So I finally remembered my password and can finally upload this!

Based on a prompt from darveymylove and trowbridgemagic on Twitter.

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Harvey bid his farewell to Mike as he loaded his associate into a car and watched him drive off. He had let Mike go back with Ray because he had plans of his own that evening, and he had another stop to make before he could get them started.

Taking a moment to glance into glow that was New York City at night time, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a text to Donna. He had already celebrated the win with Mike, but he had made it customary to celebrate with Donna as well, especially given how much work she always put in.

Never in Harvey Specter's life had he come across a woman like Donna Paulsen. There was the obvious: she could anticipate his each and every need, she was practically a mind reader, and she could solve any problem without blinking. Then there were the things that you only noticed if you knew her: her heart, which would burst with pride when anyone she cared for achieved something, or her empathy, the way she could offer advice and make you feel like she had just handed you all of the answers to all of the world's problems. And finally, there were the things only he noticed: her little quirks. He could never stop himself from smiling when he heard her reciting Shakespeare when she thought no one was listening, nor could he help himself from watching her through his office door as she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth whenever she was trying to resolve a particularly difficult scheduling issue. He noticed the way she fiddled with her fingers when she was nervous, or the way she could look at him, and he felt like she was staring into his soul.

He had never met another woman like that.

The firm was always so different at night. During the day it was full of people, life and light exploding from every corner. Phones ringing, heels clicking, doors opening and closing. But at night, it was silent, dark, empty. The only sound was that of his footsteps and the faint buzz of the few lights and computers that remained turned on.

What he saw, though, when he reached his office – it made his heart stop. Or maybe it made it pound faster. It filled him with rage before he even fully knew what the circumstances were. Every single hair on his body stood on end as he watched Louis tear into Donna, reducing the usually unshakeable woman he had come to know, and love, to a deer in the headlights.

"Sit down!"

Louis' voice echoed and Donna practically fell back into her chair, her eyes full of fear and her heart pounding so loudly Harvey swore he could hear it from out in the corridor.

"You didn't give a shit about me. You cared about you and Harvey, and Mike, and Jessica."

By the time Louis had started his next sentence, Harvey was through the door. He didn't remember his feet carrying him there, but now all he could see was red. He had half a mind to punch Louis there and then, or to throw him into the glass table in the centre of the room. In fact, he clenched his hand into a fist and was about to raise it when he saw Donna's face. He couldn't do that to her.

"What did you just say to her?" He spat out instead.

His voice was harsh. The kind of harsh you would only expect if you didn't know Harvey and how gentle he could be. It had the kind of harshness that made you feel like a child being reprimanded by their headmaster; it shook you to the core.

"That she lied to me, that she doesn't care about me and she never has." Louis said, not turning to face the man, his body still shaking with rage as he stared Donna right in the eyes.

"That's not true, Louis." She tried to say, her voice shaking and beginning to break.

She didn't once break the eye contact she had with Louis, even as tears formed, she kept looking into his eyes, hoping that something in her stare would make him see that lying to him had been one of the hardest things she had had to do.

"Don't you dare give her shit for something I did, you hear me?"

Donna exhaled, biting her lip to stop sound escaping from her lips.

"She did it just as much as you did." Louis replied, finally turning to face Harvey and confront the man he had really come to speak to.

"No Louis, I did this. It was me and Mike."

He looked at Donna. She was finally looking into his eyes, and he could see her breaking inside, he could see her begging him to do something, and then, he looked back at Louis.

"Donna wanted to tell you. She didn't want to lie to you because she cares about you, but I wouldn't let her. If you want to be pissed off, be pissed off with me."

He took a breath, then between gritted teeth, continued.

"But you leave Donna out of it. And don't you ever speak to her like that again."

A shiver ran down her spine as he spoke. She wasn't sure if it was the fear, or the way he defended her like he would his own life, but her heart beat uneasily in her chest and she could feel her fingers shaking, so she began to fiddle with them in an effort to settle herself.

"Where are you going?" Harvey asked, Louis beginning to retreat out of the room.

"To see your friend, Jessica."

When he left there was a silence in the room, and Donna looked at Harvey, unsure what to do.

"Why did you lie to him? I was never gonna tell him. I was just as much a part of it as you and Mike were." She asked.

"But I didn't give you a choice in the matter."

She was gazing up at him, and that right there was the look, going straight into his soul and allowing him to feel all of her pain, it was enough to make his heart crack open.

"You should go after him." She said, pushing herself up to her feet and biting her upper lip as she tried not to cry.

"I'm not leaving you."

"Well then we should at least warn Jessica." She said, trying again to change the subject and stepping to the phone, but he stood in front of her before she could.

"Jessica can handle it, besides, he's probably already there. And I'm not leaving you."

Donna had been looking at the floor, but then she found herself looking up to meet his eyes.

"You're not?"

She looked almost guilty, as though asking him to stay with her was an inconvenience, or something she should be ashamed of, but all it took was for him to nod and then she could feel herself crumbling.

He watched as she went from poised to tears. It started with a couple of heavy breaths, then her lips began to contort and twist in an attempt to stop the tears that were forming, and before he knew it, he had reached out to her, and she had embraced him, allowed him to swallow her up, and then she cried.

Harvey Specter wouldn't usually know what to do if someone burst into tears in front of him like she just had, or if they had been leaning onto him to stop themselves from falling like she was – but with her it was different. He knew exactly what she needed; instinct kicked in and he held her tight, not letting go not only for her sake, but also for his own. He couldn't bear the thought of letting go of her while her body shook in his arms, so he held on for dear life. Small circles were rubbed into her back as well, and he kept whispering into her ear that he was sorry, that Louis never should have treated her like that – that she didn't deserve it.

There was so much more he wanted to say to her, so much more she wanted him to say, but he didn't know she wanted to hear it, that she was clinging onto his every word. Feeling her heart beat against his chest, he longed to tell her how much he cared about her, really cared. Or how long he has spent thinking about her, how many hours he has dreamt of kissing every single freckle on her body, or running his fingers through her gorgeous locks. Because he honestly couldn't quantify it. As far as he was concerned, the last 11 years had been nothing but him wishing he could be man enough to tell her how he really feels.

Eventually, they pulled apart, but he kept a grip on her arms, holding her so they were face to face, staring deeply into each other's eyes and not knowing the other wanted it just as much as they did.

"This isn't your fault, and I never wanna hear you say that again."

She could lose herself in his eyes, and she couldn't stop staring into them. Somehow the touch of his fingers on her arms sent shivers throughout her body, but it made her feel safe. When she was with him, nothing around her mattered, not what Louis had said, not whatever was going to happen tomorrow, just that he was there with her, staring back at her. She wanted to tell him, she really did. But how could she tell her best friend in the entire world, the one she could always count on, that her bed had felt empty since the last time they woke up together in it? It would ruin everything.

"Okay."

That was all she managed to say, that was all she could say. If she tried to say anything else, she would end up confessing to him her most closely guarded secret, and she couldn't do it, not unless he was ready to hear it. Part of her thought, to hell with it, and that part of her was about to open her mouth when the phone rang, and Jessica summoned Harvey to her office, no doubt to talk about the Louis situation.

She told him to go, watching him walk out of the office, never knowing that as he walked away, he was wishing that he had decided to open his mouth, that he had told her how he felt before the phone rang. But instead, he left and she stayed, suddenly feeling cold without him there to hold her, and sat herself down on the couch, waiting for him to come back and hold her, waiting until she would once again feel warm and safe.

By the time he returned, she was pacing around the room, but still fiddling with her fingers, he noticed. He had now removed his suit jacket and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck.

"What happened?" She asked, staring at him all wide eyed.

He took a breath before looking back at her.

"It doesn't matter."

Her puzzled face grew even more confused, when he reached out his hand.

"Come on, I'm taking you back to mine."

"I'm not in the mood to celebrate right now, I just wanna know what happened."

"And you will find out, but right now I'm going to take you home, and you can spend the night in my bed."

Her heart almost skipped a beat when he said that, and she must have widened her eyes, or inhaled sharply, or maybe her body tensed, because he quickly reiterated.

"I just mean, you can stay with me tonight, you know, so you're not alone. I thought you'd want to be with someone."

He cursed himself for so quickly rephrasing that, because truth be told, he longed to have her in his bed that way, but it was hardly the time. Although he could swear he had seen her face drop a little when he had re-explained, as though she too was hoping he had meant that.

Regardless, he placed his jacket over her shoulders and picked up her purse before escorting her out of the firm. His jacket was just enough to keep her from shivering in the cool New York weather. She wondered how he was faring in just his shirt sleeves, but he didn't seem to mind. He seemed more concerned with making sure she was warm, that she didn't get her heels stuck in any grates, wrapping one arm around her the whole way back, as though that one arm could protect her from anything in the world.

He was right, she didn't want to be alone, but she also didn't just want to be with someone, she wanted to be with him.