Chapter Text
I want you
And nothing comes close
To the way that I need you
I wish I can feel your skin
And I want you
From somewhere within
Oceans by Seafret
The temperature has dropped considerably, but he's warm, as they were sleeping they become entangled, her hand is on his chest and he’s holding her. He notices the reason why he woke up, there are lights coming from outside, the distant rummage of a car alerting him. He gets up quickly, making her jump. He’s going through his clothes, modesty apart, starts to dress and she does the same. There’s a moment when he can’t take his eyes from her, watching her put on her shirt, there’s a lot of skin for him to see, and for a moment he lets himself wonder what would happen if the situation was the opposite. As soon as his mind comes back to reality the door opens and a woman with a stick in her hand comes barging in.
“Oh mon dieu! Qu'est-ce que vous faites dans ma maison? [What are you doing in my house?]" Quickly Donna reacts, walks towards the lady gesticulating.
“Je suis désolée, il y'a eu un orage et nous étions perdus. La porte était ouverte! [I'm so sorry, the storm caught us and we were lost, the door was open!]" He sees Donna and the woman talk but he can’t understand a thing, and even if he wants to try he can’t, he's very distracted, he had, absently, heard her talking, or trying to talk in other languages during their years working together, but never like this, perfect accent and determination in her demeanor. Why is French such a sexy language he wonders.
"Oui, parce qu'ici les gens savent respecter les propriétés privées, modit! [Yeah, because here people respect private property]"
The woman, slowly moves apart from the door, leaves the stick on the kitchen table. She takes a deep breath in and looks at them inquiringly, their hair is tousled and their clothes full of wrinkles, he knows how it must look like, he's grateful Donna is handling things.
"Sincèrement, nous sommes vraiment désolés, il peut vous offrir une compensation... [We're really sorry, he can offer you compensation]"
"Oh my god" The woman is clearly offended, and he might getting to grasp what's happening.
"Oh my god! Non pas ce genre de compensation, je veux dire, nous pouvons vous payer pour ces désagréments [Not that type of compensation, oh my god, I was trying to say that we could pay you for the inconveniences]" Donna runs her hand through her locks and her fingers get stuck because of the curls, accentuated with her hair being dry. She's getting exasperated and he has the sudden urge to butt in, stop being a mere spectator, he walks towards the owner of the house, the woman studying him.
"Miss we're sorry, seriously, I can pay you for the inconveniences, we'll be out of here, the rain has stop"
The woman shakes her head, her hair shines with the soft light inside the house "Stephanie, I'm Stephanie" Her gaze softens, she hopes her hunch is right but she feels the intruders were really lost "Have someone ever told you that you can't fix everything with money?" her accent isn't noticeable and her voice gentle. "Please Sit down"
Harvey looks at Donna and follows her, the chairs make a squeaky noise when they move them, muffled by the noise of cupboards being opened.
"I don't know about you, but I need coffee" Stephanie states as she starts a coffeemaker, the smell taking over their senses soon enough. Donna stomach growls, Stephanie puts a plate of cookies on the table before sitting down. Donna smiles kindly at her, grabs a cookie and takes a bite.
"Oh my god, these are so good!"
The other woman smiles back "You must be really hungry.... my husband made them" there's mischief in her eyes. Harvey hasn't touched the cookies, scrutinizing the woman, she notices it.
"I'm not going to kill you, if that's what you're wondering... Mister?"
"Harvey, he's Harvey and I'm Donna, don't mind him he doesn't trust people easily"
Stephanie nods as she gets up "That's the same with my husband and myself" They look at each other for confirmation if they understood the same thing, immediately Donna shakes her head.
"Oh no, we're not... together, we're just... friends" Donna answers quietly and he grabs a cookie then, munches on it before speaking. Stephanie is looking at them from where she's standing, resting against the counter, she looks amused, like she's in some sort of joke he's not understanding.
"I know this might be asking a lot, but could you..." he's trying to be polite, but this hiking trip hasn't gone like he has planned, not that he really had expected much from it, but the eagerness Donna showed in contradicting the woman, or her hesitation when she said they were friends... in retrospect they have always taken one step forward and two steps back, he doesn't know why he is surprised.
"Give you guys a ride?" She interrupts him, pouring three cups of coffee and carries them to the table. "No problem, lets drink these and I'll drive you to the city, I have to pick up my husband first if you don't mind"
Donna answers then, of course they won't. She was right Canadians are really, really, nice.
Stephanie and Donna exchange phone numbers and he stands on the side, casting awkward glances with Stephanie's husband. There seems to be a commotion happening inside the hotel, but he can't wait to get in if he's honest. The drive back was chatty between the two ladies until they picked up the other man. They have left their car, planning to return to it the day after, the roads not looking safe for someone who didn't know the terrain, after the storm; in that weird moment he doesn't know if it was such a good idea.
Finally, they make it in, as soon as they cross the threshold the warmness and noise inside the hotel envelop him with some sort of familiarity. Donna is walking ahead of him, again, and he sees it coming because the redhead is the first victim. Two chubby arms circling him "I'm so glad you two are ok, where have you been? no don't tell me I don't want to know"
"Breath Litt, we're ok" Louis breaks the hug, Donna is smiling behind him, entertained. Louis grabs them both by the elbows, carries them away from the people gathering around the reception.
"Guys I hope you don't mind, but Mr. Beaulieu asked a favor, because of the storm there aren't many rooms, so he upgraded us" Harvey is wondering why he would mind when Louis finishes the sentence "Harvey you and me, we're sharing a room". His last thought is oh, boy.
She's appreciating the view, wondering about the color spectrum in the sky, everything calmer after the storm, even if it's dark and you can't see the stars, there's something soothing about the smell of wet earth and nature surrounding this place. Her hike didn't turn out to be what she was expecting, the weather weirdly mirroring her inner turmoil. But her talk with Harvey had helped, she's still confused, not quite grasping yet what transpire between the two.
She's not sure she's ready to face how deep she feels for him. Quiet knocks on her door break her from over analyzing her day. She tightens the hotel robe around herself, and looks through the pip hole.
"Louis is snoring like a train" he doesn't even give her time to ask him what he's doing there, he's not sure.
"Trains don't snore" he mimics a laugh, gestures if it's ok to come in and she opens the door further, he walks past her, Donna closes the door slowly and turns around, she's barefoot and their height difference is noticeable, he knows she's tough, one of the bravest women he knows, but in that moment, the white robe too big for her, she's delicate, vulnerable. He sits down on the edge of the bed, she asked for time, he won't push it.
"There's His Girl Friday on TV" he says, again derailing the real conversation they should have. She sighs, opens the minibar and takes out chocolates, she sits on the other side of the bed, against the head board, arranging the pillows to be comfortable. She gazes at him, hunching over the end of the bed as he goes through the channels.
"Are you gonna stay there?" she asks. He finds the movie and turns to look at her, she's patting the side next to her and he moves tentatively. His measured movements don't escape her scrutinizing gaze.
She wishes things between them wouldn't be so complicated; ultimately focusing on the movie. He’s looking at the screen intently, glad he didn’t arrive sooner, when Walter and Hildy are discussing their divorce or why she left, when they were estranged and Walter was telling how much of a mess he was since she went away. Truth to be told he doesn’t look so shaken up, but he knows better to judge him, he tried to seem laid-back too.
"I love classic movies" she says quietly, her voice smoky. He swallows, he really didn't think the ramifications of being, again, in a dim lighted space with her, of how his heart would bit faster, yearning to touch her, to bring her even closer to him. Their shoulders are touching and he gazes down at her.
She looks up at him "These two sure can't say what they're thinking" he makes a humming agreeing noise. Donna looks back at the TV, he lets himself watch her for a second, her eyes crinkling when something ridiculous happens.
"Walter is kind of a douche" He says sleepily a while after.
"Kind of? but the other guy isn't for her, he's a douche but he's Hildy's douche" she doesn't look at him this time.
"That's... romantic" he answers, he can't take his eyes off of her.
"Well it's late" she comments nonchalantly, like she has never humored romantic thoughts, not even late at night, when she's laying in her bed, alone.
12 years ago, they would recite entire scenes of the movie, back to back to each other. Never after that one night together, there were some boundaries they wouldn't dare cross. Things changed, quickly during the last few months after she quit, and slowly but even more that same day. That night they fall sleep through the parts they used to quote.
She wakes up in the middle of the night, his chest working as a pillow for her head, one of his arms around her stomach, dragging her to him. She doesn't think, does't dwell on what this moment of them acting unconsciously means, drifting back to sleep.
He wakes up with the rising sun slipping in through her open window. He can feel her breathing against his neck, her chest pressed against his back, she's warm, one of her arms circling his middle, her hand flat against his rib cage. He has dreamed to wake up like this, and he wishes he could keep up with the rest of how those dreams go on, but he needs to go, before she wakes up and notices other parts of him are starting to wake up too, and also, before Louis wakes up and realizes he's not there.
He disentangles himself from her embrace, missing the contentment as soon as his feet touches the floor. He walks away not looking back.
Even if he wanted to, one last look at the reality that for a split second looked like his deepest desires.
If he would have looked back, he would have seen her stirring, looking up sleepily at his retreating form, disappointment echoing in her face.
She looks at the closing door, the warm spot he left on her bed, for the second time in her life.
She feels the knot raising in her chest, her emotions taking the best of her usual composure. She might not be ready to face it, but the truth is right there for her to grasp it. She's in love with him. Time stands still for a brief moment as she stares at the ceiling, pulling a pillow on top of her face. She can't keep denying what it's right in front of her, there're no more lines to protect her, things have shifted, changed. Just like 12 years ago. But maybe, just maybe, this time things won't end like they did before.