Okay, loooonnnngggg A/N, but here we go:

Wow. You guys are AMAZING!

I'd apologize for the long wait, but I'm not exactly sorry. (I am sorry for the frankness of that statement, but it is the truth. This past week and a half have been extremely difficult emotionally, so please be kind. Thank you.)

Hallowgirl15-I think that this chapter will answer your question...specifically, Mr. Haldin's lawyer... ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Suits. If I did: Trevor would get a pie to the face, Kyle would be arrested for being himself, and Mike would probably get hurt more often ;). And this idea was inspired by (not written for) a prompt on Suits Meme. Oh, and I technically do not own the names of: Burke, Haldin (though I changed the spelling), Jones, or Nick.

Phoenix on cloud nine- I cannot thank you enough. You, my friend, are a story saver. Really. Thank you soooo much. And yes, I did change the intro, because it was long and paragraph-y and didn't really add to the plot, but thank you for taking the time to read it. I may or may not use it in a future fanfic.

Please remember to leave a review. Thanks.

-Suits-

Previously...

"Harvey?" Mike's voice was hoarse and Harvey had to strain to hear him.

"Yeah, Mike?"

A very long stretch of silence, long enough that Harvey was worried that Mike had passed out on him, when Mike finally said, "I'm scared."

Harvey sighed. "I know you are, kid. Just hand on, okay? We're coming for you."

-Suits-

8: 25 PM

Harvey's throat was sore from talking non-stop for the past half hour, trying to keep Mike awake as well as attempting to distract both the younger man and himself. Because, though Harvey wouldn't ever admit it, Mike's confession had scared him. Though Mike and Harvey weren't the same people, they did share some similarties. One of which was that neither of them really cared to boast about feelings or emotions. Especially ones that would admit to vulnerability. But Mike just had, and it was a testament who how truly and utterly terrified Mike had to be. And it really hadn't helped that his associate had been getting quieter as more time passed. Harvey found himself asking Mike questions more and more often as he tried to keep Mike awake.

"Harvey?" Mike's voice came out close to a whimper, and Harvey could barely understand him.

"Yeah?"

"What time is it?"

The question caught Harvey off guard, but he recovered as he glanced at his watch. "Almost 8:30. Why?"

"Just..." he heard Mike's sharp intake of breath. "...wondering."

Harvey rolled his eyes. "Sure you were."

"Do I detect s...sarcasm in that sentence?" Mike teased weakly.

"So you're not totally oblivious," Harvey replied.

Mike was quiet for a while. "I...wanted to know how long I've been...in here," he said in answer to Harvey's previous question. "It's been...a really long time."

"Patience is a virtue," Harvey replied good-naturedly, thinking that it was a virtue that he himself was rapidly running out of.

"Mr. Specter! Mr. Specter! Mr. Specter!" Mr. Haldin shouted quickly. He sprinted and skidded to a stop in front of Harvey, nearly crashing into him in the process. "We think we've found him!"

Harvey stared at him for several seconds before he could formulate a response. "Thank God," he said sincerely. He turned back to the phone. "You there, Mike?"

Mike took a ragged breath and Harvey exhaled slowly, trying to quell the panic that kept insisting on taking over Harvey's senses and, momentarily, losing the battle.

"Can't...go anywhere, Harvey..." Mike replied.

"I know, kid. We're getting you out."

"You can stop trying...to be so optimistic," Mike said.

Harvey shook his head. "No, I'm serious, Mike. We found you. We're getting you out."

There was a long pause before the senior partner heard Mike sigh slightly in relief. "About time."

Harvey chuckled.

-Suits-

8:47 PM

Mike really couldn't help the soft groan that escaped him when a bright light—so bright that Mike wondered delusionally if someone had managed to bring out the sun despite the fact that it was the middle of the night—shone in his eyes. Mike's headache spiked to new and impossible levels of pain and he screwed his eyes shut.

"Hey!"

Mike had a sudden, almost overwhelming, urge to punch the man in the face. The high, male voice calling out to him didn't help his headache, and the man refused to move whatever it was that was so bright...

The same voice, more distant this time, called out, "I found him!"

Mike groaned again, only to wince at the sharp pain in his chest.

"You okay, buddy?" The voice was back again, even louder. Mike managed to open his eyes long enough to send him a sarcastic glare before the light was too intense and he had to shut his eyes.

"We're gonna get you out," the man called down to him. Mike wondered idly how many times he had heard those words in the last six hours.

Harvey's voice came through the phone again. "Mike, do you think that there is anything around you that could possibly cave in on you if we were to dig?"

Mike looked around, having trouble focusing both his vision and his mind. There was the wooden beam that hadn't moved, sitting on Mike's chest and pushing on his broken ribs. It was why Mike had been struggling to breathe, and when he did, it never failed to send sharp stabs of pain through his chest. He couldn't see the end of the beam going in either direction and it seemed pretty sturdy, so he figured that it probably wasn't going to cave in on him.

The other rubble surrounding Mike, including the jagged metal poles that formed a kind of cage around him, had a higher possibility of collapsing on top of him. In fact, if the previous rubble shift was anything to go by, at least some of it would most certainly fall. The interlocking poles looked strong enough, but Mike knew that a slight disturbance could cause it to collapse on top of him.

It reminded Mike of his relationship with Harvey. As if reality wanted to give Mike an ironic, twisted kind of symbolism.

Mike relayed this to the senior partner between painful pauses and gasps, leaving out the part about not being able to breathe properly and the analogy to their relationship.

Harvey took a deep breath, and Mike thought that it seemed an awful lot like bragging when the most Mike could manage were his short, hollow breaths. "Okay. Good work, kid."

-Suits-

9: 04 PM

Harvey stared at Mr. Haldin incredulously. "You're going to what?"

Mr. Haldin sighed. "You associate really isn't that far deep in the rubble. He landed in a corner of the building, and most of the rubble caved in and towards the middle. However, he does have some bricks and wood around him and the metal poles that he was telling you about are, currently, probably the only thing saving him from certain death.

"If we were to dig with the big equipment we have, it would probably disrupt it. But if we can get enough people to start moving things by hand, it shouldn't cause too much shaking that it would collapse. We suggest that we get a team and start digging him out manually. "

Harvey thought it over. It was crazy, stupid, irrational, illogical. But Harvey found himself nodding anyway. "You said he's not that far deep?"

Mr. Haldin nodded once. "If he can see the sky, he can't be that deep. And Jones, he's the guy that found him, he affirmed it. Jones estimated that your associate was maybe 9 feet down."

Harvey looked over his shoulder, watching Donna talk to Mike for a brief second. Donna seemed to sense this—using what Harvey was beginning to think of as some sort of sixth sense—and smiled sadly at him. Harvey just nodded once in return before they both went back to what they had been doing previously.

"Alright." Harvey chose to ignore Mr. Haldin's relieved smile. "How long is this going to take?"

The company owner turned back to the collapsed building, scanning it over analytically, before turning back to Harvey. "Probably about half an hour. Give or take fifteen minutes."

The senior partner nodded, realizing that he had been doing a lot of that in the last hour. His voice was tired from talking to Mike almost non-stop, and knew that he was far from done. He turned back towards Donna once he was sure that was all Mr. Haldin was planning to tell him. Reaching her, Harvey accepted the phone Donna handed to him. They locked gazes for a brief second, Harvey trying to get some sort of information from Donna about how Mike was holding up without having to ask.

If Donna's teary eyes were anything to do by, it wasn't well.

"Mike?"

"H-Harvey?"

"Yeah. It's me. How are you doing?" Harvey asked, because he didn't know what else he was supposed to say.

Mike coughed feebly. "F-fine."

Harvey shook his head. "You're a bad actor, you know that?"

"I...fooled two police off...officers," Mike argued.

It took Harvey a second before he realized what Mike was talking about. "When we met?" Harvey asked, smiling as he remembered. "Last time I checked, you were running from them. You didn't fool anyone."

"I c-coulda fooled you," Mike returned.

"You think?"

"Yeah. If the st-stupid briefcase...hadn't popped open."

Harvey smiled in spite of himself. "I read people for a living, Mike. You wouldn't have fooled me for a second."

"D-Donna believed...me."

"Donna's gullible," Harvey replied simply, smiling innocently at Donna's glare.

"No, she's not. If...If she was, ev'rybody at Pearson Hardman...wouldn't be so scared of her."

"True," Harvey conceded, and then added as an afterthought, "Everybody is scared of me, too. Even Louis."

Mike coughed a weak laugh. "I-I'm not."

"Besides you."

"I trust you...Harvey."

Harvey froze for a very brief second before recovering. "I would hope so. Your future rests in my hands." Harvey had said it lightly enough, but the trust behind those words suddenly weighed heavily on both of them.

"My...future's not looking...too bright right now," Mike said.

"We're getting you out, Mike. You need to hang on."

"I know," Mike replied.

-Suits-

9:59 PM

Mike wanted to clamp his hands over his ears, but his pinned arms and sharp stab of pain in his left shoulder that occurred whenever he moved it kept him from being able to do so. The incessant scraping and dull, heavy thuds had only been getting louder—or closer, one of the two—and Mike was already gritting his teeth against it. The noise really only made his headache worse, if that were even possible.

However, after what was probably hours—though Harvey told him that it had only been about half an hour—Mike saw people. Real, living, breathing. People. They were dirty and tired and frustrated, but when they saw him, every last one of them grinned at him. Mike attempted to return the gesture, managing a feeble, pain filled half-smile. One of the workers was the man from earlier, Mike recognizing the voice when he called over his shoulder; "We got him, boss."

The next several minutes were filled with loud noises and fast hands, as the workers' incentive to get him out had evidently been revived upon actually seeing him. Before Mike knew it, the only thing between him and them was the metal cage and the wooden beam.

"Mike?" It was Harvey's voice, still coming through the speaker on his phone. Several of the workers looked at the device, then over their shoulder at something that Mike couldn't see, and all of them smiled.

"Yeah?" Mike replied exhaustedly. A gust of wind hit him and Mike shivered, realizing for the first time that night just how cold he felt. A part of him told him that was bad, but Mike was too tired to bring himself to care.

"You're almost there, kid."

"I know."

"Mr. Ross?" The voice wasn't Harvey's this time.

Mike blinked up at one of the construction workers. "Yeah?" he replied, his voice sounding oddly weak and breathy.

"We need to cut these poles in order to pull them away from you. So it's about to get really loud, okay?"

Mike managed to nod and felt his body tense in preparation. Several seconds passed, and then the deafening whirling, scraping, and screeching bombarded Mike and he couldn't help the slight whimper that escaped him at the spike of pain it caused. Mike really wanted to pass out, if only to bring a brief stop to everything. But Harvey's orders to stay awake kept Mike fighting against it.

"He's trapped." It was woman's voice, one that Mike did not recognize. The associate suddenly realized that they had cut through the cage.

Very observant, Mike thought sarcastically. Of course he was trapped. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't trapped.

The construction workers around him were quiet for a minute before one of them spoke up. "He's fading too fast. We don't have time to dig the beam out and move the whole thing off of him."

Fading, Mike thought. That's an odd word to describe dying.

"So what do you suggest we do, Nick?"

More silence. "We're gonna have to cut the beam and lift off what is on top of him."

"Do it."

The man, Nick, nodded once before turning his attention back to Mike. "Alright, kid, we're gonna—"

"I heard," Mike replied cutting him off. He coughed. "Just make...it fast."

Mike didn't hear a reply, the roar of equipment drowning out anything anyone may have said in return. Mike pinched his eyes shut against the sound, trying to block out the pain that had Mike desperately wanted to scream. Or cry. Or both.

-Suits-

10:30 PM

Harvey had been listening to the construction workers talk to each other and Mike, their voices coming through the forgotten phone, as he paced back and forth.

"You're almost there, Mike," Harvey muttered under his breath. He could hear the sound of the equipment cutting through the wooden beam that was apparently trapping his associate. He hadn't tried to talk to Mike since before they were cutting the metal poles, knowing that the construction workers needed Mike to be able to focus if they had to give him any instructions. But Harvey hadn't hung up, because he knew that Mike knew that he was still there.

"Lift on three, okay?" he heard a deep voice say. "Ready? One...two...three!"

Harvey stopped pacing and turned to watch as five or six construction workers heaved a large section of wood and place it a good distance away before EMTs sprinted towards the hole that Mike was in. Harvey shared a glance with Donna, who smiled—profoundly relieved and yet, still slightly sad—but shook her head subtly.

Harvey understood. He knew he needed to let the EMTs do their job. But when he saw them lift a body out of the rubble and attach him to a stretcher, his mind had made the connection of Mike and he was ignoring Donna's warning, walking at a not-quite-running kind of pace.

He was stopped by two construction workers.

"Sir, you need to—"

"It's alright, fellas." Harvey turned around to see Mr. Haldin jogging towards them. "Let him through."

The two workers shared a glance before shrugging and Harvey pushed past them before they could apologize. Harvey had reached the stretcher that Mike was on for a brief second before a pair of EMTs tried to pull him away.

"H-Harvey?" Mike asked, sounding dazed, confused, and like he was in a lot of pain.

"Right here, kid."

The EMTs released him.

Harvey kept up the brisk pace with the stretcher, nodding when an EMT told him that they had to get Mike to a hospital immediately. Harvey tried to think of something to say, something to lighten the tension and rid of the fear that was so evident in the younger man's clouded eyes.

But for the first time in his life, Harvey Specter couldn't think of anything to say.

"Sir, we can't let you in the ambulance with him." Harvey looked at the EMT that had put his hand on his shoulder.

"Where are you taking him?"

"Presbyterian."

Harvey nodded and the EMT jumped in the passenger seat, the ambulance speeding off with their siren wailing shrilly. Harvey took a deep breath to collect himself, reign in his emotions, and turned around. Donna was standing behind him and wordlessly kept up with his brisk pace as they headed towards the street. Harvey suddenly noticed the second ambulance, and wanted to kick himself for forgetting that Mr. Flynn had been trapped in the rubble too. He cursed under his breath.

"I took care of it, Harvey," Donna said. "They pulled him out...it was...it was too late."

Harvey looked at her. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Trip on your own shoelaces, most likely," Donna said with a difficult smile, trying to lighten the tension that was so palpable in the air. Harvey gave her a half-hearted mock-glare before reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone, only to find that it was still in his hand and the line was still connected.

Harvey ended the call and dialed a second number. "Ray. I n—"

"I'm already here, boss. I didn't leave."

Harvey smiled slightly and snapped his phone shut just as Ray pulled around in front of the senior partner and assistant. Harvey slid in first and Donna came in after him.

"Where am I heading?" Ray asked.

"Presbyterian Hospital."

Ray gave a quiet sigh of relief of having the knowledge that Mike was alive, and wordlessly pulled away from the curb.

-Suits-

11:36 PM

"Mike Ross," Harvey told the nurse at the desk when they entered the hospital. Traffic had been horrible, and it had taken them half an hour longer than usual to get to the hospital.

The nurse eyed him for a second before turning her attention to her computer screen. "He's in surgery at the moment, but a doctor will be out to speak to family about his condition if you would like to wait until the operation is done." The nurse nodded to a row of chairs.

Harvey walked over and sat down, pulling out his phone.

Donna looked at him questioningly. "Jessica," Harvey said by way of explanation. "I should call her and tell her what's happened."

Donna nodded and Harvey stood up, walking outside into the cold wind. He dialed the number and waited.

Jessica picked up on the second ring. "Any news?" she asked by way of greeting.

"On Mike or Mr. Flynn?"

"Both."

Harvey sighed. "They didn't get to Mr. Flynn in time." He paused, hearing Jessica's deep inhale.

"And Mr. Ross?"

"They pulled him out...he's in surgery right now at Presbyterian."

Harvey had kept his tone emotionless, the same time he used in court when a witness of the opposing council was breaking. But Jessica knew him better than to think that he didn't care about either of the things he had just told her.

"Keep me updated."

Jessica ended the call before Harvey could, and the lawyer walked back inside as he resisted the urge to run a hand through his hair. Even in these circumstances, appearance was everything. Harvey walked up to Donna, who only glanced at him before returning her gaze to the tiled floor. Harvey sat down beside her, staring mindlessly at the diagram of a human skeletal system across from him.

If the clock on his phone was anything to go by, two hours had passed before a doctor in green scrubs walked over to them.

"Family of Michael Ross?"

Harvey and Donna walked forward.

"Are you family?" the doctor asked, eyeing both of them.

Harvey looked at him evenly. "We're the closest thing to it that he's got."

The doctor watched the two of them for a few minutes before finally accepting that answer and leading them down the hallway. "Mr. Ross is lucky. He had a mildly serious concussion, and a bone in his shoulder is broken. Three of his ribs are broken but they should heal smoothly. Also, Mr. Ross had a very deep cut along his stomach which, by the way, narrowly missed an artery, and he lost a startling amount of blood."

Harvey kept waiting for the "but..." in the doctor's analysis.

"But we were able to fix most of the damage. We had to give him a blood transfusion. He will probably be confused and maybe a little dizzy when he wakes up. That's normal; it's because of the concussion. The cut on his stomach should heal nicely, but there may be a scar." The doctor stopped outside a door. "He will also need to wear the sling for the better part of two or three months."

The doctor opened the door and Harvey and Donna walked inside. "He should still be asleep for another two hours, but you guys are welcome to stay."

"Thank you, doctor..." Donna said, trailing off when he realized that she didn't know his name.

"Tim," the doctor supplied with a warm smile. Doctor Tim closed the door behind him, leaving the three of them in a peaceful quiet. Harvey and Donna both realized how long it had been since they hadn't been surrounded by loud traffic and even louder construction equipment.

Donna sighed heavily and sat down in the chair beside Mike. Harvey didn't sit, instead walking up to the edge of Mike's hospital bed and gripping the railing tightly. Mike looked better. He was still pale, but he looked far more peaceful in his drug-induced sleep than he had when he was being wheeled into the ambulance. Harvey's grip on the metal railing tightened for a brief moment before he pushed himself off and walked out of the room.

-Suits-

3:45 AM

"I'm not tired, Donna."

This was the first thing Mike was aware of when he came out of unconsciousness. His head still felt slightly muddled and foggy, but it was clearer. Still, it took him a moment to place the deep voice. It was Harvey.

"Adrenaline still wearing off?" Donna. Unmistakably Donna.

"Something like that," Harvey replied.

Mike's eyes felt heavy, but he managed to get them to open for a very brief second before the light was too intense and he pinched his eyes shut. When Mike tried again, several seconds later, he found that the lights had been turned off. The only light was now coming from two lamps in the room, one right next to Mike and the other across the room.

"You're awake," Harvey observed. He was walking away from the light switch against the wall by the door.

Mike groaned as he tried to shift his position. "What time is it?"

Harvey looked amused. "That's your first question?" Mike didn't reply, continuing to look at him expectantly. Harvey rolled his eyes. "3:45 AM."

"How long...have you guys been here?"

Harvey pretended to look thoughtful. "I don't know. What day is it?"

"What?" Mike exclaimed, shooting up. The room spun violently and Mike groaned as he gripped the side of the bed with his right hand as he waited for the spinning to pass. He felt two hands on his back, different sizes but Mike was too focused on reestablishing balance to realize that Harvey and Donna both were trying to comfort him.

Mike nodded, indicating that he was fine, and the hands left his back. Donna glared at Harvey. "Don't listen to him, Mike. You've only been here for about four or five hours."

Mike sighed in relief before sending an annoyed look at Harvey. It didn't last long, however, before it was cut off by a yawn. Mike, feeling unusually stiff, attempted to roll his shoulders, only to wince at the spike of pain it caused. He felt a like smack on his hand.

"Bad puppy. Don't do that," Donna chastised.

Mike suddenly realized something. "Why is my arm in a sling?"

"Because you broke your shoulder, genius," Harvey replied.

Mike looked at his arm in interest before yawning again.

"Go to sleep, kid."

Mike was already half-asleep. "You'll be here when..." Mike yawned again. "When I wake up?"

"Yeah, Mike. We'll be here."

-Suits-

5:30 AM

When Mike woke up again, his mind was much clearer. He still had a slight headache, but it barely registered at all with Mike. Instead, he tried to focus on where he was. He was in a hospital, that much was obvious. If the sign above the door was anything to go by, he was in Presbyterian.

Mike tried to remember what had happened, why he was in the hospital, and was surprised when he realized that he could. Everything, actually. A violent shiver ran through Mike as he remembered being trapped in the dark, unforgiving building, with no certainty that he was going to get out alive...

Mike was thankful when Harvey decided to walk into the room at that moment, a cup of coffee in his hand. Harvey looked at Mike carefully as he leaned against the wall across from Mike, sipping his coffee.

"You're awake," Harvey said.

"Are you going to say that every time I wake up in a hospital?"

Harvey shrugged. "Well, I can't exactly say it when you're passed out because you're high on drugs."

Mike glared at him. "Nice," he said sarcastically.

Harvey smirked. "At least they're legal this time."

"If you're just gonna make fun of me, I am going to go back to sleep."

Harvey smiled behind his coffee cup. "Feel free. Just get better so we can take down Mr. Haldin and that lawyer, Haversham."

A tense silence passed between them before Harvey tried to break it. "I don't think Donna's moved from that seat since she first sat down."

Mike frowned as he glanced at the redhead. "Why?"

"Because she's worried about you."

You aren't? Mike wanted to ask, but he wasn't ready to argue that just yet. "When do I get out of here?" Mike asked instead.

Harvey stared at him for long enough that Mike was beginning to wonder if he was going to get an answer to his question. "They said they want to keep you through today and at least another night. After that, the doctors say it depends on how you are doing."

Mike nodded and held back a groan. He really didn't like hospitals. Hated them, actually, and being stuck in one for more than twenty four hours was not Mike's idea of fun.

As if reading his mind, Harvey shook his head. "Suck it up, kid. You just got pulled out of a collapsed building. You are staying for as long the doctors deem necessary." Harvey took another careful sip of his coffee. "Speaking of, how much do you remember?" Harvey's voice was almost gentle.

Mike closed his eyes against the unpleasant memories. "All of it," he said quietly.

Harvey didn't say anything. Before the silence could get too uncomfortable, Donna shifted and yawned as she woke up. She stood and stretched, smiling at Mike.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," Mike said honestly.

Donna turned her expectant gaze on Harvey as if she asked the question to both of them, which in turn drew Mike's quizzical look to his boss as well. Harvey shifted uncomfortably before he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. "I need to call Jessica."

Mike furrowed his brow. "At five in the morning?"

"She told me to keep her updated." And then Harvey was gone.

Mike shook his head. "I don't understand him."

Donna quirked an eyebrow. "What about him?"

"The whole not caring thing. I mean, I get that he doesn't care about me, but—"

"You really think..." Donna said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Mike, that whole "not caring" act you're talking about? That's Harvey trying to protect you."

Mike stared at Donna in skepticism so great that Donna actually felt bad for the kid. "Protect me?" Mike repeated incredulously.

"Look, Harvey is the best closer in New York, and you have absolutely no idea how many people want to see him ruined." Donna almost wanted to bang her head against the wall, as Mike had clearly not put the pieces together.

"Donna..."

Donna sighed, shaking her head. "Listen, Mike. There is a reason that Harvey doesn't care about anyone. People want to tear him apart. I know it, you know it, and you better believe that Harvey knows it. It's a part of the ruthless reality we all chose to live in. And while no one is willing to face Harvey head-on, there are plenty of people that will go after the people he's close to." Donna looked at Mike solemnly. "I doubt he even realizes it himself, but he doesn't care about people because he doesn't want to be the reason they get hurt."

Mike was quiet for a minute. "He certainly sounded like cared on the phone."

"He did," Donna replied simply.

"Why?"

"Because, at that moment, the building was a much bigger threat to you than any person with a grudge against Harvey."

Another stretch of silence before Mike nodded in understanding. He smiled. "Wow. Getting all philosophical on us, Donna?"

"I'm Donna. I know all."

Mike laughed. Silence filled the room before a familiar voice cut in.

"Hey, Mike—" Harvey began as he rounded into the room, only to cut himself off as he noticed Donna and Mike looking at him. It didn't escape the senior partner that Mike seemed to be looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. Harvey thought it was strange, but chose to ignore it. Instead, he addressed Donna. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Nope," Donna replied smoothly as she stood up and walked out of the room. "Talk to him," Donna whispered in Harvey's ear as she walked by him.

What was Donna expecting him to say? There was so much that he needed to tell the kid, things that he wanted to make sure Mike understood. But Harvey couldn't bring himself to say any of the wide number of things he should have. Instead, what came out of his mouth was, "Jessica wants to know when you are planning on coming back."

It wasn't a total lie. Jessica did want to know when Mike would be coming back, but she had told Harvey outright: "your associate had better not show his face in here before he is cleared for work."

In response to Harvey's implied question, Mike looked up, incredulous. "Seriously?"

Harvey smirked a little, still leaning against the door frame. "I told her that you would return when the doctor cleared you."

Mike simply nodded, and the awkward silence returned.

"Look, Mike—" Harvey began.

"I know."

Harvey looked at the kid quizzically. There was no way that Mike could have known what he was going to say. The senior partner had prided himself in being the indecipherable presence, the one person no one, except possibly Donna, would ever really understand. Most people saw him as cold and impassive, and Harvey reveled in it. The way to be the best lawyer is to be untouchable, in every possible way.

But Harvey could see that Mike did get it. That his associate understood everything Harvey had been about to say and maybe even the things he wouldn't ever admit. All the things that Harvey needed to be said suddenly didn't matter anymore, because Mike got it without anything being spoken.

Maybe their relationship wasn't as simple as Harvey had thought. Then again, their interaction hadn't exactly been "simple" from the start.

Harvey nodded once, finally breaking the silence. "Oh, by the way, you're gonna stay with me for the next two of three weeks."

"Why?" Mike asked slowly.

"Doctors say someone needs to stay with you," Harvey replied with a shrug. "And you had mentioned that Jenny was visiting family in Florida, so I assume that means no one is left?"

Mike suddenly realized that, besides Jenny, Mike really didn't have anyone he could've even thought to call. Mike gave Harvey a half-hearted, slightly embarrassed smile. "Hey, look at that. You do care about my social life."

"You mean your lack of one?" Harvey smiled. "No. I don't. You just refuse to shut up about it."

"Would you rather I talk about something else?" Mike asked with faux innocence. "Because I read this book once about history of the Chinese dynasties. It goes into great detail, too. Would you like me to start at the beginning?"

"Save your memory for our upcoming case."

Mike perked up. "I get to work when I get out?"

Harvey shook his head. "No. You're coming to my place and sleeping so I don't have to listen to you bore yourself to tears."He turned to walk out the door.

Mike rolled his eyes. "'As you wish,'" Mike joked, quoting Gram's favorite movie.

Harvey stopped and turned to look at him. "Did you just quote The Princess Bride?"

Mike smiled and shrugged, not bothering to offer an explanation.

Harvey grinned and turned back around. "'Inconceivable.'"

-Suits-

And there ends Chapter 2. Whew. That was a long one.

If anyone is confused by Harvey's last word in this chapter, it is another reference to the same movie. Love that movie!

Pllllleeeeaaasssseeee remember to leave a review. Please.