A troubled sister and girlfriend
"Michaela Jocelyn Ross, you're under arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud" the words said by the FBI agent echoed in Michaela Jocelyn 'Kayla' Ross' ears, who had tipped them off? Daniel Hardman? Trevor? Jenny Griffth? Harvey Spectre looked stunned as his protégée was arrested in her office and forcibly removed from Pearson Spectre Litt. Even Louis looked shocked, the staff and lawyers of the firm knew about Kayla's lack of a law degree, but it was her photographic memory that always impressed them and won them their cases.
Kayla was shoved into a cell in the precinct and she began to softly cry, she just wanted Harvey to be there and tell her she was going to be okay. She wondered as well if it had been her jealous brother Michael James 'Mike' Ross who'd sold her out to the Feds? Kayla just sat in the cell, still in her suit and silver tie, and cried and cried until she fell to sleep.
Hervey was furious when Louis and Rachel discovered who'd sold out Kayla to the FBI "let me get this straight" Harvey snapped irritably "her childhood priest broke the rules of confession when she told him she didn't have a law degree?" Louis nodded "yeah, believe me, I sure as hell wouldn't have done that to Kayla. She's a nice girl and so friendly" Harvey nodded "now what? Kayla's going to go to trial for fraud and what can we do?" Jessica looked at Rachel "we do what we do for family, Rachel, we help them and defend them!"
Harvey had a personal reason to kill her priest, Kayla was his girlfriend. He had fallen for her the minute he saw her bloodied and bruised in the alleyway behind (then) Pearson Hardman and had taken her straight to Manhattan General for treatment. Kayla had been so grateful that she'd accepted the summons that she'd been sent when it was found that Trevor had paid someone to abuse her in that alley. Harvey had been impressed by the knowledge that she had of the law and offered her a job at the firm. But Kayla didn't have a law degree at all, yet he offered her an internship to get one thanks to Jessica when she met Kayla.
Yet as the years passed for Kayla and Harvey at the firm, they'd began to get closer and closer together. Until one night when Harvey had been injured from a thug attacking him and was laying in the hospital in a coma, Kayla had stayed beside him and gently whispered in his ear "don't die on me, Harvey. I love you" that sliced through the black haze that Harvey saw, he gently squeezed her hand to let her know he had heard her and that he was okay.
Back with Pearson Spectre Litt, Jessica had told Louis and Harvey that Harvey was going to handle Kayla's case "that I understand" Louis said, giving Harvey a knowing look. Harvey glanced back grateful that Jessica didn't know about him and Kayla being together. Then again, she knew when Kayla had been dating Jack Griffth, Jenny's brother and Kayla had gotten hell from Jessica about dating a client's brother. Kayla had promised to stay single.
Harvey went with Louis to the precinct and asked to see Kayla Ross "who?" the officer smirked, Louis gave Harvey a look Kayla used to give Harvey when they saw one "douchebag" he mouthed "Michaela Jocelyn Ross, we know her as plain Kayla" he clarified. A police detective came and took the two lawyers to where Kayla was and left her in the room with them "Harvey!" Kayla lunched herself crying at him, Harvey just held his girlfriend close to him, his tears running into Kayla's dyed dark lilac hair "Kayls, you okay?" Louis asked her, she turned her sapphire blue eyes to him and shook her head "I wanna go back to work" she sobbed, Louis placed a hand on her shoulder "you will, some way or another."
Everyone at Pearson Spectre Litt worked overtime to get Kayla cleared of the charges, she had worked without a law degree, but Jessica had asked Harvard to give her classes so that Kayla could get her degree. Harvard had sent a lecturer to help Kayla get the qualifications while she was working at the firm as well. What the Priest hadn't known was the amount of people Kayla had that cared about her and what lengths they would go to keep her safe.
The court date was set and Kayla was taken to the familiar courthouse she often had worked in with Harvey on several cases, but this time she was being tried. She wondered how she would win this on her own until Harvey sat beside her with Louis on her other side "you really thought we'd let you do this alone?" Louis asked her, Kayla breathed a sigh of pure relief as the trial started "prosecution calls Michaela Jocelyn Ross to the stand" Kayla looked at Harvey and Louis in fear, Harvey squeezed her hand and told her "go on, you'll be alright."
She went up and sat in the stand as the prosecutor accused her of lying to the law and falsely working as a lawyer "dumbass, I was taking classes at Harvard, thanks to Jessica Pearson, at the same time I was working at the firm!" Kayla snapped irritably, the damn guy was getting on her nerves, she glanced at Harvey and Louis who were suppressing grins at Kayla's 'I don't give a shit about what you're saying' attitude.
"You admit to working at a law firm illegally?" She was accused again "I was working for them while attending classes to get my law degree!" Kayla snapped again, even the judge was getting tired of the man's arrogance towards the young accused lawyer. He'd seen the truth in Kayla's eyes, it was hard to lie with your eyes, and Kayla's had been telling the truth. He'd heard about the time she'd impersonated Harvey to stop a former client of his from finding him and shooting him, risking her own life in the process and Harvey yelling at her.
Kayla had been in Harvey's office and was working on some assignments she had been late on completing due to the case she and Louis had been working on, Harvey had seen her in the Associate's cubicles and saw she wasn't going to get any work done due to the amount of noise there, so he told her to use his office and Louis had gotten her a coffee to keep the exhausted girl awake until she finished the work she needed to do.
Louis had originally not liked Kayla when she first came to the firm, he thought she was a know-it-all and she didn't like him at all! But that changed when Kayla had been hit by a car while riding her bike back from the offices and Louis had seen the accident. Knowing Harvey would kill him if anything happened to his associate, Louis called Donna and told her what had happened after calling 911 to get Kayla to the hospital. When Kayla woke about a week later, she was nursing a sore head and had several stiches in the side of her head "ow! What the hell happened?" She'd said at the time, then looked and saw Louis and Harvey concerned for her and had stayed by her side for a week.
Harvey glanced at Louis "Kayla, what's the last thing you remember?" He asked her, Kayla thought hard, not helping with the headache she had "I was riding bmy bike back home when I got hit by a car, then I hit my head and then nothing until now" she said, Louis winced at the young associate "well, I was in the office when Louis called Donna about you being involved in a car accident, he's the one who got you to the hospital and told me about what happened" Harvey told her. After that, Kayla had to respect Louis for saving her life and she owed him for that.
While she had been sat working, a previous client had came into Harvey's office and demanded where he was. Luckily, Kayla was a quick thinker and learner, she had to impersonate Harvey to keep him safe, though she was in for hell off him when she got out of this batch of trouble again. She was yelled at severely by Harvey, but then relented when he saw how scared and traumatised the young woman was. She'd been so scared that she was going to be killed. But that was how they had began dating.
Kayla was practically shaking when the jury returned with their verdict, they had analysed the evidence and had contacted Harvard to confirm Kayla's story, Harvey held her hand to keep her calm while Louis placed an arm around her shoulders to keep her standing "we, the jury of New York State, find the defendant, Michaela Jocelyn Ross, not guilty" the speaker said, Kayla collapsed onto Harvey in joy, while the entire staff of Pearson Spectre Litt cheered in joy. Kayla was well liked in the offices and brought light and laughter to the formerly dull offices. While she was an associate, there was always laughing and screaming because of her playing pranks on the other associates.