Chapter Text
Donna was the one who introduced Harvey to Rollo's Pizza And Ribs, and thus she took credit for being the source of all of Harvey's happiness in life. She wasn't in doubt before, but it was nice to have solid evidence she could one day use against him.
Back when they were working for the DA's office, around the time Harvey started suspecting things and Cameron started getting sloppy (and would not stop making subtle passes at her, God, what a creep) and it was all going to shit, she decided desperate measures were required.
She'd gotten into the habit, on really bad days, of running down the block to Rollo's to pick up a meatball grinder for lunch. On one particular day, she glanced at Harvey, working in his closet of an office, looking weary and upset, and added a small pepperoni and sausage pizza to her usual order. She didn't know what he liked on pizza, but Harvey liked meat, so...
When she brought it back, she set it down on his desk and said, "This is a bribe."
"Cheap pizza?" he asked, looking up at her.
"Bite your tongue, Harvey Specter," she answered, feigning shock. He sighed but sat back from his paperwork.
"What are your terms?"
"I want to talk to you for ten minutes, and I want you to stop every time you feel defensive and take a bite of pizza and listen to me," she said. "Try some."
Harvey lifted the lid of the little box and took out a slice, tasting one edge of it cautiously.
"Oh my God," he said, looking up at her. "Where did you get this? It's amazing."
"Ten minutes."
"Deal."
She took the ten minutes (more like two hours, by the time they were finished) and told him what she hadn't been able to before: that Cameron was a bad man, that he was doing bad things, and that she wanted out. Even so, even given his suspicions, Harvey might not have listened -- but she told him about Cameron's last conversation with her, and how uncomfortable she was starting to feel.
So they made a plan, and Harvey made a phone call.
To the rest of the world it looked like Harvey got an offer from Pearson Hardman, sold out, and seduced her away with promises of better pay. To Cameron, it looked like Harvey caught him doing something naughty, got sulky about it, took his toy and went home.
In reality, Harvey had needed hard proof; it was Donna who took him away, Donna who got them both out. Harvey just happened to have a place for them to go once they left.
Score one for Rollo's pizza.
But Donna was not one to let go of an advantage, and the name of the best pizza place in Manhattan was a bartering chip. Rollo's didn't brand their pizza boxes, so Harvey had no idea who they were; for the first few months they were at Pearson Hardman he'd just stop and ask her, can you get us some food from that place, you know the one?
She was out sick the day Harvey had the epiphany that he had no idea where his food was coming from, because he couldn't ask her to order it. And, from that day forward, he spent considerable energy pestering her for a name, a phone number, a hint. Anything.
Donna just smiled and ordered his mushroom pizza and her meatball grinder and sometimes a side of ribs.
The day Harvey made Senior Partner, she presented him with a thin box wrapped in very expensive paper. He looked at it, looked at her, made sure nobody was watching, and then ripped into it like a child. When he lifted the lid on the box, he frowned.
She watched gleefully as he reached in, took out the Rollo's Pizza And Ribs menu (delivery area highlighted, so he'd know he could get it delivered to his home), and then looked up at her.
"The place?" he asked.
"The place," she confirmed.
In a rare display of his total goofball side, he then hugged her and offered to treat her to the best pizza in town. He even ordered it himself.