Because She's Different

How Intent could have ended…

…..

For those of you who read my stories (and I'm grateful to every one of you), I know I have chapters of You Can Never Go Back and Love & War to finish. They are coming along, but aren't quite right yet. In the meantime, thisidea came to me the other day, seeing everyone talking about Intent. Hopefully, it's something a little different and you enjoy it. As always, thanks for reading and supporting my writing and do leave a review to let me know what you think if you have time!

...

The bang of the gavel was deafening to Harvey, as he stood rigid in the courtroom; his mouth dry; the breath suddenly absent from his lungs, as his brain tried desperately to process what had just happened. He could hear Louis's voice, as if through a haze, the words out of focus in his mind, instead just a familiar noise close by.

His head turned to his left and on meeting a familiar pair of eyes, now full of fear, his mind finally cleared enough for him to at least pretend to function. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words seemed to die in her throat and instead she swallowed, before drawing in a deep breath. Louis was talking again, telling her they would work everything out, that everything would be fine.

Out of his peripheral vision, Harvey noticed two individuals moving towards their table and his immediate instinct was to land a couple of solid punches; stand his ground between them and the woman by his side; the woman he'd failed.

"Harvey…" Her voice was quiet, but stronger than she'd be expected to be in this moment. He met her gaze, finally finding his voice. "I'll fix this."

She bit her lip and gave a small nod, but didn't say anything more. As the individuals he'd been aware of reached the table, she moved, taking a step back.

Realising she was moving away from him, his head reached out on instinct. He remembered his words from a few nights ago; that he wasn't the comforting type. Yet, in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to hold her, to pull her to him and never let go.

There wasn't enough time. Everything was happening so quickly.

His hand found hers and he squeezed it tightly, fingers interlinking, making his heart ache like never before.

"Donna…."

His voice sounded alien to him, as if he was being strangled by the reality of what had happened and could barely get the words out. She glanced at their linked hands briefly and when her eyes looked up again he could see she was fighting to stay strong. "I'll fix this, Donna."

She was suddenly being escorted away from the table; away from him and he felt an immeasurable amount of anger rise through him at being so utterly powerless.

With a last look back over her shoulder, she was gone and he could feel the void in his existence start to open up, as if a gaping wound. The loss certainly felt physical.

Louis was pale and stood stunned, as Rachel appeared next to him, steadying him, but also herself, while Harvey sank in to his chair; the effort of standing suddenly too much.

At that moment, Mike appeared, hurrying down the aisle of the courtroom, opening the gate at the front to reach his friends. "I got stuck in a meeting. What happened?" Turning around slightly, he noticed someone was missing and he turned to Rachel. "Where's Donna?"

She had tears in her eyes, as she answered, speaking the words that Harvey couldn't bear to hear.

"She was found guilty….Mike…..she…..she got three years…"

…

Okay, I know it's only short, but that seemed to be a good place to end what I'm calling the prologue to this story. The idea came to me the other day, seeing everyone talking about Intent. It had me wondering how things could have worked out if Donna had gone to prison. Plus I do love angst! As always, I'd love to know what you think, so if you have time to leave a review that would be great!