Breaking The Rule

Harvey winced as Donna tended to the battle scar on his lip. "Tell me he looks worse?" she asked raising her eyebrows at him. "He does" Harvey replied and then added "I left him surrounded by pieces broken mirror on the bathroom floor." Harvey smiled smugly at this and instantly regretted it as the cut on his lip started to sting again. Harvey reached for his scotch to help numb the pain.

Donna smiled, satisfied that the lying piece of shit had got what he deserved. Well, part of what he deserved. He really deserved to be in prison, but she knew Harvey would take care of that. Then she noticed Harvey's bruised knuckles as he lifted his glass. He'd really done a number on Stephen she thought.

"Thank you" Donna said simply. "You're welcome" Harvey replied taking another sip of the amber liquid before adding "I could see how much he'd hurt you. I had to beat the shit out of him." "I should have known" Donna said quietly shaking her head. "Donna, you've got to stop punishing yourself. No one saw this coming" Harvey reassured her. "You did. You didn't trust him" Donna said, tears threatening to form in her eyes. "I may not have trusted him but I never saw this coming Donna" Harvey tried to reassure her again.

Donna sighed quietly and sat back in the comfy chair. Harvey noted how fragile she looked; damn that bastard for what he'd done to this amazing woman. "Donna…" Harvey started but she cut him off with "I should have known it would end in tears. I should have stuck with my rule. If I had…" This time Harvey cut her off "Donna! Enough! What's done is done" Harvey said firmly pouring himself another drink.

His tone shocked Donna. He seemed annoyed but she wasn't sure why. His next question answered that for her as he said "your rule; why did you break it for him?" Harvey had been wondering about this ever since he found out that Donna was sleeping with Stephen. Why did she break her rule for that British douche but not for him? Harvey had always assumed that if she was going to break it for anyone, it would be for him and him alone. How wrong he was. If he was honest with himself it hurt like hell.

Donna didn't answer; she didn't really know the answer. "Donna?" Harvey pressed gently. "Now's not the time Harvey" she said, feeling those tears threatening to form in her eyes once more. Harvey looked at her confused and asked "if not now then when?" Donna sighed and looked into Harvey's eyes and then said "I haven't even figured it out in my head yet." "Try" was all Harvey said. "Is this about your ego?" Donna snapped and then continued "because if it is, and you're just pissed that I broke my rule for someone other than you, then…" Harvey cut her off by angrily saying "this isn't about my ego Donna. You've lived by that rule for over a decade and I've respected that. Who knows what could have happened between us if it wasn't for that damn rule. I thought that rule was set in stone. But you broke it - for him. Why?"

"I don't know" Donna said quietly; reeling from what Harvey had just said about the possibility of something happening between them. "Bullshit!" Harvey called. Donna shot him an angry glare. "What? You know it's bullshit so just be honest with me" Harvey said waving his injured hand in the air at her. "He didn't take my rule seriously, didn't respect it. Maybe even saw it as a challenge. And I guess he just made me feel good, made me feel desired, just at the right time" she said sheepishly. Donna could tell that didn't satisfy Harvey by the unimpressed look on his face.

OK, time to be completely truthful she told herself. Better to get it all out in the open and move on. She took a deep breath and said "OK, you want the truth Harvey? Here it is. I never had a rule before I met you. When you started at the DA's office I was attracted to you and knew you'd be trouble so I made up my rule to keep you at arm's length. Except you saw it as a challenge so I guess I hid behind my rule because I didn't want any relationship fallout to affect my career, our careers."

Harvey listened intently to what she was saying but when she finished he still wasn't satisfied so asked "I still don't feel like you're being completely honest with me. What about when we came to work here?" Donna shifted uncomfortably in her seat avoiding eye contact. She finally looked at him and said "after what happened between us that night I started to admit my feelings for you, to myself. I thought maybe we could have something. Then you asked me to come work here with you. I knew I couldn't do both – I couldn't work for you and have feelings for you. I cared about you Harvey. I cared about helping you achieve your goals; it's all we ever worked towards. So I put my feelings aside and hid behind my rule because you seemed to respect it. If I didn't have a rule you would have kept pushing and I wouldn't have resisted and I don't think our working relationship would have survived. It was easier to have this imaginary line that I knew you wouldn't cross."

Harvey sat back in his chair and rubbed his face, flinching as he caught his cut lip. So there was never a rule. He'd been obeying a rule that never really existed. She was simply removing temptation from the equation to protect herself, their working relationship and his career goals. Harvey finally spoke "so you got with Stephen because you never really had a rule." Donna nodded but remained silent. Harvey continued "you've let me think you had a rule all this time because you wanted to keep our relationship uncomplicated and help me achieve my goals?" Donna nodded again and said "if our relationship got complicated, I couldn't have helped you achieve your goals. You were more important to me than my feelings for you."

Harvey tried to process all of this new information. That had to be the most selfless thing he'd ever heard – Donna never ceased to amaze him. He felt better knowing that Stephen hadn't one-upped him on Donna's rule breaking, but felt worse now that he knew Donna had sacrificed so much for him over the years.

Harvey shook his head as he realised something "Donna. I've spent all this time thinking of you as off-limits because of your universal rule. Now that I know there is no rule what am I supposed to do? Where do we go from here?" Harvey asked.

"There is a rule. There's a no-Harvey rule!" Donna reminded him with a smirk. "But I'm named partner now. Goals achieved" Harvey smirked back, tilting his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "Oh, so you don't need me anymore?" Donna teased. "I might not have any immediate goals I need your help with but I still need you" Harvey said turning serious before adding "I'll always need you in my life Donna. One way or another – or both!" Donna smiled shyly at Harvey's flirting.

"I don't want to get hurt Harvey" Donna said before adding "there's been enough of that lately." Harvey's blood boiled once more at being reminded of that British prick. "You know me Donna, you know I'd never hurt you intentionally. But you also know I'm 'emotionally unavailable' so I might screw up from time to time!" he confessed light heartedly.

"I don't know Harvey. There's so much at stake" Donna said and then teased "but then again, my life does revolve around you so 'two birds, one stone' and all that!" Harvey huffed out a laugh and said "Look, I don't know either; there is a lot at stake." He leaned forward and took Donna's hand. The intimacy of the moment shocked her but she liked it and didn't move. Harvey took a deep breath and mustered up all of his courage and in the most honest moment of his life he said "all I know is you're the most amazing woman I know and you're the only woman I could ever picture myself being with. I'm just not interested in being with anyone if it's not you. I was forced to realise that when I almost lost you to 'him', and I never want to feel that again."

The tears that had threatened to form in Donna's eyes on a couple of occasions tonight finally found themselves and escaped down her cheeks as she stared at Harvey in disbelief. He hated seeing her cry; hell, that's what had led him to beat the shit out of Stephen earlier. He moved closer to wipe her tears away with his thumb, wincing slightly as he flexed his bruised knuckles.

"Harvey… I don't know what to say" was all Donna could manage. "You don't have to say anything. Just promise me you'll think about what I've said" Harvey reassured her. "Harvey, I don't need to think about it. That's all I've wanted to hear from you all these years" she said smiling. He smiled back at the beautiful woman in front of him but he could tell she wasn't ready. As if reading his mind Donna took his hand and said "I just need a bit of time ok?" Harvey understood and nodded.

He held out his arm along the back of the couch and motioned for her to come and sit beside him. She did as she was told and took a seat next to him. He curled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close kissing the top of her head. "Take all the time you need" he said then kissed the top of her head again. Donna looked up at him and smiled before saying "thank you Harvey". They looked deep into each other's eyes and as if reading each other's minds they both leaned in for a kiss. They smiled at each other and Harvey couldn't help himself and said "just don't take too long, ok?!"

Hope you enjoyed this! I'd really appreciate any feedback and reviews. Thanks for reading!