As Harvey got out of the Lincoln townhouse car, bade farewell to Ray and approached the office steps he saw the familiar tow-head of his new intern, clad in a cobalt gray suit wearing what appeared to be-a what? A skinny tie? And a hideous disgustingly colored one at that? Orange and Purple? Who even made a tie of that color combination? Where the makers of that tie color blind? Was the consumer, who in this case was Mike, color blind? What on earth had possessed the boy and caused him to wear that abomination? Aside from that, he looked decent. One could even stretch the compliments and say that he looked handsome- but that would be completely stretching the word handsome. All in all, he had cleaned up well, except he still needed a better, more professional hair cut. But, Harvey could settle for now on the mop of hair he called "stylish," in due time he would take the boy to get a haircut that was worthy of the office.
"Hey, dude, you're here. I have your coffee. I didn't really know what you wanted in it, so I kind of just took my cue from the frap that you dumped all over me. All I know is that this coffee is sickeningly sweet. Also, I wanted to say thank you for giving me this job-thing, it really helps me. I can't wait to start. Uh, but I was thinking, what am I actually going to do? I never even filled out one of those applications that interns always do, detailing all their work experience and whatnot, so you don't know what I can do. Do you want me to list the things I can do right now? I can-"Mike rambled as they walked into the building together. He was still holding onto the piping hot cup of overly sweetened ridiculously priced coffee as he and Harvey passed by the security guards, the barrier that separated the office elevators and stairs from the large lobby that was currently overflowing with flustered workers that were racing to get to their floors on time, and entered the elevator shaft together.
Harvey grabbed his coffee from the boy quickly as the elevator doors began to close, before his inane wandering and stumbling caused him to trip and spill his drink-again. Harvey then proceeded to cut Mike off before he could continue his meaningless chatter and said, "When I hired you, I had essentially only one task in mind, and that was for you to be my gopher, or in other, more colorful terms, for you to be my bitch. I also want you to be me, the 2.0 version, by the end of this whole internship thing. So, I'll be basically your mentor. Hmm, I like how that sounds, it makes me sound even more amazing than I am. Wonderful. Well, what was I saying? Yes, I'm going to let you see the ins-and-outs of corporate law, and going to let you learn all the ropes of this world. When I ask you to jump- you say how high, and then throw the nearest associate or intern in the air. You must learn to use the people around you, the resources that surround you, and anything else that you can find. The first thing I want you to learn is this-never, ever admit any flaws, if there are any, make sure that they can't be tied back to you, but to someone else. You said it quite well yourself, it's a cutthroat world corporate law, but you can be the best if you're willing to work your damn hardest," at the conclusion of his speech took a sip of the coffee, held it back out, and looked at the label and said, "Also, you got me the wrong coffee. I don't want the stuff from the Starbucks across the street, I want it from that small vendor that sits at the steps of this building. Their coffee tastes better, and I'm going out on a limb and saying this, but I also think that they're cheap enough that even you can afford to buy a cup every few months on your salary, which wouldn't be at all possible if you bought from Starbucks-ever," as Harvey said this he also turned around to his side and gave Mike a mirth-filled smirk.
"Okay, harty-har-har. Whatever, aside from get you coffee and wait nearly an hour for you to get here what else am I going to be doing today?" Mike asked excitedly. Throughout the night before he had been dreaming of being given cases to work through and being the one to find the breakthrough points. He wanted that fame and glory, and most of all he wanted Harvey's adoration, because he knew that he was forever indebted to Harvey, and he wanted to do anything that could make his pseudo-savior proud of him. His imagination was also boundless because of the many books that he had read and committed to memory, and he knew that ever story's hero and heroine had some event in their life that propelled them to greatness. So he had a lot of dreams to build his arsenal of expectations for himself with.
Like his dream to be like Spiderman for example. Harvey was his radioactive spider, except in his case, the radioactive spider stuck around and would actually teach him what to do with the new powers that he had been so gracefully given. However, unlike Peter Parker, he was not given the keys to great power in one go, rather instead, he was going to be fed it slowly, and it would assimilate seamlessly with his life. In his case, his power was knowledge, and he knew that he would work his damned hardest to live up to all the expectations and the many, however tedious and small responsibilities that working alongside his version of the radioactive spider, Harvey would have. So in some ways he was better off than Peter Parker, because he had someone to teach him the ropes and help him acclimate into his role better. In all, he was excited to be the new superhero in town.
"Uh, yeah, today, about that. You're not really going to be doing anything of importance for a while because you're a wee-little intern, I want you to actually have some knowledge of the law world, I'm going to give you off to the people that know it the best- the paralegals," as Harvey said this, he flagged down a beautiful freckled woman with long, flowing, dark brown hair, " Rachel, this is Mike, my new intern, have him do whatever you want him to," then he stalked off with no further explanation in the direction that Mike presumed to be his office.
Mike looked at the girl in awe and said, "Wow, you're beautiful," to which she turned around sharply and said, "Who do you think you are? Just because you got chosen to work for Pearson Hardman, doesn't mean that you actually belong here. And it certainly means that you can't hit on me. I know I'm attractive, but if I won't let those prissy-eyed associates hit on me, you, an intern, most definitely cannot. Just because you attended an Ivy, and are on your way to another, doesn't mean you're above me. I'm a paralegal, I have my own office, and when it comes down to it, the firm needs me, more than they need you. So get this into your head, you are a little insect, and I am a spider. And I could eat you for breakfast,"
"I-I wasn't hitting on you,"Mike stammered out. He looked around the floor-it was magnificent. It was located on the top of the sixty story building with wonderful views at every angle. The sun shone in like a picturesque photo that one could find on any of the many postcards sold around the city. There were rows and rows of cubicles each filled with either a woman jabbing on the phone or a man stabbing away at his desktop. It was loud, it was hectic, it was magnificent. The cohabitation around the room was stupendous, with each worker looking like they had just stepped out of a GQ or Vogue photo shoot and moving together in almost synchronized step, effortlessly. Everyone wore neatly pressed, perfectly tailored suits or form-fitting conservative dresses. There was a sort of contained chaos around the office, with everyone walking everywhere, loud conversations taking place over other loud arguments and stacks of paper and work strewn across the room.
"Uh yeah, you were. But whatever, anyways, you should probably take notes on what I am about to tell you," she then proceeded to regurgitate a speech that had probably been told countless times before explaining the office dynamics and key areas of the floor such as the break room, copy room, where the entrance to the firm library was located, and of course where her own office as well as where Harvey, and Jessica, the managing partner of the firm, had their own offices.
She then began to describe Jessica in such great detail, that Mike was a bit cowed and not at all looking forward to meeting her- if he ever would that was. He was just a small fry, and not at all worthy of Jessica's attention, and Rachel made sure to stress that,"I mean, Jessica Pearson, is the face of Pearson Hardman. She's a very statuesque woman who has very strong and at times overbearing appearance. She's always dressed to the nines, and is an even better lawyer than Harvey, if that's possible. Barely anyone below the level of associate ever even gets to meet her. Speaking of meeting and associates. There's Luis," she pointed out a stout, round, balding man who had very ratlike features and was wearing a rather tightly fit, however well-tailored, suit and exclaimed,
"Never, ever be in a room alone with Luis. He's a jerk, and likes to make everyone cry. He's also in charge of all the associates so under normal circumstances he wouldn't bother you because even you're too low on the totem pole for him to shove his ego at, but you, you're kind of a special case. You're Harvey's intern. Everyone in the firm knows that Harvey has never, ever picked anyone to work for him aside from Donna, his secretary. Everyone wants to know why you- a sixteen year old boy was chosen, and trust me, Luis is on top of that list. He'll do anything and everything to make your life miserable, but if you just stay out of his way, it'll all go well for you," she turned around and looked him in the eye and said, " So, yeah, it would definitely be in your best interest to work extremely hard, especially when you see that he's around."
She had brought him back to the front of the floor near where the elevators opened, and pointed him to one of the most uncomfortable looking reception chairs, "That there, is your working space. You aren't even worthy of having a cubicle like the associates, and most definitely not worthy of an actual office, so this was the only thing we could get you. Again, I asked you earlier to take notes and you didn't, are you saying that what I'm telling you is that unimportant?" She asked him, upset that he had discarded all the pearls of wisdom that she had so kindly given to him.
Mike looked at her in surprise and said, "Of course not," to which he then proceed to repeat all that she had told him, and she promptly replied, "No one likes a show-off," and stalked off leaving Mike to wander through the firm by himself. As he saw her walk away, he stage whispered to himself, "I love you!" Then he began to wander somewhat aimlessly around the floor hoping to find his boss, and continued to take in all the awe-inspiring scenes of hard workers, intense corporate lawyers and their trusty assistants. Eventually he found Harvey, who immediately gave him off to his assistant, Donna.
Mike's day from then out, wasn't as glamorous as he had hoped it would be. Harvey had left the office for court soon after passing him off to Donna and hadn't deigned to to take Mike along with him, and so, Mike became Donna's "assistant," aiding her by completing all the menial tasks that were part of her job such as stapling briefs together, and getting Donna her coffee. He had fun getting to know more about Donna and seeing that although she was a secretary, she was anything but just a secretary. Many people depended on her, and came looking for her advice, support, and help. She was also extremely picky about who she chose to help. All in all, she was who Mike hoped to be should he not manage in the actual thicket of corporate law.
He also spent much of his time observing the other interns and associates. He noticed that often times the associates were quite cruel in their hazing and jokes, and were far more competitive towards one another than the interns were; he couldn't deny that based on his observations, many, if not all of the associates would be willing to throw a knife in any of the others' backs if it meant that they could move up the corporate ladder. There was man, Kyle was his name, who was especially cruel. It seemed as though he would a)pit many of the other associates against each other, because he had a very trustworthy facade, but he clearly had the soul of a viper, then he would b) promise to do something for someone, then proceed to turn around and back stab them. It was then and there that Mike promised himself that he would never, ever do that because the truth of the matter was this: you could catch more bees with honey. If Kyle had worked hard and done things he had promised his fellow associates, then he would have gained several comrades who would, and could potentially have been willing to stick out their neck for him in the future. But now, it seemed as though the bridges of friendship had been burned and the pit of hatred placed in its' stead. The interns though, were competitive but just not as obvious about it, because in all honesty, unlike their associate-counterparts they weren't given many opportunities to prove their ability to work either for lack of experience or just because there were just some things that they couldn't legally do without a Juris Doctarate. That however, did not stop many of them from strutting around like proud peacocks hoping that they would be noticed by the partners and their clients. Unfortunately, for them at least, that didn't work, and by the end of the day, most of the interns were dismissed for being too pathetic. Fortunately, Mike was not one of them.
Apart from his time spent observing the many and various actions of his colleagues, working for Donna, and essentially bumming around he also spent time doing work for Rachel and helped her do research for Luis 's latest case. He'd had an intense day so far, and would go on to hopefully have an intense week.
Elsewhere in the City During that same time:
Harvey's day in court had just gone terribly. Never in his time at Pearson Hardman had he been so humiliated by a judge. The Judge, a Judge Mattheson had refused to even hear any of his reasons as to why this patent case shouldn't go to court. He dismissed Harvey quickly and quite effectively. He wondered to himself whether he had ever had anything to do with the judge for him to have such a seemingly deep-rooted hatred for him. He wondered how he would get around the hurdle, and so asked the judge's secretary to set up a meeting time for them. Fortunately that wasn't necessary because it seemed as though the judge had an opening to see him.
"Yes, so I'm going to be blunt here and ask you, what is the problem that you have with me?" Harvey asked angrily.
"Well, you see, a few weeks ago, my twenty-two year old daughter, who was almost done with college, came to me and said that she was pregnant. She also told me that she was dropping out of school to have her child, and that she planned on using the trust fund that I gave her, as well as half of my assets, to look after the child. She also told me that you- Harvey Specter- are the baby's father. Now, I want you to go, say that you're the father of her child, and say that you are a fit parent, and that you have all the trust in the world in me as a grandparent. If not, I guess that you're going to be losing this case."
Harvey walked out of the room in shock, and thought to himself about how, he had never slept with anyone-that was female at least- that was under the age of twenty-four for the past two years, so it was impossible for him to have been the father of that woman's child- but he did recall meeting an Alanna Mattheson for one of those pro-bono cases that Jessica had forcibly given him.
Later that afternoon.
" Your father seems to think that I fathered your unborn child. And by the way you're pregnant? Why didn't you tell me, the man who is going to be your counsel in court something as important as this?" Harvey asked the pretty brunette, "He seems quite fixed on me saying that he's a wonderful person, and that I fathered your child, now the problem here is why?"
The woman laughed, it was a rather deep and rich sound, and replied," You know how we're going to court against the corrupt 17th Precinct? Well, around ten years ago, when I was twelve, my mother died when she tried to get me out of our burning building. She thought that I was still inside our place when in fact I had left, and had been looking for her all over. At first she he had gotten out safely with my dad, who would be, the Judge, but she ran back in when she couldn't see me and got stuck inside and after that my dad never really forgave me. He blamed me for her death, and started to abuse me. No, it wasn't physical at first, and it never became sexual. I.n the beginning it was just verbal and emotional abuse. It was always insult after insult in the beginning at least, telling me about how I should have died in the fire, and not my mother. Then he started to escalate it year by year and I basically became his personal punching bad, the thing he took out all his anger on day in and day out. It got so bad that I was almost always covered in bruises and took to wearing baggy, long, fitting clothes to hide my bruises.
Finally, when I turned sixteen, I told my confidant, my English teacher all about the abuse. She then took pictures of all the bruises that were on my body, and took me to have a medical examination, and a medical report. With all this evidence, we knew that we were armed for battle, and so took it the 17th Precinct, hoping that they would file criminal charges against my father. First they took all the photos and the medical report, and 'lost them,' then they told us that there was no basis for our investigation and that they wouldn't stand by and allow anyone to besmirch the good name of one of the best Judge's in the city. They then proceeded to have my English teacher sacked from our school. I was shocked, and had completely lost faith in the police from then on.
Eventually, I moved into the public housing in Harlem and took several jobs so that I could support myself and go to college and leave my father behind. But a few years ago, I met this man who has since become the love of my life and the father of my child, and he told me to gather all the evidence that I could, about my case, and hire a private investigator to see if there were any instances like mine, and it turned out that there were. My teacher has come back and is standing on my side, and we have found several former policeman that are also willing to testify, and the funniest thing of all? The buried evidence has been discovered. So now, I am able to get my revenge on my father. If you had done what he asked, then he would be able to get away with all the heinous things he has done. I also found out with the help of the PI that he has had a reputation of either blackmailing or bribing many of the people that appear before him, and that's why I gave your name to him because I knew that you wouldn't crumble under his scrutiny," at this she slid over a thick manila envelope and continued, "Hand this to him, these are his summons to civil court, and also tell him that he should expect a knock on his door from the Department of Justice."
At this she got up, waved, and left. Harvey sat in his seat, shocked, but relaxed. He took out his cell phone and called Ray to come and collect him to take him back to the office.
At the Office
"Kid- we're about to go out, go and make copies of these, and come right back to my office," Harvey handed over the manila envelope, and walked towards Donna. Mike was extremely excited, his chance to prove himself had finally come. He wouldn't let Harvey down.
Two hours later, found Mike and Harvey seated sketchily on the bench across from the back door of Judge Mattheson's office.
As Judge Mattheson walked out, Harvey called out, " Mattheson!" The Judge turned around and looked at him and said, " Mr. Specter, have you come to accept my offer?"
"No, I'm here to tell you that there is no way that I slept with your daughter. I only sleep with women above the age of twenty-four. She's not the right gender for me to sleep with her so young," and as he said this, leered at Mike, "So, in addition for me never having slept with her, there was no possible way for me to have knocked her up. But you know what? I heard some interesting news after I left here today. You're being investigated by the Federal Government for nine counts of fraud and extortion, and have a civil suit against you by your daughter and she wants to go in for the kill. You're in danger of not only losing all your assets but your reputation, job, and essentially, freedom. Then you tried to blackmail me. Well, my friend, now that Federal Investigation will be going up to twelve counts of fraud and extortion. Also, your daughter asked me to pass this on to you," he beckoned Mike closer, and took the envelope from his hands, and passed it off to the disgraced Judge and finally said, "Have fun being on the other side in court."
Then Harvey got up crooked a finger at Mike and walked off. Mike ran to catch up and said, " So you knew all along that he was up to no good?"
"Of course I did kid, you don't get that far in the game without realizing that if someone, especially someone that has been in the business as long as he was, is trying to get you to do things through blackmail, then he's definitely done it countless times before," Harvey threw an arm over Mike's shoulder and pulled him in closer and said, " And that's why you're here. To learn from the best of the best. A.k.a, me. Now, let's go get something to eat, preferably something meaty. I'm starving from a day of having to deal with really crafty people- myself included. By the way, you're paying."
* Thank you all for the reviews that I've gotten. I'm very new to the fanfiction writing world, and I hope that you'll forgive me for all the little mistakes that I may make. I am a huge fan of Suits, and was just sad that there don't seem to be many "extra-long" stories. So, I plan on having a long story. I'll apologize to you all beforehand, but the budding relationship between Mike and Harvey will grow slowly because right now, Mike's kind of just in awe of Harvey and the ground that he walks on, it'll grow trust me, but I want it to be extremely realistic. People, at least people that work together in an office, especially a boss-subordinate couple often take a while to cultivate and consummate their relationship. The story will be about Mike and Harvey, the people around them, the cases they work on, and anything else I can think of. I also want this story to be about the emotional aspects, as well as the physical ones. I also would like my characters to be just as complex and round as the ones that we watch on t.v. I love all fanfictions, but I just don't want this to be PWP, and I want to show the characters just as they are on the show, if not a tad more exaggerated. That being said, I will be writing a long fic, upwards of fiftyy-chapters, but I ask that you all be patient, some chapters will be short, others, extremely long depending on how the mood in the story is. All I can say is that I hope that I can live up to your many wonderful expectation.*
