Chapter 2

On Monday morning Harvey waited until Mike had fully shut the door to his office before laying into the kid. "Your brother is a PROFESSIONAL THIEF!"

Mike sighed, but he seemed to resin himself to answering nonetheless, "Alleged professional thief. He was only ever convicted of bond forgery."

Harvey rolled his eyes. Really? "Your brother has committed-"

"Allegedly committed," Mike corrected.

"Allegedly committed," Harvey appeased, "Over a hundred crimes on four different continents."

Mike shrugged, "Point being?"

Harvey couldn't believe the kid. His brother was an international criminal; How could he miss the point? "Are you being intentionally dense?"

"No. I just fail to see what my brother's alleged rap sheet has to do with my working for you?"

"It has… It's…" Harvey paused. Technically, it had nothing to do with Mike working for him, but still it was the principal of the thing.

"Well?" Mike prodded.

"Did you participate in any of his … 'alleged' crimes?"

Mike scoffed, "Neal wouldn't let me to participate in his alleged crimes."

Harvey nodded in acceptance. At least Mike hadn't committed any crimes. Well…not any crimes with his brother. Mike had been about to deal pot when they'd met and he had been taking the LSAT's for others to make money. Mike's hands weren't completely clean, but they also weren't in the same league as what Neal had done or allegedly done if he was going to be politically correct.

Harvey gathered himself as he watched his associate. "Fine," was all that he was able to grit out.

Mike had taken that as his queue to leave and gathered up the files on the edge of Harvey's desk. Harvey watched as Mike was signalled over by Donna, stood there for thirty seconds and then practically ran away from Donna. Harvey found him five hours later hiding out in the file room.

That was the last time that Harvey had troubled himself with Mike's brother. There were numerous cases on his plate and with the mystery solved, Harvey just wasn't that interested anymore. So long as Mike did his work, they had no issues.

It had been three months since Harvey had met Neal and there hadn't been any issues since. Work had continued as usual and his life returned to normal. In fact, Harvey had almost forgotten that Mike even had a brother.

It was morning and they were currently sitting in Harvey's office going over merger paperwork when Mike's phone went off. Harvey watched as Mike checked the caller ID, before deciding to answer.

"Hello?"

The kid seemed to be annoyed. Harvey wondered who could cause that kind of reaction.

"What?!" Mike exclaimed shooting up from the couch, "Why the hell would he agree to meet with Wilkes?!"

Harvey watched with interest as Mike started pacing. Who the hell was Wilkes? Who had gone to meet with this Wilkes? Who would Mike get this worked up over? Mike's grandmother had passed a few months prior, so who else… OH.

"The last time he saw Wilkes was when Wilkes tried to shoot him!" Mike hissed.

That got Harvey's attention but Mike was still talking away on the phone and as it seemed to be a rather important conversation Harvey decided not to interrupt.

"How stupid can he be? ... I don't care what the rea… Are you sure that's why?" Mike sighed. "Alright, I get it… Yeah, I'm coming," With that, Mike hung up the phone.

"Is there a problem?" Harvey asked as calmly as possible.

Mike started and looked at Harvey as though he'd forgotten the man was even there. "Uh… I gotta go."

Mike was out the door before Harvey could even react.

Harvey hadn't been able to focus all day. Mike had rushed out of the office after a rather disturbing phone call. Harvey had yet to completely identify who was on the phone or who was the one in danger, but he had a good guess.

The second that Mike had left, Donna had barged in and chewed Harvey out. She hadn't liked that Mike was allowed to head off somewhere with a man who had no issues attempting, and most likely succeeding at times, to kill someone.

Naturally, Donna and Harvey had researched a 'Wilkes' – seriously, they didn't even know if it was a first name or a last – and came up with next to nothing. After their fruitless search, the two were left to do nothing but worry and pace. Mike wasn't responding to texts and he wasn't answering his phone, much to their chagrin.

Finally, after over ten hours of waiting and worrying, Mike walked back into the firm. Donna immediately grabbed the kid and dragged him into Harvey's office.

"Ow, Donna!" Mike whined.

"Where the hell have you been?" Donna demanded.

Mike looked from Harvey to Donna apologetically. "I can't tell you."

"Excuse me?" Harvey said in warning.

Mike sighed and hung his head. "I can't tell you."

"What do you mean you can't tell us?!" Donna exclaimed as she started to lecture Mike on how worried they'd been and how stupid it had been to go off after someone with a gun. Mike stood there and looked shameful, but steadfastly refused to give anything away.

Harvey just stood back and let Donna go, knowing that it would be a sure death sentence to interrupt her when she was this irate. As the lecture stretched past the twenty-minute mark, Harvey started to become a little bored. He looked around his office before turning his attention to the rest of the firm. Everything looked calm and boring until Harvey caught a glimpse of someone he'd never thought he'd see standing in the middle of PearsonHardman.

"…It was a stupid foolish idea," Donna ranted.

"Donna," Harvey called, getting no response. "Donna!" he called again.

The woman finally started and rounded on Harvey, angry at being interrupted, "What?"

"Mike has a visitor," Harvey answered simply.

Mike's head shot up to give Harvey a quizzical look, before following the man's gaze to the hall. "Neal!" Mike shouted as soon as he caught sight of his brother.

Neal's head jerked up at Mike's muffled shout (Harvey's office walls were thick, but Mike could be rather loud when he wanted to) and a large smile spread across the man's face.

"Is that..?" Donna wondered as they watched Neal walk into Harvey's office.

Harvey shook his head. "Does no one in your family knock?"

Harvey was completely ignored, however, as Neal brought Mike into a hug and Donna cooed at the sight.

He sighed as he realized that he wouldn't be getting any answers at the moment and that Mike and Neal deserved some time alone after what Harvey could only guess was some type of abduction and possible death threats. Harvey pulled a resisting Donna from the office and let the brothers have some privacy.

"Why did you take me out of there?" Donna asked. "I wasn't done telling Mike off."

"From what I can tell, Neal's been in a lot of danger and Mike's been worried," Harvey answered, "I think it's only fair we give them a moment."

Donna huffed but conceded, and the two stood there watching intently to the happenings in the office.

Mike and Neal held their hug for a little bit, most likely reassuring themselves that the other was all right. Soon enough, though, they pulled away and Neal immediately pushed Mike and looked annoyed.

Donna plopped herself down at her desk and switched on her intercom. Harvey leaned down to listen in; He was curious - who wouldn't be?

"What the hell were you thinking?" Neal asked, clearly annoyed.

"Me?!" Mike protested, "You're the one who willingly went to a meet with Wilkes without backup."

"That's different," Neal insisted.

"How the hell is it different?"

"It's my job."

Mike rolled his eyes. "And you're my brother."

Neal huffed but Harvey could tell that what Mike had said had made some kind of an impact.

"I just wanted you to be OK," Mike admitted quietly.

Neal's face fell and he wrapped his arm around Mike's shoulders, pulling the kid into him. "We agreed long ago that you wouldn't participate in any crimes."

"This wasn't a crime, though," Mike said.

"It held the same amount of danger."

"No, it didn't. The FBI were surrounding the place. They had your back."

Neal sighed, "Mike, they don't know about you and I'd like to keep it that way."

"I know, but you needed someone else to run the zigzag scam," Mike tried to defend himself, "I mean, let's be honest. A gun in the glove compartment against Edward Riley would have been suicide."

Neal chuckled at Mike's argument and pushed Mike away a little so that they could meet each other's eyes, "Regardless. Next time…"

Mike suddenly broke out of Neal's loose embrace and walked over to Harvey's desk. "Can't believe I forgot about this."

Harvey and Donna watched with narrowed eyes as Mike unplugged the intercom and cut off their source of information.

Harvey and Donna could have sworn they were about to have panic induced heart attacks. So far, Mike and Neal had admitted to the FBI, running a con, going on a meet with someone who'd at the very least attempted murder, and now another criminal and a gun. Harvey had to admit that he really didn't like what Neal's lifestyle and 'job' brought Mike into.

Harvey and Donna stayed watching Neal and Mike in the office. They couldn't hear anything but from what they could see, it looked as though Neal was trying, yet failing, to get Mike to agree to stay away from the 'scams,' as Mike had put it – though Harvey would call it a con or a crime. Mike didn't appear to be agreeing, though. Granted, all of this was from what little Donna could make out by reading lips and Harvey doing his best to decipher body language.

Thirty minutes into their discussion and Neal suddenly paused, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Neal talked on the phone for a few minutes, before giving Mike an apologetic look. Mike nodded his head and the two hugged one last time before Neal headed out of the office.

"It was nice to see you again Mr. Specter," Neal said, offering his hand.

Harvey shook Neal's hand politely, but offered no greeting in return; he didn't trust Neal. Donna didn't acknowledge Neal in the least, but rather, waited for the man to enter the elevator before bursting into Harvey's office and continuing her previous rant.

Harvey just let the two alone. He had work to do and he wanted to research this 'Edward Riley'. Obviously, his original plan to just ignore Mike's brother had been a horrible idea. Neal Caffrey could be a dangerous influence on Mike, despite the man's obvious intentions to keep Mike away from danger. As far as Harvey was concerned, Neal was a bad influence on Mike. Clearly, the kid had picked up some skills from Neal that weren't exactly 'legal'.

Harvey walked away from his office, leaving Mike in Donna's capable hands. After all the worry that Mike had put them through, he didn't feel pity for the kid one bit.