Author's Note: FIRST OF ALL, I would like to give a shout out to my man Aaron Korsh for being the ultimate darvey trash and blessing us with The Promo because holy shit. Second of all, I'd like to thank all of you for being really kind and supportive, you guys really made my entire week with the nice reviews you sent my way. I decided to add Donna's POV of the 8.14 conversation so yeah that's in third and last chapter will probably be up sometime next week. Again, thank you so so much for taking the time to read this! Please don't forget to tell me what you think in the reviews! (or you could just freak out over the promo in the reviews, I wouldn't mind too)

After spending years and years with Harvey, Donna Paulsen has developed an uncanny ability to somehow sense his presence. She's leaving a folder of files at the receptionist's desk when she feels him approaching.

"Hey."

She turns around. "Hey."

"I just wanted you to know-"

"Scottie called to thank me, Harvey," she cuts him off, needing to cut the conversation short, especially after her call with the lawyer's former girlfriend. She can't deal with him. Not yet.

"That's funny she just called me."

"Well, I guess she's grateful to the both of us." She lets a smile grace her features then, unable to resist. He doesn't say anything to that but his gaze never leaves her. Something's different about him. The unusual demeanor sparks her interest, tempting her to ask him what the matter was and for a split second she has to remind herself that it's not her job to do that anymore.

After what felt like ages, he shifts his eyes downwards, clearly agitated. Donna can see him visibly struggling with what to say next. An uneasy feeling settles in her stomach. She has a feeling she can guess what this is about.

"Did she say something to you about.." he trails off and she wishes he'd just spit it out.

"About what?" she practically gasps out, internally wincing at the desperation in her own voice.

"Us."

Oh God.

The two-letter word stuns her. In a way, she sees it coming but it throws Donna off her game all the same.

A nervous chuckle escapes his lips and if she's currently not busy trying to compose herself, she'd find it endearing.

"I know that we said things were back to normal between us but I just wanted to know if maybe we-"

She doesn't hear the elevator doors open behind her but the next thing she does hear feels like a bucket of cold water on her.

"Oh, perfect timing."

Just her fucking luck.

The next few seconds are a blur as she introduces her boyfriend to Harvey, witnesses the way his façade briefly drops before quickly regaining composure, the nervous man she saw earlier gone just like that. She has to hand it to him, if she were anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed the slight tension in his jaw and the way his smile is forced but she's not anyone else. She's Donna and he's Harvey and they're a train wreck waiting to happen.

Thomas reminds her that they actually need to leave and as the doors are about to close, she dares one last look at him. Her stomach drops at the crestfallen look on his face. The way his shoulders slump and the way it looks like all the fight is drained from his body.

I hope one day he sees what everyone sees.

Shaking her head, she shoves the image of him into a box labelled 'do not open' and focuses on the man on her side. But despite her best effort, a small part of her aches for the man she's called her best friend for the past 14 years, aches for them, aches at the tragic state of their relationship.

She wonders if they'll ever get the timing right.

It seems like the odds aren't in his favor when he arrives at the office the next morning to find her standing near the window sill. He mentally prepares himself for the talk that's about to happen as he makes his way inside.

"Donna."

"Harvey," she says in response before continuing, "We need to talk."

"You mean LeBron's game winner against the Knicks?" The joke falls flat. It's a lame attempt at stalling and they both know it.

She's facing him now. "You know what I'm talking about." Her face remains expressionless and it sends a feeling, a cold burn, up his chest before sinking down, down to the pit of his stomach.

"I wanna talk about what you were about to say last night before we got interrupted." There is a finality in the way she says it that leaves no room for discussion. It feels all kinds of wrong because she sounds like she's here to talk business and just like that, Harvey knows how this is going to end.

He follows her to the couch and takes a second to appreciate how she moves around his office like she owns the place. He might used to be her boss for a long time but this is how it's always been. Him following her lead. He realizes then that he'd follow her anywhere.

They sit facing each other like they've done lots of times before. Only this time, there aren't any drinks being shared or his father's records playing in the background. No, this time they're sitting there with an ocean of space between them. She supposes it's the perfect metaphor. They've never felt further apart then they do in this exact moment.

"Look, Donna, I know that this really isn't the best time to say this but," he hesitates but his eyes never leave hers, "I lied to you back then."

He doesn't specify which time but then again, he doesn't need to. She knows.

That doesn't mean I want more.

Donna stiffens, an involuntary move that doesn't go unnoticed by Harvey. Letting his words wash over her, she has to remind herself how to breathe. It's as if the impact has knocked every wisp of air from her lungs and she's struggling to inhale, to exhale, to do anything.

"Donna? What's going on in that head of yours? I'm worried." A shaky voice – his voice, soft and unsure, snaps her out of it. Out of pure instinct, he reaches for her hand, intertwines their fingers and relishes the way her hand fits perfectly in his.

"What are you saying?" she chokes out, eyes blown wide and still not registering the fact that he's holding her hand.

"I guess I wanna know if you lied then too."

Yes, she wants to say. But no words come out.

It is then that she feels him squeezing her hand. Looking down, she sees her hand clasped in his and yanks it away. She tries to ignore the way her chest constricts when his face falls but to no avail.

A sudden coldness hits him at the core and he braces himself for what's coming next.

"Harvey, I didn't lie." The words leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Donna-"

Abruptly standing up, she walks away from the couch, away from him, needing to put some kind of distance between them. Where the hell is the guy who runs at the first sign of emotions? This emotionally available version of him scares her. It scares her because it brings out feelings she's been trying to suppress for years. It scares her because it means he might finally be ready when she's not.

Maybe this is all they'll ever be. A series of missed chances and wrong timings.

"I'm seeing someone, Harvey." Her own voice sounds foreign in her ears. "He's a nice guy and I really like him." It sounds like she's trying to convince herself instead of him.

Panic spreads through his veins like wildfire. He feels it again. The urge to flee. The very same one he had the night he told her he loved her.

"Of course," he rises from the couch, "God, of course. I'm sorry I-"

He stops in front of her and he genuinely looks sincere when he says, "I'm happy for you, Donna. I really am."

She struggles against reaching out for him when he brushes past her and the faint scent of his cologne lingers. She's not supposed to. Not with everything she just said and with Thomas in the picture.

With nothing left to say, she heads out the door, footsteps halting as she hears his voice, low and tentative. "I'm sorry, Donna. I guess I had to know, too."

She doesn't say anything or turned around, opting to leave instead. If she had stayed, she'd have been tempted to call things off with Thomas, to reach out for him. She can't risk it. Not when she has a good man waiting for her. Not when he's so quick to backtrack on his words.

A part of her wishes she had.

She told him.

She told Thomas when he specifically asked her not to. No, scratch that. He practically begged her not to do it and to have faith in him but she did it anyway.

He honestly doesn't know where they went wrong, doesn't know how they ended up here of all places. With Donna not trusting him enough to pull through. With their relationship falling apart along with the firm.

He's trying to simultaneously fight off a migraine and salvage whatever's left of the case when he hears her approach.

"Whatever it is, I don't wanna hear it. So you can turn around."

"Harvey."

"Donna, Simon fired me as he had every right to do because I trusted you to keep your mouth shut and you didn't."

"Because I couldn't."

He scoffs, "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that I wasn't gonna let someone I care about get screwed when I had the power to stop it."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he bites back, "In other words, you chose him over the firm."

"Yeah, I did and I'm not gonna feel bad about it because I have always put the firm first whether it is Mike's secret or Coastal Motors or a thousand other things."

"Then don't feel bad about it, Donna but get the hell out of my office."

"Okay, I see what this is. I see what you're really upset about."

He stands up, "I'm upset because I lost a client."

"No, you're upset because I chose Thomas over you." She winces as soon as she lets the words out. They're too goddamn revealing. And for the first time, she doesn't know what his reaction will be.

"Is that what you think?"

Too late to back out now. "Yeah, it is."

"Then you don't know shit because the only reason I was breaking my back to save this deal is because I know how much he means to you. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have told you or Alex in the first place."

It doesn't make sense to her. "Then what are you so mad about?"

Having had enough, he snaps, "Because you didn't give me a chance to fix it when you said you would."

"You lost faith in me," he pauses, needing to catch his breath, "For all the time that we have been together that has never happened."

When her gaze becomes too intense, he averted his eyes, feeling the burn of the unshed tears behind his eyelids. He swallows the lump in his throat and he might as well be swallowing knives because Christ, it hurts. It pains him to look at her like this, eyes red-rimmed and defending herself for choosing someone else.

"Harvey, if there is anyone in the world that I have faith in, it's you." Her voice breaks and it takes everything in him not to make his away around his desk and gather her in his arms.

"But the clock was striking midnight and I had to make a choice and it is just a client. Can't you understand that?"

He shakes his head softly in defeat, all the rage and anger from seconds earlier gone, and she thinks she's never seen him this worn down before. She wasn't prepared for the new onslaught of pain the sight in front of her brings. Without even thinking, she strides forward, intent on reaching out and comfort him.

Just as she's about to reach him, a third voice startles the both of them. Looking over her shoulder, she feels her stomach churn when she spots Daniel Hardman at the doorway. Overcome with shock, she can only stand and watch as he tries to intimidate Harvey. And then he's gone, as quick as he came.

The guilt threatens to swallow her whole. She realizes then that she fucked up big time.

He moves to sit on the ledge, practically dragging his body there. The room is closing in on him and he can't breathe. Inhale. Exhale. His fingers scramble to loosen the tie around his neck, discarding the piece of fabric on his desk.

She lays a hand on his arm, eyes welling up over again when he flinches at her touch.

"Harvey?" Her voice is barely above a whisper, only for them to hear.

A lone tear trails down her face when he turns to look at her. "Go home, Donna. We're gonna have a fight on our hands."

He wants to reach out and wipe the tear on her cheek and he almost does. His hand is halfway up before he takes it back the last second, remembering their current situation. It would've been too intimate. Too much and that's the last thing they both need right now.

He leaves her standing there instead.

"Get some rest. I'll see you in the morning." And then she's left alone, there in the darkened room with nothing but her guilt.

What has she done?