Alrighty. Another question for you guys. I can write long chapters or short chapters. Short chapters will be posted within one week of each other, while long chapters (about four times the size) will be posted every month and a half. Tell me which you would like.
I'm going to leave the pairing up to you. The options are as follows: DonnaxMike MikexHarvey MikexRachel MikexOFC MikexOMC and no pairing at all. Send me any suggestions you want. I'll put a poll up as well. Don't forget to vote!
Summary: We all have secrets in our past. Mike has one, he just thought everyone knew already.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
NOTE: I don't have anything planned for this. Leave a review if you want anything in this fic. Hell, write half a chapter for me and I'll include it somewhere. Seriously guys, PM me if you want anything done. Leave a review and I'll love you even more.
See you all~
Chapter one
Revelations
Donna was the master at hiding her emotions. Since her childhood, she had perfected the art of alligator tears, the one weapon that makes every man fall to their knees. It had been a long time since she had to shroud her tears with a smile. A very, very long time. But now, as she stood in the copy room, her eyes cold as she read over the words on the letter over and over, she couldn't help but blink hard several times to fight the tears that threatened to leak.
Michael Ross. Their little puppy. Their helpless puppy. She had known, of course. She knew he had been in the corps. Perhaps a cook, or working in an office. She didn't think much about it. Many kids in the firm worked office jobs in the military, just so their resume looked good. But a solider? The image of little Mike running through the desert, a gun in his hand, dressed in brown and tan camo, his face bloody and head shaved filled her head. Little Mikey, the charismatic, blue eyes boy that made her smile every time he quoted a movie, or pissed Harvey off, was going off to war. She paled at the thought of the boy fighting before. After all, this wasn't the first time he had been called. That much was obvious from the letter.
"Donna?"
Donna had to do everything in her power not the scream. Spinning around, she narrowed her eyes at Norma, who raised an eyebrow. "Christ, Norma," She breathed, "Scare a woman to death, why don't you?"
The pudgy woman rolled her ruddy brown eyes, "I've been standing here for a minute, Donna."
"So you've been watching me?"
"No," Norma gestured to the machine in front of her, "I need to shred."
Donna paused for a moment, the words swirling around in her mind for a moment, before she was able to unscramble the gibberish. She huffed snootily before striding off. The letter folded in her hands, she made her way to a place she was hardly ever seen: The Bullpen.
.
It took Mike exactly thirty-three minutes and seven seconds to realize his letter was missing. He had searched through his bag twice, his desk thrice, and his pockets six times, at least. He was about to get up and search the floors and elevator when a hand grabbed his shoulder. He jumped a mile high, only barely resisting the urge to swing his arm around. He must have moved his phone when he was searching.
"Harvey's office. Now."
Donna.
He thanked his quick thinking for not punching her. That would have ended horribly (He was thinking castration or decapitation). He smiled at her, his pristine teeth gleaming in the fluorescent light of the firm in spite of his pounding heart, "Hey Donna. Odd finding you here. What'd I do now? Is it about the Brief cover?"
Donna didn't respond. One sculpted eyebrow shot up, before she held out a piece of folded letter. His heart stopped beating as he nodded, his face paling. Of all the people in this firm who could have found his god damned letter, it had to be one Donna Paulsen. Donna, the gossiper, the sly manipulative Donna. The woman closest to Harvey. His heart stopped. What if... Shit! She told him. I'm dead. My head will be rolling. I'll be a goner, before some Bin-Laden wannabe can shoot me in the face. I'll be killed by Harvey Specter. He'll put my head on his windowsill, like all of his basketballs. I wonder if he'll have me sign my forehead before he decapitates me.
He only realized he had arrived when the redhead snapper manicured fingers into his busy planning his own death, he hadn't noticed the absence of the 'best goddamn closer in the city' when he entered the coming to, Mike turned to Donna, his brows furrowed, "Where's Harvey? Wait, He had a meeting this morning, didn't he? He wasn't in when I got here..."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Her voice was sharp, as if she were accusing him of some horrible crime, not asking some simple question, like why he had kept the truth from them.
"Tell you what?" he asked, feigning oblivious as her eyes narrowed. His heart pounded against his ribcage, leaving him breathless.
"God damn it Mike! Don't play stupid! I know about the letter, you dropped it by my desk when you gave me those crappy briefs. Why didn't you tell us earlier? Two months ago you-"
"I didn't know I had the letter two months ago. I found it this morning when I was trying to actually get my rent in on time for once. It was under some bills. Swear," His voice was soft, as though he didn't know if what he was saying was the right thing. He honestly didn't know. What was going to happen to him. Donna seemed livid, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you... I was going to tell you all tonight." He knew Harvey was going to spend a late night at the office. It was a Tuesday. It was bound to happen. Tuesdays were always late days.
"Jesus Christ Michael. Are you that stupid?" Her words were hissed, as though she was trying with all her might to prevent some sort of outburst. Mike wasn't surprised. The entire situation was turning out better than he had anticipated, really. Much better.
"Stupid? What do-"
"I know you aren't stupid. You've managed to fool everyone in this goddamn firm. But this? How did this not come up in any conversation? How the hell did we manage to miss the fact that you moonlight as a gun slinging marine? Let me guess, you were running from some cops when you hid in a recruitment center. After dropping a pile of weed, Sergeant Asshole promised not to turn you into the police if you enlisted?" Her tone was sharp and sarcastic, a tone he had never heard escape Donna. Quite honestly, it feared the blue eyes man.
"Donna, I-"
"Don't, Mike," she warned, her voice softer than it had been a few seconds ago. She pulled the letter out of her pocket, slamming it on the desk with a look that could kill. Mike shielded away from her, baring his neck to the point where his chin almost hit his shoulder. His eyes downcast, he looked like a beaten puppy, waiting for his master to kick him once more.
Donna took pity on the boy. With narrowed eyes, she clenched onto his shoulder, her fingers digging into the fabric below the manicured nails, "Mike. You need to tell him. It'll be easier on him if he hears if from you, not Jessica, or me."
Mike nodded slightly, refusing to meet her eyes. She grabbed his cheek, forcefully wrenching the boy's head up, forcing him to look her in the eye. Brown battled with blue wildly, the colors dancing with emotion. He broke eye contact for a moment, but returned it when the hand tightened, "You're a marine, Mike, not a pussy. Look a god-damned woman in the eye when she's screaming at you."
Mike chuckled half-heartedly, letting out a crooked smile, "Hoo-rah..."
Donna was about to speak, her mouth open and her tongue ready when a voice resounded around the room.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Harvey.
Both woman and boy froze, their eyes moving to gaze at Harvey as he leaned against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets as he watched them with a sculpted eyebrow raised. Mike coughed, backing up and grabbing the letter from Harvey's desk. He grinned, shaking his head, "Just getting yelled at for the briefs. I'll fix them when I'm done with the Nikolai briefs."
Harvey's eyes narrowed, catching onto the brief micro expression that crossed his associate's face for a twenty-eighth of a second. Fear. He played along; however, knowing the only way to extract info from his puppy was a lot of praise and a good treat. Something was up, something big enough to leave Donna pale and obviously frazzled. Not even Harvey could get her to look like that on a good day.
"Finish both brief packets and I'll buy pizza tonight."
Mike grinned at the man, nearly running out of the room, Donna hot on his heels. The well-groomed man was fast, however, and was able to block the door right after Mike had left.
"Nuh uh, Donna. You're going to tell me what's up with the puppy."
"Oh, really?" She replied innocently, her eyelashes batting, "I thought you didn't care about him,"
"I don't," Harvey spoke, as though he was trying to convince himself as well as Donna, "but it's getting in the way of his work, and I don't like that."
"It won't matter soon enough, don't worry about it."
So... this is it. Tell me what you think in reviews! How about a deal. If I get fifteen reviews I'll post the next chapter. If not, then you'll have to wait an entire week.
Let's try a reward system. Every Twenty reviews I get on this story and I'll write a oneshot with a 1k-3k work count. The person who leaves the best reviews will pick the pairing of the oneshot and the plot.
