Chapter 11.

He woke up from pain. It was radiating from his chest. It had happened a few times now so he didn't really freak out. Mostly he felt annoyed because it meant that he would have to get up out of bed to find some painkillers or something, otherwise he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. He looked at the time and saw that he only had been sleeping for about three hours. He rubbed his chest in effort to ease the pain, but it didn't help, of course. He groaned a bit and sat up and pushed the cover away. It was dark in the condo, and he fumbled a bit in the darkness until he found a light switch.

All the medication he was taking was lined up on the kitchen counter. Harvey must have done that yesterday. The last time he remember seeing them they had been in his bag. He found the right bottle, and swallowed the pills with some tap water.

It was going to take a while for the pills to take effect. He wished they would just knock him out right away. That would be better, because now he was alone and it was dark and empty. His whole chest was aching, mostly it was from the physical pain.

He wished he could go and wake up Harvey, but it would be to embarrassing. It wasn't like he needed help with anything. He just felt really lonely, and that was an awful feeling. If he only had someone that he could call. It was probably not a good idea to call Donna. It was too fresh for her. She would probably get really worried, and besides, she was most certainly sleeping.

He lay back down on the couch, but left the light on. He didn't think he could handle to lay there in the dark. He found that if he took a pillow and shoved it under his chest and lay on it, it didn't hurt as much.

He didn't know how long he was lying there before the pain eased and he was able to fall asleep again.

– SUITS –

Harvey woke up by his alarm the next morning. He got dressed and walked out into the living room, where he found Mike sleeping on his stomach. The light was on in the room which told him that Mike had been up during the night since he remembered turning it off. He looked around and didn't notice anything else out of the ordinary. He let the kid continue sleeping. He didn't look so good.

After a while he couldn't wait any longer for Mike to wake up, he had a meeting this morning. He tried calling his name from his spot at the table, but the kid didn't stir. He went over and lightly shook Mike's shoulder.

"Mike, wake up."

He did, groaning and turned around on his back. He startled a bit when he noticed that Harvey was leaning over him, making Harvey smirk.

"Get up. We are leaving in 30 minutes." he said and went back to the table. He discreetly watched as Mike clumsily sat up, making both the cover and pillow falling to the floor. He didn't bother to pick it up, he just sat there with his head in his hands.

"You good for work?" Harvey asked.

Mike answered after a moment as if he was assessing himself.

"Yeah…I'm good." He finally said, and got up from the couch and went over to the table. He sat down and just sat there staring down at the table. Harvey sighed to himself and took a bowl and poured milk and cereals in it, and then pushed it in front of Mike.

"Thanks."

Mike was just sitting there five minutes later. He hadn't touched his breakfast.

"You have to eat. We are not leaving until you finished that." Harvey threatened and stood up to go and get dressed. He cursed inwardly to himself. He sounded like a soccer mum.

When he came back Mike had finished haft of the bowl and left the rest. He could hear the shower running and sat down on the couch and waited. Mike took his time and when they finally was in the car he was late for his meeting. He hadn't said anything as Mike had slowly gotten dressed and without a word followed him downstairs. Now the kid was just sitting there next to him, listlessly staring out of the window. He thought that he probably should say something to Mike, but he didn't really know what. Normally it was Mike who filled the silence, not him. And right now, Mike didn't look like he had anything to say.

"You know if you're not up for this, you can go home." Harvey said as he patiently waited for Mike to get out of the car.

"No, I'm good Harvey."

"Yeah, I can tell."

Mike sighed and walked passed him. "Just leave me alone." He said quietly.

Harvey rolled his eyes and decided to do just that. At least for now. It was not like he took it lightly, the way Mike behaved towards him, but at the moment he didn't think that Mike would be able to handle it if he told him off.

Mike had decided that he wanted to work at his own desk, so Harvey let him. He had given Mike a few files and the kid came by later to hand them back to him. They talked a bit about the case and Mike seemed to feel better.

Later that afternoon it was time for Mike to head over to the hospital, Donna was getting ready to accompany him.

"Mike, it's time to leave." Harvey nodded towards the door. Mike looked up at him and suddenly his expression changed. For a moment Harvey thought that he was about to cry, before he managed to pull himself together.

"Yeah sure. I had almost forgotten for a while." He said. He began to walk towards the door, but stopped before he reached it. "Hey Harvey?" he asked. "Can I crash at your place again?" He asked hesitantly.

"See you tonight." Harvey nodded.

"Sweet!"

– SUITS –

"You ready to go Mike?"

"Yeah, Donna. Let's go."

Ray drove them to the hospital. The driver didn't comment when Donna gave him the address, and Mike didn't know if he knew what was going on, if Harvey had told him anything or not. He was satisfied with just the kind looks he gave him. Some day he would let him know what was going on.

"This is my… my friend Donna Paulsen." Mike hesitantly introduced Donna to his doctor at his office. The two of them shock hands.

"Good to meet you. It is nice to meet more of Mike's friends. Should we get started Mike?"

After that the routine that he was kind of used to by now followed. A quick talk with his doctor, the checkups before his chemo was more extensive than usual because of his little experience the previous day. It took longer than usual also because Donna kept asking questions about everything. Mike almost wanted to ask her to stop, but didn't. She would probably just get upset with him, so he let her. The nurses was patient as well.

They were left alone when Mike was hooked up on the IV drip that delivered the drugs that were supposed to help his body fight. Donna was on a chair next to him. They were both silent, and as Mike observed Donna, she looked to be in deep thought.

"You okay?" he quietly asked her. He looked up and smiled at him.

"Of course I am. How are you feeling? Are you nauseated yet?"

"No, not yet. I'm good."

"Let me know if it is something I can do for you Mike."

He smiled gratefully at her, and nodded. It was nothing else she could do. She really had been doing so much for him already.

"I'm fine Donna. We'll just have to wait for a while now, until this is finished." He mentioned to the IV. She nodded back to him and settled in more in her chair.

"Alright. What do you normally do here then, while you wait? It's not very uplifting here." She glanced around and wrinkled her nose at the yellow curtains.

"I don't know. Mostly I just sleep."

"I can understand that." She took a closer look at him. "Do you want to sleep now?"

"No, I'm okay. Why don't you entertain me?"

"I will do my best. Now, where should I start?"

Mike ended up having the nicest chemo therapy session he had so far. Donna did entertain him during the whole session. She told him stories about when she first started working for Harvey, about a few memorable cases they had worked but she also told him about her family and of her growing up. The time passed quickly, and soon they were in a cab on their way to Harvey's place.

Donna ushered him inside and sat him down at the table and fed him. After that she made him go and sleep on the couch. He followed her directions and did whatever she asked him to do. He believed that it was good for both of them. He really felt taken care of, which was a nice feeling. With her he didn't have to think how it would be perceived if he admitted that he was tired, he didn't have to pretend with her, not as he felt like he wanted to do with Harvey. But at the same time, he kind of wished that Harvey would have been there as well.

He woke up a few hours later. The condo was held in darkness except for a lamp over the kitchen island. He could hear talking. Apparently Harvey had come home. He couldn't hear what they were saying. He laid there on the couch for a moment to collect himself. He didn't feel good, but that was expected. He guessed he did best to not move too much at the moment. He just laid there for a while, doing his best to fall back to sleep. It didn't really work that well, he felt too nauseous. Suddenly Donna was standing at the edge of the couch.

"I knew you were awake sweetie! How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Oh, well you know. If I don't move an inch I'm fine."

"But Mike, you should probably eat something, you barely had any dinner. How would you feel if you came to the kitchen for a bit?"

He groaned. "Donna, there is a reason I'm fine when I stay still."

"Yeah, and you don't want to know what that is!" Harvey helpfully called from the kitchen.

"So I take it that you are not feeling too good then." She sat down somewhere close to his head. He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Not really no."

When she didn't say anything he quietly added "I'm really nauseous."

"Okay." She said quietly and touched his arm. "I hope it will get better soon. I will leave you to get some more rest.

He was left alone after that. He tried to sleep some but it didn't really work, he felt too bad. He lasted about an hour before he needed to make a visit to the bathroom, and quick. He struggled upright and stumbled over there as fast as he could. He managed to get there in time, and after violently heaving into the toilet he decided he better stay there.

The next few hours passed in a blur for Mike. He felt so bad, and it wouldn't ease up, no matter what he did. He tried laying down on the cold tile floor, but got to cold. Donna wrapped him in a towel, but it didn't really help. She was there the whole time. That, he was aware of. She stroke his back as he threw up, gave him water to rinse his mouth after he was done and sat next to him and talked quietly in between the bouts.

Harvey was there some times as well, but mostly it was just Donna. Mike didn't say much, he was too exhausted, and otherwise occupied. He really appreciated that they were there though. It made the whole thing a bit more bearable.

– SUITS –

Mike had been sick for almost four hours by now. It was getting really late, and Donna was still in the bathroom with the kid. She had had a long day. There had been a lot for her to take in and Harvey felt that she deserved a break at this point. He didn't want her to get too run down on her first day of knowing of Mike's cancer. She had gotten a rough start.

He headed over to the bathroom. Donna was standing by the sink wetting some fresh towels. Harvey had kept away pretty much the whole night. Not because he didn't want to be there for the kid, he didn't mind at all, be he felt like Donna was handling it excellent by herself. It was no point in both of them being there. It would be too crowded.

"Look Donna, you can head home now if you like. I will…" He called out to her, but didn't get further than that before she interrupted him.

"No, Harvey. I'm not going to leave. Not with him like this! He can barely sit up by himself."

"I know Donna, I can handle him."

"Handle him? That is exactly why I'm staying. I'm not going to let you handle him, I'm going to take care of him." And with that she turned her back against Harvey and went back into the bathroom and sat down on the floor next to Mike. Harvey stood for a while watching them. Mike was sweaty and pale where he was leaning against the wall next to the toilet. He was shaking a bit, and kept his eyes tightly shut. Harvey wanted to protest to Donna's comment. He did take care of the kid. Mike had allowed Donna to take his hand in hers. In fact he was holding on to her just as tightly as she did.

She looked tired and older than usual. She was also wearing pants which was strange to see her in. If Mike would have been more lucid he would have commented on it, most likely complimented her on them.

It was not until almost four in the morning that they managed to move Mike over to the couch. He did his best to get there by himself, but Donna refused to let go of his arm.

"I'm not going to be responsible for you to trip over your own feet and break your arm." She told him. Mike did stumble exactly ten seconds after she said it, and if Harvey hadn't been close by he would have fallen. He didn't protest after that. Just quietly did what Donna ordered him to do.

Mike was asleep moments after Donna had covered him with a blanket, and Harvey wished he could do the same. It had been a long night.

"Why don't you take my bed?" He suggested. "I'll just sleep in here."

"You sure? I can call a cab."

"It's four in the morning. Take my bed."

She did, and Harvey settled down in a chair across from Mike. He really should get a guest bed. If Mike staying over at his place was going to be a regular occurrence he really needed one. His couch wasn't that comfortable. His chair certainly wasn't.

Harvey was exhausted enough to fall asleep despite the chairs and got a few hours of rest. Mike didn't wake up during the night, which was good for all of them.

Harvey woke to the smell of coffee. For a while he was confused, until he realized that Donna had stayed over. He stretched himself out a bit. His neck was really stiff. He got up and froze for a moment as he tipped over an empty glass that was standing to close to the edge of the coffee table. Luckily Mike didn't wake.

"You slept well?" Donna asked him as he sat down by the kitchen isle.

"You are really asking me that?"

"Your bedroom sure has a nice view."

"I take it you slept better than me than."

"How is Mike?" She asked, changing the subject.

"He is asleep."

"Yeah I can see that. Did he wake up during the night?"

"No, you would probably have known if he had."

She absentmindedly nodded and looked over to where Mike was. Suddenly she looked close to tears.

"Hey Donna, he is okay now."

"He wasn't yesterday Harvey."

"He will feel better today."

"I hope so. You are not bringing him to the office are you?"

"I don't think he is going to be that useful today."

"Harvey!"

"No, I'm not bring him to work...He probably wants to come though."

"Well, he is not. He needs to rest."

"I'm not opposing to that, but he will."

"I'll make sure he rests." She said determined. Harvey believed her.

He was right though, Mike did protest when he eventually woke up. He claimed he was fine and he could absolutely come with Harvey. He said that he was too behind with his workload to stay home and rest, this was when Donna countered with the fact that "Harvey will do that for you!"

"He will?" Harvey and Mike questioned at the same time. "All right, I guess I can stay at home and rest then." Mike smirked.

"Good." Donna said, and it was settled. Harvey did complain during the whole car ride to the office.

Mike decided that he wanted to head home to his place, so they dropped him off on the way. It was not exactly on the way, but close enough. Donna had wanted to come with Mike inside, but he managed to assure her that he was fine. They didn't leave until he was out of sight.

– SUITS –

Mike stopped just inside of the door and leaned against it. He hadn't been here for some days now. He didn't really know why he had decided that he wanted to come here. Partly it was because he felt like he couldn't stay at Harvey's place forever. He should probably go home sometimes, and today had felt like a good time. Not that he wanted to be alone, but he thought he should be able to. But now, as he stood there alone in his apartment, he was tempted to call Harvey and Donna back and go with them.

He didn't though. He ended up on his couch watching TV. He had a couple of files that he looked through as well. The day past slowly, he slept some, took calls from Donna and cooked and ate dinner.

The night was pretty bad for him, at least emotionally. He laid awake for hours before he could sleep.

The next few days passed slowly. He went to the office and also to the hospital. Donna was with him one more time. He started to notice how she was making some changes at the office. She found out about all of his hospital visits, his medication and made sure he was fed. She would come and ask him how he was doing, took him to lunch and made sure he took his meds.

These few days he felt pretty good. He didn't have any complications or symptoms which was nice. On the other hand he felt like he was just walking around waiting for something bad to happen. And it did.

Lately he had had some trouble with keeping up with his workload, even though Harvey had lessened it. The problem was that Harvey wasn't the only one who would give him things to do, Louis did as well. Mike had been doing his best to avoid Louis as much as he could. Luckily for him Louis had been busy with a big case that forced him to spend some time overseas, so he hadn't been around that much. That was a plus for Mike, because it meant that Louis hadn't noticed yet that something was wrong with him. Mike had been worried about it, and it seemed that now when Louis's case was over with it wouldn't take long until he started dumping files on Mike. So far he had been able to keep up, but by now the files were starting to pile up on his desk.

That morning Louis had been by his cubicle and told him that he needed Mike to proof some briefs and have it done before lunch. Mike, that was having a bad day and had a ton of work to do for Harvey, had to stop himself from snapping at the man. He was tired and his chest was aching. He had only slept a few hours the day before and when he woke up that morning he could feel that it was not going to be a good day.

– SUITS –

Harvey looked up from his computer at the careful knock on his door. Mike was standing in the door way with a pained expression on his face. He was leaning against the glass wall and one hand was pressed against his chest. Harvey sighed a bit.

"You okay?" he asked. Of course he wasn't, by the look of him. He gave Donna a glance behind Mike's back, and she shook her head. She obviously agreed with his assessment.

"Not really." Mike answered, surprisingly honest. "My chest hurts like hell." He said, and without waiting for Harvey's reply he stumbled over to the couch and sank down on it. "I thought that I would just hang out here for a while." He patted the couch. "I need to hide."

"Yeah you go ahead." Harvey said, and gestured to Mike that he could lay down. "What are you hiding from?"

"Louis. He is crazy. He wants me to proof like a hundred briefs before lunch." Mike groaned as he made himself comfortable on the couch. He was on his side, with both arms pressed against his chest.

"Did you say you would do them?"

"No, I said that I had too much to do for you, but he left them for me anyway." He groaned again and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, well… Donna will fend him off for you for a while." Harvey said absentmindedly and turned his attention back to his computer.

"I'm on it." They heard from Donna.

Mike had been dozing on his couch for about two hours when Louis stepped into his office. Harvey glanced pass him, and yes, Donna was not at her desk.

"You waited until she had to use the restroom?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I'm looking for Mike." He only then seemed to notice that Mike was on the couch. "What the hell is he doing?" He questioned, turned to Harvey.

Harvey looked over at Mike, who was stiffly trying to sit up.

"That's none of your business Louis. He is doing work for me."

"Yeah, I can see that he is being very productive." Louis said sarcastically. Harvey stood up, he could see that Mike was about to protest.

"Louis." He said as a warning.

"I was going to do them now." Mike said weakly.

"You haven't done them? I told you to have them ready now." Louis stepped up in front of Mike so close that he couldn't stand up. "This behavior is unacceptable at this firm. You are taking a nap instead of working on what I assigned you? You know I could take this up with Jessica."

"Louis that's enough!" Harvey interrupted.

"Harvey, don't you think I'm aware of his recent job performance. Or rather lack of it. He is getting even more useless than he was before."

"I said that's enough!"

Mike was staring down at the floor, saying nothing. Louis was finally shutting up.

"Are those the briefs?" Harvey pointed at the papers in Louis' hand. Louis glared at Mike who hadn't moved. "Is it?"

"Yeah. But he is…"

Before he could say anything else Harvey snatched the file from his hand.

"They will get done. Now get the hell out of my office."

Louis looked like he was going to say something, but at the look Harvey gave him he started to leave.

"I expect them in two hours." He said.

"The door is right there."

Harvey stood and watched him leave. Donna passed him on her way back, and came up to the door way.

"He waited until I left?" She asked.

"Probably waited an hour."

"Harvey?" She nodded towards the couch and Mike. The kid was in the same position as before with his head bowed down. Harvey nodded, and Donna quietly closed the door. He went over and sat down in front of Mike.

"Mike?" He drew a breath before continuing. "What Louis said is not true. You know that right? He doesn't know what's going on here."

"Yeah…"

"Hey, come on. Look at me." He did. He looked sad. Harvey knew that he probably took what Louis had said too much to his heart. He had a hand pressed against his chest.

"That hurts?" He pointed at Mike's chest.

"Yeah…"

Harvey nodded and stood up. Louis briefs was on his desk.

"Why don't you lay down and get some rest? Donna is bring you your painkillers." He had seen how she had left a minute ago.

Mike did what he asked without a word and laid down. Donna came in a minute later with the kid's pills and a water bottle. She gave them both to Mike, talked to him a bit and then left him to sleep on the couch. It looked like he did fall asleep a bit later, at least he had his eyes closed. He had a pained expression on his face. Once in a while his body twitched a bit before relaxing again.

Harvey left him alone. He wanted to do something, but decided to let the kid be for now. He should take him home. Later maybe. But it didn't seem like Mike was getting any better. An hour later Harvey had enough.

"Mike, that's enough now. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"But I have taken the pain pills…" he protested, as Harvey had been prepared for that he would.

"Yes, you have, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Does it?"

No answer.

"Mike? Does it?"

"No, okay!"

"Okay." Harvey stood up. "Let's go." He walked over to the door as Mike started to get up.

"Donna, will you call Ray?"

Mike was still struggling.

"Can you even walk by yourself?"

"Yes I can. Shut up." Mike groaned. A fine layer of sweat was covering his forehead. He was pale and a little shaky. It looked like it took him a lot of effort just to remain standing.

"I don't think I need to go to the hospital Harvey." He whined.

"He is downstairs in a few minutes." Donna called.

"It's not up for argument. You can barely stand." Harvey took hold of his arm and practically dragged the kid down to the waiting car. Mike didn't say another word to him. Just followed him. In the car he folded forwards as far as he could and leaned against the seat in front of him with closed eyes.

Mike was seen to pretty quickly at the hospital, and Harvey was made to wait in a waiting room. He made a call to Donna, and then waited.

When he was allowed back to a room to see Mike, the kid was agitated and worried. His eyes kept flickering around in the room and he didn't seem to be able to focus on anything. At least he wasn't in pain anymore. Harvey awkwardly sat down next to him and tried to talk to him. He eventually grabbed his shoulder and called his name.

"Mike, come on? You even here?"

"What?" Mike's flickering eyes briefly met his. "Harvey?"

"Yep."

"They…They stabbed me." He whispered and leaned closer to Harvey, and looked fearfully towards the door.

"What? No, they didn't stab you. They injected you."

"That's the same!"

"No, that's not the same."

"It hurt Harvey!"

"Stop whining. They were helping you."

"I'm not whining!" Harvey just raised an eye brow.

"I'm not…" Mike laid back and stared up at the ceiling. He sighed. "I kind of am, aren't I? Shit. What's happening?"

"I think they drugged you pretty good."

"Yeah I guess they did. I feel kind of good now though. A bit weird. How long have we been here?"

"About an hour."

"Oh. When can we leave?"

"As soon as you are more lucid."

"I'm lucid now. We can go." He attempted to sit up, but Harvey stopped him.

"Let's wait for your doctor."

"Mmm…But it is so boring."

"What would you rather do then? You get to lay down on the office hours, you should feel happy."

Harvey earned himself a glare. "Yes, I'm very happy Harvey. This is great."

They got to leave about an hour later. Mike was grumpy after a bunch of tests he had had to endure. Harvey was kind of annoyed with him, but did his best to ignore him. They went back to the office.

– SUITS –

At the office Donna was had been waiting for Mike and Harvey to return. Harvey had called her and given her an update about Mike and some work related instructions.

Mike had looked very bad when he had been laying there on the couch, and she had felt very worried about him. She had wanted to go in and do something, but Harvey had shaken his head towards her and she got what he meant. Mike looked like he had been in a lot of pain, and she really thought that Harvey had made the right choice in bringing the kid to the hospital. She was relieved that he was getting help.

"Donna? Where is Harvey and Mike? The office is empty." Louis was standing next to her desk.

"Don't you think I know that Louis?"

"Of course I thought you knew it was empty Donna, where are they? I left work for Mike that I need now."

"You mean these?" She slapped the finished files down next to his hands on her desk.

"Well…Yes." He took them and searched through them. "Who finished this? Did Mike do them?"

"Does it really matter who did them Louis? They are done aren't they?"

She stood up and went around him. "Excuse me." She left him standing there.

– SUITS –