AN: Hey all, this is just a little thing I started writing a while back after the 7B promo came out, but only recently got to finishing it. Hope y'all enjoy.

…

She stiffens at the set of knocks that echo through her apartment- the soft raps shaking her out of her thoughts. Her eyes close on reflex, that same sinking feeling she's had for the past week returning like a splash of cold water.

Donna sets her wine glass down on the counter with a shaky sigh, ignoring the way her hand trembles and the liquid sloshes to the side, tinting her marble surface red in the process.

There's only one person who could come to see at this hour of the night, and if it were any other day, any other time in her life, she may have played the options a little while longer in her mind. But she knew Rachel was spending some time with Mike, and Louis was off dealing with Shelia, so there was only one other viable candidate at the moment.

She sets her jaw then, a thousand different emotions coursing through her at once, making her bite back against the frustration that had long since made a dent in her chest.

She had tried to stop counting the days since she kissed him, since the day she threw out any last ounce of regret and made the decision to take a chance, to stop hiding from years of suppressed feelings and confusion and trepidation.

But she couldn't.

Six days, four hours, and some odd minutes since Donna had kissed her best friend slash co-worker slash boss. Things had seemed to move at a snail's pace after she left him standing in her own office that night, yet… everything felt like a blur now. The moments and days that followed had alternated between screaming matches and deadly silence that carried more weight than any of the words of blame he had thrown her way. She knew she had taken a gamble, had played her hand without letting him see her poker face, for once. But with her cards splayed out in the open, she had also succumbed to a vulnerability she wasn't sure she was ever ready to face, but if not show him then… then when?

They'd exchanged more words of anger in the past couple of days than they've had in the twelve odd years they've known each other, and she was tired. Tired of having to put on a brave face every time she had to go to work, tired of not being able to talk to the person she valued most in life with any semblance of civility.

So, she'd left, taken it upon herself to leave the only other place, other than her current residence, that she called home.

Donna shakes her head, hoping to rid herself out of the hurt and fear that accumulated to form a long-standing lump in her throat. With a final heavy sigh, she sets to walk to her door, her feet feeling heavier with each step she took. The soft knocks had stopped, but she knew he was still right outside, and she tampers down that feeling that tells her it was due to one of those freakish sixth senses that made her so in-tune with him.

Before she could convince herself out of it, she unlocks the door, grabbing hold of the knob before swinging it wide open.

She had a line of defenses at the ready, words strung together in a pattern she'd had day's worth of practicing with every conversation she'd had with him. But something in his eyes stops her in her tracks.

His eyes were sunken in his sockets, chocolate brown appearing black in the low lighting of her hallway. He looked- lost.

His mouth opens, but no words come out and she's taken aback by the solemn look he holds instead of his most recent set jaw and spitfire words.

She waits him out, crosses her arms over the black turtle neck she'd thrown on as soon as she'd gotten home earlier. Her eyes fall from his darkened ones to the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and she feels her own constricting with a tightness that makes her breathing falter, if just for a moment.

"Mike and… Rachel are leaving."

It's not what she expects, and she straightens up just a little bit at the same time she expels a short sigh.

"I know," Donna says softly. She shifts ever so slightly from her spot before she lets her arms fall, recovering from his words too quickly. Her defenses were dropping, with or without her consent, she wasn't sure. "Rachel…"

Harvey nods, chapped lips thinning to a line as he bows his head for a moment. Of course she already knew. She was Donna.

And somewhere in the back of his mind, he already knew there was a more than good chance that her best friend would've dropped the news around the time his former associate told him. The news having come like an anvil landing on his already collapsed chest.

He couldn't even fully fathom why he was there, appearing at her front door in the near middle of the night after having spent another grueling day filled with tense glances and edged words.

"Are you leaving me too?"

Donna draws in a sharp breath at his unexpected words, strung together in a way that makes her lean against her door if only for a moment of gentle support.

"I-"

"I got your letter," he almost mutters, lifting up a small piece of paper that she knew held her words.

She swallows back a heavy dose of guilt she knows she shouldn't be feeling, but it's him and despite everything, he still looks broken and the image alone is shattering any last armor she'd placed over herself.

"It's not a resignation letter, Harvey," she finally heaves out on a shaky breath, reaching out to take the folded paper from his hands, "I'm just- looking for some time away."

"A leave of absence?"

"If you read it, you should know."

She almost commands him for how quickly he schools his features, eyes widening and sharpening just slightly all at once. Her words had only held a touch of bite to them, a defense that had only newly formed as habitual.

Donna expels a sigh again, the ghost of their recent heated words weighing her down to full exhaustion. "I'm not- leaving the firm, Harvey." I'm not leaving you.

"I wouldn't blame you if you were."

"Harvey-"

"I'm sorry," his voice cracks and she feels her own facade crumbling alongside, "I'm sorry for-" his arms rise and fall to his sides with a heaviness that makes her blink back the tears that begin to prickle her eyes, "I'm just sorry. For everything."

His lip quivers for a fraction of a second, words expelled on a solemn whisper. Donna finds herself playing with the paper in her hands, a futile attempt to ground herself to something tangible, lest his words manage to sweep her away.

He shakes his head, clearing his throat as he looks away from her, "I shouldn't- I shouldn't have come here." He's turning around quicker than she can take her next breath, and before she knows it, she's blinking back any last ounce of hesitation, the next words falling out of her lips with a steadiness she didn't know she was capable of holding.

"Do you wanna come in?"

Her voice stops him in his tracks, and he can't help but widen his eyes- forehead creasing and then relaxing into a dull stare that he wishes could further numb his shattered heart. They're faced in a staring contest that only drags on until he realizes she's waiting for his response on baited breath.

"I shouldn't-"

She gives him a half shrug, lips turning in a mirthless smile, "Just to talk. Not talk. If you want," she adds the last part with a shakiness that has his fists clenching at his sides, and he's suddenly hating himself all over again.

"Donna,"

"I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to. I just thought…" She throws his earlier words back at him, and he almost cants backwards as the weight of them further melt his exterior. Harvey was becoming frustrated- at their skittishness and too polite words, at the way they skirted around the subject of them like they've done so effortlessly for over twelve years. Their kiss had set them backwards and forwards all at once and now he feels like they've encapsulated themselves in limbo, just waiting for the other to make the next move.

Their words were chopped and fragile, both too scared and weary of the fine line they were treading on- a strike contrast to the honed words they'd thrown at each other that week, holding no remorse, just pain.

But he was tired of treading a fine line. Tired of walking alongside the tight rope that held their friendship with a loose thread, waiting to snap and let loose a decade's worth of words left unspoken. He just wanted to jump. To dive into this thing with her- whatever it was.

But still…

"I'm not someone you deserve, Donna."

She blinks, a challenge and a question all in one.

"You should be- yelling at me, not- inviting me to- you should be moving on, from me, from- I treated you like shit," he hisses out the words with disgust, fists clenching further at his side as his last resolve begins to slip.

"Is that what you want me to do? Move on?" Her steady words juxtapose his broken ones, and he wishes she could just as easily mend his heart so he could mend hers.

He shakes his head, "I don't-"

"What do you want, Harvey? Do you want to me leave? Do you want to go back to P-"

"No, no," he says with such a blunt finality that it makes her cant backwards just a fraction, "I never wanted her, I only wanted-"

His jaw sets and she wills her heart to settle, wills the drumline in her chest to cease just long enough for her to hear his words in full.

"What?" She whispers.

"You," he croaks out. He takes a step, before stopping again. They now stood within a foot apart and she could finally catch a whiff of his musky cologne, the smell so unmistakably him that it makes her light-headed.

Her eyes water out of her own violation as his turn equally glassy, boring into her own and she swears he was reading her very soul. She could tell his hands were itching to reach out, to hold her and it's then that she has to bite her lip, to simultaneously keep herself from breaking down and reach out for him.

"I just wanted," Harvey tries again, this time taking a breath to steady himself, "I didn't handle any of this right."

"No, you didn't."

"I was upset because… I didn't want to lose you."

I need you.

I can't be me without you.

The echo of his past words flits through her mind like a film reel, making her ears ring with his past admissions that still stuck with her like an unshakeable memory.

"That why you pushed me away? Blamed me for everything?"

He shakes his head, and he could feel his own frustration rising again, at himself, for just how calm and collected she sounded, and he envied her just a little for it.

"I was angry," he confirms, "but I was an idiot. And I only wanted- to make sense of things, but I couldn't because you were all I could think about. Because I felt something when you kissed me and I felt guilty for it and… it wasn't fair."

Donna can only nod, finds the words of all that she wants to say catching in the back of her throat in the form of a knot that she doesn't know how could be untangled. His words were hitting her with a gentle force, unlike a brick, and more so akin to the feeling of being in the middle of the ocean, with the waves crashing onto the shore and knocking her off course, even if just for a moment. But he continued talking, and with each word, she felt herself sinking further, deeper. He was pulling her under all over again.

"I'm not- good at this, you know I'm not," his assurance gives rise to a warmth in her chest, wrapping around her heart in silk, "But I do know that I understand why you did what you did, when you did it."

Donna flashes back to one of their earlier conversations after their kiss, when he had stopping spitting words at her and took a breath just long enough to ask her why, of all moments in time, did she have to kiss him when he was with someone else. With an anchored calm, she had confessed to having heard Louis' speech, about soulmates and missed chances and regrets, and as much as she knew what her kiss would do to him, "because I do know you, Harvey, whether you want to believe it now or not," she couldn't stand to waste a second longer.

And now, as his understanding comes to fruition and he's standing a near foot away from her, with cracked words and a somber expression, she allows herself to succumb to the first light of hope in them.

"Harvey… what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm sorry… for everything. I'm saying that as much as I-" he takes a breath, "as much as I love you, you deserve better than what I can give you."

Donna shakes her head, the ghost of a sad smile playing on her lips as her vision blurs further, "I only ever needed you to tell me that."

He follows suit then, shaking his own head as his feet chance another step closer to her, rebelling against his intentions, "It's not enough, I'm not-"

"The hell you aren't," she seethes with low conviction, staring him down even in her position from some mere inches below his line of vision, "You were always enough for me, Harvey. Whether you saw to it or not, you were."

"Then where does that leave us?"

Her eyes drop to his lips for a fraction of a second, before gazing up at him again, "With one foot in the door, and the other one out," she sighs with resignation.

He doesn't have to look down to catch the double meaning in her words. They were both barely standing in her apartment and out in her hallway, half sharing the space of her doorway. In a metaphorical and physical limbo.

"Donna,"

"Do you wanna come in?"

His breath nearly hitches at her whispered words, only now really catching sight of the fact that they were standing a mere few inches away from each other. Their breathing mingled in the space between, carrying a weight that repelled him from closing the gap between them.

"Harvey, do you-"

"I want to," he interrupts her repeated question, eyes flitting to her slightly agape lips, swallowing back against the urge to capture them with his own- like he's imagined doing too many times for him to admit. To himself or to her.

Her eyebrows raise, "But?"

"You deserve more," he insists, stepping closer to her despite. She was his other half, and he was being pulled toward her magnetic field. "You deserve better."

"And what about what I want?"

His throat bobs, catching the flecks of gold in her eyes flicker against the hallway light. "What do you want?"

"For you to finally decide what the hell it is you think is worth fighting for."

She nearly falters when his hand reaches up, hesitating for a second before cupping her right cheek in a feather-light touch. Her eyes flutter close at the gentle caress, skin alighting itself with a spark ignited by his proximity alone.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"I know," she echoes just as softly, caressing his own cheek with a tenderness that rivaled his. She watches him fighting an internal struggle- can see it in the way his eyes dart to hers as if all the answers to his problems resided in them.

"Donna," his nose is kissing hers now, the final blocks of his resolve teetering away slowly. She holds her breath, eyes glances between his to his lips, now a mere inch away. But she doesn't budge, follows through with her promise to merely guide him if she could, as she's always done, but without taking the initiative. Not again. Not after it rattled them to a near rumble of unrecognizable pieces.

Just as her heart begins to speed, hammering against her ribs with the intention of escaping its cage, he closes the distance.

He swallows her gasp of surprise, and despite having had expected it, the gentle force of his lips against her was enough to erupt her skin in a sheathe of goosebumps. She can tell he's hesitant, by the way his lips remain nearly frozen against hers, testing the waters with an ounce of trepidation.

It's only when her own hands snake up to wind around his neck, dropping the paper she had held in the process, does his senses awaken. He pulls her closer to him then, right hand pressing against her lower back until she was flush against him.

She moans into him, following his gentle guide to tilt her head, deepening their kiss still. He feels her tongue snaking in, running a delicious slide along his as she rises on the balls of her feet.

"Donna," he sighs against her, allowing her to capture his bottom lip with a playful tug that has his blood rushing south, and he groans into her ministrations. She only hums in response, pulling him closer as she begins to back them up into her apartment, lips still fused in a bruising kiss.

It's not until they're completely inside does he take the initiative, turning them around in a swift move, closing the door with her body. She lets out a squeak, soon drowned out by the way he sucks her tongue back into his mouth with renewed vigor. He tastes the bitter tang of her wine, and something so familiarly Donna, that it only spurs him on more. He's keeping her on her toes, the ones she's curling into herself when his lips detach hers abruptly, following a line of nips from her jaw to her neck.

She's sighing his name, head tilting to the side to allow him better access as he moves the material of her turtle neck down, until he was working his magic on her pulse point. His hand cradles her in place, playing with the soft copper strands of her hair and suddenly, she's biting her lip, holding back the whine that threatens to escape when he sucks harder on her ivory flesh, marking her with a mix of tongue and teeth.

"Harvey," she's mewling against him now, running her hand up his back to rest on the nap of his neck, pulling him with any last strength she could muster up. She was dizzy, slowly slipping in his arms, under the effects of his talented mouth and hands. The way he was deliciously pressed up against her, making her feel every inch of his burgeoning need.

He pulls back suddenly, the ghost of his touch lingering on her skin like a taunting promise of what was to come. Her eyes are hooded against his gaze, soft and glassy and eliciting too many emotions that made the room around her begin to spin and blur all once- allowing her to only see him.

"Too fast?" He breathes, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Donna shakes her head, a nervous laugh spilling out of her, "Just- not fast enough, actually."

She's panting in his arms, staring up at him with an unfiltered need that makes his bones ache to fulfill that very desire for her. For them.

Before he could muster up another string of loose words, she's pulling him down again, nipping at his lips in a soft kiss that makes his eyes sting with a new wave of overwhelming emotions.

"I don't want to… rush into things… Donna," he confesses between light kisses.

She smiles against him, pulling back just far enough to gaze into his eyes, now onyx with arousal and a love so deep she couldn't see past the surface. "It's not rushing if we've waited twelve years, Harvey."

There's a slight teasing tilt to her voice that makes his lips twitch and he feels himself rising just a bit, nearly floating to a height to only which she could take him to.

But he sobers up then again, a dark cloud of disappointment looming over him just long enough for her to frown, reaching up to smooth out the wrinkles at the corner of his lips. "I only prolonged it. I almost screwed it up. Screwed us up."

She shakes her head, but they both know he's right on some level. And yet still, she feels a wave of protectiveness wash over her, for him, "We both handled it… well, maybe it wasn't the best way we could've come about it, but… it's us, so,"

Harvey nods, "It was messy."

"A bit," she agrees, softly caressing his lower lip, slightly swollen and tinted from her lipstick, "but we'll fix it."

"Oh yeah?" His head turns, kissing the inside of her wrist with a tenderness that nearly makes her collapse in his arms.

"Yeah," she breathes, tugging him closer until they were half a breath away, a familiar desire pooling in the pit of her stomach, "just stop stalling and finish what you started."

She didn't think it was possible, but his eyes darken further under her gaze, and he's crashing his lips against hers before her next breath. Their arms are wrapped around each other with a visceral grip, blindly moving through the maze of her apartment as they guide each other to their destination. They fumble a few times along the way, nearly crashing into furniture that has them pausing for a momentary set of twin chuckles, but they eventually find their path.

And as he's looming over her, a tenderness in his eyes that has her swallowing back the tears she's still keeping at bay, she knows he's thinking what she is.

It was damn worth the wait.

...

He feels the bed dipping next to him, and he fights against the sleep in his eyes to open them. When he manages to let his vision adjust to the still darkened room, her bare back greets him as soon as he turns to his right.

His lips twitch, watching as she bends to grab something off the floor, quickly recognizing it as his white dress shirt.

"Hey," he makes it an effort to crawl toward her, grin pressing up to her scapula before she could cover it up with his shirt, beating the material by a few short seconds.

Her head turns, and he catches the scent of her coconut shampoo at the quick move.

"I'm just getting water," she smiles, amusement in her eyes as she watches him- hair mussed from sleep and her hands running through them, tugging, from a repeated need, "you can go back to sleep."

"Hmm, dehydrated, are you?" She feels more than hears the gloating in his words, as his lips press open mouthed kisses alongside the curve of her neck.

Donna rolls her eyes, a smirk pulling at her lips as she finishes closing the buttons of the shirt she had placed around herself, "I'll just be a minute, Casanova."

"I can get it," he's pulling back, gently holding onto her wrist to keep her in place.

"I'm already dressed," she chuckles, the sound airy and light, filling his heart to the brim, "and you're," she eyes him hungrily then, darting from his toned chest to his barely covered lower half, "not."

He grins, "I didn't know you had rules about… home attire," she nearly gawks at his choice of words, the mention of rules between them nearly feeling like a taboo, but she knows it's officially off the table between them now, knows he knows it too.

So, she laughs, throwing a pillow in his direction, "You're an ass."

Harvey hums in response, watching her disappearing into the light that led to her kitchen and living room.

He waits a beat, eyes roaming around the room, her bedroom. His eyes land on the pile of clothes strewn across her floor, leading up to the bed in a trail. He grins then, as the memories of the last few hours flash through his mind. They'd fallen in a heap on her bed, a mess of lips and tongues and limbs tangled as they put forth over a decade's worth of desire and need, pouring all their pent-up frustration and love into a mind-blowing three rounds. It was only then did they collapse on the mattress, panting and exhausted and completely delirious, with the endorphins coursing through them. They'd shared kisses and whispered I love yous into the dark, falling asleep in each other's arms.

Harvey shakes his head, suddenly feeling all the energy returning to him. He leaps out of bed with an extra bounce to his step, searching for his boxers across the sea of discarded clothes. Once he found the blue material, he was stepping into them, making sure not to trip as he hurried out of the room.

"You're stubborn, you know that?"

He falters in his steps once reaching the kitchen, finding her pouring a glass of water, back facing him. Still, he could see the corners of her lips tugging.

"You have bionic ears or something?" He continues walking the short distance to her, steps slowing until he stood next to her, placing a hand on the small of her back.

"You shuffle your feet when you walk," the redhead states by way of explanation, taking a few gulps of the iced water. He suddenly felt his throat drying.

She hands him the glass wordlessly, his eyes remaining trained on hers with a mixture of disbelief and arousal.

"Thought this was yours?"

She shrugs offhandedly, watching as he accepts her offer and takes a couple of sips. "What's mine is yours."

He quirks an eyebrow, setting the glass down on the counter as he reels her into his arms. "That so?"

Donna nods, a smirk pulling at her lips as she settles against him with a sigh, "According to my… new set of rules."

Harvey chokes on air, masking it with a laugh, but by the way she's looking at him he knows she caught him, "Okay, and what are these rules?"

Her hands slide up his bare chest, eliciting a shiver to run its course through him, "One, no fraternizing at work."

Harvey nods, "You know, you already kind of broke that one. What? Too soon?" He adds when she sends him her form of a lazy death glare.

She huffs in place, fighting against the urge to smile, "Second-"

"Wait," he interrupts her, face sobering in a way that makes her frown, "When uh, when exactly are you coming back to work?"

She bites her lip. During their rounds of eager lovemaking, they hadn't gotten a chance to talk about them, at least nothing too specific and neither had brought up the matter of her having taken a leave of absence at the firm.

"I mean, now that we're…"

Donna nods, watching a slight hint of fear creeping over him. She reaches up to smooth the few creases that appear on his features, hoping her smile would settle his worries, "I thought you read the letter."

He frowns, "I did."

"Completely? Or did you just stop after I had requested that I'd take some time of?" She raises her eyebrows at him, only half annoyance falling from her lips. "Because if you read on, you would know that I wasn't going to leave until after Mike and Rachel's wedding. Take a couple of days of. I wasn't going to leave you or the firm high and dry beforehand, not with- Besides I won't be needing to take it anymore."

Harvey nods, lips thinning in realization and another wave of guilt washes over him. The firm had been dealing with its fair share of problems again, and he knew Donna had been handling some of its issues from left field like a pro, despite their growing tense-filled moments.

He sighs, "I really don't deserve you, do I?"

Her face drops, "Hey, none of that again, okay? I'm the only one who can make that verdict, and I'm currently vetoing yours," she pokes his chest with finality, and his lips twitch beside himself.

"I love when you spout law terms at me."

She rolls her eyes.

"It's hot."

She loses the fight to hold back her smile, shaking her head at his uncanny ability to make light of their current situation. "You're impossible."

His own smile falters briefly, eyes sobering up as he gazes down at her- even shorter without her heels for support, "You know I love you, right?"

She holds her breath, nodding past the the haze that fogs up her mind. She doesn't think she would ever get used to hearing those words from him.

"Know that I would do anything for you? To make you happy?" At her second nod, he's leaning down, meeting her for a chaste kiss that still sends an electric current straight through to her heart, "Good. Just making sure."

"You're such a sap," she teases against his lips.

He smirks, "I call it 'The Donna Effect'."

"Ooh, I like that."

"Yeah?"

She bites her lip, head tilting to the side and her wild manes fall in the process. His gaze drops to the small exposed area above her chest, a constellation of freckles meeting him. His eyes darken as he only now fully takes her in.

"You know what I like?" He croons, leaning to press his lips to her neck. Donna only hums, keeping him in place as he gently nips at her skin. "You," he emphasizes with a teeth graze, smirking when he feels her shivering in his arms, "In my shirt."

"Well, what's…"

"Mine… is yours," he grins, pulling back to slowly pop open the few buttons she had managed to actually close.

Her half-lid eyes watch him, chest rising and falling with unbridled anticipation as he slowly parts the shirt she donned. The white material falls around her feet in a quiet heap, and she tugs her bottom lip again, gnawing on the flesh as he roams her body with hungry eyes.

"So, you're not going to let me finish telling you my new set of rules?" She breathes, pulling him closer by the waistband of his boxers.

"Hmm, you can list them off while I-" his lips descend to her neck again, leading her back toward her bedroom, "Use my 'Harvey Effect' on you."

Donna giggles, the sound turning into a groan when his hands roam further south, and his lips suck with a renewed purpose on her skin.

"I'm looking forward to it, Specter. I'm looking forward to it."