Well. Hello. I suppose the question that opens this chapter could probably apply to me too, and I don't have a great answer! School and work have been much more intense this term, so writing has not been at the forefront of my mind, and I will admit I lost inspiration for a while.

However, whilst I'm afraid updates might be more sparse from me for a while (I'll try to upload as often as possible!) I do have a full arc planned for this fic and there is much more to write, so if you feel like it, it might be worth sticking around!

This chapter is not quite where I'd like it to be, but I really wanted to get something uploaded for you As ever, reviews are hugely appreciated! Apologies for the needlessly long A/N, I hope you enjoy reading this and have a lovely day.

'Where the hell have you been?'

Harvey's sharp words echoed through the dark apartment. Mike froze, his fingers resting on the handle of the front door he'd just closed behind him. It was barely 11 o'clock, and Harvey hadn't made it home until past 12 all week, yet the man was very definitely leaning against the kitchen counter, arms folded, casting a thunderous look in his direction. A wave of frustration flushed through Mike; the lawyer was apparently annoyed at Mike's absence, and yet he'd seen the man for all of an hour over the past four days because he'd been busy at Pearson Hardman.

Gritting his teeth, he turned to face older man and offered a blunt, 'out.'

'Drop the tone. That's not the question I asked you.'

'Just went for a walk,' Mike replied. That was the truth – it just so happened that he'd hopped two trains and a bus as well. Harvey's neighbourhood was nice, sure, but there was only so much that could entertain a fourteen year-old that was in walking distance of the upmarket condo. He was beginning to get cabin fever from being cooped up in the same area and had taken a trip a little further afield. To walk more familiar streets had given him the breathing room he needed, but he had a feeling Harvey wouldn't be too impressed with the extent of his excursion so he kept the minor details to himself.

'You just went for a walk? For God's sake, Mike, I've been sitting here for two hours waiting on you – that's one hell of a walk!'

Yeah, definitely not impressed.

'Jesus, kid, it would've been fine if you'd let me know,' Harvey continued, 'it's my number one rule – drop me a text, send me a carrier pigeon, I really don't care as long as you tell me where you're going. I can't have you wondering the city at all hours, let alone without me knowing where you are.'

'Why not?'

'It's a big city, Mike,' Harvey said, raising a hand to halt the boy's objections. 'I don't doubt that you've got the whole street plan memorised, but you can't predict how the people walking those streets will act, particularly towards a teenager, alone. What if something happens and I don't know where you are, hm? You could have at least had the courtesy to answer your phone. I don't need any more cops knocking on my door, especially not ones with bad news about your wellbeing. How far did you walk?'

'Sounds like you care about me, Harvey.'

'Sounds like you're avoiding the question, Mike.'

'I went as far as central park,' Mike said, raising his eyes to gauge Harvey's reaction.

The man's eyebrows shot up. 'But that's-'

'6.3 miles away, yeah, I know,' Mike said, 'I'm sorry, Harvey, I just needed some space. I guess my phone must have died. It's just… it's not like you've been around a whole lot recently. I got bored.'

'You took a 13 mile round trip because you 'got bored'?' Harvey sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. His annoyance at Mike's disappearing act was beginning to dissipate, replaced instead by a sort of guilt. The kid had a point – Harvey had been too caught up in work over the past few days to have more than a brief conversation with Mike. Perhaps if he'd given him the time of day, the teenager would have felt he could ask Harvey if they could make trip together, rather than attempting an act of subterfuge. 'Look, kid, I'm the one that should be sorry. My work schedule is always gonna be unpredictable, but it has been particularly bad recently and I should have recognised the effect it would have on you. The case I've been tied up in is closed now, so I'll probably be around a lot more for the next few days. In fact, that's why I was home so early today – I thought we could have got a takeaway, watch a film-'

'I'm really, really sorry, Harvey,' Mike blurted out, his words tripping over each other. He was beginning to feel more embarrassed than anything else; Harvey had come home with the intention of doing something nice with Mike, and yet instead he'd had to sit, alone, for hours, stressing over the whereabouts of his fourteen year-old charge. 'I just wasn't really thinking.'

'It's alright, Mike.' Harvey sighed, shaking his head. 'No, no, it's not alright. Damn right you weren't thinking - you broke my first rule and I don't want it to happen again, ever. What I'm saying is I understand. I meant it when I apologised. Seeing as I'm going to be home earlier tomorrow, too, maybe we could do something together that'll alleviate your boredom and stop you pulling another disappearing act? It's late, though, you should be getting to bed. Think on it.'

Mike's feeble objections died on his lips as he realised he was pretty exhausted. Shrugging off his jacket, he headed towards his bedroom.

'Will do, Harvey,' he said, 'night.'

'Night, kid.'

Harvey stepped out of the shower, gently humming a Miles Davis riff. Despite the small hiccup that Mike's absence had caused the night before, he was still riding on the slightly smug buzz that came from settling a case and he was in a genuinely good mood. Grabbing a towel from the rail, he stepped out of the bathroom, towelling off his hair.

'Morning.'

Harvey stopped in his tracks, damp towel still swinging from his hand. Bewildered, he looked between the clock, which definitely read 06:45, and the teenager sitting at his kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal.

'Morning?' he replied, confused. Mike had been fast asleep when he'd left for the office every day for the past week, and yet there he sat, very much awake, with an expectant look on his face.

'I want to come to the firm with you.'

'Mike…'

'No, really, you asked me to think about something I'd like to do and I'd like to do that!' Mike said, doing what in Harvey's opinion was an uncanny impression of an excited puppy. 'I promise I'll be really good and really quiet and I'll do everything you say. I just want to see where you work! It's a real life law firm!'

Harvey took a moment to allow his sleep-addled brain to catch up with the rambled proposition before properly considering the request. The prospect of having to babysit the kid at Pearson Hardman wasn't exactly enticing, but the boy's unaffected excitement had a persuasive quality and he found himself nodding.

'Alright,' he acquiesced, 'go and get yourself ready. Ray'll be here in half an hour.'

He was rewarded by a wide grin as the boy scrambled off his stool to get dressed.

Harvey smirked as Mike pressed his nose up against the glass of his office window, his jaw dropping as he surveyed the panoramic view of the city.

'The wind'll change and you'll stick like that, kid'

The boy spun around, mock surprise displayed on his face.

'Oh, sorry, I thought Grammy was here,' he said, voice dripping with sarcasm, 'cause you sounded just like her.'

'Very funny. Now get your sticky fingers off my win-'

*FLASH*

Harvey's retort was interrupted by a blinding burst of light and the sound of a shutter clicking as the red headed woman made her presence known.

'Donna,' Harvey growled, blinking furiously.

'Harvey,' Donna acknowledged, moving past the lawyer to corner the bewildered teenager. 'And you must be Mike! My goodness, I've heard so much about you, but you're so much more adorable than I could have possibly imagined.'

'Adorable?' Mike repeated.

'Adorable – just look at those eyes! I hope you don't mind this,' she said, gesturing at the Polaroid camera she carried, 'just with you looking so positively cute and Harvey going all paternal on you, I couldn't resist capturing th-'

'Donna,' Harvey raised his voice, cutting her off. 'What do you want?'

'You mean besides meeting the handsome young man you've been hiding away from me?' At Harvey's raised eyebrow, she continued, 'Yes, I suppose you do. I came to say you've got a 10 o'clock with Aldo Trent and Jessica wants you to liaise with Fogerty on the Schmidt-Lee merger, but that's all for today.'

Before Harvey could thank her, a sweaty and out of breath Louis Litt clattered through the door behind Donna.

'Ah, so this is the supposed child genius. I heard you brought him in to show off,' the man wheezed, leaning heavily on the door jamb. Advancing on Mike, he said, 'How much did he pay you to say that you came up with the Freston Motors solution? It's just the type of ploy that the partners will eat right up; saintly Harvey Specter taking in a poor orphan Mike and being humble enough to accept his help on a case. Go on, kid, give us mere mortals a glimpse of your brilliant mind. Tell me, what's 147 multiplied by 1154? Or give me the one hundred and fortieth line of 'Julius Caesar', act one, scene three? Or maybe tell me the-'

'Louis, stop torturing the poor boy.' The disapproving voice halted the flustered man's vehement tirade as the managing partner gracefully sidestepped past him through the doorway.

'Besides,' Jessica said, 'I think we both know that Harvey's too proud to let the credit for an idea as astute as the Freston Motors one go undeservedly to someone else. Nice to meet you, Mike. I want to personally welcome you to Pearson Hardman.'

Mike took the offered hand, not trusting himself to say anything that wouldn't embarrass himself in front of one of the most powerful women in modern corporate law.

Harvey rubbed a frustrated hand across his face, looking between the varying expressions directed towards him from the small army that had amassed in front of his desk.

'I must have missed the memo. I didn't realise my office is the new conference room,' he said, frowning. 'Now, if you don't mind, I've got a meeting to prepare for, so would you please get the hell out.'

At the raised eyebrows he received, he amended his request slightly. 'Louis, get the hell out and don't come back. Donna, Jessica, if you'd be ever so kind, some privacy would be greatly appreciated.'

'Gladly,' Jessica said, gliding out of the office. Donna followed, directing a warm smile at Mike, and Louis tailed reluctantly behind.

'Mr Litt?' Mike piped up just as the older man was leaving the room. Louis stalled in the doorway and frowned at Mike, who smiled sweetly back. 'It's one hundred and sixty nine thousand, six hundred and thirty eight. And 'the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings'. Just in case you were wondering.'

The man's frown deepened into a scowl and he strode off, visibly fuming.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, other than Harvey discovering Mike's penchant for disappearing acts extended beyond the home. Twice Harvey had to leave the teenager under Donna's watchful gaze whilst he attended meetings, and twice he had come back to see an empty office and a rather flustered Donna, who had nipped out on some two minute errand only to find a significant absence of Mike on her return.

The first time Harvey had spotted the boy in Louis' office, sporting a bewildered look as the aforementioned lawyer spewed a torrent of insults at him, red in the face.

Harvey had quickly extracted the kid from the danger zone, asking, 'What the hell did you do, insult the art of mudding?'

'Nope,' Mike had shaken his head, grinning, 'he just got his knickers in a twist 'cause I can recite more 20th century British war poetry than him.'

The second time, Harvey had tracked him down to the associates' bullpen. As if in some strange parody, the associates were sat cross-legged on the floor listening attentively to Mike, who was perched on a desk, swinging his legs back and forth and giving the group of Harvard graduates pointers on practising law.

They had left the firm a little earlier than Harvey's usual time, as although Mike was in his element at Pearson Hardman, Harvey could see the kid was getting tired. As they walked through the foyer towards the waiting Mercedes S550, Donna's voice echoed behind them. She darted over to Harvey, pressing some forgotten file to his chest, before pulling a startled Mike into a crushing hug.

'Here,' she whispered into his ear, tucking something surreptitiously into his jacket pocket, 'Harvey will hate this – candid photos are a little too honest for his liking. I thought you'd appreciate it, though, and it's just too cute!'

With that she disappeared back into the elevator. Harvey quirked an eyebrow at him, but Mike just shrugged, and the two continued in companionable silence towards the car.

Mike flopped down onto his bed. It had been a long day, but a good one. Pearson Hardman had been even better than he'd hoped, and even made friends with some of the associates. He'd always found adults a little easier to talk to than kids his own age. They weren't quite as spiteful.

Rolling over in bed, Mike frowned as something rustled under his pillow. He reached under it and pulled out a large brown envelope; his birthday present from Grammy – he'd completely forgotten about it! She'd pressed it into his hands as he'd said goodbye, telling him to open it alone, and by the time he went to bed on his birthday he'd wiped out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Scooting up his bed so he was sitting against the headboard, he carefully opened the envelope, tipping its contents into his lap. He stiffened at what he saw. Spread across his knees was a small pile of old photos, ones he'd never seen before, of him and his parents. They spanned from when he was a new-born, just a small bundle of cloth in the arms of his young mother, to a picture that must have been taken days before his parents' death of the three of them at a spelling bee Mike had won. He and his dad had never really seen eye to eye over Mike's extracurricular pursuits, with James Ross very much being under the opinion that sport should be central to a boy's life. And yet, at every spelling bee and mathletics competition Mike had competed in, his father had been there in the front row, sitting beside his mother, ever silent and stoic yet emanating barely concealed pride.

Mike rested his head against the cold wood behind him, allowing himself a moment of release. Time had failed to heal the pain of losing his parents, only dulled it from a pounding throb to numbed ache. He let a few tears fall silently as he pored over the remaining photographs, taking in every detail.

At the back of the pile was not a photo, but a handwritten note in what he recognised to be his Grammy's handwriting.

Michael,

They say each cloud has a silver lining; suddenly finding myself with a lot of time on my hands recently has lead me to do many long put-off tasks, including getting your father's camera developed.

They will never leave you, Michael. No matter what you go on to achieve, your parents will always be a big part of your life. Perhaps having these photographs with you whilst you stay at Mr Specter's house will make you realise that your past and future are reconcilable within you. Your parents shaped you, yes, but there are others that will willingly play just as formative a role in your life, if you let them in. That isn't betraying your mother and father, Michael. It would make them proud, in the same way that they would be proud to see the fine young man you have already become.

See you soon. Be good.

Grammy

The tears threatened to spill again. He was sure he knew who the 'formative' figure Grammy was alluding to was. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he hopped off his bed, rummaging through the desk draw to find what he needed to do one last thing before going to sleep.

Harvey cautiously pushed open Mike's bedroom door as silently as possible. It was past one o'clock, and he really didn't want to wake the kid. He'd stayed up to finish off the work he'd put off at Pearson Hardman in favour of looking out for Mike, but he admitted to himself that it had been worth it. The boy was good company.

Peering round the door to check that Mike was asleep, Harvey froze at the sight of a new addition to the décor. Blu-tacked to the wall next to the bed was an assortment of photographs from the boy's childhood, all with his parents, and, as Donna would have put it, all very adorable. Taking pride of place at the centre, however, was a much more recent picture. It was a polaroid of Mike and himself, taken earlier that day in Harvey's office. Harvey was leaning against his desk, posture relaxed, directing an unguarded smile at the teenager, who was returning an equally open grin and was no doubt in the middle of some sarcastic remark.

The corners of his eyes crinkled in a soft, unbidden smile. Harvey switched off Mike's lamp and shut the door quietly behind him with a low 'sleep well, kid'.