A/N: Parallel moments of Harvey celebrating his birthday without donna, and with, and then with again when they're finally together. Hope you guys enjoy this darvey-centric one-shot.

Be advisedthis is an incredibly tooth-rotting fluffy ending.

Birthdays & Celebrations

Harvey doesn't have a lot of regrets in life. Ok, that was not true. He had a lot of regrets when it came to his family, but they were mainly out of his control. But one main regret he had right about now was ever letting it slip that it was his birthday to Scottie. He hadn't told her, not really. His Professor had done this incredibly stupid extra credit assignment, that essentially involved filling out filler questions- one being "what is your date of birth/astro sign" as a goof. Scottie had seen his paper as he was working with her in the Law Library, and she'd spent about three hours shrieking at him for never letting her know before.

"How could you not tell me?" She'd pouted later on that night with a mix of anger and resentment, both of which irked Harvey as he tried distracting her with his lips and hands to shut up about it already. "It never came up." Scottie narrowed her eyes as she tried moving away from his ministrations on the side of her neck. "We've been frenemies for three years and fuck buddies for two. How could it not have come up!"

"To be fair you never asked either." He countered effectively, using his negotiation skills as he tried kissing her once more, which she effectively dodged. "Well you're not getting away with this."

"Getting away with what?" He asked tiredly and confused, sick of the intrusion, not wanting to open up that bag of worms right now. "Oh, like you don't know. You'll see."

Harvey sighed and frowned once more, about to ask her once more what she meant but Scottie willingly went to him and placed her lips on his as she guided his arms back up to cup a breast, and yeah he let her distract him.

Now, one week later, on the day of his birthday, Harvey forced a tense smile on his face as he sat in the bar, with a sash crossed on his chest and a birthday hat on his head. He couldn't tell if Dana knew he was being tortured, or if she honestly thought he'd enjoy this. An impromptu birthday surprise dinner with six of their closest friends. They were on a bar crawl across Boston and Harvey was meant to be having fun he supposed, except he wasn't. He doesn't like celebrating his birthday, hasn't for years now, ever since his tenth birthday was completely ruined with his mom fucking some guy that same evening and him catching her red-handed. He'd been ignoring the presence of his birthday ever since, wallowing or distracting himself when the dreaded day came. Not accepting anymore than sincere wishes from his dad, brother and Jessica sometimes.

He didn't want to celebrate the day, it just reminded him of how he should've told his dad immediately, should've forced his mom to promise him this would never happen again. He just remembered the feeling of pain, hurt, confusion. He gets transported back to the worst period of his life, his worst betrayal. Both in the form of his mom, and himself by not telling his dad sooner. How did Scottie expect him to be happy with that? He knows he's being unfair, knows Scottie didn't know the full story, but he told her adamantly enough times that he didn't want a birthday and that should be enough.

He appreciates the gesture to an extent, but he also doesn't because it was just ramming the idea of her never respecting his boundaries, of pushing him too far and never listening to what he's telling her, always assuming she knows best and trying to change him or something.

They already got in a fight earlier, with her not understanding how he could be upset and unappreciative to everything she'd just done for him and he felt like an asshole, so he put on a smile and let her and his friends drag him from bar to bar, with him feeling saccharine and lonely while he was trying his hardest to push down his feeling of loneliness as Dave passed him his sixth shot.

In the end, he thanks Scottie for the night, while making her promise she wouldn't do it again next year.

. . .

Donna found out about his birthday, in a similar manner. It was a seven months into their work relationship, she had finally gotten down to doing his personal health files, ever since the influenza epidemic had gotten so bad half the D.A.'s office was out of the office, she'd taken it upon herself to make sure Harvey did not fall victim to that for something as trivial as not getting the flu shot.

So she rounded up all his personal information, setting up his health records and appointments as earliest as possible, using her charming Donna ways to get an appointment within a week, instead of four months away. Which is how she found out when his birthday was, when the receptionist asked and she had to scramble to grab his ID she'd confiscated earlier. Donna was pleased to finally have this bit of information, dutifully ready to work her magical ways to surprise Harvey when the day came along.

When his birthday finally arrived, almost an entire year later, (closer to 8 months but whose counting really) it was on a hectic day, where Donna and Harvey had scrambled to finish all the files they needed to close a case that'd taken weeks to complete. He'd been on edge all day, snapping at anyone and everyone, even her a few times, before she told him to shove the attitude up his ass if he wanted her help getting everything done in time. That made him terse yet finally calmed down a bit, resulting in a lower volume but a scowl with every request he gave her. She briefly wondered if perhaps his bad mood had something to do with this hell of a caseload landing on his birthday. She knew she for one would be pretty upset at having to spend her birthday at the office.

Once it was finally over, the day having long stretched into the night, she'd slyly suggested drinks to celebrate and Harvey readily agreed, going over to Dennis's office to steal some of his scotch. A few hours later, both of them deep into their drinks, laughing about Bertha and her 'no-bullshit' attitude she had at the office, Donna eagerly waited till the clock struck midnight and grinned excitedly at Harvey.

He was too tipsy to notice, looking down into his drink, while Donna slowly revealed the double chocolate cupcake she'd been hiding for hours behind her back. She placed the unlit candle in front of him on the table, and Harvey's eyes finally landed upwards on her, shock written all over his face.

He smiled faintly at her and then the cupcake as she managed to get a lighter out of thin air and lit the candle. "Happy Birthday hotshot." She smirked winningly at him, always happy when she gets to surprise his arrogant ass. He blinked slowly at the cupcake, as if he'd never seen one before and Donna cocked her head to the side. "You're supposed to blow out the candle now. It's tradition. And you know, traditions are not to be messed with." Donna's eyes went mockingly wide, and Harvey let out a puff of laughter that seemed slightly forced to Donna's ears. She frowned slightly at him as he kept staring and not doing anything. She nudged the candle underneath him, picking it up for him.

"C'mon birthday boy, blow." she joked with the sexual innuendo, and was even further surprised he said nothing to that.

Harvey sighed annoyedly, before closing his eyes and blowing the candle out. He kept them closed for a while, before blinking them back open again.

"You're still here, so I don't think your wish came true." Donna wisely commented, having picked up on his shift of mood. Harvey swallowed, surprised yet not surprised at her practically reading the wish he made in his own head, shaking his head, bewildered slightly with her whole 'donna' shtick.

"So you knew all along huh?" He asked distractedly, picking at his cupcake's lining.

"Yeah, I did. Thought this would make you happy but now I'm thinking maybe you didn't want me to mention it." Her voice was careful, a tilt of curiosity masked with a softness he associated with the voice she usually used when they were alone. He nodded slowly unsure what to say, and instead of answering her he took another gulp of scotch, and she busied herself with the cupcake, knowing he needed more time to gather his thoughts. She slowly took the cupcake back in her hand, unwrapped it and took a bite off of it, chewing slowly as a comfortable silence filled the air.

"My mom…" Donna's breath was stuck in her lungs, hitched in a silent surprise as the elephant in the room was finally addressed. She knew some of the details from him and from Gordon, the elder Specter having been much more casual and wanting the secretary to know why the mom wasn't in the picture anymore.

"She was… cheating on my dad. On and off I guess throughout my childhood. Caught her once when I was like 5 or 6, came back home early from school because I was sick. She had some… guy in there." he chuckled morsefully, bitterness tinging his words. "Same thing happened before my 10th birthday. She didn't know this time around that I caught her again. Ever since then I just.. Don't care for my birthday. Just reminds me of that time in my life, a shitty time." Harvey's mood had clearly gotten darker, and Donna swallowed the last bit of chocolate cake in her mouth, thinking carefully about her next choice of words.

"That was a really shitty thing for you mom to do." Harvey looked up at her eyes, surprised by her lack of remorse in her tone, yet simultaneously happy that she'd proved him right, that she'd get where he was coming from.

"I'm sorry she took that away from you." Her platitudes sounded too pitiful to her own ears, and she hoped that wasn't what he got from it, but Harvey simply shrugged before slurring a tipsy 's'ok." before busying himself with an obnoxiously big mouthful of the chocolate cupcake.

Donna cleared her throat sensing he didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Well atleast now I've solved the mystery as to how someone with an ego as big as yours doesn't celebrate a day all about him."

Harvey sputtered out a laugh, spewing bits of cake all over his desk and Donna shrieked in surprise at the crumbles that landed on her forearm. "God, Harvey!" She yelled around her own chuckles. "Say it, don't spray it, geez."

"Sorry!" Harvey laughed as he grabbed her a few tissues. He told her a bit more about his family dynamic, how he eventually told his dad, 8 years too late, "That wasn't your fault" she'd adamantly iterated which Harvey appreciated more than he realized. He told her how his parents were divorced and how he was estranged from his mom. They eventually moved on to lighter topics, after wallowing a little bit in the past.

The next day, Donna spent the entire workday working as efficiently as possible, wanting to give Harvey an easy light working load, and by the grace of whatever god was out there, Donna and Harvey both managed to finish with work at 5 o'clock on the dot. So exactly at 5:03, Donna knocked on his door and leaned in the doorway. "Hey, you busy?"

Harvey shook his head, not looking up yet from the last minute notes he was writing down. "No, just about done. Why?"

Donna slowly yet confidently walked into his office and sat down on the edge of his desk, perching her weight on it. "Look, I know you have your reasons for hating your birthday,"

"Donna," She ignored him, "and I know you have every right to hate your mother for what she did to you. But I wouldn't be here, with your annoying ass bossing me around on the daily if you weren't born. And that's worth celebrating isn't it?"

Harvey reluctantly smiled at her reasoning, not fully agreeing with her thought-process but still feeling a flutter of gratitude in his gut for her acknowledging their work relationship so sacredly.

"My ass is always worth celebrating."

"Your ass is always something alright." Donna mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! So, what do you say, drinks and dinner on me. Nothing big, nothing fancy, I promise you won't even get a do-over birthday wish. In fact, I won't even mention the b-word again."

Harvey hesitated not sure he wanted to touch the issues with his birthday again, last night was already too much for him, he didn't mean to tell Donna so much, didn't want to wallow anymore on his past that still affected his present evasively. But Donna pleaded with her warm hazel eyes, and honestly, he always enjoyed her presence and he wouldn't mind an excuse to hangout with her outside of this office, past working hours.

"Okay fine." He sighed petulantly like a whiny kid, as he shut the folder and got out of his chair to collect his coat.

"Oh gee, you sound so excited." He snorted at her sarcastic quip. "C'mon sourpuss." She grabbed his forearm and forced her mind not to think about how taut his muscles were underneath her grip.

She dragged him along to a crappy bar, called Whiskey Sours, which she joked must be his nickname, and he rolled his eyes at her joke. They sat down at a corner booth, and she ordered three fingers of his favorite Mccallen, alongside his favorite appetizers like mini sliders and over-loaded nachos with jalapenos, cheese, and extra guacamole. They shared the plate, fighting over who got to have the perfect nacho with all the toppings.

"Thought we were out celebrating me."

"Absolutely not, you said not to mention it again, can't have it both ways Specter." She followed her sentence with the last good nacho and Harvey squinted at her in annoyance. After spending hours at the bar, laughing about everything and nothing, sharing stories about their past and the people they hate at the D.A.'s office, they reluctantly left the bar after it had died down, and slowly walked out of there, when Donna saw a dessert cart at the end of the street. She smirked gleefully, knowing Harvey was a sucker for anything from a goddamn cart, and bought him donut holes as a follow-up dessert.

"Holyshit these are so good!" Both Donna and Harvey moaned, surprised at how good the simple dessert was. They walked back to his apartment, leisurely taking in the warm summer night air.

Once they finally reached his front door, Harvey turned to face her amused with the powdered sugar on the corner of her mouth, stopping himself from reaching out to wipe it away, knowing he wouldn't be able to respect her rule this late at night, this many drinks in his system. So he swallowed the urge and simply smiled at her.

"I know I said I wouldn't but… Happy Birthday Harvey." she whispered the words softly, and Harvey realized how momentous her gesture had been tonight. "Thank you" he genuinely meant it, thanking her with a lump in his throat, amazed that she managed to make him happy while celebrating his birthday, distracting him with enough festivities that he enjoyed, long enough to forget the bitterness he associated with his birthday. And thus, a new tradition was born, where barring work getting in the way, the day after his actual birthday, Donna would take Harvey out, usually to a hidden hole in the wall places, and pay for his dinner, and the subsequent dessert coming from a cart, before wishing him a happy birthday. They sometimes switched it up, with her buying him tickets to a mets game he wanted to see, but for the most part, she never got him an actual birthday gift, his gift being a night out with Donna, his favorite company and his favorite food.

. . .

Donna woke up to the feeling of kisses slowly being peppered into the side of her neck, and she smiled, mournfully groaning as her sleep faded away and she was alert to Harvey nuzzling her side, his hand slowly roaming her waist. "I wanted to wake up before you, birthday boy." She sighed, her voice still low and coarse with sleep.

"Mmm, s'ok, I like waking up like this." Harvey murmured against her skin and Donna smiled, wrapping her arms around Harvey's neck as he positioned himself on top of her. "You've been asleep for awhile." He noted, and Donna picked up on his concern, and she loved him for it, but it wasn't necessary- especially on today of all days.

"Well you kept me up late last night, I never knew you got so ravenous at the prospect of aging Mr. Specter." Harvey chuckled seeing right through her quip, but still letting her have her fun as he caressed her cheek lovingly, taking a strand of hair and placing it behind her ear. "We both know it was the late hour we started our.. Sexcapade thats knocked you out till 10 am." He cocked a brow at her. He had felt his heart warm at her rushing to get back to their penthouse before the clock struck midnight, and she barely made it just around 11:30. he'd wanted to talk to her about it- but her reserved insistence on being in bed, making love at midnight as a special birthday treat, won him over. She had been wearing that one midnight green wrap dress, to be fair.

Donna's eyes widened at his words "10?! Shit, Harvey I'm late for-"

"I already rescheduled your meeting. I called Diane, she said she got it pushed to tomorrow, and I told her you were taking the day off today instead of tomorrow."

"But Harvey, we were supposed to celebrate your birthday tomorrow, like always."

"I know. And I know how you feel about… traditions," Harvey looked at her mirthfully, picturing their abundance of traditions, from the can-opener and sex before trial, to their birthday dinners.

"But I already called Mike and Rachel, told them we'd reschedule the dinner, which worked out best for them anyways they were pretty swamped at the firm." He rushed to explain, not wanting her to feel guilty at the expense of burdening their friends.

"Donna… You've been spent, burning the candle at both ends lately with these two jobs. Don't think for one second I haven't noticed you slipping out of bed at 5 am every day and slipping back in at midnight, just to catch up with the workload. You're exhausted."

"You telling me I look bad?" Donna teased light heartedly, her heart not in it as she caught Harvey's worried eyes. He stayed silent, wordlessly asking her to open up as he caressed her sides, up to her shoulders, then back up again to her jawline, coaxing the answer out of her.

He'd affirmed his guesses pretty quickly when they got together, that Donna was not an effortless communicator like most thought she was. She was incredibly emotionally intelligent, could read the room like no one else he knew, but with that superpower came the downfall of her communication skills, at least personally. She knew what other people wanted, knew exactly what they wanted to hear or didn't, and her empathetic personality helped put their needs over hers, a lot of the time. It meant not reaching out so she wouldn't burden others, it meant staying quiet as she brewed on her own feelings, or denying a helping hand because she couldn't even see the signs that she saw so easily in others when she was struggling. Their relationship reaffirmed how she needed time to sort out her thoughts and share her concerns whenever she was less than perfect.

So he waited.

He'd expressed concerns earlier on, with frequent late nights and too many meetings scheduled lately, the hiring season coinciding with her company's broadway debut timeline.

and she'd assured him it was fine, that she could handle being COO of the firm and her theatre management position. He conceded to her point that for the most part, it felt like having one job because the firm was small, needing her attention for two or so days out of the week, and the theatre company felt almost cyclical with its on and off seasons. She promised Rachel and Mike that she'd pick up the slack and go back to more of a full-time role once they'd both gone on paternal leave, but that was months away, and she wanted to prove she could do both at the time, especially since she was hoping to leverage her recent experience to pivot as a consultant at her theatre company's parent for-profits art company.

Harvey had been slightly worried when they first moved to seattle, that she might resent him for moving her away from everything she'd ever known for his career again, but if anything, Seattle seemed to have unleashed every aspect of Donna Paulsen's ambition. And he loved seeing her thrive, loved hearing about her days at the office when she wasn't with him, where she was praised and intellectually satisfied with her work that related to her artistic passions. He also couldn't deny it turned him the fuck on, having enough space to text each other updates, send sexy messages, then meet up at some designated place to quench their thirst for one another through a quickie in the afternoon. They'd been together for 15 years, mainly as work partners and he loved every aspect of that- wouldn't change a thing about their past, nor their current relationship.

But her job away from the firm did add spice and space for individual growth for the both of them, it helped them make room for them as a couple outside of working hours, and the fact she wasn't working full-time away from him, helped them still have their donna and harvey magical dynamic at work too. It was the best of both worlds.

But he's worried she's pushing herself too hard, that she's making up for lost time or to prove she can do it all, and she's going to make herself sick trying to meet her ridiculously high standards for herself.

Harvey looked into Donna's eyes, and she shook her head softly as she caressed his cheek lovingly, before moving it to the strands at the back of his head, bringing him down to meet her lips. They shared a kiss before Harvey reluctantly broke it, resting his forehead on hers, wanting her to know he was still waiting for a verbal response, his eyes pleading with her to let him in.

"I promise you I'm fine. I love that you're worried about me, and I know it's been a lot lately, but it's only temporary. In fact," Donna sighed, faking annoyance as she rolled her eyes exaggeratingly, shifting under Harvey so she could reach her nightstand before resting once again underneath him, his palms never leaving her waist.

"I was going to wait to show you this tomorrow, when we celebrated, but here." she slowly unlocked her phone to show him something and Harvey frowned.

"Donna, the only gift I really want this year is you taking the time to take care of yourself." He scolded lightly, feeling perturbed at her insistence of showing him a gift right now when he wanted to talk about this seriously. It was weird for her to be getting him anything, barring a few tickets or ties here and there over the years, their dinners had been the main gift he'd gotten from her.

"-and as always, I know exactly what you want, and have proven myself to be, yet again, the best gift giver. Because I'm awesome." She cockily added the last part, all smug with her head tilt and knowing brow raised, the expression so familiar to him, so donna, it amused him to no end, because while her getting him gifts and being in his arms, naked in their bed, underneath the sheets they'd picked out together was new-

This, being them, wasn't.

Harvey sighed as she went back to her phone, scrolling to find whatever it was, before she turned her screen around.

"I-" Harvey was stunned, shocked as he took in what she was showing him. Two tickets to Turks & Caicos, for a whole week apparently, as the return date was 8 days away from their first flight.

"I already talked to my team over at the theatre company, and we've sorted it out completely. Tess will take over for me while I'm gone, and I still have a few more things to tie over before we go in two weeks but for the most part, it's done, and I already arranged everything with Mike and Rach for you and me to be covered. It's still early enough in their pregnancy that us leaving isn't detrimental. If you'd been patient enough I'd have printed these tickets out while we went to dinner tomorrow at Charles' and this would be much more theatrical and romantic, but yeah."

Harvey blinked his eyes from off her screen and back to her. He swallowed down his surprise knowing he'd be insulting her if he asked her for the millionth time how she knew or pulled this off.

He needed a beat before he spoke up, clearing his throat so it didn't sound so overcome with emotion at her acting like she was god damn made for him.

"I don't know, I think you here… naked in my arms is pretty romantic too." Donna let out a laugh as she wrapped her legs around his waist, edging him deliciously closer to her body, He instantly started pecking her all over, her pulse, neck, jaw, cheek.. "Oh I'm sure you're loving this, but you know me, I like a little dramatic flair when I do my donna-thing on you." Harvey chuckled into her ear, sighing as he kissed her soundly on the lips. "Thank you." he murmured against her lips after, and she pecked him once more. "I know it's a pretty amazing gift." she teased.

"No, I mean yes, but no- I mean thank you for somehow making me like my birthdays again. Even before we got together, way back when we were at the D.A.'s office, I just.. Never thought I'd ever have that again. And you gave it to me. So thank you."

Donna shook her head, amazed at the amount of recognition and credit he was giving her, she wanted to deny or deflect it, not ever comfortable with him not recognizing a lot of it was him and his ability to even accept it, which took growth on his end. But she didn't say any of that, just smiled softly at him "I'm glad I could give that back to you. I love you." she said sweetly, and Harvey said it back.

"I just want you to know that I'm not ignoring your concerns, or putting a band-aid over them. I recognize your concerns, and maybe I'm overdoing it a little bit to compensate for this vacation."

"It's been a few weeks though." He clarified calmly, trying to get her to admit it wasn't just because of his birthday surprise.

Donna nodded, trying her hardest to not avert her eyes. "Yeah, I know. You're right. I'm sorry, I just… really want to do a good job."

"I know, and I love your work ethic, you know I do. I just want to make sure you're not overextending yourself. If you want to take time off from the firm, or need me to pick up the slack someplace else, at home or with you, I can. I just want you to come to me if you're struggling with it all."

"I know, and I will. I'll slow down. I promise." Donna sealed the deal with a short kiss, and Harvey clasped her head in between his palms. "So, Turks & Caicos.. Am I finally going to see you in a two-piece bikini again?"

"Hmm if you play your cards righ-" Donna squeaked the rest of her response as Harvey devoured her with his tongue and lips, pushing his entire weight into her as she pushed back, wanting them to feel like one again. His wandering hands found their way in between her thighs, gently guiding her legs to open up to him, as he grazed the inside of her knee, then thigh, then slowly caressed upwards till he reached where she wanted him most, teasing her entrance with feather light touches that generated a warm buzz all over her body.

"Happy Birthday, Harvey." she let out as a sigh, before fully succumbing to the pleasure he was giving her.