AU, prompted by mmoorebec on twitter – Harvey and Donna meet in the ring. After a more verbal than physical fight each one goes their way, praying to never meet each other again. But it turns out that Donna is Harvey's new secretary.
The boxing studio around the corner was a great advantage of the apartment Donna had just moved into in Manhattan. She used to go for an early round of boxing before work on a regular basis back in LA and didn't plan to stop with it now, even though her move to NYC was intended as a fresh start after her failed marriage.
She was about to start her new job as a legal secretary at a renowned firm today and thought that a few punches wouldn't do any harm to beat her excitement a bit.
As she arrives at the gym at around 6:30 am, there are only a few people exercising. She is in the mood for a little challenge today and therefore decides to approach a young man who is training alone at a punchbag.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but would you like to get in the ring with me?"
He stops his movement immediately as he recognizes her voice. He is in a pretty bad mood, just came to the gym to punch a little on his own before starting the workday. He turns to face her, observing her from top to bottom and up to the top again. She is hot, no question. With her fiery red hair tied back in a ponytail and her tight sports leggings and top that highlight her wonderful curves, she fits his dating preferences pretty well. But he is neither in the mood for flirting nor in the mood for company at all today.
On top of this, there is no way that this dainty, porcelain-skinned redhead can dodge a blow, he thinks to himself.
"Is this a joke?", he asks cockily, ogling her once again.
"No, actually not. But if you are too afraid to take it up with me …" she retorts, already turning away from him.
"I'm more afraid of seriously hurting you." he snaps back. "You don't look like you could take me on at all."
"Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed or what?" Donna asks snappishly. "There's no need to be such an arrogant asshole. And you don't look like the greatest warrior yourself with that gelled hair, by the way."
"You don't have to be offensive right away," he barks back, but Donna already turns and leaves without another word.
She leaves him even grumpier than before. Silly beast, he thinks to himself, although a part of him is quite surprised that she guessed the reason for his bad mood so accurately.
When Donna arrives at her new workplace an hour later, the encounter at the gym is long forgotten. She just hopes she'll never run into that dork there again.
While she is already busy going through the appointments of her new boss, whom she has not yet met, an annoyed-sounding voice suddenly snaps her out of her thoughts.
"What are you doing here?"
Donna looks up and freezes. This can't be possible. It's the guy from the boxing studio. What has she done wrong in her life to meet him again after such a short time? In goddamn New York City.
"Well, this is where I work as of today. And may I ask what you are doing here?"
"Holy crap," escapes his mouth. "Looks like I'm your new boss then."
"You've gotta be killing me."
"I wish I was."
"Harvey," Louis interrupts them. "May I introduce you to the secretary I hired for you? This is Donna Paulsen. Donna, this is your boss, Harvey Specter. I hope you two will get along well."
"Doesn't look like it," Donna mumbles, but Louis is already occupying Harvey with some legal questions. This must be a mean joke, she thinks to herself, still not over the fact how the day she was so looking forward to has turned out by now.
As Harvey returns to her desk he asks irritatedly "So, are you at least able to do my secretarial work?"
"Take a look at what I did with your calendar there," Donna retorts confidently, determined to give this guy another chance. What else can she do if she doesn't want to quit on her first day? Besides, she has to admit that her new boss is quite handsome.
"Holy shit" he exclaims as he takes the piece of paper from her. "When did you get that done?"
"Well, I'm not like any other secretary. I'm Donna. And I hope we'll get along after this rough start. Coffee?" she offers with a wink, handing him a mug.
He looks at her hesitantly, raising an eyebrow.
"Black, two sugars, splash of vanilla," she explains further to convince him.
"I don't take vanilla in my coffee," he states, but takes the cup from her anyway as an offer of peace before he moves to his office.
"You will after you taste that," she purrs, more to herself than to him.
"Oh my God, this is awesome!" he soon calls after taking a sip from the coffee, throwing her a smug grin.
Donna smiles back. Maybe they can become friends after all.