"Hello, hello," Mike called out when he walked through the condo's front door.

It was around seven in the evening on a Friday night, a little late some would say to get home when you have children, but it was actually a decent time for Mike. He knew Harvey had been cutting him slack ever since he found out about Alex and they moved in with him. He made sure someone was home with her after school, sometimes it was Mike, sometimes Harvey or Donna, but still Jenny most of the time, much to Rachel's displeasure.

Despite Mike's pleas for no special treatment at the office, Harvey had formed a bond with Alex almost immediately and he liked the little dysfunctional family they were becoming. He was protective over Mike, anyone could see it, but he was ten times more protective over Alex. It surprised everyone, even himself, but he was completely fine with it.

Alex came running out of her room and into his arms. It was one thing he hoped never changed, but knew it would some day. More room was a perk because now he was greeted with great enthusiasm.

"Look, we ordered Chinese!" Alex said as she gestured toward the table.

"I can see that," he nodded. "I thought we were going out for dinner?"

"We were," Harvey said as he came out of his room. "Until I picked her up from the principal's office."

"What?" Mike frowned as he looked down at his daughter.

She broke eye contact with him as she glared at Harvey. "You have one chance to change that look, young lady," he said.

"Or what?" she said as she crossed her arms and held her ground.

"Or what?" Harvey raised a surprised brow. "Or, you can go back to your room for the rest of the night."

"You're being unfair!" she said. "You're not my Dad."

"Alright, enough," Mike said as he stepped between them. "Lex, go to your room and wait for me."

"Daddy," she whined.

He held up a hand. "I'm going to talk to Harvey, and then I'm going to talk to you," he said. "And when I do, I want a lot less attitude and a lot more explaining." He nodded toward the hall. "Go, because I am your Dad."

She sighed before she stomped off to her room and slammed the door. He shook his head and ran a hand over his tired eyes before he sat down at the counter. Harvey waited a minute before he leaned on the counter and spoke up. "Is she testing me?" he asked.

"Yes," Mike said. "She wants to know you'll be there even when she doesn't act well. Push back."

"Done," he nodded. "She's family to me, so are you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, of course," Mike nodded. "So, what'd she do?"

"She disrupted the class," he said. "Apparently she's been doing it all week, and today she picked a fight with the substitute teacher. She corrected her constantly and created an environment that didn't allow for other students to learn."

"Their words?" Mike asked and Harvey nodded. "She's bored. Every teacher conference I go to I hear the same thing. She needs to be challenged more."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Private school," Mike shook his head. "I can't afford it, and before you say it, no. I can't ask you to do that."

"Good," he said. "Because they already told me that, and I already made a call, and you're not asking. I'm offering and you're going to accept because it's the best thing for her."

Mike looked at him. "You did all that? Even though I'm sure she's been giving you hell."

"Nothing I can't handle," he smirked with a shrug. "I talked to her, then I lectured, and then I sent her to her room when she got a little too mouthy."

"Sounds about right," he said. "It's a fine line between raising a strong willed daughter and a spoiled one."

"Maybe you can finally teach me something," Harvey joked. "Like how you got her to back down and listen to you so easily a minute ago."

"She can be stubborn, but with a little practice you'll get there," he said as he stood up. "You coming?"

Harvey nodded and gestured for Mike to take the lead. He followed him down the hall and watched as Mike knocked once before he entered the room. He crossed the room and sat down on the bed while Alex pouted across the room as she pretended to ruffle through her book shelves and ignore them. Harvey leaned against the door frame and watched Mike excel in his best role.

"Hey," he said softly and waited for Alex to look at him. "Sit down. We need to talk."

She grabbed a pillow and clutched it in her arms as she sat cross legged on her bed. Mike shifted so he was facing her and gently pulled the pillow from her arms before he slipped a few fingers under her chin. Her blue eyes met his and he could tell something was wrong.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I'm bored and not applying myself because the material is not challenging enough," she parroted back the principal's analysis of her as she pulled out of his grasp.

"Hmm," Mike nodded. "And, being disrespectful toward Harvey, what's that about? Thought you two were pals."

"We are," she mumbled as she slowly looked over at him. He smiled and she visibility relaxed as she sighed and gave a small smile back.

"I think you owe him an apology," Mike reminded.

"Sorry, Harvey," she said.

"Forgiven," he said as he crossed the room and joined them on the bed. "What if we told you we could get you into a school that would challenge you?"

"Why do I have to change schools because they can't teach right?" she asked.

"Teach well," Mike corrected with a smile. "And, because other kids learn at different speeds. You are smarter than average kids your age, they are teaching to the average crowd. At private school they will teach more at your level."

"I learn more from you than school," she mumbled. "What about my friends?"

"Well, here's the thing," Mike said. "Because we moved here, we're now out of your school's district, they just haven't caught up with us yet. So, it's either a new public school, or a new private school."

Alex looked from her Dad to Harvey and watched them exchange a glance. "Do I even get a choice, or have you already made the decision?"

Mike grinned. "Sorry baby, some decisions I have to make for you," he said as he kissed her head. "You start Monday."

OOOOO

Alex sat in the back seat with Harvey as Ray pulled up to the new school. It was downtown, it was stone, and these kids wore uniforms and came from rich families. They were nothing like her. Their lives were nothing like hers. They didn't have single parents, Mothers who abandoned them, or Dad's who used to be a bike messenger slash drug dealer turned fraud lawyer. She was in their world now, Mike was in their world too, but it didn't mean they belonged there. Not yet, anyway.

"I can be whoever I want?" she asked.

"You can be whoever you want," Harvey nodded.

"I can lie?" she looked at him.

He shrugged and rocked his head back and forth. "You can bend the truth," he said.

"Can I change my name?" she said.

He frowned. "Why would you change your name?"

"Not my full name, just the nickname part," she said. "Alex wears jeans and plaid shirts with beanies, and she lives in a run-down bachelor apartment with her single Dad. She doesn't go to a school with trust fund kids where they wear uniforms and she doesn't live in fancy high rise condos."

"Alright," Harvey grinned. "So, who does?"

"Ali," she said. "Alex is dead."

"Don't say that," he said. "No part of you is dead, you're just evolving."

"Right," she sighed. "Wish me luck."

Harvey grinned. "Have a good day, Ali."

He waited until she walked inside the school before he signalled to Ray to take him to the firm. Mike was upset he missed her first day, he had never missed a first day, but he had to be in court and he couldn't move the time. Harvey reassured him the second he walked into his office that everything went well, but Alex didn't last long at the new school before she ducked out, and Mike got a phone call.

Alex was sitting cross legged on the bed at the nursing home relaying the last week of her life to her great grandmother like she often did. Grammy was sitting in her chair and listened intently, trying to pick up on the clues of why the twelve year old was there alone in the middle of a school day. She knew Mike was working more now, he used to come visit all the time, but now he was missing visits, and it seemed he was missing other things too. She was facing the door, but Alex had her back to it, so she didn't see Mike coming down the hall toward them. He looked a mix of emotions, worried, then relieved, then angry.

"Alexandra," he said once he came into the room.

Alex winced at his tone and looked to Grammy for help. "Busted," she mumbled.

"Why aren't you in school?" Mike demanded.

"Because I don't like it there," she said with a little more attitude than he was used to.

"You don't like it there?" he raised a brow. "That isn't your decision to make."

"Well, it should be," she mumbled.

"Excuse me?" he asked as he put his hands on his hips. "There has been a little too much back talk coming from you lately, little girl."

"Mike," Grammy interrupted and signalled for him to calm down.

"If you knew she was here, why didn't you call me?" he asked.

"I didn't know she wasn't supposed to be here," she said.

"You're too busy to do anything anymore," Alex said. "We never come here, we never hang out, all you do is work."

"Alex, we have been through this," he said. "This job is better for us than the other job."

"Yeah, but with your other job at least you came home every night," she said. "You cooked me dinner, and you were off on weekends, and we actually did things together. And, you're not even mad I'm not in school right now, not really anyway, you're mad you had to leave work.""

Mike sighed and knelt in front of her. "I don't care about leaving work, I care about you, where you are and if you are okay. Listen, this is a big conversation for such a little girl to understand, but we were barely getting by with my other job, and no one was looking out for me. I needed a job with more security so I could stop worrying about money."

"Money isn't everything," she said. "Family is."

Mike looked to Grammy and they exchanged a smile before he turned back to his daughter. "I know that, and it's not about extra money, it's about having enough money that I don't worry about where our next meal is coming from, or if I can afford to put you in soccer, or send you to a good school."

Alex sighed. "Am I in trouble?"

"Yes," Mike said as he rose and kissed her head. "Say goodbye to Grammy."

Alex and Mike both said goodbye, with Mike promising his grandmother they would be back to visit on Saturday to resume their normal visiting schedule. He did feel bad that he had been too busy to see her or take Alex to see her the last couple of weeks. She had done so much for them it was the least he could do to visit her regularly, even if she understood the demands of his new job.

Ray was outside waiting for them, Harvey had called him when Mike got the call that Alex had bailed. Alex wasn't used to having more than Mike to answer to, and it suddenly dawned on her that she would have to explain to and also get lectured from Harvey. She had to admit that she didn't hate the idea of having two parents, and she also didn't hate living in the condo, but she did hate that the kids at her new school seemed to know she didn't belong there.

"Daddy?" she turned to look at him.

"Yeah baby?" he said as he turned his attention from the traffic to her.

"Can I go back to your office?" she asked.

"Lex, you need to go to school," he said.

"Can't I just start again tomorrow?" she asked. "Please? I need Donna."

"Why?" he asked.

"Girl stuff," she mumbled.

Mike sighed but agreed and relayed the new plans to Ray who silently complied like always. He took her upstairs and tried to navigate her through the office without calling too much attention to them, but it was hard because twelve year olds weren't often seen in the firm. Donna gave him a questioning gaze and followed them into Harvey's office. He was on the phone, but he quickly ended it and stood up behind his desk as they came in.

"Where were you?" he asked, calmly but a little firm.

"Visiting Grammy," she said.

"You can't just leave school, Al," Harvey said.

"I missed her," she mumbled and leaned into Mike for comfort.

Mike slipped an arm around her. "We're going to be better about visiting her," he said. "And you are going to stay at school, unless one of us picks you up, you hear me?"

"Yes, Dad," she said softly.

"Do you want to talk to Donna first?" he asked and she nodded as he looked to Harvey.

"We'll give you a few minutes," Harvey said.

They left his office but didn't go too far from the room. There were a few things Harvey needed to update Mike about and it took just about as long as whatever Alex needed to tell Donna. She was coming back out of Harvey's office as they were approaching. Mike looked concerned but Donna gave him a reassuring smile, even though she did let out a sigh.

"So?" Harvey pressed. "What happened?"

"Well," she said. "It's nothing we can't fix with a little creative thinking and a shopping trip."

"She was being picked on?" Mike concluded.

"Only by one girl after she asked what school Alex used to go to," she said. "She knew the area and school wasn't great and said Alex had to be a charity case. They think she's a scholarship kid and they wouldn't talk to her. Alex didn't know what to say, so she just left."

"Kids are jerks," Harvey sighed.

"Yes, they are," Donna nodded. "Let me fix this. I'll bring her back to you by dinner, and then I'll tell you my plan for tomorrow."