Don't

Prompt: Based off a twitter prompt by hellcsweetie, and requested by raffertysink. A fic where Jim wants to cooperate with Anita Gibbs, Harvey gets screwed, and Donna goes ballistic.

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"Don't!"

Harvey winced at Donna's sharp bite, shrugging out of his jacket as he chased her through the entryway of her apartment. Once Jim finished checking into a hotel, the man would be joining them, and he'd promised to have Donna onside before then. "Donna, this is the only way and you know it."

"Do I?" She threw her purse down on the couch, not sure why he even bothered following her up if his mind was dead set on throwing his life away. "You're my boss, and he's my father. I don't remember signing a paper that gives either of you the right to make decisions for me!"

Frustrated by her anger — shade she'd been throwing since he showed up to defend Jim — he tossed his jacket over the back of the sofa, challenging her to come up with an alternative. "Then let's hear your plan. Because I'm telling you, I've looked at this from every angle, and it's your father or me. Those are the options."

She shook her head, adamantly refusing to accept those were her only two choices. "The US Attorney wants to make an example out of our firm. I committed fraud, remember?"

Realizing her suggestion was to turn herself in, he balked at the sheer audacity she had, assuming he'd even consider the idea. "Over my dead body!"

"It would have to be, wouldn't it!" she snapped. Heaven forbid he might actually listen before doing something impulsive and recklessly stupid. "I can't choose between you and my father, Harvey. I won't."

He waved an errant hand, riled by her stubbornness. "Do you think Jim could handle you going to prison? Jesus Christ, do you think I could? I lost my shit when you left my goddamn desk! So, don't you dare tell me that turning yourself in is up for a fucking debate!"

The heat of his fiery temper escalated her own fury. How dare he try to use emotional blackmail when he lived by the mantra that caring only makes a person weak. "No, Harvey! You lost your shit because your mother cheated on Gordon, and you're too fucking selfish to understand that people leaving you doesn't mean they stop loving you!"

The accusation stole her breath and knocked the wind out of his sails, a tense and all-consuming silence squeezing the air out of the room.

Her face paled, and his eyes widened then narrowed, her attack swift but cutting deep. In all the years they'd fought, she'd never thrown his mother in his face, and his hurt was raw and hoarse as he swiped his jacket back up. "I might be a shitty person, Donna… but I'm worth more to Gibbs than you are. So, tell her whatever you want. I'm the selfish asshole who is going to cut a better deal so your family can live like the goddamn Brady Bunch."

His feet stormed away from her, and she knew she'd gone too far by hurtling Lily at him, but the guilt that jammed her throat wasn't a flag of surrender, and she sprinted after him. "That's it then?" she croaked. "You lose your freedom, your license, everything we worked for, and I'm supposed to be what? Happy? Grateful?"

Her fingers pinched his elbow, stopping him from reaching the door, and he swung around with a sarcastic growl. "Sure, why the hell not, Donna?! Throw a damn party and celebrate. I don't know what else you expect me to say!"

"I want you to tell me that I'm worth sacrificing your entire life for!" she shouted, the demand met by his face twisting with confusion — as if he couldn't fathom an alternative. He was impossible, and irritating tears spilled over as she

spelled it all out for him. "I know you care about me, Harvey! That you love me. But you have to show me that you understand — "

He dove in to show her exactly what he understood, his hand roughly cupping her jaw as he clamped his mouth over hers to prove she was worth sacrificing everything for — a foolish move that ruined him the second he tasted the salt on her lips. His impulsive act to shut her up spilled into the need to comfort her, and heal the wounds she'd bruised by claiming his heart was selfish and impenetrable.

His tactical assault slowed, and he deepened the kiss with no thought to consequences as his jacket dropped to the floor, and his hand sought refuge in the warm curve of her waist. She arched into his needy tug, her fingers snaking through his hair, and he lost all sense of himself, until the burning in his lungs forced him to break free from her lips with a heavy pant.

He swallowed thickly, trying to soothe the scorch of panic in his throat. But there was nothing fearful or awkward in the way she coaxed his gaze down, lightly scraping her nails along his scalp with a teary, hesitant whisper.

"Are you sure?"

Not certain whether she was referring to Gibbs or the kiss, he shook his head. He'd just crossed a boundary, a line he hadn't known he'd been willing to cross, and he wasn't sure of anything anymore. Only that Jim would be here soon, and her father's goals aligned with his own; to protect her at any cost. "Everything's going to be okay."

She didn't see how, her hands falling away dejectedly, and with a sigh that startled as he caught her fingers with a squeeze.

"I promise," he added, the ghost of a smile finding its way through his shattered defeat and translating a silent conversation between them.

Where there was faith, there was hope, and she managed to convey both when she nodded, her eyes softening as trust returned to her gaze.

"Okay," she agreed.

Maybe she was crazy or naive or both, but she leaned into his promise as his touch slipped away — believing that they could withstand anything, and would find their way back to each other when the timing was right.

Because they always did.