Mike could already see Harvey standing on the sidewalk up ahead in the distance, looking annoyed, which was never a good sign. He pedaled his bike up along the sidewalk, and stepped off and hadn't even gotten the chance to take his helmet off before Harvey had walked over to point out the obvious.
"You're late."
"I know, Harvey, but there was a lot of traffic, and I almost got ran over, like three times and-"
"I might have been willing to give you leeway if you'd actually been hit, but you weren't, so there's no excuses."
"Right. I'll be sure to get hit by a car next time so I have an excuse for being late."
"Good. Now what I need you to do is finish the briefs on your desk, and I need them done before 9:30 because we have a meeting then. A meeting in which I expect you to say nothing, and do nothing, except listen."
"Harvey, do you hear that?"
"If you're asking if I hear the sound of you wasting my time right now by not listening? Then yes, I absolutely hear it."
"I'm serious, Harvey. It sounds like a little squeak, like something crying."
Harvey rolled his eyes at Mike, "Briefs done. Meeting at 9:30," he reminded before walking away.
Mike stayed and followed the sound, he'd hear it, and then it'd stop abruptly, which made it difficult, but eventually he was able to track the sound down. It was coming from a pile of leaves that had been pushed up against a sidewalk. Mike slowly brushed the leaves aside, only to discover a tiny, fluffy, orange kitten, with big blue eyes staring back at him.
"Aww. What are you doing out here by yourself, little guy?" Mike said, as he scooped up the kitten and cuddled it against his chest when he felt it start to shake. He checked to make sure there weren't any other kittens there, but luckily there weren't.
Mike noticed the kitten's paw seemed to be swollen near the joint, and it broke his heart a little, he knew he had to take it with him, no matter how improbable that was actually going to be. So, he cleared out some of the things from his messenger bag and made room to stick the kitten in, he just needed to make it through the day with him, and then he could take him home with him, and try to figure out what bill he'd sacrifice for the month so he could get it to the vet.
Mike kept his head down and managed to make it to his desk without interruption. He cleared out one of his drawers and took off his jacket so it would have a warm place to lay. He managed to raid the employee's lounge and find a small bowl to put water in. He'd have to figure out the food situation as soon as he got those briefs done, and went to the meeting.
For now, the kitten seemed content enough with laying on his jacket in the drawer, it had started purring, and Mike kept the drawer cracked open, so he'd be able to keep an eye on it and give it a pet every so often.
He managed to finish the briefs about 5 minutes before the deadline, so he assured the kitten that he'd be back, and sprinted down through the office to meet Harvey.
"Where's your jacket?" Harvey asked, immediately upon seeing Mike.
"I uh, I spilled coffee on it, so I needed to take it off."
"Right. Remind me after the meeting to have Donna pick up some Sippy Cups for you, so we can avoid situations like this in the future."
"Ha, ha, Harvey. Can we just go?"
The meeting didn't last that long, but it had seemed painfully long to Mike, because he was worried about the kitten. He wanted to just get back and make sure he was doing all right. Harvey had given Mike even more work to do after the meeting, and Mike could tell it was going to be a long night, which meant that he had to figure out the food situation, he'd feel too bad not giving it anything to eat all day. He however, did remember seeing Donna with a can of tuna now and again during lunch breaks. So he headed off in her direction, hoping she'd be able to help, after he stopped back to check on the kitten, which had fallen asleep.
"Donna, my lovely, lovely, Donna."
"What do you want, Mike?" she asked, her eyes still fixated on the computer screen in front of her.
"Please tell me that you have tuna with you today?"
"What's the matter, Mike? Did the bullies take your lunch money again?"
"It's not for me."
"Then who's it for?" Donna asked, sounding somewhat intrigued.
"Promise you won't tell anybody?"
"I can't promise that until after I hear."
"I kind of found this kitten today.."
"You found a kitten , and you brought it to work? Are you trying to get fired?"
"I know, I know..I shouldn't have, but it had an injured paw and I couldn't just leave it there. Please don't tell anyone, Donna. I'm begging you."
"Can I see it?"
"Uh, yeah, I mean, I guess. Does this mean you're not going to tell?"
"Of course not. But I also will deny any involvement if questioned. Got it?"
"Fair enough."
Donna disappeared for a brief moment before coming back with a can of tuna in hand, and following Mike back to his desk. He pulled open the drawer and Donna's eyes lit up when she seen the little orange kitten all nestled up on Mike's coat.
"Aww, it's so cute and tiny," Donna said, as she reached down to pet it, the kitten purring and rolling to it's back when she did so.
"Do you think it's hungry?" Mike asked.
"Well, why don't you let me take it with me. I know an empty office I can feed it in, while you get some work done."
"Are you serious? You're my hero."
"As well I should be," Donna smiled.
She gathered the kitten up in Mike's jacket and headed off. Mike used that as an opportunity to get work done. He didn't expect Donna to keep the kitten as long as she had, but he was glad for it, because it allowed him the opportunity to focus just on his work, since he knew the kitten was in good hands.
"I brought you a present," Donna said as she handed Mike back the kitten wrapped in the jacket, sleeping again.
"Donna, thank you so much for watching him for me today. Seriously. I don't know what I would have done without you."
"Get caught, and get fired, most likely. I've got to get home though. Make sure you keep me up to date on the little guy though."
"I will. And thank you again," Mike said, smiling at her.
Donna gave the kitten one last kiss on the head, before heading off.
Mike laid the kitten back in the drawer, leaving it mostly all the way open now, since a lot of the other associates had already left. He continued to work, until basically everybody has cleared out.
He was just about done for the day himself, only a few more papers to look over, so he decided he could use a break. He took the kitten out of his desk drawer and stuck it on top of his desk, petting it and letting it chase his fingers and pencil as he ran it along the desk. Even with an injured leg it could still move pretty well.
"What the hell is that?" Harvey's voice came booming out of nowhere, startling both Mike and the kitten.
"Harvey, listen, this is not what it looks like," Mike said as he scooped the kitten off of the desk and sat it in his lap.
"Really? Because it looks like you have a god damn kitten in a law office."
"Okay, so maybe it is what it looks like, but Harvey, it was injured and I didn't know what else to do."
"You're supposed to do anything but bring it here, that's what."
"But Harvey.."
"But nothing, Mike. You can't just take in any stray animal you find. This isn't an animal sanctuary."
"It's just a kitten."
"I know what it is. I'm going to call some animal place and have them come get it."
"No, you can't. I want to keep it."
"Right. And how are you going to afford a cat, Mike? Especially since this one clearly needs a vet. You can't even afford a decent tie."
"I'll figure it out, Harvey. I'm not letting you take my cat from me."
Harvey could tell Mike really cared about the kitten, and why wouldn't he? He was Mike Ross and clearly his big bleeding heart wasn't limited to just humans.
"All right, let me see the thing," Harvey said, motioning for the cat.
"He's not a thing. His name is Lawson."
"Fine," Harvey said, rolling his eyes, "Let me see Lawson."
Mike handed Lawson over to Harvey, and he immediately crawled up and nuzzled into Harvey's neck and started purring loudly.
"He likes you, Harvey."
"He doesn't like me, he probably just smells Louis on me or something."
Harvey held the kitten out in front of his face, examining it. That's when the kitten licked Harvey's nose.
"Awwww, how sweet," Mike laughed.
Harvey couldn't fight back his own smile on that one, no matter how much he had tried to.
"Okay, Mike. So, here's the deal, if you want to keep this kitten, you need to promise me you will never ever bring another animal into this office again. In promising me that, I will pay his vet bill for you. Only because I don't need my associate starving to death while sacrificing his own well being, while he tries to play catch up on some ridiculous vet bill. Sound fair?"
"That sounds totally fair. Thank you so much, Harvey."
"Oh, and one more thing; you never, ever tell anybody that I did this for you. Got it?"
"I know, Harvey. Wouldn't want to ruin your reputation of not caring."
"I don't care."
"Then why are you still holding my cat?"
"I'm not holding it, it's simply clinging to me, because it likes me better."
"Whatever, Harvey."