A/N: Zivitz (ALittleBitOdd1) and I collaborated on this one. This fic would not be what it is without her. Please let us know what you think. Down below I'll tell you what my original inspiration was; enjoy! xx

serendipity

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Donna is drunk.

And not just in a 'she had one too many' kind of way. But in a 'she lost track of time, place and reason' and is just acting on instinct now.

Her mind is hazy and she can't feel her arms or legs but most importantly, she can't remember the heartache she felt earlier today. Or the reason that made her get so drunk in the first place.

The bartender cut her off shortly after she'd told him the story of her and Harvey for the fifth time and hailed her a cab, and even then she only left reluctantly.

Her whole body is buzzing on her way home, her fingers tapping on the window of the cab as the city that never sleeps passes by.

When she gets out of the car, needing a reminder to actually pay for her ride, her vision becomes cloudy. The world around her is suddenly spinning and spinning and spinning.

Her steps are unsteady and her high heels are killing her with every step as she stumbles inside. She blindly finds her way to the elevator where she leans her heavy head against the cool metal wall on her way up.

Tonight, she finally snapped. The realisation hit her on her way home with a force she didn't see coming. But maybe she should have.

She wants something more. She longs for home and safety and she can't pretend that's not true anymore. Even in her drunken state, it's so obvious to her. She's been chasing the wrong things all along.

It takes Donna several attempts to unlock the door of the apartment. Her fingers are numb and the door is shaking, or maybe her hands are, but when the door opens and she falls into the apartment she regrets letting loose. It's not like her. She likes being in control of her body and her actions, but the need to drown out the voice in her head had been too strong tonight.

The apartment is dark and she slowly makes her way over to the bedroom, her mind too hazy to think about brushing her teeth or taking her make-up off. The alcohol is still coursing through her body like poison, and she lurches. The movement unsettles her stomach, making everything tip and spin like she's on a rollercoaster.

Somewhere along the way she must have stepped out of her high heels and lost her dress because when she finally sits down on the edge of the bed, the soft, cool material of the sheets brushes her upper thigh. There's a vague thought forming in her head, that this smells like home, and it's the last thing she thinks before she sinks under into oblivion, her body snuggling into the warm body already occupying the bed.

.

Ends and pieces of long, silky hair are tickling Harvey's face and he's confused for a moment. He didn't bring anyone home last night, or at least he doesn't think so.

His arm is thrown around a slender figure and she is warm and tight up against him. A familiar scent hits his nostrils as he brushes the unruly strands of hair out of his face, and he smiles.

This is nice.

Feeling her steady heartbeat under his hand is soothing and right in a way that he can't explain. It's still early, he supposes. There's barely any light falling into his bedroom and his lips leave a gentle kiss on the woman's neck, appreciating the softness of her skin. His hold around her tightens and he feels himself drifting off into sleep again.

.

Donna wakes up needing to pee. Urgently. Her bladder feels heavy and full, her mouth is as dry as the Sahara and her head is full of cotton balls. The brightness of the room hurts her eyes when she peels them open and she shuts them again instantly.

Oh god, she went home with someone last night.

Her memory of the previous night is practically non-existent but she feels a wave of nausea rolling through her body as all her senses slowly return to her. There's an arm draped over her body, someone's heavy breath in her ear and she springs up so fast that she falls out of the bed. Another wave of nausea climbs its way up her throat and there's no time to think before she makes a sprint for the toilet and brings up whatever is left in her stomach.

Harvey gets rudely woken up by the sounds of someone throwing up violently and one look at the empty bed confirms his suspicions. It's not his first time dealing with a situation like this. He knows the procedure. So he gets up, almost stumbling over a pair of high heels and random items of clothing that are lying all over the place.

Donna finally stops retching but she feels absolutely disgusting. Goosebumps are adorning the skin of her arms from sitting on the cool tiles of the bathroom floor. Her body is shaking when she stands up and she shudders at the terrible taste in her mouth. This hasn't happened in a long time and she feels mortified and stupid. Taking a sip from the mouthwash standing at the sink, she hopes to make a beeline for her clothes and disappear before the stranger she must have fallen into bed with last night wakes up.

Only when she opens the door of the en-suite, it's Harvey who is waiting for her holding a glass of water and some medication in his hands. She freezes, a dull yet piercing sound ringing in her ears as she stares at him blankly.

The shock is more than visible on his face, his hand dropping the glass of water on the dresser next to him. He recovers more quickly than she does though. He tilts his head, pointing out the obvious, "Hungover?"

Her cheeks flush in embarrassment of having no idea of what happened last night. The fact that he is smirking, his eyes taking in her half-naked figure unashamedly, makes her want the floor to open up under her.

She didn't… did she? Did they?

She is absolutely going to die of mortification.

Ignoring the glass of water and painkillers, she strides past him. There's nothing to hide from his eyes anyway. He's seen it all, done it all.

She hastily grabs the crumbled dress from the floor. Her head is spinning at the movement and she feels the world tilting and herself falling forward but he is quicker, steadying her with his hands on her waist.

"Donna, hey, slow down. It's okay." He leads her back to his bed and she doesn't resist; too exhausted to think about bolting. She swallows the painkillers with a big sip of water wordlessly and waits for his inevitable judgement.

But it doesn't come. When her world stops spinning, she blinks up at him and there's nothing but concern for her well-being written in his eyes.

"What happened?" It's the first time she's spoken today and her voice is hoarse from throwing up.

Harvey sits down next to her.

"I don't know. I–" Then he remembers the way her hair tickled his nose this morning and he shakes his head. That's why it felt so familiar. Of course. "I didn't realise it was you."

She stares at him wide-eyed. "What?"

"I knew someone was in my bed this morning. Didn't know it was you though," he admits sheepishly. Her left eye twitches and he adds, "Nothing happened, Donna."

She nods, relief washing over her and a shiver runs up her spine involuntarily. Harvey quickly gets her one of his old Harvard shirts and a pair of sweatpants which she takes gratefully.

The last thing she said to him was that she wants more and he needs to know what made her spiral so badly in those few hours in between.

"Listen, Donna, you don't have to tell me why you got so drunk you ended up in my bed in the middle of the night but if you want to I can listen."

"I was just…" Scared? Running from a realisation? "I was just trying to forget for a while. I didn't mean to– God, Harvey, I'm so sorry, I never thought– I thought I was going home. I have no idea how I ended up here. I don't remember anything."

She remembers why she got so drunk last night though and it's obvious why her subconscious led her here. To him. Only she can't face it today.

"Well, thank god you stumbled into my apartment and didn't break into someone else's."

He watches her closely. Donna seems to be fighting with herself but he can't figure out why. What she wanted to forget so badly that she thought getting completely wasted for a night was worth it.

"I'm so sorry, Harvey."

"You don't need to apologise. But I'm worried about you. This is just," He waves his hand. "Not like you."

"It's fine, Harvey, really. It won't happen again." She refuses to look at him, instead her eyes focus on the way his shirt feels bunched in her fist as she tries her hardest not to tell him about the realisation she had after their talk last night. It could turn out to be the world's worst hangover.

But Harvey doesn't let it go and eventually she snaps at him. "This is bad enough as it is. Just leave it." Like you always do.

"Is it really that bad?" He asks quietly and her breath gets stuck in her throat.

"What do you mean?"

He looks at her like a deer caught in headlights and she knows this won't go anywhere. It's exactly why she tried to drown her heartache in alcohol last night.

They aren't ready for this. They're not there yet. Neither of them is.

She had seen it in his eyes when she told him that she wanted more and alluded to the fact that there was a real possibility that it could mean them.

"You figured out what 'more' was, didn't you?"

His question catches her off-guard and she inhales sharply. For a second she's torn. But there's no way this feeling will ever go away. It made her desperate enough to drink herself into oblivion and she thinks if she tries to bury it again, the love and the heartache, then there's only one way forward. Or maybe not even that, it's stalemate. She won't get 'more' and somehow she can't handle that either.

"I did."

"And what is it?" He asks gently.

"Harvey." She covers his hand with her and prays to God that this won't tear them apart. "I can't pretend not to want you anymore. I want us. I want us to be more than this."

She finally looks up at him, pleading with him not to pull away from her now.

"Donna," he hesitates and she sighs because this was a terrible idea. "Donna, I don't know. I'm-"

"You don't have to be afraid." Because she knows he is. He's always been afraid. She also thinks it's one hell of a statement considering that she risked getting alcohol poisoning last night just because she thought she couldn't handle his rejection if she told him. But she's here now, a literal mess, and he must already know what drove her to the brink last night. The only thing left to do is fight for this. For them. "Look, if I haven't left your ass in the dust by now you have to know there's no way I ever could."

"But you did leave me," he reminds her.

"No, I went to work for Louis down the hall. Because I couldn't leave you. Even when you couldn't give me a straight answer about how you feel."

"What if we aren't ready for it?"

"Some things we're never ready for. But if you're really not ready there might come a day when you are and I'm not. I don't want to play that game for the rest of our lives, Harvey."

It's the truth and a wake-up call and it hits him like a punch to the gut.

He draws his brows together, "Is this an ultimatum?"

"No, Harvey. This is me telling you I'm unhappy with my life. And that you would help make me happy. But if I won't make you happy then I need something more in my life than what I have right now." Her thumb gently brushes across his hand, grounding him.

Harvey shifts and turns to look at her. He tucks a loose strand of unruly hair behind her ear and takes the situation in for a moment.

How Donna is sitting in his bedroom wearing his clothes, how they're talking about their feelings and the sky isn't falling. How she's putting herself out there like she always does. How it felt to wake up that morning and before he knows it he's pulling her to him and kissing her because if there's anyone he'd jump off a cliff with it's her.

Her hands rise on their own accord and land on his shoulders, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss. He catches her bottom lip between his, sucking on it before leaving a trail of kisses on her jawline, her neck and that's when her forebrain finally wakes up and she pulls back slightly.

"Harvey, as much as I want this, I don't want you to do anything you'll regret later."

The worry in her eyes and the way she puts him ahead of herself even now makes him chuckle quietly.

"I don't think I have to be ready. I think I have to have faith. If not in myself, in you- the way you have always had faith in me", he whispers, his voice rough and now that he's taken the leap, there's no way he will ever let Donna go.

There will never be the perfect time for them so what better time is there than now?

"Faith in us," she replies. "Just trust that my faith isn't misplaced.'

Harvey leans in to kiss her again but before he can she turns away with a look that's an odd mixture of disgust and longing.

"God, you must really like me. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet."

"I do," he says with a grin, and takes her hand. "Look, you must have a raging headache. Why don't I get you that toothbrush, draw the curtains, and we crawl back into bed. Maybe we can have some fun later."

"Fun?"

"Oh, lots of fun, all over the apartment."

A/N: My inspiration was a tweet that goes as follows, "drunkenly broke into the wrong house." Reviews and criticism are very much appreciated. And please practice social distancing and stay safe xx