AN: This was perviously published for Secret Santa 2024. I did some minor changes in this version, plus I added back the formatting that sadly vanished in the previous publishing. Thank you to everyone who already reviewed this. I haven't written for this fandom in a while, and it felt good to be back.
An Unforgettable Christmas
Donna is tingling all over. Christmas might not be her favorite holiday, but for some reason she is unusually excited for the holidays this year. For the first time in a long time, she is enjoying seeing the twinkling lights all over the city, which inspired her to get a Christmas tree this year, too.
But she is also noticing that she is putting herself under a lot of pressure for the holiday season. She is determined to find the perfect gifts for all those near and dear to her heart. And with her friends and colleagues being quite the diverse group, a white elephant simply does not appear to be the answer to her predicament.
Every lunch break has been spent Christmas present shopping this week. She has come quite close to finding a gift for everyone.
But what would she give to Harvey?
He is a hard person to give gifts to under normal circumstances. But this year…
Well, this year everything's changed.
Donna cannot deny that part of her holiday excitement stems from the fact that she and Harvey are together. Maybe it has been too long since she's been with someone around the holidays, or possibly it is simply the fact that it's Harvey. Because never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined him to be so open and playful. Sometimes she wonders if her poor heart can take one more moment of happiness.
It makes up for every shitty thing at work. And currently, many a thing at work is shitty.
Which more than amazed Donna when she found out that Faye planned a huge company holiday party. That came out of left field, for sure.
"Wear something red," he said with a voice so deep and gravelly that her skin broke out in goosebumps.
"Hm?"
"You asked me what I want for Christmas."
"What?"
"For the company party. I've never seen you in a red dress."
At that moment, Donna thought, she could kill two birds with one stone. Dress to impress at the party, and give him a gift he truly wants.
"Are you sure you can behave?" she asked, and he could hear the smirk in her voice.
"I've been keeping my hands to myself for thirteen years."
"True. But now that you don't have to… I just want to make sure that we keep this under wraps for a bit longer."
"I promise to control myself," he assured her, his hand now moving from her ass down the side of thigh.
That was two weeks ago. His words still ringing in her ear, Donna leaves the firm in search for an actual gift for Harvey. Because granting him his wish to wear something red doesn't seem enough. It's their first Christmas as a couple, and Donna is determined to make it unforgettable.
Harvey's hands hold the silk with ease, wrapping the fabric around itself and shaping the perfect bowtie around his neck. He and Donna have decided to have a nice night at the company holiday party, despite them not telling anyone about their relationship. Yet. The real celebration would come later that night. But they both deserve a party after everything with Faye.
Not that Harvey agrees with Faye a lot, but she was right when she suggested they invite all their top tier clients in order to show a united front despite the crisis the firm is going through.
But he is itching to be with Donna. The previous week was packed for the both of them, and they didn't always find time for each other. Spending nights apart is harder than Harvey is willing to admit. He doesn't particularly care for them at all anymore. What used to be his refuge is now an apartment that screams with emptiness whenever he's home alone. Despite the anticipation of seeing Donna at the party, he knows it will be tough to refrain from touching and kissing her.
Leaving his office and making his way down the hall and to the reception area that functions as the bar for the night, Harvey nods his head in greeting here and there.
"Harvey!" says Louis. "Have you seen Donna?"
"No, why?"
"Because the caterer said they talked to Donna about the champagne, and now someone shit the bed and we can't find the boxes."
"I'll see if I can find her," says Harvey and reaches for his phone to call her.
She doesn't pick up.
Her office is empty and so is the conference room on that floor, so Harvey goes to the library to check if she's overseeing some last-minute decoration emergency. But Donna is not there either. With a sigh, he decides to go to the bar to get himself a drink.
Not long after he's taken a first, soothing sip of his preferred whiskey, Donna approaches the bar. Tightening his grip around the tumbler, Harvey watches her give him a private smile as she slowly walks up to him. The dress does not disappoint. The floor-length red gown is strapless and reveals the sea of freckles that his tongue and lips haven't worshipped in days.
Now she leans in to the bar tender and orders a glass of champagne, keeping a good arm's length to Harvey. Not to avoid him per se, but to direct his gaze down her side to the enticing slit on her dress that comes up very high on her thigh.
In her peripheral vision Donna sees Harvey swallow, her eyes softening at his reaction. She really gave the poor guy no chance. She knows she looks good in the dress. It's not often that she chooses such a bold color, but it was his explicit wish to get tortured like that.
"You look beautiful," he says in a near-whisper.
Still waiting for her champagne, Donna turns around and closes the gap between them. She fixes his bowtie in a way only Donna can, her eyes seeking out his. "You're not so bad yourself."
Then, she reaches for the flute the bar tender has just put on the counter, and mingles, leaving an open-mouthed Harvey behind.
Well-aware that Harvey's eyes are on her body for the rest of the night, Donna engages in small talk and chit-chat with clients and co-workers, effortlessly spreading the holiday spirit while leaving everyone around her wanting more.
Harvey also finds himself talking to more people than planned, but whenever he catches a flash of red, he quickly seems to lose his train of thought. The evening becomes a display of embarrassed smiles and huffed lines like It's been a long year and I'm clearly in need of a vacation whenever he tries to save his ass.
When the crowd finally thins out and he orders another Macallan, Donna appears beside him again, allowing him a closer look.
As he rakes his eyes over her body again and again, she feels her nipples pucker. His heated gaze tells her exactly what he wants. But it still surprises her when he mutters, "Damn, I could take you against this counter right here, right now."
She gives him a shocked look, her own desire clouding her brain so much that she can't even counter with a proper comeback.
A person could fit in between them. Donna is facing the bar, while Harvey is leaning his elbow on the wooden surface as he is turned towards the reception area.
His eyes again following the slit on the side of her dress, he adds into his glass, "You wouldn't even have to take your dress off."
Donna takes a sip of her drink, this time recovering quickly. "That'd be a shame."
"Why?"
"Because when you said you wanted me to wear red, I didn't just buy a red dress."
She hears his groan immediately.
"Donna…"
"Now, who's struggling to control himself?" She smiles victoriously.
Whether or not this was her plan all along, Harvey doesn't care. He just needs her.
Now.
Putting his tumbler down on the counter, he reaches for her hand and drags her from the bar.
"Where are we going?"
"Where did you have the caterers put the champagne?"
"The utility closet."
"Which one?"
"The one by the restrooms."
With a tug of her hand and a sharp turn, Harvey directs them to the other utility closet on this floor, making her almost stumble and the anticipation bubble underneath her skin.
With hurried steps they tumble into the closet and under the dim light, their mouths connect instantly. Donna's moan fills the room, which is music to Harvey's ears.
"You look so hot, I nearly lost my shit earlier," he mumbles against her skin.
"I think you're losing it right now."
"You're not wrong," he admits with a huffed chuckle, his hands trying to find the zipper on her dress.
"Thought you wanted me to keep it on," Donna mutters, lowering the zipper herself.
Greedy hands peel the fabric from her heated skin, revealing red lace cups underneath.
The hushed fuck escapes his mouth before he can help it. Harvey leans forward and closes his lips around the nipples that Donna's bra fails to hide.
"My God, I haven't been this turned on since I was a teenager," he admits without a hint of shame in his voice.
Donna's fingers thread through his hair, holding him close to her breasts.
With a tug of the fabric around her hips, the dress pools by Donna's feet, exposing the matching red thong to Harvey's greedy eyes.
Impatient hands now touch every part of her body they can reach, all the while leaving a wet trail of kisses down her neck and shoulder. When he reaches behind her back to snap open the bra, Donna gets restless. And feels very naked.
"You're still dressed," she remarks as she toys with the very bowtie she fixed earlier.
Harvey sheds his jacket before cupping her aching breasts, running his thumbs over her hard nipples again and again.
Unbuttoning his shirt and pulling the silk tie out of the collar, Donna feels giddy, if somewhat concerned that they're in a closet at work. Definitely not concerned enough to stop.
Feeling the unmistakable bulge in his pants as they're both pressed against each other, Donna almost combusts from the sheer anticipation. Running her hands down his chest and stomach, they fumble with his button and lower the zipper on his pants. She pushes both pants and underwear down and stares at his cock, mesmerized.
If there was more time, she'd gladly sink on her knees and pleasure him with her mouth and hands. But alas.
His hands shoving down her underwear is what pulls her out of her little fantasy, and she steps out of her thong.
Harvey takes her thigh in his hand and lifts her leg a little to make room for himself.
And then he shoves himself into her wet heat. Donna hitches her leg up on his hip, making him sink in to the hilt and herself gasp.
He establishes a slow rhythm at first, but he pulls almost all the way out before he pushes back into her tightness.
She clutches at the muscles on his back, the sensation between her legs too intense for more finesse.
"Harvey, faster," she begs him.
He obliges. And then, his ruthless mouth kisses hers with unprecedented fierceness.
He's close.
Biting his lower lip, Donna quickly gets his attention and he opens his eyes.
"I'm close, too," she confesses, and he is once again floored at how well she can read him.
Harvey keeps up the faster pace, his shaft pistoning into her molten core, when a creaking door makes them stop dead in their tracks.
With his back to the door, Harvey incidentally shields Donna from the astonished look of the wait staff with his broad shoulders.
It's Donna's voice that can be heard first. "Damn it, I told your boss that the champagne is in the other closet!"
With muttered apologies, the door closes quickly thereafter, leaving Donna and Harvey alone again.
"Shit," says Donna, her head lolling on Harvey's shoulder. "They're gonna tell this to their boss, who will then tell Louis, or worse, Faye."
"What are you saying?"
"That we better get dressed and get our asses out of here."
"But I'm not done with you," he says with a pout.
"Well, we can finish this at home. And I wanna do damage control before this blows up."
Harvey sighs. "Alright."
He slowly disentangles from her, helps her with her dress and takes her hand in his. Because one thing was damn sure: He is done hiding his relationship with her from anyone.
Much, much later that night, after the situation with the caterer was deescalated, after things were finished, restarted, finished again, a shower was had where things were bound to start and were yet again finished, Donna joins Harvey on his couch. Both are clad in robes, and he holds out a tumbler for her as she sits down.
"I was thinking," he starts. "It's after midnight, so it's technically Christmas Eve."
"Hm. So?"
"Back home we were always allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve."
"We were, too."
"What do you say we continue that tradition?" He asks and gives her a gentle smile.
"I say you can count yourself lucky that I brought one of your presents here last week and hid it behind my dresses in the closet."
But Harvey doesn't seem too worried about receiving a gift. More than anything, he wants to give her what he got her. Getting up from the couch, Harvey makes a beeline for his desk while Donna vanishes into the bedroom.
A minute later they come back, each holding something behind their back.
Harvey presents a printed-out e-mail on a piece of paper, confirming the reservation to a long weekend at a spa upstate.
"You wanna go to a spa?" She asks incredulously, her eyes ticking back and forth between his face and the piece of paper.
"You'd be there, too. So yes, I want to go. Besides, you like spas, don't you? I already booked us a couple's massage."
"Ah," she gives him a knowing smirk.
Now Donna hands Harvey his gift. He can tell from the size that is has to be a record. He unwraps it and eyes the cover, but doesn't recognize it. The image looks blurry.
"This is just a mock-up, don't worry."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's sit."
He follows her lead and looks at her expectantly.
"I was in so many vinyl shops over the last weeks, but I wasn't really sure what I was looking for. I know which gaps in your collection you'd like to fill, but I wasn't having any success with that. Ray took me to a small shop that only sells jazz and soul vinyls. The owner told me that his buddy owned a lot of old reel-to-reel tapes, classics and some gems no one knows about. He gave me his number and I went to see him.
"I guess it must've been fate, because I listened to a couple of the tapes, and I was pretty sure that the saxophone sounded just like Gordon. So I asked him what the recording was. Turns out, it was a bootleg of some live session that never was pressed on vinyl, from the late 80s."
"What?" Harvey asks her with a thin voice.
"I know. Wild! Since it's an uncut live recording, there's not only songs, but also what was spoken on mic in between the songs. And then I recognized Gordon's voice."
Harvey stares at the vinyl, still not making the connection. "What did you do then?"
"The guy with the tapes has all those tapes because he wants to save them, to preserve them. But he's running out of cash. I bought the tapes, had them remastered, and pressed on vinyl."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. But the thing is, the smallest amount to be made on vinyl is five hundred."
Harvey's eyes widen at the realization. "You got me five hundred of my dad's vinyl?"
She nods. "There's more. I thought you probably want Marcus to have one, maybe even Lily. But you probably won't need more than twenty."
"Probably not."
"I found this record label in Edinburgh that also likes to save music from all those old soul and jazz artists, and I contacted them. They normally sell under their own label, so if you're cool with it, we could send them some copies and they probably would take on your dad's record."
"And his music would not be lost after all," he concluded, his eyes now soft and wet. "Donna."
He hugs her and buries his face in the crook of her neck, completely overwhelmed with emotion. She soothes her palms across his back, happy to have made the right decision with the vinyl.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you."
"You'll have plenty of time to repay the favor."
He isn't sure if he ever could repay something like this.
"Don't forget that we have a lot of vinyl now and not a lot of storage," she adds with some caution.
"Maybe we can find out who plays with dad on the tape and give them some copies, maybe Vic, too."
"That's a great idea."
He gulps then, his eyes misty. "I don't know what to say. You're amazing."
"Frankly, I just wanted to make our first Christmas together unforgettable."
"Two hours ago I thought that getting caught having sex at work would accomplish that."
"Well, I can multitask," she smiles with a raised eyebrow.
Harvey leans in to kiss her. A slow, deep kiss that neither of them will forget anytime soon.
AN 2: Thank you for reading. BTW, that record label in Edinburgh does exist and it does exactly what I included in the fic. It's called Athens of the North.
PurryCat will return