Harvey opened the door and glared. "What are you doing here?"

"You're not answering your phone and I need to talk to you," Mike said as he leaned impatiently against the doorjamb. "Can I come in?"

"You'll sit there and scratch at the door like a puppy if I don't let you in." Harvey moved to open the door a little more to allow Mike inside. "What was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"You're joking, right?" Mike asked. "I'm hanging in the wind; how long am I supposed to pretend I'm going to stick around with Hardman?"

Harvey smirked as he padded into the kitchen. "Let me guess, Louis is already acting like he owns your ass," he said as he picked up his abandoned glass of orange juice.

Mike huffed and slipped into one of the stools pulled up to the island. "Acting? No, he owns it fair and square; showed me the paperwork."

Harvey watched him over his glass and swallowed the last of his juice with an eye roll. "Spit it out, Mike," he said.

"You are going to take me with you, right?" he asked quickly. "I mean, you wouldn't leave me there-"

"Where they'll find out you don't actually know what you're doing or what you're talking about?" Harvey supplied.

Mike's face reddened but his expression remained desperate. "Maybe," he hedged.

"Mike, relax. I told you when I've got this whole thing straightened out with Jessica and we know exactly what we're doing, you'll be coming along; you and Donna."

Mike reached for an apple sitting in a bowl off to the side and bit into it ruefully. "I saw Jessica," he said around a full mouth.

Harvey straightened. "When?"

"Yesterday; she came by to talk to Donna."

"Shit," Harvey swore.

"What's wrong? I thought you liked it that Donna and Jessica get along," Mike said.

"Yeah, I do; I just don't like it when they get along behind my back." Harvey resisted the urge to run his fingers through his hair and pull.

"She didn't seem out of the ordinary," Mike said. "Actually it was as if nothing had happened."

Harvey snorted. "You wouldn't know if the world was ending if Jessica didn't want you to know," he said.

"You said she wanted to fire me, before." Mike stared down at his hands and the half eaten apple. "She wanted me gone."

"You have a point?" Harvey asked. He would often replay that conversation when he thought he'd gathered his courage to broach the subject.

"What can you do to make sure she keeps me around?" he whispered. "You don't have any leverage," Mike said, as if he had to remind Harvey.

"You don't know what I have," Harvey said. "I told you not to worry, didn't I?" Mike scratched at his brow and nodded. "So what are you doing? Worrying. Get the hell out of my apartment and you'll quit when I tell you to quit," he said. "Be glad you're still getting paid."

Mike threw the apple away and paused. "Is that why you won't let me quit yet? The money?"

"You don't get paid even as much as Donna; I know you have bills. One of us should be thinking about your grandmother." Harvey looked at Mike. "I'm not a total asshole," he said.

Mike grinned. "No, but you are a son of a bitch," he said. "I don't care about the money. I just don't want to feel like a traitor. I'm there and you guys are not. It feels weird."

"You're just complaining about Louis," Harvey said. "Look, we've got a lot of things to work out and as soon as they're concrete we'll let you know. I'm not going to leave you with your fly open. Just keep your head down and don't do anything stupid. If you have a question, a law question," Harvey emphasized as he glared at Mike. Mike nodded sheepishly. "If you have a law question don't hesitate to call me. I'm as invested in your continued charade as you are. Remember that and breathe. I swear you could sit on some coal and make a diamond."

"You know, you can't actually make a –"

Harvey's expression turned flat. "Get out."

"Touchy." Mike hurried to front door and let himself out.

There were times Harvey wished he wasn't so good at slinging bullshit; there were times he bought his own hype and that always got him into trouble, especially with Jessica. He could let her call him; let it lie until she brought it up. He sighed and went to retrieve his phone from his bed.

That would only make things worse.

She answered on the third ring, and sounded slightly out of breath. "What are you doing?" he asked, wincing as it came out a little sharper than he'd anticipated.

"My second kickboxing class in as many days," Jessica said. "What do you want, Harvey?"

"What do we all want? World peace," he joked, and gave himself a little fist pump when she huffed out a laugh.

"You don't want peace, Harvey; you want an enemy to take apart and destroy. Not exactly peace time activities."

"No, no they're not. I heard you went to the office," Harvey said, going for the jugular.

"Are you calling to parrot back the previous day's agenda? If so I'm hanging up now."

"No, I just found out you spoke with Donna."

"I did."

"And maybe I did talk about starting a firm with her before I pitched you the idea, but I used her as a sounding board only. I wanted to make sure it sounded good," Harvey said.

"Nice save. Donna and I talked; don't you ever let her go."

"Not planning on it. So how about dinner?"

"Dinner? Why?"

"Jessica, I want to spend some time with you; not to mention we have a lot to talk about."

"I know what you want to talk to me about."

Harvey swallowed. "You still have to eat, unless you've ascended to full deity behind my back." That pulled a full laugh from Jessica.

"I'll call you later and we can arrange something."

"Or how about I call you later with a time and place?"

There was a pause. "Fine, Harvey." The call ended and Harvey tapped the edge of his phone against his chin. He remembered when he mentioned both Donna and Mike, Jessica didn't bother to object, but she also had quite a bit on her mind at the time. She'd fight him about the kid, and he'd have to fight her. Harvey made a promise he intended to keep. He grabbed a remote from his end table and pointed it at his stereo system. Immediately rich jazz filled the room and reminded Harvey to relax.

He would need a plan of attack and an impeccable argument. Even more than that, he needed to close the deal.

Harvey needed to close Jessica Pearson.

Per Se is packed, but Harvey knows the chef so he gets his customary table with short notice. The restaurant is upscale but not overly so; he's not wearing his suit jacket but still kept the vest; when Jessica arrived he smiled at her until she rolled her eyes. "What has you in such a good mood?" she asked as she accepted the menu.

"Good company," he said honestly. "How was your day?"

Jessica tilted her head. "Is this small talk?" she asked, a little disdainfully.

"How was your day, Jessica?" Harvey asked again. He could see the signs that she pushed herself too hard, made herself forget the hurts that would cripple lesser beings. The frost melted around Jessica's expression as her eyes softened.

"Difficult," she said quietly.

"I know," he said. "Heard you went to the office."

"Yes. Had some last minute business to take care of; spoke formally with Donna. Now that she's been given definite word on the matter she's doesn't want to be your assistant anymore."

Harvey gaped. "What?" That came out a bit more strangled than he'd intended. "She's quitting?"

"No, Harvey; she wants a raise," Jessica said.

"I can give her a raise," Harvey said quickly. "I can and will throw any amount at her, you said I should."

"Correction," Jessica said. "She wants a promotion. Donna wants to be more than just your assistant. She wants to be office manager."

Harvey opened his mouth and closed it as he let the words sink in. "Office manager? That could work," he said.

"It would work very well."

Harvey smiled. "So you haven't changed your mind."

Jessica looked at him strangely. "You know better than that," she said.

"I do," he said. "We still need to talk about Mike Ross." The pleasant expression fell off of Jessica's face just in time for the meal Harvey had ordered to arrive. She kept her face impassive as the waiters arranged everything and Harvey took the time to ask for more wine.

They'd need a lot more before this conversation was finished.

Once they were alone again the irritation had crept back into Jessica's expression. "Why would you bring him up?"

"Because we need to talk about him; I can't let him go."

"Now would be the perfect time to let him go. He goes away quietly and we're not hauled in front of the ethics board with possibly millions of dollars in billed fees to return, our licenses revoked and being thrown into jail for being complicit in fraud." Jessica hissed as she tilted her head. "Is there anything I missed?"

Harvey tried not to grit his teeth and reached for his wine glass. "No, that sounds about right," he said.

"Are you going to threaten to quit?" Jessica asked. "Are you going to take that kid over me? Now would be the time to make that move; we could find out how much I actually need you. Or how much you need me," she hissed.

Harvey sighed heavily. "I said what I had to, to keep a promise," he said. "I didn't think of it as choosing him over you."

"Then look at it from my perspective," she said. "What would you think?"

"I would think you were trying to protect and nurture what could become one of the legal greats," he said.

"By letting, encouraging him, commit fraud." Jessica leaned back in her seat and Harvey's heart sank; he knew the tactic. She would physically distance herself from him before telling him something he didn't want to hear. "I don't want that kid at our firm."

Harvey kept his face as blank as possible. "There must be some way we can make a place for Mike."

Jessica picked at her chicken. "What do you propose?"

"We take him on. Get him back into school."

"There's the problem of his going to law school on record. What will you do about that?" she asked.

Harvey shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Mike goes to school and works at the firm as –"

"In the mail room," Jessica finished.

Harvey blinked and chuckled. "Fair enough."

"More than fair, I think," Jessica said. "You know, you could've done this in the beginning."

"Done what?"

"Talked to me about him; told me what made you want to risk everything for him. If we had this conversation two years ago I could see-" Jessica dabbed at her mouth with her napkin and shook her head. "No need to rehash things."

Harvey felt as if a moment he wasn't quite aware of had slid away. "Jessica, I didn't think," he said. "I just-"

"I know." Her nod seemed more dismissive than understanding. "I think I'm going to leave; I've lost my appeite."

"We don't have to stay," Harvey said.

"But you look like you haven't been eating." Jessica reached over and patted Harvey's wrist. "You should eat."

"They do wrap things to go," he said. "We'll go to my place, listen to some music and have some more wine."

Jessica looked at him. "Why?" she asked.

"Because I want to spend time with you. Because I want to suggest we go with another color theme other than brown and gold. Because I don't want this night to end just now. Pick one."

Jessica looked away and turned back with a small smile. "Alright, Harvey; it's not like we have to be at work tomorrow morning."

"No," he agreed.

And that was how they wound up back at his place, with Charles Mingus in the background, making everything feel just this side of surreal. Harvey managed to pull Jessica into his arms, and after she'd kicked off her heels (for him, she claimed), they swayed to the music.

Evening turned into late evening, and long after Mingus had finished and Sam Rivers had just begun Jessica turned in his grasp and looked at him appraisingly. "Like what you see?" he asked.

"Usually," she said softly. "Sometimes, not so much."

Harvey nodded. "I deserved that."

"What are we doing, Harvey; really?"

"I've asked you to marry me. I think that telegraphed my intentions quite well," he joked as he spun them around softly.

Jessica pursed her lips and Harvey tried not to think about kissing her. "No, I mean… You can't be serious."

"Is it the age thing?" Harvey asked. "Because it doesn't weird me out," he said. "I like older women."

"Let's not get into that," Jessica said with exasperation. She rested her head against his shoulder and Harvey held her a little tighter.

"I'm putting you on notice, Jessica Pearson," Harvey whispered in her ear. "I'm officially wooing you."

Jessica's laugh felt feather soft against his neck. "You can't close a closer, Harvey."

Harvey spun her out slowly, reeled her in and dipped her. "We'll see about that," he said seriously, and then kissed her.