Hey guys. Thank you so much for the reviews. Sorry for the delay. I've been busy with answer to your questions, yes, Rachel and Jessica will be involved in the story, and so will Louis. All characters will be involved in the latter chapters. In fact, Rachel will have a pretty big role to play in this chapter.

Chapter two

"What do you mean, he ran away? How does a 15 years old kid with a 103 degree fever run away from a hospital?" asked Marcus, still having trouble believing the words that he was reading on the note that he took from Harvey, who was still sitting down, too shocked to speak or pay attention to what anyone was saying.

"He probably jumped from the window. We are on the first floor." said Donna, turning her attention towards Harvey, who was still sitting clutching his hand in a fist and looked paler than usual. "Harvey, are you okay?"

Harvey didn't register what Donna was saying. Her voice sounded distorted, distant. Everything was moving in slow motion and nothing mattered, other than the fact that his 15 years old brother was missing because of him. He could see Marcus picking up his phone and calling someone, but he couldn't hear, who it was.

'I am going to call someone…a doctor." said Donna and left the room.

"Okay, thanks Rachel, call me if you see him." Said Marcus on the phone and hung up. He turned his attention towards Harvey. "Harvey, we will find him, trust me. I called Rachel, she lives a few blocks from Granny's house and if he goes there, she will call me. Harvey, Harvey are you okay? Can you hear me?"

'He is gone, Marc. Our sick baby brother is gone because of us." Said Harvey, now slightly more coherent.

"Harvey...he couldn't have gotten very far. We will find him. See, that's exactly the reason, why we should consider putting him in the foster system."

Something in Harvey just snapped. How could Marcus talk about foster care in a time like this?

"Marcus! Shut up! If you want to go be with Clarissa, go! "

"Harvey..."

"No, it's obvious that you don't care about me or about Mike and all you care about is yourself and your wife. Go!"

"But, Harvey...you know that's not true."

"I don't care! Get out of my sight!" said Harvey, getting out of breath. "I said get out!' After that he passed out.

"Harvey!" said Marcus and ran out of the room to get help. A doctor came to check on Harvey accompanied by Donna.

"Marcus, what happened?" asked Donna.

"What happened? Captain Jerkface over there kicked me out of the room, because he thinks I don't care! After that, he passed out."
"Ohh, Marcus, you know he didn't mean it, right. He is just upset about Mike and he took it out on you."

"Of course I know that, Donna. I am just as worried about Mike as he is...and he blames me, because we have a difference of opinion about what is best for him. Mike is my brother, I love him, I just don't think that me or Harvey are fit to care for him right now. I mean, he has been in our care for 15 minutes and we lost him!" said Marcus. 'And now, he passed out...and I have to go look for Mike..."
"I'll stay. You go look for Mike."

Marcus nodded and left.

Donna turned around to see Harvey being put on a gurney and on a bed, and a doctor checking his vitals. The doctor eventually told Donna that he was dehydrated and sleep deprived and his blood pressure was a little high, so he said that he would like to keep him there overnight for observation. She sat on the chair right next to him and texted Marcus that Harvey was going to be fine.

To say that Mike wasn't feeling well, would be an understatement. He was feeling dizzy and nauseous , really hot and his head and his abdomen really hurt. Fine, maybe running away from a hospital with a moderately high fever after surgery wasn't really a good idea, but he wasn't going back there.

He wasn't going to let his brothers ruin their lives because of him and he wasn't going in the system. He had to get away from the hospital. He went to the wardrobe, got dressed, wrote a note, and he jumped out of the window.

He didn't see well, everything was blurry, but he knew where he was going. To the only place he felt like his home – his grandmother's house. Well, his grandmother's house was three blocks away from the hospital and he didn't think he could walk any further than that. He was feeling really tired, despite the fact that he had just woken up 15 minutes ago. He hated being sick. When he approached the house, he was surprised when he saw Rachel waiting in front of it.

"Rachel..what are you doing here?" asked Mike.

"Waiting for you...Oh my God! Mike, what happened? Marcus said there was an accident and that you'd be sick, and that you ran away from the hospital, but he didn't say that you'd look this bad."

"Of course, Marcus...called you. Does he know that I am here?" asked Mike. "He wants to put me in the foster system."

"Mike...you should go back to the hospital. Your brothers are worried about you! And you don't look okay? Jesus Christ, you are burning up!"said Rachel as she pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Yeah...I bet they are worried about me. They think I can't take care of myself." said Mike and coughed. "One of them wants to ruin his life by taking custody of me...and the other wants to put me in the system. I don't want to be anyone's burden, Rachel. Now get out of the way, I need to get inside."

"Yeah, not going to happen. You are going to the hospital." said Rachel. "You think you can take care of yourself, huh? Hell of a way to take care of yourself! Drugs, booze, cutting school and now running away from the hospital."
"You actually sound like Harvey! And all of you are getting on my nerves! I wish you'd all just leave me alone and mind your own goddamn business." said Mike. "And by the way, I am still mad at you for telling Marcus about the drugs. I was handling it!"

"Yes, I sound like Harvey, and yes, I told Marcus, but I did those things because I care about you, and if you can't see that maybe we shouldn't be friends at all." said Rachel. "If you want to do what you want, than go inside that bug infested house that hasn't been cleaned since you grandmother died . I am done caring1" said Rachel and turned around to leave. But she was still worried about Mike, so she called Marcus to tell him where Mike was.

Mike entered the house and passed out on his grandmother's bed, with a note to apologize to Rachel later. He didn't mean what he said to Rachel. He was just so sick and so irritated. He just wanted to go to bed. He felt so tired and so weak and so hot. His head was killing him. He just wanted to sleep.

When Marcus got Rachel's message, he went straight to his grandmother's house, and told her not to hold anything he said to her against him, because he wasn't really himself when he was sick. When he entered his grandmother's house, he was greeted by a couple of cockroaches that went out of the kitchen. Everything was so dusty and dirty. If Mike really was here, it sure as hell wouldn't be good for him. It wouldn't be good for a healthy person, let along a sick person with a compromised immune system.

"Mike? Where are you? Mike! This isn't funny! Where are ...' and then he saw him lying down on his grandmother's bed. He ran to his brother's side and felt for a pulse. Thankfully, there was one, but he felt really warm and he was sweating. " Mike, wake up! Come on, wake up."

Mike stirred a bit. The voice sounded so familiar and yet so distant. Marcus?

"Marcus? What the hell..."

"Rachel called me...we need to get you back into the hospital. Do you have any idea how much you scared us?"

"No...hospit'l No...system..."

"Okay, we will talk about it when you are better, something that may not happen unless we get you out of this house. Okay, I promise you..we will talk about it! But first...I am pretty certain that staying in that bug infested house has probably made you sicker."

"Don't tell...H'vey. Don't want him to worry..." said Mike. Marcus looked at him worriedly. He knew that Mike's fever was high, but how high was it exactly? He must be pretty delirious not to remember, that Harvey was back from law school. He needed to get him to the hospital fast. He called for an ambulance and they told him to stay with him and make sure the fever didn't get any higher until they got there.

"Hey, hey…don't fall asleep….okay. You need to stay awake.

"Can't….I'm t'red….Marc…I am sorry….for being such a burden. It's all my fault. Mom…Dad….Grammy….it's my fault."

"I know you are, you have fever…but Harvey would kill me if you die on my watch, and then he'd kill himself. Yeah, Mike…about what you heard….I didn't mean it that way. You are not a burden….it's not your fault….none of this is your fault."

"Oh, yes…it is…a lot of things are….actually…Lucky 's death was my fault too…..I had to get her out for a walk….she was bigger than me…."

"Lucky? Our childhood dog? Mike…how do you remember that….you were like 5 years old?" said Marcus, now really worried. The kid was making no sense whatsoever.

"I still remember that car…the red car….that hit her. I wanted to go and save her….but I couldn't move. I should have saved her, Marc….But for some reason, I couldn't."

Marcus knew that he had to play along to keep the kid awake until the ambulance arrived. He remembered that day like it was yesterday, because, it was the first time when Mike had scared him and Harvey to death. And he was supposed to be watching him and at some point Mike just disappeared. And, boy, was Harvey mad when he found out that he had let a 5 year old walk a big dog. Harvey had run down the street when he saw their dog getting hit by a car and then there was Mike about to jump in front of the same car to save her life. Needless to say that Harvey ran as fast as he could and caught on to Mike, before any permanent damage was done.

"Yeah, that would be because, Harvey figured out that you had taken her out, and he caught on to you and was holding you so tight that you couldn't budge."

"And why did he do that?""

"Beats me! If it were me, I'd let you die. Are you kidding me? What kind of a question was that? She was a dog, Mike. You almost ran into the street to save a dog's life! That's nuts! But then again, you were also the boy, who decided that it would be a great idea to jump from the tree in front of the house, because he needed to break his best friend's record."

" Yeahh…. Harold still remains the best tree jumper in the neighborhood."

"As far as I remember you broke something else…."

"I broke a lot of things that day, didn't I? My arm, my leg and as memory serves me, my skull. Yeah, I spent a lot of months in the hospital after that jump. But it was still worth it!" said Mike and smiled. Suddenly he started coughing. Marcus didn't like sound of that cough. Seriously where was the goddamn ambulance? It should have been here by now. A doorbell told him that they had finally arrived. They put a semi conscious Mike on a gurney and Marcus rode in the ambulance with him. He just prayed to God that the kid got better, because if he didn't he would never forgive himself.

When Harvey woke up he was confused at first. He was lying on a bed in the hospital. When did that happen? God, he couldn't just lie down. He needed to find Mike. He started pulling his IV from his arm and then an arm stopped him. He looked up and he saw Donna's eyes looking at him.

"Donna, I need to find Mike!"

"Mike is here. Calm down. Marcus brought him here 2 hours ago. He is currently in ICU, since he suffered an infection, which caused a fever of a 105, and they'd like to keep an eye on it and get the fever down, they also said something about early signs of pneumonia, so they put him on antibiotics. Marcus is with him right now."

"Wait…how long was I out?"

"About 4 hours. The doctors said that they needed to keep you here overnight."

"And Marcus found Mike? Where?"

"Your grandmother's house. Apparently he has some sort of sentimental attachment to it."

"I should go see him….talk to him. Convince him that what he did was wrong."

"That's what Marcus is doing, even though you accused him of not caring about Mike."

"Donna..."

"You were out of line, Harvey!'

"Oh, so you agree with him, then! I should put Mike in the system!"

"No, Harvey...I don't agree with him, but I also don't think that you can take care of him!"

"Donna, I have been taking care of him, since the day he was born!"
"Yes, and then you left for three years and he grew up! You don't even know him anymore!"
"What do you mean, I know my own brother."
"Do you? And what makes you think that he hasn't changed? He is a drug addict, for crying out loud...he has been arrested for possession two times in the past two months."

"What? How do you know about that? I only know about that last time, when my father had to get him out of jail before the accident."

"He got arrested again? I bailed him out the first two times. After the first time, it was just after your grandmother died. He didn't look good, Harvey. I told him to talk to you, Marcus or to your father. He said that your father wouldn't listen and that he doesn't want you to know. But he said that he'd stop and I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust him. The second time was two weeks later. He was arrested in a bar along with his buddy Trevor for underage drinking and for possession. I bailed him out again and I told him that his would be the last time helped him and that he needed to talk to someone, and that until he finds it he shouldn't call me. I called your father though...Mike was right. He didn't seem very coherent. What's weird was that, Mike actually seemed better when I met him two weeks ago. He seemed to have his shit together. Something must have happened to get off the rails again."

"Yeah, Rachel told Marcus about his addiction and he stopped for awhile...I have to get to the bottom of this, because there has got to be more to it. I get why my brothers didn't call me, but why didn't you?"

" I called you that night, after his second arrest, Harvey, but when I did and another woman picked up, I got upset and I hung up. Who was she, Harvey?"
"She is a friend. Her name is Scottie...it's not what you think..."

" So you are not screwing her?" inquired Donna, and raised and eyebrow.

"Okay, we are hanging out, but, she is not you."

'Ohh, so you are not going to break up with her with a note, saying "I'm sorry honey, but I got to go to law school in Harvard."

"Okay, first, that's not what that note said. I remember what it said, because I wrote it carefully. Second, can we talk about this later? You know, after Mike is better?"

"That's what it said to me, Harvey! And you can talk to me how much you care about your brother, but you left him, the same way you left me! And you can blame all of us for not calling you, but you didn't once call to check up on him or on any of us! Tell me, have you even told this Scottie about your brothers, because my bet is you didn't!"
"Don't psychoanalyze me, Donna!"

"It never took too much. You were happy living in Harvard, without Mike or me or Marcus. Admit it!"

"Donna, no...you know that's not the case!"
"Admit it! Admit that there is a part of you, who actually felt happy that you were away from Mike! Because there is a part of you that agrees with Marcus, you are just too proud to admit it! "

"What? That's not true!"
"Yes it is, god damn it. You just don't want to admit it, because you hate yourself for feeling those things. Because you think you are not allowed to feel them."
"What do you want me to say, Donna? That I was happy when I was away? That I finally got to live my own life and not constantly worry about Mike's wellbeing? Fine, I was, and I hate it! Look what happened when I was away! And now, Mike is in a critical condition and I am worried and I can't help him and you are standing here psychoanalyzing me and..."

"I am not psychoanalyzing you, Harvey. I am trying to see if you really want to be Mike's legal guardian or are you doing it, because you are supposed to be doing it. Because, if you think that it is your obligation to be Mike's legal guardian as his older brother, then you won't just ruin your life...you will ruin his, too. So, next time you fight with Marcus about that, you better be damn sure, that you really want to be that kid's legal guardian."

Harvey just looked at her. She was right as always. He had to admit, he missed her constant nagging.

"Are you saying that you think that he would be better off in the system?"

"No, Harvey, I am not saying that. I think he needs his family, more than ever. But I am also saying that he needs stability and until you are sure you can provide him with that...you can't consider this. Can you seriously tell me that you can juggle law school, Scottie and Mike at the same time? Or are you planning on getting him to live with you in a dormitory in Harvard?"

"I don't know, Donna! But I can't leave him in the system. That's not up for discussion. And I am not doing it because I am supposed to, Donna. The truth is, I shouldn't have abandoned him in the first place. I should have called him...I should have...a lot of things. You are right. I did abandon him and I abandoned you and it was selfish...but if the choice is between Mike staying with me and Mike being in the system, I definitely want him with me."

"And that's what I wanted to hear. You really are ready to be his legal guardian. Now how about we get you to see him…huh. The doctors said you could see him after you woke up."
"And you are telling me this, now?"

"Hey, we had to talk about these things." Said Donna and smiled.

Harvey talked to Mike's doctors. They said that it was okay for him to see him, just as long as he wore gloves and mask., since Mike's immune system was still too weak, but they were positive that they would be able to get him out of ICU and into a regular room in a few hours, because , even though he still had a fever, they were pleased with his recovery so far.

As Harvey entered Mike's room in the ICU, he saw Marcus sleeping in a chair next to Mike's bed. He also saw Mike, whose face was very flushed and very sweaty, and there was a nasal canulla under his nose. He was hooked on a machine, detecting his heartbeat and also on a bunch of IVs.

He shook Marcus's shoulder.

"You should really go home. Clarissa is probably wondering where you are. Plus you look worse than him. You really need to go and get some sleep. I'll call you if they are any changes." said Harvey. Marcus nodded and turned around to leave.

"Oh, and Marc…I am sorry. I didn't mean the words I said. I was out of line."

"It's okay, Harvey. Let's hope he gets better."

'Ohh, he will, don't worry. He is a tough one."

Two days later there was little change in Mike's condition. Sure the infection was almost gone, and they had got him out of the ICU and into a regular room. He still had a fever though. He had woken up a few times, but every time he'd ask about their dead grandmother or about their dog or would just talk complete gibberish, that nobody could understand. He also had a mild case of pneumonia, since apparently walking around in the spring with a fever and a compromised immune system was not a very good idea. Marcus, Donna and Harvey stayed with him all the time, taking turns during the night.

It was at nightfall, when Mike's fever finally broke and a few hours later he woke up. Harvey had settled up comfortably, well, as comfortably as he could in this chair, when he heard a moan.

"Mike?" said Harvey. "Mike, are you awake?"

Mike blinked once and said:
"Harvey….What's going on? What happened?"

"You don't remember? You, being you, decided to run away."

"Oh, yeah, right. I overheard your conversation with Marcus and I just snapped."

"And you just decided to put your life in jeopardy, by running away with a 103 degree fever!"

"In my defense…I wasn't really thinking clearly at the moment."
'Really? Do you ever think clearly?"

"Fair question…. maybe I screwed up again…I was upset, Harvey….I was mad and I was sick and then I overheard you guys. I'm sorry, I ran, Harvey!'

"Ohh, you should be. You scared the shit out of me. If you wanted to kill me, that was the perfect way to do that! You know, you actually put me in the hospital!"

"What? You've never been sick in your life! Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?! No, I am not okay! You disappeared, Mike! I thought you were dead, and you were pretty damn close to death! How can I possibly be okay after something like that!"

"Okay, again, I am sorry!"

"You are sorry! What would have happened if Marcus hadn't found you, huh? You would have been dead, in that bug infested house!"

"I had a fever, Harvey! I wasn't exactly thinking clearly!"

"All the more reason why you should have stayed put in the hospital! Normal people, who have a 103 degree fever stay in the hospital! They don't run away!"

"Okay, I told you, I am sorry! I am sorry I put you in the hospital and I am sorry I ran away! What do you want me to do?"

"No, Mike, I want you to think before you do something! And if you ever pull a stint like that again, I will kick your ass. How are you feeling? You've been out for quite some time."

"My head and my chest hurt a bit. And how long was I out?"

"Well, you've been in and out of consciousness for two days. I don't suppose you remember the moments that you were awake, though. You had a pretty high fever. Your fever broke a few hours ago. Marcus and Donna are in the cafeteria. "
"Donna? You and Donna are speaking to each other? Last time I checked she was pretty mad at you for leaving her."
'Ohh, she is mad….but what can I say…we had a common interest. You know she has always had a soft spot for you. By the way, we need to have serious conversation about the fact that you have been arrested two times before the last one after you get better."

Mike closed his eyes.

"Ohh, why do we have to go there?"

'Ohh, we do have to go there…if I am going to become your legal guardian, I do need to know these things."

"You….are going to be my legal guardian?"
'"Yeah, called Jessica last night, she seemed against it at first, but she is drafting the paperwork as we speak…but there are ground rules. Since I technically have no income, the social services will be up our ass. So, no more cutting school, no more drugs, no more running away. No more Trevor. Also, since you love our grandmother's house so much, I will have it cleaned and we will move there."

"And what about law school?'

"I will manage. I have only a month of the semester anyway. I might need to commute to Harvard and back for a few weeks, but I will have Donna or Marcus keep an eye on you."

"Or maybe I could stay home alone.'

"Yeah….I don't know if I can trust you with being alone...By the way, who is Rachel? She came by earlier ,while you were unconscious. She seemed a bit upset with you, but she was worried about you."
"She is a friend….I was terrible to her last time a saw her. It's a bit foggy, but I think I told her to mind her own business or something of that sort. She was only trying to help." Said Mike and started coughing.

"Yeah, yet another consequence of your little adventure. You have a mild case of pneumonia."

"Yeah, running away was a pretty dumb thing to do, huh. So when am I getting out of here? I need to tell Rachel that I am sorry."

"Yeah, they said they want to keep you here for at least three more days, to make sure that your infection is completely cleared up."

"Three days?"

"Yeah….I think you can manage staying here for three more days. After all you did spend most of your childhood in and out of the hospital."

'Once….I fall off of a tree once and I was 8…. And you never let me forget it! And you were supposed to be watching me!"

"Yes, and I told you not to climb on that thing, because it was too goddamn high, right? You still call that a tree? No, you couldn't have picked a regular tree. You had to pick the highest tree in the neighborhood. And do you remember what you said to me that day: "Okay, Harvey, I promise, I won't jump from it." And then what did you do?"

"Again in my defense I was 8 years old, and Harold said that he had done it, and it was fun. I had to try it for myself….and also I technically didn't jump from it. I slipped and fell."

"Yeah…but it was one hell of a fall! So, Harold said it was cool, then it must be cool, huh. Remind me again, how long did you stay in the hospital after this little venture? "
"4 months….and I also have to come back every once in a while for a neurological checkup and also a few months of physical therapy….yeah…that was a pretty messed up situation."
"Yeah, it seems like you have a habit of getting into messed up situations.¨ said Harvey. ¨Now how about we both get some sleep. You look like shit and I am pretty sure I look even worse than you do, so let's get some sleep."

"I am not tired." protested Mike, while desperately trying to keep his eyes open.

"Yeah, I know... You never are. You are the boy, who never gets tired, even when he is sick. Though you might want to tell that to your eyelids. They seem to be closing by themselves." said Harvey, chuckling. "But if you want to make it interesting, let's see who will fall asleep faster - you, who spent the last two days in a feverish sleep, or me, who caught about 8 hours of sleep in the last two days."

"Ohh, you are so on!" said Mike and chuckled. Five minutes later, he succumbed to the exhaustion brought on by the pneumonia.

Harvey shook his head before falling asleep. He was getting in over his head with this kid and he knew it.

So that was chapter two. By the way, how awesome is the new season? Personally, I think it is the best season so far.

Next time: It's five days later. Mike is out of the hospital and trying to set things right with Rachel. Meanwhile, Jessica and Harvey enlist Louis's help when there is complication with the custody hearing which Harvey keeps a secret from Mike.

See you soon!