By the time the ambulance arrived Harvey was exhausted. He had kept pretending to hyperventilate for ten minutes straight and tensed his muscles until they were actually shaking with exhaustion. Conveniently, he had started sweating at some point too.

Maybe he could have tried faking a heart attack earlier, but the risk of anyone calling the bluff had just seemed too high. Thankfully, Darby had more taken to holding his hand than to feeling his pulse. Also, Darby was more likely to insist on taking him to an actual hospital rather than some prison facility.

When the paramedics arrived, Harvey felt them putting on the dreaded oxygen mask again and finally dared to open his eyes. He had squeezed them shut the whole time, afraid that looking too focused might give him away.

"Sir, can you hear me?"

Harvey gave a confirmative blink, jaw still clenched to suggest he was in pain.

"Patient responsive," the paramedic said. "We'll put you on a gurney now and take you straight to the hospital, Sir."

Harvey hoped his smile looked more thankful than triumphant.


"I want to make a phone call!"

"Sir, you need to calm down. A heart attack is nothing to take lightly. We can't subject you to any stress at the moment."

"The only reason I am stressed is that I cannot make a goddamn phone call!" Harvey was on the verge of yelling, but he did not care. He could hear that the soft beep of the heart monitor accelerated but he didn't care about that either. He needed to call the firm. Actually he needed to call Mike, but because he did not have the kid's goddamn memory he didn't know his number by heart.

"Who do you want to call?" the dragon asked. Actually the dragon was a nurse, but Harvey had made up that nickname when she had caught him sneaking out of his room and literally locked him in it. Literally. He could think of no way that had been legal.

"My firm," Harvey replied hotly.

"Wrong answer," the dragon said with a somewhat sardonic smile. "We get your type all the time, you know. Very important business people who work themselves into an early grave, because their life depends on making money. But that's not happening on my watch."

"I NEED TO…" Harvey hardly felt anything but he noticed the heart monitor falling out of rhythm as his heart missed a beat. It was not enough to set off an alarm but it cut him off.

"See," the dragon said. "That'll happen when you overwork yourself. So your choice is to calm down or to be sedated."

Harvey swallowed hard. The anger had turned to fear, he could taste its bitter flavour in his mouth. He sank back on his pillows listening to his heart beat, wondering how long it would stay steady.


It took an hour before the dragon returned and Harvey fought off the urge to sit up as soon as she did. It would only antagonise her. To his surprise she was smiling softly.

"Your fiancé is here," she said.

Harvey gaped at her. Fiancée? Either the conversation with Scottie had been really, really different from what he remembered or this was some mix-up.

Either way, whoever it was might have a phone he could burrow.

"I'm glad to hear that," he replied, hoping his expression did not give away that he had no idea what was going on.

The dragon left and came back two minutes later, behind her… Mike.

"There he is," the dragon said, and Harvey could feel his face light up in a smile. Goddamn the kid was good!

'Fiancé?' he mouthed as Mike came in.

But Mike did not reply, he hardly even smiled.

"Oh Harvey…" Before Harvey even knew what was happening he had a sobbing Mike clinging to his chest.

„Don't you think you're overdoing it a bit?" Harvey whispered into Mike's ear, awkwardly petting his associate's back.

"I thought you were dead." Mike's voice shook at every word and it suddenly hit Harvey that none of this was acting.

"Mike, I'm fine..."

Another shaky sob escaped Mike's throat, then suddenly his body went still.

"Mike? Mike, are you alright?" Harvey pushed his associate off his chest. "Mike!"

Mike's limp body slid off the bed before Harvey could catch him. An alarm went off, maybe because Harvey's heart was beating too fast, maybe because he pulled a few electrodes as he dived after Mike, kneeling at his side. The kid's eyes were closed, but to Harvey's relieve he was definitely still breathing.

"I need a doctor here!" Harvey shouted. Not that it was necessary with the noise the heart monitor was making.

"He just passed out," he told the doctor who rushed in, hardly banning the panic from his voice.

Mike's hand was taken from his, as the doctor felt for the pulse.

"Did he drink enough the last few days?"

"I don't know!"

Only then Harvey realised how pale Mike looked, noticed the big bags under his eyes. Had the goddamn kid slept at all those past few days?

"He's probably just dehydrated then... And stressed out by your condition. Is he family?"

"He," Harvey said with a wry smile, "is my fiancé."