I hope your holidays were fun. Here's the next chapter. This time in the rollercoaster that is Mike's life she comes face to face with a spirit from her past she'd rather not deal with.

Disclaimer: I do not own Suits.

Upon her revelation, Mike felt it was necessary to get a grip on herself because, as she thought earlier, Harvey didn't possess the capability to become attached with a significant other. So even if she were to confess, all she would be left with is a broken heart and a tense workplace, neither of which sounded appealing at all. Mike sighed and rolled onto her stomach, lifting her phone to her face. The white screen mocked her as she narrowed her eyes at the incandescent light. It was late, but she had a feeling that Harvey was as confused by her actions as she was. But he didn't text her, didn't demand an explanation for her inappropriate deed. He let her go home, to torture her probably. Mike shook her head and stuffed her head into her microbead pillow, feeling the ten thousand beads conform to her head. She hoped that her head would stop buzzing so she could sleep but had a funny feeling that she would not.

And like always, her body did exactly what she didn't want it to do. She stayed awake for another couple of hours just trying not to think about the smoothness of Harvey's cheek, the smell of his aftershave on his jaw, lingering even after hours of wear, somehow mixing with the scent of his cologne, creating an intoxicating, sweet-smelling concoction that lingered in Mike's nose and imprinted on her brain, causing the hairs to prickle on her arms. She groaned as she felt her skin start to itch between her thighs. She rolled over with a huff and walked to her bathroom. She needed a cold shower.

Mike stayed up until the sun rose, until it was time to go off to Pearson Law Firm, working to keep her mind off everything that didn't have to do with work. She gathered her files silently, placing them in her arms, leaving through the door of her apartment and down to the street, quickly making her way through the sparsely populated streets as she came upon the tall glass building glistening with the upcoming sunlight. She flashed her ID card at the security guard and made her way towards the elevators. Pressing fifty on the control panel, Mike allowed herself to lean back onto the grey striped back of the elevator car and sighed. The ride up was silent, the car only stopping once or twice to let people on and off. The car stopped and opened on Mike's floor. She smiled at one of the men who resided on the upper floors politely before stepping off. She made a beeline for her cubicle and sat down at her computer, noting that there were no other associates in the room with her. She opened her computer and pulled up Facebook, having nothing else to do.

When Harold came into the office exactly thirty minutes later, this is the sight he was met with; a mostly empty room—Aaron, Olivia and James had arrived before him. His desk was as neat as it was yesterday, the files for his boss neatly waiting to be delivered to Louis' office at nine sharp. His partner, Mike, was sitting at her desk as usual but she seemed to be zoned out, not focused. Harold came next to her desk and stole a glance at the screen, reading the Facebook post and suddenly understanding why his friend was off in space.

"Mike." He called softly making the woman look up at him, his suspicions confirmed as Mike's face came into view. The young woman had tear tracks, lined with mascara, running down her cheeks and her nose was dusted red. Harold quickly moved around the wall, stooped down and guided the woman's head to rest on his shoulder. She threw her arms around the blonde man and sobbed quietly into his padded shoulder. Harold let her rest there, rubbing a hand along the slightly raised bone of her spine as a gesture of comfort for the young woman. Mike sniffed a bit and lifted her head as her tears subsided. Harold smiled a sympathetic smile at her leaning back a bit. "You good now?" He asked her sensitively. Mike smiled back and nodded. Harold stood up quickly, falling back down at the lack of blood flowing to his legs. Harold rubbed his legs embarrassed but then Mike laughed and Harold decided he didn't feel so bad. He decided to sit on the floor for a moment or two more though. "How old was she?" Harold asked pointing to the screen. Mike's head turned to look at the words on the screen and she felt her eyes prickle with tears again. This time she was ready for the overwhelming emotion and was able to control it.

"She was 27, like me. I went to college with her…" She remarked sadly, her eyes drifting to the floor, her sight blurred with her tears. Harold stood up, this time standing with no difficulty and placing a hand against her shoulder tenderly, squeezing slightly. Mike placed her hand on top of Harold's and pumped the fingers. They stand there for a moment longer before Mike coughed to snap them out of the slightly intimate position that they were in. Harold slunk away from Mike, trying to be like a ninja but failing miserably, allowing Mike to have another laugh. Harold smiled sheepishly before going to his desk, happier for making Mike laugh.

Mike sighed and x-ed out of Facebook, deciding to get the details for the wake later, during her lunch hour. She wiped her face with a napkin on her desk and checked that her face was clean before she grabbed Harvey's files and quickly left the bullpen, hoping that Harvey decided to come in early.

He did.

"Put those there and take those from…Mike?" Harvey stopped when he spotted the red rimmed eyes of his associate. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

"I…" She began with a stiff back making Harvey exhale a breath sharply.

"Don't lie to me." Harvey ordered her firmly. She sighed.

"…no…" She whispered sitting down in front of his desk despairingly. Harvey watched as the crystal blue eyes filled with tears. "My friend…from college died yesterday, she was drinking and driving and…shit…" Mike said covering her eyes to stop her tears. Harvey took a moment to realize what that meant. On the surface, a friend of Mike's died. Underneath that surface, her friend died the same way Mike's parents did. Harvey sighed sympathetically.

"Mike…I'm sorry." Harvey said understandingly. Mike nodded, her hand still over her eyes. Harvey was unsure of where to go from here; Donna was better at this than he was. He opened his mouth to say something more before he was cut off by Mike's hand.

"You're not that good at comforting Harvey, don't strain yourself; just pile on the work and I'll be alright." Mike told him straight. Harvey nodded slowly.

"Are you sure you don't need a moment?" Harvey asked her seriously.

"I do need one, but I can't afford it. I've got lunch to mourn." She told him. Harvey nodded and pointed to the stack of files on his desk.

"Whenever you can Mike. Don't push yourself too much." Harvey told her. Mike leaned over and placed her hand on the files, jerking in surprise when Harvey's hand covered hers giving it a squeeze. Mike nodded at the gesture and walked out of the room after grabbing the files. She passed Donna quickly down the hall and turned into the bullpen, quickly getting to work. She cut herself from the world by allowing herself to be enveloped in the magic of music.

Harvey kept to his word and piled on the work on her during different intervals of the day only interrupting her twice —once to ask if she needed anything and the other to ask her if she ate lunch. She was honest both times and continued to work, grateful that Harold was promoted to Louis' personal associate just yesterday and was taking the bulk of the work that came from the other senior partner.

Mike looked up at the clock and was shocked to find that it was already six in the evening. She looked at her phone to be sure and once satisfied that her brain wasn't playing tricks on her, she stood and made her way to her boss' office. She knocked politely after chatting with Donna and slipped in. She smiled at Harvey as she sat in front of the man's desk. Harvey gave her a smile back.

"Good job today Mike." He told her. She nodded.

"Thanks, Harvey." She said pulling back a strand of her growing blonde hair.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"A bit…actually…I wanted to know if I could leave early to get to Brooklyn…"

"No problem." Harvey said quickly. Mike's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh…okay." Mike said lightly before standing. "I have to get going so I get there you know…" She faltered at the end lamely. Harvey nodded.

"I'll see you Monday…" Harvey said to her. Mike nodded.

"Monday. Have a good weekend Harvey." Mike told him politely before turning out. Harvey watched as she walked down the hallway before sighing and pulling his pen to his mouth in thought, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of his stomach.

Mike quickly boarded the L train to Williamsburg, feeling nostalgic. This was her first trip into her hometown since she moved months ago. Who knew it would be for something like this? Fate has a funny way of linking the past and present, as Mike would soon found out.

She arrived at the funeral home just a little after seven. There were all sorts of people in the hall when she walked in, some familiar faces, some not. Mike weaved through the throng of people and found herself in the room where the casket was being held. It was closed and Mike sighed mournfully; that could only mean that it wasn't a pretty sight. Her parent's caskets had been closed and her grandmother was the unfortunate one to tell the eleven year old girl why that was. Mike had a flash of a memory burned in her retinas of her parent's wake, in this same funeral home but thankfully not the same room; that location would be too much for her right now. The eleven year old her was standing in front of two caskets, crying pitifully, just wanting to get out of there, away from all the people whispering and telling her that it would be okay. The only reason she remained was because Trevor had placed his arm over her shoulders and didn't remove it for the rest of the night. But this time, there was no Trevor, for better or for worse. She felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around to look down at a familiar pair of grey eyes.

"Sandra? Sandra Markowitz?" Mike asked out of politeness, already knowing her from memory. The brunette nodded happily.

"Michael Ross." She said in awe of her own memory, calling her Michelle out of habit. Mike nodded back, chuckling. "You look…great." The other woman said taking in the form of the associate. Mike shrugged.

"You do too. How far along?" Mike asked pointing to the protruding bump on the other's petite form. Sandra rubbed her belly proudly.

"Seven months." She gushed. Mike's smile remained. "Sorry we had to reunite under these unfortunate circumstances." Sandra said sadly. Mike nodded understanding.

"Yeah, I know." Mike said, unsure of what to say next. Fortunately, Sandra was quick to start talking about the changes that came of her life since Mike was kicked out of college. Mike allowed herself to lie about her own fortune, saying that she was accepted into school eventually and went to Harvard, becoming a lawyer. Sandra laughed and said she expected nothing less of Mike. The two women eventually began to make their way across the room, away from the quickly forming crowd, still chatting. Mike's shoulder crashed into the shoulder of a man the same height as she. She quickly turned her head to apologize but stopped when she looked at the man straight on. She stiffened as her eyes fell across his face, stopping to look into brown eyes.

"I'm sorry." The man said quickly holding a hand out for a physical apology, not looking at the person he hit. Mike stared at him before being tugged by Sandra.

"Mike come on," she pulled. The man that bumped into her stopped and turned to fully look at the blonde woman, the brown eyes widening when he had recognized her. He took in a sharp breath and that's when Mike knew that she couldn't avoid this.

"Sandra, go, I'll catch up." She promised. Sandra made a move to protest but Mike shook her head. Sandra left with a sharp turn to the corner. Mike sighed and looked at the man. "Trevor." She said familiarly. Trevor let out the breath he was holding.

"Mike…it's been a while. Exceptionally long in regards to Michael." The man remarked neutrally, throwing her for a loop by calling her Michelle. Mike nodded awkwardly pointing her shoe point into the carpet feeling that it was more interesting to look at than Trevor's face. Trevor sighed. "Mike…I…heard about Grammy…"

Mike's head snapped up to look at Trevor, the look in her eyes unreadable. "Trevor…"

"I'm not going to insult you or your grandmother…despite the fact that she couldn't stand me, I did respect Edith." Trevor told her quickly. Mike nodded; now was not the time to fight with Trevor, not in this place. He saw the battle between her eyes and took her arm, pulling her over to the side and once they stopped Mike wrenched her arm from his grip. "Mike, I don't want to fight…I was…I was out of line last year." He told her seriously. "I'm sorry…"

"Trevor…you tried to get me fired…from the best goddamn job I've had…ever." Mike reminded him slowly. Trevor grimaced painfully.

"I know…I was just…so mad about Jenny, and I'm sorry." He said to her. Mike narrowed her eyes.

"I have a hard time believing that." Mike crossed her arms causing Trevor to sigh exasperatedly.

"Mike, in all the years you've known me, when haveI ever apologized to anyone?" Trevor asked. Mike nodded thoughtfully.

"None that I can recall." She said after a moment.

"See that's funny because you remember everything." Trevor snarked playfully getting a laugh from the woman. Trevor chuckled along with her. "Mike…I haven't been a great friend these past couple of years…"

"Years?" Mike asked.

"Yeah I…didn't realize that I was out of control…with the pot and I," he paused to find the correct way to say what was on his mind. "I wasn't myself."

"That's for damn sure." Mike agreed bitterly. Trevor nodded.

"I deserve your hatred. I didn't think you would come tonight honestly. I was hoping but…I'm glad I got the nerve to talk to you." Trevor said, his cheeks reddening. Mike cocked her head suspiciously.

"Well, I'm glad you had the chance to reflect." Mike finally said after a moment, the anger still evident in her voice. Trevor sighed again.

"Mike, I'm clean now…haven't smoked in eight months." He told her.

"Really?" She asked

"Really. I went to rehab and everything."

"Rehab?"

"Is there an echo?" Trevor joked his smile widening before becoming serious again. "I…hit bottom after you threatened me with identity fraud. I needed to get away and…I ended up in Rochester if you can believe it. I ended it up going into a rehab center and really getting a grip on my life, finding the root of the problem you know?" Trevor explained, the question at the end being rhetorical. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "It was always him you know…always and I just deluded myself into thinking it wasn't…" His father, Mike surmised; the man was a lowlife and didn't deserve Trevor or his mother. Mike didn't say anything, because nothing needed to be said. "After that, I realized just how bad I was and what I did to you…and I wanted to call you so bad; I did but I guess you changed your number…"

"I did." Mike told him. Trevor nodded.

"Yeah…I just wanted to tell you I was sorry and that if there was any hope for us left…" Trevor trailed off looking at Mike hopefully. She stared back into his eyes for a while, gauging how much of the conversation was bullshit.

"…I don't know Trevor…what you did was messed up; I know I betrayed your trust and hurt you but you tried to ruin, my, life," She reiterated forcefully. "I had to go through a lot to keep my job and even now it's not safe. I can't just turn a blind eye to that Trevor." Mike told him. Trevor nodded.

"I see that…I understand…just…take this." Trevor told her, handing her a business card with his name and phone number on it. Mike took it and looked it over. "If you feel that there's something left…you can call…" Mike stared at the card for a moment before handing it back to him wordlessly. Trevor took it and pocketed it, knowing she memorized the words and numbers already and was just giving him the card so that Harvey couldn't find it. Mike nodded absently before Trevor took a small step to her, making her look up suspiciously.

"I really have missed you…Michael." Trevor said, drawing out the 'Michelle' in a whisper. Mike's breath was held in her chest as the brunette leaned in and pressed their lips together in a chaste kiss, the kind for siblings. Mike remained in her stunned state as Trevor pulled away and smiled at her. "If you want…call." He reminded her before walking away, leaving Mike alone.

The next part to this chapter will be up tomorrow. I appreciate all the support for this story and hope you will leave me a comment.

KatrinaKaiba