Oh gosh am I SORRY for the delay on this! Not to make excuses...but in the middle of this chapter I moved, and then we didn't have internet, and yadda yadda (ok so I am making excuses now), but anyways my muse wandered away, my bad! I haven't even finished watching the first part of season 6 yet (shame shame I know), but now that the second half is on I thought I had better get back on this! I don't love this chapter and I'm sorry for it's shortness...hopefully next chapter will have a little more to it!
Honestly all of your awesome reviews are what got me back here...thanks SO much for all of the encouragement! Shout out to lorcheto, Guest, allen3smith, Guest, The Grandeurs of Despair, harvspecter, Lilynette, Guest, Dalamanza, heycarmichael, Scout, Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest, and nikki.m2301 for your support! You all deserve your own personal Mike and Harvey.
Cheers!
Fictional
"Thank you again, Mr. Feinberg. You won't regret keeping your business with Pearson Specter Litt."
After she hung up the phone on her client, Rachel let out a deep sigh. She was completely exhausted. Between keeping up with law school, doing everything in her power to help keep the firm afloat, and worrying about Mike, she felt like she was drowning.
Mike hadn't even been gone two weeks yet and she hadn't figured out how to stop worrying that he would never walk out of prison in one piece...or what he might even be like when he finally did.
Prison changed people.
With a deep exhale, she picked up an arm full of books from her office desk, swallowing thickly to push down a sudden wave of nausea as she straightened back up. She had been almost constantly nauseous since Mike went away, and she could only chalk it up to the stress of him being gone in conjunction with everything else that was currently happening in her chaotic life. She closed her eyes, taking in a few deep breaths until the nausea finally passed.
Looking at the time then and swearing under her breath, not wanting to be late for yet another class, she grabbed her purse and started heading out the door when her office phone started shrilly ringing again. She paused in the doorway, looking back at it resentfully, before deciding that she had promised to give her all along with Harvey and the rest of them in order to keep the firm alive. With an audible groan of frustration, Rachel wheeled around and ran back to the phone, heavy books still in hand, to see if another client was on the line.
"Hello, this is Rachel Zane, how can I help you?" she answered breathlessly, completely unprepared for who was on the other end.
"Hello, Ms. Zane, this is Officer Daniels from Danbury Federal Penitentiary," a deep male voice replied across the line, and Rachel's heart immediately dropped to the floor. There could be no good reason that one of the officers from the prison was calling her instead of Mike himself.
"...yes," she finally remembered to speak when the officer asked if she was still there.
"You are listed as the emergency contact for prisoner Michael James..."
"Yes, he's my fiancé," Rachel cut him off, her heart beating frantically now. "What happened? Is he ok? Where is..."
"I'm sorry to inform you Ms. Zane, that Mr. Ross has been in an altercation here at the prison, and he was taken to our infirmary for treatment of his injuries," the officer continued, and Rachel forgot how to breathe for a moment.
"Injured how? Is he ok? What happened to Mike?!" she demanded, her fear building into anger now, anger at the officer for not telling her more, anger that Mike was hurt, anger that he was even in prison in the first place.
It shouldn't have been him, anyone but him...
"I'm sorry ma'am, but I'm not authorized to give out that information," the officer replied matter-of-factly, "but I am calling to inform you that unfortunately his injuries are too severe for our on-site physician to treat, and we are sending him out to St. Joseph's Hospital now."
"Oh my God," Rachel breathed, her mind filling with a thousand different horrifying scenarios of Mike broken, bleeding, dying all alone in that God-forsaken place...
Then her anger, her protectiveness of Mike took over, and she demanded answers into the phone.
"God damn it, tell me what happened to Mike!" She shouted furiously into the phone, hoping she sounded more brave and ferocious than she currently felt. "He is my fiancé, and so help me if you don't tell me what happened to him, I, along with every other attorney here at Pearson Specter Litt, will personally make sure that you are assigned desk duty for the rest of your god damn career! Now tell me what's going on!"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Zane, I really am," the officer said patiently, almost with a hint of sympathy that infuriated Rachel even more, "but you threatening me isn't going to help the situation. I am not allowed to divulge that information over the phone. You'll need to contact his treating physician at the hospital. The warden can give a full report to you and Mr. Ross' attorney at a later date."
Realizing her threats were idle and her demands were getting nowhere, she tried a different tactic, still desperate for answers about the fate of the man she loved.
"Please tell me," she replied brokenly, pleading with the officer. "Please. All I have done since Mike went away is lie awake every night, wondering if he is ok in there, if he's eating, how's he sleeping, if he's even safe ...and now here you are, calling me and telling me my worst fears have come true. Please, Officer Daniels...I just need to know if he is going to be ok. I'm begging you here, with everything I have...just tell me."
The officer let out a deep sigh across the phone, and Rachel knew she had him then. What she wasn't expecting was what he said next.
"It appears that Mike Ross has sustained multiple stab wounds to the abdomen, and he's being transferred to St. Joseph's in critical condition. I'm sorry Ms. Zane..."
Rachel didn't even hear the rest of what he said as everything suddenly became white noise around her, the world tilting dangerously to the side. She dropped the phone with a thud, her books tumbling into a careless heap on the floor as her life shattered into a million pieces.
"When will he learn," Donna muttered to herself with a smirk as Louis slinked away from her desk, realizing too little, too late his folly in not waiting for her expert help to hire tenants for the vacant offices, and now he was stuck with the obnoxious traders destroying the sanctity of his precious bullpen.
A moment later, her phone rang and brought her back to reality. Luckily, it was Sean Cahill finally calling Harvey back. She immediately transferred him to Harvey's phone, hoping that Cahill had a solution to get either Gallo or Mike transferred out of Danbury.
Although she intended to accidentally listen to Harvey's conversation so she knew exactly what was going on, something in her gut suddenly told her to go check on Rachel. Not one to ever ignore her woman's intuition, Donna stood up from her desk, casually smoothed her dress, and walked purposefully back to Rachel's office.
She was completely unprepared for what she found.
As she neared the glass door, she realized she couldn't see Rachel, but she knew she hadn't left for class yet (late again), and as she drew closer she could see Rachel's phone dangling off the hook and her books scattered wildly across the office floor.
Donna tried to ignore the growing pit of dread in her stomach that something was really, really wrong. She rushed into Rachel's office, gasping when she finally spotted her on her hands and knees behind her desk, shaking and clutching her stomach, looking completely and utterly lost.
"Oh my God, Rachel!" Donna rushed to her best friend and dropped to her knees next to her, reaching out a hand to steady her. "Rachel, what's going on? Talk to me!"
Rachel shook her head then, as if she was just hearing Donna for the first time, and she looked back at her with a pained, tear-filled gaze, not saying anything for several seconds.
"...it's Mike," she finally choked out, and Donna felt her heart clench painfully at that.
"Mike? What happened to Mike?" Donna tried to keep her focused, shaking Rachel gently to make her look at her again. "What's going on?!"
Rachel shook her head again, desperately fighting back tears as she struggled to find the words, urgency evident in her tone. "Donna...we have to go...St. Joseph's..." She grasped Donna's arm with surprising strength, as if trying to anchor herself.
"St. Joseph's?" Donna asked in confusion, still trying to piece together what had happened and fearing the worst, hoping desperately that her fears were wrong.
But unfortunately, Donna was never wrong.
She squeezed Rachel's arm again, trying to get her to focus before she dared to ask.
"Rachel...is Mike ok?"
She just shook her head hopelessly, squeezing her eyes shut as a single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, and Donna's heart sank.
She had to tell Harvey.
"Damn it Sean, he's never going to go for that," Harvey growled into the phone in frustration. Cahill's suggestion of getting Mike to turn on his cell mate was a useless one, because Mike was loyal to a fault.
That's exactly why Mike was currently in prison instead of him.
Harvey didn't get a chance to hear Cahill's reply because he noticed Donna enter his office then from the corner of his eye. Harvey shook his head to indicate to her not to interrupt unless it was life or death, because she knew how long he had been waiting for Cahill to call back. But when he finally looked up at her still standing there, he realized that she was there for a reason...and it wasn't good.
The last time she came into his office with that look on her face...his father had died.
Harvey felt like all the wind had been suddenly knocked out of him. "Listen, Sean, something has come up. I'll call you back," he hung up, not even waiting for Sean's reply.
Harvey stood up as Donna approached, unconsciously gripping the side of his desk to ground himself for what was coming.
"What is it?" he heard himself say hoarsely, the blood already rushing to his ears.
"Harvey," Donna took a deep breath, wringing her hands and looking as though she couldn't quite make herself say the words.
"Donna," Harvey couldn't even hide the desperation in his voice now, and he didn't even bother to. He already knew what she was going to tell him. The look on her face said it all. "Just tell me."
"I'm so sorry Harvey," Donna shook her head, unable to stop the tears springing to her eyes.
"It's Mike."
Harvey's world came to a stop.
TBC