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He was late again. He couldn't believe he was late for the third time this week! And it was a court day of all days! He'd stayed up until five working on the fine print in the Hillerman file and had fallen asleep on the kitchen table without setting the alarm. The only thing that saved him was Rachel's text saying "Harvey's going to gut you if you miss this court date" at exactly 8:02. The hearing started at 8:30 and if Mike wasn't there for it, seeing as how he had all the paperwork tucked inside his bag, they were well and truly screwed. Harvey was going to kill him.

Mike turned a corner a bit more sharply than he normally would, cutting off a Buick and pedalling faster down the sidewalk. Shit shit shit, Harvey's going to be so pissed...As if to answer his current thought process, his phone rang deep in the bottom of his bag and Mike nearly wrecked his bicycle trying to fish it out.

"Hello?" He answered, slightly out of breath from the intense tour-de-France speed he was pushing on his bike.

"If you're not here in five minutes you're fired." It was all Harvey said before the line went dead. There was no humor in his voice either; if Mike caused him to lose this case because he couldn't get there on time then he would have no problem kicking his ass out the front door, eiditic memory or not.

Mike dropped the phone back into his bag and turned his bike off the curb, cutting across an intersection. He never saw the car coming.

There was a tremendous crash and the world did a crazy flip as he toppled off his bike, across the hood of the car, and landed with a painful thud against the opposite curb. There was a dull crunching sound from somewhere beneath him as his side made connected with the concrete and all the air left his body in a grunted huff. He was thankful for the helmet as it probably saved him from cracking his head open but that meant most of the rest of the weight landed entirely on his chest and hip. He groaned, dizzy from the flip, and pushed himself up on one elbow. His wrist was scraped and bleeding and there were a few pieces of gravel imbedded in his palm.

"Jesus!" The man driving the car jumped out and ran across the street to him. "Hey buddy, you alright? Fuck man, I didn't even see you! Are you hurt? Do you need me to call someone?"

Mike shook his head, pushing himself up a bit more. "I'm fine, just got the wind knocked out of me." He said through a pain-strained voice. It was a lie, his side felt like it was on fire, centered mainly around his ribs, but he knew that if he had to stay any longer he'd be in even more trouble with Harvey than he was already in. "I'm sorry about your car." He added though he could see there was nothing wrong with the man's vehicle. It was a black Sedan; that thing could probably take a bomb through the windshield and still be driveable.

He struggled to stand, accepting the man's hand as he offered it to him. "Are you sure you don't need an ambulance, man? I hit you pretty hard."

Mike shook his head again, limping across the street to pick up his bag and bike which was amazingly still functional. His hip was aching from where it had hit the sidewalk and he wouldn't be surprised if a bruise was already beginning to form. Still, he was late enough as it was and anymore time he wasted would just give Harvey more encouragement to fire him "I'm fine really." He said, smiling at the man in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "I'm late for work though and I really need to get going. Sorry for cutting you off!"

The man looked surprised; it wasn't every day someone apologized when they were the one who got hit. He didn't have a chance to say anything else before Mike hopped on his bike and pedalled off, leaving the man stunned and open-mouthed, staring off at him.

Mike didn't even bother to lock up his bike as he pulled up in front of Pearson Harden; he didn't care if someone stole it so long as it got him in the building faster. His side was killing him, pain lancing out at him in white-hot flashes that spread over his entire body. His hip was throbbing dully, the instensity only slightly less than it had been earlier, probably because of the pain in his side. He pushed it aside though and broke into a jog, cutting up the steps as fast as he could.

Harvey met him just as he got to the top of the stairs, not saying a word as he passed him and started making his way down toward the street. Mike turned, grimacing a bit as the change in direction and gravity caused the pain in his body to magnify a bit. "Harvey, I'm sorry." He called after him, each step causing a flare of agony that centered right around his ribs. "I'm sorry I'm late, I stayed up last night trying to-"

"I don't care what you did or were doing or were thinking about doing." Harvey snapped, cutting him off with a well placed glare. "I don't care what excuse you have conveniently lying around this time. You're late and we should have left ten minutes ago." He jerked the car door open and slid inside. "Get in the car."

Mike didn't say anything else, he just slid in next to the older man and rested his bag across his legs. Harvey didn't look at him or speak to him as they pulled away from the curb and out into the street, his gaze fixed stubbornly out the window. It was just as well, Mike didn't really have anything to say anyway. He could tell the older man was in no mood for idle chit-chat and was already put out with his Associate and the day had only just begun. He vaguely wondered if he was still considering firing him but refused to ask.

The car hit a rather large pothole as it skated through an intersection and Mike had to suppress a gasp as the bump jostled his injured him. It was like someone was wrapped a vice across his pelvic bone and was slowly but surely tightening it to the point of no return. That pain was only a fraction of what he felt in his ribs. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the court case they were heading to. He tried to remember the arguements, the defense they had for their client, but it hard hard to think past the blinding agony his body was putting him through.

"What happened to your wrist?" Harvey asked suddenly, still not looking at him.

Mike glanced down at the bloody scrape on his wrist and palm. He'd nearly forgotten about it. "I fell off my bike on my way to work this morning." It wasn't a total lie, he did fall off his bike, he just decided to leave out the part about the Sedan.

Harvey let out a sound somewhere between a scoff and a sigh. "Useless." He muttered, his eyes still glued to the street outside.

Mike didn't say anything; he knew Harvey was pissed and anything he said would just come out as an excuse so he kept his mouth shut. He was technically an extention of Harvey, anything Mike did reflected back on his boss so the fact that he was not only late but looked like he just got hit by a car (which, ironically, he did) made Harvey look bad. He couldn't blame him for being angry.

The rest of drive was silent and tense and Mike did everything he could think of to get the pain off his mind. He recited the first three chapters of Death Be Not Proud in his head and then began going through the Fibonacci sequences backwards in order to focus on something other than the throbbing waves that gripped him relentlessly.

Harvey stepped out of the car once they reached the court house and began walking toward the door, not bothering to see if Mike was actually following him or not. He was pissed, the kid had been slacking off and coming in late much too often and now his carelessness was going to come full circle back to him. He knew this judge and he knew she hated to be kept waiting and they were already nearly ten minutes late for the case. He heard the door shut and Mike scramble out behind him but didn't look back.

The younger man appeared next to him a few seconds later, obviously winded and struggling to keep up with Harvey's long strides. He cast him a brief glance from the corner of his eye. Mike looked pale and there was a thin sheet of sweat covering his face. Something that looked like a bruise had begun to form on the edge of his jaw but he'd seen Mike fall asleep face first in a stack of papers enough to know that the shadow could just as easily be ink. There was no way they could walk into the court room with him looking like this.

Harvey turned to him, looking at him directly for the first time all morning. "Go into the restroom and clean yourself up. I'm not going to have us lose this case because you look like a hobo." The older man whispered in a low voice as if he expected a protest. "You have two minutes."

To his surprise, Mike just nodded mutely and turned the corner, disappearing into the men's restroom across the hall. Harvey didn't fail to notice the slight limp in his step as he walked away but he was too irritated to really focus on it at the moment. All he knew was that he was not going to take the fall because Mike couldn't get his lazy ass into work on time.

The younger man appeared a minute later, his hair slicked back with water and looking a little bit cleaner than he had a few seconds before. He was still pale and that bruise was still on his jaw but Harvey didn't care; they were late and that's all he could think about. He grabbed a handful of Mike's sleeve and dragged him the rest of the way down the hall, not hearing the stifled gasp as he carted him away.

Mike had never felt so humiliated in his life. The judge, a stern middle-aged woman with greying brown hair and dark eyes, had publicly called him out when Harvey mentioned that it was his fault they weren't there on time. She had called him "young man" in a tone that reminded him of his grandmother when she got really angry with him and the tops of his ears turned an interesting shade of pink. She told everyone present that tardiness was a sign of direspect and that if there was any disrespect in her court room, she wouldn't tolerate it and they were wasting her time. She said all this with a pointed glare at Mike.

He heard Harvey explaining to the client that the reason they weren't on time was because his associate had been running late that morning and usually he wasn't so unprofessional. Mike winced; Harvey used the word "associate" like it was soaked in battery acid and rolled in dirt. He wanted to defend himself, explain that he was late because he'd stayed up all night making sure their case was bullet proof, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Harvey was going to be irked with him for the rest of the day so the best thing he could do was to stay quiet and just win the case.

The arguments dragged on for the better part of the morning, the hours stretching into each other tirelessly. Harvey was on fire, he managed to puncture every dispute the opposing lawyers presented and made their client's case seem that much stronger. Most of it was due in part to Mike's hard work but he knew better than to say anything; he just pulled the correct files and reports and handed the to Harvey at just the right moment.

Mike shifted uncomfortably in the stiff, wood-backed chair. No amount of switching positions could alleviate the pain in his side though, every movement felt like it would take his breath away. One hand was dangling from the side of the chair, clenching and unclenching rhythmically with each wave of pain that coursed through him. He could almost time it by now and it hadn't eased up in the slightest. He needed some ice, he coule feel the sting of swelling beneath his shirt and the fabric of his pants where they rested against his bruised hip. Once they left here, maybe Harvey would bury him in enough paperwork that he wouldn't have to leave his desk for the rest of the day and he could keep an ice pack against the bruises he knew were forming. He just had to make it through this hearing.

Finally, after about three hours or testimony, the judge ruled in favor of their client. The man was so elated he wrapped Harvey in a tight hug, ignorant of the $3,000 Armani suit he was crushing, and proceeded to thank him as many times as he could. Harvey looked like he'd rather be hugging an eel.

Mike hadn't been paying attention, he was too busy trying his best to stand without falling over. His hip was so sore now that he could hardly put any weight in it and he could barely take a breath without his ribs crying out in protest. He felt lightheaded and a bit dizzy but he wasn't sure how much of that was from the pain or from just standing up after having been sitting down for three hours. People were filing out of the court room and he had just managed to stand up completely when the client threw his arms around him and squeezed. Everything went white.

Mike vaguely wondered if the funny little choking noise had come from him or the client but he wasn't really too concerned with it when his knees buckled and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. The client took a startled step backward, eyes wide, and looked to Harvey for an explanation. The older lawyer had an equally horrified expression on his face though.

Mike felt like he was going to throw up. He wrapped one arm around his side protectively and was fighting with everything he had to take a shuddering breath and clear some of the white spots from his eyes. Pain like he'd never known before was now consuming him completely and it was all he could do not to burst into tears right there in the middle of the court room. Someone was next to him then, a very gentle hand resting against his shoulder and he heard someone speaking his name. He opened his mouth to respond but all that came out was a pathetic little whimper.

"Mike!" Harvey had dropped to his knees next to the younger man, a flood of panic washing through him. He had no idea what just happened: one minute Mike was standing up and the next minute he was on the ground, doubled over and gasping like a wounded animal. Several people had come to crowd around them, asking if they should call an ambulance and wondering what was wrong. Harvey wasn't sure what to do; the logical part of his brain said that yes, they should call an ambulance because there was something very wrong with his associate but the stubborn side that nearly always won in the end said that hell no, he could handle this himself, he just needed to get Mike up off the floor and away from all these people. Besides, he could get him to a hospital a lot faster if they didn't have to wait for an ambulance to get there. He shook his head as a man stepped forward, asking again if they needed an ambulance. "No...I've got him."

He placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder, giving it gentle squeeze and leaning in close. "Mike, do you think you can stand?"

Mike wanted to laugh at that question; he could barely breathe let alone stand up on his own at the moment. The very idea was nauseating and he couldn't imagine climbing to his feet again. "I can't." He gasped, the words coming out in a low, keening breath. He had never been in so much pain in his life and even speaking hurt.

Harvey frowned at his response, his concern doubling. He could see Mike gripping his right side tightly but there didn't appear to be anything wrong, at least not that he could see. Still, there was no telling what the kid was hiding beneath his jacket and Harvey was damned determined to find out. He gently pulled Mike's arm away from his side and looped it over his shoulder, sliding his other arm across the younger man's back. He felt a very pronounced flinch when he got close to his right side and Mike hissed involuntarily. Something was definitely wrong.

"Okay, kid," He whispered quietly, keeping hsi voice as calm as he could. "We're going to stand up very slowly, alright? Take your time."

Mike shook his head weakly, his eyes squeezed shut tightly. Tears were threatening to leak from the corners of his eyes but he really didn't care. "Harvey...I can't..." He gasped again, hating how pathetic it made him sound.

"Yes you can." The older man said beside him, absolute confidence in his voice. "I've got you, alright? I'm not going to let you fall." Slowly, very slowly, he managed to help Mike off the floor, straightening a little bit at a time. His legs ached in protest from the slow ascent but he kept his grip on his associate. By the time the were standing completely upright, Mike's face had drained completely of color and he was trembling in Harvey's arms. "You okay?" He asked, not liking the alarming paleness of the younger man's skin.

"No." Mike answered painfully, shaking his head. It looked like the effort of speaking was going to drop him again so Harvey tightened his hold on him just slightly, pulling him a bit closer to his side.

"Okay kid, just take your time. We're going back out to the car, okay?" Mike said nothing, he just allowed Harvey to half-walk, half-drag him out of the court room and out into the hall. There was still a crowd of people around them, asking questions he didn't have the mental capacity to answer at the moment. All he could think about was how much it hurt to breathe.

Harvey had never been so grateful for valet parking. The car was ready and waiting for them when the reached the parking lot and he wasted no time in depositing Mike into the back seat and climbing in beside him. No sooner had he closed the door did the car pull away from the curb and go speeding off toward the nearest hospital.

Mike was breathing hard, tight lines of pain lacing across his face. He jumped a bit when Harvey got down on his knees on the floorboards in front of him and began unbuttoning his shirt. "What are-?" He started but gasped when the car bumped through an intersection and jostled his injuries.

"Shh." Harvey said in repsonse, shooting a glare at the driver. He turned his attention back to the younger man and pulled the shirt away from his chest and torso. He nearly swore. Dark black and blue bruises covered one whole side of Mike's body, the darkest part centering around his lower ribs. Another deep bruise brushed just over the top of his pants and Harvey was pretty sure it extended below to his hip and leg. The skin was swollen and abraised, tiny scratches and scrapes littering the injured areas. He remembered the scrape on Mike's wrist he'd seen earlier and mentally berated himself. The kid had said he'd fallen on his way to work but fallen on what? "The hell did you do to yourself?" He heard himself ask, his fingers brushing over the injured skin lightly.

Mike hissed in pain. "I fell off my bike on the way to work this morning. I told you." His jaw clamped shut when Harvey's fingers pressed into the skin above his hip.

"Mike, falling off your bike does not leave you with injuries like this." Harvey tone was strict and firm and Mike felt like he was listening to judge all over again. "Now what happened?"

For a moment he didn't say anything, couldn't think of the right words past the white-hot stabs in his side. Finally, he took a shaky breath and opened his eyes. "A car knocked me off my bike. I was so worried about being late that I crossed an intersection without looking and he didn't have time to stop."

Harvey felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He'd been giving Mike hell all morning about being late and never even asked for an explanation. He'd assumed he'd just overslept and left it at that. Now, finding out that the kid had been hit by a Goddamn car and he still showed up for work was grinding the guilt in deeper. "Why the hell didn't you say something?" He demanded, nearly shouting to hide the shame in his voice.

Mike just shook his head. "Wasn't worried about it. I didn't want to disappoint you by missing the court date."

Harvey blinked in disbelief. He wanted to throttle the kid so bad he nearly had to sit on his hands to keep it from happening. "Mike, I would have been disappointed if you'd missed the court date because you got drunk the night before and had a hangover! You got hit by a fucking car! I think that counts as grounds for re-scheduling!" Mike had suffered through hours of legal bullshit when he should have been in the hospital all because he didn't want to disappoint Harvey. The older laywer had never been so impressed and pissed off as he was in that moment.

He wanted to rant some more, tell the kid he was the single most idiotic and remarkable person he'd ever met, but the car had pulled up in front of the hospital and a flurry of nurses were waiting outside with a wheelchair when they arrived. Apparently the driver had called ahead; Harvey could have kissed him. He stepped out of the way as the nurses rushed to the side of the car and carefully gathered Mike into the wheelchair. He watched as they whisked him away inside, the doors swishing closed behind them. Harvey stood rooted to the spot and took out his cell phone. He needed to call Jessica.

"Two fractured ribs, two bruised, and a bruised pelvis." Harvey shook his head, staring down at his associate sitting on the hospital bed. "You don't do anything halfway, do you kid?"

Mike smiled slightly and shrugged. "I'm an over achiever." He looked much better than he had earlier. His ribs and hip had been iced and a healthy dose of strong painkillers had taken away some of the pain evident on his face. He would still wince occasionally when he took a deep breath but it was nowhere near the expression he'd had earlier that morning. The doctor had prescribed plenty of rest and recommended he come in for a few follow-up check ups for the next few weeks but he would be free to go once he signed out.

Harvey had called Jessica to let her know what had happened and had made sure Donna cancelled all of his appointments for the rest of the afternoon. If he had learned anything from Mike today, it was that the kid was just as stubborn as he was and would probably try to go into work the minute he was released from the hospital. Harvey wasn't about to let that happen. He was going to give him a ride home and make sure he stayed there; he was playing with the idea of throwing the kid's bike away all together.

Harvey was balancing back and forth on the balls of his feet, hands dug deep in his pockets, and he looked like he wanted to say something. Finally, he let out a long, slow sigh and took a seat next to Mike's bed. "Listen kid, I know I'm a hardass and kind of a dick to work for but if something like this ever happens again just tell me. I'm not going to be nearly as pissed at you if you have to have to take a trip to the ER as I will if you up and die and I have to hire a new associate." Harvey couldn't look at him when he was talking, it was hard enough saying all this out loud. "You're a damn good lawyer, one of the best I've seen in years, but I don't want you to kill yourself just because I'm being an asshole. Got it?"

Mike didn't say anything for a minute, circling what the older man had just said in his head for a few minutes. It was difficult with all the drugs in his system. "So...you're saying you like having me around?"

Harvey smirked, shaking his head a bit. "Its better than a stick in the eye, yeah."

It was Mike's turn to smile. "I thought you didn't care."

"I don't." Harvey said with a shrug. "I just really hate hiring new associates." There was a certain fondness in his voice as he said this though and Mike's smile grew a bit. He passed Mike his shirt and stood up, walking toward the door to give him some privacy as he got dressed.

The younger man had just slipped his pants back on, gingerly pulling them up onto his hips, when he heard Harvey speak. "Hey Mike." He looked up, pausing halfway thorugh getting dressed.

"Good job on the case today. I'm proud of you." And with that, Harvey stepped out of the room and left Mike alone. The younger man smiled. Broken ribs aside, today had been a good day.

Hope you all liked it! :D