A/N: This is a new (Potential) multi-chapter collection of one-shots / stories about parallel moments between donna and Harvey, to see how they react with the same idea / instance between their relationship versus with others. This has been on my mind for a while, a look into their point of views when it comes to their idea of love, intimacy, etc. and how it compares in relation with other people vs. with one another. Essentially, parallels of former relationships compared to theirs. In honor of Women's Day, the first chapter I'm posting is based on Harvey on dates with other women vs. with Donna. Hope you guys enjoy! I have a few chapters/ ideas ready to post but would love your suggestions, thoughts / critiques !

NOTE: . . . symbolizes beginning/end of new scenario/instance. this specific one shot jumps from different timelines not chronologically but is pretty easy to pick up on.

Parallels...

. . .

Harvey smiled lightly as his date for the night laughed at her own story, causing Harvey to chuckle as well as he took in her relaxed posture, and for a change, a talkative Paula.

He was glad he asked her out, glad he put his plan into action when she popped into his brain when he thought of who to distract himself with. She was great. She was pretty, and kind, and smart as fuck, and clearly funny if he could just get his mind to stop wandering every time she started a new story.

Focus, Specter.

He brought his eyes back to Paula's as he tried catching on to her story about her brothers in London. "Of course, they were always the naughty ones between us."

"I think I can bring that side out of you soon." Harvey automatically quipped, glad he got Paula to look flustered a little as she responded back with a quip that no, he wouldn't be able to.

He was glad his mind could still come up with remarks that showed he was interested, because he definitely was… it's just that he'd had a really long day at the office.

He never got to tell Louis he was going to be managing partner, he never wrapped his mind around Donna wanting to be COO, and he really can't wrap his head around Jessica's departure, and right now his mind is trying to organize all these different pieces of the pie and trying to mesh them together without feeling like he was losing everything. And why'd Donna-

"Harvey? Did you hear what I said?"

Harvey shook his head "Sorry, what?"

Paula smiled sincerely at him, curious where his mind went, but he thinks she doesn't want to ask him any questions because it'd put them back in therapy. Harvey shook the intrusive thought out of his head, ready to be open with her in case she really was hesitant to ask.

"It's just that a lot has been going on at the firm. I thought I had a handle on it, but I'm starting to think I don't. Sorry, I didn't mean to bring work into our date." Harvey sheepishly apologized, reaching out to grab Paula's hand as a show of sincerity, and she gave it to him readily, squeezing his palm back. "Apology accepted. I'll have you know, I'm quite the entertainer if you could keep your attention on me for five seconds atleast."

Harvey chuckled, accepting her teasingly reprimanding tone, and trying his hardest to focus on her story as she spoke up again about her brothers and life back in London before she moved here to start her private practice.

Harvey found himself actually laughing at her anecdote involving her brother and her getting kicked out of universal studios when they were younger, and she was definitely right she was entertaining, making his night filled with good food, wine, and company.

Till a nagging feeling kept creeping into his brain, in the form of Donna, then Louis, then back to Donna.

At one point, with Paula talking about something to do with opening her practice, all Harvey could here was Donna's commanding sarcastic tone in his head asking him when he was going to straighten the ship before it drowned with him on the hail- he pictured her frown, her arms crossed on her shoulders, eyes wide before their rolled in annoyance as he ignored the firm for a night just for his date. Harvey had to bite the inside of his cheek to not yell at the Donna in his head to mind her own business, which he knew she'd respond with that Pearson Specter Litt was her business and he was going to ruin her livelihood by being a dumbass.

He ended up cutting the date short because one too many people kept popping up in the middle of his dinner- mentally, that is. He felt bad that he, yet again, was cutting a date short for work, but unlike the millions of dates before, he was hoping Paula understood that work sometimes came first, especially since she already knew him.

. . .

Harvey let out a belly-shaking laugh, finding it hard to keep still and calm in the middle of Del Posto, an establishment he really shouldn't be causing a scene in as nearby tables frowned in his direction. He wiped a tear from his face as he continued chuckling at a lower volume.

"Shh, you're gonna get us kicked out!" Donna shushed teasingly as her eyes were wide and glistening in amusement at Harvey's little outburst.

"-mm Sorry! But you shouldn't have told that story here and you know it." He can't stop the picture of Donna invading his head- her, pleading in incredibly broken Spanish to not get arrested for taking a boat unknowingly without paying for it, all because she had overestimated her freshman level Spanish that she barely passed with an A. He let out another laugh as he pictured Donna trying to explain to her friends and the officer how it was all a misunderstanding because she conjugated a few verbs wrong.

Donna's eyes were sparkling in amusement at him, rolling her eyes as she shushed him once more, trying to calm him down. Before she could chastise him verbally once more her phone rang, effectively turning Harveys hoarse laughs into quieted down chuckles.

"Louis, what do you want?" She greeted the anxious bald man over the phone, a tinge of laughs crossing her phone. All of a sudden, the amusement was drained from the quirk of her mouth, her lips flattening out into a small frown.

"Shit." she sighed into the phone. "Ok, I'll let him know. Thanks, Louis." Donna sighed before hanging up.

"What is it?" Harvey asked, concerned with the change in Donna's emotions.

"Battenfield wants to back out from the deal at the eleventh hour. Cold feet. Louis called you like five times, where's your phone?"

Harvey shrugged. "I have it on silent. I didn't want work interrupting." Donna's eyes widened in surprise at the sentimental reasoning he provided, her brows raising and her lips forming a sudden 'o' before they quirked back up in amusement. He could still see the glint of appreciation in her eyes though.

"Aww, do you want me to bring you kleenex? Midol to help with the period cramps? Maybe some-"

"Can it, Paulsen." he rolled his eyes at her new go-to joke whenever he showed a glimpse of emotion, which sparked an idea.

"Guess we should head back to the office." She sighed mournfully, still taking a sip of her wine despite the work they had to go back to, and he knew her sigh was dessert-specific. She hated leaving the restaurant without trying something new from the dessert menu, before stealing half of his tiramisu.

"Wait a minute, isn't Mike still at the office? Just have him deal with it."

Donna frowned at his solution. "You're trusting your new fraud-hire to handle a client's anxiety? Mike? Mike Ross, who burns holes into your carpet on the daily with his anxiety attacks?"

Harvey rolls his eyes at her dramatics. "Yes, how else is he going to learn? Besides, what's the point of an associate if he's not going to lessen my work-load that's bullshit anyways." Harvey shrugged his shoulders once more, hoping on a prayer she doesn't make another tampon joke that he was letting the puppy clean the mess so he could stay and have dinner with her. Donna simply smiled knowingly back at him, seeing the gesture for what it is, and knowing not to comment on it this time. Harvey ignored the warm sense of tingling that embodied his chest at her soft eyes. If he was man enough, he'd quip the tampon joke back at her for appreciating a simple gesture like having his phone off during their work-anniversary dinner.

Donna nodded her head, "Okay, I'll go talk to him. But when I'm back from the ladies room I expect to find a decadent strawberry mousse on my plate." She slowly got out of her chair, palming the front of her dress as if ridding it from invisible creases, before walking back to the bathroom while texting on her phone, presumably telling Mike about his new task. Harvey drank another sip of scotch while flagging down a waiter, knowing her comment was serious and not a joke.

. . .

"I ended up being valedictorian, not that I'm bragging." Harvey smiled politely at his date, silently wondering why the hell he fell for Jessica's tease that he couldn't last a night on a date with the women he usually ended the night with.

She was nice, smart enough, and definitely pretty enough with her chocolate brown hair and large doe eyes that were fluttering at him across the table.

Except he was bored out of his fucking mind, he kept trying to force his mind to focus on her tidbits, but he kept getting distracted by other… bits of hers.

His eyes roamed her chest, then back to her eyes, then her lips, then back to her eyes really hoping he was conveying his interest in her.

He partook into some anecdotal story about his day, and it got her laughing as he told her about the story of how Donna ended up saving the day with the grapefruit incident.

"And so McCavoy isn't changing law firms now." Harvey grinned smugly at the end of his story, impressed with Donna's refusal to be anything but herself, which always ended up working in her favor time and time again.

Bridget smiled back as she laughed. "That reminds me of the time my boss got me to…" Harvey tried to keep his attention on her as she relayed some work story, but the minute she mentioned the word "scarfs" he just had to share the story of the time Donna managed to clumsily wrap herself around a scarf that was already being tried on by James- an affluent gay man who happened to run a fortune 400 fashion company, and while James was quite perturbed at first, Donna managed to sweet talk him into finding the entire incident hilarious, and she set up a meeting with him and Harvey, leading to a generous bonus for the both of them from Jessica, for proving Harvey could get clients outside of his comfort zone.

"-and that was pretty much the year Donna would leave every receipt she had for purchasing a scarf on my desk, calling it an 'expensable purchase' since it landed us a major client." Harvey chuckled to himself and Bridget politely smiled back.

Harvey took a mouthful of scotch as he wondered when the talking proportion of their date could end without being too forward before asking her back to his place.

"So," Bridget fiddled around with the salad on her plate. "Donna must be a pretty big part of your work success then?"

"Well I mean I'm definitely in charge of my own successes… but I guess, yeah Donna's kind of like my partner in crime over there." Harvey shrugged as he forced a mouthful of steak and broccoli into his mouth, getting a little anxious about where this line of questioning was going.

"That's admirable. Not many bosses think of their secretaries in that way. I'm sure as hell my boss doesn't. I think he honestly sees me as a coffee machine with legs." Bridget chuckled at her own joke as she tried swaying the conversation back to her, when Harvey frowned in reply.

"Donna is an integral part of my work-process. I don't know if i'd be as far as where I've got without her expertise and help."

Bridget frowned slightly at his inability to move on from that particular topic. "That's great. I-"

"I mean she's honestly kind of insanely influential over my work considering she's meant to just be an assistant. She's usually doing the workload of law associates, and secretarial work, and she's even-" Bridget's phone rang, interrupting his monologue on Donna The Great, and Bridget excused herself to pick it up.

Harvey nodded, swallowing another finger of scotch as he realized he needed to get a grip and stop talking about work. He was usually much better at these things. Two minutes later Bridget came back to the table with an apologetic smile.

"So… where were you?" Harvey snorted at her use of 'you' instead of 'we', knowing he was taking up most of the talking proportion of their date.

"You were just about to finish telling me how much of an ass your boss is, before we head out of here and make most of your night off more worthwhile." Harvey smirked confidently at her, sending her the Specter patent charming look, which resulted in a wide grin from Bridget.

"Okay." She bit back her own smirk before eating a bite of her food, going on about her own work as an assistant to the manager at some high-end boutique, while Harvey forced his own mouth to keep quiet so it wouldn't accidentally blab on anymore about donna- or more accurately his work.

Or was it the other way around? Harvey shook the intrusive thought out of his head, which eerily sounded a lot like she-who-must-not-be-named…

. . .

"-and that's how I managed to talk my way into using his helicopter that was on standby."

Harvey stared mystified, dumbstruck with his mouth open wide, jaw to the floor, as Donna relayed a story of the time she used a private helicopter to get to a meeting with a fellow COO, all the way up in New Jersey, when she was in Manhattan traffic, running late and needing to make a good impression on the potential business relationship she was gartering for the firm.

"Are you trying to catch flies? Close your mouth, Harvey." Donna teased nonchalantly, like she didn't just tell the story to elicit this exact reaction.

Harvey promptly closed his mouth, shaking his head at her ability to amaze him 12 years into their relationship.

"So you're telling me, you Donna Paulsen, managed to get Jeff Bezos's VP to let you use his helicopter so you weren't late to a meeting that had absolutely nothing to do with our relations with them."

Donna shrugged in response as she swallowed a spoonful of chicken tikki masala, "mm- this is so good." She sighed heavenly, ignoring Harvey's awe while she secretly bathed in his sincere admiration.

Harvey shook his head as he cut his own tandori spicy chicken, "You know, you don't get enough credit for your business relations."

"Well I wasn't going to be late for the meeting that took Alex exactly six months to procure, over something as silly as New York traffic when they were already reluctant to meet with us post Zane leaving."

Harvey smiled at the tiny fire of determination he saw in her hazel eyes, and gently reached out to place her hand in his. "You know, I don't think I ever told you how proud I am of you for acclimating so fast in your role as COO. Seriously Donna, I never doubted you'd be good at it but honestly- you've surpassed my high enough expectations of you."

Donna blushed at his sincerity, her eyes casting downwards, her head tilting her chin inwards, so her hair would cover up her fair skin turning a cute shade of pink, not used to the intensity and genuinity coming from him of all people. He squeezed her palm in his as reassurance, so she'd brave a quick look back at him, and she complied, letting hazel meet brown as he murmured one more time. "I mean it."

"I know." She murmured back, squeezing his palm back, before clearing her throat. "Enough about work though, how'd your talk with Marcus go tonight?"

"Ok. He's really excited about couples counseling with Katey, but-"

Donna's phone rang, interrupting his talk. He sent her a pointed look, having told her more than once to turn her phone off during their date nights. "Sorry!" she muffled around a bite of rice and chicken, before rummaging around on her phone to turn it off.

"There. It was just a scam call anyways. Go ahead." She brought her attention solely back at Harvey, her hand still in his, gently playing with the tips of his fingers as she coaxed him to go over the details of his conversation with his brother.

Harvey shook his head softly at the realization that just dawned on him, how he inadvertently always prioritized her over anyone else, through-out all his dates with other women, be it under the guise of work, or even with Donna herself, putting more than what was necessary effort and emphasize into their work-anniversary even when it was inappropriate, all because she was the one. He never realized how with all other women in his life, he simply didn't- couldn't put them as a priority, no matter how hard he tried. He always used to think he was the problem, that he wasn't cut out for dating, or relationships, but now? Now he thinks it had everything to with who he was trying to force it with. He briefly wonders if he should apologize to all the women he's dated before, for making them feel ten times worse than he feels when work gets in the way of his time with Donna, especially when he makes her be his priority so easily, when he struggled to do so with them.

"-earth to Harvey?" Donna's words and accompanying wave of her hand startled Harvey back to their date. He grinned sheepishly at her. "Sorry."

"What were you thinking about?"

Harvey shook his head, smiling at her. "Nothing, just thinking we should definitely come back to this place soon." Donna narrowed her gaze at him, clearly reading the half-assed comment as a fib, but she knew wherever Harvey drifted off to wasn't serious, that he didn't want to talk about it because he just wanted to be with her right now, on their once-a-week date nights that he'd been adamant about since the first week they got together.

"Told you I'd get you into Indian food. I still can't believe you'd never had it before. Anyways, back to Marcus." Donna squeezed her hand back in his, and just like that, Harvey smiled and continued his conversation.

Yeah, he was really glad he was with the right person now.