Title : Face The Music
Author's Notes : My first ever crossover fic! I just thought about writing some sort of Suits/White Collar crossover ficlet. Those expecting Neal Caffrey and/or Peter Burke mixing it up with Mike Ross and Harvey Specter are bound to be disappointed. Don't worry, Neal and Harvey make an appearance.
Disclaimer : I don't own any of the recognizable characters. They belong to Aaron Korsh, Suits writers, Jeff Eastin, White Collar writers and USA Network.
Summary : Mike Ross was having a really bad night and decided to go out drinking, where he meets a mysterious lady at the bar. [AU/Very OOC]
Warning : Some spoilers from the Suits season finale [Dog Fight] and an allusion to White Collar 3.09 [On the Fence]. And yes, the woman in the story is Alex Hunter...you're just gonna have to deal with it!
A woman in the corner had one ear to her cellphone, while her right hand covered her other ear to block out the noise. She was wearing big black boots, dark denim jeans, and a gray tunic top underneath her leather jacket.
"Yes, it's a pub called 'Crossroads'. It's on 696 9th Avenue, in Hell's Kitchen. You can't miss it. I'll be waiting by the bar." she said before hanging up. The woman, a dark-haired, olive-skinned beauty, then headed towards the bar.
She stopped by a small crowd that gathered around near the jukebox. There was a young man, maybe a few years younger than her, dressed in a disheveled dark blue suit, causing a commotion. He was standing on top of a table, obviously had a few too many beers to drink. He was shouting on top of his lungs, loudly urging everyone to sing along with him. With a beer bottle in his hand as a microphone, he began to sing, the crowd humming along with him...
"Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing strong
Wasn't the spring,
And spring became the summer
Who'd believe you'd come along.
Hands, touching hands, reaching out
Touching me, touching you.
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would
And now I, I look at the night,
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two, oh
And when I hurt.
Hurting runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when holding you
One, touching one, reaching out,
Touching me, touching you.
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would.
Sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good..."
After the song had ended, the young man had locked eyes with her. He gave her a charming smile as he climbed down from the table. He weaved his way past the crowd as he headed towards her.
"There you are!" the man said. "I thought you left me!" he slurred. "I take my eyes off of you for one second and you disappeared." He pointed at the jukebox. "I even played our song...did you hear me sing, Caroline?" he asked her.
The woman smiled. "Hahaha! I told you earlier, my name isn't 'Caroline'!" she replied.
"Yeah, I know." the man said. "But if I keep calling you 'Caroline', eventually, you'll get pissed off and tell me your real name." he answered.
"Clever boy." the woman replied.
The young man just stared back at her knowingly, with those piercing blue eyes. He was smart, tall, charming, and handsome, which reminded her of an old friend she parted with recently.
"Come on...you know I won't stop bugging you." he told her.
The woman gave in and smiled. "My name's Alex." she replied. She leaned in closer. "You may call me Miss Hunter, if you're nasty." she whispered naughtily.
The young man chuckled. "Alex Hunter." letting her name roll off his tongue. "That name sounds familiar. Are you famous?" he asked.
"Nope. I'm a nobody." Alex replied.
"What a coincidence!" the young man said. "I'm Mike Ross...I'm a nobody too!" Mike slurred. "Look at us...two nobodies brought together by fate. We should celebrate! Let's get drunk and be somebody!" he proposed.
"Fine. I'll let you buy me ONE drink. That's it." Alex replied, as they both walked towards the bar.
"Hello, Ruby." Alex greeted the pub owner, as they approached the bar.
"Hey there, Hurricane." the spiky-haired, leather clad woman behind the bar greeted Alex. "I see you made a new friend. Are we expecting any trouble?" the woman asked.
"Trouble's my middle name!" Mike answered. "Actually, it's James." he said.
"Mine is 'Mahogany'...you repeat that to anyone and I'll bust your nose!" Ruby replied. "What can I get ya?" she asked.
"Direct to the point...I like that in a woman!" Mike flirted with Ruby.
"How old are you kid?" Ruby asked. Alex was chuckling and shaking her head with amusement.
"Just turned 30." Mike answered.
"Exactly. I've got concert t-shirts that are older than you!" Ruby told him. "Now, what can I get you?" she asked again.
"Two Heinekens, por favor." Mike said.
"Uhm, make that one Heineken and one Guinness Black Lager." Alex corrected him.
"A woman who knows what she wants...I like that quality even better." Mike flirted with Alex.
"Easy there, Tiger!" Alex warned him, as she nursed her beer.
"It's okay. I don't bite...much...at first!" Mike leaned closer to her, wiggling his eye brows as he took a big swig of his drink.
"Yeah, I've heard that one before!" Alex couldn't believe how much Mike reminded her of a young Caffrey. She looked at the drunk man before her, and gave him a smile. "How about we start with a dance first?" she told him. She took Mike's hand and led him to the dance floor.
Another song started playing on the jukebox. 'Beautiful Stranger'...a song that seemed very fitting considering the circumstance. Mike gently pulled Alex closer and wrapped his arms around her waist, while Alex reciprocated and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Haven't we met?
You're some kind of beautiful stranger
You could be good for me
I've had the taste for danger
If I'm smart then I'll run away
But I'm not so I guess I'll stay
Heaven forbid
I'll take my chance on a beautiful stranger..."
As the song played, the two stared into each others' eyes and swayed along with the music. He spun her around a couple of times, only to pulled her back into his arms quite smoothly. He let one of his hand roam her body, sneaking underneath her blouse, gently caressing the naked skin of her belly. He smiled, as he let his other hand slowly trail from the small of her back down to her ass, but never loosing eye contact with her.
Under any other circumstances, Alex would have found this seductive. But as she looked into Mike's eyes, she saw something else in there. She saw pain and sadness. His bloodshot eyes filled with regret. He seemed as if he was in mourning.
"You wanna talk about it?" Alex finally asked.
"Talk about what?" Mike said.
"What's troubling you?" she asked again.
"What makes you think that I'm troubled?" he asked. He gripped her waist firmly, shifted his weight and dipped her slowly.
"You always answer a question with another question?" Alex pressed.
Mike looked at her, and shook his head. "Sorry...old habit. I used to be a..." he let his voice trail off.
"Used to be a what?" she asked.
"Never mind." he answered. "Let's just keep dancing...you can stop pretending that you care." Mike scoffed.
"Wow! You're cold! You must be a lawyer!" Alex observed.
"Wait...how did you know?" Mike asked.
"I didn't...you just told me!" Alex replied with a sheepish smile. "Hmmm...you said 'used-to-be'. As in 'not anymore'?" she asked.
"Yeah...I kinda walked out today." he admitted.
"Why did you do that?" Alex asked him.
"I couldn't wait for them to fire me." Mike answered. "You see...I did something wrong. I pretended to be something that I'm not and my boss...well, she found out." he explained.
"Nobody is exactly who they claim to be, Mike." Alex told him.
"You know what? I could do without your fortune cookie insight, thank you very much!" Mike said. "My life has been filled with lies and half-truths lately...it's finally caught up with me. Now, I have nothing. I got no one!" he lamented.
"Been THERE...full-time resident, actually." Alex replied. "Mike, you lost your job. That doesn't mean that you lost your friends." she said.
"Any friends that I still have, I don't deserve. Any friends that I used to have, don't deserve me." he mused.
"Ohhh...cryptic. I've missed cryptic conversations." she told him. "Care to elaborate there, Tiger?" she asked, as she stared into Mike's blue eyes.
Mike sighed before he spoke again. "There's this girl at the office...Rachel. She's beautiful, and smart. We're friends, but there's an attraction there." he told Alex.
"Of course, there is. No man can ever be 'just friends' with a woman that he finds attractive. The 'I wanna have sex with you' part always gets in the way." Alex said.
"Anyway...I flirted with her on occasion...she flirted back, I think. Actually, no...she didn't. I don't know...she confuses me! First, she's HOT, then she's COLD!" he paused. "Next thing I know, she kisses me!" he exclaimed.
"What? Does she kiss horribly?" Alex asked him.
"NOOO!" he answered. "I liked the kiss! I liked the kiss a little too much!" he added.
"So, what's the problem? You saving those lips for marriage?" she joked.
"Haha! Very funny!" he replied sarcastically. "The problem is Jenny. I'm WITH Jenny." he confessed.
"You cad! You kiss another woman, you dance with me, and all along you have a girlfriend?" Alex smiled, feigning offense.
"The last thing I want to do is hurt Jenny." he paused again. "I think she knows." he told Alex.
"That you have feelings for another woman? Of course, she does. A woman can sense these things. Question is...is she willing to share you with Rachel?" Alex asked. "Judging by the look on your face, the answer is no." she said, answering her own question.
"You think I don't feel bad about this? I care about Jenny. I have wanted her for so long...even when she was with Trevor." Mike told her.
"Oh, another character! Who's Trevor?" she asked curiously.
"My former best friend." Mike replied.
"What ended the friendship?" she pressed.
"Let's see...there's this thing about him letting me take the fall for something he had done. Then, there's me saving his ass from trouble all the time. And then there's my relationship with Jenny. And of course, let's not forget about him ratting me out to my boss." Mike said, sounding more like a whining kid. "People in my life have told me in the past, Trevor is not my friend, but an anchor dragging me down. I should have believed them." he added, in a more serious tone.
"So this trouble you're in right now, why you don't have a job at the moment...it's because of Trevor." she deducted.
"Yes, all because he's a vindictive son of a bitch!" Mike replied, his anger seething. "I've let people down...people that I care about, people who care about me. I can't fix this!" he said, shaking his head.
"Well, maybe you don't have to..." Alex said, looking at the man behind Mike, fast approaching them. "At least, not alone." she added.
Alex and Mike stopped dancing, as they both looked and saw none other than Harvey Specter joining them.
"You gonna cut it on our dance, Harvey?" Alex asked playfully.
"Maybe some other time, Alex." Harvey answered, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Took me a while to get here. When you told me on the phone 'You can't miss it.', I think you meant the opposite." he scoffed. He then turned to Mike. "You look like shit!" he said, surveying his appearance.
"I've seen better days." Mike replied.
"Come on, let's get you home." Harvey told him, placing a hand on his back to guide the younger man to the door.
"And then what? Look, Harvey, I appreciate everything you've done for me, but it's over. The make-believe life I've been living, the lies if I've been telling people...it's finished. I'm finished. I'm sorry for being such a disappointment, but-" Mike said before Harvey cut him off.
"You know what? Shut up. Just shut the hell up." he told Mike. "You have so much potential. You're telling me that you're gonna give up your dream? Just like that?" Harvey asked him.
"Jessica knows!" Mike blurted out. "Jenny told me that Trevor talked to Jessica." he paused. "Cat's out of the bag, Harvey. I'm done." he added.
"No, you're not." Harvey disagreed.
"Haven't you been listening? Jessica Pearson, your boss, she knows-" he tried to explain before he got interrupted again.
"So, she knows...so what?" Harvey looked at Mike straight in the eye. "Nobody's firing you. Not on my watch. Tomorrow, we face the music...together." he assured his young protégé.
Alex cleared her throat, earning the attention of both men. "Look, I have no idea what you two are talking about..." she said, as she turned her gaze to Mike. "...but take it from someone who knows, Harvey's a good man to have in your corner. And I've never known him to hang a friend out to dry." she assured Mike.
Harvey smiled at Alex, and the looked at Mike. "You trust me?" he asked.
"Hell yeah, I trust you!" Mike answered.
"Let's get out of here then. Tomorrow's a big day." The two men turned to leave. Harvey stopped and turned to Alex. He took her hand and brought it to her lips to kiss it. "Thanks, Hunter. I owe you one." he told her.
"Oh, just scratch one off the list of things that I owe you." she replied, matching Harvey's smile. "Say hi to Donna for me." she added.
"Will do." Harvey said, before walking away.
"Wait a second...how do you KNOW Alex?" Mike asked Harvey, as he walked beside him.
"I know Alex quite well." Harvey replied with a grin. "What...you think you're the first guy she's ever danced with?" he asked.
"I'm probably the better dancer." Mike mumbled.
"Dream on, kid." Harvey told him.
"When you say 'dance', did you actually mean 'dance' or did you mean something else?" Mike asked tipsily.
"Just keep walking." Harvey ordered him.
"Yes, sir!" Mike gave him a mock salute.
Alex chuckled and shook her head, as she watched the two men trade barbs while walking away. Then, she paused, sensing that tingling sensation at the back of her neck. Someone was watching her. She looked around at the bar to find out who it was.
She saw a familiar face among the crowd. His deep blue eyes locked into her brown ones, sending a jolt of electricity down her spine. She smiled at him and gave a slight wave. Much to her disappointment, her smile was not return. Slowly, she walked towards the bar to meet him.
"Caffrey! Good to see you. To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked him.
"I wish this were under better circumstances, Alex." Neal said in a sad tone.
"What's going on?" she asked him, having a sick feeling to her stomach.
"Let's talk somewhere private, okay?" Neal said, his hand gliding down the small to her back, as he guided her towards the exit.
"Caffrey, you're scaring me. What wrong?" Alex asked him again.
"It's about Hale..." Neal let his voice trail off.
Alex's heart beat frantically. "What happened?" she pressed, as she braced herself for some really bad news.
FINI
FOOTNOTES :
*First song was "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. The second one was "Beautiful Stranger" by Madonna.
*'Crossroads' is the same pub from my previous White Collar fic [Trouble]
*I'd like to think that Harvey is one of Alex's powerful friends.
*Hale is a a character from White Collar. A good friend of Neal and Alex. He was killed in 3x09 [On the Fence]
*Many thanks for reading my first crossover ficlet. If you liked it, please leave a comment.