Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish, I still don't own Suits
Notes: There will be some swearing, so I apologize if it offends you. This chapter is lighter than the previous one. I hope you enjoy!
Ch.3-December 21, 2011
"You really want to do this?" Harvey asks and stops before they enter Presbyterian Hospital.
Louis Litt rubs the back of his neck nervously. Want to? Not entirely. Louis can think of about a million other things that he would rather be doing on his lunch. He's not entirely thrilled with the prospect of going to a germ infested hospital to visit Harvey's golden boy associate. But, he is human after all, he does feel for the kid. To be stuck in the hospital for close to a month, with Christmas right around the corner, must be awful.
"Yes, Harvey, I'm sure. I want to do this. I even had Norma pick something up for us to eat for lunch."
Harvey is skeptical of Louis' new found urge to visit Mike. This would only be the second time sense Mike went into the hospital that Louis visited him. "Why are you even here? I know you hate the idea of coming in contact with germs. Plus, you've never been Mike's biggest fan. The last time you came, you nearly had a conniption when Mike was trying to eat his lunch, and was getting it everywhere."
How could Louis forget that? It was a little more than a week ago. Louis and Harvey had a client meeting near the hospital, so Harvey decided it would be nice to visit Mike. Louis didn't want to be rude, so he decided to tag along. He hadn't seen Mike sense he went into the hospital. Unfortunately, the pair came just in time for lunch. The doctors and therapists were evaluating Mike's fine motor skills. The occupational therapist had the brilliant idea of having Mike try to eat some spaghetti. It was a disaster to say the least. By the end of the meal, Mike was frustrated beyond relief, Harvey was upset, and Louis felt incredibly awkward.
Louis does not want a repeat of the spaghetti incident, so he asks, "He's good with finger foods, right? I got him a sandwich, with chips, and a soda."
"Yeah, he does okay with sandwiches." Harvey answers. They go into the hospital and head towards the elevator. Harvey turns to Louis, and says. "His motor skills are a bit better, but he's still struggling with his speech. The stuttering gets really bad when he's excited, nervous, or frustrated. Seeing you, might be a trigger. He gets really self-conscious about it, so if you think you're going to make a rude comment or something, leave before you do so. We finally got him talking and we don't need him to stop because you said something stupid that made him feel like crap." Once they're in the elevator, Harvey hits the button for Mike's floor.
A disbelieving look comes across Louis' face. Did Harvey think that he was a complete, insensitive jerk? He knew that the brain bleeding and loss of oxygen effected Mike's speech, along with other things.
Harvey must have noticed the look of disbelief on Louis' face because he quickly tries to rectify the situation. "I'm not saying that you would say anything mean to him on purpose, but I also know how you don't have the best social skills." Harvey stops for a second. He knows that Louis wouldn't be cruel to Mike on purpose, but Harvey has this unshakeable need to protect the kid these days. The kid could barely take care of himself, someone has to. "I just don't want him to get upset. When he gets upset, he can't focus on anything else, including his therapy." Harvey stops for a second and adds, "I need him back in tip top shape. I can't stand any of the other associates."
"Easy there, Harvey. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that you actually care about the kid."
As the elevator opens, the two walk out. Harvey looks at his phone and says, "Shut up, Louis. I have to call your wife so we can make dinner plans."
"For the millionth time-"The bantering between Harvey and Louis stops as they near Mike's room. They stop as one of the day nurses, named Danielle, leaves Mike's room.
"Oh, good. You're here."
"Hi, Danielle. How's Mike."
"Not too bad, except that we can't get him to eat his lunch. He barely touched his dinner last night, and he only had a nutritional shake for breakfast. He has to be starving."
"No offense, Danielle, but I wouldn't eat the stuff this place serves me either. But, good news. My pal Louis brought Mike a sandwich." Harvey gently taps Louis' shoulder. "Mike is more likely to eat a sandwich anyway."
"Good. Remember, what Dr. Tambori said. If we can't get Mike to eat-".
Harvey rubs the bridge of his nose. "I know Danielle, I got it covered. He'll eat his lunch," Harvey says quickly. Louis looks at Harvey, and then at the nurse wondering what she was going to say before Harvey cut her off.
"I know you will. Bye, Harvey and…Louis" Danielle leaves the pair in the hallway and makes her way down the hallway into another patient's room.
Louis' interest is peaked with what Danielle was about to say. He can't leave things alone, "what happens if you can't get Mike to eat?"
Harvey looks at Louis and then towards Mike's room. He's not really sure if he should be telling Louis personal things about Mike's recovery. But, if Mike doesn't start eating, Louis might see it himself.
He looks Louis in the eye and says, "If we can't get Mike to start eating regularly, they're going to have to put a feeding tube in."
Louis takes a deep breath. "Is it really that bad, Harvey?"
Harvey looks at Louis in astonishment. "Yes, Louis. It is that bad. The kid is making great progress, but eating is the biggest struggle. His appetite is completely different from before. Just finding foods that he actually likes and willing to eat is an accomplishment. And the physical act of eating is a struggle." Louis takes this all in, waiting for Harvey to say more. Harvey continues, "So, I need to get the kid to eat. Don't do anything stupid to make him feel like an invalid. When he gets upset, he clams up and getting him to eat becomes nearly impossible."
"Got it."
The two walk into Mike's room. Mike is sitting in a chair, reading a thick book. He's so engrossed in the book that he doesn't look up until Harvey interrupts him.
"Hey, kid. How're you doing?"
Mike looks up from his book, and smiles at Harvey. When Mike looks up, Louis can see how much weight Mike has loss sense he went into the hospital. The kid has always been thin, but now he looks fragile, sickly. Louis can see why both the nurse and Harvey are concerned about the associate's eating habits. When Mike notices that Harvey is not alone, a look of apprehension briefly passes over Mike's face.
"H-h-h-hi H-h-h-h-a-r-r." Mike stops for a second to think of what he's trying to say and tries again, "Hi, g—g-guys."
"I see you're reading that book I brought you on patent law. I wanted to refresh your memory on the subject sense Pearson Hardman just signed McGaven Industries. I'm going to need your help on this Mike, so study up."
Louis turns to Harvey in awe. Unbelievable, the kid is stuck in the hospital, recovering from a ruptured aneurysm, and Harvey has him doing work.
"You have him doing prep work for the McGaven contract? You're ridiculous, Harvey. The kid is in the hospital and you have him doing work. Kyle or Greg could do it."
Harvey stops Louis' tirade, "I wanted Mike to do it, not those two brownnosers. Besides, Mike wanted to help." Harvey's few words said little, but the look that Harvey gave Louis spoke volumes. Mike wanted to do it, give the kid a sense of normalcy. Let him realize that he's not damaged goods. He's still one of the brightest associates at Pearson Hardman, brain injury and all.
"Enough about work. Mike, Louis brought you lunch. And you're going to eat it. I got you cookies, but you only get them if you eat some lunch."
Mike tries to reason, "I'm n-n-not h-u-un-g-g-ry."
"Cut the bullshit, Mike. I talked to Danielle before we came in. She said that you barely touched your dinner last night, and only had a shake for breakfast. Like I said, you get cookies, if you eat some lunch." Harvey looks at Louis, "what did you get him?"
"Turkey sandwich, chips, and a Pepsi."
"H—h-ow m-m-m-uch?"
"You're trying to bargain with me?" Harvey says incredulously. Louis thinks that Harvey's aggravated with Mike's attempted manipulation, but then Harvey says with a sly smile, "Nice work, pup. I see that you really are watching what I do. I say half a sandwich and ten chips."
Mike's lack of response means that he's clearly thinking about the negotiation. About a minute later he says, "s-s-s-ounds f-f-air."
Louis takes this as permission to proceed and takes out Mike's lunch, and places it on the table. He also takes out his and Harvey's lunch, as well. As he takes a bite out of his own salad, he sees that Mike has not even moved towards his food. Mike looks at Harvey. Louis doesn't know what the look means, but Harvey clearly does. "Jesus, Louis. Give the kid a hand."
Before Louis can ask Harvey what he means by that, Harvey quickly and efficiently opens the can of soda, unwraps a straw, and places the can of soda in Mike's hand. As Mike's is taking a sip of soda, Harvey opens the bag of potato chips and shakes some on to a napkin that's on the table. When Mike appears to be done with his soda for the moment, he hands it back to Harvey, his hand shaking noticeably. Harvey in turns gives Mike the now unwrapped sandwich and places it in Mike's hand. His hand is under Mike's to give him the extra support he needs as he brings the sandwich to his mouth. Mike takes a bite of the sandwich and a horrified look passes over Mike's face.
A look of concern is evident on Harvey's face. "What is it, Mike? What's wrong?" No sooner does Harvey voice his concern, does a piece of sandwich comes flying out of Mike's mouth and towards Louis' direction. Louis looks on in shock to see a piece of half eaten sandwich make contact with his very expensive, black, silk tie.
"What the hell, Mike!" Louis exclaims. His disgust is clearly evident. His face is scrunched up in distaste. He looks around frantically for a napkin to clean the mess that's on his tie.
Then a deep laughter fills the room. Harvey is laughing so hard that Louis doesn't know how he can still be breathing. "Glad to see you think your associate ruining my clothing is a joking matter."
"Oh, Louis. Anything funny that happens at your expense is a laughing matter." Harvey quickly changes gears when he turns to Mike, "what happened? It's a turkey sandwich. You like turkey." Harvey's a little nervous. Turkey is one of the few things that Mike will eat, Harvey prays that Mike hasn't developed a sudden distaste of turkey.
Mike shakes his head no. Please no, don't tell me we need to find something else for him to eat, Harvey thinks. The Mike says, "It's s-s-s—spicy."
Harvey sighs in relief. "Louis, you got spicy mustard on his sandwich?" Harvey questions.
"Yeah, Mike always gets that spicy mustard on his sandwich."
Harvey shakes his head, "Not any more. Louis. He can't stand spicy foods. No buffalo wings, spicy mustard, or chili." Harvey looks to Mike for confirmation.
"No s-s-spicy." Mike reiterates.
Realizing that the situation isn't as grim as he originally feared, Harvey starts laughing again. He takes out his phone and takes a picture of Louis' tie that still had some remnants of Mike's half eaten turkey sandwich on it. After taking the picture, Harvey goes into his brief case and takes out the cookies that he brought. "Here you go, rookie. After that entertainment, I'll let you have three cookies." Mike looks at him quizzically. "Don't worry, they're not the oatmeal ones. They're the sugar ones that Donna makes. You like them." Mike grabs a cookie from Harvey's outstretched hand.
Louis looks on in astonishment. Harvey's laughing, and Mike is smiling. Harvey doesn't laugh that much anymore, not sense Mike suffered the ruptured aneurysm. The days following Mike's admission to the hospital were hell for anyone who worked at Pearson Hardman. Everyone was walking on eggshells around Harvey, who was snippy with everyone. His concern for Mike was evident to everyone, even if it wasn't to Harvey himself. Everyone was afraid to say anything that might send Harvey over the edge. Donna and Jessica were the only ones who were able to handle Harvey's cantankerous mood. Louis realized that if Mike can smile after all he's been through, then Louis can deal with a ruined tie. "You owe me a new tie, Harvey. That is the least you own me for not telling me about Mike's new aversion to spicy foods."
"Sure thing. I'll have your wife pick one up after she leaves my place tonight."
"I don't have a wife."
"I know you don't, but it's still funny." Louis is about to say something, but then he sees that Mike is still smiling. He can deal with Harvey's jabs, it could be worse. It's just another day of working with Harvey Specter, the city's best closer.
I hope you guys like this chapter. I had to put some Louis in there. Let me know what you want to see