Chapter 4
The driver stopped outside of a fancy restaurant and let Jessica and Mike out before heading off to fill the prescriptions. Mike was still hoping to talk Jessica out of making him stay and eat but she was heading into the restaurant before he had the chance so he followed. They were seated immediately and were brought waters and menus before they were left alone.
"I really don't have time for this," Mike said as he placed the menu he'd been handed down on the table in front of him.
Jessica looked up from her own menu. "You don't have time to eat?" she asked.
"No, I don't have time to eat out," Mike answered.
"Then what is it that you were planning to do for dinner before I brought you here?"
Mike looked at her. In truth, he hadn't even thought about eating. He wasn't hungry, but he also knew that he couldn't tell Jessica that. For some reason, Jessica was being rather obsessive about his health today. "I can always grab something from the hotdog cart outside the office," he said, coming up with a last minute idea.
"No," was all Jessica said before turning her attention back to the menu.
"What, wh…" Mike started, but was interrupted when a waiter showed up to take their orders.
Jessica looked over at Mike quickly, before telling the waiter what she would like and ordering a glass of wine. She then ordered the chicken with carrots and corn/pea mix and a glass of sprite for Mike. She knew that he wasn't old enough to drink so the wine was out, and the doctor had said that he needed to sleep so caffeine was out, but she hadn't wanted to embarrass him by ordering milk or juice, so a decaffeinated soda was the last option and sprite was the first one that she saw.
"I can order for myself," Mike said, irritated. He had been planning on ordering the smallest bowl of soup possible since he was certain he could afford it and that it wouldn't be too difficult to pretend to eat it.
"You hadn't even looked at the menu," Jessica said.
"I saw it last time I was here."
"You've been here before?" Jessica asked disbelievingly.
"Rachael brought me here when we were looking for places for my rookie dinner," Mike explained.
Rachael… that was another thing she would have to talk to Mike about. "That was months ago," Jessica said.
"And?" Mike asked, not seeing the importance.
"And you haven't seen the menu in months. How can you know what's on it?"
Mike smirked at this, then started to repeat exactly what was on the menu in order. Looking rather astonished, Jessica stopped him after a couple of minutes.
"You memorized the menu?" she asked.
"I read the menu," Mike answered.
"You remembered all of that from just reading through the menu?"
"I remember everything I read," Mike said.
Now Jessica understood.
Mike had an eidetic, or photographic, or whatever you were going to call it memory. No wonder the kid tested out of Harvard Law without actually having to go to a single class.
"Impressive," she said. "Now, let's get back to the topic at hand - your eating plans. When was the last time that you ate?" she asked.
Mike's smirk fell. He'd been hoping to get them off of this topic permanently; it didn't work. "Um…" What was the last thing that he ate? He'd worked through lunch; he hadn't had time to get breakfast when he was at his place to shower and change. He had missed dinner the night before, but he did find an apple in the break room. Yep, that was it. He'd eaten the night before. "Last night," he answered.
"Last night?" Jessica asked irritated.
"Yes," Mike answered hesitantly. He could guess by the look on Jessica's face that it had been the wrong answer.
"And what is it that you ate?"
"Um…" Mike wasn't so sure he should tell her the truth, however, she's proven that she isn't easily duped and he wasn't sure he should lie to her either. Which would be worse - lying or telling the truth? If he told the truth, she'd be mad but if he lied and got caught, she'd be pissed. "I had an apple," he said hesitantly.
The food came at this point and they both stopped talking until the waiter left. Once he was gone, Jessica waited for Mike to start eating, but the boy made no move to even pick up his silverware.
"Eat," she said.
"I'm not a child," Mike answered. This was all becoming a bit much. Jessica had ignored him the past three days and he had taken it as a sign that she would forget about their conversation. Clearly, he'd been wrong but he wasn't going to let this continue.
"You haven't eaten all day," she said.
"I've eaten when I'm hungry. You need to stop this."
"Stop what?"
"Treating me like a child. You've never done it before."
Jessica put down her own silverware and looked up at him. "You've never given me reason to before," she responded.
"I've been doing nothing out of the ordinary for me. The only difference between now and this time last week, is that now you know my actual age," Mike said.
Jessica stared at him, thinking over what he'd said. He was right.
He hadn't changed. However, she was treating him differently. Maybe she should think this over. She had told herself that she wasn't doing anything different, but obviously she was.
This wasn't the plan. She had no desire to chase Mike off. He was the best associate at the firm hands down, however, he was also the youngest, and she wasn't sure how much affect that should have on how she treated him.
The doctor had said that he wasn't taking proper care of himself, so she knew she had good reason to be a little more forceful about this. However, Mike didn't see it like that. Maybe she should give him the opportunity to come around himself. "Alright, you may have a point," she acquiesced.
"Thank you," Mike said.
"I said might," Jessica said. "I'll make you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" he asked skeptically.
"The kind where you will either agree or I'll tell Donna, who'll then tell Harvey all about your secret," Jessica said.
Mike huffed and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair and pouting.
He didn't like that agreement. Jessica had said that she wouldn't tell Harvey - he hadn't thought about her telling Donna.
Jessica took Mike's pouting for an acceptance. "I will give you two weeks, barring anything happening. Two weeks to take care of yourself and go about your normal routine without any interference. When we go back to the doctor's and you've improved, I'll leave you alone. However, if you stay the same or diminish, then you will have to obey my rules until the doctor says that you're one hundred percent."
Mike thought over Jessica's offer. He didn't like it, but he didn't really have much of an option other than to accept her proposition. "Fine," he ground out.
"Good, now eat your dinner. This isn't an option since you haven't eaten all day. Our agreement starts when we get to the office tomorrow," she said.
Mike huffed once again, but started eating. He got about two thirds of the way through, before he really couldn't eat anymore. He was starting to feel funny, like his stomach was getting a little heavy, and he always stopped eating when that happened. He put down his silverware.
Jessica looked up when Mike pushed his plate away. "There's still more," she said.
"I'm not hungry anymore," Mike grumbled.
"Are you full?" Jessica asked.
"Full?" Mike questioned.
Jessica looked shocked at that answer. Was he really asking?
"Yes, full. Have you ever been full before?" she asked.
Mike got a bit uncomfortable at the question. "Yes," he answered.
"Why do you think you aren't hungry?"
"Because my stomach's starting to get heavy," Mike answered.
"That's what's supposed to happen when you start to fill your stomach. You aren't full yet, so just keep eating," Jessica said, pushing the plate back in front of him.
Mike glared at the food, but did start eating again.
It took a little while, and a lot of prodding from Jessica, but eventually Mike did finish the entire plate and for the first time in his life, he understood what it meant to fell full. It wasn't a bad felling but it was… different.
Jessica paid the bill and they headed out of the restaurant and back into the car. "Home," was all she said to the driver when they got in.
"I take it, I'm being let out along the way?" Mike asked although he had a bad feeling he already knew the answer.
"The doctor said you need rest and I said our deal doesn't start until the start of the workday tomorrow," Jessica said. "I don't trust you not to head right into the office once I drop you off, so you'll be sleeping in my guest room."
Mike groaned and slouched back into the seat, pouting once again. He didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do either. He was really looking forward to tomorrow.
They made it to Jessica's at a decent hour and she led him right back to the guest room after sending her driver to Mike's apartment to pick him up some night clothes and a suit for tomorrow.
Mike looked around the room. It was simply furnished with a queen sized bed, a dresser, a desk and a couple of end tables. The furniture was nicer than anything he'd ever seen - heck, it was much nicer than the rollaway bed he slept on. As far as he could remember, it would actually be the first real bed he'd ever slept on.
He reached out hesitantly and touched the bed - it felt nice. He'd bet it was warm too.
"I know it's early but the doctor said that you needed to sleep, so I want you to shower and go to bed once my driver returns with your things," she said. Jessica then handed Mike a small pill and a glass of water.
"What's this?" he asked, not taking the offered items.
"Your antibiotic pill. It needs to be taken twice a day either along with or after a meal," Jessica explained, once again holding the pill and water out for Mike to take.
He took the pill and swallowed it, then finished up the glass of water. He felt as though he should argue with Jessica about going to bed, but his stomach felt a little heavy and he was actually tired. In his opinion, it wasn't really a fight worth having.
The driver returned twenty minutes later with Mike's things and he went to take a shower. Once Mike was out of the room, the driver handed the pictures over to Jessica, having been told to take them while he was there.
Jessica saw that it was a one-room apartment. The kitchen/living room looked empty aside from a fold out plastic table and two foldout lawn chairs. The cupboards were almost empty with the exception of a box of ramen noodles - yeah, because that was a healthy and filling meal. The fridge had a pack of red bull and a bag of apples that was almost empty. The bathroom looked like every other bathroom, nothing special there.
The bedroom had a stack of library books next to a foldout bed with what looked to be threadbare blankets and a pillow. Well, Jessica suddenly felt so much better about her decision to keep Mike here for the night.
Mike finished up his shower quickly. The warm water had been wonderful (the water heater for his apartment had been busted since he moved in) but he hadn't wanted to push his luck. He headed to the bedroom and stood staring at the bed. Slowly, he reached out and pushed down on it, but he jerked his hand back when he heard Jessica behind him.
"It's not going to bite you know," she said.
"Yeah," Mike said noncommittally as he turned to face Jessica.
Jessica walked forward and pulled the comforter and sheets down. "Bed," she ordered.
"Yeah, I was just about to," Mike said.
Jessica stood back and waited for Mike to get into the bed, but he just stood there uncertainly. "You need to actually lay down on the mattress," she said.
"Yeah," Mike said. He was a little nervous to be honest. He'd never slept on a bed before. Not that his grandmother hadn't offered to give him the bed, but she was elderly and needed it more. He wasn't so sure about telling Jessica that he'd never used a bed before. She was already on him enough as it was.
Jessica watched Mike. His expression was the same as it had been when she had asked him if he had ever been full before. His answer had been no. She was starting to get a bad feeling.
"Have you ever slept in a bed before?" she asked.
Mike looked over at her, a little nervous. "N..n..no" he said.
Jessica laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's rather comfortable," she said. "You'll like it."
Mike looked at her sceptically, but complied and got into the bed, pulling the blankets up to his chest. The bed was really soft and he couldn't help it when he felt himself quickly falling asleep. He was warm and full and comfortable, and it was all a new feeling but it was a nice one. Before he had a chance to think this through, he was already asleep.
Jessica couldn't help but smile as she looked down at Mike. He looked so young and innocent lying there.
She pulled the covers up to his chin and then left the room, turning off the lights and leaving Mike until morning. As she shut the door, a small tear fell down her face. That poor boy's life had been miserable so far.
Hopefully, that would soon change.