A/N: Look, I love slash as much as the next girl, but Rachel/Mike (who I have yet to come up with a catchy couple name for) need a little love too! So...here's my response to that.

Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student. If I owned Suits, I'm guessing that wouldn't be the case.

It was hot. Paralegal Rachel Zane's legs stuck uncomfortably to the leather seat of her chair. She ceased her relentless typing for a moment to lift the heavy hair off the back of her neck in an attempt catch some cool air.

"Is it hot in here or is it just you?" Mike Ross had pushed the glass door of her office open and was sticking his head in, a half-smile on his face.

She dropped her hair, embarrassed, and returned to her typing. "What, Mike?" She kept her voice curt. She liked the plucky associate, mostly, but she wasn't in the mood today. It was too hot.

He dropped into the chair on the other side of her desk. His tie was loose around his neck, the first button of his shirt undone. She pretended not to notice. "Seriously, though." He leaned back, putting his feet on the very edge of her desk. "I think they forgot to turn on the AC."

She shoved his feet off her desk without looking away from her screen. "Aren't you supposed to be working on that deposition for Harvey?" He'd followed her around Pearson-Harden for most of the day yesterday, griping about the document and about how he need her help.

"Finished it last night." He stood up from his seat and walked over to stand behind her chair. "No thanks to you."

"Which one of us is the associate?" She still wouldn't look over from her screen. It would be like letting him win. Which he did surprisingly frequently for how helpless he acted.

"Details." He tilted his head and looked at the document she was typing. "That should be a semicolon right there, not a comma." He pointed to the incorrectly placed punctuation.

"Which one of us is the paralegal?" Rachel demanded, but she changed the comma anyway.

"You know, Rachel, I prefer to think of us as one super being." He was leaning on the window, still watching her type as if it were interesting. Which she was sure it wasn't.

"Oh, really?" She couldn't help letting a tiny smile quirk her lips.

"Yeah, you know, you're the super organized, smart, prepared one and I'm…me." He paused, at a loss for words for a rare second. "Together, we'd be the best lawyer ever."

They were reaching dangerous ground here. "It really is hot." She backpedaled away from the topic of being a lawyer. She'd forgiven him for cheating on the LSATs, mostly, after what he'd done for her at the mock trial. But…she still preferred not to discuss her whole "not being a lawyer" issues. It was something that was difficult to do when you were talking to a lawyer who you worked with. At a law firm full of lawyers.

"Yeah, I wonder why…" He trailed off, his eyes on someone walking by. "Don't tell him I'm here!" He dropped to the floor and crawled under her desk amazingly fast. She was about to tell him to get the hell out from under her desk when Louis Litt pushed the door open.

"Have you seen Mike Ross?" He barged inside without an invitation. She was about to tell him that yes, she had seen him and he was currently hiding under her desk when she felt a hand squeeze her ankle. She was surprised and frustrated when she felt a faint blush rise up her cheeks. "Well?" Louis demanded when she didn't say anything.

"Uh, no." She struggled to keep her voice level. The hand on her ankle relaxed a little, the fingers trailing down to rest on the side of her impractically tall high-heel. "I haven't seen him all day."

"Well if you do see him, tell him I want to speak to him in my office." He turned to go, but Rachel stopped him with a word.

"Sorry, but do you know why it's so hot in here today?" She felt rather than saw Mike shake his head.

"Didn't you read Jessica's memo?" He looked at her as if he wasn't surprised that a lowly paralegal hadn't thought to read Jessica's memo. "The air conditioning's broken. They'll have someone in to fix it next Wednesday."

"As in a week from today?" She tried not to sound incredulous, but it was so hot. A week of this? Really?

"Yes, as in a week from today." He strode off from her office with his nose in the air, still shaking his head at her ignorance and inability to read memos. She went back to her typing; determinedly ignoring the associate huddled under her desk with one of his hands on her ankle.

"Is he gone?" He poked his head out from under her desk to look up at her.

"Yeah, he's gone." She slid as gracefully as she could out of her leather chair. Her thighs left the leather reluctantly, making a tape-like sound as they peeled off. "Now get out from under my desk, Mike."

"Sorry." He scooted out from under her desk and sat with his back against the glass window behind it. "He's after me to work on this pro-bono thing and normally I love those things, but if I take it then I'll be here over the weekend again."

"And, what, do you want to go out with Jenny or something?" She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice when she said the other girl's name. He'd asked her out. She'd said no…that was it. "You're willing to put off a case for that?"

"No, it's my Grandma." He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't got to see her for the past month or so and I just…" He sighed. "Never mind."

"Is she sick?" Rachel settled herself back in her chair and turned it to face him.

"No more than usual." He shrugged. She wasn't used to seeing him this morose. He was usually the one to cheer her up. "I just…I really need her advice on a couple of things." He looked up at her. "But I guess those can wait, right?"

"Mike…" She tilted her head, feeling her sweaty hair fall over her shoulder. "No one is going to blame you for wanting to see your sick grandmother. Take the case…I'll cover for you over the weekend if I have to."

"You sure?" He straightened up. "You don't have to if you don't…"

"Look, the way I see it, I can either spend a weekend covering for you or a week with you under my desk. I know which one I'd prefer, Mike." He grinned at her and she felt her cheeks get hot as she blushed…or it could just be the lack of air conditioning.

"Thank you so much, Rachel." He sprang up from his hiding place behind her desk and gave her a quick, tight hug. "I'm going to go see Louis."

He hurried out of her office before she'd had a real chance to process what had just happened. A week of covering for him or a week of him under her desk…she honestly wasn't as sure as she'd appeared to be. She returned to her typing, purposefully adding a few semicolons in places where she knew semicolons should not go. She'd ask him to proofread it later.

Harvey Spektor had always hated heat. It reminded him of his childhood, a too small and too hot house that was home to far too many people. It reminded him of his high school, people crammed together like sardines, the heat of bodies pressed together. It reminded him of his first years as an associate, a too small apartment that didn't have air conditioning. These were all things he avoided being reminded of.

So, when the heat in his office steadily started to climb, he was annoyed. And when Harvey Spektor was annoyed, something was wrong. And somebody should be responsible and fix it.

"Harvey!" Mike, his juvenile delinquent of an associate, excitedly hurried into his office. "Louis gave me a pro-bono, so…" He was waving a manila folder like it was a flag. "I'll be winning that."

"Kind of like you were going to win that mock trial?" Harvey knew it was mean and little selfish, but he was in a bad mood. And it was steadily getting hotter.

"I thought we were done with that." Mike rolled his eyes and Harvey wondered, not for the first time, if he'd been drunk when he hired this kid. "So, what do you know about…"

"Not right now, Mike." Harvey waved him down. "It's too hot for me to mentor you."

"And what's your excuse for all the other times you haven't been mentoring me?" Mike raised an eyebrow. Harvey fought a growing urge to push him out the window.

"Is this hell?" Harvey asked aloud. "Did I die and go to hell and not notice?"

"Harvey!" Jessica Pearson pushed open his door. "A word?"

Mike shrugged at him. "Maybe." He slipped past Jessica toward the door. "I'm going to go do…stuff."

"Mike!" Harvey called and the associate turned around, his face somewhere between hopeful and scared. "That stuff you're doing…it better be winning that case."

"Aye, aye Captain." Mike saluted him, walking a few steps backwards and almost running into another associate. Harvey turned away, shaking his head.

"I see you're taking the tough love approach." Jessica had settled herself behind his desk, tapping one of his pens on the edge. "How's it turning out?"

"It varies." Harvey sat across from her, wiping his sweaty forehead. "You really can't get anyone to fix the air out before Wednesday?"

She shrugged. "My hands are tied. But, I know how much you hate heat." She set the pen down, folding her fingers together. "I'll talk to maintenance, see if they can get some fans to your office."

"Thank you." He let out a sigh of relief. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Your associate." Jessica said and Harvey felt his stomach clench. He liked Mike, the kid was talented and bright, but…if they found out about his dirty little secret…they were both screwed.

"What about him?" He kept his voice purposefully light.

"During the mock trial…" Her voice was musing and he didn't move, waiting for the next words. "He showed promise, Harvey. He was the only one with enough sense to counter-sue and that was with only a few minutes of prep."

"Well, he's a bright kid." Harvey offered, feeling awkward. He felt like a parent at a parent-teacher conference

"But, that gullibility, that naiveté that he has…" She shook her head. "You have to work on that, Harvey."

"I'm not his mother, Jessica." Harvey adjusted his suit, feeling hot and annoyed.

"No, you're his mentor." She looked at him, her eyes piercing. "And that's a responsibility I hope you're living up to."

"Most of the time I just feel like his babysitter." He admitted and she smiled.
"How do you think I felt with you?" Harvey rolled his eyes.

"Jessica…" He began, but she stood up and walked towards the door, looking back over her shoulder.

"I expect you to be the sort of mentor I was to you, Harvey." She told him and then left.

He leaned back in his chair, sweltering in his suit and wondered if anyone would notice if he just left early for the day.

Mike Ross, the only associate at Pearson-Harden without a shiny Harvard diploma displayed somewhere in his cubical, was swinging his suit jacket over his shoulders as he prepared to head out. It was past ten and he wanted to catch a few hours of sleep before starting in on the research for Louis's pro-bono.

He was reaching onto his desk to grab his wallet when his phone began to buzz. He looked down to the name "Jenny" lit up on screen and answered it, putting it up to his ear. "Hey, Jenny."

"Mike!" Her voice was muted and there was loud music in the background. "Hey!"

"Where are you?" He searched his desk for the keys to his bike lock. "I can barely hear you."

"A bar." Her voice wobbled in and out of hearing. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet for drinks…unless," There was a pause where her voice drifted out of his hearing. "Sorry," She returned, panting slightly. "Are you still at work?"

"Yeah, yeah I am." He admitted, not really wanting too. "I've got this new case and…"

"No drinks tonight, then?" She sounded disappointed, but not heartbroken. Mike breathed a sigh of relief. He really wasn't sure what exactly was going on between them yet and he honestly couldn't afford a hangover in the morning.

"Sorry." He slipped his messenger bag over his shoulder and pushed the power button on his computer. "Maybe later this week, okay?"

"Okay." Her voice was faint, slipping back into the rhythm of the bar. "I'll call you?"

"You do that." He was walking down the hall. "Have fun tonight."

She laughed. It was a pretty, excited sound. "Bye, Mike."

"Bye." He hung up and slipped the phone back in his pocket. "Heading out?" He was walking past Rachel's office. She was bent over her desk, picking up a stack of papers and unsuccessfully trying to keep her hair from falling in her face.

"Yeah." She looked up from her papers. "It's too hot here."

"Here, let me." He grabbed the stack of papers from her arms. She nodded her thanks and grabbed her bag from the floor. "So, what are all of these for?" He asked, looking down at the ream of papers in his arms.

She sighed. "Some of the partners are being nasty." She held the door open for him and followed him towards the elevator. "Making me do all their research and stuff on a moment's notice."

"Harvey?" Mike asked, looking over at Rachel. There were dark circles under her hazel eyes.

"No." She ran a hand through her hair. "Louis and a couple others." The door dinged and they both got inside. Mike tried to think of something else to say, but…the elevator was small and hot and they were almost touching. He kept thinking about how he'd asked her out and how she'd said no. They rode down to the first floor in silence.

"I can get them from here." She said quietly, extending her arms from the stack of paper.

"Are you sure?" He looked down at her. Her eyes were tired. "I can get you a cab…"

She gave him one of her sort-of-patronizing smiles and took the papers. "I got along fine before I met you, Mike." She started to walk towards the door, her figure a perfect hourglass in her tight button-down and pencil skirt.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Zane." He waved her off as she walked away from him and through the doors. He followed a moment later out into the blessedly cool night air. He unlocked his bike and began the ride towards home.

A/N: So...that's chapter number one. The plan is to have six or seven more, but that might change. Okay...review and all that. And if you come up with a clever or catchy Rachel/Mike name, let me know! :)