Hey guys! I feel so guilty about the long gaps between my updates. Thank you for sticking with this story. Please let me know how you've liked it so far. Much love and happy reading! :)

The next day, Harvey was more than happy to head to work. He knew that Mike would be waiting for him in his office, probably fidgeting with his tapes and judging his taste in music. He couldn't help but smile as he pictured Mike doing that and replayed it so many times in his mind that he was shocked when he found his office empty.

"Donna!" he shouted "Where the hell his Mike?"

His secretary gave him an amused look from her desk.

"What?" he asked.

"Harvey you sent him to a party last night, a Pearson Hardman Senior Partners' party to be specific, and we both know that if an associate attends one of those there's no way in hell that he makes it to work before noon."

"What are you talking about? He didn't go there to party or stay up all night socializing with the big shots. He went there with an agenda and should have been here early morning with his findings."

"You are adorable when you are stupidly excited about something" smiled Donna.

"And what are you excited about?" asked Jessica as she walked towards them.

"About seeing you, Jessica. You look beautiful for someone who is battling a hangover."

"I am not hungover and you are definitely not excited to see me. Why else would you bail on me like that." She glared at Harvey making it obvious that she wasn't happy with him.

"If I knew you were going to miss me so much…"

"This isn't funny, Harvey!" she snapped, "Why didn't you show up at the party?"

"I thought I sent my substitute."

"Oh and that's the other thing I wanted to talk about, what was Mike Ross doing there?"

"Oh come on Jessica, don't you remember asking me to invite him as well?"

"No I remember telling you that you could 'get him along' if it meant so much to you since you were practically begging to have him there."

"I don't beg," said Harvey in a serious tone. "Besides, my associate has been working very hard. He deserves a break!"

"Oh look at you caring about someone. Never thought I would see this day!" She looked at Donna and they shared a look that annoyed Harvey.

"Why do you guys have to overthink everything?" He shook his head in disapproval.

"Anyway" said Jessica, "I'm not here to talk about last night, there's something else we need to talk about."

"Harvey you are not going to believe what happened….!" Mike blabbered as he came running and almost bumped into Jessica.

"Oh Miss Pearson, I am so sorry" he fumbled awkwardly.

"You should be saying that to me" growled Harvey. "Where have you been? And what is the fake story about you getting late that I am not going to believe?"

"You guys can do this later. I don't have all day to talk to you Harvey," Jessica adopted a professional tone, one that she took on whenever an associate was around.

"It has been brought to my notice that the number of pro-bono cases our firm takes on has reduced drastically as senior partners have started avoiding these cases, and few of them in particular." She raised her brows at Harvey waiting for him to take the hint.

Harvey rolled his eyes and waited for her to continue. "You need to do something about it. Starting with this." She dropped a file at his desk and left his office after giving him a look.

Mike followed her retreating figure clearly in awe of her sheer persona.

"Now if you are done checking out your employer can we get to what you found out?"

"Haha you are my employer Harvey and.."

"Mike."

"What?" Mike smiled and Harvey got the impression that he still wasn't fully sober. He shook his head and sighed.

"Fine. Here you go," said Mike in a singing voice as he waved a sheet of paper in front of Harvey before handing it to him. It had two columns listing the names of partners who liked and detested the idea of Harvey's name on the door. Harvey could swear that few of the names surprised him.

"Henderson hates me. You've put him in the wrong column."

"No he just hates the fact that you don't give him any attention. And Reckins is the one who actually hates you but you won't know that because he talks to you about baseball."

"Are you challenging my ability to read people?"

"No Harvey. I am just saying that you never considered reading them or sparing them a thought until now, which is why you need to forget everything you thought you knew about them and start from scratch."

"Hmm..Good work" said Harvey, smiling a little. "Now that you have proved yourself useful see what you can do with this." He handed Mike the file Jessica had left.

"Umm Harvey" he said shifting a little, "Are we not going to look at it together?"

"No. See what you can do and if there's too much on your plate pass it on to another associate."

"But what if he is not skilled enough to handle this. If Jessica wanted a senior partner to look into this it must mean it is something more complicated than…"

"Mike, you heard me. Pass it on to an associate and get me the file on the Swenson's merger."

"But this could be important."

"What is the matter with you?" shouted Harvey. "Why can't you let this go?"

"Because it bothers me that you can be so ignorant of cases like these. These may mean nothing to you compared to the high paying corporate cases but to someone it may be their life's biggest struggle."

Harvey walked closer to Mike and stared into his eyes. "How dare you talk to me like that." He hadn't raised his voice but it had so much of authority that Mike took a step back.

"You know what, Harvey" he said without breaking eye contact "May be before the other partners you should convince me, why your name should be on the door. " With that he turned and went to his cubicle before Harvey could say anything to stop him.


Mike worked on all his cases with super speed. He became twice his efficient self when he was disturbed and this was one of those moments.

"Why? Why is he so annoying!" He grumbled as he typed away furiously on his laptop. He didn't want to think about the real reason he was upset and that's because he knew it would upset him further. He had spent an entire evening listening to people talk about Harvey like he had a heart of steel and never cared about anyone or anything. Mike had to fight the urge to argue with them, to tell them that they were all wrong about him. Now that Harvey had an opportunity to challenge their idea of him all he wanted to do was continue playing the same nonchalant and self-absorbed lawyer.

"I wanted those files an hour ago."

Mike looked up to see Harvey leaning against the wall, looking relaxed and bored.

He immediately frowned at him.

"Can you stop being a baby?"

"Can you stop being a.. a.. " he couldn't think of a mean word to say and his expression made Harvey laugh. His eyes became soft and his gaze made Mike feel so warm that he almost forgot why he was mad at him.

Harvey took a chair next to Mike. They had had an intense moment at Harvey's office and yet it didn't seem like Harvey was offended at all.

"Listen Mike, when I was an associate I worked on at least 10 pro-bono cases a month. They kept me grounded. That's what every young lawyer needs, to be grounded in the face of all the glamour and promise of huge success that this profession brings. I don't work on them now unless I feel they cannot be figured out by anyone else because I don't need that grounding as much as them."

"Wow! I had no idea you felt this way. I am so sorry Harvey. I didn't.. I didn't mean to attack you like that," said Mike.

"Then why did you?"

"I don't know."

"You have to be an idiot to not know why you did something."

Mike pouted in mock anger and Harvey laughed again.

"Harvey, you need to tell people what you really feel. They don't know you at all," said Mike hoping that Harvey would listen to him.

"They don't need to know me and I don't need to explain myself to them."

"Then why did you explain yourself to me?"

"I don't know."

"Don't say it," snapped Harvey sensing Mike was about to repeat his own line to him.

"We have to be in court in an hour. Let this go and finish the files you've got there."

Mike knew there was no arguing with Harvey Specter when he was adamant to change the topic. So he sighed and went back to work. On their way back from court he brought up the topic again and much to Harvey's annoyance, Ray took a particularly longer route so that they had ample time to talk about it.


Jessica Pearson was not someone who could be surprised easily and yet what Harvey had done had surprised her to no end. He had called for a partner's meeting and proposed a plan to increase the no. of pro-bono cases the firm could take up. He suggested including these as a performance criteria for the associates. He also suggested that a senior partner would mentor an associate on the first of such cases to set their attitude and expectations right.

"I had this in my mind all along!" exclaimed Louis. "He stole my idea."

"Louis can you please be a grown up about this?"

"This isn't fair Jessica. He didn't even discuss it with me when he knows I take care of the associates and…"

As Louis went on whining and complaining, Jessica thought about the subtle changes that were beginning to show up in Harvey. She was impressed and wondered how long it would be before he really changed her mind about making him named partner.

She wasn't the only one who was surprised. Donna Paulsen who could predict all of Harvey's moves had not seen this coming either.

"I can't believe you did this Harvey!" she exclaimed.

"I had to impress Jessica. It is important that she sees me doing this kind of thing," said Harvey without looking up from the file he was reading.

"You know what I think? I think it was important to you that Mike Ross sees it."

"Why would that be important to me? Have you seen him? He is already so impressed with me."

"Admit it Harvey, you want that kid to respect you."

"What i want Donna is for you to stop overthinking," said Harvey as he grabbed his coat from the back of his chair and got ready to leave. Ray was waiting outside the building to take Mike and him to their favorite place for dinner. They were celebrating yet another win.