Chapter 7

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AN1: Thank you for the support. PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW.


At Pearson Specter Litt Harvey is just arriving at Donna's cubical.

"If Mike calls put him through straight away." Harvey tells Donna.

"I already was going to." Donna assures him as Harvey stops in front of her.

"And you're still going to check in on him while I'm in the meeting with Jessica?" Harvey asks, and honestly Donna has to fight a smile at Harvey's obvious protectiveness.

"Of course I am." Donna says, "Speaking of the meeting Malone is in your office, he said there is something he wanted to talk to you about beforehand." Donna explains and being confused about what Jeff could want Harvey makes his way into his office, closing the door behind him.

"Jeff, what's going on? And why couldn't it wait for the meeting that's about to happen?" Harvey asks as he walks in.

"There's just something I wanted to talk to you, only you, about and it has nothing to do with the meeting." Jeff explains.

"I'm listening." Harvey says as he walks over and sits in his chair.

"It's about Mike." Jeff says and in a flash Harvey is out of his chair.

"If you're here to say that I shouldn't let him live with me or that he's dangerous to the firm, to Jessica, or whatever bullshit you want to say against him then you can walk out of my office right now and never come back." Harvey says angrily

"I'm not here to say anything against him." Jeff quickly says, thinking he probably should have gone with the explanation first, "I have an idea of something that could help him." Jeff explains.

"What kind of idea?" Harvey asks, wanting to trust that Jeff is going to do something to help Mike, but considering everything that has happened he isn't sure he can, "And why would you do anything to help Mike? You, like everyone else, just see him a fraud, and blame him for ending your relationship with Jessica."

"I'd rather not explain my idea until I know that there is a chance." Jeff admits as he doesn't want to tell anyone, especially Harvey, what he is planning until he is sure that it is more than a pipe dream, "As for why last night Jessica trusted me enough to be with her family, to see the person she is when she is with you all, and she told me everything you've all done for each other." Jeff reveals, "I love Jessica, more than I've loved anyone and if I want to be a part of her life then I have to accept that you, and Louis, Donna, Rachel and Mike are her family, the people who mean the most to her." He explains.

"How'd you get from there to an idea of helping Mike?" Harvey asks, still not seeing the connection.

"When Jessica told me everything you've all done, what you've done, what Mike's done, what she's done, what you've all done for one another, I asked her why, and she said you do what you have to do for family." Jeff explains, "I might not completely agree with what you've all done, but I get the reason why, and If I want to have a future with Jessica then I need to accept that she comes with a family, one that I have to embrace." Jeff explains, taking several steps towards Harvey, "I don't know if it will work. I don't know if it's even really a possibility, but I have an idea to help Mike, but to even see if it is a possibility I need his collage transcripts. Not the ones that were hacked in, but his real ones, the ones from before he was expelled, do you have them? Or can you get me them?" Jeff asks.

"Yes." Harvey answers, wondering just what Jeff is up too, "I can get them to you by the end of the day."

"Thank you." Jeff says before heading to the door.

"Jeff." Harvey says, stopping him before he can leave, "If I find out that all of this is to hurt Mike in anyway then you're going to see just what I'm willing to do for Mike Ross." Harvey says, the threat perfectly clear in his voice.

"Don't worry Harvey, I have no intention of hurting him." Jeff says before heading out of the office, not at all surprised by the threat.

"Donna." Harvey says the second Jeff if far enough down the corridor that he won't hear.

"I'll find out what he is up to." Donna assures him.


"What are you doing here?" Mike asks a she looks Rachel, who is clearly on her way to school, up and down.

"How can you ask that? We need to talk Mike." Rachel says, having learnt that Harvey would be at a meeting so she figured that it would be the best time to talk to Mike, probably the only time she would be able to talk to him without Harvey interfering.

"I told you I needed space." Mike says as he has to lean on the wall, though he hopes Rachel doesn't notice, "Donna told you I needed space." He reminds her.

"I know, but we need to talk Mike." Rachel says, "Please, let me in so we can talk, so you can yell if you want to, please." She begs and honestly if he wasn't so close to falling over right now Mike probably would just close the door on her.

"Fine." Mike says, doing so so that he can get to the couch sooner, "Close the door behind you." Mike requests as he starts to walk down the corridor, leaning on the wall, not even looking to see if Rachel is following him, after a few steps Mike almost loses his footing and almost falls, but Rachel grabs him.

"Let me help." Rachel tells him.

"Don't touch me." Mike says, moving out of Rachel's gasp.

"Mike…" Rachel starts to say, pain in her voice.

"I'm fine. I don't need your help." Mike says as he continues to use the wall to lean on to support, and then the kitchen bench and stool, and then he makes the few steps, that feel almost impossible to the couch, which he basically collapses onto.

"Mike…" Rachel starts to say, watching him in concern.

"Just say what you came to say." Mike says, not even caring about how rude he is being as he made it clear, and so did Donna, he needs space and Rachel choose to ignore that.

"I am sorry Mike." Rachel tells him, "I….."

"Why?" Mike asks, cutting Rachel off before she can say anymore, "Why did you do this?"

"I was upset so I went to a bar, I started talking to him, and then one thing led to another." Rachel explains, "I was lonely, and I made a mistake."

"You knew I was coming home. Donna told you that I was coming home, I told you I was coming home." Mike reminds Rachel.

"Then your paperwork got pushed back again, because you asked it to." Rachel says, the words out of her mouth before she can stop herself.

"Are you blaming me for this?" Mike asks, anger in his voice, "I had to stay in one more night to get evidence against Gallo, so he wouldn't come after me once I was out, so he wouldn't come after Harvey."

"Harvey, of course." Rachel mutters, and as she does Mike becomes pretty sure that this entire fight has just taken a different turn.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike asks angrily.

"Nothing..." Rachel says, not wanting to get into that fight because she wants Mike to forgive her.

"No, that's not nothing." Mike says, realising that, "Just say it, Rachel, whatever you want to say. "

"If it wasn't for Harvey, your need to protect him, then you wouldn't have even been in jail at the first place, and none of this would have happened." Rachel tells Mike.

"Don't you dare even think about blaming him!" Mike says, sounding completely furious, "You cheated Rachel, you! I didn't force you into it and Harvey has nothing to do with me and you!" Mike says angrily, standing up despite his pain.

"Harvey has nothing to do with us? That's funny." Rachel says, sarcastically, "You only told me your secret in the first place, we only had sex, because you were upset because he was mad at you, you choose to go to jail to protect him even though it meant we would be apart, and you're always putting him first." Rachel says, "There has always been three people in this relationship and I'm finally ready to admit that."

"You know, all this sounds like is you trying to make a justification for the fact that you cheated on me." Mike says, anger in his voice.

"And I don't hear you arguing the points." Rachel responds, "I want us to work Mike. I want you to forgive me, but I need you to stop putting Harvey first. I'm your fiancé I should be the most important person to you, not him."

"No, you're not my fiancé." Mike informs Rachel, not even responding to Rachel's arguments about Harvey, partly because he knows for a fact that Rachel will not like what he has to say.

"Mike…" Rachel starts to say, tears coming to her eyes.

"I forgave you after Logan….."

"And I forgave you after Tess, which was much worse." Rachel reminds Mike.

"We weren't together when I slept with Tess, and you know how much I regret that." Mike tells Rachel, as there are few things he regrets more, "I do love you Rachel, but I cannot forgive you. I can't trust you, can't be with you." Mike says, "And if this is what happens after being apart for a month then that just tells me that maybe we shouldn't have been together in the first place."

"Mike, please, don't give up on us." Rachel begs.

"You gave up on us the second you decided to sleep with that man, and maybe I gave up on us when I chose to go to go to jail, to leave you at the altar." Mike reveals, not entirely sure, what started him and Rachel on the path that lead to their distraction, "Either way, we're done."

"Mike…." Rachel once more starts to say, more tears coming to her eyes.

"You can keep the apartment." Mike tells her.

"Mike, you brought it for your grandmother." Rachel reminds her.

"And I can never go back there." Mike says, stressing the never, "So either you can keep it or we'll sell it, I don't care which." Mike admits.

"I'll think about it." Rachel says and then she realises something, "This was your grandmothers, it's yours." She says, taking off the engagement ring and handing it to Mike, "I hope one day we can try again and you can give that back to me." Rachel requests, as she wants her and Mike to have another chance.

"That's not going to happen." Mike says, believing that, "Like I said, we're done, and I think you should go." Mike says and Rachel nods and hurries out of the apartment

As soon as he hears the door shut behind Rachel Mike practically falls onto the couch. Needing to spend a few moments catching his breath. Even though he would like to throw the ring as fast and as far away as possible Mike gently puts it down on the coffee table next to his phone, doing so because it's still his grandmother's ring, and even with everything that happened it matters to him because of that.


It has been a few hours since Rachel left and ever since Mike has been lying on the couch, trying to ignore his pain as much as possible, pain which is increasing, as he hasn't gotten up to take his pain medication, even though its time because he didn't want to add to his pain by walking.

As he lies on the couch Mike realises that he really needs to go to the bathroom, and that he cannot hold it in any longer and so he forces himself to get up, it taking him several attempts to do so, and heads to Harvey's room where the bathroom is, ever single step causing him more pain, causing him more difficulty.

Once he gets to the threshold of Harvey's bedroom Mike feels relief as he reaches out and grabs the wall, and he spend a few moments taking deep breaths as he tries to push down his pain. Once he does Mike tries to take a few more steps, but he falls to the ground in a heap, feeling even more pain as he does.

"Shit." Mike says tears of pain coming to his eyes. Knowing what he has to do Mike fights to try and stand up, but every time he does he just falls back down and feels more pain. Realising that he needs help Mike knows that he has to get back to his phone and so he turns and starts to pull himself along the ground, but as he does he feels a sharp pain in his wound, but he forces himself to keep pulling himself along the ground, back towards the living room.

Every single time he pulls himself forward more Mike feels more pain and he finds it more difficult to breath, after about a minute, where he hasn't made it more than a foot, Mike notices a trial of blood on the ground and so he rolls onto his back where he realises that that he must have pulled his stiches as his shirt has blood all over it.

"Oh, Harvey's going to be pissed." Mike notes when he sees the blood trail he is leaving. Knowing that he has to try and stop the bleeding Mike puts his hands against the wound and pushes, trying to prevent the bleeding, "Okay, I need my phone, need to call Harvey." Mike mutters to himself and he once more turns on his side and tries to push himself towards the couch, and all he does is feel pain and feel the blood seep onto the floor.

A couple of minutes later Mike hasn't done anything other than cause more blood to be on Harvey's when he hears the door open.

"HARVEY." Mike calls, being able to tell that his voice is full of pain.

"Nope." Donna's voice calls back, "What's…" she starts to say.

"Help." Mike calls back, before Donna can ask her question and a few seconds later Donna comes into view carrying several bags.

"MIKE." Donna says worried, as she drops what she is holding and hurries over to Mike, "What happened?" Donna asks as she gets to Mike's side and she pales when she sees the blood.

"I think I pulled a stich." Mike admits, rolling back onto his back as he moans in pain.

"Okay, I'm calling an ambulance." Donna says as she hurries back over to the bags she dropped to grab a phone, "How long have you been on the floor for?" she asks worried.

"I don't know, a little while." Mike answer as Donna gets back to his side, "I messed up Harvey's floor."

"Sweetie, don't worry about that. Worry about yourself." Donna says as she takes Mike's hand, trying to comfort him, hating that he is so hurt, In so much pain.

"You'll call Harvey right?" Mike asks as ever since he felt the only thing he's been able to think is how much he wants to see Harvey.

"Course I will." Donna promises him, "Yes, I need an ambulance…"


At Pearson Specter Litt Harvey, Jessica, Louis and Jeff are in the conference room where they are discussing Jeff joining the firm as a senior partner, and the clients he is going to bring with him.

"You're going to bring all these clients?" Louis asks, sounding a little surprised.

"As soon as I told my old boss that I was coming back here he waved my non-compete." Jeff explains, "I honestly think he doesn't think we're competition anymore."

"We'll I guess we're going to have to prove them wrong." Jessica says with a frown as even though the firm has come a long way since everyone left she knows that they still have a long way to go.

"We always do." Harvey says as his phone rings, looking down at it, as it's on the table he notices the caller id and frowns, "It's Donna, she was checking in on Mike." Harvey says as he picks it up, "Hello."

"Harvey, I need you to stay calm once I tell you want I need to tell you." Donna reveals, not wanting Harvey to panic, though she assumes that he will.

"Stay calm?" Harvey asks, causing Jessica and Louis to exchange concerned looks, "Why? What happened to Mike? Is he okay?" Harvey asks worried.

"When I got to the apartment I found Mike on the floor, bleeding, he fell and it looks like he pulled his stiches. We're on the way to the hospital." Donna explains, being as quick but detailed as possible.

"Text me the hospital details." Harvey says before hanging up, "I've got to go, Mike's fallen and is on his way to the hospital." He says, hurrying out of the room.

"I better go with him, make sure that Harvey doesn't do something like punch a doctor." Jessica says, getting up and following behind, honestly that isn't her only reason, she also wants to make sure Mike is okay.

"Is that really something Harvey would do?" Jeff asks Louis, wanting to know.

"When it comes to Mike Ross, there isn't anything Harvey wouldn't do." Louis answers, speaking like he is just starting a fact.


After what feels like a very long ride, Harvey, and Jessica finally get to the hospital emergency room and as they do Harvey hurries inside, Jessica walking slightly slower but right behind her.

"Mike Ross, where is he?" Harvey asks once he gets to the admissions desk, his voice hurried.

"Who?" The nurse asks.

"Michael Ross, he was brought in by ambulance, where is he?" Harvey asks, panic in his voice.

"Please wait a moment." The nurse says.

"No, I need to know." Harvey says sounding almost terrified.

"Harvey…." Jessica starts to say, trying to get Harvey to calm down,

"Where's Mike? Is he okay?" Harvey asks worried, raising his voice, so loud that people around actually look at him.

"HARVEY." A voice calls and Harvey turns to see Donna standing at the door to one of the examination rooms and so he hurries over to her, Jessica right behind her, and together they head into the room.

"Mike." Harvey says, hurrying over to the bed, looking like he is worried about Mike but also very glad to see him.

"Hey Harvey, I'm sorry, I messed up your floor." Mike says, clearly on pain medication as he is slightly out of it.

"That doesn't matter." Harvey says, cursing himself for the joke he made before he left.

"How is he? What's going on?" Jessica asks.

"The Doctor gave him some pain medication. Mike pulled his stiches, because he did too much, and the doctor is just waiting for some tests results to see whether Mike did any internal damage, and if he didn't then the doctor will just replace the pulled stiches and then Mike should be able to go home." Donna explains to Harvey and Jessica.

"That's good." Harvey says, looking down at Mike as he resists the urge to reach out and touch him.


Hours later Mike and Harvey are arriving back at Harvey's Condo, making having only pulled his stiches and not done any internal damage, which is good, though Mike has to rest more.

"Just a little further, Mike." Harvey says as he once more helps Mike to walk towards the living room.

"I'm okay..." Mike says, though he is clearly tired, "I'm sorry about the mess." Mike says as they get to the living room.

"I really don't care about the mess." Harvey says, his voice short, "Couch or bed?"

"Couch." Mike answers and Harvey helps him over to that, Harvey purposely not looking over at where he's going to see the blood as he really doesn't want to see Mike's blood.

"Okay." Harvey says as they get to the couch and Harvey helps Mike onto it, as he does his eyes flicker to the table and as they do he notices something, "Is that Rachel's ring?" Harvey asks, sounding surprised.

"It was." Mike answers as Harvey sits down next to him, "She came by after you left this morning, decided to ignore the fact that both Donna and I told her to give me space." Mike reveals, causing Harvey to frown, "We fought and I told her we were done. I can't trust her again, can't be with her, not after this." Mike says, not overly sure whether he is going to mention the other reasons they had for breaking up.

"I'm sorry, Mike." Harvey says, feeling glad for his own selfish reason, though he knows that it would hurt Mike, which he doesn't like.

"Yeah, me too." Mike admits, "But I think it's been coming for a while." He reveals, "And…." Mike starts to say before trailing off.

"And what, Mike?" Harvey asks, knowing that it's not like Mike to not explains something.

"And she pointed out a few things that I've been choosing not to see." Mike admits, knowing that this conversation could go one of a few ways, "And even if I were willing to give her another chance, which I'm not after what she did, she wanted me to do something that I would never do." Mike reveals, bracing himself for what he knows Harvey is going to ask.

"Oh? What was that?" Harvey asks curious, not realising the can of worms he is opening up by asking that question.

"To stop putting you first." Mike reveals, and Harvey feels completely shocked about that, "And that's something I would never do." He reveals, causing Harvey to be completely shocked.

"Mike…." Harvey says amazed, not entirely sure what to say to that as there are so many things he wants to say, but none of those things are things that Mike is ready to hear, at least he doesn't think so.

"You don't have to say anything Harvey. You gave me everything, you're more than my boss, more than my friend and anyone who knows me should know that." Mike reveals, "Rachel and I aren't right for each other, and I should have seen that long before."

"If you're sure that this is what you want." Harvey says, choosing his words carefully as to him it seems like Mike has chosen him over his fiancé, something which he isn't sure how he feels about.

"It is." Mike assures him, "I told her that either she can keep the apartment or we're selling it, so I might have to impose on you a while, or I can just go to a hotel, or….:"

"Or nothing. You can stay as long as you need." Harvey quickly says, "I don't mind you staying here, no matter how long." Harvey says as truthfully he would like it if Mike lived with him for good.

"Thanks Harvey." Mike says gratefully.

"No need." Harvey says with a shrug, "But didn't you buy the apartment?" he asks.

"Yeah, but I can never go back there." Mike admits.

"I get that." Harvey says in understanding and the two of them drift into silence as they sit side by side.


Hours later Mike is in bed and Harvey, who has changed into what he usually sleeps in and is using a bucket and scrubber to clean up the blood, Mike's blood, doing it himself rather than leaving it for his cleaners as he cannot bare to look at it any longer.

As he scrubs Harvey finds his mind drifting to Mike, and as it does he can't help but think that he should have been home, if he was then he could have gotten Mike help long before he started to bleed out, and Mike would have been okay.

Scrubbing harder as the images of Mike being in the hospital, both times, comes to Harvey's mind Harvey feels tears starting to come to his eyes.

"God Mike." Harvey says as he throws the scrubber across the room and leans against the wall, breaking down in tears as he was terrified that he had lost Mike and he knows that if he lost Mike then he would lose himself.

Harvey isn't sure how long he has been crying for when he hears,

"Harvey."

In a concerned voice and he turns to see Mike standing just outside his room, looking at him with a worried look on his face.

"Mike." Harvey says, attempting to wipe the tears away, "You should be asleep."

"I woke up." Mike explains, looking at Harvey in concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Harvey answers, completely lying.

"Bullshit." Mike says, "You're not okay, and I'm pretty sure that it's my fault, and I'm sorry about your floor, and….."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE GOD DAMN FLOOR." Harvey says, practically jumping up, causing Mike to stumble back, "I CARE ABOUT YOU!" Harvey says, to Mike's shock as he knows how rare it is for Harvey to admit that.

"Harvey, I'm okay." Mike assures his friend, taking several steps towards her.

"No you're not. You almost died, more than once." Harvey says, his voice full of pain, "And it's all my fault."

"No, it's not." Mike says, stumbling as he walks towards him, "There's only one person to blame for what's happened and that's Gallo. I don't blame you, I'd never blame you." Mike says, "And I need you to stop blaming yourself too."

"I don't know if I can do that." Harvey admits.

"Why not?" Mike asks, not seeing why Harvey won't stop blaming himself.

"Because no matter what you say it is my fault." Harvey says, his voice breaking slightly, "Gallo hurt you, to hurt me, and god Mike, I will never forgive myself for that." Harvey tells him, "It's bad enough that you went to jail to protect me and then I couldn't do the same for you while you were in there, I couldn't protect you, I couldn't protect the man I…." Harvey starts to say, but then he quickly cuts himself off as he realises what he was about to say.

"The man you what, Harvey?" Mike asks, wondering where Harvey is going with that as there is no way he could be going where Mike suspects he is going.

"Nothing." Harvey quickly says, wanting Mike to drop it though he very much doubts that he will.

"No, that's not nothing." Mike says, "What were you going to say."

"Mike…" Harvey starts to say.

"No, you were going to say something, and don't you dare say that it wasn't important because I can tell It is." Mike informs Harvey, "So what were you going to say?"

"Mike, drop it." Harvey requests, desperately not wanting to have this conversation.

"No! I do want to." Mike says angrily, "God Harvey I've had enough of people keeping things from me, I can't take that from you too!" Mike says angrily, "Say it, whatever it is!"

"Mike, you don't want me to go down this road." Harvey says as he knows that if they do then things will never be the same between them.

"That's a coward's answer." Mike says, trying to bait Harvey into telling him what is going on.

"Mike…" Harvey once more says, an undertone of anger in his voice.

"Damn it, Harvey! What were you going to say?" Mike asks, "I want to know, what man am I to you?" Mike asks, "I'm not going to stop asking." Mike reveals, "WHAT AM I TO YOU?"

"EVERYTHING!" Harvey yells back, and then takes a breath to calm himself down, "I love you, Mike."