Disclaimer: Leverage and Suits are not mine, will never be mine, and so don't sue me. I'm only going to put up this thing once so everyone get it into your heads that this is free fiction with no profit for me other than having fun.

To LiliFayre – good friend and writer who has encouraged me in writing this fic and gave me some excellent ideas. Plus this girl writes excellent fics!

Warnings: Slash for Suits, bad language, implied sex, violence, cross-dressing, taizers, and Parker. Spoilers for Suits up to episode 10 and spoilers for Leverage from season 1 to season 4.

Summary/Intro: When Gram dies, Mike Ross gives up on the chance in becoming a lawyer. Instead he finds himself with a group of people who he trust to be family. But as the years pass, one job with the Leverage group is going to take him back to the one man who once believed to have his back.

Legal Leverage: The Suits Job

By Mei Neko

Chapter One: The Start

He was dreaming it again.

It was the dream he carried with him for the last four years. The worst part was that this dream was actually the past. And it always started out the same way.

The dream always started out with him running desperately reaching towards Gram's room. He could hear the erratic beeping of the EKG – the sounds of Gram's heart failing. The shouting could be heard distantly but for some reason, he could never get any closer. What felt like minutes and possibly hours it took for him to reach his Gram's room but he was getting there – he could see the light from her room, a sharp contrast to the darken hallway. He was going to make – this time he was going to make it.

But as one foot stepped across the threshold of the room, the EKG gave out the loud flat line wail and he opened him mouth to scream –

Blue eyes opening in horror, Mike Ross barely realized that he had thrown the tiny traveling clock across the opposite end of his hotel room. The sound of thin plastic breaking registered in his ears before he groaned and sat up on his bed. Rubbing his hands against his tired face, Mike could see the faint bristle of whiskers that had grown overnight and each fold and wrinkle that were caused by hours of stress and lack of sleep. Another full day of sleep and he would have his baby face looks back.

Getting up, he realized that it was early morning from the light of the windows in the hotel suite he had paid for. It would have taken years for him to even get a chance at getting a suite much less using it for a small vacation if he had stuck it out as a fake lawyer. Walking over to the balcony doors, Mike ignore the chill that steep through his half naked torso and the feeling of gooseflesh forming on his skin. God, the sunrise looked gorgeous Settle, Washington and he wished fiercely that Gram could see this with him.

Wishing that she could see the gray fog being slowly pierced away with the sun's red, orange, yellow, and a hint of blue green rays like a butterfly tearing away the cloudy cocoon with its bright wings, Mike leaned forward against the rail and watched for nearly an hour before going back into his room to bathe away the nightmare's sweat.

He was checking out of his room when the text on his cell buzzed.

Mike took the time to thank the receptionist and enter the cab waiting for him before checking the message.

Got a job.

-Nate

The young man gave a snort at the short message but that was Nate. The Mastermind of their group never text long messages unless necessary. Mike could only imagine that the older man had been compiling a list of marks and received a call about one of them. Which meant that by the time he got back to Boston and gave himself a couple hours in his high rise apartment loft in the city, Hardison their genius hacker would have everything they could possibly have on their target. And that meant Mike would have to look over the research to provide Nate the necessary ins and outs that helped form the awesome cons. He shivered at the thought of going against Nate.

These days, Mike had noticed that there was a darker side to the leader and the rest of the 'children' had noticed it too. The only thing that prevented them from confronting Nate like in the past years was that this time Sophie was in on whatever was bugging the older man. It looked like the beautiful Grifter was turning into the Mastermind's rock; which was good, because Mike so did not want to have the fear of going to prison on his head again – that Sterling was such a pain in the ass to deal with. Also having an out of control Nate was not fun to deal with.

Which was funny because when Mike first met Nate, he didn't think that there was anything wrong with the man. Mike remembered how he had overheard a conversation at a coffeehouse with a corrupt CEO and his bitch like lackey. He had ran away after Gram's funeral, gave his notice over an email and just ran to LA with whatever cash he had before the fateful day where he passed a man in a suit waiting in line for his order and overheard something about people being taken care of and a bomb at an address he was texting.

It only took a glance for Mike to memorize the address and but failed to see the number being texted to. So he took a minute to see how far away the address was and winced that it was pretty darn far – the next town. He had wasted money with the cab to get there and only end up wasting more when he asked the cab to follow the procession of a police car escorting an ambulance. At that time, he had no idea just what he was doing much less thinking about.

Finding the people was actually easy – all he had to do was look for the police men. Getting to them however was tricky. But he managed by acting out as a lawyer who was suppose to be on his day off but was force to take on a case. Mike had bitched and moaned like the best before the police allowed him access.

Turned out that he really didn't need to do anything.

The room he entered was holding two men, one in his late thirties and the other looked only a few years older than Mike. Both men were suspicious but were impressed that he managed to get into the room with the clothes he was wearing – a long gray tee and jeans. He was introduced to Nate Ford and Eliot Spencer and learned that there were two others – Alec Hardison and Parker. When Nate asked Mike why he did what he did; Mike really had only one answer:

"It was the right thing to do."

That satisfied Nate and in turned kept Mike from being harmed by Parker. He joined the four to Hardison's place where Nate had propose that they get the guy who tried to kill them. When Mike heard the words about Nate's son, the young man figured that this was someone who lost a loved one and someone he could probably relate to.

Doing the con was actually quite fun for Mike. He helped Nate do research on Sophie's (who Mike thought was pretty scary – both with her grifting skills and her inability to act on stage) role about African aero service industries and impressed everyone with his memory. Well, everyone except for Parker who didn't understand the big deal until later in the year. Mike even acted out as a lawyer (which was tricky but with Sophie's help, the Nigerians didn't realize that he was trying to act out as their lawyer instead of Dubenich) during the meeting with the Nigerians.

The most exciting part was escaping while the FBI flooded the meeting room with Sophie and putting on the FBI jackets. He had almost exploded with laughter as the real agents passed them by without questioning them.

When he looked down at the check that Hardison gave him – he nearly had a heart attack at the amount. It was enough to buy a mansion and hire the best nurses for his Gram for the rest of his life. It was more than what Harvey and the rest of the firm could make in ten years. Mike remembered just how bitter he felt as he looked down at that check – if only Gram hadn't died, they could have traveled around the world like she dreamed about as a little girl.

Everyone was suppose to split up after that, but everyone including Mike wanted to keeping working together, to do more cons. And it was even better that Nate wanted to do jobs that would help people. The work was even better than his time at Pearson and Hardman because the people he worked with actually do want to help instead of making money.

It wasn't the dream job that Mike had wanted but it was fun. There were good and bad times like any other job. Sometimes Mike felt like he was hanging by a thread like he did when he worked for Harvey, but Nate always came through. Nate was like the father that all of them of ever had and Mike felt more than hero worshipping with the older man. There were plenty of times all of their lives had been endangered but they all got each other's backs when it came down to it.

It's been about four years since he joined with them. He had spent two of those years running away from New York and his past. It wasn't until the group did a con in Montana that Mike decided to check up on Trevor. With the money he had, Mike made sure that Trevor's bills were paid for the rehab center and was pleased to learn that Trevor managed to clean up nice enough that he worked as a manger in a small town restaurant.

The meeting between two childhood best friends ended up with Trevor giving Mike a right hook to the jaw and almost getting fired. Mike had assumed that his old friend figured out that he and Jenny sort of dated but never got any further than heavy make-out stage. Turned out that Trevor had tried to contact Mike for the past two years and only got information out of Jenny who had been hysterical after learning about Gram's funeral that took place about a month earlier while Mike was living a new life. The punch was really for Jenny who had been furious that Mike did not trust her enough to lean on and she had told the truth to Trevor about their sort of relationship.

Ironically enough, Trevor had been cool about it – mostly because Mike hadn't slept with Jenny and soon the two actually started a long distance relationship. However it wasn't until a few drinks at a local bar that Trevor dropped a few bombs on Mike.

"Dude, I'm sort of relieve you did try to hook up with Jen, for a while, I thought you were crushing on that boss of yours."

Mike blinked as he looked up from his second beer.

"Wha? What boss? Harvey? You thought I had a thing for Harvey?"

Trevor gave a braying laugh at the expression on Mike's face before downing the rest of his beer. Mike signaled another for his friend but surprising enough, Trevor held out a hand for the bar tender to stop before ordering a virgin Blood Mary.

"Promised Jenny that I would clean up my act for good before I go back to New York for her. Two beers is my limit for weekdays and I seriously need to be coherent to have a conversation with you." He explained and sipped the tomato juice with the gross amount of hot sauce in it. "So I heard that you quit that law firm of yours after what happened to Gram."

Mike fiddled with the bottle for a moment before the old age habit of baring his soul to the one person who had been a constant in his childhood came to play.

"There was this client who wanted to fire a guy because he faked his resume. Faked graduating college, faked his license, but he worked his ass off for the job and was like the top. One background check and he got fired – forget about the years of work he did. There was this whole embezzlement case going on and he helped out but he still got fired because of the fraud."

"Dude," Trevor breathed, his eyes widen in realization with the story and how it affected his best friend.

"Yeah, and all I could think about that it could be me in a couple of years. One really through background check and that could be me. I thought I was living my dream and getting my chance but reality just sucks." Mike grumbled and set his beer down. "I mean for a long, long time I thought that I could live up to whatever potential Gram thought I have but the longer I worked there, the more I can't stand what I have to give up."

"Hmm."

"I mean, Harvey goes on how he's living the better life because of what he did and who he step on. Everyone at Pearson and Hardman is going on about these mock trials that are fake and they only want to see associates break witnesses and just go for the win. I mean, what happened to being a decent human being!"

"Mike, you do know how many jokes there are about lawyers and going to hell right?"

At that, both men laughed like crazy at the irony of life.

"Yeah, well, I'll be going to Hell for a different reason. So short story, ran away, found a new job that actually helps people, and get benefits of traveling around the country at times. What about you? When are you going to New York and back to Jen?"

Turned out that Jenny had decided to open up a café in the city but she is currently saving up money with a job as a secretary at some corporation. Trevor had his hopes that the job he has now, he would have the experience in running the place so Jenny could concentrate on her passion for cooking. Mike wished him and Jenny luck with their goals and took the time to memorize Trevor's current information from his cell phone.

It was about a couple of months before Mike called in on Trevor, the man had nearly killed his ear drums by yelling how Mike was an utter bastard and the bestest friend in the history of best friends. The bank account that Mike had set up for Trevor had enough zeros for the man to move back to New York, get an expensive piece of ice for Jenny, and create a four star restaurant called Suits. Mike's only asked for thanks was that he gets meals and drinks on the house if he ever comes by – for life.

He so far stopped by three times since then. Once for the opening, second was just after the job with the bastard who was using kids to smuggle antiques, and the third time was after the job with the con artist and her sons with the funeral home. That last one had been hard on Mike and the couple had been understanding enough for Jenny to cook him a good old fashion meal of mac 'n cheese, meatloaf, and green bean casserole.

"Sir, we are here."

Mike blinked and gave a wan smile at the taxi driver. Looking over at the meter, he pulled out a couple fifties and paid the man.

"Keep the change." He replied before getting out of the cab. The driver's rapid thanks fell to deaf ears as Mike pulled out the small black suitcase with him.

Nathan Ford was beginning to regret this just a bit.

Well, not the whole concept because if he didn't have it, Nate would have most likely been dead with alcohol poisoning. Not that he quit the whole drinking thing, but it was good to have something that kept him occupied. And he had to admit, that being a Mastermind was actually good for his ego. Being the leader of a group like Leverage is actually satisfying.

His team can coordinate and pull off the best of the best when compared to private armies, corrupt governments, corrupt corporations, and just anyone who screws with the innocent. He has the best grifter with Sophie, the most skilled hacker with Hardison, the best hitter with Eliot, the craziest thief with Parker, and the baby of the group but also the best fixer – Mike Ross.

Each of his people has their strengths and their weaknesses. With Hardison, the Hacker tends to put too much detail that it sometimes gets him into trouble. Eliot's problem is that he has a hard time leaving any abused woman or children alone. Parker's lack of social skills sometimes gets them all into trouble (but thankfully Sophie is dealing with that). Sophie's problem is her weakness in expensive art, but it rarely shows. However with Mike, his weakness is worrying unnecessary about the little things which tend to drive everyone up the wall.

"Nate, this is bad."

"I know, Hardison." The Mastermind muttered into his glass of whisky.

"Do you?" Hardison snapped as pictures and articles appeared on the screens across from them. "I'm talking about Narada bad, Borg invasion bad, Jar Jar Binks bad! We are one man down bad!"

"I know." Nate replied dryly as he looked at the information the Hacker provided. "But the Alton Corporations have been a target and we got a lead into it. There may be a bit of a complication but – "

"Complication? The client thinks that that the law firm he hired is helping them! And it's not any law firm – it's that law firm. You know, the one – "

"Hardison, I know." The older man snapped, his temper getting close to fraying. "But it's also an advantage that it's that firm. We have a better idea on how the people are classified and we can find out for sure if they are involved with Alton Corps. Getting involved with them will give us a good starting point."

The blissful silence from Hardison proved that the Hacker finally understood what the Mastermind was thinking. The team was going to do this job and no matter what, their first target is going to be Pearson and Hardman.

So, what do you guys think of it? Totally a Suits and Leverage fan here! Say yah to Leverage being renewed for a 5th season!

Please read and review!