Beating the odds

by LioSky

Something was going on with Mike, and it wasn't anything good. He felt it, and Harvey had noticed it. It was not like it was the first time either. But this time it was nothing that either of them could control. As it turns out Mike is sick, really sick. He is going to need help, and a lot of it.

43. Chapter 43 - Dinner

Chapter 43.

It was hard to open his eyes. It shouldn't be like that. It wasn't supposed to be hard to open your own eyes. That was just weird. When he managed he blinked a few times to get use to the light, his eyes felt too dry and sticky.

When he was a bit more aware of himself he pushed the blanket that was covering him away. He was so warm! It didn't help much at all and he weakly pulled at his shirt, wishing he could remove that too. As he moved his arms the IV that he was connected to was stretched uncomfortably and pulled at his skin.

His head was spinning and his mouth felt incredibly dry. He took a few deep breaths, at least as deep as he could because it kind of hurt. He felt sore and sweaty. Just uncomfortable in his own body. And where was he? His brain felt too slow, like he wanted to think faster, but his brain couldn't follow. He glanced around the room. He was at the hospital of course. He didn't want to be there. He knew that much. Why did he have to be there all the time? He didn't like it at the hospital. And he had been alone. Harvey hadn't been there! He felt really anxious at once and leaned his head to the side and there, Harvey was there! He was stretched out on a cot to the left of him. He was sleeping.

"Harvey?" He said and winced. It hurt to talk. He couldn't remember why. He tried again though, because Harvey hadn't woken up yet. He did this time. Mike watched how he blinked a few time to then turn towards Mike and sit up.

"Hi kid," Harvey stood up and walked closer to him. "How are you feeling Mike? You doing better?"

Mike shook his head. He didn't feel better.

"Oh really? That's too bad." Harvey sighed a little but he was smiling. Mike didn't know what was funny.

"Well, you do look better. I'll just let them know that you are awake."

Mike didn't say anything as Harvey pushed the call button. In now time a nurse was there and Mike didn't like that at all. He wanted him to go again, but the nurse insisted on asking him all these questions. Mike answered them in hopes of getting to be left alone. He did after a while, with the promise of a visit by his doctor in the next hours.

"So, at least your fever is down a bit." Harvey said. "That's really good news Mike."

"I want it gone all together." Mike complained. "I want to go home."

"I know Mike." Harvey said in a tone that sounded like he had said it a hundred times. Maybe he had. It was all a bit fuzzy.

"When did you get here?" He asked.

"Yesterday." Harvey answered.

"Where were you before? Why weren't you here?"

"I wanted to be here Mike, but I couldn't."

"Why not? Where you working?"

"I was sick, I had a cold and they didn't want me to infect you with it. So I had to stay away for a few days."

"You were sick?" Mike look at Harvey with disbelief. "What about me? I was sick too! I am sick. You said you were going to be here. You weren't. I was alone."

"Mike you have to understand why I wasn't here. I couldn't expose you to anything else. You immune system is weak as it is…"

Mike didn't want to listen. He didn't care about all of that. What he cared about was the fact that he had been looking for Harvey, wondering where he was and thinking all these things. He remembered dimly times when he had called out for Harvey, waiting for him to come. He hadn't been able to understand why he wasn't there. He had been absolutely miserable and he had been alone. He remembered with some embarrassment that he had been crying, he might even had screamed for Harvey to come. But he hadn't.

"You weren't here! I can't believe you weren't here! I wanted… I needed help." He finished feeling his emotion range widely during just those simple sentences.

"I know, I'm sorry Mike." Harvey said then, stopping Mike's ranting. He couldn't continue because Harvey sounded sad.

"Yeah…okay." He said instead. "I just…I just…I didn't know."

"I told you Mike."

"But I, I can't remember. It's all…I don't know. But Harvey, I don't remember you telling me that."

"It's okay. You had a high fever, that's why."

"Yeah, okay. So you wanted to be here?" He swallowed hard and glanced up at Harvey. He just had to ask.

"Of course kid." Harvey smiled and lightly punched his arm. "But you know, even I can't be a hundred percent all the time."

"Really? You are admitting a flaw?"

"What? I am human."

Mike smiled tiredly. "I know Harvey."

Harvey shook his head at him and sat down on a chair. He yawned and rubbed his face a bit. "You know you had me kind of worried there for a second. You were totally out of it."

"Shit. What did I do?" He asked, but just as Harvey was about to start telling him he changed his mind. "You know what, I don't think I want to know." He said.

Harvey nodded a bit. "No, you probably won't. It wasn't pretty. It was terrible actually, Mike. You were…"

"I said I didn't want to know, Harvey." Mike groaned.

"Fine."

They left it at that and Mike was grateful. He didn't want to think about how he had been behaving. What he did remember wasn't that pleasant to think about. He had been out of it, desperate, scared and felt really bad. Now he felt marginally better. After his doctors visit things got even better. He got to change clothes and got rid of one of the IV:s, if he agreed to try and eat something.

The day passed like that. Harvey stayed with him the entire time. It was just the two of them, since Harvey had called Donna and told her to just rest. "I got this" he had said on the phone, and Mike wasn't sure if he appreciated to be that it, that he referred to.

The next day his fever was even lower. It was great to not feel as warm as before and not as dizzy. However it wasn't like he felt good. He hadn't been out of bed yet. He could sit up now though which was a nice change. But he was sick, he couldn't deny that. Not that he had, but he was realizing it in a different way.

It was strange to be this sick, because Mike really felt sick at this point. Sure, he had felt sick before too but this was somehow different. If someone had asked him to explain he wasn't sure that he would be able to, but it was just different now. He could feel it in all of his body. He was so weak and shaky all the time. Sitting up without any kind of back support wasn't an option. He could do it, but only for minutes at the time. His doctor had told him that he would get better soon though. Mike wasn't sure he believed that when they had him trying to walk some.

"You can do this!" His nurse Amanda was saying. "You really need to get your muscles working again. You have been in bed far too long." He wanted to argue with her that he really hadn't had much choice in the matter, but was pretty sure she already knew that.

He was sitting on the side of the bed with machines and all connected to some metal pole on wheels, next to him. Harvey was on one side and Nurse Amanda on his other side. They let him lay his arms around their shoulders and he prepared himself for the task of standing. Harvey had a tight grip around his back.

"Come Mike, just try." He said.

He did try and carefully put weight on his legs. He stood shakily for a few seconds.

"Good job! And now try a few steps."

He managed four steps before his knees buckled.

"Oops. Okay." Harvey grunted as he basically took all of Mike's weight. "Where to?" He asked the nurse.

"Back to bed."

They moved him back and sat him down.

"That was really good Mike. I'll give you a few minutes and then we can try again."

"No, I think that was enough." Mike said, a bit out of breath. He was panting.

"We'll see. I'll be back soon." She disappeared out the door leaving Harvey and Mike alone.

"That was good work Mike." Harvey said encouragingly. Mike rolled his eyes at him.

"Are you kidding? I suck. I took four steps Harvey!"

"Come on, give yourself a break. You haven't exactly been in any walking condition for quite some time now. Four steps are better than none."

Mike just glared at him, not convinced. He felt pretty pathetic and also angry at himself, at his weak body. Amanda soon returned, checked his values and approved for another try at walking. He managed a few more steps this time and fell asleep as soon as he was allowed to. He had actually been exhausted.

Donna was there when he woke up again and Harvey was nowhere to be seen. He coughed a bit and that got her attention.

"Oh hi sweetie. You are finally awake."

"Hey Donna." He smiled at her.

"Harvey went to get something to eat. And hopefully he will go home and take a shower. He needed one." She blinked at him. "So, how are you doing Mike?"

"I'm good. I was out of bed today for the first time in like forever."

"Yes, Harvey said that you were walking. That's great news Mike."

"Four steps and then I was half dead."

"It's still great Mike."

"Thanks." He didn't want to argue anymore with her. "So how are you? How is the office?"

"I'm good. And the office is empty. We all miss you there."

Mike got quite. It felt like it was a long time ago since he had been to the office. He did miss it at some extent. But he also knew that he wouldn't be able to work at this point. He wondered if he ever would again. That thought made him feel sad, and he looked at Donna for a distraction. He didn't want to be sad anymore, he had felt that enough.

"Do you want the latest news then?" She didn't wait for answer. "You know Louis is thinking of getting a new secretary. Norma told him to shut up the other day, with right of course, so now he is trying to find a way to fire her that would be legal. It's doomed to fail of course, but it is pretty hilarious."

"Yeah…"

"Oh yes. Louis says hi to you as well, he wanted to come and see you."

Mike smirked. "Tell him to bring Norma."

"Oh I will." She laughed. "I have some gifts for you." She reached for her bag. "This is actually from Louis."

"What is that?"

"You are supposed to eat it. It's healthy."

"Eh…okay."

"You should try it."

"Maybe some other time."

Mike and Donna had a quiet afternoon together. Mike always enjoyed Donna's company. She ended up staying the rest of the day. Harvey arrived late at night and settled on the narrow cot by the wall.

"I'm exhausted." He yawned and was asleep before Mike. Mike found himself just laying there watching Harvey sleep until his eyes grew heavy.

A couple of slow days passed like that. He was starting to feel a bit better, the fever went away after a few days and his emotional state improved as well. He had some visits from people at the office, Louis, Rachel and even Jessica stopped by. It was a nice change to his days that mostly consisted of sleeping, watching TV and exams or tests. Harvey and Donna kept him company most of the time so he wasn't that much alone. But those times when he was he felt pretty okay with it.

However he did have another problem. He just couldn't eat. He knew that he was starting to worry both Harvey and Donna, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. He just couldn't eat. He didn't have an appetite what so ever, and everything tasted the same. Food just grew in his mouth, and the texture of it felt so bad that he just wanted to spit everything out as soon as it got into his mouth. Sometimes he even felt like puking even before he put the food in his mouth. The fact that it was standard hospital food didn't help much. Donna insisted that the food he was given was healthy and would help him get all the nutrients that he needed apparently. And Harvey said that he thought that it looked fine and that he shouldn't complain. He knew that they were trying to help or something but he honestly wished they would just leave him alone.

"Mike have you eaten?" Harvey asked almost as soon as he stepped in to Mike's room in the early afternoon. Harvey had been at the office for a few hours so Mike had been alone.

"Mmm…"

"What kind of answer it that? Did you eat or not?"

"I'm not hungry."

"You weren't hungry at breakfast either. You have to eat you know that."

"Well, I don't feel like it. Stop telling me what to do."

"I'm telling you all I want since you obviously don't know what's best for you."

Mike just glared at him and chose to ignore the older man. It wasn't Harvey's business whether he ate or not.

He wasn't going to eat. He couldn't. Mike knew that he should, of course he knew that he should eat, but him knowing that didn't help one bit.

– SUITS –

"You have to eat." It was the later that day, and Mike's dinner tray remains untouched.

"I will, later."

"You barely ate any lunch and you didn't have any breakfast Mike."

"I wasn't hungry."

Harvey sighed. He was starting to feel like a broken record. And frankly he was a bit annoyed at Mike. It was always the same now. He wasn't hungry, it didn't taste good, he didn't like that, he felt nauseous. The kid didn't run out of excuses. But not eating wasn't going to help Mike at all and Harvey couldn't understand why Mike didn't understand that himself. Because Harvey had explained it to him more than once, so had Mike's doctor. But Mike still wouldn't eat. When did you have to start to worry? He had managed to get him to eat parts of his lunch after some arguing. He kind of had wanted to scream at the kid at that point.

Mike was fever free by now, but still wasn't allowed home, and that was partly because he wouldn't eat. Harvey just wished that he would. He was kind of sick of the hospital himself and thought that Mike would be too by now.

Donna had also tried to get him to eat, but it hadn't worked that well either. Harvey had walked in the room whilst Donna and Mike had been talking about it. Mike had a lunch tray in front of him.

"How do you know if you don't try it."

"I know! Look at it!"

"Yes I am. It looks good Mike." Donna cheerfully said.

"No it doesn't. It looks like shit."

"It's perfectly fine." Donna said unfazed. "At least have a few bites." Donna's voice stern this time.

"No, not now." Mike dared to say, so Harvey decided to step in.

"Mike you have to eat. If you don't eat you will only get worse and they will never let you leave then."

"What, you too now?" Mike grumbled.

"Yes, me too. Seriously Mike, just eat your god damn food!"

"Harvey." Donna warned.

"Shut up." Mike said.

"No, how hard can it be? Just eat! That's literally all you have to do at the moment. Rest and eat, and you can't even do that?"

"Harvey!" Donna exclaimed and Mike sat as frozen on his bed with wide eyes. Harvey rolled his eyes realizing that that might have been a bit harsh.

"Look Mike," he started but he didn't get much further before Mike exploded.

"Shut up! Shut up Harvey, shut up. You don't know shit. You don't know what it's like. You don't get to talk like that to me. I'm not…I'm not going to fucking eat this shit."

The kid was yelling while his chest was heaving, his face was starting to take on a reddish color.

"Mike sweetie, calm down. Harvey didn't mean it like that…" Donna tried, but Mike wouldn't hear it.

"Stop telling me what to do, stop telling me everything is going to be okay. Nothing will be okay just because I eat. It won't! I won't! I don't want it!"

Harvey realized what was going to happen but didn't have time to react. Mike's eyes had locked on the tray of food in front of him, and he did a sweeping motion with his hand and sent it flying to the ground. For a moment all three of them were as frozen staring at the tray as it connected with the floor sending food in all directions. Harvey swore as some of it ended up on his shoes.

"What the hell Mike!" He took a few steps back. "What was that good for?"

Mike sat motionless except for his heaving chest and stared at the discarded food tray.

"Mike?" Donna tried.

"No, don't." Mike got out through clenched teeth.

"Mike, why did you do that? What's gotten into you?" Harvey pushed. "Answer me!" He added when Mike said nothing. He was kind of done with this behavior.

"No! Leave me alone!"

"Sweetie…"

"No. Get out, just get out! Leave me alone." Mike screamed at them and Harvey was pretty sure that if he had another tray in front of him he would have thrown that too.

"Fine." He said. "Donna, come on."

She protested, but he led her outside. He glanced back at Mike and didn't like what he saw. The kid looked so upset, but if he wanted to be alone he could be.

The door closed behind them and Harvey leaned against the wall. He had no intention of walking any further. Donna looked upset but leaned against the wall next to him.

"That didn't go very well." She stated.

"Not exactly." Harvey agreed.

"Should we really leave him alone?"

"It's what he wants."

"He doesn't know what he wants."

"Exactly but just because he has cancer doesn't give him the right to behave however he wants."

"Yes Harvey, but at the same time because of the cancer we expect him to do whatever we or the doctors or nurses tell him to. That can't be easy either. I'm not saying that I think it's a good idea to throw lunches on the floor, I'm just saying that I can understand him."

"Sure but he's still an adult isn't he? He thinks he can get away with it, with anything."

Donna held up a hand now.

"Listen to that." She said quietly. Harvey did. He closed his eyes for a moment and listen as Mike's cries reaches them out through the door. They were filled of despair. For a second Harvey fought the urge to bring his hands up to cover his ears. He didn't want to hear Mike sound like that, like he was absolutely devastated. Maybe that was what he was.

Harvey turned to look at Donna. "What shall we do?" He found himself asking. Mike had wanted to be left alone but now he was sounding like this and Harvey couldn't really take that.

"I..." Donna hesitated. "We should probably go back inside, right?"

Harvey nodded and pushed the door opened again. "Mike?"

Mike had buried himself as much as he could in the pillows, but they could see the way his body was shaking.

"Ehm... Do you want us to leave again?" Harvey asked and waited for a reply. The irritation he had felt towards Mike wasn't there anymore.

Mike shook his head. He started to turn around. "Don't leave." He whispered when he was facing them again. Harvey honestly had a hard time understanding Mike. Just minutes ago he screamed at them to get out to now seem desperate to get them to stay.

"Well, we are here Mike. What now?"

Harvey could sense Donna looking at him and was pretty sure that she didn't approve of how he was handling the situation.

Mike met his eyes. His lip quivered and Harvey hated himself a tiny bit. At first he thought that Mike was going to scream at them again, but that wasn't the case.

"Don't be mad okay." Mike said looking away. "I'll eat, okay. Just don't be mad at me." He looked up at them both with tear filled eyes.

"Oh Mike…" Donna whispered.

"I'll eat. I'll eat, I'll eat. I will. I'll eat." He rambled as he bowed his head down to hide his face from them, but Harvey still saw tears running down his cheeks. This wasn't what he had wanted. He had wanted Mike to come to his senses and understand that he needed to eat, but not like this. Not for this reason, to please them.

Mike looked up again. "I'm sorry about.. maybe if…if someone picked it up I could…" he looked down again and shuddered.

"Oh come on." Harvey said.

"I'm sorry."

Donna having had enough started shushing Mike, telling him that no one was mad and tried to get him to look at her. Mike barely reacted.

Harvey sighed and moved closer. He sat down on the edge of Mike's bed. He then put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and lightly pulled Mike towards him. Mike complied and leaned against Harvey. He started to cry again and Harvey felt Mike gripping his shirt as he clang to him.

"You do understand why we want you to eat right?" He said quietly.

A few seconds later he felt Mike nod against him. "Yes, I understand." He whispered. "I'll try harder."

"Good Mike, that's good. That's all I ask."

They sat like that until Mike had calmed down and let go. Harvey patiently waited until he did, not wanting to be the one that let go first.

"I'm sorry." Mike said as he leaned back on his bed.

"It's okay, sweetheart." Donna said.

"No, it was stupid. I don't know why I did that."

"You wanted to prove a point?" Harvey suggested. "You succeeded." He added.

Mike smiled a little. "Maybe."

They talked a bit about why Mike refused to eat and Harvey realized that maybe they should have been doing that earlier. He still couldn't fully understand how everything could taste awful and the same, but Mike had said he would try anyway. He got to do that a while later since Donna had gotten him another tray of food and had a cleaner come and take care of the first. Mike had apologized to the man while he cleaned sauce of the floor.

Mike had half of the portion and then looked so miserable that Donna let him of the hook.

Harvey could see that Mike did try after that. He got annoyed again at dinner the next day because Mike, even though he didn't say anything he grimaced with every bite.

"Oh for gods sakes." Harvey grumbled. "Just eat like a normal person, will you?"

Mike glared at him. "I am. You should try this! It taste like..."

"Don't say it."

"Fine." Mike took another bite. "Besides, it's weird with you staring at me the whole time."

"Fine."

Harvey had gotten an idea though. He just had to wait until tomorrow to do something about it.

When Mike threw up an hour later, Harvey did feel bad a bit bad for him.

"I told you…" Mike groaned when he leaned back after he was done.

"Yeah yeah."

Mike didn't say anything else so Harvey left him alone.

– SUITS –

Mike turned the TV off when Harvey opened the door and backed inside his room the next day around lunch. Mike frowned when he saw what Harvey was dragging behind him.

"Why do you have that?" He said pointing at the wheelchair.

"Well, hallo to you to. I have this, because we are getting out of here."

"What?" Mike's heart started to speed up. "I can go home?"

Harvey's excited face fell a little. "Ehh… well, no."

"Oh."

"But I have spoken to your doctor and he is okay with you leaving for a few hours."

"In that? Like this? I don't think so Harvey." He didn't exactly feel up for getting out and be around people in the state he was in now. He knew he looked like shit, and he was wearing sweats and a hoodie.

"We are going. Donna is going to meet us there."

"Going where?"

"It's a surprise, now get out of bed. Where is your nurse?"

Mike had no idea what Harvey was talking about, but he did sit up and pushed the blanket away.

"Harvey, come on. Look at me. I'm not really presentable at the moment."

"I don't care, you shouldn't either."

"What happened with the whole thing about how much your looks matters to people?"

"Bullshit is what it was." Harvey said absentmindedly and then left the room, returning a minute later with a nurse in tow. Apparently it was already decided that they were leaving because the nurse started to prepare the IV and the other things he was connected to and started hooking it up on the chair.

Mike had decided to just go along with it. Harvey seemed kind of excited and Mike didn't want to bring him down. He managed to get into the chair himself and Harvey looked really happy when he looked up at the older man. Mike couldn't help but roll his eyes. It was like it was this big deal when he just had done something totally normal like standing up by himself. It didn't make him feel happy at all, just pathetic that's wasn't able to do more.

Harvey was standing in front of him now looking at him with a weird expression on his face.

"What?" Mike asked. He look down on himself. "Yeah I know." He sighed.

"Do you have anything better?" Harvey mentioned for his hoodie.

"Eh I don't know."

Harvey went over to the cupboard next to the bed. After a moment of searching he held up a knitted sweater Mike didn't even know that he owned.

"Let's get this on you."

"Where are we going really?" Mike's asked again. Harvey just straightened out the sweater. "That's better." He mumbled ignoring Mike's question.

They left after some lecturing from a nurse on what they could do and what they needed to watch out for. Mike still having no idea where they were going. Apparently they were walking though. Mike hunched down as much in the wheelchair as he could, avoiding looking up at the people they were meeting. This was the first time he had been outside among other people in a wheelchair. It wasn't comfortable. It felt like everyone was staring at him and he didn't like it at all. The wheelchair made everyone know that it was something wrong with him. He tried to ignore the feeling though. He glanced up at Harvey trying to determine whether he was uncomfortable as well for having to push him around. But he looked like this was normal and asked "What?" Mike said it was nothing.

They didn't walk that long until Harvey stopped. Mike turned to look at him again.

"Really? We are going in here?"

Harvey didn't answer just nodded and smiled towards Donna who just came out of the door to the exclusive restaurant they were standing outside of.

"This is a fancy place Harvey. They will never let me in like this." He looked down at his sweat pants and over at the other two. Harvey was in a suit and Donna was wearing a blue dress.

"Of course they will let us in. I have a reservation."

"It's not a problem Mike." Donna added and held up the door for Harvey as he pushed Mike inside. However it did turn out to be a problem, because they were met by one of the restaurants employees that looked disapprovingly at Mike and his wheelchair.

"I'm really sorry, but we do have a dress code here." He said and Mike tried to not feel disappointed. It had been expected after all.

"Well, you are going to have to make an exception this time." Harvey said. "He is a paying customer and we have a reservation."

"I'm sorry sir."

"Harvey let's just get back. It's okay." Mike said.

"The hell it is!" Harvey said with force as he passed Mike. "Can I have a word?" He asked the man blocking their way. "Stay here." He told Donna and Mike.

Mike looked up at Donna and she smiled at him. They couldn't hear what Harvey was saying, but he pointed back at Mike, and then they saw the man from the restaurant shook his head. Mike just felt embarrassed.

"We should just get out of here." He told Donna.

"No way. If Harvey won't fix it, I will." Mike actually believed her.

But Harvey waved at them at the next moment. Donna pushed him forward to a table.

A waiter came and helped to move some chairs out of the way for them. Mike sat down on a regular chair. "Nicely done Harvey. Did you threaten to sue them?" He asked.

"It would have been my next move." Harvey nodded.

"You bribed him?"

"I just told him it was your last meal and he was pretty understanding. I think we will get dessert on the house."

"Harvey!" Donna said, but Mike couldn't help but laugh.

"I should start using that more. I bet I can get lots of stuff for free." He said.

"Mike!"

They ordered and talked about Harvey's most recent case. Mike didn't feel hungry but ordered anyway. He didn't feel like he was going to be sick just at the thought of eating. Maybe the fresh air from the walk had helped some with that. When the food arrived he noticed the looks that Harvey and Donna exchanged when he picked up his fork, but pretended he didn't.

– SUITS –

Harvey couldn't help but feel a bit proud of himself as he watched Mike eating. It was crazy that he was excited over the fact that the kid was eating. Sometimes he couldn't believe he was in this situation. He had known that Mike's outfit would be a problem when they stepped into the restaurant. He felt like he was prepared to beg the man to let them in when he took him aside. Mike had already suggested that they should head back to the hospital, and if they did Mike would never want to go outside again like this. He had to fix this. He cursed himself inwardly for feeling more nervous about this then in court with people who had committed murder in front of him.

What Harvey hadn't expected to was that he just felt tired when the man in front of him yet again stated that they had a dress code. He ended up doing something he rarely did.

"I realize that, and I'm sorry about asking you to brake it. But he is my friend, and he is very sick. He is barely eating and I thought that a change of scenery might help him. That's why we are here."

He was met with hesitation so he continued. "Look, I'll pay you double, I'll triple the bill."

"There's no need for that." He looked over towards Mike. "He does look sick. I suppose we could make an exception. It wouldn't be the end of the world."

"Thank you."

They had a good time. Mike ate and laughed. However Harvey and Donna couldn't help but looking worriedly at each other when Mike started coughing and didn't seem to be able to stop.

"Maybe we should get going?" Donna said.

"No… come on." Mike reached for his water glass. "We don't have to leave."

"Mike…"

"But I'm kind of happy." Mike said then.

Harvey could feel Donna looking at him, but he didn't care. "We are staying." He nodded at Mike.

Mike wouldn't let it go when they actually did get the dessert on the house.

"They were probably afraid of you." Mike was saying when they made their way back to the hospital. Harvey didn't confirm or deny. He was pretty sure Donna knew though. She was grinning and looked like she wanted to argue the case that Harvey had threatened the restaurant staff, but she didn't.

Things got a bit easier after that. Mike was eating better, this also improved after some altering with his medication and he was finally allowed to leave the hospital. The kid was thrilled. Before Mike left the hospital he had started his new round of treatment. It was rough on Mike but he dealt with it. Harvey kept him company. Donna did too. She came over more often now, something that Harvey was grateful for.

– SUITS –

He did feel better. That was what he kept telling people, anyone that asked, and it was what he tried to tell himself. If he just convinced himself that he was doing better, maybe it would become true. He had read in some magazine that if you just had faith in that your treatment was working it improved your results. Although he was kind of afraid that he had started to hope too late. They had already been told that it hadn't been working so far.

He had started another session of treatment now though and maybe this one would. Treatment and yet again an operation were his current options. He had to go for it because he had nothing to lose and nothing else to do about his situation.

He hadn't have the energy to enjoy being back at Harvey's place yet. He had collapsed on the couch and couldn't get up by himself after that. It was a pretty humiliating feeling to have to ask for help getting up from a couch. He didn't think Harvey minded though, he had been nice about it.

Mike had been told that this round of treatment would be more aggressive. He wasn't sure how that was possible though. But he noticed the side effects of it. He was standing in front of the mirror brushing his teeth when he saw it. He spit and leaned closer and swore loudly.

"What? What happened?" Harvey poked his head into the bathroom. He looked confused.

Mike slowly lifted his hand to his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Chucks of it ended up in his hand. "Shit!"

"Oh." Harvey said. "That's gross."

"Why is it happening now? I thought I wouldn't lose it!" Mike exclaimed. Harvey shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm surprised it stayed on you the first time." He said and turned to leave. "It's not the worst thing that could happen Mike." He added and left Mike standing there staring at the hair in his hand.

But maybe Harvey was right. It could be worse after all. It was just hair. It would grow back. He did look terrible though, after a few days.

"Why don't we just shave it all off?" Harvey asked him and Mike agreed. He couldn't go out looking like he did now. He looked like some sort of mad scientist with patches of hair here and there on his head.

Harvey did it for him that same evening.

"Alright, are you ready?" Harvey asked from behind him where he stood with the hair trimmer.

Mike wouldn't look into the mirror as Harvey removed all of his hair. He knew he shouldn't let it bother him. Honestly he had been lucky that got to keep it for so long. One nurse at the hospital had told him that he had very good gens that made him resistant towards losing his hair. Didn't work this time though. But when Mike walked into his bedroom all bald, there was a black, thin knitted winter cap laying on his pillow. Mike couldn't help but smile to himself. It was thin enough to be able to wear it inside, and when he put it on he actually thought that he looked kind of cool. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. At least he didn't look terrible.

Harvey nodded in approvingly when he walked back into the living room. En

"Might even work at the office." He said. Mike got to try it because he came with Harvey to work the next day. He was feeling a bit better at the moment so he wanted to take advantage of that. It felt like he hadn't been at work in forever now. He actually looked forward to proofing briefs.

"Oh, that's a new style for you." Donna said when she saw Mike's new look. She promised to get him some options so that he could match them with his outfit, her words not Mike's. He tried to argue that black goes with everything. However the cap made him feel a bit different, it kind of took him back to his teen age years. He had had a time when he never went anywhere without something on his head. But here at the office it felt wrong. On the other hand he refused to take it off.

They had been working for an hour or so when Jessica stepped into Harvey's office.

"Hi. I heard that the two of you were here." She greeted them. To Mike's surprise she walked over to him and sat down in front of him. "How are you doing Mike?" She asked kindly.

"I'm doing okay at the moment. Thank you."

"I'm glad to hear it. If there is anything I can do, just let me know."

She got up and when she passed him she left her hand on his shoulder for a few seconds. He felt kind of touched by that. She hadn't even mentioned that he was wearing a cap inside the office. He kind of thought that she would have, but of course she hadn't.

Jessica and Harvey proceeded to go through like all the cases the firm was handling at the moment, at least that was what it sounded like to Mike. His head started to hurt from all the talking they were doing. He got up to go and talk to Donna instead. Both Harvey and Jessica silenced as he stood.

"You okay?" Harvey asked and stood up as well.

"Yeah, I'm just going to…" He waved towards Donna. Harvey watched him as he walked out. Donna seemed to understand exactly because she walked with him to a conference room. He sat down at the table and put his head in his hands.

"Talk to me." Donna sat across from him.

Mike carefully shook his head. "It's just that I have been here for like three hours and I'm already beat." He sighed. "I wish it wasn't so."

"It will get better." Donna said encouragingly.

Later when they got home that afternoon Mike felt incredible bad. When they had gotten home and sat down one the couch and now he didn't feel at all like moving. His head was heavy and it was a bit hard to breathe. Worst was the nausea. He didn't know where it had come from. It hit him out of nowhere and he just hated that. He didn't want to swallow because it felt like he was going to throw up when he did.

"What do you want for dinner?" Harvey called from the kitchen and Mike just groaned.

Half an hour later Harvey called for him to come to the kitchen to eat. Mike didn't move. Harvey called again and walked up to him.

"Sorry Harvey. I would, but I can't." he said this without moving.

"We've been through this already, you need to eat more. At least something."

It was frustrating that Harvey didn't understand. If he had been up for it he would have argued. But he had already told Harvey that he couldn't eat at the moment, what more did he want? So Mike chose to just stay where he was with closed eyes. Even his eyes felt weird now. Kind of dry.

"So you are just going to ignore me then?" Harvey asked.

"Yes." Mike answered. He could hear Harvey sigh. He didn't want him to do that. Sigh at him. Like he was tired of Mike. He probably was though. He opened his eyes. "I'll throw up." He said quietly.

Harvey nodded. "Fine." He walked away.

Not eating or moving an inch didn't help. It just got worse. It was so unfair. He was doing nothing at all to cause the nausea, but still it came. Luckily Harvey had left him a bucket close by, so he could throw up in that.

He didn't get any better.

– SUITS –

Harvey kind of hated this. Mike's day had been pretty good, but now his breathing sounded really troublesome and he had thrown up three times. Mike's breaths sounded raspy, like he had something there that was preventing him from breathing correctly. They needed to go to the hospital. He went to get their coats and broke the news to Mike.

"No, I don't want to go there. I don't need too Harvey! They never let me sleep, they keep asking me how I am feeling, and... And you know, they say my name all the time. Like in every sentence! It creeps me out!"

"You done?" Harvey asked with a raised eyebrow, and Mike frowned.

"Yeah." He sighed.

"All right, first of all. They are doing their job. And second of all you are panting, and your lips are turning blue. You are going."

Mike tried to stare angrily at Harvey, but he wasn't faced by it, and just stared back until Mike considered himself beaten, and started to get up from where he was laying. It didn't work. He found that he didn't have the strength to even sit up by himself. He tried again and failed. His panic-stricken eyes found Harvey's who without a word went over to him, sat down on the bed and grabbed his shoulders and lifted him up in a sitting position. He then shifted around and placed Mikes arm over his own shoulder.

"You ready?" He asked quietly and waited until Mike nodded against him. They slowly made their way towards the door. Harvey could feel Mike trembling with the effort of walking the short distance. He wished there was a chair in the elevator. Maybe he should install one in his own.

"Harvey…" Mike whispered. "I need to sit down."

"No, not yet. You can make it a few more minutes."

"No, please…"Harvey was just about to deny him again when he felt Mike just slip down to the floor along his side and proceeded to lean against the elevator wall with his eyes closed. Harvey followed him down and squatted next to him. He gently shock his shoulder.

"Mike come on, you can't sit down. Not yet. Not here."

Mike ignored him and didn't move a muscle or did anything to indicate that he had even heard him.

"Mike!" Harvey grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly but Mike just let him do it, at least he opened his eyes, but just stared straight ahead at nothing. "Shit." Harvey cursed, frustrated at the situation he now was in. Should he call an ambulance or somehow drag Mike to a cab by himself?

"Mike, you do know we are in the elevator right?" He tried to catch Mike's eyes with his. After a few moments Mike looked at him.

"I'm tired." He whispered back.

"Do you need an ambulance?" Harvey asked him. "Or can you make it?"

"No, come on. No ambulance."

"Then can you make it?"

"Sure…I'll make it." He groaned but remained sitting. Harvey shook his head and stood up. He guessed he would let the kid sit down a minute. The elevator door opened and Mike still didn't move, Harvey was getting frustrated. This wasn't working. He got his phone out.

"I'm sorry kid, but I'm making the call now unless you get up right now."

Mike groaned and cursed at him. "Help me then." He muttered.

As soon as they came outside Mike threw up bile on the side walk. "Sorry." He blinked tears away as Harvey was holding him upright.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

Mike nodded weakly. "Let's just go back inside again." He said looking unhappily at Harvey.

"Sorry, that's not going to happen." Harvey squeezed the kids hand a bit and Mike held on to him.

The cab came and Harvey got Mike inside of it without problems. Luckily nothing happened during the ride to the hospital and Mike got taken care of pretty quickly. He got an IV for the nausea and a nasal cannula to help him breath. They spent the night.

Mike was really worn out after his latest round of chemo. The day after he didn't get out of bed. The day after that he at least moved to the couch. The day after that he had another session. This time he was absolutely miserable and Harvey felt really sorry for him. It hurt to see him like that. Harvey had to borrow a wheel chair to get Mike home after. Mike hated it and fought with all he had to not have to sit in it, but he was forced to.

"I can't carry you Mike. Or would you prefer I did that?" Mike wouldn't.

"It's humiliating. I know how to walk!"

"Yes, but you can't do that now can you. Just be grateful for getting to borrow it. Or would you rather stay at the hospital so you wouldn't have to move?"

Harvey got to realize that he needed to be more careful how he spoke now, because at those words Mike looked like he was going to burst into tears and started to beg Harvey not to leave him at the hospital.

"Please, Harvey. I will sit in it, okay. Don't leave me here. I don't want to stay here. Please."

Harvey had stopped pushing him and kneeled in front of the kid and had promised to not do that. "I won't leave you anywhere." He had said. Mike blinked at him and then nodded.

That night Harvey got Mike to sit down on the couch and arranged for all that they would need as Mike got sick. Mike was almost too weak to hold up his own head. Harvey sat down next to him, and threw a blanket over the kid and then arranged him so that Mike was leaning against him. He thought that it would help Mike, at least he didn't have to feel alone. Mike however barely reacted but leaned heavily against him. Harvey heard how he whispered a thank you, though.

– SUITS –

Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think in a review :) I would be happy! And thank you so much to all of you who have done that so far. It gives me more motivation. This was a long chapter. It took me a while to write it. I have actually planned out the rest of the story now. Might be a few more longer chapters, since I keep coming up with more stuff I want to write. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter.