Disclaimer: I don't own Suits or the cast or characters they are just being borrowed for this fic.

Chapter 1

It had been two full weeks since Jessica Pearson learned Mike's secret. It had been four days since Harvey and Donna learned it as well. Mike's life had gone through a drastic change since then.

At first Jessica had left Mike alone but that hadn't lasted long before she decided that Mike needed to take his physical, after that Jessica had said she'd five him two weeks to fix his weight and arm but she hadn't kept that, Mike had only gotten a week (granted his getting sick might have had something to do with it). After Donna had found him puking and dragged him to Harvey's office where Jessica walked in and then the doctor had been called and he was told he had to take a few days off work. He had been made to stay in either Harvey's or Jessica's office for three days straight while dressed in jeans and shirts rather than his suit. Mike had felt like a child home sick from school and kept at their parents work because there was no one available to babysit. The worst part was that he was being made to stay with Jessica until he was better. This sucked.

He had gotten to see his grandmother yesterday, which he was glad to do, he missed her. What had irritated him though was that both Harvey and Jessica had gone with him, they had told his grandmother everything that they had and were doing and to Mike's annoyance she agreed with them, she encouraged it and even told Mike to be a good boy and do as he was told when they left. Mike had blushed a deep red as he nodded and walked out noticing the smirk on Harvey's face.

Today he had been dragged to the doctor's office, a former pediatrician! The doctor had given him some shots, while Harvey had to hold him down because Mike really doesn't like needles, and then taken a look at his arm where he had gotten a cut and then it had gotten infected. The doctor had said that Mike's arm was healing nicely but his infection was still there so he recommended a light workload for the next week and for Mike to finish his antibiotics as well as replenishing the supply of cream that was to be applied to the cut. Thankfully the doctor said that they only needed to clean his cut once a day now but in Mike's opinion that was the only good thing the doctor had said. The doctor had also told Jessica and Harvey (who were both present during the entire exam much to Mike's chagrin) that Mike's weight had gone up a full pound since they'd last weighed him which while an improvement was not as high as it should be. The doctor did a couple of tests before deciding that Mike simply had an unusually high metabolism and thus would burn calories faster making it harder for him to gain weight, his solution, to give Mike larger portions. Mike sighed when he heard this, he didn't want all the food he was given now let alone more. Once the doctor was done they made an appointment for a month's time to check Mike's progress and also get the next round of shots (there were two more after that) as well as saying that they needed to keep a weekly log of Mike's weight as well as note how much he eats at each meal.

Mike was grateful when the appointment was over and they were headed out again. Dinner had been painstakingly long since Harvey and Jessica had to keep prodding him to eat his food, they had ordered him a rather large meal in Mike's opinion but in truth it was really no larger than theirs just larger than the one's from the kid's menu Mike usually ordered from. Once they were home Mike took a shower, allowed Harvey to clean his arm then he was sent to bed.

Mike had to admit that the bed was really the one good thing that had come out of this. Mike had never slept in a bed before this one, he had to admit it was nice, comfortable and he never wanted to go back to his cot again. Mike had actually been sleeping rather well what with a soft bed and a full stomach, he was finding that he didn't get tired as much and he could focus on things longer and more clearly. Mike had thought his mind was good before this but now that he had enough to eat and sleep and his infection was clearing up Mike found that he was nowhere near his full potential before, it was amazing.

Despite how much better Mike had been getting there were still a couple of times that he'd had a nightmare, it was usually the same one, the night that he ran away from his last foster home and fled to the streets. That night had been bad, really, really bad. It had been snowing all week and it had actually gotten so bad that they couldn't get out of the house for the past three days. Close quarters and a lot of beer didn't bode well for a seven year old Mike. At the time the family he had been living with was the Donner's, there was just Mr. and Mrs. Donner and neither really wanted children, they had only taken Mike because the state paid them for doing so. Mike had been given the hall closet for a bedroom, it was small, cramped, dusty and stuffy but it was so much safer being in there than being out so he stayed in his closet as much as possible.

It had been on the fourth day of confinement that Mr. Donner had gotten absolutely smashed. He had been dragging Mike out about once a day to beat him up a bit but that day had been so much worse. Mr. Donner had taken the door of Mike's closet off it's hinges and then dragged Mike out by his hair all the way to the garage. He brought Mike over to the middle of the three car garage and tied his wrists together, behind his back, with a long piece of rope and then stood Mike up on the hood of the car while taking the rest of the rope and tying it around the beam on the ceiling. Once Mike was tied tight Mr. Donner pulled the car out of the garage and then shut the garage door. Mike was left hanging by his wrists with nothing supporting him. Mr. Donner came back into the garage and started to beat Mike mercilessly for a good hour before he grew tired and walked out, leaving Mike there to hang. Mike was left there for a couple hours until he was crying and begging to be let down. Finally Mr. Donner came back and pulled his car back into it's spot only he had been driving it all around (the roads having finally been cleared earlier that morning). The car wasn't well taken care of and it was old, it overheated easily and the engine was known to run hot even if it wasn't over heated. When the car pulled in Mike had quickly put his feet on it for support only to jerk them away again because the hood of the car was burning his feet. Mr. Donner had laughed when Mike had cried out and then begged him to release Mike. Mr. Donner had continued laughing all the way out of the garage as he left Mike to decide which was worse, hanging by his raw and bleeding wrists or burning his feet on the hood of the car in order to get some relief. Mike had stayed there for hours dancing between tearing into his wrists or burning his feet until, finally, the car had cooled and Mike could stand. Once Mike was able to stand a new problem occurred, the souls of his feet were burned (not enough to leave permanent scars but enough to make putting pressure on them hurt) and it hurt to stand. Mr. Donner finally came back four hours after having left Mike the second time, he finally released Mike only to drag him by his hair over to an empty space and beating him once again. Mike fell unconscious at some point and when he woke he was still in the garage and it was dark outside. Mike listened for a little while before deciding he was alone and opening his eyes, he knew that he wasn't willing to stay there any longer and that if he showed his social worker his wrists he would be removed from this house but he had gotten removed before and it hadn't helped. From Mike's point of view, social services had no clue what they were doing, they kept putting him in one abusive foster home after the other (this was his third placement) and they just kept getting worse. Mike hadn't wanted to risk yet another placement knowing that if it got any worse he would soon be dead so, he had climbed out the window and run as far and as fast as he could. He eventually had to stop when his feet became to cold to walk on, when he looked around he found a library with a bad window in the back that lead to a storeroom, Mike stayed there for three weeks before the weather had calmed and he was able to find something for his feet (granted it had just been a discarded t-shirt he'd found in a dumpster nearby but still). Mike had lived on the streets after that and he had supported himself ever since.

Well he had supported himself until Jessica had busted him and then she, Harvey and Donna had taken over his life for him. Mike still wasn't sure how he felt about it. So far Mike's experience with guardians weren't all that great, he'd never had one (that he remembered) that hadn't hurt him that's why he'd ran. Once he was old enough to apply for emancipation he had done his research, he had picked the laziest and least caring judge there was and made sure that he was the last item on his docket on a Friday. The judge would either have to make a ruling quickly or have to come in on a Saturday and this judge just wasn't the kind to do that. Mike had picked correctly in the end because he knew that no other judge would have granted his emancipation but thankfully it had passed and he left with his grandmother that night to sleep in a building that had running water, electricity and he hadn't broken into. While Mike had loved his grandmother, she hadn't been up to taking care of him and he was actually responsible for her. He had managed to get a bunch of part time jobs, test out of high school and then start testing out of college (he was only allowed to test out of so many classes a semester other wise it would have been done in three months rather than three years), do the laundry and the shopping and the cooking and cleaning and take care of his grandmother's increasing medical needs. There was never enough money to go around and Mike had typically gone without something to eat so that his grandmother could have enough, he just never told her letting her think that he had just eaten earlier and wasn't hungry.

Now that he was under Jessica's roof and under the care of Harvey and Jessica (and Donna playing the role as the babysitter and/or Aunt) Mike wasn't sure what to do. On one hand he really needed this job in order to pay for his grandmother's medical and nursing home bills however on the other hand Mike didn't like to be told what to do. Mike hadn't fought against them that much but that was more to do with the fact that he just hadn't been up to it and since they weren't hurting him he hadn't really seen the need to put forth all the energy required in fighting them off. Now however Mike felt as though he had all the energy in the world, while he still got tired after he ate, the doctor had said it was typical for a full stomach to make young children tired, thus why they typically had naps after lunch. He had also said that most kids grow out of this once their bodies become accustomed to it and their digestive system settles Mike hadn't had that and he would most likely be better off taking a nap each day for a while. The doctor had also said that Mike's tiredness could also be linked to the lack of sleep he had been suffering from for years (all had become rather concerned when Mike had said that he couldn't remember the last full night of peaceful sleep that he'd gotten before Jessica had forced him to stay in her guest room) and so he had encouraged them to get Mike to have a nap for about an hour each day after lunch.

Mike now had energy to spare and he was being made to sit around and do nothing because of a little infection. Mike wasn't sure how this week would go, nor did he think that he would pleased when they pulled him away from his work. Mike knew that he only had to get through this week though, before he was done with this and back at his own place, Jessica had said that once he was healthy she'd let him alone. Mike sighed as he turned over and fell asleep; he would miss this bed when he was back at his own apartment. Maybe he'd save up for a bed of his own, he would be able to afford one in three years at the rate he was going.

Jessica woke up to Mike screaming. She ran to Mike's room (she didn't even know when she had stopped thinking of it as the spare room), bursting through the door, going over to the bed and shaking Mike's shoulder to wake him. It took a moment but eventually Mike's eyes flew open and he jerked away from Jessica looking around wildly for some unknown threat. Jessica watched him until he settled, not wanting to startle him and scare him farther. Once Mike realized where he was but he was still darting his eyes around the room to check every small movement or mysterious shadow.

Jessica walked over and sat down on the bed, sitting down next to Mike. "Mike" she said softly as she slowly brought her hand over, in a way that let Mike watch it all the way, and laid it down on his shoulder. "Mike" she said again when Mike didn't react other than to watch her arm.

Mike looked over at Jessica, "Sorry" he croaked out, the screaming having made his voice slightly raspy.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked.

"Sorry I woke you, it won't happen again" Mike said guiltily looking down.

"Mike, honey, I've already told you before that I'm not upset when you have a nightmare" Jessica said as she brought her hand down and started rubbing slow circles on Mike's back.

Mike tensed at the touch at first but then, after realizing that it wasn't a threat, relaxed into it. It felt nice when Jessica comforted him after he had a nightmare and he just couldn't get over how nice that feeling was, no one had ever done it for him before (his grandmother having been given sleeping pills on the rare occasions that Mike had actually slept). "I shouldn't be disturbing you, I'm sorry and I will try not to do it again" he said.

"Mike" Jessica said as she brought her other hand over to lift Mike's chin so that the boy was looking her in the eye. "I'm not upset that you had a nightmare, I'm never upset when you do. I just wish that you would talk to me about them" she said.

Mike looked at Jessica, she Harvey and Donna had all been trying to get him to tell them about his nightmares for days now and Mike just didn't think it was such a good idea. Mike didn't want them to learn about his past and then think that he is too much trouble, too bad, so screwed up that he isn't worth their time anymore. As much as Mike was still fighting with himself about this arrangement he did have to admit that he felt somewhat safe with the three of them and he didn't want to loose that. "I can't" he said eventually.

"Why not?" Jessica asked softly, continuing to rub soft circles on Mike's back with one had and hold his chin in the other. She started to rub her thumb across his cheek as she practically begged him silently to tell her, to trust her.

Mike stared at Jessica for a long time. He really liked the hand rubbing his back and the thumb on his cheek, they were such comforting and caring gestures and he craved them no matter how much he wished to deny it. Mike didn't want to tell her what he was dreaming but he knew he couldn't get away with telling her nothing, she wanted an answer and he was afraid that if he didn't giver her something then she would stop coming to make him feel better when he woke up screaming. "I can't because I don't want you to hate me" he stumbled out quickly while trying, unsuccessfully, to stop the tears from coming forth.

"Oh Mike, I would never hate you, I could never hate you especially for something that happened to you as a child" Jessica said.

Mike didn't believe her and just kept shaking his head no too worked up to actually speak. Jessica sighed a little and wrapped her arms around Mike bringing him into a hug and then resuming rubbing circles over his back. Mike lost the fight against the tears and broke down crying into Jessica's shoulder with Jessica trying to calm him and telling him soft words of comfort.

It took a long while before Mike finally calmed down and when he did it was only because he was too exhausted to stay awake any longer. Jessica felt Mike drop off more than heard it, his breathing evened out under her hand and the tears stopped. Jessica laid Mike back down onto his bed and tucked him back in. She watched Mike sleep for a little while, it always amazed her how young he looked in his sleep (at least when it was peaceful), she figured he could easily pass for a twelve year old when he slept.

She left eventually, heading back to her own room to text Harvey and let him know a quick recap of what happened and to say that they would be in a bit late in the morning because she wanted to let Mike sleep in a bit. With that done she adjusted her alarm and laid back down on her own bed sighing as she realized that they still had a long way to go with Mike but at least he had given her something tonight. She just wished she knew what had really happened to Mike as a child, maybe Donna could scrounge something up but even if she did it wouldn't' be much. Mike's past was firmly locked away in the eidetic memory of an eighteen year old boy who was, apparently, scared of losing the three of them if they knew the truth. It was going to be a hard fight but one that was worth it.