Harvey could feel his heart pounding through his chest and his breath quickening. But still, he continued to unleash all the adrenaline inside him onto the punching bag.
He was pounding the bag so hard that he could feel his hands clenching harder, his muscles tensing further. He had no recollection of how long he had been there but it must of been well over an hour and his cotton shirt was clenching his skin, soaking with sweat. Harvey's body was way past its limit but the anger was still flowing through his veins, giving him dosings of energy that was keeping him going. He was faintly aware of the aches and pains all over his body, his knuckles screaming at him to stop. But, it felt good for the first time in days.
For 2 days, he had been cramped up in that chair next to Mike's bed, feeling helpless and incompetent. He was one of the best lawyers in the state and could get Mike out of any legal trouble, but what did that matter when his former associate was laid up comatosed. He had no medical knowledge and tried to understand the medical jargon that he had forced out of the Doctors every time they walked past. But, there was literally nothing he could do for Mike other than sit and wait and hope that the younger man would wake up.
He finally decided to give in, giving one last blast to the punching bag which reverberated around the gym and turned a few heads. He walked over to the benches, breathing rapidly and collapsed against the wall. Harvey poured half a bottle of water over his head and drunk the rest in a matter of seconds, before rubbing a towel over his face. Still his body was tense and agitated, not allowing him to relax. He sat there for a few moments and despite his best efforts, his mind cast back over the past couple of days.
It had all started in Shaun's office. Just as he had finished telling Harvey about Mike's plan, Harvey's phone had rung and he felt the dread already inside him manifesting. Seconds later he was fleeing the offices, jumping in the car with Ray on the way to the hospital. All he had been told was that Mike had been severely injured and been taken to hospital. The unknowing was driving Harvey insane and the car journey seemed to take forever but the site he saw when he walked into the ER made him wish that he didn't know anything. He had strolled up to the desk, demanding to know where Mike Ross was and the younger Women had looked so worried, she just pointed to a separate room. But before Harvey could make it over there, a bed came rolling out, surrounded by doctors. One was squeezing a balloon systematically near Mike's mouth, another was sat literally on Mike, applying pressure to the wound. But still, there was a lot of blood. He ran over and just managed to get a glimpse of the younger man. The first thing he noticed was Mike's colour. He'd always been relatively pale but his face seemed completely absent of all colours.
Harvey had been pushed out of the way at this point as they raced towards the operating theatre and was taken to a place where he would have to wait, in silent agony for hours. It was only a few minutes later that Donna and Rachel turned up. Harvey had been sat on the waiting room 'chairs', his hands clenched in front of him and his shoulders hunched. He had been in a trance on the way here, feeling almost numb and blank, trying to make himself immune to the feelings and anger that was residing inside him. He had been awoken by Donna's soft voice and suddenly it all got to much. She placed her hand on his to comfort him and said his name gently and he looked over to see Rachel holding back muffled sobs. He slowly pulled himself to his feet, already exhausted from the tension from trying to hold back his emotions and gave Donna a watery smile. She responded with her own, her eyes already red and glassy, probably reflecting his by now.
He took the step towards Rachel. No one had said a word, having no words to say. They looked at each other for a moment and Harvey could see the same devastation in her eyes that he knew was emulating his, too. He silently pulled her weak frame into his, and allowed her to cry into his shirt as he tried to hug her comfortingly. His arm was wrapped protectively around her shoulder as she buried her head into his chest.
He barely managed to whisper, "Its okay. Let it all out."
She released all of her emotions into him as he stroked her hair, something he had observed Donna doing before, until the younger girl pulled away, rubbing at her eyes a more determined look now settled on her face. They all sat down then, Harvey in the middle with just the armrests separating him from the two most important girls in his life. Rachel was like a sister to him and he had grown to respect and defend her over the time that she had been his associate. He was so proud of the strength and apprehension she had shown during the time that Mike was in prison. And Donna was everything to him. His major weakness over the years had always been seeing her hurt or in pain, until Mike had come along of course.
As they waited, Harvey found himself staring at the clock on the wall, agonising over how slowly it seemed to be ticking. He had no idea how long it would take for them to come back out and kept glancing towards the double doors that led to where Doctor's were fighting for Mike's life. After around an hour of waiting, his mind had got to the point where he was imagining every horrifying situation. He was losing hope rapidly but knew deep down, that no news was good news. That it meant Mike was still alive.
It was at this point that Louis turned up, his arms carrying a cardboard cup holder. Harvey glanced over at his approach and nodded solemnly at Louis before turning to watch the clock again. Donna and Rachel both got up and they made small talk but Harvey was barely able to listen, his heart throbbing in his chest and his mind preoccupied with thoughts of what was happening. Donna sat back down next to him and pulled his hand into her vice like grip, stroking it gently with her other hand. Harvey turned back to her and tried to smile, she went to speak but knew there was nothing she could say. Louis offered him coffee and bagels but he felt nauseous and knew that if he took a bite, he would likely bring it back up. He had absolutely no appetite and was annoyed when Louis started persisting.
"Harvey, you have to eat." Louis replied softly.
Harvey turned to him and said gently, "I don't want to eat Louis."
"You have to keep your strength up for-"
"For Mike?" Harvey jumped out of his chair and felt his voice break on his best friends name. Before he could react any further though, he felt the strength drain out of him as he watched Rachel's face fall and Louis fall down into a chair next to her. It was Donna's slight gasp that put him on edge and he took a deep breath before sitting down calmly and putting himself back in the trance, allowing himself to keep waiting. His anger, though directed towards Louis, was actually directed towards himself. If he actually allowed himself to feel it, Harvey would realise how much guilt was building up inside him. It had been a traumatic few months, what with Mike's trial and then prison sentence in which he had blamed himself for much of what was happening. He should have protected Mike, turned himself in and saved everyone the heartache. Mike wasn't meant for prison and Harvey had done everything he could to get him out unharmed because he knew what Gallo and other people in that prison was capable off.
In a way, he was breaching with anger at Mike. He had promised Harvey he could take care of himself, that he would watch his back in there but today he had made a terribly bad decision. He knew why Mike had done it, why he had stayed back to frame Gallo and put him away for longer. It was the same reason he had handed Harvey his resignation letter not all that long ago: to protect his future family. But there were other ways to go about it and Harvey was hurt that Mike hadn't trusted him or had faith in him to get the job done. But mostly, Harvey was seething with anger at Gallo. That man had caused him so much pain and he would do anything to get his hands on him in a soundproof room.
But he couldn't think about any of this now and after another hour of nervously and relatively silently waiting, Harvey decided that he couldn't do it anymore. He pulled himself up and reassure them that he was fine.
Walking over to the desk, he asked "Any news about Mike Ross?" a faintly hopeful tone to his voice.
But all the nurse could do was apologise and told him they would have to wait for a surgeon to bring them results. Harvey was agitated, it had almost been 3 hours but he didn't have the strength to fight for this and knew that if he did, he would probably lose this facade and break down. Instead, he headed off in the other direction.
But, as he did, in the back of his busy mind, he registered Donna's voice calling his name and turned to see two Doctor's approaching the group. This was it. Moment of truth time and Harvey's nerves were in tatters.
Nevertheless, he sped back over to the group and looked at the doctors in anticipation. He could see the anxiety on all of his friends faces and was struggling to keep himself focused.
"Family of Mike Ross?" The surgeons asked, obviously surprised by the mix of people that were waiting.
"Yes," they all replied in unison. Harvey's voice was weaker than usual but Rachel's was barely audible and he gripped hold of her hand again, needing her support just as much as she needed his. He could feel Donna's hand on the small of his back and Louis was giving them all some space whilst obviously anxious himself.
Harvey had always prided himself on being able to read people, 'don't play the odds, play the man', right? But it was frustrating that he could read nothing from the two Doctors faces. One was an older male who was leading and the other was a younger Female but judging from her stern expression, Harvey knew she wasn't to be messed with. She vaguely reminded him of Donna. But both of them were wearing very neutral and blank expressions that weren't filling Harvey with hope.
"Mr Ross came to us and had sustained some severe injuries. He had a major wound in his chest that we were worried was to close to his heart and we were concerned by a head wound that he had sustained when he fell onto the floor. He had lost an extensive amount of blood and we quickly decided it was best to take him to surgery."
Harvey could feel his hope falling with every second. He wasn't sure what he would do if Mike hadn't made it. This was all his fault.
"During surgery, we managed to repair his wound in the chest and stitch it back up. However, due to the extensive amount of blood loss, Mike went into cardiac arrest."
Harvey felt his heart pull into his throat and honestly believed he was going into cardiac arrest. He was faintly aware of Rachel breaking down next to him but he couldn't move to comfort her and watched as Donna moved over to do it instead, the tears already streaming down her face.
The younger Female Doctor cut in now, a look of remorse gracing her face. "We managed to revive him, but due to the cutoff of oxygen and blood flow to his brain, Mike has entered a comatosed state."
Harvey felt like he was in a bubble, surrounded by his own devastated despair. His vision was blurring and there was nothing he wanted more than to wake up in a sweat and realise that this was all a horrifying nightmare.
"We're not sure when Mr Ross will wake up or what deficits to expect if he does."-
A/N- Thanks so much for the support on this story. It was completely unexpected and much appreciated. I really wanted to get an update sooner but started a uni course which I completely underestimated. Hopefully now that I have some time management in place I will get another update soon. Hope everyone is well. Maybe let me know what you think with a review?(:
