Day 6

Hot Chocolates & Baby Reindeers

by Andelin

.-*°✧°*-.

Scooping the last mini marshmallow onto the cream-topped hot chocolate, Donna's sight falls to the empty cup beside hers. From the living room, she can hear the tingling sound of Christmas music. The DVD menu must have restarted itself about 20 times now and while Donna is already sick of the song playing, her mini-me on the couch is still happily humming along.

Grateful that their daughter can't tell the time yet, Donna pushed their scheduled movie night for an hour. But now Harvey is already two hours late and while she knows he is okay – he has enough foresight to know she will worry and therefore texts her every 20 minutes – she doesn't think that Lily can be kept distracted for much longer. While Donna has the patience of a saint, their first-born seems to have all her father's bad traits. And while they are much cuter in the body of a two-year-old than they are in a grown man, Donna wishes that her daughter would understand that some things just don't always happen when you want them to.

Grabbing her cell phone from the countertop, she dials Harvey's number and waits for her husband to answer the call.

"I'm sorry!" are his first words out before she can even greet him. "We lost the deposition transcript and then opposing counsel buried us in paperwork but I think it's under control now."

"So you are on your way? I've got the hot chocolate ready and Lily wants to hit play on Santa Buddies."

"Donna…" Harvey doesn't need to finish the sentence.

"You are not coming home, are you?"

"I'm sorry. It's just – It's Christmas Eve and I felt bad keeping the associates here. But if I want to be able to enjoy the holidays with you two, I will need to get this paperwork done before tomorrow."

Donna's annoyance with her husband immediately gets replaced with a feeling of love and sympathy. The last place Harvey wanted to be tonight was the firm and she knew he would never leave them hanging if not for a good reason. These days she was just easily irritated and wanted Harvey around constantly.

"You are too good for this world, Harvey Specter."

"And you are too good for me, Donna Paulsen-Specter."

"Not even a little bit." She takes the sippy cup with cooled down hot chocolate into the living room and hands it over to her daughter, who snuggled up in her favorite blanket, before sitting down next to her. "So, realistically, how soon do you think you will be home?"

"I hope to be out of here by 8 pm. Lily will already be asleep, but it should give us enough time for dinner and putting her gifts under the tree."

One look at the clock on the wall confirms her thoughts – he won't be home for another four hours at least.

"We wanted to put the cookies and milk out for Santa together."

Lily's head shoots up and her eyes sparkle.

"Santa cookies?" she mumbles with the nozzle of the sippy cup still in her mouth.

"Yes, baby. Daddy will come home for Santa cookies."

"Daddy home?" She curiously looks around the room before her eyes settle on her mother again.

"Daddy's on the phone, baby," she explains before moving her attention to her husband again. "Can you put on FaceTime? There is someone here who would love to talk to you."

Moving the phone from her ear, she hits the video button and waits for Harvey's face to appear on the screen. She can't help but smile when his exhausted but happy eyes find hers.

"Hey," he grins at her like a sappy teenager with a crush.

"Hey." They have been a couple for almost four years now, married for three, and yet they feel just like they did the night that Harvey got down on one knee at Louis' wedding: giddy, happy and hopelessly in love. "Quickly say hi to your daughter so you can finish work and come home to us."

She hands the phone over to Lily, makes sure the toddler has a tight grip on it and then pushes herself off the couch to get her own hot chocolate.

The sounds of excited squeals and happy babbling from her daughter follow her into the kitchen.

Donna had hoped that things would change once they moved back to New York. But now, one month in, Harvey is back to his old schedule of fourteen hours days. Seattle had been an amazing experience for them. They were able to enjoy being newlyweds without the pressure of work or having to look over their shoulders, wondering which old foe will come after them this month. They conceived and had their baby girl there and spent every day side-by-side with their best friends. In the end though, it wasn't for them. They missed the city, they missed their families and when Louis got another shot at a judgeship, they knew it was time for them to come home.

Back to being Managing Partner, Donna knew that Harvey would work longer hours than he did in Seattle but she had also hoped that he had learned to delegate more by now. He was so good at passing cases on in the past but now that it is his job again, he wants to deal with everything himself.

She knows he misses them, probably even more than they miss him. At least Donna and Lily get to spend their days together and while Harvey tries to be home for bedtime every night, it doesn't always happen. It makes him feel like a neglectful father and Donna hates that she can't make him see that him trying is proof enough of his commitment to their little family. There is no one who loves Harvey more than Lily, probably not even Donna herself, and a few missed bedtimes will not make their daughter's feelings change.

On her way back to the couch, Donna finally notices the snow coming down outside. While she is excited about a white Christmas, she wishes that Harvey would be home before the snow starts to stick to the streets.

Lily is telling Harvey the plot of the movie they are about to watch. With Santa Buddies being a favorite in their household, Harvey knows exactly at which points to ooh and aah even when Lily's three words sentences make no sense.

Kissing her daughter on the crown of her head, Donna gets under the blanket with her and takes a sip of her drink before taking the phone from her daughter and pressing play on the movie.

Harvey takes one look at his wife and lets out a deep groan.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"What?" Donna gives him a challenging look.

"You know what."

"You mean this?" She moves her finger up to her nose and removes the whipped cream that got stuck there from when she took a sip of her drink. Sticking her tongue out, she licks the cream from her finger while sending her husband a mischievous grin through the phone.

"You know that is my job."

"I know that you're not here, so I have to take matters into my own hands, I guess." Blowing him a kiss, she snuggles up closer to Lily and abruptly ends the call to him. Maybe knowing what's waiting for him, will motivate him to finish his work faster.

As this is the third time that Lily requested this particular movie in as many days, Donna can let her mind wander and doesn't need to keep watch for sensitive topics. It doesn't take her long to come up with a plan for the rest of the evening. If Harvey couldn't come home for Christmas Eve, maybe Christmas Eve could come to him.

Once the movie is finished, Donna shares her idea with Lily and while the young girl probably doesn't understand half of what her mom tells her, Donna's enthusiasm makes the toddler giddy. Asking Lily to play with her toys for a short while, Donna sets off to getting everything ready for their outing.

A quick call to Ray and their favorite restaurant takes care of transportation and dinner and it only takes a few more minutes for the thermoses to be filled and placed into a picnic basket. Finding her daughter surrounded by stuffed toys, Donna holds a brown onesie out to her.

"How do you feel about dressing up for daddy?"

"Me Rude-dolf?"

"If you want to."

Lily giggles and jumps up and down in place.

Donna dresses her quickly and pulling the hood over Lily's head, her little reindeer was ready to go. Getting into her tan winter coat, Donna stuffs a few blankets into the picnic basket and takes her daughter's hand.

"Ready to surprise daddy?"

"Ready," the toddler almost yells.

When they returned to the East Coast, both Donna and Harvey agreed that they would not move back into his condo. The fact that they never sold it was proof that Seattle wasn't going to be their forever home, but it also wasn't suitable for a family. They quickly found a beautiful brownstone on the Upper West Side, just a fifteen minutes drive from the firm and steps from Central Park.

Ray had already picked up their meal, so they went straight to the firm, Lily bouncing all the way there.

Reaching the elevator, excitement and butterflies start moving in Donna's stomach. Everything inside her knows that Harvey is close and she can't wait to curl up in her husband's arms. The second the doors open on the 50th floor, Lily is off, reindeer antlers bopping on her head.

As fast as her little legs can carry her, she races past empty offices and one or two surprised attorneys who are on their way out. Halfway down the hallway, Lily starts yelling for her father.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy."

Donna sees Harvey's head shoot up from the paperwork on his desk and a huge smile spreads across his face. He quickly gets up and walks over to his door, kneeling down so she can run straight into his arms.

Lily doesn't slow down before reaching him, knowing that her daddy will always be ready to catch her. Her plush antlers hit him right in the face but Harvey doesn't flinch for a second. He stands up, twirling his daughter around in his arms.

By the time Donna reaches them, Harvey has propped Lily on his hip and pokes the red reindeer nose on his daughter's hood.

"Rudolph, what are you doing here?" he jokes.

"No, daddy! No Rude-dolf. Me Lily."

"No. You can't be Lily. My Lily doesn't have a red nose."

"Daddy!" If Lily knew how to roll her eyes, this would have been her moment to do it.

"But my Lily doesn't have antlers either." He flicks a finger against them.

"Me Lily. Baby Lily." She pulls on the back of her hood until it falls down from her head.

To his daughter's entertainment, Harvey's eyes widen and his mouth falls open wide.

"You are my Lily! Donna," he turns towards his wife, "did you know that this was Lily?"

"Lily? I thought she was a baby reindeer." Donna's facial expressions match her husband's now, which makes the toddler giggle.

Harvey tickles her until she squirms out of his arms, sliding down his leg, landing on her feet again. Toddling over to Donna's handbag, she pulls her favorite stuffed bunny out of it and just drops herself on the floor, happily playing.

Harvey and Donna smile at the sight of their daughter and Harvey leans in to give his wife a deep kiss.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" He unbuttons her coat and places a hand over her protruding belly. "I don't want you out in this weather."

"We are fine. We just didn't want to spend Christmas Eve without Daddy."

"I love you." He pulls her close to his body and presses a kiss against the side of her head. "How is our other baby reindeer doing?"

"Kicking up a storm since the second we entered the building," she laughs.

Harvey looks down and moves his hand over her midriff.

"I can't wait to be able to feel her."

"Or him."

"It's going to be a girl, I can feel it. A little reindeer girl." He smirks at her.

"A reindeer girl?" Donna laughs about her husband's silly comment. "Are we going to call her Bambi?"

Harvey's face crunches up in dislike.

"I'm sure we can come up with something better than that."

"But don't you want a boy? Someone to play baseball with? Someone who shares your enthusiasm about cars?"

"Why? I can do that with my girls. They can play soccer or softball, become race drivers or astronauts. If there is one thing I know, it's that being a Paulsen-Specter means the sky's the limit for them."

"And your dad's name? I really want to pass it on."

"Maybe the next one will be a boy then. We will just keep trying."

Donna raises her eyebrows at him.

"You are very sure of yourself there, Specter. Who says I will have more babies with you?"

"You will, 'cause you loooove me." He flutters his eyelashes at her.

"And sometimes I wonder why," she laughs and rolls her eyes at him.

Walking over to the picnic basket, she gets the blankets and arranges them in front of his leather couch. Grabbing the pillows he has lying around, she gets comfortable on them. Pulling Lily between her legs, she gets their dinner and the bottles with the hot chocolate out. Filling one of the mugs with the contents of the smaller thermos, she puts a healthy amount of whipped cream on top of the liquid, smirking at her husband.

"Don't empty that can just yet."

"I wouldn't dare. Marshmallows?"

"Always."

Donna puts one in her mouth before topping the whipped cream with them. A few chocolate sprinkles and the drink is ready.

Taking his first sip, Harvey gives her a surprised look.

"Yours has a bit of a kick to it," she confirms his thoughts. "I thought you might like the added Kahlúa."

"Mrs. Specter, do you regularly go out and spike men's drinks?"

"Only the drinks of the man that I loooove."

Lily nurses her second cup of cocoa of the day while Harvey and Donna finish their dinners. Once they are done he pushes the boxes to the side and slides down until he is lying comfortably on the floor. Lily crawls out from between Donna's legs and curls into her father's side. Pulling her close, he feels her breathing even out and it only takes a minute for her to be fast asleep.

"Long day for her?" Harvey turns to his wife.

"Really long day. We made cookies, watched Santa Buddies for the millionth time and I didn't put her down for a nap, hoping she would just conk out tonight, forgetting about it being Christmas tomorrow."

"Seems like it worked. We should probably take her home though."

"And we will. But for now, I just want to be here with you."

Donna lies down on the other side of Lily, snuggling up to her husband as close as she can with her belly and a toddler between them. Harvey moves his arm so Donna can rest her head on his shoulder. Pressing her forehead against the side of his head, she looks up to the large windows and the heavy snow that is falling down outside.

"Donna?"

"Mhhm?" she replies, already half asleep herself.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming over, for the hot chocolate and for giving me as many baby reindeers as I want."

"You are an idiot."

"I love you, too." He moves his head to give her a kiss. Pulling one of the blankets over them, he closes his eyes as well. "Merry Christmas, my love."

"Merry Christmas."

.-*°✧°*-.