When Harvey opens the front door, she's right there. Waiting for him. Her hands are clasped in front of her and she can barely keep still. She looks delighted.
"Harvey! You're home!"
He looks at her suspiciously, but can't stop himself smiling back at her. "What are you so bouncy about?"
Donna can barely contain her grin, sheepish as it is. "Well, you know Rachel and I went shopping today."
"Yes…?" he rolls his eyes with pretend exasperation, expecting her to own up to some sort of obscene handbag purchase.
She steps in close to him, loosening his tie. Her eyes on her fingers instead of looking at him.
"Wellll," She draws the word out, stepping in even closer, "we had lunch in the park..." As she continues, her words pick up speed "and the animal shelter was having an open day and- "
Her words are interrupted by - something - attacking Harvey's shoes.
Harvey leaps back towards the front door. "Donna! What is that?"
It's tiny.
It's scraggly.
It's...wearing a shirt?
A couple of it's teeth are poking out the front of its mouth, and Harvey swears it's eyes are looking in two different directions.
Donna grins lovingly at the creature, and then back to Harvey.
"That's Shakespeare."
"That's Shakespeare?" He raises his eyebrows in mock surprise. "That's the guy who wrote the plays?"
She rolls her eyes "That's a dog I named after him. Shakespeare Specter, see?" He chokes, looking at the fancy certificate of adoption that she's suddenly holding in his face. "I thought three names would be too much for such a tiny dog."
"Donna, THAT is not a dog. It looks like something that's just crawled out of the sewer" without realising he's doing it, he steps behind her - he's not hiding - and looks over her shoulder. The little dog lies down, resting his head on her bare foot and looking up at her through desperate eyes.
"Harvey!" She snaps disapprovingly. She bends down and lifts the little dog into her arms, kissing his face, covering his ears, hissing at Harvey "He can hear you, you know."
Harvey grimaces "Don't put your face so close to it, you don't know where it's been."
She laughs now, he's being ridiculous and its kind of adorable. She turns to face him, holding the dog close to her chest between them.
"He, Harvey, not it. And I've washed him! He's perfectly clean. He smells delicious. Here -" she hands him to Harvey, who finds himself instinctively taking the dog into his hands, horrified. He holds it away from his body, grimacing. The dog squirms and playfully tries to bite Harvey's fingers. Donna smiles, pleased with herself. "See! He likes you!" Harvey doubts that very much. "We talked about getting a dog, now that we finally have a yard, it just happened sooner than we planned!"
"We talked about getting a REAL dog Donna. A big dog! One that we don't have to keep a secret and can take for walks in public. Definitely not one that wears clothes!"
She shrugs and smirks at him "I'm sure Shakespeare would be open to getting a friend!" He rolls his eyes. "And he needs to wear the shirt! You wouldn't want to walk around shirtless in the cold."
He raises his eyes at her "Well, you do keep insisting he's a dog, dogs have fur, they don't need shirts in the cold." He's pleased with his argument.
"His hair is patchy." she frowns. "Poor little baby," She coos, stroking the dogs head "you've been through so much. It's okay, you're home now."
"Donna…" he starts to whine, but she interrupts him firmly.
"Harvey, they were going to KILL him. It was his last day. And I looked at him, and I knew. This is a good dog. This is our dog. Like when I looked at you, and knew you were a good person." Her eyes have filled with tears, and Harvey isn't totally sure if they are real or if she's acting but he sighs, knowing that either way, she'd won before he even walked in the door. "I knew from the start that we belonged to each other, Harvey. And I know that Shakespeare belongs to us too."
He relents. "Okay fine. He's here now anyway." He notices that at some point, he's accidentally moved the animal closer to his chest. Horrified, puts the dog down on the ground. Where dogs belong. He sits on one of the breakfast stools and moves his hands to her waist, pulling her in between his legs. He sneakily slips a hand down to where her thigh meets her butt. "Where exactly is he sleeping?" he wonders, stroking her skin through her jeans. She smiles at him. "Donna. No."
"We'll just put him in his bed on the floor beside us! Dogs are pack animals Harvey. We are his pack now. He wants to be close to us. And I got him his own bed - and some other things - today!"
She moves away from him, around the counter and picks up the most ridiculous item he's ever seen. It's a very small replica of a human bed. A wooden frame. A tiny mattress and an even tinier pillow. He shakes his head, completely lost for words now. Putting the bed on the kitchen bench, she walks back to Harvey. Plants her lips on his. Slides her arms around his neck. She smiles into the kiss. "I even got him a second bed for the office"
"For the office?!"
"Well, we are there so much Harvey. It would be cruel to leave him by himself all day. And Rachel said it's fine! She thinks it will be good for staff morale." Harvey looks at Shakespeare, skeptical. He thinks it will be bad for staff retention.
"I think we should move back to New York." He deadpans. She kisses him again, laughing.
"You're gonna love him Harvey! Just wait."