Donna taps her foot impatiently as the phone line rings. After giving her husband an extra hour after he had promised to be home, her patience had run thin. First, she tries his cell with no luck, followed by his office landline. She huffs when once again she is met by an automated voice message instead of his voice. Assuming he is avoiding her calls to postpone an argument, but not willing to roll over on her mission to reach him, she resorts to dialing his secretary's personal line.
"Mrs. Specter is everything all right?", the younger woman asks when she finally answers. "Hi, Lila. Can you please put Harvey on the phone?". An awkward silence fills the line for a few seconds before Lila hesitantly speaks. "I'm sorry, but Mr. Specter sent me home a little over an hour ago while he was preparing to leave the office. I was under the impression that he was on his way home", she responds with an edge of confusion in her voice. Donna's heart begins to race, but she takes a deep breath and swallows thickly before ending the conversation. "No need to apologize, Lila. Have a good night".
As soon as she ends the call, Donna moves toward their front door and out onto the sidewalk to hail a cab. Most women would have assumed their husband's absence to be in light of deceit, but Donna knew better. Something was wrong. Luckily, their new condo is within mere blocks of Zane Ross Specter, so she reaches the office building within 10 minutes. Rushing through the lobby, she locates the night watchman. "Have you seen Mr. Specter leave tonight, Anthony?", she asks in a heightened pitch. The man apologetically shakes his head, obviously picking up on her unusual, frazzled state. Before he can voice his concern, she's off towards the stairwell, too determined to get upstairs to wait on the elevator.
Reaching the 6th floor, she hastily walks towards his office. The lights are out and his desk is clear, but she calls out for him anyway. When she receives no response, she makes her way back down the hallway. Just as she prepares to turn the corner towards her own office, she catches a soft glow seeping out from beneath the kitchen door. Given that the office closed hours ago, she is immediately drawn away from her original path.
"Harv?", she calls out wearily as she turns the doorknob. An eerie silence remains as she pushes into the room and her eyes land on the figure slumped against the lower cabinets. "Harvey!", she screams as she drops to her knees beside his pale form, paying no mind to the shards of the broken water glass littering the tile floor. Cold sweat is still evident on his forehead, but his eyes are closed and his chest is unnaturally still. Tears begin to slide down her face as she shakes his shoulders. His body slides further against the wood and tile, but his eyes remain closed. "Dammit Specter wake up!", she sobs before pressing a desperate kiss against his lips. When he fails to reciprocate, her heart shreds in her chest. No matter how fast asleep he was, he always unconsciously responded to her lips against his. His stillness now confirms the horrific truth she had been trying to deny since she first laid eyes on him. He was gone. As the realization sweeps through her body, she clings to his lifeless frame and wails in such a way that conveys the agony that no words could ever do justice to.
Harvey is startled awake by the ear-piercing cry that erupts from the redhead beside him. Propping himself up, he turns to see her thin frame shaking as tears streak her sleeping face and soak her pillow. Reaching out a hand to rub soothing circles against her own that currently holds their sheets in a death grip, he begins to coax her awake. "Donna? Baby wake up", he calls; his tone dripping with worry. Worry grows into panic as she begins to mutter broken pleas of "Don't leave me" and "You promised me forever".
"Honey, open your eyes. I'm right here", he calls out louder as he pulls her body against his chest. As her cheek makes contact with his peck, the thumping of his heart sounding in her ear, her eyes fly open. Harvey continues to run his now shaky hands through her hair and places kisses on the crown of her head as he gently rocks their mingled bodies back and forth. Confused and still riding the line between nightmare and reality, she fights against his strong arms. "Shhh, Donna it's okay. I've got you", he soothes as he tightens his grip around her upper body to quell her shaking.
"Ha-Harvey?", she croaks as she finds a more solid footing in reality. His warm skin pressing against hers grounds her as she slowly tips her head up to find his face. Her gaze locks with deep chocolate orbs, glassy now with tears of his own, staring back at her. "I'm right here, Don", he whispers against her forehead before placing another gentle kiss against her damp skin. Donna releases a breath she was unaware she had been holding and clings to his frame with all the strength her body can muster. Relief seeps out of every pore as she cries against him and thanks God that the nightmare she just experienced had no foothold within her conscious reality.
They lay glued together in silence for what seems like forever, but still not nearly long enough, before Harvey hesitantly pulls back to find her eyes again. Donna hisses at the loss of total contact and tries to bury herself further into his flesh. "Please", she whimpers against his neck as she senses him preparing to move back again. "I promise I'm not going anywhere, Donna. I just want to make sure you are all right. You really scared me". Her mind flashes back to the image of his lifeless face and she reaches up a hand to cradle his jaw before leaning up and pressing her forehead against his. She savors the feel of his warm breath against her face before leaning in and placing a yearning kiss against his lips. Her heart sores as he reciprocates her movements and brushes his tongue against her lips before their muscles begin to dance together between their mouths. Only when their lungs begin to beg for air does she pull back. "You can't promise me that", she whispers woefully before crawling on top of him completely and lying her head in the crevice of his neck while her right hand takes residence over his heart.
As was their thing, he didn't need her to say anything else to understand exactly what had plagued her sleeping mind. There had been many nights that he had woken on the brink of a panic attack after dreaming she had left him, or telling by the magnitude of her reaction tonight, died. Harvey wraps his arms tight around her and snuggles the top of her head under his chin. He knows that any attempt to convince her of the unlikeliness of her dream would fall on deaf ears, so instead he takes a different course of action.
"What do you need me to do, Don? How can I help?", he asks in a hushed coo. She takes a deep breath in and slowly tilts her head to pepper kisses along his jaw and collarbone. "Just hold me", she replies before tucking her left foot under his bent knee and slipping her left hand around the base of his neck to completely drape herself across every inch of his body. He gladly accommodates their new position and begins tracing lazy patterns along her back. "Always, Donna. I love you". With that, he places a lingering kiss against her temple before relaxing further into their mattress. Donna hums contentedly as exhaustion begins to claim her body. "I love you too, Harvey", she murmurs as they drift off to sleep in almost perfect sync, heartbeats aligning beat for beat as one.