New A/N: I was compelled to write another background story for the bigger Mike/Connie story that I'm working on, so I'm turning this into a series rather than doing two (or possibly more) one-shots of Mike's background (childhood/young adulthood/college/law school years) so that they are all in one place. However, I will consider the story complete unless I'm compelled to write yet another background story on Mike. (Note: Only one punctuation and one fact changed in this chapter to flow better and make more sense, respectively. I also added a title for the chapter to better distinguish it from the other chapter(s).)

Original A/N: This is a background story for a bigger Mike/Connie story I'm working on. (No idea when that would be posted.) With what we found out in Brazil I couldn't help but come up with a background on Mike. Not going with the idea that Mike is only thirty five. Sticking closer to Linus Roache's age for Mike Cutter's age. Not beta'd so all the errors are my own.

Disclaimer: Not mine. All characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I'm just playing with them.

Young Mike Cutter - How the Divorce Affects Mike

1971

Mike Cutter is seven years old. He's lying in bed pretending to be asleep because his bedtime was two hours ago. He had wanted to stay up to see his Dad come home since he hadn't seen him in three weeks but his Mom said no, so here he was pretending to sleep.

His Dad had just walked in the door and he can hear his mother yelling at his Dad already.

"You were supposed to have gotten in three hours ago. You leave me here all alone with the boy for three weeks and you couldn't just get here on time?"

"June, the flight was delayed because of thunderstorms. Was I supposed to make the pilot fly through them?"

"Well, you could have called."

"So that I could have been yelled at through the phone at a dollar a minute? No, thanks! You were the one who wanted to move here so that you could be closer to family. We could have moved closer to my job and then I would be home every night."

"Don't you mean every night after 10pm."

"Don't you start with me. I work very hard to keep a roof over our heads. If you weren't so profligate with money, I wouldn't have to take these jobs that require a lot of moves or travel."

"Don't use my spending habits as the reason you have to take these jobs. You like being a turnaround specialist. You like being told that you managed to improve production by 150% in three months. I moved with you for over ten years before I couldn't take it anymore. Just as I would make friends in a new place, we'd be gone again in a month. I couldn't even try to find any sort career because I couldn't work anywhere for more than ten months even if I did find a job that I could start as soon as we arrived."

"What do you need a career for? You have Mike now. He should keep you occupied enough."

"What do I know about how to raise a boy? Should I teach him how to cook? How to knit? How to design women's clothing? He's crazy about baseball, but are you ever home enough even to take him to a game?"

"Well, he spent the summer at your parents' in Oregon last year and played in that summer league. Since he's going back this summer, they should be able to teach him all he needs to know. Besides, what do I know about baseball?"

"Baseball doesn't just exist during summer vacation, you know. He told me this week that the major leagues have already started and that he wanted to go to a game. What boy has his mother bring him to a game?"

"Fine. I'll take him to a game this weekend. Are you satisfied? I need a drink."

There was some more mumbling from his father that Mike couldn't make out. Once again, neither of his parents were interested in him nor doing stuff with him.

Three Years Later

Mike was reading a book in his room when his father knocked on his door. It was the first time in a long time that his Dad had come home and he had hoped to spend time with his Dad first thing that morning but his parents told him they had to work something out first, so he went to read a book. When his dad knocked, Mike threw the book down and ran to open the door.

"Are we going to do something together, Dad?"

"Son, we have to talk about something important." That's when Mike saw a bunch of suitcases and some boxes packed at the top of the staircase, more than usual.

"What's going on, Dad?"

"Sit down, son." Mike obediently sits on his bed and his father sits beside him.

"Your mother and I are getting a divorce. I'm sure you know that things haven't been going well between us and it's better if we don't stay married or live together. I'll still see you every so often. Your mother and I, we have what's called shared custody, which means most of the time you live with your Mom and some of the time you live with me."

"Oh. Will I still get to go see Granny and Grandpa in the summer?"

"Sure, son, if that's what you want."

"When do I stay with you?"

"Holidays mostly. You're coming to see me on Thanksgiving, New Years, Easter and the Fourth of July."

"OK."

"Know that I love you, son."

"Are you going now?"

"Yes, I have to unpack at my apartment before I start work on Monday in Pittsburgh."

"OK. Bye, Dad."

"See you at Thanksgiving. I'll take you to the parade in New York City. Wouldn't it be cool." Thomas Cutter gets up and heads out of the bedroom.

"Sounds cool, Dad."

"Bye, son."

Mike goes back to reading his book. A little after his Dad left, Mike went to see if he could talk to his mother about the divorce. She told him to buck up. He was ten after all and really it wasn't going to be much different than before in that he'd see his Dad every three months or so. It isn't until later that night when his mother thought he was asleep before he would allow himself to cry. Ten-year-old boys don't cry for their daddies.

Thanksgiving was fun. Tom Cutter had gotten them a hotel in New York City near the Macy's holiday parade. Whenever his dad wasn't glued to the phone, he took Mike around the city. They almost missed the parade because of a phone call Tom got a half hour before it was suppose to start. As was, Mike saw the first fifteen minutes from their hotel room window where if he used a pair of binoculars he could see the floats go by a street corner outside one of the hotel room windows.

New Years got canceled just as Mike and his mother were about to head out the door for the airport. Mike got mad and yelled at his father on the phone. Mike refused to take calls from his Dad for six weeks.

When Easter came, Mike traveled on his own by plane to Pittsburgh. His Dad got him at the airport and they had dinner out. When Tom took Mike back to his apartment, Mike got to meet Cindy, Mike's Dad's girlfriend, who came by. Cindy was a lot younger than Mike's Dad. Mike got to sleep on his Dad's fold out couch and Mike thought it was odd that there were entire shelves in the bathroom empty, but he thought nothing of it. In the end, Mike spent most of that Easter weekend with Cindy, who knew nothing about entertaining ten year old boys, so it was a good thing that Mike brought a bunch of books to read with him and past the time until he had to get back on the plane by reading all of them.

In May, Mike found out that his cousins and some friends of theirs were going with their Dad's on a Fourth of July camping trip, Mike called Tom to ask if he could spend Fourth of July in Oregon instead. His Dad had no objections.

When Mike was leaving his grandparents in Oregon that August, he was told that he wasn't going back to San Francisco, but that he was going to Connecticut. Apparently, his mother took the opportunity of him being in Oregon for the summer to move them. He didn't even get the chance to say a permanent good-bye to his friends at school. His mother thought that since he was going to be in middle school in the fall that it would be the opportune time to change coasts so that she could be closer to New York City for her career.

Mike saw his Dad again the following Thanksgiving, but this time it was in Austin, Texas. Again when Tom took Mike back to his apartment, he met Julie, his Dad's new girlfriend who was about Cindy's age. When Mike had a chance to ask his Dad about Cindy, Tom just said that Cindy didn't want to move out of Pittsburgh.

This pattern continued pretty much until Mike left for college. That first summer after college started, instead of going to his grandparents for the summer, he took a job to earn some money so that he could move out on his own. Since he lost his scholarship the first term, he didn't want to go UConn again the next year, so he took a job on a fishing trawler for the summer. It meant he didn't have any place to spend his money and that every penny earned could be saved for going to BU in Boston.