Hey Guys! Once again the twitterverse has inspired me to write this one shot, which was was too big to be a one shot so it's going to be three parts (I think, I'm currently working through part 2) This is only my second time attempting an AU, so please, bear with me.

I told myself I wasn't going to write this one, because I would rather read it but the idea bounced around in my head for an entire day and I had to give it a shot! I'm hoping to have the entire story up soon, but I figured this part served as a good introduction to get people excited for this one (because I'm excited to be writing this one). This story is shaping up to be a lengthy one, so buckle up and get ready to enjoy the ride ;)

Since I am new to the AU world, please leave me a review if your enjoyed Part 1!

(disclaimer: the rating of this story will change with each part)

Happy Reading - xx S

The One That Got Away

Part 1

Brooklyn, New York, 2013

"Lunch bag?"

"Lunch bag!"

"Backpack?"

"Backpack!"

"Let's roll little guy, we don't want to be late again" he smiles down at eight-year-old Gordon, as he messes up his sandy blonde curls and leads him out to the car.

He watches as his son impatiently waits next to the car door, a spitting image of his father. He knows that if he were still around, he would be incredibly proud of how Gordon Jr turned out, spirited like Harvey was, but musically inclined like Gordon had been.

Weaving his way through the city, he watches as his son stares out the window at the early morning traffic. Gordon was an unusually quiet kid who often kept to himself, so Harvey was used to the silent car rides but this morning something seemed different, he seemed off.

"What's on your mind buddy?" he asks, peering into the review mirror.

"I was just thinking about mom today" he sighs, his gaze still stuck on the oncoming traffic, a see of taxi cabs and commuters racing to be somewhere on time.

"I miss her" he adds with a sigh.

Harvey's face pales at his son's words, not expecting the answer he received, his deceased wife not being a regular topic for his son to bring up.

"I miss her too buddy" he offers him a soft smile in the mirror, "Maybe after school you and I can make a trip uptown and visit her, how does that sound?"

"Sure dad" he mumbles, and Harvey can tell there is still something on his mind.

"Any reason you were thinking about mom a little bit extra today?" he asks, hoping his son will open up to him.

Silence fills the space between them as he continues to make his way towards the school, waiting for his son to elaborate on what has him feeling so down.

"It's just, Thursday is parent-teacher day and all of the other kids were talking about how their mom's were going to come and meet Ms. Pearson and it made me wish mom could come."

"I know it's not the same, but I'm going to go with you to parent teacher day buddy, okay?"

"Okay" he answers, and Harvey's heart sinks a bit. It kills him that he can't bring Claudia back for his son, but he was going to do everything in his power to show Gordon that he would always be there for him; whether that meant attending events at the school or coaching a sports team, he was going to be there.

After dropping Gordon off at school, he stops for a coffee before heading to work, his usual order, two sugars and a hint of vanilla; a die-hard habit he started in high school that he'd never been able to break. It was so habitual he hardly remembered when he started adding vanilla to his coffee, either that or he never let his mind wander to the memories associated with the reason.

He makes it to his office fifteen minutes before his class is due to start and takes the time to enjoy his coffee while glancing over his lecture notes for today's class, Chapter 19: Ethics and You. Peering out his office window he watches as the leaves from the oak tree flutter against the window before hitting the pavement below, the campus painted a fresh, crisp orange due to the changing leaves. The fall semester was nearing its end, and he found Columbia's campus particularly beautiful this time of year. He can't pinpoint whether it was the cool air that lingered through the quad or the ever-changing colours of the trees but something about strolling across campus on an early fall morning always brightened his mood.

His day passes in a flash, his lecture delivered without a hitch, office hours filled with students eager to learn and by the time 3:30 rolls around he's exhausted from a hard days work. He was hesitant to accept a teaching position at Columbia when it was first offered to him, but having worked as the Ethic's professor for their law school for the past six years, he can't believe there was a time he ever considered turning the offer down.

He's about to head out to pick up Gordon from school when his colleague, Mike, knocks on his office door. Mike was a few years younger than Harvey and newer to the university, having been hired to teach debate a few years after Harvey. The two immediately hit it off, becoming fast friends as they discovered they both loved baseball and were huge cinema fans. They played in a baseball beer league on Wednesday nights and Gordon referred to Mike as Uncle Mike, since the younger man was unmarried and spent a lot of time hanging around with Harvey and his brother Marcus.

"Did you double check that Katie can watch the kids so you and Marcus can both play Wednesday?" he grins, seeing himself into the office and taking a seat at Harvey's desk.

"We'll be there" Harvey smiles, tossing his book bag over his shoulder and shooing Mike out of his office, he locks the door behind them.

"I've got to run and pick up Gordon, but I'll see you Wednesday," he calls over his shoulder to Mike.

.

Waiting outside the car, Harvey spots his son running towards him sporting a massive smile, a completely different attitude emanating from him than the one from this morning.

"Hey buddy! How was your day?" Harvey squats down so his son can launch himself into a hug.

"It was awesome!" he yells, pushing a cream coloured envelope into his father's hands before climbing into the car.

"Awesome, huh? What made it so awesome?!" Harvey emphasizes the word awesome to make it sound like Gordon had which causes Gordon to laugh.

"We got our class pictures" the little boy explains, pointing towards the envelope he put in his father's hands.

Sliding the picture out of the envelope, Harvey looks over the picture of his son's third grade class, spotting his son standing in the front row between a blonde-haired girl and a short, red-headed boy, face littered with freckles. His son explains who everyone in the picture is and how Ms. Pearson made them line up tallest to shortest before taking the picture but Harvey doesn't hear a word of it, his eyes glued to the red-headed boy next to Gordon in the photo, the boy that photo said was Jason Bleaker. If he didn't know any better, he could've sworn that if she had a son, he would have looked just like that, but he hadn't seen or heard from her in years. Come to think of it, he hadn't thought about her for years.

That was a lie. Every so often, something would happen that reminded him of her. A whiff of perfume, a song on the radio, a glimpse of ginger hair out of the corner of his eye. He didn't let his mind wander to her, because when it did thoughts of her consumed him, thoughts he would rather leave hidden away in a box under his bed. It came in waves, phases of missing her. He was genuinely happy when he married Claudia, his mind never bringing her up, but as time wore on after his wife's death, he found himself thinking about her more and more. His high school sweetheart, the one that got away.

"Daaaad, are you listening?" Gordon whines, snapping him back to reality.

"Ugh yeah buddy, of course I was listening. Hey, who's that beside you?" he asks, pointing to the red-head, unable to keep his curiosity at bay.

"That's Jason. He's really nice. He likes firetrucks just like I do so we are friends" Gordon smiles up at his father who reaches down to help him with his seat belt before climbing into the drivers seat.

The rest of the ride home, Gordon goes on about each of the kids in his class and what they think about fire trucks and Harvey can't help but smile at his sons enthusiasm, a trait he inherited from his mother no doubt.

.

.

Upper West Side, Manhattan, 2013

"Where do you think you're going little miss?"

"To school" the small red head smiles up at her mother with pride.

"Let's save the lipstick for home, alright?" Donna smirks, using the back of her hand to remove the bright red lipstick smeared across her daughter's face.

"Now, go grab your brother before mommy is late for work" she instructs Amelia, her ten-year-old daughter.

"Jason! Mom says it's time to go!" the girl squeals, running down the hall towards her younger brother's room.

Donna finishes putting the kid's lunches into their respective lunch bags and retrieves her own lunch from the fridge. Helping both kids into their shoes, its another 15 minutes before they're all buckled into the car and on the road.

"Mommy, do you have a show today?" Amelia asks from the back seat as they made their way through the city.

"Just practice today baby" Donna smiles back at the little girl, a spitting image of her younger self.

"We get to come watch, right mom?" Jason asks, "Because I told all the kids in my class that my mom is a famous actress and that I get to go watch her in a play."

"Of course, you two get to come watch! In two weeks, you and Auntie Rachel are going to be sitting in the front row!" she explains. Referring to her long-term best friend as auntie Rachel was something her kids had been doing since they were born. She and Rachel had been friends since high school, and she'd been the biggest help when Donna and Matthew divorced. Rachel had been the perfect shoulder to cry on for Donna, while stepping in as a second parental figure for her kids. The divorce was messy and complicated, and she tried her best to keep her kids as far away from the drama as possible. Her ex-husband was a corporate lawyer at some fancy law firm downtown and pulled every string to try and get custody of the kids but in the end, she won and he only got to see them on weekends. The divorce being as messy as it was, was solely due to her ex-husband, who wasn't quite ready to call it quits when she was. She could have stuck it out, tried to make it work one more time, but she couldn't bring herself to stay in a loveless marriage. It wasn't fair to any of the parties involved.

Moving out on her own for the first time since college was challenging, but Rachel was there through it all and she would be forever grateful for all she had done for her and her kids. Her job as an actress could be unpredictable at times, but Rachel never hesitated to step in and pick up the kids when needed.

Amelia squeals as she points to the advertisement on the taxi next to them, a sign that read, Waitress, Opening Soon, with Donna and a few other cast members faces beneath it.

"Mom, look!"

Turning to see what her kids were so excited about, she can't help the smile that works it's way across her face from spreading into a full blown grin. She'd always wanted to be an actress, in high school it was all she could talk about. She would tell people that one day she would make it to the stage and become a star, but no one ever believed her. She grew up in a small town near Boston, and everyone would tell her that a kid from Boston would never make it, well everyone except for one person. Shaking her head, she pushes the thoughts of him aside, focusing on driving her kids to school and not allowing herself to go there.

After dropping the kids off at school, she makes her way back towards the heart of the city for rehearsal, stopping to grab a coffee before she did. She orders her usual, two sugars and a splash of vanilla and a blueberry muffin and finds herself drowning out the sound of the city traffic with the radio. She parks her car in her usual spot and strolls into the theater, coffee in hand, ready to conquer the day.

"Oh good, Ms Paulsen, they need you in wardrobe" a man dressed in black from head to toe instructs as she brushes past her in a hurry.

"Donna, do you have time to do that interview later this afternoon?" the stagehand asks as she picks up her own pace to match Donna's purposeful one.

God, this was her first big show and she already loved show business. Sure, she'd done some off-Broadway stuff before, but this was different, it felt bigger. Everything was moving fast here, and she loved it, thrived in the environment. Agreeing to the interview she heads to wardrobe to see where she's needed and sighs, who knew the little girl from Boston would make it one day.

.

.

"How was school today?" she asks over dinner, watching as Jason picked at his pasta salad and Amelia pushed the carrots to the side of her plate.

"It was good" they sing-song together, an almost robotic response they'd adopted in recent months.

"It was good? That's it? Nothing fun happened?" she tries again, gesturing for Amelia to eat her untouched carrots.

"It's parent-teacher day on Thursday" Jason pipes up, always eager to be the first one to answer.

"I remember, I'm meeting Ms. Pearson at 3 o'clock" she grins back at her little man, his freckles identical to hers when she was younger. Though her kids looked like an equal blend of her and her ex-husband, she often found herself finding physical traits in them that reminded her of herself decades prior. Both had her fiery red hair and pale skin dotted with freckles, but while Jason's eyes were identical to her hazel ones, Amelia had her father's eyes and Jason his smile.

"And Mr. Clark at 3:30" Amelia reminds her.

"Yes, I wrote it down on the fridge, so I don't forget. Now eat your dinner so we can go get some ice cream."

.

.

She was running late to pick up the kids and practically sprinted out of rehearsal, still in her green wrap dress and heels, having had no time to change into her typical yoga-pant and sweater combo. She manages to make it to the school just as the kids are being dismissed for the day and tossing her hair into a messy ponytail, she makes her way to the door to meet Jason before heading into his parent-teacher interview.

He sprints towards her, collapsing his arms around her legs for a hug and beams up at her with a loud "Hi mom"

A second little boy trails behind him and lingers near his side before Jason whispers in his ear and then tugs on the arm to get her attention.

"Mom, this is my friend Gordon who just moved to our school. Can we go play at the park when you go and talk to Ms. Pearson?" he asks with pleading eyes.

"Are Gordon's parents okay with it?" she asks, not wanting to overstep.

"His dad is inside right now talking to Ms. Pearson but he said it was okay" Jason tells her, flitting his eyelashes in a way that only a Paulsen could pull off.

"Alright, but, take your sister with you and stay where I can see you" she ruffles his hair before the two boys sprint towards the playground.

Watching as the boys laughed about something in the dirt, she feels her heart swell with pride. Jason had always been an extremely shy child, so it was nice to see him making friends with kids in his class. She pulls out a tube of lip gloss and coats her lips in a layer, aware that she looked out of place in her heels and designer gown, standing outside a middle school in Brooklyn.

She considered sending her kids to a private school like her former husband insisted, but she decided public school would best suit them and so far, she was happy with the decision. Despite the few minutes it took to drive the kids to school, they seemed happy and were doing well in their classes. Leaning back against the wall outside of her son's classroom she fiddles with the ends of her messy updo, suddenly conscious of the way she looked.

She knew that her kids went around telling their classmates that their mom was famous, and while she didn't mind, the last thing she wanted was for the other parents to think she was stuck up or worse, that she thought that she was better than them. Tugging at a lose thread on her dress, she gets lost in her own head, making a mental list of all the things she needed to get done this week.

"Donna? Donna Paulsen?" a voice behind her calls her name and she spins around and spots him. The same sandy brown hair and mischievous grin. The same man that had briefly popped into her head the day before and the only person to ever believe she would make it as an actress was standing three feet in front of her, staring at her.

"Harvey?" she stares back at the man, a combination of shock and disbelief washing over her body.

"Holy shit! It is you!" he exclaims, running his fingers through his hair before tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans and flashing her a smile. The same smile she once fell asleep dreaming about. But that was a different time, he was all grown up now, different, and she supposed she was too. He looked the same as the last time she saw him, only older. His broad shoulders covered by a black v-neck and his eyes hidden behind thick rimmed glasses, he looked exactly like what she would have pictured, not that she ever allowed herself to picture what he would look like now.

He takes in her stunning green dress, the way it hugs her every curve and the way her stilettos show off her legs, he's shell-shocked. Donna Paulsen. The girl who once broke his nose because he tried to kiss her in the school hallway was standing three feet in front of him and she looked absolutely incredible. Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, a look he always appreciated on her and her face hadn't changed a bit. Still littered with freckles her button nose sat between those hazel eyes he still dreams about, and her hair was a vibrant as ever. She looks just like she did the last time her saw her, only somehow, she'd gotten prettier, something he never thought was possible.

"Harvey Specter, you've grown up" she smiles at him once the initial shock of seeing him wears off.

"Donna Paulsen, so have you" he gives her a once over and blushes when she catches his lingering stare.

"What are you doing here?" he asks, nervously shuffling his feet before settling on a stance.

"My son, Jason is in Ms. Pearson's class," she explains and suddenly it clicks, he was right about the child in the class photo, Jason Bleaker was her son, therefore she must be married but stealing a glance at her left hand he didn't see a ring.

"I suppose I could ask you the same thing" she adds, picking at the nail polish on her finger nails.

"My son, Gordon, is also in Ms. Pearson's class" he replies.

"Gordon is your son? I just met him, he's a cute little thing" she says, pointing to where Jason and Gordon were taking turns pushing each other on the swings.

"I see it now," she continues as she watches the kids play, "He has your eyes." And your father's name, she thinks to herself. She knows she shouldn't be surprised, Harvey and his father had always been close and she can't imagine losing him had been easy. Her mother called to tell her the news when she was overseas one summer with friends and her heart broke for the Specter family. Gordon always treated her like a daughter, and it killed her that she wouldn't be able to attend the funeral. She considered calling, checking in on him, but they hadn't spoken since their falling out and she decided to send flowers instead of facing the hard truths that would come with calling him.

"So, how have you been Donna? I haven't seen you since graduation."

"I-"

"Ms. Paulsen" Jessica calls, signalling that it's Donna's turn for an interview.

"It's been really nice seeing you Harvey, but it looks like I should get going. Take care." She smiles, placing a hand on his arm before excusing herself into the classroom to meet with her son's teacher.

He can't help but notice that Jessica referred to her as Ms. Paulsen, while her son's last name is Bleaker. It was possible that she was married but didn't take her husbands last name but he doubts that. In high school she would often joke about what things would be like when she was finally a Paulsen-Specter, while they sat on the hood of his father's old car beneath the stars.

.

.

Boston, 1993

"Harveeyyyy" she whined, feet up on the dashboard as he drove them through the city towards the edge of the town. With her white converse pressed against the window, hand flung out the window and her hair tossed back in a ponytail, she propped herself up in the passengers seat of his dads car.

"Why can't you just tell me where you're taking me?" she pouts, crossing her arms over her chest and staring straight out the passenger seat window.

"Because it's a surprise" he smiles back, "You do know you're the hardest person on the planet to surprise, right?"

"I am not!"

"Donna, you figured out what I was going to get you for your birthday before I even went out and bought it"

"You just have a really bad poker face!" she protests, slipping her hand into his as turned them onto an old gravel road that leads to the edge of the small town they lived in.

"Oh, I love this song!" she squealed, reaching to turn up the volume of the radio, the sounds of The Cure vibrating through the speakers.

*Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too*

She sings along with the radio, disturbingly on tune, in his opinion. He knew she wanted to be an actress one day, but Donna had an incredible singing voice and he could see her doing something musical in the future, not that she ever listened when he told her she had a nice voice.

*Thursday I don't care about you*

She continues, getting louder as she carries the tune and the wind whips through the car as he picks up speed, trees rushing by as they fly down the country road.

*It's Friday I'm in love*

He surprises her and sings along with her, incredibly off tune and scratchy but he commits to it and screams the next few lines along with the radio, making her giggle.

"What?" he cocks his head an raises an eyebrow at her, "You don't like my voice?" he teases, turning his attention back to the road.

"Let's just say you're not going to be signing any record deals any time soon" she laughs, releasing her hold on his hand to adjust her hair, letting it loose.

"But you might be," he replies, and she sees the corner of his lip curl into a small smile.

"Ya, right" she scoffs, "You know that you're the only person who thinks me wanting to be an actress isn't crazy?"

"Guess no one knows you as well as I do" he grins, placing his hand on her thigh as he pulled the car into an empty lot at the end of the gravel road they'd been driving down.

"What are we doing here?" she asks, climbing out of the car after him.

"Stargazing," he explains, offering her a hand and helping her onto the hood of the car where she settles into his arms.

"It isn't dark?" she stares back, face fiddled with confusion.

"But it will be, and until then," he hops down off the hood of the car and goes to retrieve something from the back seat. He comes back with a bag of popcorn, two cans of beer and a small book, "I figured you could teach me some of your favourite lines," he grinned, pressing the book of Shakespeare's greatest works into her hand.

She leans over and places a hand on his shoulder, pulling him in for a kiss. It's a soft kiss, his lips meeting hers with a gentle urgency and she blushes when they finally part. They'd been dating for nearly four months, been best friends nearly four years and kissing him still made ever nerve in her body come alive.

"Alright Paulsen, educate me" he smirks as she flips the book open to one of her favourite scenes from Merchant of Venice, settling her head in the crook of his neck as they lay across the hood of the car as the sun begins to fall and paint the sky in a sea of pastels. They stay like that for hours, her in his arms, reading, laughing and telling stories until the sky is filled with small twinkling lights and they lay hand in hand staring up at the star-filled sky.

.

.

Brooklyn, 2013

He watches as she waves goodbye and shuts the door behind her, a weird sensation coursing through his body. In all the years he'd lived in the city, or for the past year that Gordon had attended this school, he never even caught wind of what she was up to now-a-days and now here she was, attending a parent teacher conference at the same school his son attended in Brooklyn. He hadn't seen or heard from Donna Paulsen since his senior year of high school, twenty years prior, but he suddenly found himself wanting to run into her again. The thoughts he long since pushed aside rushing to the forefront of his mind. He wanted to ask her about her life, what did she do now? How college had been, was she happy?

.

.

She was flustered for the entire interview with Jason's teacher, the ghost from her past that was Harvey Specter having rattled her to her core. She didn't even know he lived in the city and now here he was asking her how she was. She can't believe she never realized one of the kid's in Jason's class shared his last name, but would she have done anything about it had she known? Probably not. She hadn't given him a proper thought in years. Sure, she spent a lot of time after high school thinking about what could have been, but that was nearly two decades ago, they were both different people now.

She decided that she wouldn't think about it once she got the kids home, she still had to meet Amelia's teacher and besides, he was married, he had a son, and there was no way she would be on his mind once he headed home. The interview with Amelia's teacher came and went in a blur and before she knew it, they were on their way home to celebrate the excellent progress her kids were making in school. She tries her best to put it out of her mind, but her mind is stuck on that smile and she can't help herself from asking Jason about his new classmate.

"So, Jason, your new friend Gordon seemed very nice" she smiles down at her son who is happily eating his cotton candy ice cream cone.

"He is mom, he moved here from another school because it was closer to his dad's work" he explains, desperately licking at his ice cream cone to prevent it from running down his hand as it melted.

"Oh" she replies, using her thumb to wipe the excess chocolate on Amelia's face.

"He doesn't have a mommy, so he said his dad wanted him to be closer to his work" Jason continues to explain, launching into a story about what he and Gordon did at recess the day before, but she's stuck on his first sentence.

If Harvey wasn't married, why did he wear a wedding ring?