Warning: This chapter contains bullying
It has been 2 years since Jessica and Harvey had become Mike's legal guardians. They've been able to work everything out.
All three were inseparable. They loved to do activities together. Harvey was really taking his role seriously, and Jessica couldn't be happier about that. He was always available when Mike needed him. Every parent-teacher conference, every school project and Mike had even taken martial arts course and every Saturday morning, Harvey was cheering for him.
Jessica was also loving her role as Mike's guardian. Ever since he had learned to read, he was insisting that he read the bedtime stories while Jessica had to do the voices. She had also learned what he liked -dogs, books and school- and what he didn't like -fights, snakes and broccolis.
Donna had also taken her role as Aunt Donna very seriously. Every chance she got, she would spoil Mike rotten. Jessica and Harvey even had to sit down and limit the number of toys she could give him by one per month. Being the Donna we know and love, she protested, but she was up against the two best lawyers in New York. She had given up, but still got the largest toy she found in Wal-Mart and gave it to Mike the next month.
The family was enjoying every chance it got to be together. They loved to take pictures and now Jessica's and Harvey's desks were filled with pictures of Mike. At Thanksgiving, at Christmas, New Year's Eve, Easter, etc. Mike was growing fast and his guardians didn't want to miss a second of his childhood.
Mike was now 6 years old and he had begun school. He still loved learning about everything, and all his teachers had told Jessica and Harvey that Mike was a genius. The principal had even tried to persuade the guardians to enroll Mike in a school for geniuses. But Mike only had two friends, Trevor and Jenny, and he cared a lot about them. Separating him from his only friends would upset the child and Jessica and Harvey wanted him to live a normal life. Still, school was really easy for Mike, but he enjoyed it, nevertheless.
It was 2 pm and Jessica was finishing a brief. She had a meeting with a client in an hour and she needed to get ready, so when her phone rang, she was tempted to ask her secretary to take the message. But, as managing partner of the firm, it was her duty to be available, so she answered.
"Jessica Pearson" she said.
"Mrs. Pearson, this is Janis, the principal from New York's elementary school. Do you have a moment?"
Jessica knew this call was about Mike and she set her worry about her incoming meeting in the back of her head.
"Of course, is something wrong?" Jessica asked.
"I need you to come and pick up Mike. He was in the middle of a fight at recess and he is pretty shaken up" the principal said. Jessica couldn't believe her ears. Mike had been involved in a fight, but he hated any sorts of arguments.
"Is he all right?" Mike's guardian asked. She needed to know her Mike was okay.
"Yes, he was not harmed in the fight. But, as I said, he was shaken up and now he won't talk to anyone." That set Jessica's worry to an all time high. Mike was always the one to chat and it wasn't his type to shut himself.
"I'll be right there" Jessica said. She immediately called her secretary to let her reschedule all her meetings for the day. She picked up the phone and dialed Harvey's cell phone number. He answered immediately. He knew when she called on his cell phone, it was about Mike.
"Yes, Jess, what can I do for you?" he answered.
"Mike was involved in a fight. I need to go and pick him up" she explained. She knew she didn't need anymore indications; Harvey would know what to do.
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Jessica could hear Harvey breathing. She could almost hear him thinking and wondering how this could have happened to Mike.
"What happened?" he finally asked.
"I don't know anything more. I just know he won't talk to anyone."
"I'm in my office. Wait for me, I'm coming over. Ray is already downstairs" he said. Jessica could hear him pick up his things and tell Donna some instructions for the remaining day.
As soon as they hung up, Jessica picked up her coat and scarf and she waited for Harvey. It didn't take a minute and they were ready to go.
The ride to the elementary school wasn't long, but they spent it in silence. Each of them was lost in their thoughts and wondered how their little boy was.
When they finally arrived, they thanked Ray and immediately went to the principal's office. As soon as they entered the office, they saw Mike seating on a chair across for the principal's desk. His knees were up, and it seemed like he had been crying. Jessica didn't waste a moment and went to see him, without greeting the principal.
"Mike, what happened? How are you doing?"
"Mommy" he whined while his eyes filled with tears. Both Jessica and Harvey froze at hearing him. Never he had called neither of them Mommy nor Daddy. They both secretly wished for it to happen, but they didn't want to push Mike too much. He still thought about his real parents once in while. But, for Mike to call Jessica Mommy today, something wrong must have happened.
"Darling" she said, trying not to sound too worried "What happened?" she repeated.
Harvey and Janis the principal watched from behind the interaction. Harvey wanted to interfere, but he knew Jessica knew what she was doing. He had been as shocked as she was when Mike had called her Mommy. He tried not to let Mike see his shock, but the little boy had been too upset to see anything.
Seeing as Mike wouldn't say anything, the principal explained to them the complete story. "Some boys older than Mike had started to pick on him, because he was reading at recess instead of playing like everyone else. Seeing this, his friend Trevor came to the rescue, but a fight started between the boys. Mike tried to stop it, but he only got pushed a little. The teachers were able to end the fight. All the other boys were suspended."
From the corner of her eyes, Jessica saw that Mike had started to cry. He must be feeling all kind of emotions now, she thought. She ran a hand through his hair and across his back to try and calm him down while Harvey tried to get the contact infos of the boys' parents to give them a piece of his mind. Janis tried to calm Harvey and tell him everything was already dealt with, but she was talking to one of the best attorneys in the city. He wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted.
Sensing the tension rising and that Mike wasn't calming down, Jessica put a stop to Harvey's argument. "Harvey, stop it. We'll go home now." Mike was still small for his age and Jessica could still easily pick him up. Harvey helped her get Mike in his little coat on. Teachers had already brought his backpack and they were good to go.
Mike still hadn't said a word since the "M" bomb from earlier. Jessica and Harvey knew they would have to talk to him about that when he would be calm down. When they arrived in the car, they set the boy up in the car seat Ray had installed when the two guardians had been gone to the principal's office. Now, Harvey always kept a car seat in the trunk of the car in case Mike would be going to his home for the evening.
They went to Jessica's house. Both lawyers had meetings and what seemed to be hundreds of files on their desk, but now, Mike needed them more than they needed to be at the firm. They could care of it all the next morning.
On the way to the house, they could see Mike's eyes dropping. The emotions of the day must have exhausted him. When they arrived, Mike was napping in his car seat. Harvey picked him up and immediately went to drop him in his bed in his room. When he joined Jessica in the kitchen, she was filling two glasses of red wine. She handed one to him. "What are thinking about?" she asked Harvey. He has his thinking face.
"Mike was being bullied today and we couldn't do anything. How could we have prevented this?" he asked Jessica, but he knew he would not have answers to his questions. Nothing could have prevented this. Mike was different. They had to deal with this. It would have happened sooner or later. Maybe in the school for geniuses, children were reading at recess, but the principal was kind enough to not rub this fact in their faces.
"At least, we know he has someone to watch his back" Jessica added. "If it weren't for Trevor, maybe Mike would have been hurt in this fight" she said.
The two guardians got settled at the kitchen table with some briefs Jessica had brought home, waiting for Mike to wake up. Maybe an hour later, they heard Mike calling for them from his bed. Generally, when he woke up from a nap, he liked to be read a story with a glass of milk. "Harvey, Jessica" they could hear his little voice calling from his bedroom.
"I'll go" Jessica volunteered, standing up to bring Mike his glass of milk.
"I'll come with you" Harvey said in a voice that left no room for argument, not that Jessica would object to that.
When they entered Mike's room, a glass of milk in Jessica's hand, they could see Mike had been crying. His eyes were puffy and red, and he still had tears track on his cheeks.
"Mikey" it was the nickname Nina used to call Mike when he was ill or upset, and Jessica had begun using it too. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
Mike reached for the glass of milk in Jessica's hand. "Fine" he lied.
Harvey gave him an incredulous look. "Do you want to talk about what happened today?" he asked his protegee.
Mike begun to cry. To sob even. "They… were… so mean" he managed to say between sobs.
Jessica couldn't handle to see him so sad. She took his glass and set it down on his nightstand. Seeing as his sobs were getting worse, she hopped on the bed behind Mike and snuggled him close to her chest. Harvey watched the interaction.
But Mike wasn't calming down. It got to a point where he had difficulty breathing. "I can't… breath…" he panicked.
Harvey got in front of him on the bed. He put his two hands on each sides of Mike's head. "Just breath, Mike. You're okay. You need to breath" he told the boy. Behind Mike, Jessica was rubbing his back. "Match my breathing. You can do it" Harvey started to take deep breaths to show Mike how to calm down. It took a few moments, but eventually, Mike was calm enough to talk to them.
"They said some mean things. They said I was a freak because I didn't want to play soccer with the others." Mike related what happened that day. "I wanted them to go away. They wouldn't hear it. Trevor came and defended me, but they continued. Trevor punched the leader of their gang. I didn't want to get him in trouble" Mike's filled with tears again, but this time, he managed to stay calm.
"You are not a freak Mike" Jessica told him. "What Trevor did was very brave, but he didn't have to do it. You didn't get him in trouble because he decided on hos own to throw a punch."
"If these boys come to bother you, Mike, you should go and get an adult. You should also talk to us about it. But you must remember that there is nothing wrong to prefer to read instead of playing soccer with the others" Harvey reassured him.
Mike only nodded, sipping the glass of milk Jessica had given him.
Jessica and Harvey looked at each other. They didn't know if they should address the "M" word just yet or wait if it was only an accident and that Mike would return to call them 'Jessica' and 'Harvey'.
Finally, Harvey didn't want to wait. He had hoped Mike would see him as a Dad and he would be proud to present him as his father. "Mike, about what you said earlier in Janis' office."
"Yeah… What about it?" Mike asked, looking embarrassed. He clearly remembered what he had said in the principal's office. It had slipped off his tongue by mistake.
"Well, we want to know how you feel about it" Jessica said. She wanted to know just as much as Harvey.
"It was a mistake. It won't happen again" Mike said, quickly, looking down at his lap.
Harvey put a finger under his chin, bringing it up and locked his eyes with Mike's. "We don't mind if you call us Mommy and Daddy, Mike. We would be proud, but we want it to be something you want" Jessica and he had talk about it. They knew Nina and James still had a big place in Mike's heart. They would never replace them, but they would be honored to be seen as Mike's parents.
Mike looked alternately from Harvey to Jessica to analyse their reactions. Both were smiling at the boy in Jessica's lap, encouraging him to take a decision.
"I love my real Mommy and my real Daddy. But they are with the angels now. I don't think they would mind, as long as I am happy. They also said happiness is the most important thing in the world" Mike finally said. "I want you to be my Mom and my Dad"
Jessica and Harvey simultaneously sighed a sigh of relief. They had held their breath while Mike had taken a decision. Mike was always a smart boy.
"Well, then, we should celebrate our new family" Jessica said. "And I don't know how we can celebrate without some pizza!"
Mike smiled excitedly at that. "With stuffed crust?" he asked with hope.
"Why don't you ask your Dad?" Jessica loved the feeling of their new titles on her tongue.
"Dad, please!" Mike begged his new father.
Even if Harvey had wanted, he couldn't possibly have declined the little boy what he wanted. He got up and went to order while Jessica read to Mike a story.
And if someone had asked him if he had cried at that moment, he would have answered no. But, Jessica, the woman who saw everything, had noticed his slightly red and glassy eyes when he returned from the kitchen.