A/N: So...for everybody who has PM'd me or reviewed and I haven't responded...I sincerely apologize. This story's more popular than I thought it'd be and that's totally awesome, but it does require a little effort to keep up with. I will respond to all of you! Maybe. But, anyways...here's a new chapter.

And no, I didn't skip Sunday by accident. I did it quite deliberately. Sunday is a rest day. I couldn't come up with any action that might happen on a sunday and...therefore...no Sunday chapter.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Monday arrived too soon for Harvey Spektor. Sure, he loved his job and he excelled at it, but that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy a little Harvey-time every now and then. Or, in the case of this weekend, a little Harvey-and-that-red-head-from-the-bar-time. It had been great.

"Harvey!" Speaking of great, Jessica Pearson was walking past his office. She called his name and didn't slow down, expecting him to follow. He did, of course. "Good weekend?" She asked without looking back at him.

"Yeah, actually there was this redheaded girl who…" He started off with the tales of his conquests, like he usually did.

"I don't care, Harvey." She cut him off, like she usually did. "Now," She stopped walking and turned to look at him. He almost ran into her. "I need your help with a…personal matter."

"Which of your ex-spouses is being sued this time?" He quipped at her, but didn't move.

"Nothing like that this time." She turned away and continued her rapid stride down the hallways. Unable to overtake her, he was forced to walk behind her instead of alongside.

"Well, what is it then?" He pushed an associate out of the way and finally caught up with her rapid strides.

"There's a charity event tomorrow." She ushered him into her office, pulling the glass door shut behind her. "A black-tie thing…the firm needs to be represented and since you're a senior partner now…"

"You want me to be your date?" Harvey raised an eyebrow. "Well this is awfully forward Jessica and I don't know if…"

"Quit being an ass and say yes." She collapsed into the chair behind her desk. The air conditioning still wasn't working and she had no fans in her office. He didn't answer for a moment and she fanned herself with a hand. "Well?"

"Fine." He pulled at his sleeves, suddenly feeling like a first-year again. "Pick you up at eight?"

"Eight thirty." A ghost of a smile turned the corners of her mouth. He nodded at her and got up from his chair, ready to retreat to the wall of fans in his office. "Oh, and Harvey?" He paused a step from the door and looked over his shoulder.

"Yes?" He drew out the word.

"Don't be late." She gave him a saucy smile and he continued out the door, shaking his head.

"Harvey!" Mike Ross appeared a few feet from Jessica's office and immediately fell into step beside him. "There you are! How was your weekend?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, there was this redheaded girl…" He began.

"Look, that's awesome, but can we talk about my law problem?" Mike was bouncing on his heels. Harvey glanced over at him. He looked like a wreck. There were dark circles under his hair ad his hair and suit were both more rumpled than usual.

"What happened to you?" Harvey raised an eyebrow. "You look like hell."

"Rough weekend." Mike ran a hand through his hair. "But, never mind that Harvey, I need help with a lawyer thing."

"Is it a lawyer thing you should already know how to do?" Harvey raised an eyebrow. "Like filing a patent? Because if it is, then I'm not helping you."

"Harvey…" He whined and Harvey cut him off.

"Hey, you knew the deal when you took this job." He pulled at his collar. The heat was starting to get to him. "Go ask that pretty paralegal of yours, what's her name? Rachel, right?"

Mike let out a huffy sound. "I'm not asking Rachel."

Harvey bit back a laugh. So they were having their first fight, were they? "Well, if you're not going to ask her, then figure it out yourself."

"Fine." Mike answered him short and stalked off.

"What's he done now?" Donna asked, a half-smile on her face.

"What hasn't he done, Donna?" Harvey stopped to collect his messages from him.

"So, how was your weekend?" Donna handed him a stack of post-its.

Harvey grinned at her. "Well, there was this redheaded girl…"

"Sounds super, but I need a favor." Donna cut him off and Harvey crossed his arms.

"Why does no one want to hear about my weekend?" He asked her.

"They're all pretty predictable, you know." Donna shrugged. "You hooked up with some hot chick, right?"

"Well, yes, but…" Harvey admitted, but Donna was back on her stuff now.

"I need a favor, Harvey." She repeated.

"What?" He asked grudgingly. She rarely asked him for favors.

"I need a week off…my sister's getting married in the Bahamas." Donna looked up at him. "Please?"

"Oh, fine." Harvey waved a hand. "When do you leave?"

"Lunchtime?" She grinned sheepishly. "Today."

"Donna…" Harvey groaned. "A week without you? What will I do?"

"Don't worry." She said, adjusting the things on her desk. "You managed before me. Sort of."

"Did I?" Harvey said with a look.

She straightened up and looked him full in the face. "I wouldn't know, would I?"

"Well," Harvey turned to go to his, thankful full of fans, office. "Have a good week."

"You too." She started to gather up the stuff on her desk. "Keep an eye on Mike and that paralegal for me."

"Bye, Donna." He gave her a crooked smile and retreated to his fan fortress.

"Pick up pick up pick up…" Mike's eyes were closed as he chanted the refrain against his phone. It stopped ringing and went to voicemail. "Damn." He muttered as the stupid automated voice told him to leave a message after the beep. "Hi." This had to be the tenth message he'd left today…maybe the eleventh, he couldn't remember. And, for him, that was saying something. "It's…ahh…it's Mike again." He swallowed. "I'm sorry, Jenny. I just…call me back, okay? I really am sorry. Okay…bye."

"She not answering?" He opened his eyes at the familiar voice. A pair of slender legs appeared in his line of sight.

He looked up into the familiar face. "Good morning to you too, Donna." He muttered, blinking the tiredness out of his eyes. "And no, she's not."

"Well, what did you do?" Donna sat on the edge of his desk.

"Left her alone at a club to take care of a drunk girl." He put his head on his crossed arms. "It's bad, I know."

"And this drunk girl was who, now?" Donna raised an eyebrow. "Did you know her?"

"Yes, I knew her." Mike snapped. "It was Rachel, Rachel Zane."

"Oh…" Donna smiled knowingly. "I always thought that there was something going on there. Guess that I was right." She sang the last word and Mike glared.

"Why are you sitting on my desk?" He grumbled, lifting his head off his arms.

"To give you this." She slid a piece of paper across the desk. "It's the form that you needed."

"Donna, you're a lifesaver, really." Mike wanted to hug her, but felt like that might get a little weird. He settled with patting her on the shoulder.

"I know that." She crossed her arms. "Now I'm headed to the Bahamas for a week…don't burn down the firm or get Harvey fired."

"I'll try." He looked down at his phone. No missed calls. "Have a good week, then."

She smiled and slipped off his desk. "Try sending her flowers…girls like that, Mike." She patted him on the back and strode off, leaving him a little confused, but grateful. He called a florist and sent Jenny a bouquet of roses and a note that said I'm sorry, from Mike.

He had just hung up the phone when a stack of paper was dropped unceremoniously on his desk. "Mr. Ross, if I could take your attention away from your personal life for thirty seconds." Rachel Zane was next to his desk, her voice belittling and sharp. "Harvey wants you to proofread there."

"Rachel!" She was standing with her hands on her hips, dark circles visible under her eyes. "Rachel, we need to talk."

"Why?" She crossed her arms, a defiant expression on her face. "Need to know what sort of flowers to buy your girlfriend?"

"Don't be like this." He pled, but she stalked off, her heels clicking loudly. He followed her, ignoring the stares of the other associates. "Rachel!"

"Mike…" She stopped suddenly and turned to look at him, her arms folded tightly, "Leave me alone." She continued walking before he could say anything.

He continued doggedly after her, determined. They passed her office and she didn't stop. She continued on to the elevator and, despite the fact that he could feel half of Pearson-Harden watching him, he followed her. The smooth doors slid shut and she turned to face him. "Rachel, I just…"

She turned and looked him, her head tilted to the side. "Save it, okay?" She bit her lip. "I don't need to hear about how happy you and Jenny are."

"Rachel…" He took a step towards her. She stepped back, her back hitting the elevator wall. "This isn't about me and Jenny. This is about me and you. And I just think that we need to…" She cut him off by pressing her lips against his.

For a second, he stood frozen, shook rushing through him. Then, some semblance of thought crept back into his brain and he responded fiercely, pressing her up against the metal wall. The heat didn't seems as bothersome as it had moments before as she deepened the kiss, her mouth warm and soft and full against his. Her hands looped around his neck and ran themselves through his hair. He bit back a moan against her lips and tightened his grip on her, hands sliding down her lower back.

Ding! They had reached the first floor. Still entrapped in each other's arms and lips, the doors slid open without Mike noticing.

"Hm." The person standing there let out a sound of disapproval. "Well, I see why none of my research is ever on time."

"Louis!" Rachel broke away, exclaiming as she saw the ill-tempered junior partner standing there. "We…we were just…"

"You know the firm has a policy against PDA in the workplace." Louis got into the elevator. Rachel disentangled herself from Mike and stood on Louis's other side.

"The elevator isn't the workplace…technically." Mike pointed out. He heard Rachel bite back a panicked laugh.

Louis didn't answer right away and a very uncomfortable silence descended in the hot metal box. "Going up?" He said, his eyebrow raised.

"I guess so." Mike looked straight ahead, smoothing the wrinkles Rachel had left in his suit.

"No, I just…" Rachel slipped out of the elevator. "I'll just take the stairs."

"Rachel…" Mike extended a hand towards her.

"I'll see you later, Mike." Rachel darted away, leaving Mike alone for an elevator ride that was much less enjoyable than the last.

Rachel hung awkwardly in the bottom of the stairwell, putting herself back into some sort of order. She pulled at her skirt and smoothed her hair and tried to come to terms with what had just happened. She couldn't lie, she'd thought about kissing Mike Ross more than she'd care to admit. But, this…now it had really happened…She raised a shaking hand to her lips and shook her head. She'd never had a first kiss with anyone quite like that.

She sat on the bottom step, not quite ready to go and face the heat of Pearson-Harden just yet. Mike was up there…and so was Louis. Why did he have to be the one to find them? She would rather that anyone else, literally anyone else in the entire world, would have found them. But, of course it had to be the only man at Pearson-Harden with a grudge against both her and Mike.

She blushed when she thought of Mike and them got angry at herself for acting like a preteen girl with her first crush. She got up and brushed herself off and started the long hike up the stairs to her office. He had a girlfriend, anyway. A girlfriend who was pretty and perky and blond. Rachel hated perky, pretty blond girls. In high school, they had been the cheerleaders that had made fun of her. In college, there were the sorority girls who always got the cutest guys. Even now, she seemed unable to escape pretty, perky blonds who stole the best guys.

Despite that, Rachel knew that Jenny couldn't be as smart as she was and definitely couldn't be as smart as Mike was. Nobody she had ever met was as smart as Mike was. The things he could do fascinated her. She made her way grudgingly up the last flight of stairs, dreading the reception that would be awaiting her.

She walked through the front doors and made a beeline for her office, not daring to look left or right. The feet between her and her office felt like miles. Every step took a month. Every little sound was magnified fifty times. By the time that she collapsed behind her desk, Rachel felt like she had been running a marathon. There was a note sitting in the middle, written in a cramped handwriting.

Meet me for lunch at the sandwich place. -Mike

She took a deep breath. Part of her didn't want to go…wouldn't it be better if they just left things the way that they were? But the memory of their elevator kiss was just too strong and she spent the hour or so before lunch anxiously pretending to work and checking her phone for the time every few seconds.

The minutes creeped past as the temperature creeped upward. She fanned herself with her hand and typed a few aimless sentences on her computer before promptly deleting them. She ignored the glances of the associates who passed her office and, as soon as her lunch hour began, she fast-walked across the office and into the elevator. As the she got closer to the ground, the temperature got closer to not-boiling.

She made her way across the lobby and out the door, her heels clicking on the polished floor. "Rachel!" A shout stopped her and she looked around. Mike was getting out of the elevator. "Wait up!"

He hurried over and fell into step beside her. They walked out of the door without speaking and, also without speaking, the turned towards the sandwich place. They were a block from the firm when Rachel finally found her voice. "Did you get in trouble with Louis?"

"Nah." Mike rubbed the back of his neck and she found herself watching him intently before looking away, embarrassed. "He told Harvey, I expect." He shrugged. "Harvey's cool…he won't do anything."

There was a long pause. "I'm sorry." Rachel finally blurted. "That was completely inappropriate of me." She felt herself blushing. "I mean, we work together…"

"Rach…" Mike turned and caught her eyes with his. She couldn't move. "Don't apologize. Just…don't."

"Okay." She agreed breathily, leaning in a little.

"What we did…" Mike swallowed and, she might have imagined it, but she thought that her gaze flickered to her lips. "I mean, there's no reason to blow it out of proportion."

She blinked once or twice and leaned in further, moved by a force stronger than her will. "No reason to…get all hot and bothered about it."

"Absolutely." His voice cracked and she smiled. "No reason for that."

"Mike?" She said his name like a question.

"Uh…" He swallowed again, his eyes flicking all over her face. "Yeah?"

She leaned up the few inches between them and pressed her lips to his. He responded more quickly this time, his lips pressing insistently on hers, demanding more. She twined her hands around his neck and he pressed a hand on her lower back, the other exploring her long hair.

"Hey!" A voice interrupted them and Rachel let go of Mike, her hands returning to her sides. His lips she surrendered last, running her tongue along her own as she looked towards the source of their distraction. An old man was frowning at them. "This is a public street!"

He waddled away without giving them time to answer him. Mike turned on Rachel. "We need to stop doing that!" He re-tightened his tie, not looking at her.

"I'm sorry." She told him miserably. "I really am."

"Don't…" He turned back to her as quickly as he had turned away, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Never…" He struggled to find the right words for a moment. "Rachel…" He brushed a piece of hair put of her face, his fingers grazing her cheek. "I…I need to figure this out."

She shook her head, but did not speak. And, on that very public street corner, he took her in his arms and hugged her close to him. "It'll all be fine." He whispered in her ear.

Rachel wasn't sure who he was reassuring, her or himself.

A/N: So...there's that. Like I said, one of my most favorite chapters. So, review and all that jazz.