This chapter is for (anonymous reviewer). She wanted Aiden to fight Harvey over Mike. I instantly thought of this the moment I read your review, darling because terrible twos are definitely something that would be a horrible time for both men to witness.
Disclaimer: I do not own Suits, just Aiden
Age: 2 years old
It started out small, Harvey thought. At daycare, Aiden would take other toys and not give them back without a fight; it's just what two-year-olds did. Harvey was trying to get the boy to share; it was difficult because most of the adults in Pearson Law Firm would just let the boy have whatever he was grabbing at, except for Louis, but Louis doesn't know how to share even at forty-seven so he didn't count.
He could see why others were intimidated by Aiden and relented their hold on items. The child had a temper and a strong pair of lungs, a dangerous combination. He screamed and cried and could go on for minutes upon hours until you gave up. A screaming child was not a good one. It got to the point where Aiden was cooped up on the thirtieth floor or in Harvey's office. Harvey had to move all of his prized balls to some other location since Aiden had a fascination with pushing them to the floor. Records were moved because if not, they were going to be used as Frisbees. Harvey had it all under control at the office.
At home was a different story. Aiden was fiercely protective. After he swiped something, it would either go hiding in his room or Aiden would stop you from getting to it with a glare and a sharp "mine!" "Mine" was his new favorite word and boy did he say it a lot. Between the screams and cries was the enunciation of that word. Harvey hated it and avoided saying it like the plague when the child was around as if saying it would prompt Aiden into looking for a new possession. Again it started off small; pens, papers, cufflinks. Then it started to grow into larger items, Harvey's briefcase, shoes, cologne bottles, then it merged into the stealing of Harvey's suits and that's where Harvey drew the line.
"No Aiden, you can't take daddy's suit." Harvey said firmly grasping the jacket the toddler had taken into his room. He pulled the arm gingerly, mentally wincing as the fabric was pulled taut by Aiden's unyielding grip on the other sleeve.
"No, mine!" Aiden yelled being pulled along with the jacket, his rear sliding across the floor as his feet tried to find purchase on the slick wooden floor. Harvey exhaled sharply while pulling a little harder.
"Aiden. Daddy wears these to work. You can't have them." Harvey tried explaining to the toddler but it was to no avail. Aiden simply stamped his heels against the floor and cried at Harvey.
"It mine!" Aiden growled pulling even harder, and Harvey could swear he could hear a seam popping. Harvey slacked his grip and loomed over Aiden. He grasped the child's fist and pried his fingers off the fabric. Aiden whined and pounded his feet against the wood floor, his whines becoming louder and shrill. Harvey ignored him and put the jacket back in the closet. Aiden followed behind him still crying loudly. Harvey then turned to Aiden and placed himself at eye-level with his son.
"Don't touch my suits. They are daddy's." Harvey said, trying a different tactic by using his title instead of the dreaded word. Aiden huffed angrily but said nothing. Harvey picked up the toddler to remove him from the room. Aiden stiffened, physically reminding Harvey of his displeasure as Harvey moved him into his own room. He put Aiden down next to his toys.
"These are yours, they are Aiden's." Harvey said picking up a toddler car and showing it to Aiden. Aiden snatched it out of his father's hand and glared.
"Mine," Aiden proclaimed. Harvey smiled, taking the advice Natalie gave him about positive reinforcement.
"Yes Aiden, this is yours." Harvey's tone was light and playful. Aiden smiled back at his father and played with his toy. Harvey sighed and leaned back, content to watch for now and hoping that he was making some progress against Aiden's possession phase.
Oh if only he knew.
How one goes about suspending a two-year old from day care was a mystery Harvey was fully intending to solve. Christine had called him; she was called first since he was in a meeting, and told him Aiden was pulled out of his 'school' because he was projecting especially uncontrollable behavior and that it was in the best intentions for the other students that he be taken out of the environment to calm down. It was a better way of saying 'Aiden's being a pain in the ass and we can't handle his tantrums'. According to his nanny, Aiden was taking all the toys and collecting them at his spot and throwing the toys he didn't want at the other children when they came too close to the pile. Christine also sent him a picture of the fort Aiden built around the toys and boy did his kid look particularly demonic. The boy was glaring from behind the yellow, red and blue cardboard blocks with a large pile of toys, daring anyone to come close to him. His kid went all out.
Harvey put his head in his hands dejectedly. This couldn't happen at a worse time, Harvey mused. The firm was up to their eyeballs with a large high-profile case that meant all lower-ranked personnel were being used for the case, leaving Mike to be under Louis' purview under pain of death. Okay it wasn't that dramatic but it meant that Harvey was to be handling his own case work pretty much on his own. Mike's 'small bladder' meant that he was leaving the room at different intervals during the hour and the time was spent quickly being briefed by Harvey as well as picking up a few documents to read during the times Louis was not breathing on his neck. Harvey had quipped back that Mike would rather have Harvey breathing on his neck causing the other man to flush and flee the room.
That put Harvey in better spirits.
Harvey spent the next hour and a half contemplating how he was going to punish the boy for his behavior. He practically tried everything that his niece told him after he begrudgingly asked for her help. Rewards, punishments, firm talking, time outs, token economy, behavior charts and contracts. Nothing helped; his kid went around like a mini-dinosaur, roaring and stomping and leaving destruction in his wake. Once the clock dinged four-thirty, Harvey braced himself for Hurricane Aiden. Just like clockwork he saw the slicked back brown hair of his nanny with her hand in Aiden's. Harvey stood and buttoned his jacket before moving out to the hall.
"Hi Aiden." Donna was saying as Harvey came out into the hallway.
"Donnie!" Aiden exclaimed happily, rushing over to the side of Donna's desk to hug her. Donna pursed her lips at the incorrect pronunciation of her name from the child and Harvey had to hide a smile. He was just as clueless as she was where the origin of the name came from, but Harvey found great amusement from it whereas Donna just got more irritated. The boy climbed up onto the secretary's lap and looked at her desk from his new vantage point. Christine was explaining something to Harvey who was only half-listening and mostly watching Aiden. Donna was able to multi-task with the child in her lap, that wasn't the problem. Aiden was curiously taking in everything and Harvey had seen that look before.
"Excuse me Christine," Harvey interrupted the woman quickly grabbing Aiden before he made his move to grab the flowers in the corner. Aiden started to squeal and struggle against Harvey's grip.
"Fowers! My fowers!" Aiden called out as Harvey shut them in his own office. Through the glass Donna and Christine could see Aiden crying and throwing his little fists in the air while Harvey did everything to stop himself from yelling at the boy to stop. Donna and Christine shared a look before going onto what they were meant to be doing.
Mike walked down the hall quickly, looking this way and that, expecting Louis to have caught onto his escape route by now and was lurking in the shadows to catch him. Thankfully Louis wasn't jumping out at him and Mike made his way to Harvey's office. Donna caught his gaze first and Mike knew that look meant trouble.
"Aiden's here." Donna said. Mike looked quickly into the office and saw Aiden playing on the floor of Harvey's office with a few cars. Harvey was at his desk working. It seemed everything was alright on the surface, but Mike had been working for Harvey for years now and could see the vague impression of boiling anger on his face.
"Aiden taking everything again?" Mike asked Donna. She nodded. Mike grimaced. "I'll tread lightly." Mike told her before going toward the door. As soon as he closed it he was met by two brown-eyed gazes. "Geez, that's freaky."
"Uhcle Mai!" Aiden exclaimed and toddled over from his spot on the floor. Mike knelt down and embraced the child while Harvey came around the desk after buttoning his jacket.
"Those mi…Are those the files?" Harvey asked catching himself before he said the forbidden word of the day. Mike smiled.
"Yep, here you-woah!" Mike tried to stand up but was quickly jumped on by Aiden.
"No!" Aiden exclaimed gripping onto the associate. Mike and Harvey both looked at Aiden incredulously.
"Aiden." Harvey said simply his gaze firm on the child's back. Aiden snuggled into Mike's chest and fixed a small glare in one eye at his father.
"Mine," Aiden said, his voice muffled by the jacket but the word was clearly discernible. Mike blushed from embarrassment and he hesitated, unsure of what to say.
"Um." Mike said and, as if sensing Mike's hesitation, Aiden looked up with a cool look that resembled his boss'.
"Mine." Aiden repeated firmly, his little fingers clutching onto the fabric tighter. Harvey took a deep breath in to steady himself.
"Aiden." The boy looked up at his father's tone. "You can't claim Mike; he's a person, not a toy." Harvey explained even though he knew that Aiden only heard up until 'Mike' in the sentence. Aiden's face scrunched up.
"My Uhcle Mai." Aiden said definitely, smushing his face into the less expensive wool of Mike's jacket. Mike was beginning to get uncomfortable, both from his position on the floor and from Harvey's glare. Like this was his fault, Mike thought huffily. Mike placed a steadying arm on Aiden's body and moved to dislodge his legs from underneath him. He then shakily stood with Aiden's arms still tightly conformed to him. He handed Harvey the files and made a move to remove Aiden from his body. Aiden whined and started to whimper. "My Mai, my Mai." He said sadly. Mike placed him on the floor by his toys and Aiden quickly was preoccupied with the little cars rolling across the floor.
Harvey and Mike discussed the case quickly, knowing Mike didn't have much time to waste. Precedent was quickly found and Mike smiled, standing up alongside Harvey and the two moved to the door. Harvey smiled and patted Mike on the shoulder as he opened the door. Aiden flew across the floor and threw himself onto Mike's legs.
"Uhcle Mai. No go." Aiden said sadly. Mike placed a hand on Aiden's head.
"I'm going to work. I'll see you later." Mike promised but the child clung tighter. Mike pulled his leg free and went down the hall, shooting Harvey a sympathetic and apologetic look when he heard the toddler cry. Harvey waved a hand, dismissing the glance as he caught Aiden before he ran out the door.
The next few hours went like this but steadily got worse. Mike would come around and Aiden would cling to him for the entire time. Not even his cars would distract him. Aiden became more and more like a territorial dog, practically growling when Harvey would come to read something over his shoulder. Every time Harvey touched Mike, even the smallest graze Aiden would bite out a "My Mai," at his father. Mike found this amusing at first, telling Harvey that he had competition with a two-year-old but the novelty wore off when Aiden started taking the papers away from Mike as he tried to read them because Mike wasn't playing with Aiden. They needed the quiet atmosphere to work so unfortunately for Mike, Aiden had to remain on his lap because the moment he was moved, Aiden would begin to scream and cry. Harvey was irritated and close to snapping but tried so hard not to, fully knowing that this was a phase and they needed to tough it out, for better or worse.
Mike stood up moving the toddler. "I got it!" Mike exclaimed. Harvey's eyes looked up from the paper he was reading. "I got the smoking gun, yes!" Mike turned in a half circle while clapping his hands once. Aiden giggled and jumped up and down, thinking it was a game. Harvey smiled.
"Good job." He said patting the associate on the back. Aiden glare at his father and pulled on Mike's arm.
"My Uhcle Mai." Aiden reminded him angrily. Harvey rolled his eyes as Mike tried to hide his smile.
"What do you want me to do?" Mike asked him.
"Go file that while I get Barrington on the phone. Tomorrow we go in for the kill." Harvey said eagerly. Mike smirked.
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Mike retorted wistfully. Harvey punched his shoulder playfully, thankfully out of the critical gaze of his son.
"Okay Duvall, get going. I want it on my desk at eight tomorrow." Harvey ordered. Mike mock saluted and moved to go out the door. Aiden quickly stepped in front of him, stopping him with a whine. Mike smiled down at the toddler.
"I got to go now Aiden." Mike told him. Aiden shook his head fretfully.
"No go, no go, no go!" Aiden chanted loudly at Mike pulling on his pant leg frantically. He looked to Harvey for a little help.
Harvey sighed and squatted down. "Aiden, Mike will be around later." Harvey told the toddler. "He's coming to the house tonight."
"I am?…oh I am!" Mike retracted his question quickly upon seeing Harvey's face, that look that told Mike should go along with whatever he was being told. "Yeah buddy. I'll be around later." Mike promised again circling around him. Aiden wailed as Mike's back retreated down the hall. Harvey pulled him into his arms and rocked him gently, mentally reminding himself that the boy refused to take a nap today. He should be tired.
Harvey quickly wrapped up whatever he had left to do and took Aiden home where Aiden began his possessive assault on Harvey's ties. Harvey was murmuring to himself as he pulled the long silky accessories from the small piled Aiden collected them in. He was trying to get them back before the baby came back with whatever he was stealing now. "I leave you alone for one minute and you manage to take all of my ties." Harvey was in awe at the stubbornness of his child, he always was even though he knew exactly where the child got it from. Harvey was draping the ties on his arm neatly when he heard the loud slapping of Aiden's chubby feet against the floor as the toddler came back into his room, this time holding the foreign statue that was against the wall in the living room. The one he knew his mother would hate if she saw it. Aiden wailed loudly as he saw that his father was taking back his ties.
"No! Mine!" Aiden screamed as he came to his father. He dropped the statue, but thankfully because Aiden was very close to the ground, the statue just bobbed to the floor. Chubby little hands came to pull at the long pieces of fabric wound on Harvey's arm. Harvey took in a sharp breath as Aiden yelled. "Mine! My ties!" Aiden told his father. A swell of pride fostered in his heart as he heard Aiden correctly identify the neckwear but quelled it for another time.
"No Aiden. Daddy's, daddy's ties." Harvey told him firmly. Aiden squealed loudly and reached up to grab at the long ends. Harvey pulled his arm up enough that Aiden couldn't reach and grab the ties, further frustrating the baby. A knock at the door alerted Harvey to Mike's presence. He quickly grasped Aiden's hand and flew out of the room the toddler bounding along behind him. He opened the door to see the blonde putting up a fist to begin knocking again.
"Hi." Mike said brightly as Harvey stepped aside to let the associate in. Aiden immediately stopped pawing at his father when he spotted his current obsession in the room.
"Uhcle Mai!" Aiden cried out running, tripping over his own feet, then stood up at Mike's feet, his arms gripping around his knees causing the man to bend them to accommodate the clinging child. "Mine." Aiden said, giving his father a small glare over his shoulder. Harvey rolled his eyes and made his way into living room where he had placed some of the files he had been given before he went home. Mike followed behind slowly with the motions of a robot, Aiden still wrapped onto his legs. Mike sat on the couch and Aiden clambered into his lap, lying back against Mike's stomach and putting his thumb in his mouth, relaxing against Mike as if he were a lounge chair.
Harvey and Mike quietly worked, occasionally talking to each other about something in the files, but never touching. Aiden was quiet and not moving, still awake but content and Harvey was completely against disturbing the focus that he and Mike were in. Minutes ticked by and soon Mike felt his neck start to cramp and he lifted a hand to massage at the tense muscles.
"Geez, I've got to get a better reading position." Mike complained rolling his neck side to side to relieve the tension. Harvey glanced over at Mike and smirked.
"Sucks to be you." Harvey said lightly flipping a page over in the folder. Mike rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, the movement causing Aiden to snap out of his reverie and become aware of his surroundings. Mike smiled silently at the child, placating the baby that he would not be moved from his spot. Aiden flopped back onto Mike. Harvey shook his head amusedly. They continued to read for a little longer until Mike whooped in joy, displacing Aiden again.
"I got it! You little sneak I got you now!" Mike crowed loudly. Aiden babbled happily as Mike's smile grew. Harvey looked up, a lock of gelled hair falling from the coif into his eyes. Mike leaned over to Harvey and held the papers out to him and pointed to the statement that he found. Harvey placed a hand onto Mike's to still the trembling fingers. This was a bad idea on Harvey's part because at that moment Aiden decided to become possessive and his hand flew out to smack at Harvey's.
"Mine!" Aiden cried leaning forward mouth open. Quick as a flash, Harvey pulled his hand back just as Mike's moved forward and Aiden's little mouth closed around the thin flesh of Mike's fingers and bit down hard. The papers fell to the floor as Mike yelped and pulled his hand back to rub at the tender pained area. Harvey's eyes snapped between Aiden and Mike, not believing what just happened.
"Did you bite him?" Harvey asked Aiden. The boy could at least look guilty, Harvey thought as Aiden's nose turned up into the air defiantly. Harvey stood up quickly and pulled Aiden down off of Mike and stood him up. "You don't bite him! You don't bite people!" Harvey scolded. Aiden sniffed again and Harvey's anger incensed. He grasped at Aiden's hand and tugged him down the hall to his room and sat him on the bed. "This has to stop Aiden. You can't just bite people because you think they're intruding on your property." Harvey told his child firmly. "Mike is not yours. You can't have him."
"Mine!" Aiden yelled, reacting finally to Harvey's words.
"No, not yours. Now you stay in here. Time out." Harvey said standing up and moving to the door. Aiden ran behind him and tried to stop him after hearing the words 'time out' wailing with every step. Harvey placed a hand on Aiden's chest to stop him and pointed to the bed. "No, time out. Sit, on, that, bed." Harvey said, punching each word out of his throat. Aiden stamped on the floor angrily and cried out to his father as Harvey closed the door. Aiden banged his fists against the door and yelled loudly.
"No! No! Dada, dada!" Were just some of the things that were heard by both men outside. Mike had taken it upon himself to get ice out of the freezer and place it on his hand.
"Are you okay?" Harvey said, trying to speak loud enough to drown out the screams from his son's room. Mike lifted the ice, the skin underneath red from a combination of the cold block and the injury. There were purple indents in a semi-circular pattern, Aiden's teeth.
"It's fine, he didn't break the skin." Mike assured him. Harvey sighed and sat down on the couch, running his hands over his face. The screams were louder and more desperate. The sound was borderline screeching.
"I can't do this." Harvey said suddenly. Mike looked at him questioningly. "I can't fight with him anymore. He's stubborn as hell."
"If you don't do this, he'll be spoiled." Mike reminded him of the reason that Natalie gave to him weeks ago.
"I know," Harvey practically whined, "but he's…doing that. All the time. I can't listen to it anymore." Mike had seen Harvey in this position before, when Aiden was eight months old and had an ear ache coupled with a fever. Harvey was at the end of his rope.
"Harvey, he needs this, you need this. It's hard but you have to do it." Mike said gently. Harvey pressed the heel of his hands to his eyes, pushing them against the closed lids as he continued to hear the sniveling sobs from down the hall. Harvey's heart broke hearing it. Shattered into pieces as Aiden cried in the room. Mike's presence grounded him from going back into the room and stopping the process of giving the boy a time out. It was the longest few minutes of Harvey's life. Finally it was over and Harvey moved into the room gesturing for Mike to follow. The two men came to the door where they could still hear Aiden's screams and cries as the door opened. Aiden was standing in the middle of the room his face wet and red from the exertion of his wailing. His voice was rough from the terrible screams that finally diminished when Harvey opened the door. Harvey strode over to Aiden with all the poise and calm that could be seen any other day when the lawyer would go into a conference room and close multi-million dollar deals. Harvey stooped to Aiden's height and looked into the red-rimmed, glassy brown eyes, tears still falling down the rounded cheeks and body heaving heavy breaths.
"Aiden." Harvey called, capturing the toddler's attention. Aiden sniffed and ran a hand over his leaking nose. "I put you in time out because you bit Mike. You need to say sorry to Mike." He turned Aiden to the blonde man who knelt down on the floor as the boy toddled over.
"I sowwy." Aiden said tearfully giving Mike a hug. Mike hugged back and whispered into Aiden's hair.
"It's okay Aiden." Mike turned the boy back to his father.
"I sowwy dada." Aiden said hugging the older man tightly. Harvey was taken aback by this because Aiden usually had to be prompted to apologize, as was typical at that age. Harvey wrapped his arms around the baby and kissed his temple.
"It's okay baby. I love you." Harvey told him lowly.
"Wub you dada." Aiden said back. Harvey squeezed the little body tighter to him as he fought back his own tears.
That was the break they needed. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Aiden suddenly started to get it and was getting better at sharing as well as letting his possessive nature recede. Yes they finally made some headway.
It also helped that the child wasn't able to speak for three days due to a self-inflicted bout of laryngitis caused by the fitful screaming match he had with Harvey that night that forced him to listen to everything Harvey said without interruption, but Harvey would never admit that it was the most helpful event of them all.
Hope you all enjoyed. Next chapter we return with a teen!Aiden learning how to drive. I want to hear your requests. I have another 25 chapters worth of prompts but I can always use more.
On another note. As I finish writing one story, I tend to begin another. There has been one plot bunny raging around my head and I blame the Suits meme for it. So I have here the premise for this story. I would like to know if you would be interested in reading it or if I should just scrap it.
The prompt on livejournal went like this:
"Harvey Specter is The Spirit." So I ran with this premise:
"The Spirit's body never dies; he just continues to live on. The city changes and people around him start to die including Ellen and the Commissioner Dolan. Sand never comes back, and The Spirit is all alone. Years pass and he forms a new moniker for himself; Harvey Specter. The Spirit becomes a shadow in the night, never really pursued by anyone but still fights crime as he did all those years ago. He is a colder womanizer now and projects this into his alternate persona and is just waiting to die eventually.
On another note, Silken Floss waits for the Spirit to emerge, but never finds him. She starts to worry so she is also granted immortality, or whatever The Spirit has. She figures out a way to duplicate the serum that The Octopus used on himself and Denny Colt by extracting it from the finger she took from the scene that night. As she waits she gains multiple PhD's thanks to her eidetic memory but needs a way to blend in with the rest of the world. So she also creates an alternate identity; Michael Ross."
For some reason I think of Mike as a pretty girl (as evidenced by my other story). It would still technically kinda be a Mike/Harvey story, only with The Spirit/Silken Floss (because that kiss should've totally lasted more than a second in the movie).
If you actually made it to the end of this note, I implore you to give me your opinion. I have three chapters written but I could stop at any time if this doesn't make sense to you.
KatrinaKaiba