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Waking Up
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Summary: Harvey Specter - flourishing senior partner, devilishly handsome bachelor, and proud single Dad. Overall, life is pretty easy. Until one day his world is suddenly turned upside down - all because of his...his associate..?
A/N: Okay, so this is an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while now, and today I was just like, 'Aw, what the heck, I'll give it a try.' I really love the idea of distorting reality and playing around with it a bit (if that wasn't already perfectly clear by now) and this seemed like it could be sorta interesting, though you guys must be getting sick of these things by now. It's kind of different variations of the same theme, y'know?
Anyway, I'm not overly fond with how this turned out and I didn't really want to put it up, but, eh, I figured I might as well.
Disclaimer: none of these characters belong to me. I apologise in advance for any foul language.
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We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are - Anais Nin
It's the very worst kind of silence.
No-one knows what to say.
Diagonally across from where he's seated, Louis clears his throat, but can't seem to look his way, while Rachel stares down at her lap in a subdued daze at his side. Jessica sits regally, almost blandly, at the head of the table with lips ever-so-slightly pursed. And then there's Donna, who stands nervously wringing her hands.
They're all just… waiting.
It's actually kind of boring - all this anticipation. Mike swings his legs and chews on his gum, gaze circling the others in rapt attention.
They're readying themselves for the disbelief. For the rolling eyes and condescending derision.
They lather their tongues with pretty words and chisel away at the disquiet framing their expressions until all that remains is carved outlines of reason. There are chinks in their armour even he can see - a hint of frown here or a tightened jaw there. But Mike thinks it hardly matters.
The associate is coping as well as one might hope, attitude surprisingly blasé, but the truth is, that's only because it hasn't truly sunken in yet. It had happened so suddenly that his brain is still stuck in the mindset of two hours before when all he had to worry about was the hideous typo in his latest report. By comparison, the here and now is very much distant and surreal, and he'd like to keep it that way. The moment that this becomes truth, then that's it. He's done for.
Mike tries to prepare himself.
But he doesn't know what to prepare for.
And someone seriously needs to break that dreadful silence. It verges on crippling. Just as Mike is about to open his mouth and resort to making agonising small talk, they hear the telltale sound of swift, impatient footsteps. Gulping a little, Donna hurries to block the entrance of the conference room and makes it just in the nick of time.
A little breathless, she thrusts on a blithe smile and lightly greets, "Hi, Harvey," the only give-away of her distress being the anxious hands which reach down to smooth her skirt.
"Uh, hi…" Harvey frowns, smirking unsurely. "What's this about, Donna? You said there was a situation?"
"There is," the redhead is quick to assure, unintentionally grimacing. Gesturing with her hands loosely, she fumbles for a moment. "It's…it's kind of hard to explain."
Obviously taken aback by her curious loss for words, the senior partner flicks a glance behind her and replies, "Well, make it quick. I need to get back to Mike. He's probably wonderi-"
"That's actually why I called you here," she butts in with an uneasy chuckle. "Funny that."
Harvey immediately stiffens.
"Why? What happened?" he demands shortly, before attempting the push past her.
Lightening fast, her arm shoots out to stop him.
"Let me through," he lowly commands, voice dark and nearing a growl.
"No," she flat-out refuses, "Not until you hear me out-"
"I mean it, Donna," Harvey responds, his eyes a deadly threat. "Get out of my way."
She sticks out her chin. "No."
"Alright, then you leave me no choice."
There's a small struggle, but Harvey doesn't have much difficulty shouldering through, his body jerking to a halt in bewilderment at the sight of Jessica, Rachel and Louis all seated around the long table.
"What the-what's going on…" his voice peters out, gaze falling on Mike.
Everyone holds their breath.
He fixes his eyes on the small, blonde-haired toddler, who has been plunked down on a chair that seems to engulf his tiny form and is currently wriggling his toes somewhat self-consciously, large, brilliant blue eyes shyly connecting with his.
The man walks over and slowly kneels down beside the little boy.
Of them all, Donna doesn't know who's more surprised when Harvey smoothly draws the child onto his lap, tweaks his nose and grins, "You little rascal. What are you doing on such a monstrous chair? Chairs like this swallow puppies like you for breakfast."
Oh no.
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Harvey holds Mike close as he rises to his feet, one hand bracing his lower back while his fingers lazily trail through the youngster's soft hair. The other occupants of the room work to conceal their reactions, but they sincerely did not expect this.
Like, at all.
On any level.
Whatsoever.
Mike, in particular, doesn't seem to be taking it very well, his jaw lax and eyes darting to Rachel, who nods grimly as if in confirmation. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Harvey laughs with an uncertain smile of confusion.
"Uh…" Louis gurgles. He looks towards Jessica, mind drawing a blank.
"What's wrong? You all look like you've seen a ghost or something," he remarks, brows wrinkling in suspicion as he soothingly pats and rubs Mike's back without paying much attention.
"N-nothing," the junior partner coughs, tugging on his shirt collar. "It's-just-just that-"
Joggling a pale-faced Mike on his hip, Harvey questions in frustration, "Just what? What the hel-heck is wrong with you? You're acting even more dim-witted than usual. It's beginning to creep me out."
"Harvey," Jessica calmly intervenes, taking charge of the bizarre situation they've found themselves in, and asking, "Do you know who that is?" She waves a hand towards Mike, who is admittedly getting more freaked out by the second.
The senior partner sends his boss a withering look. "Ah, yeah. I think I'd recognise my own son," he replies scornfully, turning to Donna as if to say, Can you believe this? "What kind of question is that?"
The only indication of shock Jessica allows herself is a single, prolonged blink, before she recovers. The others, however, are not so reserved.
Donna makes a choked, staggered sound, Rachel gapes, Mike recoils, and Louis's eyebrows take on a life of their own.
Harvey, of course, picks up on this, sweeping a baffled glance over each of them individually, before pausing on the miniature associate. "Hey, puppy," he murmurs, lowering his voice in a tender gentleness that only serves to alarm everyone further. "What's the matter, huh? You don't look so good." When Mike's only response is to stare back in a combination of panic and confusion, Harvey's expression becomes extremely troubled and he says gruffly, "Alright, I'll bite. What in God's name is going on here?"
"Harvey…" Donna winces, hesitantly laying a comforting hand on his forearm and relating firmly but sympathetically, "That's.. not your son."
Instantly jerking away, his grip on Mike tightens and Harvey angrily shakes his head in denial. "Of course, he's my son. Michael Ross Specter," he easily relates. "Who else would he be?"
"Harvey, I'm sorry, but that child you're holding is actually your associate. There was an incident earlier-"
His frown deepens. "I don't have an associate."
"Yes, you do," she insists. "He's twenty-five years old, you hired him nine months ago after you got your promotion-"
"Ah, no. That's where you're wrong," Harvey rejects, "I turned down Jessica's little suggestion, remember? We reached a compromise. I agreed to handle my own pro-bonos, so long as she got off my back about signing on some pathetic new wannabe." He rolls his eyes, scoffing, "Like I'd want to work with one of those Harvard douche-bags. That's Louis' thing, not mine. Hell, like I'd want to work with anyone, period. Donna, you know this. I'm not exactly a team-player. I blame the amazing awesomeness that follows me around all day - it puts people off."
Louis snorts, "Nice to see being a fake father hasn't affected your ego."
Shooting his rival a heated glare, the senior partner shoves a hand through his hair and exclaims, "Why am I even trying to convince you of this, anyway? You were there."
Seeing that they're not getting anywhere, Jessica puts forward, "Alright, let's come at this from a different angle, okay? What do you remember about the last few hours?"
Sighing, he runs a hand down his face and replies in a tone that makes it abundantly clear he's merely indulging them, "It was a pretty shitt-rubbish day. Mike's nanny cancelled, - flu or something - so I had to take him to the office with me, but he's been super clingy all day and I didn't get much done. Not to mention, Donna had him hopped up on sugar, which is always a joy to deal with. Then Mr. Garcia called in a whole crisis and I had to leave Mike with Rachel at the last minute, who was kind and unoccupied enough to take him. Everyone else was slammed with the Dickson merger. Then I return after some cryptic message from Donna to find that everyone has organised a secret meeting to convince me that I'm crazy. Happy?"
"Not particularly. You say you left him in Miss Zane's care?"
"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Harvey sneers. "Because according to my obviously faulty memory, you stated that it was perfectly fine. In fact, if I recall correctly, you even expressed regret at not being able to watch over him yourself." He moulds his features into mock sorrow. "Pity, too. Mike loves playing with the blocks in your office. Oh," he pauses, snapping his fingers and giving a head-shake as if correcting himself; "Well, I guess he would. If he weren't, you know, a - what was it? Twenty-five year old man."
"I don't think I appreciate your attitude," Jessica answers stiffly.
"And I don't think I appreciate whatever lame-ass prank you're trying to pull. I mean, roping in an impressionable young toddler? Not least, my own son. That's pretty damn low, Jessica. I would have thought more of you. Louis… not so much. But you. Oh, and my supposed best friend, on top of that," he adds contemptuously, mouth twisting bitterly. "That's just plain nasty."
"Mr. Specter, they're not lying," Rachel tentatively contradicts, speaking for the first time. "Mike came to my office for help after you ordered him to find evidence that Mrs. Evans was dealing in bad faith."
"Could you just give it a rest?" the senior partner tiredly requests, gently brushing Mike's hair once more seemingly unconsciously. "I'm not falling for it."
"Harvey, this isn't a joke. We're serious," Donna tries, feeling all kinds of torn up inside. "Nobody knows what happened. One minute Mike was a normal, easygoing guy going about his business, the next he's like that. And you're like… this."
"Wow," Harvey mouths, rocking back on his heels. "I really commend your dedication. Seriously, kudos to you, my friends. Ha ha ha," he says flatly. "Can I go home now?"
"Harvey, please," the redhead implores.
He's silent for a moment as he hugs the shrunken associate to his chest and presses a kiss to his forehead.
"Why are you doing this?" Harvey finally asks. And his voice is emotionless.
Donna's eyes are brimming with moisture. "I wish I didn't have to."
Giving a ragged sigh, he declares, "I'm leaving."
"No, don't. Harvey-"
Sick of running in circles, Mike suddenly blurts, "It's true."
Harvey damn near drops him.
"It's true, Harvey," the associate repeats, ignoring the flabbergasted look which comes over the other man's face.
The rest shift uncomfortably.
His voice is high and unmistakably child-like as he recounts, stumbling over the occasional word, "You're always chastising me over my abysmal punctuality and are endlessly frustrated by my insistence that I empathise with our clients. You hate the fact that I bike to work every morning and you once told me that my skinny ties were the bane of your existence. Your favourite pastime is lecturing me on how to be a proper grown-up since I kind of screw up a lot. You tell me to get my shit together; I call you out on being a selfish asshole - it's our thing. We fight and we bicker, but we actually make a pretty good team and if I may say so myself, we have a lot of fun together, too. And you are proud sometimes of how I'm 'coming along,' though you'd never bring yourself to admit it."
The senior partner's skin is colourless and he looks like he's in danger of throwing up any second.
"We also take turns sneaking into Louis' office and replacing his fancy-ass pens with duplicates, which have been hollowed out and crammed full of glitter. We usually add a dab of glue along the cap, so that when he twists and yanks it open-"
Nostrils flaring, Louis finishes, "The glitter flies everywhere! Dammit, I knew it was you two! Are you hearing this, Jessica? I told you they were the culprits! Do you have any idea how hard those atrocious twinkling pests are to remove? You're never free of them!"
Mike makes a whoops face. "You gotta admit, though," he tries to damage control, but can't quite contain his snicker. He pushes a fist to his lips, chest shuddering. "It was kinda funny. You walked around with sparkly eyebrows for weeks."
"Oh, you little-"
"Boys! Get it together, for Pete's sake," Donna scolds. "That is so not a priority right now."
They both glance back at Harvey guilty to find him in an almost comatose state, pupils hugely dilated but eyes unseeing.
"I…I think he's going into shock," Rachel whispers.
"Harvey?" Jessica calls in concern. "Harvey, are you alright? Do you need to sit down for a moment?"
"No, no," Harvey blinks. "I'm fine," he says numbly, before quickly placing Mike on the ground with trembling arms and muttering, "Excuse me for one moment."
He makes it as far as the door before he crumples over, heaving.
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Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think.
I really wanted to incorporate everyone, so I hope the characterisation didn't veer off track.
Oh, and I think this is a one-shot because I don't like it all that much and I doubt anyone wants to see any more.
