Mike Ross Once Told Me

by Sarah1281

Fifteen years after Mike had told Louis that retaliation didn't mean everything was forgiven and actions had consequences, Louis is still going around bringing up Mike every time he tells someone about actions and consequences. Louis does this a lot. Mike intends to get to the bottom of this.

"You once told me that actions have consequences," Louis concluded. "And my actions did and I'm sorry."

Mike had heard some version of this speech many times over the last fifteen years, though probably not half as often as Harvey did. What had happened didn't really matter. What had happened was that Louis had, as he did roughly every other month, screwed up because he felt (sometimes justifiably) slighted and now he was apologizing. That was the nice thing about Louis; Jessica had long-since been convinced that he'd never learn but at least he was never too proud to apologize.

He decided to cut straight to the chase. "Thank you, Louis."

Louis nodded back at him.

Something occurred to him. "You mentioned that I had once told you that actions have consequences."

Louis frowned in confusion. "You did tell me that, Mike. Don't tell me that you forgot."

Mike laughed. "Not likely. It's just…I said that to you fifteen years ago, back when you wanted us to work together and didn't understand why I was…reluctant."

Louis laughed, too. "Reluctant. That's certainly one way of putting it."

"Hey, I did end up working with you."

"Yeah, when you were just a fake associate-"

"A real associate," Mike interrupted. "Just with a fake degree."

Louis waved that off. "I was your boss then. And that kind of thing matters more at the bottom."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Please, Louis. I went against Harvey at some point during virtually every case we worked together. And you know that if I swallowed my pride and begged Harvey hard enough he'd go to bat for me. He always does. So I was reluctant but ultimately willing."

"Well yeah, what about what you told me then?"

"It's just…" Mike trailed off, organizing his thoughts. "It's been fifteen years, Louis."

Louis blinked at him. "So it has. Why, has that changed?"

"No," Mike said. "But we all know that I told you that fifteen years ago. You've told everyone 'Mike Ross once told me'. Why are you still bringing the fact that I told you that up? It was fifteen years ago. It's a pretty basic concept. Why still bring me into it at all?"

"Because you're the one who told me," Louis said.

"And my kindergarten teacher taught it to me but you don't see me going around saying 'As Mrs. Larson once told me, actions have consequences'."

"But, to be fair, you don't talk about actions having consequences nearly as much as I do."

Mike just sighed. "Was I really the first one who ever mentioned this to you?"

"Yes, absolutely."

Mike stared at him. Despite Louis' strange obsession with Mike's words, he hadn't really thought…

"Really?"

Louis gave him a look. "Yes, Mike, really. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"You did get the part where I was in kindergarten when I learned this, right?"

"Well I guess we couldn't all have amazing kindergarten teachers who handed out wise life lessons like candy," Louis said a touch waspishly.

"I'm sorry," Mike said, holding up a hand. "I just…how did you make it so long without learning something like that? It's pretty basic."

Louis narrowed his eyes. "It's not like I was completely unaware of the concept. I'm not an imbecile, you know."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I had just always been taught to expect that if you screw someone then they'll be mad but then they'll get you back and things can go back to normal. Of course, if the retribution is disproportionate or the person in question can't stand to have anyone get something over on them then it might not end there but for the most part the system works," Louis said. "I didn't have a lot of friends growing up but that's how it always worked with the other kids and my sister. With Harvey, too, but then you knew that. It's how it worked with Nigel and it'd have been how it worked with Hardman if he weren't still so bored in retirement."

"Somebody needs to get that man a hobby," Mike said, shaking his head.

"He already has one. It's called 'screw his former law firm particularly Harvey because he threatened him at his wife's funeral'."

"Yeah, that was not one of Harvey's prouder moments."

"Do you believe that he really would have just moved on with his life if Harvey hadn't done anything?" Louis asked.

Mike shrugged. "I don't know. I never knew him as well as the rest of you did. He did respond to finding out that I didn't go to law school by just sitting on the sideline watching me rise higher and become more integral to this firm and waiting for the day that someone else will expose me and bring me crashing to the ground."

"Do you think he'll ever actually expose you himself and get tired of waiting? I mean, it's been fifteen years."

Mike shrugged. "Maybe but he can't do that without implicating himself and there's a lot of people with a vested interest in keeping my secret. Besides, he's still convinced it'll happen on its own."

"How did Daniel Hardman find out of all people?" Louis asked, shaking his head.

"It's funny," Mike said. "We used to say that about you. We still say that about Jessica but at some point, even if Trevor weren't being a dick about a girl he wasn't even dating, she'd have figured that out and maybe then she wouldn't have needed Harvey to stay so bad and I'd have been out the door."

"Well I was a horrible person to tell," Louis said. "I made your life miserable for weeks and frankly if I hadn't just had my life fall apart and been shot down for being named partner and fired for my mistakes while everyone knew all about yours-"

"Not everyone," Mike interrupted. "Not yet."

"Then I probably would have gone to the police. But we're friends again so none of that matters."

"It's amazing how the threat of going to prison because of my deception brings people together," Mike said.

"I don't think Hardman did mean that he'd stay away from this firm," Louis said, getting back to his earlier question. "I mean, maybe he thought he did but I've made too many promises I fully intended to keep not to know how that sometimes goes. And if he fully intended to stay away and Harvey baited him into coming back…and I can't even blame him for that, the first time. But the fact he just can't stay away? The man was never going to be able to stay away no matter what he might have wanted to do. It's almost sad. I really looked up to him once."

"Well he's certainly enjoying himself," Mike said, not feeling any particular pity for him. "He really should take up scrapbooking or something, though."

Louis snorted. "Scrapbooking about all of his evil plots maybe."

Mike snapped his fingers. "That reminds me. Harman sent me an email congratulating me for my work on the Mendez case."

Louis took a deep breath. "I'll let Jessica know. Five months. He usually doesn't strike again this soon."

"Maybe he's still annoyed Harvey called him predictable last time," Mike suggested.

"Damn it, why do we even let Harvey talk to him? All he does is make it worse. And God knows keeping your self-control around that man is difficult but Harvey is just really bad at it."

"Harvey usually involves himself," Mike reminded him. "And even when he doesn't, he's Jessica's go-to emissary when she doesn't want to deal with him herself. And she never wants to deal with him herself."

Louis just sighed. "Back to your weird interest in my history with actions and consequences, when I first met you I expected things would work the same way as they had with everyone else in my life. Maybe I went on the offensive first-"

"Maybe?" Mike interrupted incredulously. "Louis, you staged a pretty brutal firing in front of me on my first day."

"I do that to everyone," Louis said dismissively.

"Yeah, there's kind of a problem there," Mike said.

"No, it's good for them," Louis disagreed. "Like I was saying, maybe I started it but you were better than I expected – of course you were, you worked for Harvey – and you always got me back. And maybe you still didn't like me, you did work for Harvey, but I figured we were square."

"Then I let you know that we weren't."

"And this had been months into our association and you had just never told me."

"Louis, I didn't-"

"I'm not saying you were trying to hide it from me," Louis interrupted. "You sure weren't shy about eventually letting me know. You probably just thought I already got it and you were never as scared of me as the other associates despite, well, the whole fraud thing. But if you had felt that way and never spelled it out then who knew how many other people had felt that same way? Maybe it was just you, maybe it wasn't. I couldn't just go out and ask them."

"So that throwaway and rather cliché line from me really changed your life," Mike marveled.

Louis held up a hand. 'Okay, wait, I wouldn't go that far. But yes."

Mike hid a smile. "Okay then."

"And, fine, maybe at first I was just quoting it back to you because you had so self-righteously blasted me with that and then turned around and done something that had consequences. But I guess I kind of got in the habit of it, the habit of thinking about the consequences of my actions and of other peoples'."

"I, uh, don't know if knowing that people can hold a grudge has curbed your behavior at all," Mike began.

Louis gave him an unimpressed look.

"I mean, you've pulled a lot of shit over the years. You just did the other day and you came in here to apologize for that which I do appreciate. You've also held back from doing a lot. But who can say why?"

"I can. And I'm telling you that that's a large part of it," Louis said. "And, though you may not see this as a good thing, it's helped me realize that I don't have to get over what someone does just because I retaliate."

Mike thought back to the weeks following Louis realizing that he hadn't gone to Harvard but wouldn't be able to force him out of the company that had started bearing his name. "I could see how that might not be an entirely positive thing, yeah."

"But sometimes, too, I can forgive people and not have to get back at them," Louis continued quietly.

"I can see how what I said had a huge effect on you," Mike said, nodding. "It may not be strictly normal but half of New York would be implicated at this point if people ever realized why I really shouldn't be a name partner at this firm," Mike said. "So, really, who am I to judge?"

"This was just such a big thing and I know you didn't mean to but you really changed my life, Mike," Louis told him. "So actions have consequences…as you once told me."

Mike sighed. "We've gone in a circle. I understand more now about why you do it but do you really have to keep bringing me up every time?"

Louis looked almost affronted. "Yes. Weren't you listening?"

"No, I was. I just don't understand why you can't just say 'actions have consequences.' It's kind of understood that someone at some point told you that. At this point, it's even widely understood that I personally told it to you. You really don't have to keep saying it."

"But if everybody already knows, why not say it?"

"It's a little bit, well, embarrassing," Mike admitted.

Louis frowned, still evidently not getting it. "What's so embarrassing about helping someone understand about actions and consequences? If anything, I could be embarrassed for not understanding this until sometime after we met by which time I was a full-grown man. But I'm not so why should you be?"

"It doesn't work like-" Mike cut himself off and changed tactics. "Louis, there's a lot about me that you don't understand."

Louis nodded. "Virtually all of your life choices."

"Surely me not wanting to be constantly referenced in your action and consequences spiel isn't as incomprehensible as me faking being a lawyer."

"Actually, I thought about it and while I still have no idea why you'd let your druggie friend drag you down when you could have actually gone to Harvard and be what you pretend to be, you are a damn good lawyer and this is a great life. Far better than what I gather you were living before. We both love the law and you at some point you just couldn't be legitimate. It's not the choice I would ever make but I can see where you're coming from."

Mike sighed. "Okay, so apparently this is the weird request. But you don't have to understand it. Can you just do me this favor?"

Looking bemused, Louis nodded. "I mean, I might forget. I've been doing it for years."

Oh, Mike was well aware of that.

"Just try. Please."

"Alright, Mike. If you really want to die on this hell then I will do what I can to ensure that that happens."

"Thanks, Louis," Mike said after a moment. "I do."

"Actions have consequences, as M-" Louis cut himself off and tried again. "Actions have consequences."

So they did. Even actions like explaining the very concept to a man who really should have had a passing familiarity with the concept fifteen years ago.