~In which Donna gets tired of Harvey venting out his anger on her, and Gallo figures out that the best way to get to Harvey is through the person he cares (loves) most.

disclaimer! i own none of the characters, only the plot.

a/n: hi guys! i've posted this story on AO3 so I thought I should share it here as well. This fic is set between 601 to 603, with only one or two scenes that I followed directly from the show itself. But other than those scenes, the rest are purely fictional (though I hope this had happened because well, anything happening to Donna would definitely break Harvey, and i'm (we're) desperate for some moments lol. Regardless, thanks for reading, I will post the final part up soon though it's actually already completed in AO3 so if you can't wait, you can read from there too. Enjoy! :)

{3.20 P.M, Tuesday}

Pearson Specter Litt hasn't been as quiet as this—pin drop silence—in as long as Donna could remember. She stares at the empty seats and tables around the firm from where she now sits, and Donna could feel her heart sinking. She sees Louis at the far end, running about doing god knows what, Jessica appearing around the corner, head buried deep in the stack of papers in her hands. She looks into her computer screen, at all the cancelled appointments and dinner meetings on her weekly planner for Harvey, and sighs into her hands.

The firm, which was once and usually bursting with life, is eerily silent today, and Donna wishes she didn't know the reason why.

{9.47 P.M, Tuesday}

"Donna, have you contacted Cahill yet?"

She has barely talked to him for the day, and Harvey wasn't even around most of the time—she's supposedly used to it by now after all those years of working with him, but today, Donna wishes he could say something else instead of his usual demands he would bark at her.

"I did, earlier," She's already walking into his office, it's a habit and she couldn't help it. Donna glances at the time on her wristwatch, and lets out an inward sigh. "but his secretary said he wasn't in so I left the message with her."

"Then why hasn't he called, yet?" Harvey snaps, startling her slightly as his eyebrows furrow together. "Contact him again, now."

She rolls her eyes inevitably. "Harvey, it's late, no one would be in his office now." Donna tries to reason, wondering why she is still around in his office when it's long past her working hours. The answer comes into her mind almost instantaneously and now she's wondering why she even bothered with that question in the first place. "I'll do it the first thing tom—"

"Leave a hundred messages or something, I don't care. Call his personal number, I don't care." Harvey raises his voice, and suddenly, Donna is in her offensive stance. She knows where this is headed, and Donna could tell almost immediately that she isn't going to like what Harvey has to say next. "If you can't even do this little thing then why the hell are you still here?"

She'd predicted he would say something like this, but hearing it come right out from his mouth is a complete different thing. It hurts, that statement. Donna sucks in her breath sharply, her heart thumping so loudly against her chest she could almost hear it. "What did you just say to me?"

Harvey realizes his mistake, but doesn't back down. Instead, he repeats in a tone way too loud for Donna's liking; "I said, you might as well be useful and get my message across to Cahill, isn't that what you are here for?"

It's another stab to her heart as Donna loses her patience. She had been tolerating his sudden outburst, his tantrums and yellings, but she has had enough of his nonsense; her patience for him isn't infinite, and he needs to know that. "I will not, Harvey. And for God's sake," She screeches, her hands in the air. It pains her to have to say this, but she forces herself to continue, "You have got to STOP doing that!"

"Goddamnit, Donna!" Harvey shouts as he tosses his pen on the table in frustration. The pen bounces of the table and lands on the floor with a thud. "Do what?!"

"Lash out on me as though I'm the enemy." Donna's voice is as loud as his. "I get that you're worried and stressed out, but I agreed to be your secretary, not your goddamn punching bag! If you can't treat me like a decent human being," She's still shouting, her voice quivering, "then yes, Harvey, I wonder why the hell am I still here?"

When Harvey stays quiet, she turns, ready to leave. "Get that message across to him yourself, Harvey, if you're that great as you claim to be."

"You're doing it again." Harvey's voice stops her in her tracks. "Leave. Again."

Donna looks over her shoulder, she's angry, he could see it in her eyes. "And whose fault is that?" She asks, her voice lowered, but not her guard. Donna shakes her head twice, unable to look at him. "I'm tired, Harvey. I don't like it when you treat me as though I'm worth nothing."

"How could you say that?" Harvey wants to shout, but he clutches his hands into fists and brings his tone down. "Look, Donna, at this moment, I need you to understand—"

"Stop!" She hisses with a flick on wrist in the air. "You always make everything about yourself. Well, newsflash Harvey, not everything in this world revolves around you. Why is it that you need me to understand you when you've never tried to understand me?"

"I—"

"I'm tired." Donna repeats, her voice quiet. If she spends so much as another second in the same room with him, she would explode. And that's the last thing she wants to do; to ruin the bits of friendship she has left with Harvey. "I'm going home."

For a second or so, Harvey couldn't breathe. He watches her leave in silenced pain; it reminds him too much of that night Donna left and took pieces of his heart with her. He'd imagine with all the therapy he had been to, Harvey would be fine now that she's back to working for him. (He cringes when he realizes he had used the word 'for' and not 'with'.)

"Donna…" He calls out, to no one in particular, for the person whose name that belongs to has already left, and all Harvey could wish for is the guts to tell her that she was wrong—Donna could never be worthless in his eyes because she's everything in his world.

{10.15 P.M, Tuesday}

It is almost the end of another day, and Mike's somewhat relieved. Frank Gallo hasn't come into close proximity with him since the incident during breakfast, and Mike's glad. He had exchanged glances with him twice, unintentionally, during dinner, but Gallo hadn't made any advances into his direction.

Mike is relieved, yet he's wary at the same time. It's 45 minutes before lights out, and he's beginning to feel uneasy. There is just something about Gallo's expression when their eyes met that he couldn't quite place a finger on, and that itself is a factor to worry about.

"You look troubled."

The second he heard that voice, Mike's shoulder begins to tense. He has been anticipating this moment of interaction, of course, for the whole day, but now that it's finally happening, Mike isn't sure if he's ready to hear another round of blackmail from the man he absolutely loathes. "I have nothing to say to you."

Gallo sits at the empty chair beside Mike and leans forward to whisper; "I saw your boy, Harvey Specter, today."

Mike doesn't react to that, it isn't a surprise, given that Harvey has visited him earlier in the day under the guise of being his lawyer, so he ignores him.

"And wow, the vicious threats he made to me if I so much as lay a finger on you…" Gallo chuckles but finally gets Mike's attention. The latter could only stare at him, wanting him to say more because goddamnit, Harvey, didn't I tell you to stay out of this?

"Did he honestly think that by threatening me, he would get me to back off?" Gallo asks, drumming his fingers against the table. "He's forgotten that if I could get to you through your pretty fiancé, who is not even here, I could easily get him too, you know."

Mike shakes his head, unfazed by the taunting. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Trying to put up a strong front, eh? Except that, I wasn't talking about you. It would be way too easy if it is you I'm going after. Too easy that it would be too boring." Gallo laughs, his tone almost a singsong. "Think about it, who does Harvey care and love more than you, more than his precious little firm?"

Hundreds of thoughts are swimming in his mind, but they all lead to one conclusion, or rather, one person in their lives, in Harvey's life. Mike feels a sudden sickening feeling in his stomach. His hands are gripping the side of the table so tightly his knuckles begin to turn white. Gallo is smirking, rubbing his hands in glee as he continues, "There are no guards outside, Ross. It would be so easy to hurt Harvey, but that wouldn't be fun at all. Quite like you, I would say, the best way to hurt him would be through the person he loves most."

Mike's hands begin to tremble, he could feel his blood boiling with rage. First, it was Rachel, and now—

"Just imagine it, will you? Harvey receiving a call from the hospital, informing him that something happened to her." Gallo chuckles, "I dare say it'd kill him. And the best part? Calling hour is over for the day, which means you can't even warn him about—"

Mike slams a fist on the table as he stands, his face masked with worry and anger. The latter though, is more evident. "I'm warning you, Gallo, stay the hell away from Donna."

Gallo's face splits into a sudden grin so wide that Mike is visibly stunned for a moment. Gallo starts to laugh while shaking his head and then slowly, Mike feels his heart begins to sink. "You sonofa—"

"Thank you, Ross." Gallo says, taking a step back, a hand on his chest as he tips his head down slightly. "Her name was all I needed."

"You sick bastard—"

All inmates are required to report to their cells, I repeat, all inmates are required to report to their cells.

The announcement throws Mike off; he had wanted to punch Gallo's face, but the guards are already stepping inside their block and the rest of the inmates are moving towards their respective cells. Gallo is still grinning when he walks away. "Have a good sleep tonight, Ross." He chirps with a wave of his hand, and it takes Mike everything not to launch himself at the man and break a few of his bones.

"Inmate 53296, get your ass moving."

Mike whirls around to find an officer looking at him, arms crossed with an unamused expression on his face. "Please, I need to make a phone call." He nearly begs. Mike needs to warn Harvey, and if he has to wait until the following morning to do that, and if anything happens interim, he swears he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. "It'll be quick, I promise, I just need to—"

The officer is staring at him as though he's crazy, deliberately ignoring Mike's request. He yanks Mike by the arm and pushes him forward. "In case you've forgotten, this is a prison, not a daycare center. You don't get to request or do as you please."

Mike forces himself to move to his cell, his heart is still racing, the worry etched on his face is evident. He exchanges a glance with his roommate, but looks away just as quickly as their eyes had met. He wouldn't have been in this situation if not for him, and he's angry. Angry at himself for being so naïve and gullible, angry for trusting a stranger so easily, but mostly, angry at himself for not being able to do anything in this situation.

{3.05 A.M, Wednesday}

Donna wakes up, startled, at the sound of desperate knockings on her door.

It takes a few seconds for her vision to settle on the time gleaming on her clock, and she lets out a curse at whoever it is at this ungodly hour. Donna tries to drown the sound by covering a pillow over her ear, she's simply too tired to drag herself out from her bed, but the knocks are too persistent, almost desperate. She knows if she doesn't open the door, the person is going to wake the entire floor, and Donna's definitely not keen to wake up to angry neighbours the next morning.

She tosses her duvet aside and gets down. "I'm coming, sheesh!" She shouts, in hopes that the person would stop knocking. Donna fumbles for her dress-robe behind the door, groaning a few times; her head feels like it could burst at any time.

{2.45 A.M, Wednesday}

"You aren't asleep yet?"

Mike's eyes are as wide as saucers, awake in the dark as he tosses about on his bed. He is restless, and almost sorry for waking his roommate up. But then again, he wouldn't have been in this situation if it wasn't because of him, so Mike doesn't apologize.

"I can't sleep knowing something might happen to someone I care about." Mike says, frustrated. "Goddamnit."

"Your fiancé?" His roommate asks, his voice hoarse. "I saw what happened this morning. I'm really sorry about that."

"You don't understand." Mike sits up and faces his roommate. He couldn't see his face in the dark, but Mike is sure his roommate is wide-awake by now. "It's not just me he's after. He's going after someone we care about, especially him."

"We?" The bed creaks as Mike's roommate shifts in his bed.

"Harvey and I." Mike explains, head in his hands. "Gallo is going after the woman he cares for, and it's because of me."

Mike's roommate keeps mum, all of a sudden, and Mike wonders if he's fallen asleep. He sighs heavily. "Gallo has a phone, I can't imagine who he would have called by now…fuck."

When Mike's roommate speaks again, his voice is a lot softer, almost a low whisper that Mike has to crane his head forward to hear him. "I can help you, Mike. But you need to trust me."

Slightly perplexed, Mike stares at the man opposite him who is sitting up on his bed and reaching into his pillow. This scene is all too familiar to him, and it suddenly hits him. "Are you kidding me? That is exactly what got me into trouble the first time!" Mike hisses, and his roommate stops moving.

"Do you want to call your friend or not?!" He challenges back, and Mike slumps back onto his side of the wall. He does, he really wants to. Needs to.

{2.55 A.M, Wednesday}

His phone has been ringing non-stop for the past 5 minutes, and Harvey is this close to throwing it across his room.

When he reaches for it and blinks at the string of unknown numbers on his screen, Harvey nearly presses the 'reject' button. After the row he has had with Donna, he had gone back home with a heavy heart, not even his conversation with Sean Cahill could mend the pain he felt. It took him two hours to finally fall asleep.

"Whoever this is better have something important to say or I swear I'd—" Harvey snaps into the receiver harshly, not even realizing the repeated callings of his name is from an all too familiar voice. His eyes snap open in realization and Harvey sits up immediately on his bed. "Mike? What the hell, how did you-"

"Harvey, that's the last thing you should be worrying about." Mike's voice is hushed, and Harvey knows at once that he is whispering into the phone. He had expected calls like this from Mike for a long time, but never in hell has he ever expected to hear the sentence that comes out from his mouth next. Harvey stumbles out from his bed so fast he nearly trips on his carpet. His heart is already racing a mile even before he reaches his bedroom door.

"It's Donna. Gallo's going after her."

{3.07 A.M, Wednesday}

"I swear to God, whoever you are, you better have an acceptable explanation as to why you're here at this hour." Donna says, coming out from her room and hastening her steps to her front door.

Her hand reaches out for the lock on her door, but suddenly, Donna freezes in her spot. There's an uncomfortable feeling that is latching itself onto her back, sending shivers down her spine. Call it women's intuition, or whatsoever, Donna isn't sure. But she just knows.

The knocking stops.

Donna takes a cautious step back, her eyes still on the door. She pauses, a hand on her chest as she holds her breath. She counts the seconds that pass, and when she reaches the sixth second, Donna begins to exhale slowly.

Just as she lowers her guard, Donna flinches involuntarily when she hears her name from the other side of the door.

{3.15 A.M, Wednesday}

Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Donna Paulsen, please leave a—

(to be continued)