Okay, sorry everyone for taking so long to post this! I have no excuse good enough to write, so just please accept this final chapter as my apology!

The entire associates' area was filled with unhappy, overworked, and hungry employees. Mike was probably the most rested of them all, for once.

He'd just finished moving into his new apartment (which Harvey had inspected for fireproofing reasons, or so he claimed).

The days immediately after That Fire—as Mike called it—were difficult for everyone. Mike had been forced to stay in the hospital for several days due to smoke damage to his lungs and a few third degree burns. Harvey hadn't been seriously injured, but he'd been on an inhaler for a week or so. Mike still had trouble breathing and was forced to take alternate transportation since his bike was too strenuous for his healing lungs.

Some of the associates and paralegals came to visit him in the hospital, but aside from that, Mike hadn't been busy at all. Harvey had tried to sneak him some briefs to proof, but the nurses had caught him.

The vast amount of resting he'd been doing was starting to get to him, though, and he had been practically begging Harvey to let him work on something. So Harvey decided they'd start with Mike learning to control his new ability.

It took a little practice, but they figured out that he could control it fairly well so long as he was focused. It was still difficult not to think of fire and panic as smoke started to pour off whatever poor defenseless object (inanimate or not) he'd been looking at, but he now felt safe enough to be around others without a fire extinguisher handy. It didn't stop Donna from giving him a giant one and a packet of fire blankets, though.

So Mike had returned to work, found a new apartment, somehow avoided paying exorbitant amounts of money for fire insurance and damages, and dodged an investigation by the police and fire departments that may have potentially led to arson charges. He suspected Harvey had something to do with the way things played out, but was just so grateful he didn't even care. That and the man had saved his life; Harvey could do whatever he wanted as far as Mike was concerned.

He'd been given a light load of work, for once, and didn't even have things waiting on his desk for him besides the cards some of his colleagues left him. Mike was having a great afternoon, actually, having gotten plenty of sleep and finally having something to do. But he'd been interrupted from proofing the Kensington contracts so that everyone could "celebrate" Louis's birthday.

Someone—Mike had no idea who, though he suspected Harold—had dared to get Louis a cake, despite his proclaimed allergies to all things tasty. Louis walked out, gave a glaring smile to the associates and his fellow junior partners, and headed for the cake. The candles were already lit and they were now just waiting for him to blow them out. The associates had a betting pool going for how many he'd get on his first try, but Mike abstained from laying money down—he knew exactly what the answer would be.

He saw Harvey standing with Jessica off to the side and his boss gave him an eye roll. Mike knew just how Harvey felt.

They finished a rousing chorus of the most strained, monotonous, off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" Mike had ever heard, and Louis bent over to blow out the candles. They all went out in one breath, and Mike heard a few snickers from Kyle, Greg, and a couple others who must have gotten lucky on their wagers.

Louis stood, cake knife poised over the corner of "Birthday" when the candles suddenly flared to life again.

The snickering stopped with a satisfyingly audible silence. Mike pointedly did not glance at Harvey, just continued to focus on the soft flames while he plastered a confused and innocent expression onto his face.

Louis lowered the knife and gave a huff of a laugh to the room. "Re-lighting candles. Very funny. Thanks, guys," he said, not sounding at all amused. He blew them out again, and even extinguished one with a pinch of his fingers, as if to ensure it wouldn't light up once more.

He sliced deftly into the spongy cake when the flames popped up once more. This time, Louis let out a stifled yelp and dropped the knife to the floor with a soft clatter.

A couple of the associates giggled until Louis glared at them.

Mike let a small smile show on his face as Rachel gave him a confused laugh. He risked a glance at Harvey, who was wearing the biggest smirk Mike had seen since before That Fire. Their eyes met for the briefest moment and Mike gave him a wink. Harvey let out a quiet chuckle, his eyes twinkling darkly.

"That's so mature of you, Harvey," Louis yelled at the man from across the room.

Harvey looked shocked. "It wasn't me."

Louis glared and Jessica turned a questioning eye at him. Mike tried not to fall over hysterically from the laughter lighting up his face. "Who else would it be? You think these idiots are brave enough to pull this off?"

Jessica glared at Louis, but before she could rake him across the coals, Harvey gave another of those quiet chuckles. "C'mon, Louis. You're assuming I care about you enough to buy you an actual cake."

Louis opened his mouth to reply when Jessica interrupted in a no more nonsense tone. "Louis, cut the cake so we can all eat and go back to work."

The man glared sullenly at the room and blew out the candles once more. Mike let his mind relax and washed the heat he'd been feeling off of him. He felt the heady relief that always came after he'd used his power and he allowed himself to gaze longingly at the fluffy cake Louis was now passing around.

As they all mingled, eating their slices of delicious baked goods, Harvey sauntered over to Mike.

"Nice job, rookie."

Mike smiled before schooling his expression into one of ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Harvey nodded. "Yeah, right. C'mon. Let's go steal the candles and set them up in his office before anyone notices."

Mike smiled and followed Harvey to Louis's office. Maybe this fire starting thing would work out after all…

-The End-

Hope you all enjoyed the story! Thanks for reading and especially thanks to those of you who review(ed)!