In honor of the cast attending the Golden Globes (still surreal that actually is fact), my brain decided to write a version of the event in the Suits universe.
Hope you all enjoy! If there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, I apologize.
Disclaimer: I do not own Suits, though I wish I did so I can shove them all together at an event again.
now that we don't talk
It's a late Tuesday night when Mike Ross comes waltzing in Harvey Specter's office, with an invitation— adorned with an intricate gold and black design— at hand. The junior partner slowly approached the senior partner's desk and drops the envelope unceremoniously. As Harvey loops the 'Y' in his name on the contract he was signing, he drops the pen he was holding to pick up the eyesore of an envelope.
"The hell is this?" Harvey asks, looking up at Mike who had an unreadable expression on his face.
"Louis has arranged a gathering this weekend, apparently he's going for the Golden Globes for lawyers. Everyone's invited," Mike says cautiously. It was the inflection on the word everyone that has Harvey immediately on edge.
"And by everyone—"
Mike interrupts his question, having already anticipated it, "I mean everyone. Louis invited past, current, and future employees and clients of the firm."
"Tell Louis I won't be attending," Harvey sighs, with an edge evident in his tone. There was a reason why Louis was insistent in having Mike break the news to Harvey, Louis knew that there was no way Harvey would say yes to him, but with Mike, at least there was a chance.
"Louis wanted me to let you know that we need New York's best closer to be attending. Big names will be present and he mentioned something about an award," Mike waves off.
"Jesus. He really has lost it," Harvey snickers, "Do you know if—"
Harvey stops himself before he could continue, and as he does, he fakes a cough to recover from the slip-up. Mike looks at his mentor, who has been less than cheery these past 6 months. Almost half a year since she who shall not be named left the firm with very little details as to why. Mike knew that Rachel had some semblance of information, though he doesn't try to push for them. He understands.
"You might have nothing to worry about, Harvey. As far as I know, she's the only one Louis is allowing to decline the RSVP," Mike says sadly, careful to tiptoe the line when it comes to her.
"Right," Harvey says, leaning back against his chair and twirling the pen in between his index and middle finger.
On that note, Mike leaves Harvey alone and heads back to his office where Rachel is waiting, sat on the edge of the window sill with her arms crossed. The brunette raised an eyebrow.
"I think he'll attend," Mike said, approaching his fiancé closer and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
"Good," Rachel sighs, which earns her a curious look from Mike. Rachel shakes her head and laughs, which was all the confirmation Mike needed.
She who shall not be named didn't decline the invite after all.
Saturday comes sooner than expected and Harvey is going through it. He doesn't know what type of shenanigans Louis has planned, and it must be something extreme seeing as he witnessed the man yelling on the phone with organizers as he paced back and forth in his glass office. As long as there is an open bar, however, Harvey can tolerate some of it.
He wears a navy blue tuxedo from Tom Ford, and it fits him like it was made for him, which it was, in hindsight. He keeps it simple with his hair, not steering away from his signature look. While it may mirror his everyday attire, something about Harvey Specter wearing a tux exudes something entirely different. He sprays on his cologne, and takes a shot of Macallan 18 for good luck.
When the Lexus rolls up to the venue, Harvey can't help but give Louis credit (in his head, there was no way he was saying it out loud) about the work he had done to transform the venue into an award-show-like location, with many people already arrived. As he stepped out of the car, he reminds Ray that he could take the night off; and when he turns, he is abruptly blinded by multiple flashes from cameras.
Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, an arm leads him through the red carpet. When his eyesight finally shifts into focus, he is face to face with Louis.
"Are you trying to blind all the clients?" Harvey says, his eyes still partially seeing light particles.
"Come on Harvey, did you really think I would host a Golden Globes for lawyers and not have paparazzi?" Louis questions. Harvey almost responds with quick retort, though he knew better than to disagree. The man can throw a party.
Harvey braces himself for what the night could bring as Louis directs him inside the ballroom. The place was transformed inside as well, with many round tables accompanying different individuals from various companies, some Harvey knew, others not so much. Thankfully, he spots Mike and Rachel at the table closest to the stage. He spots his name placard on the plate and sits down.
"Quite the party, huh?" Mike chuckles, seeing Harvey take a swig of champagne. He sees Harvey visibly grimace at the taste.
"Yeah, you'd think half of Hollywood was attending," Harvey responds.
"With Louis as an organizer? Never underestimate the shit he could pull," Rachel jumps in.
Before they all could continue to converse, the flash coming from the cameras aggressively increased and was reflecting off the glass walls of the venue. Many, including Mike, Rachel, and Harvey turned their heads to the commotion and wondered who the hell just arrived.
"Looks like Hollywood just arrived," Mike jokes, turning his head back to the table, with Rachel following suit. Harvey continued to linger his eyes outside, since it was something mildly interesting keeping him from being bored.
It's when he spots a color of red that he knows all too well that his heart began to palpitate.
Red hair that he hasn't seen in 6 months.
Donna.
"What?" Mike chokes halfway into taking a sip of champagne, unsure if he heard Harvey correctly. Mike spots the shocked expression painted on his mentor's face and follows Harvey's line of sight. Sure enough, the person he least expected, but wanted to see is making her way through the red carpet.
Donna is a vision on the red carpet.
She's wearing an asymmetric embellished draped jersey and crepe gown from Versace in a deep emerald color that makes her hair look like it's glowing in flames. The dress has a long slit on the right, exposing Donna's attractively long legs; the gown also accentuated every part of her body that Harvey was only privy to touching once, but will always remember. The dress is tastefully sexy, though Harvey knows it's the confident woman wearing the dress making it as such.
Harvey thinks the fabric drapes over her like one of those marble statues that make the stone look so soft— and there is no doubt in his mind he would keep coming back to see her if she was in a museum.
Donna glances into his direction, briefly, though it is evident she didn't spot him. He thanks the universe for that, he still needs a minute— probably more, but he'll take what he can get.
It has been six months since he has seen her, let alone talk to her. Six long months since he idiotically thought that getting her a job with Stu was the best decision for his relationship with Paula and his relationship with Donna. He was convinced, so convinced that she would come back—because she always does— but instead, he was left standing outside her door with the torn resignation paper in his hands.
He didn't even get a chance to tell her he broke up with Paula that same night.
The first few days that he didn't see at the office after that incident, he tried texting and calling her. Because as much as she gives him shit for not knowing anyone's number, hers will always be ingrained in his head. But there was no response, he was communicating with a void.
At the end of the week after he tore up her resignation letter, another emerged on his desk, all intact when everything around him was falling apart, reminding him of his grave mistake. A week then turned into another, and then into months, and now they were halfway into the Earth orbiting around the sun.
"Harvey, are you okay?" Mike asks, patting Harvey's back which grounds Harvey back into the present. Rachel stands beside Mike, tense but also somewhat relief.
"Yeah, uh— I gotta…" Harvey stutters, but before he could walk towards the redhead, a client approached him, stealing him away.
Harvey's all the way on the opposite side of the room when Louis enthusiastically approaches Mike and Rachel with Donna by his side. Louis excused himself from the group to tend to the event.
"Donna!" Rachel practically shrieks, pulling her best friend into a tight hug, that Donna visibly relaxes to, "Paris did you wonderfully. If I wasn't engaged, I would be going home with you."
Donna giggles, "Thank you, Sweetie." Donna pulls back from the hug and looks over her right where Mike is standing with a sheepish smile on his face. She pulls him in with an equally tight hug Rachel had given her.
"Missed you," Mike breathes, unexpectedly. He hadn't thought about missing her this much until this very moment. The woman's absence was palpable at the firm, and at times it felt like Donna was the glue that kept the firm from falling apart, and maybe she is. Hell, he can only imagine how Harvey was feeling.
"So, Paris? My fiancee here refused to give details as to where you were," Mike jokes, though there is a sense of hurt in his voice.
Donna can sense it, she knows, because, well. "I finally took my well earned vacation time," Donna attempts to lighten the mood, but continues, "I needed a break, so, I decided to take the Paris trip my mom and I have talked about since high school. I packed my bags and did some soul searching… and then 6 months later I got this crazy looking invitation politely forcing me to attend," Donna explains, eyeing Louis while saying the end piece.
"But you also quit," Mike points out.
Donna diverts, "Mike. Ever the observer. I did, and the reason for that stays between me and—"
"Harvey. I got it. I think he's terrified to see you," Mike says, which Donna smiles slightly to.
Truth is, she has been avoiding him. She felt his eyes linger on her multiple times already, 13 years of being together does that to you. She just has an inkling for his presence. She is glad that the event is filled with so many people, because it makes it so much easier to avoid him.
She felt him staring right at the moment, but before he could approach her closer, Louis is taking stage, and everyone's attention is diverted to Louis. Louis cracks a few jokes and teases, earning laughter from the audience.
Harvey hears Donna's laugh and it breaks his heart a little more.
When he looks back up from the back of Donna's head to Louis, Louis has an award that is shaped into the Scales of Justice. Everything is a blur because Donna turns her head slightly to him and it's the first eye contact they've had since that one awful night. He hears clapping, hears cheering, and hears Louis repeat his name. He's still looking at her.
"Harvey Specter, please come on stage to accept your award," Louis says, standing in the middle of the stage with the award pointed at his direction.
Right. The fucking award Mike had mentioned earlier this week. He didn't think it would be for him. He tries his best to pull himself together and walks towards the stage.
As he steps on the stage he spots her, afraid that he will lose her again if he turned elsewhere. Mike and Rachel are aware of where their friend is looking at. Louis shoves the award in his Harvey's hand, and speaks once again.
"Everyone, Harvey Reginald Specter, getting an award for best closer of New York City," Louis steps back hand pointing at Harvey.
Harvey looks at Louis, confused at what he should be doing next. It only dawned on him when Louis hands him the microphone that he should be making a speech. He turns back to the audience, the claps and cheering have subsided.
"Wow, I don't know what to say," Harvey says, "Genuinely. I was not expecting this,"
Louis interrupts, "Mike was supposed to properly tell you! I knew you wouldn't come otherwise," Louis glares at Mike and Mike turns his head away from the small, yet intimidating man. Laughter fills the air once again.
"Anyway, I suppose I have to make a speech now. I'd like to thank the clients of the firm for trusting me to fix the issues, and to those in the room who may possibly be a future client, let this," He holds out the statue, "be a testament of whom you will be working with. By the way, i thought the best categories are announced towards the end," He winks and laughs, and the audience joins in.
Then he turns serious, eyes catching hers again, she now had a champagne flute in her hand, taking small sips. He's surprised she's even paying attention to him. Harvey clears his throat and continues, "And to the person who made me realize what kind of lawyer I wanted to be, thank you. I don't know where I would have ended up without you. As a matter of fact, I still don't know," He stares at her intently. Chocolate colored eyes intensely locked with sunburst ones.
He watches her down the champagne flute in one go and sees her beelining for an exit. He snaps back to the audience, those close to them deeply aware of who the person he was referring to, "Thank you."
He ends with that note, handing the microphone over to Louis who cracks a joke telling the audience that if every winner for the awards came from a lawyer at their firm, to ignore it. Harvey quickly drops the award at his table and quickly makes his way to Donna's direction. Harvey is winded by the time he catches up to the door closing that Donna had walked through. The woman can surely move quick in heels.
"Donna!" He all but shouts, any other time he would be cautious with others watching, but with the loud sounds coming from inside the venue, he could care less. He would shout her name from the rooftop if it meant finally talking to her.
It's when she emerges from the shadows that he truly takes in how breathtaking she is. Her hair looks lighter, her freckles more prominent, and she has this aura around her that he hasn't seen before.
"What do you want, Harvey?" Donna says, trying to reign in the bite in her tone but to no avail.
Caught off-guard at hearing her voice, he tries to Harvey his way into the situation.
"Did I tell you, you look beautiful?" Harvey says sincerely, walking slowly towards her, but she steps back and he stops. He knows her tell the same way she knows his, and the way her fingers fiddle together, tells him that she is nervous.
She scoffs, but then, "No. But I could tell that you were thinking it."
He smiles his devastating smile that has her weak in the knees, and she hates the effect he has on her despite being MIA from each other for six months. She shakes her head and tries to walk past him, but he's quick, taking hold of her arm in the gentlest way. He drops her arm when she sees a glint of anger rising from her pupils.
"We need to talk, Donna," Harvey simply states, lips forming into a thin line.
She flails her arms to the side, "Talk? We don't do that anymore."
"That's the issue Donna, we haven't talked, for half a year. You just left with no explanation,"
She interrupts, eyes boring into his, "Well, how does it feeling being at the receiving end of it for once?"
"What the fuck does that mean? I have never once left you!" Harvey slightly yells back, baffled by the insinuation.
Fuck being civil. It's clear that any pent up tension from the night the resignation was torn is still prominent, and by the way their breaths are seething with anger, they are both about to explode.
"No, but it feels like you do every time you don't know how to answer how you see me, how you want me, or how you love me. It would have been better if you physically left, Harvey, where I didn't have to see you… instead of playing this exhausting game of cat and mouse. So, I figured I'd do it myself. I left so you can do whatever the fuck you want, because you always do anyway," She's breathless by the time she ends her grievances, but continues anyway.
"I left and went to Paris. I needed to clear my head," From you, Harvey finishes in his head while listening to her, "I needed to figure out what I wanted. There's our talk."
She expected this, the silence— it's a classic Harvey tactic when everything deeper beyond their late night calls, drinks, and flirting gets unearths. When the lines start to get blurry he shuts her out. It felt good, letting it out. He would have gotten a much worse earful from her if they weren't at a public space, a public event at that.
Because it hurt. It nearly broke her when he chose Paula. With all his other ex-girlfriends, he was insistent in choosing her, but Paula… that was the closest she was into realizing that maybe he didn't feel the same way, that she was kept at arm's length because he simply could. He's still silent, eyes slightly glassy from her explanation, and she's about to turn away when she hears him.
"Did you find out?" Was all he could muster.
"What?" Donna says, taken aback.
"What you wanted. Did you find out?"
"What does that have to do with everything I just said,"
"Because I want to make sure that whatever I'm going to say next won't impact your plans,"
"And if I said yes, and it didn't involve you, I can walk away?" Donna asks, her voice wavering. This is not where she thought this night would go. He takes a step closer, close enough where he could reach out to her if he wanted to, but still far enough to see her go.
"If that's what you want,"
"And if it's not?" Donna challenges, because there's no way Harvey is seeing this through.
"Then you listen to me talk," Harvey states, but the way he says it sounds like a plead.
She nods, and relief washes all over his face. They hear the muffled sounds of cheering from inside the venue, before Harvey finally speaks.
"The day I knocked on your door, I had already broken up with Paula. I was in a confused state, Donna. She gave me an ultimatum and I had a reason to be mad at you because of the kiss, so I thought, I was doing the right thing. Turns out," He shrugs, "I was wrong."
He waits for her to react, but she doesn't. Stubborn as ever, Harvey continues his explanation, "I've buried the possibility of you and I being together so deep into my brain that I was certain I could let you go when I asked Stu to offer you a job. And then I saw your office, it was empty, and you weren't there, and it fucking terrified me, Donna. Not seeing you…"
He hears her breath hitch, his hands ghosting above her waist.
"These last six months, I've realized that I could lose everything and wouldn't bat an eyelid, but if I lost you," Harvey couldn't finish and tries to finally make his point, "What I'm saying is, I want to be with you. I love you, Donna. It just took me a long time to see it,"
"Harvey…" She says, her voice barely above a whisper. She lifts her right hand and slowly touches his cheek. He meets her eyes, afraid that she might be feeling differently.
"Turns out I was also terrified of losing you," She admits, "I came back because I figured out what I wanted."
"And?"
"It's you."
He wastes no time and pulls her to him in a fervent kiss, they kiss each other making up for the last six months and thirteen years in between. They keep kissing and the world disappears around them, his hands weaving in between her silky hair, and hers scratching the back of his neck. She sighs in between kisses, while he smiles against her lips. She tastes like the one. They're broken apart when a gust of breeze hits both of them.
"Looks like we found our presenter," Mike announced. Rachel is next to him, giddy with excitement and eyes that tell Donna that there will be girl talk in the very near future.
The two part, distancing themselves from each other, afraid that they might commit indecent exposure.
"I'm sorry, presenter? Who?" Donna's the first to talk, still hazy from the kiss.
"Yes. It's Harvey, he has to present the final award," Mike replies, humor evident in his voice.
"I'm gonna kill Louis," Harvey says, annoyed. He did not sign up for this. Donna laughs in response, which earns her a playful glare from Harvey. She rolls her eyes and gives his lips with a chaste kiss.
"Will you two please get in there before Louis throws a tantrum?" Mike says, Rachel jabbing him quickly for interrupting the two.
Donna and Harvey share a knowing look and heads back inside the venue. Mike and Rachel smiles watching the two people they have been rooting for finally, finally get their shit together.
Harvey begrudgingly walks up the stage and meets Louis halfway the stage.
Louis whispers, "Which fair maiden did you kiss?"
Harvey looks at him concerned and sputters, "What?"
"Your lips Harvey, I would know that shade of lipstick from anywhere," Louis puts two and two together then.
"Louis please stop talking, so we can get this award over with. Why do I have to present this one anyway?" Harvey remarked, a raging headache coming in.
"Trust me, you're going to want to," Louis assures him, handing him another trophy. Louis hands Harvey the cue card with the category.
"And the winner for the best COO of a New York City Firm is," He smiles, doesn't even bother opening the envelope, because he knows, "Donna Paulsen."
Cheers erupt from the crowd and Donna is shocked to see that she had gotten an award. She knows this is no real category, but it is Louis' party after all, and she is flattered. So, she gets up the stage, takes the award from Harvey's hand and he kisses her cheek— not before he quickly leans down and says congratulations in the octave she has only heard from the other time.
Harvey steps back from the stage, giving her moment, and he realizes then.
He may have just won an award for being the best closer of New York City tonight, but it will never compare to the feeling of winning the heart of the woman he as loved for the last thirteen (and counting) years.
End.
