Chapter Text
December 10th
She entered her office Monday morning to find Harvey sitting at her desk sporting his trademark Cheshire cat grin. Things in the office had gone “back to normal” between them over the last several months, if you consider back to normal unsubtle flirting and stealing glances when the other was not looking, it was basically just like old times back in the DA’s office, back before the other time. Despite the back to normal behavior they claimed, Harvey Specter was the last person she expected to find in her office at 8am on a Monday.
“Donnnna” he grinned
“Harvey, you know this isn’t your office, right?” she teased
“Come to think of it, I thought it looked a little different” he quipped right back
“What can I do for you Harvey?”
“What makes you think I need something? What if I just missed my favourite COO?”
“We both know you haven’t made it into the office before 8:30am for the better part of your career here, so you must need a favour if your willing to sacrifice some of your precious beauty sleep” she replied smugly
God, he missed this. Ever since promoting her to COO they haven’t spent as much time together at the office. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss their flirty banter. If he was being truthful, he missed having her around period. But now was not the time to go there. He had done one hell of a job keeping his emotions in check for the last 12 years, he wasn’t about to let them get the best of him now. Besides, he came in here for a reason, he did need something. A huge favour. He had been thinking about how to ask her for the last three hours, which is why he beat her to the office this morning and even had time to stop and get her favourite coffee on his way.
“Now that you mention it” he gets up and rounds her desk, approaching her and presenting her with the coffee he had hidden behind his back. “I need to ask you to do something for me and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way”
“Ok” she replied, the caution clearly treading through her voice, eyeing the coffee.
“I-need-you-to-be-my-date-to-my-brothers-wedding-vowel-renewal” he spit out as fast as he possibly could. Smooth Specter, smooth, he thought to himself.
“What was that?”
“Common Donna you heard what I asked you”
Of course, she’d heard what he asked her, she was Donna after all. But after watching the panic rise in his face as he waited for her to answer, she decided to have a little bit of fun with him, after all this was one of their things.
“Why don’t you ask me at a normal speed?”
Rolling his eyes, Harvey hands her the coffee and plasters on his best puppy dog look.
“Donna, will you please attend my brothers wedding renewal with me, …….as friends of course?”
For the briefest of moments she let herself get her hopes up thinking maybe, finally, he was asking her on a date, but then he threw in the friends’ comment, snapping her back to reality. This was Harvey she was talking to. Her boss and dare she say best friend of almost 13 years. He had tons of girls that would line up to be his arm candy at a reception, why was he asking her? Do you ask your good friends to events like this? Maybe this was all part of their new normal? Quickly regaining her composer (in true Donna fashion) and not letting him see how thrown off she was by the comment she couldn’t help herself from adding a quippy remark.
“What no pretty please?”
“If that’s what it takes, pretty please Donna”
“With cherries on top?” she mused. She was having way too much with this.
“I was thinking more like with whip cream on top” He remarks a without missing a beat, mischievous grin spreading across his face.
She blushes at the thought and he’s elated that he now has the upper hand.
“Why do you want me to go with you Harvey? Why not just take one of those girls who would die to go to an event with the Harvey Specter“
“Well you see, I’ve sort of, kind of, accidentally, may have told Marcus I was bringing you, as my girlfriend” He blushed at the admission. The fact that he can’t read her expression only sends him into a further panic, so he rambles on needlessly,
“Plus, it’s my family Donna, I’ve only just started talking to my mom again and I’m not sure how I feel about spending an entire weekend with them”
“Why did you tell your brother that I was your girlfriend?” she manages to spit out in what she hopes is a calm tone, wondering if he can tell that she is stunned by his admission.
“I PANICKED! He was questioning me, asking if I was ever going to settle down and find the right women and I just panicked and said that I had, and he would meet her at the reception. Look I’m sorry Donna I didn’t mean to make things even more awkward between us, and I understand if you don’t want to go and pretend to be dating, I just didn’t know what else to do. I was being attacked”
“Why me?”
“You know why… “
She hadn’t even realized that up until he answered she had been holding her breathe, staring at a mark on her shoe. She brought her head up to meet his gaze, his eyes softening when they meet hers.
“You know me better than anyone, and you of all people understand the complicated relationship I have with my family, I need you there with me”
“Need?”
“Need” he nods reassuring her
She sips the coffee he brought her, her favourite; caramel with a hint of vanilla. She takes in the man in front of her, a man who seldomly shows his vulnerable side, standing in front of her completely exposed, asking for a favour point blank. It was so un-Harvey like to be so open about something like this, Louis’s therapist must really be helping him to open up, she thinks. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about what it would be like to be Harvey’s girlfriend. More often than not she found herself daydreaming about what life would be like if they really DID have everything. If they were to cross that line and never look back. But she forced herself to put those feelings in a box, lock it up and never look back. That’s why they worked. After the other time they agreed never to bring it up, and for a while it worked for them. Until he told her he loved her. Yet somehow, they moved past that, throwing it into the box of things never to be spoken of again. Over the years they continued to add to the box; requests for more, stolen glances, Harvey’s jealousy of Stephen, her own jealousy of Paula, that kiss she lied about and she felt nothing from, that time he held her close while they danced, all thrown into the box, never to be brought up again. She figured this would likely be one of those things that gets added to the box, never to be spoken of again, so of course, she could do this favour for him. After all they were just friends, she convinces herself. This is what friends do, help friends in need.
“Alright Harvey, I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend, but first things first, I always pictured Harvey Specter’s girlfriend wears the newest Louis Vuitton’s” She grins.
“In that case, I’ll have Ray pick you up at 8 on Friday, we have some shopping to do”
He throws a wink her way and starts to walk out of her office. She sits at her desk and gets to work.
“Donna” He stops at the door, “Thanks”
And he leaves her to begin her day.
He can’t believe she said yes. He doesn’t know if her agreeing to this is a good or bad thing. Even though he’ll save face with his brother he doesn’t know if he can survive an entire weekend pretending to be her boyfriend without his feelings for her resurfacing. She may not have felt anything when she kissed him, but he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of her lips on his since it happened.
And her agreeing to this game of pretend must mean she had nothing to worry about, which only drives him to think maybe she really didn’t feel anything. He knows why he panicked and told Marcus he was dating her, because try as he might he couldn’t think of a single woman that compares to her. He has no idea what he’s going to do about this upcoming weekend, but he knows one thing for sure, if he doesn’t get his feelings in check, he is in for a world of trouble.