They Don't Know - Part 1/2
AN: I debated about posting this in one part or two and decided it would be more fun in two! So here's the first part of They Don't Know (That we know, that they know that we know) I hope it gets you excited for the rest of this story!
The pair head to Donna's office to see if she wants to join them for drinks but stop just shy of where her office windows begin after hearing she isn't alone. She seemed to be having a whispered conversation with someone and the pair listen behind the wall, out of sight before hearing Harvey's voice. It wasn't odd to find Harvey in Donna's office, after all, they worked closely on a lot of cases, but the past few weeks they'd noticed the pair had gotten closer; taking lunch at the same time, spending hours in the conference room working on cases, having late night drinks in one of their offices. Donna seemed to be in incredibly high spirits for someone who just broke up with her boyfriend, a break up she refused to spill the details of at their last girls' night. And so, Samantha and Katrina began to wonder if maybe more was going on with Harvey and Donna than they let on. Which is why they found themselves standing silently, hidden behind the wall next to Donna's office, listening in on the conversation between the COO and name partner.
"You don't think?" Katrina whispers
"Shhhhh!" Sam silences her, "I'm trying to listen"
.
.
"See you tonight?"
"I'll come over as soon as I finish up this paperwork"
"And how long is that going to take? I missed you today"
"You literally saw me this morning. And you're talking to me right now"
"Seeing you at the office and seeing you outside the office are two different things"
"I think you'll survive"
"Donna" he whines
"Whining my name won't get you anywhere Mr"
"That's not what you said last night" he smirks before turning and heading to his own office
Katrina and Samantha scramble to open a folder, pretending to glance over the document on top as Harvey strolls past them and greets them with a nod. Once he's out of site they exchange a look of relief before breaking into grins, they were right after all. They scuttle down the hall towards Samantha's office, neither saying a word until they're inside and have shut the door.
"I knew it!" Katrina exclaims, "They are so sleeping together!"
"It all makes sense. No one is that happy after a break up" Samantha agrees
"Unless they're having awesome casual sex with someone else" Katrina adds
"Now the question is, how do we get them to admit it?"
"Get who to admit what?" Louis asks, letting himself into the office
"Louis, what are you doing here so late?" Katrina stutters as if she's just been caught coming home after curfew
"The work of a managing partner is never done. What are you getting someone to admit?"
"We want to get Harvey to admit he's been sleeping with Donna" Samantha fills him in
The colour drains from Louis' face as he stares down at the rug, trying to think of something to say that won't give him away. He's known about Harvey and Donna's relationship for a while now, but they'd asked him not to say anything to their coworkers.
"Why would Harvey be sleeping with Donna?" he replies
"Common, we all see how they look at each other, it really shouldn't be a surprise" Samantha says
"Wait a minute…" Katrina eyes Louis
"But it was a surprise to us… Louis you don't seem very surprised, in fact you seem pretty calm for someone who just found out his partner is sleeping with his firms COO" she adds
"Come to think of it, he also seems pretty calm for someone who just found out his two best friends are sleeping together which can only mean one thing" Samantha turns to Louis
"You knew!"
"Okay yes, I knew" he admits, relieved someone else had finally caught on and he could finally talk about it with someone, with anyone else!
"Why didn't you tell us?" Katrina asks
"They asked me not to say anything"
"How long have you known?" Samantha grills him, ever the lawyer
"Since a week after the hearing" he sighs
"That long!?" both girls cry in unison
Louis, already tired of this conversation after having helped keep things between Harvey and Donna a secret for so long, sighs.
"Well now that you know you can tell them and this whole big secret can all be over" he smiles at the girls
"Or" Samantha begins, "we could have a little bit of fun with them"
"What kind of fun?" Katrina asks
"Well, they don't know, that we know. So, what if we had a little bit of fun with Harvey"
"Noo-nooo-nooo, I am not on board with this" Louis mumbles
"We don't need you to be on board Louis, just don't tell them that we know. Okay?"
"Do I have any other choice?"
"Not really" the girls smile as they begin to plan out how Samantha will purposely hit on Harvey in hopes he'll concede and tell them he's sleeping with Donna.
"I had nothing to do with this" Louis sighs before heading back to his office. Boy did he regret wandering into Samantha's office.
Almost as much as he regretted piecing it all together a month ago.
.
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He came into the partners kitchen on a Monday morning to find Donna humming as she stirred sugar into her coffee.
"Well aren't you absolutely glowing this morning. Have you been doing morning yoga again?"
"Sure Louis. Let's just say I've never felt better"
"That's great Donna, maybe I'll have to join you sometime"
She tries to hide her smirk and pats him on the shoulder on her way out, "I don't think it's really your thing Louis"
.
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He wanders into Harvey's office not long after his encounter with Donna and finds Harvey humming a song he didn't recognize.
"That song you're humming, is it new?"
"What?" Harvey looks up from his desk at Louis, he hadn't realized he'd been humming
"Oh, it's one of my dads. I just found the record last night. I hadn't heard it in years, so I listened to it all morning"
"It's catchy, I like it"
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Later at a partners meeting in the conference room Samantha, Louis, Harvey and Donna find themselves seated around the table before Louis begins debriefing them, waiting for Alex to join them. Donna opens her notebook to a new page and jots down the date, humming quietly as she does so. Louis catches the tune and stares at her, suddenly recognizing it.
"Donna, what's that song your humming?"
Harvey's ears suddenly perk up, also recognizing the tune she'd been humming, the same tune he'd told Louis he'd just discovered as one of his fathers. He tries to send her a warning look, but she answers Louis without looking up from her notebook.
"I'm not sure Louis, I was listening to it all morning and it's been stuck in my head all day"
Harvey watches as the realization washes over Louis' face, quickly getting up to stop him from saying anything as he frantically looks between him and Donna.
"Louis I just remembered I have to show you this case in my office, it'll only take a second do you mind?" he motions to Donna to follow them as he leads Louis into his office briskly.
"Harvey, what the hell?" she asks when she catches up to them
Harvey closes his office door behind them and guides Louis into a seat on the couch.
"You?!" he looks at Donna
"And YOU!?" he turns to Harvey as Donna catches on to what Louis has just realized and tries to tell him to quiet down.
"Yes" Harvey answers
"How long?"
"Since the hearing" Donna smiles
"THE HEARING!" Louis yells
"You're going to need to take a deep breath" Donna coaches him
"I need a day" Louis mumbles, sinking back into the seat
He sits back up and looks at the two idiots grinning at each other in front of him, "Are you two just...fouling around or…?"
"I love her Louis" he answers, turning his gaze to Donna who blushes
"Well I'll be damned" Louis smiles, "I'm happy for you guys"
"Thank you" Donna smiles, reaching out and giving Louis' hand a squeeze
"And if you don't mind, we'd like to keep this to ourselves, just while the firms getting back on it's feet"
"Your secret is safe with me"
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Little did he know at the time that keeping that secret would involve covering for them when they went to lunch together and someone came looking for one of them, or coming up with an excuse for Donna to use for missing a mandatory staff meeting when Harvey's mom came to visit and they took her to dinner. Even that one time when he saw them go into the file room when they thought no one was around and he had to prevent an associate from trying to go in to make copies. He was exhausted and all he wanted was for all of this to be out in the open. Unfortunately, based on the excited squeals he could hear coming from Samantha's office, the girls were in no mood to let this go, and he knew as badly as he wanted this to be over, it was only just beginning.