Chapter Text
The tap on the door surprised him. The woman standing at the threshold surprised him even more. She looked ready to leave: a black coat around her frame, tailored perfectly to accentuate her figure. In a sense, she was ready to go home. A fact that shouldn't surprise him at the late hour. But he was surprised at her presence. She rarely came to him before she left.
"Donna, what can I do for you?" Louis asked.
"You doing anything important?" she wondered as she looked over at his desk.
"Nothing pressing. Just some paperwork for Folsom Foods," he told her.
"You...umm. You want to grab a drink?" she asked.
His smile lit up his face and he tried to keep his cool. They were still working on the whole friendship thing again. The other night proved she and Harvey had started to put things behind them.
"Is Harvey coming?" Louis wondered.
"No. Just us. That's okay, right?" Donna asked.
"Sure," he nodded. "I'd be down with that."
"No," Donna shook her head.
"Too eager?" Louis asked.
Donna's fingers came up and pinched a bit and he nodded. She watched as Louis gathered his paperwork and pushed it into a random file.
"You have anywhere in mind?" he asked as he powered down his laptop for the night. He wasn't coming back by the look on her face.
"Called in a favour," Donna said. "Top floor of that steakhouse you like. Window seat in the bar."
"You asking me for a favour?" he asked as he shrugged on his coat.
"We haven't been there in a while," she said as she shook her head. She watched him gather his briefcase. He wasn't as refined as Harvey but he did carry his own air of class and status. Less sure of himself, Donna noted. Harvey was cocky and confident where Louis was subdued and confident.
"We'll have to walk since I didn't drive today," she added.
He looked down at her heels and back to her face.
"I can handle it," she answered his silent question.
"Just making sure," Louis said.
She moved out of the doorway as he shut off the light and hit the magnetic lock for the door. She smiled as he pat his pockets before following her out the door.
They took the long way around for the elevators. She wasn't ashamed of asking Louis for drinks but she'd rather not be the gossip of the night for the associates. They passed by her darkened cubicle and Harvey's blackened office.
"Harvey left already?" Louis asked as he looked over his shoulder. When he assumed Harvey wasn't coming he was sure he'd still be working on getting Hardman out of their hair again.
"10:30," she nodded. It was fast approaching midnight. "Don't ask. It's better if you don't know so you can have deniability."
He nodded silently. He could understand. He just wasn't sure why Donna was still here an hour and a half later than Harvey. He was sure they'd get to why eventually. For now, he was just happy they were actually talking to one another.
~z~
He expected nothing less than a graceful entrance and quick seating when it came to dining out with Donna. Everyone in the firm knew if you wanted tables at the most exclusive restaurants in the city at a moment's notice, one went to Donna. Even Jessica Pearson had used Donna's network more than once. He had only used that power once when his mother and father came into the city. He wanted to have them impressed and asked Donna for her opinion. She had told him she and Harvey had taken Gordon and her parents to a new restaurant downtown. When she told him that everyone liked it, Louis and his parents dined at it that weekend. He wondered if she was some kind of food critic or something. How else would she get all this exclusive access at a moment's notice? Two martinis were ordered for the pair as soon as they were seated: Donna's a vodka with a lemon twist, Louis's a vodka with a stuffed olive.
He watched her as she drank and picked at the bar nuts he had demanded better be fresh or else. She was beautiful, out of his league,and he knew he never had a chance even without Harvey in the picture. She had an air of sadness about her figure lately. He wondered if it was only the select few who knew her well or if an average person could detect her eyes weren't as dark and playful as they usually were. They didn't dance with a hint of happiness and calculation. They weren't dull or lifeless; they were just less Donna than he had been used to for the last ten years.
Unlike the times he, Harvey, and Donna went out for a drink or dinner, men tried to approach them and buy her a drink. They never approached with Harvey. She never needed a knight in shining armour to rescue her from him because Harvey is a king and he is merely the court jester. She turned them down, each and every one of them, who approached her. A simple brush of her hand against Louis's arm stopped them from asking anything more. He knew it was simply born out of friendship, she meant nothing more, but the men obviously thought differently and left them alone after a half an hour. He stopped his musings when he felt her looking at him.
"Good musings?" she asked half amused and curious.
"The usual," he shrugged.
"And?" Donna prompted.
"The princess needing rescuing from the court jester," he said as he waved a hand around the bar area.
"Don't belittle yourself, Louis. You're at least a knight," Donna smiled softly.
"Really?" Louis perked up.
"You've saved Harvey a few times," Donna nodded. "Despite antagonising each other the entire time."
"Boys will be boys," he shrugged.
"Exactly," Donna nodded. She looked at him pointedly and added a quiet detail. "And you've helped me a few times, too."
Louis swallowed heavily. He hadn't thought about that in years. What no one really knew was Donna and Louis were actually close. Perhaps good friends. And neither used the term lightly. He went to her more than she did to him. Perhaps it was because a powerful woman like her needed her secrets close. Secrets could destroy a woman like Donna. There were only four people who knew her biggest one. The world speculated, made innuendos, implied everything but none of the four wielding the secret betrayed the one woman it would hurt most.
He had gone to Harvey's office that night, expecting to see the man and he could ask him a question about a case. What he found was Donna sitting in Harvey's chair, the desk lamp dimmed, a record in her hand, and a tumbler of scotch near her elbow. She had slipped that night, choosing Harvey over her current-now former-boyfriend. When he had asked her why, figuring she'd tell him to go away, his heart broke a little for the fiery redhead. The catch in her voice, the way the words came out felt more like a death sentence than a declaration of feelings. When she realised what she had just confirmed she startled and turned towards him. He had his hand up and promised not to say a word. He broke the vow two years later when he used it in a mock trial run against Harvey. To this day he still hated what Daniel Hardman made him become that time. The senior partnership wasn't worth hurting this beautiful woman in front of him whose only crime was being deeply and tragically in love with a man who returned the feelings but neither knew what to do with them.
"Maybe I should have cut you off after that last martini," Donna's voice broke through the haze.
Louis shook himself out of her own thoughts to see her smiling amusedly at him as she popped almonds into her mouth.
"Nah, I can handle it," Louis said. "The question is, why are we still out at 12:30 in the morning."
A perfectly polished finger ran down the stem of her second glass, circling the base as it sat on the coaster. He watched her hands as she watched the city. He was content to let her sit, knowing the information would come out sooner or later. After all, she had asked him to drinks and not the other way around. If it had been, he would have already talked her ear off. Donna liked to approach the subject slowly. She never spoke without thinking, at least when it came to professional matters and the few personal things she had let him know about over the last decade.
"I have a bad feeling about all of this," she said as she looked at the skyline. It was only a few blocks away but even from this far away she could recognise Pearson Hardman.
"Like we're going to lose?" Louis asked.
"Not necessarily. More like that feeling I get every time Scottie shows up," she said. "Like everything Harvey and I have been working at is going to hit the fan."
"You think Hardman is up to something?" Louis asked.
Donna turned away from the window view and faced Louis.
"I know that asshole is up to something," Donna said. "Jessica has a depo tomorrow and he'll try and make her talk. We can't afford her talking. You know he's going to try and anger her."
"Harvey will stop her," Louis nodded.
"You're so confident," Donna noted.
"Aren't you?" Louis asked.
He looked at her closely in the dim light. The shadows and light played on her face. The darkness hid the fatigue and light caught the less than positive outcome that was oozing from her frame. Hardman had broken her. He wanted the smug asshole gone and done with. He wanted the Donna he has known for ten years. He wants the Donna that lurks in the corners when she plays practical jokes; the Donna who breaks hearts without even realising it because she doesn't understand she's the full package. She's brains, beauty, and braun. He doesn't like this shadow of a woman he barely sees at her guard post as of late.
"I want to kill that smug asshole," Louis told her quietly.
"I'd settle for slapping him at this point," Donna said. "Wiping that smug grin off his face."
"I keep telling you revenge is the best form of revenge," Louis said. He noticed the fire when she announced her true desire. "He deserves a slap or two."
"You deserve some revenge against him, too," Donna told him. "Actually killing him may be a slight problem. But threatening him would be okay. I mean you are a hardened criminal now. Your stint at lock up, you're a changed man."
Louis actually gave a giggle at her statement. It countered the hardened criminal description she had just given him so she shook her head as she attempted to hide her own smile.
"I'm sorry," Louis said suddenly. "I know I can never take it back."
"We've moved past it, Louis. You should too. We can't look back, just keep moving to this new hurdle," Donna told him.
"Why were you there an hour and a half after Harvey left?" Louis asked as he changed subjects.
"He still has clients that have needs. With him taking on Hardman and Mike working his Folsom Foods accounts, someone needs to take care of the rest," Donna told him.
"And the clients don't mind you taking their accounts?" Louis wondered.
"Who do you think was Harvey's associate and paralegal before he got Mike? He never used Rachel or the other paralegals nor any associate. It's always been me and Harvey against the bad guys," Donna noted. "His clients get worried when Harvey does call and check up on them. He personally called all his clients last week and I got calls from all of them as soon as he was done wondering if Harvey was dying or something."
Louis gave a small laugh.
She smiled at Louis's response.
"What would he do without you?" Louis asked hypothetically. He didn't mean to bring up the time she was fired. But at least Harvey had realised he needed her.
"He needs me," Donna told him. Her smile had dropped from her face slightly and she looked down at her martini rather than Louis.
"How'd he get you back anyway?" Louis asked.
"He told me that," Donna said as she sipped at her martini.
"What?" Louis wondered. Perhaps he had missed it.
"He told me that he needed me and he let me fire Cameron," Donna told him with a small smile.
The two let the conversation pause in an effort to gather a sense of balance. Donna had opened the line of questioning and was responding so far. Louis appreciated being in the circle again but didn't want to push. Especially with such a vast subject regarding Donna and Harvey's relationship with one another.
The waiter took the opportunity to ask if they wanted anything. Donna ordered a cracker and cheese platter, Louis ordered the famous sliders. Small enough meals to share between the two and perfect enough to curb the alcohol consumption if they were going to continue this line of questioning.
"Can I ask you a question?" Louis asked.
"You may. I'll even let you answer another," she said with a small smirk.
"Funny," he noted. "Did you. Uh. How do you. Have you ever been in love?"
He watched the little lines appear in between her brows, her forehead wrinkling in confusion.
"I think you know the answer to that question," Donna said as she licked her lips.
"You still love him," Louis deduced.
She took a greedy sip of her martini and the vodka slid down easily, only a slight burn as it hit her stomach. She needed some food soon. Hopefully their order would be out soon.
"I've been there since the beginning, Donna. I know," Louis said. "I've had a crush on you for almost ten years but I know you've only ever loved one man."
Donna opened her mouth but he held up a finger.
"I'm the outside world. They ask you to choose between them and Harvey. You've always chosen Harvey because deep down you know he loves you too. He just can't see past getting to that last hurdle of his name on the door," Louis concluded.
"I wasn't made for the normal life, the simple love they offered," she said as she referred back to her disasters of boyfriends. "I can't help it. It's difficult, demanding, sometimes completely one-sided. But it's also this extraordinary feeling I've never had with anyone else."
"Have you…" Louis trailed off.
The way her eyes darted to her empty glass and the way she bit her lip answered the question for him. She didn't need to say anything else.
"What am I going to do, Louis?" she asked.
Louis called the bartender over and pointed at their drinks.
"You're going to drink and eat with me tonight. Tomorrow we exact our revenge on Hardman and get our revenge on that son of a bitch. Then you see if the bad juju goes away," Louis said.
"And if it doesn't?" she wondered.
"Then you slap Hardman, and fix it so you don't have anymore bad feelings," Louis told her. "And if that Scottie woman shows up you defend what's yours."
Her breathy laugh tugged at the heart strings. She revealed her secrets to him tonight. He wasn't sure why but he wasn't going to abuse the privilege. She knew he wouldn't judge her. Ten years of friendship was starting to mend. He wasn't going to lose her trust again. He didn't want to deal with no Donna Paulsen in his life anymore. It was a lonely existence without her making a mockery of him. It was how she and Harvey shared their affection. He craved their attention as much as their little puppy did.
"Thank you," she smiled softly and sincerely at him.
"Anything for you," he said honestly.
"We should probably go," Donna noted once their third round was drunk and their food was eaten.
"Of course," Louis said with a nod.
Before she could get to her purse he already had a crisp hundred dollar bill on the table. She smiled her thanks as he handed her coat to her from the coat rack behind him.
As soon as they stepped outside, her arm was wrapped around his. He wished she wasn't so damn tall or he wasn't so damn short. But she didn't seem to mind as they let the city wash over them.
"This was nice," she said quietly as they made their way towards the general direction of Pearson Hardman.
"I'm sorry for what I did," he said suddenly and again.
"Shh, Louis. It's in the past. Let us not speak of it again," she reminded him again.
"That feeling go away yet?" he asked her.
"Something's coming," she told him. "And it doesn't look good."
Louis wanted to reassure her but her gut never failed her in the ten years he had known her. He could give her all the platitudes but both would know they were false. They didn't deal in false hope. They dealt in facts, numbers, and truths from lies. And Louis never wanted to lie to Donna. So, he stayed quiet and reassured himself with the tapping of her heels on the concrete as they walked the few blocks to their place of employment.
As they stopped in front of Pearson Hardman Donna started to smile. A black Lexus pulled up seemingly out of nowhere and Donna unwound her arm from his.
"This is my ride," she told him.
His brow furrowed as the driver got out of the car and rounded to the side closest to the sidewalk. He simply stood there with a brief nod at Donna.
"Since when can executive assistants get personal drivers?" Louis asked.
Donna only gave him a smirk, pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek, and began walking to the car.
Louis watched as the man in the dark suit opened the door. As Donna turned to seat herself he got a glimpse of who was already on the other side of the back seat. Harvey was looking over at him as he held a hand out for Donna to take as she adjusted to the height difference from the sidewalk to the backseat. Louis noticed the lingering hands but was forced to end his staring as the driver shut the door. The dark night and the darker tint on the windows left him blind to anymore interaction. Instead he watched the man in the suit round the front of the car.
Briefly, Louis wondered how Harvey knew where Donna was; wondered how he knew the exact moment Donna would appear. He made a mental note to explore these two more. One day Donna would get her happy ending. She'd have that love she deserved to have. If he could help in any way, he would do it. Because Donna deserved the world. And he'd be one of the knights to get the princess her true love and her happily ever after.