Slump Day

Taking a sip of her bitter coffee, Donna glowers at the wrong order she grabbed by mistake—one of several unfortunate events to befall her this morning. Last night, when she and Harvey went to bed, she mustn't have placed her phone on the charger properly. While Harvey was at the gym, her alarm failed to go off, and she woke to him hovering over her with a smirk. Then she couldn't find her organizer. And when Harvey teased that they live in a modern world and she didn't need it, she told him to get the hell out and go to work.

Which he did.

Then, five minutes later, she uncovered the planner in their laundry hamper. How it wound up there is anyone's guess, but today isn't a regular day.

It's Donna Paulsen's slump day.

For twenty-four hours, she's bound by magics of misfortune. Stripped of her Donna-ess and cursed by clumsiness, foot-in-mouth disease, general stupidity and all-around chaos.

Which is why Benjamin is currently a foot away, resetting her password. Because her low-functioning brain waves made too many fuddled attempts to get it right.

"There, all done."

He scribbles down her new credentials, and she steps forward at the exact moment he rolls back. The wheels of the chair collide with her foot, and she yelps as her coffee goes flying down the front of her dress.

"Oh my God, Donna! I'm so sorry!"

Suddenly she's being groped by wads of tissues and she pushes his hands away, snapping. "I'm fine, Benjamin!"

He startles, and she immediately feels guilty for losing her temper. It's not his fault he got caught up in her gravitational pull of bad luck. "It's okay," she sighs. "It was just an accident."

Forcing a smile, she grits her teeth as he apologizes again and then scurries out.

Glancing down, she groans.

The dress she has on hand for emergencies is currently at Harvey's, because last Thursday she didn't want to leave the warmth of his bed to go home and change. He hadn't wanted her to go either. And her cheeks tickle pink at the memory, but the lighthearted moment doesn't soothe her for long.

The mystical powers of slump day are a force of nature not to be reckoned with. She and Harvey are blissfully happy—for the moment—but it's best she steers clear of him, everyone, for the rest of the day. Lest they wind up like poor Benjamin, caught in her tumultuous hurricane.

Tossing the mop of wet tissues in the bin, she sits down, opening her calendar, and—fuck.

There, in a big block of red that can't be moved, is a policy review with the board that she's sure was scheduled for next week.

Sinking her head in her hands, she takes a deep breath and stands up—going to check that all the fire extinguishers in the meeting room are working properly.

…

Five minutes before the board review, Donna drops to her knees, trying to scoop together the pages she just spent an hour organizing in chronological order.

Her report in shambles, she's ready to burst into tears, when Harvey drops into her line of sight, making the moment infinitely worse when he sweeps everything up into one chaotic pile.

He stands up, offering his hand, and she reluctantly clasps it, overshooting the momentum and teetering on her high heels.

Harvey catches her elbow, steadying his girlfriend, and steering her with a hushed whisper. "Come with me."

Already late, she tries to protest, but he ignores her, dragging them into her office.

"Harvey, the board is waiting—"

"No they aren't." He smiles, closing the door. "The review was moved to next week."

She frowns, utterly confused as he palms the small of her back, guiding her to the couch. "Why?"

"Because I told Faye I had a personal emergency to attend to." He sits down—probably acting a little too smug as he pats the space beside him.

She lowers herself, her gaze flashing with worry. But he doesn't seem rattled by anything that could be wrong. In fact, he looks downright pleased with himself. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

Any other day, he would tease her. But for years he's been a silent witness to her off day—a label he gave the event back at the DA's office.

The first time he got swept up in her calamity, he genuinely considered the possibility she'd been body snatched by aliens. Never in his life had he seen so much catastrophe bleed from someone usually so competent.

Twenty-four hours later, however, she was back to normal. He hadn't given the strange occurrence any more thought until it happened again the following year. Not wanting to make her feel bad, he never brought it up, but now they're together, she has no reason to be ashamed.

"I know what day it is," he whispers, chucking when her face turns red.

He suspects the phenomenon is largely psychosomatic. That she gets inside her own head, which creates a loop of 'bad' luck. But it doesn't really matter how or why the anomaly occurs. For three hundred and sixty-four days of the year, she's exceptional. So, the least he can do is be supportive on her off day. "I rescheduled the meeting because I didn't want locusts attacking."

She gapes at him, embarrassed he knows about her one epic flaw. But there's no point denying her the truth. Especially now she realizes he's been privy to all her slump days in action. "What tipped you off?"

"Alex said you couldn't get the reservation he needed for tonight." He smiles. "Don't worry, I sorted it."

"You called in a favor?" she asks, touched he would do that for her.

"I did. I also fixed Louis' housing crisis for you," he beams a little too proudly. In the past, he always tried to help her where he could. But now he doesn't have to sneak around anymore he wants her to know he's more than capable of easing her burdens when she needs him to. "Next time you can come to me, okay?"

His hand covers hers with a squeeze, his gaze warm and free of any judgment, and she relaxes, smirking sheepishly. "You mean no more hiding your Miles Davis records?"

"I'm just glad it was a scratch, and you didn't burn down my whole collection."

He grins, and she shoves him in the side.

Though she has to admit, the way he looked out for today was incredibly selfless and sweet. "Thank you, Harvey." She leans over, smiling. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He kisses her, the contact too short and brief. But he still has a few more fires to put out. And for the sake of the firm, she should probably take the rest of the afternoon. "Why don't you go home, run a bath, and I'll bring dinner home."

She snorts. "Are you kicking me out of my own office?"

"I am." He stands up with her, chuckling and brushing his lips against her temple, stealing another kiss. "Believe me, it's for your own good."

She laughs as he leaves her office, accepting that today is the one day he's probably right.