A/N: This is my first story in this fandom and although I've been following Suits since the very first day, and have always loved it, I've never tried to write fictions for it; the idea of this one wouldn't leave me alone, though; so, here you go. I'm not sure about writing for Suits yet, but I hope you like this one.

* This story contains no relationship of any sorts. Just friendship.

* It could be happening sometime after season 2, episode 10; but there's no major spoiler for any episodes or seasons.

When I started writing it, I thought it'd be a one-shot; but as words kept following each other, the story got longer and I finally decided to go for a multi-chapter story. It's still short; probably four chapters, at most, but it was too long for a one-shot.

Let me know what you think so I know how things are here. Thank. :)

Marcus was sick; Marcus was sick and there wasn't a thing Harvey could do about it and it was driving him crazy.

Apparently it'd been like that for close to a month and the idiot had just told him ten days ago; thank God he'd been able to make him come to New York, at least; or maybe it was because Marcus had realized he was doing worse than he'd initially thought.

He'd been going through hundreds of tests and they'd finally got the results back last week and the situation wasn't any better after 7 days; if anything, it was worse as Harvey was feeling totally helpless and really scared and generally angry with the whole world.

He was at the end of his patience and was snapping at anything that moved the wrong way or moved at all; thankfully both Donna and Jessica knew what was going on; OK, Jessica had pulled it out of him and Donna had her own ways to find out; but at least they both knew and were giving him the space he needed and were dealing with the fallout from his anger, their own ways.

There wasn't an associate who Harvey hadn't snapped at for one reason or another and even Louis had finally decided to stay away from Harvey for the time being; Jessica might've had something to do with it, but the point was that the Junior Partner had finally taken the hint and stayed away.

The only one who'd still come around was Mike, and well, it wasn't like he had a choice; the kid was Harvey's associate and with Harvey's head being somewhere else, there was even more work for Mike to do.

The young associate had been the target of many snapping, snarling and scolding from Harvey; but the smart boy he was, he'd quickly realized that Harvey wasn't really angry with him and something bigger was bothering him.

He'd tried to coax some information out of Donna; bribing her, promising to do things for her; but nothing had worked; when it came to Harvey, she wouldn't let anything slip. So, Mike took Harvey's anger and let it slide, hoping that whatever was causing the older man so much pain and anger would go away soon; because as much as he hated an angry Harvey and missed his friendly banter with him, he was more concerned for the Senior Partner.

He'd even tried to talk to Harvey to see if there was any way he could help, but Harvey had scorned him, telling him that there was nothing a nobody like Mike could do for someone like Harvey Specter; that if it weren't for him, Mike probably wouldn't even have a roof over his head anymore.

That had stung pretty badly and Mike had quietly stormed out of Harvey's office; seething and hurting; but he still hadn't said anything back.

Donna later scolded Harvey for the words he'd said to Mike, but Harvey brushed her off and ordered her to mind her own business. And if Donna didn't know how scared Harvey was for Marcus and how he always turned his fears into anger, she would've slapped him then and there.

She, instead, went to Mike to do some damage control; it was her job, after all, to make sure Harvey still had an associate and a job after things went back to normal. Besides, it wasn't the kid's fault Harvey didn't know how to deal with his feelings.

She bought Mike a coffee and told him that he shouldn't take Harvey's crankiness personally. Mike had once again asked her what was going on, but she told him to let it go and just give Harvey some time to get out of his funk.

But if Mike wasn't persistent, he wouldn't be working for the New York City's best law firm. So, he decided to try something else and that was to follow Harvey to see where he was going and what he was doing other than work.

And it turned out to be easier than he'd thought. That night, Harvey had gone straight to a hospital and didn't even notice Mike following him. Mike watched him enter a room and when he peeked inside he saw a young guy in a bed and noted that Harvey called him Marcus.

Marcus! Mike had heard that name before; that was Harvey's brother's name.

Damn, no wonder Harvey was acting like that; his brother was sick and by the look of it, it was bad.

Mike stood there and tried to hear what those two were talking about; at the end, the gist of what he'd heard was that Marcus, as a result of an acute kidney failure, was in an immediate need of a kidney and apparently Harvey hadn't been a match.

That was worse than he'd thought.

That night, he'd gone home and had been so busy thinking that he hadn't been able to sleep a wink. But at least, by the next morning, he'd come to the conclusion that he couldn't just let it go; he'd decided to go back to the hospital and ask for a series of tests, see if he could give one of his kidneys to Marcus.

He went to work, took more of Harvey's anger, this time not even feeling upset about it and just kept thinking about his options if he turned out to be a match.

After work, he pedaled straight to the hospital and charmed his way through nurses to the doctor who was attending to Marcus Specter.

Due to the Doctor-Patient Confidentiality, at first, the doctor wouldn't say a word to him, but when Mike told him that he was asking because he wanted to donate one of his own kidneys to the man, he'd been willing to listen.

Mike had asked him to keep things quiet, not wanting anyone to know about it and the doctor understood his request and agreed to run the tests and since Marcus was in a bad shape, they'd gotten to it right away. Mike had also told him that since Marcus was his boss' brother and he didn't want his boss and friend- he'd added to make it sound less weird that he was willing to give a kidney to a stranger- know about those tests and the possible donation, he couldn't leave work during the day, so they had to find a way to go through everything after working hours.

Typically, it took almost two weeks to be sure he could be a donor in that case; when he'd been informed that his first test results showed he could do it, he'd been both scared and glad; but he knew he could be Marcus' last chance, so he put a lid on his fears and went for further tests, which showed he could be a perfect donor. He was kinda surprised, because what were the chances of him being a match while Marcus' own brother hadn't been one? Well, apparently they weren't that slim.

When everything was certain and the doctor made him talk to a psychologist to make sure he knew what he was doing and he wasn't doing it out of some debt to his boss, he was given more information about the whole thing; about the procedure, the needed cares before and after the surgery and the possible risks of it.

Finally, three weeks after finding out about Harvey's brother, Mike was given a date for his surgery; the coming Monday. It gave him 6 days to prepare and the only thing he needed to do now was to ask for about two weeks off. He knew that the normal recovery time was 2-3 months, but he couldn't possibly ask for that long and he didn't want Harvey to know what was happening. He didn't want anyone to know about it. So, he'd decided to take one extra week of rest at home after getting discharged from the hospital and go back to work as soon as he was able to move around without raising any flags.

It took him two days to build up enough courage to walk into Harvey's office to ask for those days off. By then, Harvey had heard that they'd found a kidney for his brother and that the donor didn't want any recognition, so they couldn't reveal his identity. But Harvey didn't care; he was thankful, but he didn't care as long as his brother got that kidney.

"Umm, Harvey, can I talk to you for a second?" Mike asked tentatively, not sure what mood Harvey was in at that moment.

"You just did and your one second is up." Harvey said coldly without looking at Mike.

Rolling his eyes, Mike decided to just say what he needed to. "Look, I need some days off. Two weeks, at most. I need to take care of something."

"No." The older man was still going through the file in front of him, not even glancing up at Mike.

"What? You can't deny my request just like that. You don't even know why I need time off."

"I can and I just did. You're just an associate; you'll do as you're told to. You can take your time off when you're more than just that."

"Come on, Harvey. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't really need it. You know me."

"Exactly, I won't approve it because I know you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike asked indignantly.

"That, Mike," Harvey finally looked up with a cold glare. "Means I know everything about you and your life. There's nothing you'd need time off for. You don't have anyone, so it can't be a family issue and you don't have any friends and even if you did, it wouldn't have mattered. The answer is no."

Mike was taken aback by the aloofness and the hurtful words; was it really necessary to remind him that he didn't have a single person in this world to care about him? That he was all on his own? Pushing down his hurt feeling, he tried once again. "Nevertheless, I need some days off."

"What part of 'NO' don't you get?" Harvey finally shouted. "The answer is no and it'll remain the same no matter how many times you ask. If you want time off so bad, then leave your badge behind and get the hell out of here. You won't have a job to come back to when you're done slacking off. Now get the hell out of my office and try to do something useful for a change."

Mike was frozen in his place for a second but he finally realized that there was no point in insisting when Harvey was like that. So he quietly walked out, mind busy with his dilemma; well, his dilemma and Harvey's cold words.

"Mike. I'm talking to you." Donna's voice stopped him down the hall.

"Huh?"

"I said why do you need time off?"

For a second there, he actually wanted to tell Donna everything, but then he decided against it, knowing that she always told Harvey everything. "Doesn't matter." He said and walked off.

A few hours later, Mike decided to try Jessica instead; so he walked to her office and knocked.

"Mr. Ross, what do you need?" Straight to the point, typical Jessica Pearson.

"I, umm. I need a few days off."

Jessica just raised her eyebrows and didn't say anything. So Mike continued. "Two weeks, at most. Please, it's really important or I wouldn't have asked at all."

"Two weeks is more than just a few days, Mike."

Biting his lower lip, Mike made up his mind. Nodding his head, he said. "One week, then. Please. I need it and I don't want to be paid for those days. I just really need to take some days off. From upcoming Monday. I'll be back the week after that."

Jessica stared at him with no words, enjoying the fact that the younger man looked so uncomfortable. "No." She finally said.

Mike's shoulder slumped. "I-"

"I said, No. Is there anything else?"

"I'm well within my rights when I ask for a few days off." Mike decided to go for it another way. "You cannot deny me that. It's against rules."

"As it is to hire a fraud." Jessica reminded him coolly.

Mike closed his eyes and let her words sink. Apparently that was it; if he wanted to help Harvey, he had to kiss his job goodbye; or he had to forget about Harvey and Marcus.

Well, there was a third option. He could come clean.

Opening his eyes, he walked to the door to Jessica's office and Jessica smirked when she saw the back of the young man. The smirk was soon replaced by a look of surprise on her face when instead of leaving the office Mike closed the door and walked back. Something about him had changed in those few seconds and that was enough for Jessica to remain quiet and let him explain what he was still doing in her office.

"I know about Harvey's brother." Mike jumped to the point; not for a second doubting that Jessica knew the whole story, too.

Jessica's eyebrows rose at that and she sat there, studying the young associate before her with surprise and amazement, wondering where he was going with that statement. But she was a smart woman; so, soon, she connected the dots. "I see." She nodded her head and the cold expression on her face gave its place to a warm one. "So you are the mysterious donor. Do I even wanna know the details?"

"No." Mike said curtly. "And I don't want Harvey to know about this. I don't want anyone to know."

And surprisingly, Jessica didn't question that decision. She just nodded her head with a look of understanding in her eyes. "You sure about it?"

"I've had weeks to think about it. Yes, I'm sure."

"Your request is approved."

"Thank you." Mike finally heaved a sigh of relief.

"Two weeks. I can't give you more or Harvey would get suspicious." Jessica point out.

"I understand. Two weeks is perfect. Thank you."

Jessica nodded her head and watched as Mike walked to the door, before he could leave, she called out, "You're a good man, Mr. Ross."

Mike paused in his track, looked back and nodded his head with appreciation and then walked away.

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... TBC ...

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A/N: I'd love to know what you think. :)

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All mistakes are mine.