out, he couldn't have been more wrong.
"Something didn't sit right, so I went digging. Those numbers link Jessica's client to a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical cover-up."
He didn't think for one second Jessica or Louis were involved, and he knew Donna wouldn't either, but he could see the weight he'd been carrying around transfer to her tense posture.
Each document she picked up revealed more corruption; Payments to the FDA, pharmaceutical competitors colluding to raise prices, and judges ruling malpractices in newly approved drug cases. She knew Harvey's personal investigators had a deep reach, and by the looks of it, he'd enlisted several of them to cover his tracks. Except, he'd practically doused himself in gasoline the moment he'd made the first call. And now, he was playing with serious fire.
Trading the information in her hand for his glass, she downed what was left of his whiskey.
The bold reaction sparked his regret at involving her. But without Donna's guidance he was reluctant to do anything at all. "That was a double. You owe me."
She covered her harsh cough, shooting him a glare. "Here's my advice. You're not Keanu Reeves. Check whether the bus has a bomb underneath before you step on the gas." She referenced the movie, because sometimes pop culture was the only way to get through to him.
He shrugged. Fortunately, he wasn't on the bus yet. And if he had been, he wouldn't be letting Donna anywhere near the wheel. "Just so we're clear, you're not Sandra Bullock in this scenario."
Donna snorted. "I drive better than you do. Or do I need to remind you about Todt Hill?"
"That was—"
"Stupid? Reckless? Taking on more than you could handle trying to seduce a 1970s Fox Mustang."
"Technically, it wasn't the car I was trying to impress," he grumbled. Although she did have a point. He wasn't equipped with a SWAT team and couldn't exactly go around making citizen arrests.
His face fell with tired defeat, and Donna glanced at the table again. Mike couldn't have been the first person who tripped a wire in a conspiracy this big. But he and Harvey had run their own fraudulent con for years, and they'd built a family in the process. If anyone could take on the pharmaceutical watchdog, it was their firm. "I can't tell you what to do, Harvey. We can forget we ever had this conversation and these files can disappear. But if they haven't been destroyed by the morning, then you need to call a meeting with Mike, Rachel and Louis. Because we're either in this together or not at all."
He hated — and loved it — when she opened his eyes to an answer he didn't want to explore. Deep down he'd known he was at a juncture he couldn't cross alone, and the innocent act of her thumb skating over his bruised knuckles proved it. The boxing bag at the gym this morning hadn't been nearly as helpful as Donna. Though he felt even more lost as she pulled away and stood up.
Her eyes filled with faith but also the tiniest hint of trepidation sat behind her smile. The reaction wasn't doubt, but he needed to erase it, regardless. "I should have come to you sooner."
Technically, he hadn't come to her at all, but she didn't split hairs. "You told me. That's not nothing."
She smiled, and as she turned her back, he found there was more he wanted to tell her. Not with words, specifically. But, if he asked her to stay, they could share another drink and pretend for a couple of hours he didn't have a huge, overwhelming decision to make.
Instead of finding his voice, he watched her heels disappear from view, leaving him alone with his indecision and, thankfully, more whiskey. He got up to pour himself another glass, and then went back to work, hoping to find either his conscience or immorality in the spread of documents.
Another hour put his sense of righteousness ahead in the race. Or maybe it was that he simply couldn't bring himself to destroy the evidence, but it felt serendipitous that his phone vibrated when he started filing the papers into his briefcase.
When Donna was his secretary, she used to often text him when she got in. Probably so he knew she was available, and more often than not, he'd taken her being at his beck and call for granted. But since he'd ended things with Paula, small nuisances from the early days of his relationship with Donna had started creeping back in. Moments that kept prodding him to accept he was always going to choose Donna over anybody else. Until he decided what to do with those interludes, he had to settle for leaning into their foundations, and he reached over, perplexed by an MMS from an unknown number.
He swiped open the image, knocking the table as he jerked up. The photo was of Donna, the street light outside her building illuminating the dress she'd been wearing today. Three dots danced below the picture, and his heart thundered as they bounced into what was clearly a threat.
Think carefully.
He didn't think at all — the back cover of his phone collecting a sheen of sweat as the line to Donna's cell rang and then clicked.
"Harvey, you need to go home," Donna answered, almost certain he was still in the office.
In the background, he thought he heard the hum of a microwave, and he gasped through his panic. "You're cooking?
"Heating up a frozen lasagna." She tossed the empty box in the recycling, scoffing at his silence. "Hey. No judgment."
He collapsed down in the chair, his hand shaking as he tugged it through his hair. She was inside. Which meant she'd passed by the 24-hour security desk in the lobby, and was behind the locked door of her apartment.
Realizing she was probably safe, his racing thoughts slowed enough for him to head the warning to think carefully. It couldn't have been a coincidence that someone had been waiting outside her building after she learned about Godheart, and he glanced around his office. After everything he'd found, it wasn't inconceivable that whoever sent him the message had been keeping tabs on him. And if they'd heard his earlier conversation with Donna, they were listening now.
Worried by his continued silence, Donna prompted him. "Harvey?"
He cleared his throat. "Yeah. I'm here." Pinching the bridge of his nose, he hunched over. The threatening text was ambiguous, and his gut instinct told him that's how the sender wanted him to respond. Of course, if he was wrong—
"Harvey, what's going on?" Donna stepped away from the microwave so she could hear him better, and instantly picked up on his fast breathing. In all likelihood, he was probably just tired and overthinking everything. But since they hadn't reverted back as far as him showing up at her door unannounced, she extended the invitation with a soft hitch. "Did you want to come over?"
He shook his head against the phone. Yes, he wanted to go over there. He wanted to lock her in his arms and make sure she didn't leave her apartment until he knew it was safe. But there was a reason whoever was watching him had let him get this far without intervening. Probably, so they could find where he got his information and cover the leaks. They were criminal, not stupid. And, if they heard his conversation with Donna, then they also heard his hesitancy to act. They might have pointed a gun, but there was no logic to pulling the trigger unless he acted first.
"No, that's okay." He forced himself to finally answer, faking a smile, and praying she wouldn't hear the tremor in his voice. "I finished the bottle... You're right. I should go home."
Donna bit the inside of her cheek, wondering if she should poke at his lie, but then the microwave dinged, and she reluctantly decided to give his excuse the benefit of the doubt. "Get Ray to take you, okay?"
"Yeah, I will."
Afraid to carry on the conversation, he ended the call, his stomach riddled with nausea as brought the device down and thumbed back to the image of her.
Screw it.
He dialed the number, channeling his fear into rage, and growling angrily when the line couldn't be connected. Picking up his glass, he impulsively hurled it at the wall, the exploding fragments acting as a poor substitute for his guilt.
Donna was a target because he'd opened his fucking mouth, and destroying the evidence wasn't enough now. For all he knew, the people threatening him goddamn wanted the documents.
He heaved his shoulders back and glanced around his office again, pressing his fingers to his temple, trying to think. Getting the heat off himself was next to impossible, but right at this moment, he could give a shit about that. He needed to spin the situation so it looked like Donna was adamant against involving anyone else.
And he suddenly thought of one man who might just be able to help.