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"Ray's downstairs," Donna blurts as she enters Harvey's office.
He looks up from his desk and nods, quickly getting up and buttoning his suit. "We need to finish this tonight," he says as he waves at the folders scattered in front of him. "I'll try to get back here by seven."
She scoffs in response, "If Dominic lets you out that early, sure."
"Of course, he will." He replies confidently.
"He won't if you get there late. So, go!" She points at the door.
He rolls his eyes and starts to head out. "Bossy," he mutters jokingly under his breath.
"I heard that," she counters.
"You were meant to," he looks back and winks at her.
She raises an eyebrow at him, "I want some shitty Thai later!" She waits for his answer but gets nothing in return, just a wave of hand signaling he heard her. Idiot, she thinks.
She shakes her head and focuses on his messy desk, starting with his computer, making sure to click save on the document opened on his screen. He forgot to do it once and lost all that he typed for hours. He was pissed for the rest of the day. She doesn't want to witness it again.
She then compiles the documents he pulled out, carefully sorting them into their respective folders and stacking them in piles on one corner. She gets to his notes, written on a large pad, all chicken scratch after his fourth cup of coffee for the day. It looks so bad that he makes her doctor look like a calligrapher.
Then she comes across a small notebook, one she hasn't seen before. A pen is stuck in between pages, the same pen with the recently replaced ink cartridge. She grabs it, only to be caught in between shock and confusion as she sees her name on the last page it's open to. Curiosity creeps in and she starts looking through the other pages. It's still the same. Her name, written in different colors of ink but in the same strokes that only he would do.
Donna
Donna
Donna
"Huh," she says as she drops in his seat. "Interesting," she whispers to herself, the word coming out like a question.
.
.
.
The next day comes and she marches into his office, a box held in between her hands. She drops it on the corner of his desk. "Package for you," she says, a teasing smile on her face.
"I didn't order anything," he replies, not taking his eyes away from his laptop.
"Sure you did," she insists.
His eyebrows furrow and his fingers stop typing. He finally looks at her, not saying anything, just waiting for her to elaborate on what she meant.
She holds his gaze then tilts her head to the side. He just mimics her movement. She rolls her eyes and finally opens the box. "You said you wanted pens on the go. Heavy enough so you wouldn't forget you have them, but light enough that they wouldn't crease your suit pocket."
"Huh, I said that?" He leans back in his seat. "It's so specific."
"Well, you're picky like that." She nods. "Mike suggested uniball but you threw him out."
"No one likes those uniballs."
"Louis does." She shrugs her shoulders.
He makes a disgusted face then shakes his head, taking the image of his colleague out of his mind. He looks back at her again, "So what did you get me?"
She pulls out one pen from the box and hands it over to him. "Here, I had my guy customized this just for you."
He takes it from her, flipping the pen in his hand and feeling its weight. "You have a guy for that?"
She smirks. "Harvey, I have a guy for everything."
He squints his eyes at her but doesn't dare argue. "Oh-kay," he replies. He quickly moves his chair to the side, instinctively reaching for the notebook he hid behind one of his awards. He is just about to open it when his hand pauses and he looks up to see her still watching him.
"What?" She asks, curious with his sudden change in demeanor. Then she catches his hands trying to hide the notebook again. "Ah," she bites her lip, trying to hide her smile. "Did you want me to leave the room while you write down my name like a 3rd grade student with a crush?"
His eyes suddenly widen, his hand gripping the pen a bit tighter. "You know about that?"
"Oh, so you do have a crush on me." She teases, taking a seat in front of his desk. She crosses her legs and leans back, "How cute!"
"Donna…" He groans.
"You left it on your desk yesterday when you went to your meeting with Dominic." She shrugs her shoulders, "I may or may not have taken a peek."
He just nods in response, thinking that if he doesn't say anything more then she might just let it go.
But she's Donna. Of course, she won't do that.
"Soooo," she starts again. "You test all your pens with my name?"
He looks down, finally opening the notebook to an empty page and he starts to scribble her name. Donna. It flows naturally. "Yeah," he replies.
"Why?"
He shakes his head, still kinda avoiding her gaze. "I don't know. It just feels…" He writes her name again, "Right." He smiles and finally looks up at her, offering the pen. "You want to try?"
She takes it from him and pulls the notebook closer. She writes down his name. "Oh, that's nice," she says, clearly just describing how it felt and how the ink looked on paper.
He takes it back and checks what she wrote down. He chuckles and says, "You trying to sign as my wife now?"
"What?" She leans in, trying to get another look.
He lifts the notebook and turns to show her the page. He points at what was written. Specter right next to Donna.
Donna Specter.
She rolls her eyes. "You wish," she replies and retaliates, "I'm surprised that's not what you write."
"You'd take my name?" He clears his throat, "Hypothetically, of course."
She pretends to think about it. "Maybe hyphenated." She straightens up in her seat. "Hypothetically."
He nods in agreement. "Yeah, I thought so too."
Their gazes lock and they share a moment, brief yet quite heavy, a glimpse of what possibly could've been if circumstances were different.
Little did they know that years down the line, she would indeed sign like that.