Again, thank you so much for reading and reviewing my humble fic. I truly appreciate every input, dear
readers!
A – Yes, that little bit about Lola not being a night owl was something I threw in so that she wouldn't be so stereotypical. Which is why I said, "surprisingly", she isn't a late-night kind of girl. But I can absolutely see how most people who think that she is! But this creative license, of course...
Alycee – Wow, thank you for including my story in your community. Yours was one of the few I checked to get my Suits fix!
Cuppa Char & Stony Angel - My … we do like to hurt the ones we love, don't we? The whole PTSD thing got me thinking a lot – I want to come up with something really original, so I'm going to let it percolate a little. And I want it to be a realistic portrayal of PTSD as well, so I'm gonna dig in and do some research too :)
Hollowgirl – His recovery will be … somewhat delayed, but you know I love him, don't you? :)
TOHO – Thank you for dropping by and for your kind words! I must tell you I love your story, "I know"! I will be dropping a review soon. Sorry for being tardy!
Smooth Doggie – Don't worry about burdening me! Writing is a delight. I may need a pair of eyes, so thank you for offering to beta!
Post u Later – I'm glad you enjoyed the chapters! ;)
Now, on to the story!
Chapter Ten
D-Day. And he might as well start the day by telling Mike – never mind that he was now in a coma – that he was going to win this one.
But he didn't expect the scene that greeted him when he entered his room in the ICU. He stopped short, staring at the sight before him.
They were arguing around Mike's inert body, like he wasn't even there or even mattered. Yet the argument was all about him, or what will be done to him.
Surprisingly, Jessica was there, being spoken condescendingly to by a man with beady eyes in a suit. Dr Matthews was next to him, his arm crossed defensively before him as Rollins, who was beside Jessica, shouted heatedly at him, calling him an "ignorant fool with a medical degree from a diploma mill".
He stared at the spectacle in fascination for a few minutes, his exhausted mind too stunned to form a coherent thought. Then, his eyes wandered to Mike in the middle of it all, his skin alabaster white, hooked up to too many monitors to count, and with a tube down his throat. He gritted his teeth.
"Hey!" he yelled.
All four turned to look at him, stunned.
"Mind telling me why everyone forgot that this was a hospital?"
"They're kicking Mike out," Rollins said dryly, fixing accusing eyes at Dr Matthews.
"I did not say that!" Matthews protested.
"Didn't have to. You said all you had to by bringing in Mr Sanctimonious here," Rollins said.
Harvey stared at them all – especially Mr Beady Eyes – in disbelief, then narrowed his eyes.
"All of you. Start from the beginning. Outside."
When they were outside – in the waiting room area – the fight continued like it never stopped.
The lawyer was the first to speak. Harvey didn't bother to ask for his name. He knew his type well enough and they were insignificant to him.
"As I informed Dr Rollins, unless he withdraws himself from this case, the hospital will not bear any responsibility for his actions. And we have to, unfortunately, relocate him to another hospital. Perhaps County Medical," he said.
"He will not survive the relocation in his condition, and you know that!" Rollins said heatedly.
Dr Matthews and said gently, condescendingly, "We will make sure that we take every precaution – "
"So. You are kicking him out," Harvey said, his voice deceptively pleasant and amused.
The lawyer held up his hands as if fending of an attack. "No, like I said to Dr Rollins – the hospital is perfectly happy to treat Mr Ross, but the treatment he is proposing is fraught with risks. And not to mention how we are not certain of his diagnosis – "
"What, the MRSA culture and MRI scan isn't conclusive for you?" Rollins shot at Matthews.
"No, and you know that's not what I mean," Matthews snapped.
And the two launched into medical gobbledygook that threw the lawyers in the room out of the loop until Harvey calmly placed a hand on Rollins and Matthews. Though it took all his strength not to grab the rat-faced lawyer by his collar and throw him out.
"The two of you – shut up," Harvey said. His voice was low and quiet, but it effectively stopped the two of them from arguing further.
"Just what the hell is wrong with Mike already?"
Whatever it was, he knew it was an answer he did not like.
"Mike is not in a good way, Harvey. It's one of the worst cases of CA-MRSA* I've seen. We needed a more aggressive approach because the MRSA travelled to his brain and there's a brain abscess – that's what's responsible for the seizures, and now it's threatening to shut down his motor functions. Dr Genius wants to use a conventional, insurance-friendly route to treat him.," Rollins said.
"Brain surgery at a time like this is fraught with risks!" Matthews protested.
"So is taking a non-effective route! If the abscess bursts, it will kill him – antibiotics are a long and slow shot at this point," he snapped and then shifted his fiery gaze to Harvey.
"You're his medical proxy – you need to make a decision now."
Harvey stared at them, trying to stem the tide of helplessness he felt. Mike's life was in his hands. How the hell did it get to be this dire?
He took a deep breath and reined his fear in.
"There are two things that I'm going to say now. One: Mike is staying here. Two: Rollins is his doctor. There will be no relocating of patients – unless you want to meet me in court, which, I assure you – isn't what your pet lawyer is going to look forward to."
Matthews and his lawyer exchanged a look. Matthews looked as if he wanted to say something, but the lawyer placed a restraining hand on him.
"All right, Mr Ross will not be transferred. But the surgery will not happen either. We will be back," the lawyer assured him.
"Oh, I know you will," he said.
"I don't believe this!" Rollins hissed. "Harvey, you've got to do something. Mike doesn't have much time."
"I'm doing it now," he said shortly and marched off, leaving Jessica to run up to catch him.
"What are you doing Harvey?"
"A delaying tactic. This is not important right now."
"How is this not important?"
"That's because I'm going to show Pharma something that'll scare them so much that they'll drop this unnecessary harassment. That'll clear the way for Mike to get that surgery. And I thought we made sure that this hospital wasn't under Pharma?"
"It was a top secret deal that was finalised just yesterday, believe it or not. Though they did this in a mighty hurry."
"Another pressure tactic to intimidate Rollins?" he wondered out loud.
"It would appear so."
"They play dirty. But I know how to deal with dirty," he said, his voice a low growl.
- S - S - S -
Leah Johnson looked immaculate as usual, but the smile she wore on her ruby red lips had more than a tinge of triumph to it.
"Hello Harvey, I heard about your associate. I'm truly sorry," she said.
"I'm sure you are, especially when you hauled your Pharma lapdog to his bedside, demanding that Rollins be removed as his doctor and have my associate relocated to another hospital, which will most certainly kill him. Oh yes, and preventing him from having that surgery that will save his life."
Leah tried her best to look surprised – failed – and just chuckled.
"Why, Harvey. I didn't know you had a flair for the theatre," she said, grinning.
Harvey did not respond to the jibe but instead slid a stack of files across the polished table to Leah. He pushed it so hard that they nearly shot off the table. Fortunately, Leah managed to catch them before it happened. Her face red, Leah regained her composure by plastering on a fake smile.
She shook her blond mane and flipped through the documents. But as she progressed, her smile slid off slowly until it became a scowl.
"How the hell did you get this?" she snapped.
"Let's say an anonymous source dropped it off at our doorstep."
She slapped the files shut and gave him a crooked grin. "You know that this isn't admissible in court."
"Sure. But my source doesn't care. He threatened to leak it out to the blogosphere in – " he checked his Rolex. " – two hours if I didn't talk to you about it. You've got to thank me, Leah. He wanted to leak it immediately, but seeing that we are both level-headed, reasonable professionals, I managed to convince him that we'll reach a satisfactory agreement."
He placed his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels, studying Leah with a smirk as her smug smile fell.
"Face it, Leah. You've lost."
A flash of frustration and anger twisted her delicate features before she composed herself.
"This has nothing to do with Rollins," she snapped.
"It has everything to do with Rollins. Because in that file is evidence that Pharma has had a history of bullying physicians into denying patients treatments that they desperately need. It has resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, and I'm intrigued by the settlement that will produce. So intrigued, in fact, that Pearson Hardman will be the first in line to represent them in court. I can imagine Michael Moore will be interested to make you guys the main subject of his next expose too. Shall I continue?"
She tapped her glossy red fingernails on the table as she fixed her bright blue eyes on his in defiance. But she refused to answer.
"Leah, I'll put it to you in simple words. We won. You used a technicality to drag Rollins into another suit. He's just another case to add to that file, proof positive that Pharma has been bullying themselves into big profits. What shall it be? Continue the suit and fight one of the biggest suits against a medical healthcare organisation this decade, or – " he leaned forward, fixing his dark eyes on her blue ones, "– let this go and return with your pockets untouched?"
"Fine," she said shortly. "It is dropped. And I want the documents destroyed. All of them. And I want the blogger's name."
He smiled. "The files, you have them. The name? Tough luck."
"Leak this on the Internet, and we're going to make sure – "
"Leah. You know you don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to threatening me."
Her face twisted in anger. She pushed herself forcefully away from the table and marched out of the room, leaving her flustered associate to hastily gather up the files.
"Leah?"
She paused and reluctantly looked at him.
"Your mistake was trying the same trick on my associate. Those who mess with my people will always regret it. You better remember that the next time you dare darken my door."
With that, she threw the door open and marched out, leaving her associate frantically scurrying after her.
He stared at their retreating figures for a while, and felt his racing heart slow down. Then, he grinned.
He did it.
No. They did it.
- S - S - S -
Harvey didn't know why, but he felt a need to have another look at Mike – despite ensuring that all documents are in order and that Mike will now have that much-needed surgery.
But after Leah marched out of the office, he couldn't sit still or focus, despite having two new cases on his desk – something which usually galvanised him into a flurry of activity almost immediately. He gave up after an hour of idly staring at the same page in the case file. He got to Donna's side and casually mentioned that he felt like he had some place to go, and she merely rolled her eyes at him.
"Go to the hospital, Harvey. Before I cause an embarrassing scene," she said.
Then, Ray didn't need to be told at all where he wanted to be, and in no time they were at the hospital. It was more than a little unnerving to know that the people he worked with seemed to know what the hell he was thinking about. He was getting too predictable.
But when he got to his room at the ICU, he wasn't prepared for the odd sight of a clean-shaven Nathan Rollins in a doctor's white coat standing over Mike's inert body.
"What did you do?" Rollins asked him.
"I thought that was my question," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Matthews stopped being all territorial, and suddenly Mr Sanctimonious left me alone. Which is just in time because Mike needed my intervention," he said.
That got him instantly worried. "What's wrong?"
"His condition has worsened in the last three hours and the abscess has grown. He needs surgery now and you, being his medical proxy, need to okay it immediately," he said and then handed him a few sheets of paper.
With some hesitation, he scanned and then signed the documents. Then, quietly, he said: "Is he going to survive this?"
"The neurosurgeon is one of the best I know. And Mike is young, strong, with a history of good health. That will be in his favour."
Not exactly a "yes", he noted.
"There's a but in there somewhere, isn't there?"
"But … like I said, his is one of the worst cases I've seen … but there have been no other serious complications such as pneumonia or organ failure. There is a chance."
The unsaid words were "slim chance".
Harvey sighed, rubbing his forehead. His head was pounding.
"I'm surprised that you were Mike's medical proxy," Rollins said suddenly.
Harvey turned away, uncomfortable. "It was just convenient. He had no one, only an ailing grandmother. Having a sick associate without a medical proxy was inconvenient. Just never thought I'd ever be called to duty."
Rollins laughed wryly. "Fine. But it's a good thing you're doing. Never thought you had a heart, Harvey Specter."
Harvey didn't acknowledge that. He just studied Mike, watching him breathe with the aid of the ventilator. Wondering, in dismay, how one could just deteriorate so fast like that. Once more, he chided himself for not only not noticing, but thinking Mike was behaving irresponsibly.
"And thank you."
It was a quiet, almost shy remark. That made Harvey turn in surprise.
"I thought I was ready to give it all up but having to treat Mike here … it reminded me that I was good at this. And why I am a doctor," he said, his expression for once open and vulnerable, devoid of the cynicism and bitterness that had been with him since the beginning of their dealings with him.
"No problem," Harvey said.
Rollins nodded, seemingly grateful that that was the end of the touchy feely moment.
"Now that you've signed the documents, we're going to ready him for the operation in a few minutes. The surgery will be done by Dr Sarah Holt – I made sure to get the best neurologist in town – and she's done a dozen of these," Rollins said, all professional now.
"And then … we wait?"
He nodded. "We wait."
-S-S-
CA-MRSA = Community acquired MRSA. MRSA is usually found in the hospitals; meaning, many people contract the infection in hospitals. However, there have been cases where people contract it outside the hospital grounds. Actually, in Mike's case, in can be from the hospital or the community, as he visits his Grammy often in what I assume is a hospital setting. I'm leaving it up in the air for now :)
Postscript: Now, I don't claim to have any knowledge of the Law (despite being just a week shy of going to Law school before dropping out to do something else), especially since I'm from a British territory, and our Law is rather different from America's.
But I did some research about insurance/company-owned hospitals and got a rough idea. (Coming from a country where we can get treatment in public hospitals for a couple of dollars, the thought of such things unnerve me!). All this in my fic is probably an exaggeration, however, so I hope you will forgive me if there were some errors. Still, do tell me about the healthcare situation in the US – is it anything like I portrayed? (It's useful to learn for research purposes, of course!) Cheers!