Mike speed walked out of Harvey's office as fast as he could. The older lawyer had seemed to adopt a very crabby and inpatient personality over the past few months; well, more so than usual, and it was all Mike could do to save his own skin. He had taken to hiding from Harvey, actually hiding under his desk once when he knew Harvey had just gotten bad news about a case. Don't get him wrong, he could deal with the anger, he had been for years now, but what he couldn't handle was the hatred. Since the whole take over debacle the hatred Harvey seemed to radiate at him only grew. Now every time Mike was in a room alone with Harvey he actually feared for his own safety, and he couldn't even tell himself he was imagining it because Donna made it clear she feared the same thing.
It had been a few months before when she had cornered him in the men's room, locking the door behind her. "Puppy, we have to have a little chat."
Mike simply looked at her dumbly and said, "Um, kay". He was used to her cornering people in the men's room but not to the fear evident on her face.
She was half whispering when she continued, "I don't want you to go anywhere near Harvey unless you've talked to me first and under no circumstances are you to be in a room alone with him unless I know, and am preferably nearby."
Mike frowned as he asked, "Why?" Donna simply gave him an annoyed look that said if he didn't do as she asked he would regret it. Whether the threat was from her or Harvey was unclear. He quickly changed his response, "Okay, I'll make sure I talk to you first."
He had left the bathroom that day with a million questions on his mind. Since then he had been dodging Harvey as best he could and to his relief always managed to keep Donna informed. That afternoon had been a close call though because Donna had been at lunch when Harvey dragged Mike into his office. Mike had barely gotten a text to her before Harvey noticed his phone and took it upon himself to take the phone and lock it in a drawer. Mike had never been as grateful to Donna as when she walked through the door moments later, seemingly calm, but out of breath.
Now he was walking back to his cubical with an ungodly amount of files to go through stacked in his arms. As he was about to put the papers down Louis appeared around the corner, eyes set on him, a small stack of papers in his hands. Mike couldn't help the tired sigh that escaped his lips as Louis stopped a couple feet from his desk. However, to Mike's surprise, the lawyer didn't automatically drop the files on his desk. Louis seemed to be looking for something on Mike's face for a moment before dropping his eyes to the files Mike was holding. To Mike's complete astonishment, after a few more moments, Louis turned on his heels and divided the files among a few of the associates, who had all been "discreetly" watching. Mike didn't know if he liked the obvious pity he was getting from everyone at the office, now even from Louis.
When Louis walked away Mike became very aware of everyone else in the room turning to stare at him. In truth, they had all been very nice to him over the last few months, since it became obvious Harvey was trying to kill him with work. At first they had even taken to doing a few of his files for him but when Harvey had found out he put a stop to it with one threatening glance.
Now, even though they tried to hide it, they had a pool going for when Mike would either quit or finally snap. There were actually only a few people left who could win. Jessica had a date a few days from then, while Louis guessed he would neither quit nor snap, but rather seek somewhere else in the firm. The only other person who could win was Donna, who was now running the pool, but he didn't know what her bet was. She had scared everyone enough so no one would tell him. The only person in the entire firm who didn't know about the pool was Harvey and everyone made sure of that. People weren't even allowed to talk about it at work under threat of defenestration from Donna. No one had a wish to see if they could fly, so no one talked about it at work, or even near work.
Mike sat down with a sad sigh as he grabbed the first file off the large pile. He was going to be in the office until after midnight, again. It was more often than not that he found himself waking up at his desk. He had even taken to keeping a few days' worth of clothes hidden in Rachel's office. Mike put in his ear buds and grabbed a highlighter as he started to work. He was going to prove to everyone he wasn't weak, that he could take whatever Harvey threw at him.
At around two in the morning Mike was finishing up the last file. As he closed it and put it with the others he leaned back with a sigh. He had hoped when Harvey took him back as his associate that he had forgiven him or at least that he was no longer angry at him, but now he knew better. He was pretty sure the only reason Harvey took him back was so Louis couldn't have him and that simple thought caused him more pain then he could have imagined. The idea that Harvey hated him so much made him want to break down, but he didn't, he couldn't, because he had to prove everyone wrong, prove that he could handle it. He had to prove to Harvey that he could handle it.
As Mike fell asleep at his desk he willed his thoughts silent. He wanted to get a few hours of sleep in before starting the whole thing again the next morning. He had no doubt that Harvey would give him another huge pile, that now Louis would take pity on him, that Donna would try to protect him and that everyone else would talk behind his back waiting for him to snap. The only thing he didn't know was if the next day would be that day; if one more hateful glare or sleepless night would push him over the edge. He knew he would never quit, he had promised his Grammy he would never quit, but he couldn't say the same about his mind.