When Mike woke up the sky outside Harvey's floor to ceiling windows was dark and the room was illuminated only by his desk lamp.
"Harvey...what?" Mike sat up quickly, scrubbing the heels of his hands against his eyes. Frowning at the darkness, he asked, "How long was I asleep?"
Harvey shrugged not looking up from his computer and Mike noticed he was no longer wearing his suit jacket. Instead, the matching set to Harvey's five thousand dollar suit was pooling in Mike's own lap.
"Harvey! I told you I only needed fifteen minutes." He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time. "It's nearly 7:30!"
Harvey nodded, still seemingly unbothered his his associate's plaintive tone.
Instead he closed his laptop and got up, retrieving a box of Chinese food from a bag beside him and brought it to Mike on the couch.
"Here. Eat."
Mike, though annoyed, realized he was also famished. He figured he could still glare at Harvey for letting him sleep so long while he ate.
He popped the top and inhaled deeply, his stomach grumbling audibly.
"Why'd you let me sleep so long?" He asked around a mouthful of beef fried rice after Harvey had moved his jacket to a safer place draped over the back of the couch and then sat in the side chair nearest to him. Mike normally didn't sleep for more than an hour after an episode, but he figured the sleepless nights lately had caught up to him and his body was taking advantage of the opportunity afforded it, not that he blamed it. He felt better after his nap than he had in weeks.
Harvey didn't even roll his eyes, or respond with the typical derisive comment about Mike's penchant for talking with his mouth full. Instead he leveled the younger man with a straight stare.
"What happened today?"
Mike swallowed, still feeling just a little bit fuzzy after the events of the afternoon, his answer came out unintentionally as a question. "I had a seizure?"
"Obviously." Harvey did roll his eyes this time. "What I want to know is why you've been working here for nearly a year and I didn't know you had a seizure disorder."
Mike shrugged, still eating but mostly shoving rice around in the box.
"I just...it never came up. I hadn't had an episode in years before I started at the firm. Pot was actually really good at keeping them under control." He said with a smile that faltered when Harvey didn't return it.
"And since starting at the firm?"
Mike ate a few more bites. "I got back on medication after I started at the firm."
"That doesn't seem to be working."
"It does when I take it."
"What?" Harvey's calm demeanor melted away and Mike winced as his voice rose steadily. "You're not taking it? Care to explain why?"
"No, no I take it. I just...I usually keep an extra bottle in my desk and one at home. But...I guess I've been pulling so many all-nighters lately I used them all up here and I...wasn't able to take it this morning." Mike explained haltingly, wincing all the while, waiting for Harvey to explode.
"Is that why you had a seizure today? You missed a dose?" Harvey said after a moment, feeling more calm with guilt twisted in his stomach. He'd been working long hours too, they all had, but he always managed to make it home for a few hours of sleep in his own bed. He hadn't really noticed that Mike didn't.
Mike nodded, poking at a few pieces of beef in his box. "It's a lot more likely to happen if I don't get my pill daily."
Harvey got up suddenly and walked over to the bar cart to pour himself a drink.
Mike's eyebrows raised with interest. "Can I-"
Before he could finish Harvey tossed him a bottle of water and Mike made a face.
"Gee, thanks."
"How many times has that happened? Since you went back to the medication." Since you started here? How many times have you gone through that alone and I didn't know?
"Including today?" Mike's eyes flickered to Harvey and then back to the floor. "Four."
"Christ, Mike." Harvey downed half his drink in one gulp.
Mike winced again, there was that explosion he'd been waiting for.
"At the office?" He asked. Mike's silence and chastised look was answer enough. Harvey searched his memory for clues, signs he'd dismissed at the time that Mike was in distress and too stubborn to say anything. "When? Why didn't I-"
"I try to be in the bathroom when it happens. So no one notices." Mike mumbled, placing the half empty box of chinese on the coffee table and picking up the water bottle instead, turning it over and over in his hands, unable to look Harvey in the eye. He shrugged, "Once I was in the file room."
Harvey was making his way back over to his seat when he stopped, remembering a day, about two months prior, when Louis had come barreling into his office all self-righteous indignation and red-faced irritation, yelling about having found Mike asleep in the file room. Mike had been trailing behind him, looking contrite and haggard. He remembered giving the kid hell, sending him back to his desk and feeding him to Louis for the rest of the week.
He remembered Mike hadn't even complained, had just dutifully nodded and accepted the punishment seemingly too exhausted to protest.
The knife of guilt twisted in his chest again and Harvey didn't know if he was more mad at himself for not seeing something was the matter or Mike for not saying anything.
He decided to start with Mike, since he could beat himself up for the rest of the night in privacy.
"And it never occurred to you that was something I might need to know? That I might want to know? That it might be important for me to know you could be incapacitated at any moment? Lose consciousness and scare the crap out of me or Jessica or a client? That honestly never crossed that genius brain of yours?"
"It's embarrassing okay?" Mike exclaimed, his cheeks flushing red. "I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me or treat me like I'm some kind of freak." Mike huffed, turning his eyes to the floor. "And I'm not an invalid or anything. It's just...it's under control. Most of the time," he added quickly, seeing Harvey about to argue. Harvey took a deep breath and forced himself to sit down, not wanting to get the kid any more worked up.
"Did you know it was going to happen today?" He asked finally.
Mike shrugged on shoulder, looking almost petulant. As if he'd been caught shoving dirty clothes under the bed instead of keeping a major medical issue from his closest friend and boss.
"I have a couple aura's that I recognize as warning signs. I knew during the meeting."
Harvey nodded, suspecting as much. "Well then lets get one thing straight right now. If this ever happens again, you let me know as soon as you know. You forget your pill or you start getting auras, even if you think it's no big deal. You let me know. Got it?"
"Harvey-" Mike started to protest, smiling in that self-deprecating way that really grated on Harvey's nerves because the kid didn't take his own well being seriously enough.
"Say it Mike. Say you will let me know." There was no teasing in Harvey's tone. The way Mike's eyes had rolled back in his head kept flashing through his mind and was not putting him in a very teasing mood.
Mike sat forward and sighed, clasping his hands in front of him. "Fine. I'll let you know. But it doesn't happen every time I miss a dose."
"Noted." Harvey said, and Mike had the sudden feeling they were in a contract negotiation of some kind. "What about risk factors? Anything more likely to bring them on?"
Mike looked at him, surprised. "When did you become an expert on seizure disorders?"
Harvey raised an eyebrow. "I can google you know. You were out for like four hours."
"So you did know how long you were letting me sleep."
"You complaining?"
Mike shrugged again. "I guess not."
Harvey waited and then prompted him again. "Risk factors?"
Mike sighed. "Not getting enough sleep. Stress. Too much caffeine," he said with something of a rueful smile.
Harvey snorted. "So...being a lawyer."
"Pretty much."
Harvey shook his head and brought his drink back to his lips. "Unbelievable kid."
"I'm sorry Harvey," Mike said after a moment, having the grace to look contrite. "I honestly didn't think it was that important. I hadn't had an episode for years."
"That was before your day to day job happened to include just about every one of your risk factors apparently."
He shrugged, he had to give him that. He was quiet for a while, finishing his food and polishing off the water Harvey had given him before he noticed the other man was staring at him again.
"What?"
"You said not to call 911."
"Yeah. It wasn't necessary." Mike said, still trying to sound dismissive.
"How did you know?" Harvey responded, still sounding far too serious for Mike's liking.
"It just never has been before."
Harvey nodded, standing and moving around to pick up his suit jacket.
"Well what if it was? How would I know it was more serious?"
"Harvey I don't think..."
"Mike." Harvey cut him off with a serious look and Mike swallowed. "How would I know?"
Mike drummed his fingers on his knees a few times before looking up again.
"If a seizure lasts longer than eight minutes. Or if I'm unresponsive for more than half an hour afterward." Then, anticipating the next question he continued. "It's better if I'm sitting or laying so I don't fall and hurt myself and I...if I'm on the ground I should be put in the recovery position in case I...if I vomit." He winced slightly, "I could like...choke on it."
"Okay." Harvey nodded, filing the information away with the rest of the imperative information he hoped he would never need, like Donna's emergency contact info and where Jessica kept a copy of her Will in her Penthouse. "Alright, get your stuff, lets get you home."
"Right." Mike stood, yawning.
The two walked to the elevators in silence through the dark offices.
"I need the contact information for the doctor that prescribes your meds." Harvey announced.
Mike sighed, slumped against the wall of the elevator. "You don't, but you won't let it go so I'll give it to you anyway."
Harvey nodded, glad Mike wasn't going to fight him on this, even if he did think he was being overprotective.
"I had to talk Louis out of putting his wallet in your mouth." Harvey said after a moment.
"Ugh, really?" Mike looked disgusted. Harvey couldn't blame him.
"Really."
"Gross. Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet. I think he went to convince Jessica we all needed to take a First Aid refresher course, with an addendum for proper seizure response protocol."
Mike groaned. "Seriously? And I was trying to avoid being known as the Epilepsy Freak."
"Aw c'mon kid, it's not that bad. It's like having a superpower. If you want, I'll even get you a cape."
"No capes!" Mike shot back in a strange English accent.
"Thanks Edna." Harvey supplied immediately. Mike smiled tiredly, impressed, and flipped his collar up against the wind as they stepped outside.
"You know The Incredibles?"
"Of course. I'm not a monster." Harvey quipped, smirking sidelong at his associate.
"You should let other people tell you that."
"Shut up and get in the car, Mike." Harvey rolled his eyes with a good natured smile, shoving Mike lightly toward where Ray was holding the door open for them.
Mike just grinned and did as he was told.
END
A/N2: Like I said, I have an inkling of another idea to go with this, so I may do one more, but I'm marking it complete to give myself an out. lol.