Chapter 26

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After a night's sleep not quite as restful as the night before, though better than he's slept in recent weeks, Mike gets up, gets ready, and heads downstairs where he finds that his mother has made breakfast.

"All this looks really great." Mike says as he sits down at the bench, "But I'm not sure I'm going to be able to eat anything." He admits.

"You should try." Jessica tells her son, handing him a plate, "it's going to be a long day."

"Pretty sure that's an understatement." Mike admits.

"Mike, I have to go into the firm to check on a few things, but I'll be at the courthouse before the trial begins." Jessica tells her son.

"I think I'll come with you." Mike admits, "The trial doesn't start to ten and if I wait around here, I'm just going to worry, and remember." he explains, "At the firm I can at least be a little distracted." Mike admits.

"Okay, eat something and then we can go." Jessica tells her son.

"Yes, Mom." Mike says and he forces himself to eat a little bit of toast.


As it turns out Jessica and Mike aren't the only ones who plan on getting a little bit of work done before heading to the court house as Katrina, Donna and Harvey, who all intended to be at the courthouse for the entire trial, have all arrived at Pearson Hardman to do some work.

Arriving at the firm Harvey walks straight into his office and he isn't at all surprised when Donna gets up and follows behind, closing the door behind her.

"Yes?" Harvey asks, after Donna spends several minutes just watching him.

"Robbing the cradle, really Harvey?" Donna asks with an almost amused look on her face.

"Mike's not that much younger than me." Harvey comments, not at all surprised that that is the first thing that Donna said.

"There's twelve years' difference between you." Donna reminds him, "Not to mention that he's your employee, and your mentor's son."

"I know all that Donna." Harvey tells her, starting to work on his computer, "I know all the reasons why Mike and I could be a bad idea, but…."

"You don't care." Donna realises, smiling at her friend, "Because you care about him."

"Yes." Harvey confirms, looking up at her, "I know we've got some things to figure out, and we will, once Trevor's trial is over."

"You're suggestion?" Donna asks and Harvey nods, "I'm impressed." She admits and Harvey rolls his eyes.

"Did you need something, Donna?" Harvey asks, not wanting to be interrogated.

"No. I just want to make sure that you know what you're getting into." Donna tells him.

"I know, Donna." Harvey says, his voice short, "But something being hard has never stopped me, and it's not going to stop me now." Harvey reveals, his voice forceful, "I want to be with Mike, and I'm not going to change my mind just because we've got some things to figure out, or because things might be hard." Harvey reveals, and as he does Donna smiles, "Why are you smiling?"

"Because I wanted to hear you say that." Donna admits, "You forget I've been watching you and Mike since you've meet. You're different around him Harvey, you always have been. You've opened up around him in a way I never thought I would see, and that's amazing." She tells Harvey, "So, you and Mike, finally giving it a try, is something I'm something all for, I just want to make sure you know what you're doing."

"Finally? It's only been a few months." Harvey tells her.

"Seemed a lot longer." Donna admits with a smirk, "What with the way you've been mooning over each other."

"Don't you have work to do?" Harvey asks.

"Yeah, guess I do." Donna says, getting up and heading out of the room and leaving Harvey to his work, though he is watching the time.


Not long after leaving Harvey's office Donna is sitting at her desk when she hears footsteps, and looking up she is surprised to see Mike.

"What are you doing here?" Donna asks surprised, standing up.

"I work here." Mike says, like it should be obvious.

"Do you really think working this morning is a good idea?" Donna asks concerned, walking over to him.

"Yes, because if I don't all I'm going to think about is what is going to happen in that court room, and what I'm going to have to remember, and I don't want to think about that until I have to." Mike admits.

"Okay." Donna says, slowly reaching out and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It will be okay, Mike. You'll be okay."

"Thanks Donna." Mike says gratefully.

"Go see your boy." Donna tells him, having done so because no one was around.

"I'm pretty sure he'd prefer Man." Mike says as he walks past Donna and walks into Harvey's office.

"Morning." Mike says, as he walks into Harvey's office.

"Morning." Harvey responds, "So, you found a new place?" he asks as Mike sent him a message the day before.

"Yeah. I'm going to move in after the trial." Mike explains.

"Good." Harvey says, sounding glad about that, "So I take it you want some work to do until we have to leave?"

"That would be good." Mike admits.

"Summarise these." Harvey says, handing a stack of files to Mike.

"Will do." Mike responds, "I'll be in the file room."

"I figured." Harvey says as Mike heads out of his office.


For the next few hours Mike works alone in the file room, trying not to think about what he has to do.

"Hey Mike." A voice says and Mike looks up to see Rachel.

"Hey." Mike responds, not looking up from what he is doing.

"So, Hardman's gone, I bet your Mom's happy." Rachel says, sitting down on the desk next to where Mike is working.

"Yeah, she is." Mike confirms.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asks, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine." Mike lies, "Why do you ask?"

"Because the other day you had a, very public, fight with Harvey, and you weren't here for a couple of days, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Rachel admits.

"Like I said, I'm fine." Mike lies as he and Rachel both hear footsteps and they turn to see Jessica walking in.

"Mike, it's time." Jessica tells her son.

"Right, okay. I'll be right there." Mike says, picking up all his files, "I got to go." He says to Rachel.

"I'll see you later." Rachel says as Mike leaves.

"Harvey, Donna and Katrina are meeting us downstairs." Jessica explains.

"Okay." Mike says with a nod as the two of them make their way through the halls.


A little while, having taken two cars Mike, Jessica, Harvey, Donna and Katrina arrive at the courthouse. The car trip having been even harder for Mike as not only was he dealing with the memories of what he's going to have to talk about at court, but his fear of being in a car.

"You're okay." Katrina whispers to her best friend as the climb out of the car.

"Yeah, don't know how long I will be though." Mike mutters.

"It will be over soon." Katrina tells him.

"Hopefully." Mike mutters as there is a part of him that, despite what everyone has said, is terrified that, Trevor is going to be found not guilty, and honestly he isn't sure whether he could handle that happening.


Ten minutes later Harvey, Mike, Katrina, Donna, Jessica are all inside the courthouse and Harvey, Katrina and Mike are in the witness room as they are all going to be testifying while Jessica and Donna are in the gallery.

Harvey, Mike and Katrina have been sitting in the room for a few minutes and because he wanted some space Mike is sitting alone, or he was until Harvey walks over and sits next to him.

"I've talked to Wolf. Out of the three of us I'm going to testify first so that I can keep my promise." Harvey reveals as first Wolf is going to introduce all the evidence and have the witnesses who will be testifying about Mike's injuries before him, then Katrina, then finally Mike.

"Thank you." Mike says gratefully.

"You don't have to keep thanking me." Harvey assures him.

"I feel like I do." Mike admits, "Harvey, what if he's found not guilty? What if he gets out?" Mike asks, sounding terrified, not being able to keep the fear in anymore.

"Don't think about that." Harvey tells him, honestly having no idea what else to say in response to that.

"But…" Mike stars to say.

"But nothing. Yes, Juries can be unpredictable, but Wolf's case is strong and right now all you need to think about is doing what you have to do." Harvey explains to Mike.

"You mean telling an entire court room every detail of what he did to me." Mike says, "Knowing that it's what I have to do, doesn't make it any easier."

"I know." Harvey says, reaching out and taking Mike's hand, wanting to do something to support him, "if I could do this for you, I would."

"I know, but you can't. I've got to do it." Mike says, squeezing Harvey's hand.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're alone, because you're not." Harvey says and the two of them drift into silence.


For a few hours Harvey, Mike and Katrina sit in the witness room, none of them knowing how the trial is going and honestly Mike can feel himself coming more and more worried, and even though there is a lunch break, Mike finds himself unable to eat a single thing.

"Harvey Specter." The bailiff says, opening the door.

"Like I said, just look at me." Harvey tells Mike, squeezing Mike's hand before getting up, "Katrina." He says as he walks out the room and Katrina gets up and walks over to Mike and takes Harvey's empty seat.

"You're remembering, aren't you?" Katrina asks concerned.

"Of course I am." Mike responds.

"To Kill a Mockingbird, page twenty-five." Katrina says, and Mike turns to look at her, "Don't look at me like that, distracting you like this has worked before."

"Yeah, it has." Mike says, though he isn't overly sure it will work this time, but despite that Mike gives it a go and recites pages of books once Katrina names them.


For fifteen minutes Mike uses his memory by reciting things to try and distract himself, until Katrina leaves to give her testimony, and once she does Mike continues to use his memory to recite things, trying to distract himself.

"Michael Pearson-Ross." The bailiff says, five minutes after Katrina leaves, and Mike takes a deep breath, heads out of the witness room and a few minutes later Mike is sworn in and sitting on the stand, having not looked over to Trevor once, and he doesn't intend to, as he is sure that if he will everything will come back in a way he can't control.

"Mr Pearson-Ross, do you know the defendant, Trevor Evans?" Wolf asks.

"Yes."

"How long have you known Trevor Evans?"

"Since I was seven years old."

"And how would you describe the nature of your relationship?" Wolf asks curious.

"He was my best friend, and we had an on and off romantic relationship since we were teenagers." Mike explains.

"Do you recognize this letter, Mr. Pearson-Ross?" Wolf asks, collecting the letter Mike wrote Trevor off his desk and showing it to Mike, "Please note that I am showing Mr Pearson-Ross the peoples three." He says.

"Yes." Mike confirms "Yes, I wrote it to Trevor Evans in February of this year." Mike reveals.

"And What was the reason behind you writing it?" Wolf asks.

"I wrote it to tell Trevor that I had no intention of having a romantic relationship with him again and that he should stay in Montana, I believed that ending all possibilities of a future relationship between us was best." Mike reveals as Wolf takes the letter back.

"Let's talk about the night of February 29th." Wolf requests, "When did you arrive home?"

"Nine twenty-five pm." Mike answers.

"How can you be sure of the exact time?" Wolf asks, doing so to establish the fact that Mike has such a good memory.

"I have a photographic memory." Mike explains.

"And what happened when you arrived home?" Wolf asks.

"I was texting my friend, Katrina Bennett to inform her that I arrived home safety, as I was I heard footsteps, I turned to see the Defendant, Trevor Evans, coming towards me." Mike reveals, pointing to Trevor, without looking at him.

"And what happened next?" Wolf asks and looking out to the gallery, to Harvey Mike begins to explain everything that happened to him that night, everything Trevor did, in detail.


For the next ten minutes Mike describes exactly what Trevor did to him, even single detail, everything he felt, heard, smelled and said. More than once Mike isn't sure he can continue, he doesn't think he can hold it together, but ever single time he felt like that he looked out at Harvey and the second he did he felt stronger, and he was able to keep going, keep describing what happened.

In the gallery Jessica, Harvey, Donna and Katrina are all horrified by every word Mike says, they hate that he had to endure that, and that he has to re-live it in front of so many people, but more than anything they are furious at Trevor and all want him to pay.

"And then Trevor left, saying that I was his and that I was to never forget that." Mike explains, desperately wanting to fall apart, but he knows he can't.

"Thank you Mr Pearson-Ross, I know that can't have been easy for you." Wolf says, heading back over to his table.

Once Wolf sits down the defence attorney stands up and Mike tries to prepare himself, as he knows that the defence attorney will attack him, try to do everything he can to discredit him.


Just like he was expecting the cross examination is bad, really bad, but Mike feels that as the defence attorney is clearly inexperienced that things didn't go as badly as they could have, though he clearly knew what he was doing, and Wolf's cross examination helped repair the little damage that was done.

After almost twenty minutes on the stand, twenty minutes that feel like a hell of a lot longer to Mike is dismissed and he heads down to the gallery where he sits between his mother and Harvey.

"You did great." Jessica tells her son, as Harvey reaches out and squeezes his knee, though honestly Harvey would like to pull Mike into his arms and tell him that everything is going to be okay.

After Mike's testimony Wolf rests his case and the trial ends for the day, and so Mike, Harvey, Jessica, Donna and Katrina head out.

"Are you okay?" Jessica asks her son once they are out of the court room.

"I don't know." Mike admits and his mother hugs him, at first Mike feels rather tense, but he finally relaxes and for several minutes Jessica just holds her son while Donna, Katrina and Harvey watch on, all wishing that they could something more to help Mike.

"You haven't eaten much today, how about we all go and get some dinner." Jessica suggests.

"I honestly don't know if I could eat anything." Mike admits as he knows that it was only day one, and that he has to endure at least a couple more days.

"You should try to." Donna comments, in a kind supportive tone of voice.

"There's the Italian place down the road, you used to love it there." Katrina reminds him.

"Yeah, okay, that could be nice." Mike says, sounding uncertain.

"Good, let's go there then." Jessica says and the group of five head out, as they do Mike purposely hangs back so he can talk to Harvey, something which both Donna and Katrina realise so they both walk with Jessica so she doesn't realise as they both know that Mike and Harvey haven't talked about what they now are, which means they wouldn't know what to tell Jessica.

"Your Mom's right, you did great." Harvey tells Mike.

"That was even harder than I was expecting." Mike admits, "But every time it felt like it was going to be too much, I looked to you and I was able to get through. You gave me strength today, Harvey, thank you." Mike says sincerely.

"You already had that strength inside you Mike, I just helped you find it." Harvey tells him, not wanting to take the credit for what Mike did on his own.

"Accept a thank you Harvey." Mike says, managing to look a little amused.

"I did Rookie, I just pointed out that you did it on your own." Harvey explains.

"We should go catch up with the others." Mike realises.

"Yeah."


After two more days of a trial, during which time, to Mike's relief, Trevor doesn't testify, the defence has rested their case, which mostly consisted of trying to discredit the physical evidence, as Trevor left DNA, while he didn't completely discredit everything he did offer a believable alternative,, and the jury has gone for deliberation.

As Wolf told them that it wouldn't be long Mike, Harvey, Jessica, Donna and Katrina are all waiting around the courthouse to be called back in.

"So, are we going to talk about how that went?" Donna asks, looking around at the others as they sit around the table, wanting to do something to break the silence that they have been sitting in for a while.

"Wolf did a good job of preventing his case." Jessica comments.

"And the defence attorney was clearly inexperience." Katrina comments, not mentioning that he was good, "He should have never let it go to trial, not with the evidence, but…" She starts to say, before trailing off.

"He wanted me to suffer though testifying." Mike comments, "But I agree Wolf made his case, now it's up to the jury." Mike says, having spent at least a few minutes thinking like a prosecutor so that he could figure out the most likely option.

"They heard the evidence, heard you, they should do the right thing." Harvey says, having never trusted juries so he isn't sure what else to say.

"Hopefully." Mike mutters and the group of five once more drifts into silence and they wait.

"The Jury's back." Wolf says, walking over to the group and the second he hears those words Mike freezes,

"Thank you, Terrence." Harvey says.

"Mike, we've got to go." Katrina tells him, but Mike doesn't even respond and so she exchanges worried looks with the others.

"Mike." Jessica says concerned, "The jury's back, it's time." She tells him and slowly Mike's eyes become more focused.

"Right, okay." Mike says, forcing himself to nod and come back to the present, and he gets up, noticing Harvey's worried look as he does, and heads back to the courtroom.


A few minutes later everyone is back in the courtroom and the jury is once more taking their seats.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" The judge asks.

"We have your honour." The foreman says, "We find the defendant, Trevor Evans, guilty of all charges." She says and with that simple word Mike feels an overwhelming sense of relief and joy, as he realises that everything is finally over and as he hears Wolf say that they will be asking for the maximum sentence of all charges, Mike begins to believe, for the first time, that Trevor's not going to be able to hurt him again.


Many hours later, having gone back to the firm after Trevor was declared guilty, Harvey is sitting on his couch enjoying a drink, as he thinks about Mike. Honestly Harvey knows how much that guilty verdict meant to him and he is beyond glad that the jury decided that as if they had found that scum bag innocent Harvey isn't sure what he would have done, though he is pretty sure that it would have involved him doing whatever he had to do to protect Mike.

As he sits and drinks Harvey hears a knock on his door and so he puts down his glass and heads to answer it. Opening the door Harvey is a little surprised to see Mike on the other side.

"I thought you were having dinner with your Mom." Harvey says, as he sees Mike, even though he is surprised he is very glad.

"I was, I did, but then she headed into the firm to catch up on some work, and I came here." Mike explains, as Harvey lets him in.

"I'm glad you did." Harvey says, completely meaning that, "Drink?" he asks curious as they arrive in the living room.

"Sure." Mike says and as Harvey heads over to the drink cart Mike heads over to the couch, "Mom's making me take the rest of the week, and next week off, bereavement leave after losing Grammy, and so I can have time to move, and deal with the aftermath of…...everything." Mike admits.

"Let me guess, you fought her on that." Harvey comments, as he pours drinks.

"Of course, but she wouldn't back down." Mike admits, "But it could be a good idea, I've booked a long appointment with Doctor Jenkins for tomorrow." He reveals.

"That was a good idea." Harvey says as he walks over to Mike and hands him his glass, "You said you missed a few."

"Yeah, probably more than I should have." Mike admits.

"From now on you're gonna tell Donna when your appointments with Doctor Jenkins are and she'll make sure you go." Harvey informs Mike as he sits down across from him.

"Really?" Mike says, not sure whether to be amused or offended.

"Really. You said it yourself your appointments with her help, you're got to keep going." Harvey tells Mike as while he's never been overly keen on the idea of talking to a therapist Mike said that the doctor helped him, which matters to him, "And if Donna reminding you is the only way to get you to keep going then so be it."

"Okay, Harvey." Mike says, taking a drink, "So, the trial is over." Mike says, after taking a drink.

"Are you just stating the obvious now, Rookie?" Harvey asks, with an amused look on his face, knowing exactly what Mike is really doing.

"Well yeah, because I don't know how else to bring up the conversation we need to have." Mike responds.

"Clearly." Harvey responds, pausing to take a drink himself, "We've got some things to work out."

"That would be an understatement." Mike says, "I meant everything I said Saturday night, Harvey. I love you, and I want us to figure out a way for us to work."

"I want the same thing." Harvey responds, completely meaning that.

"But you're my Boss, and my Mom's protégé." Mike comments.

"Which is why the first thing we've got to agree to is to keep our personal and professional lives separate." Harvey says, "Work's there, we're here."

"God plan, but you think you can do that? I mean you did just say that I have to alert you assistant of every single one of my therapist appointments to make sure I go." Mike says with an amused look on his face, a look that Harvey really likes to see.

"I think I can manage alright." Harvey admits, resisting the urge to roo his eyes, "How about you?"

"Yeah, I can manage that." Mike says with a nod, "But that brings us to our other big issue…."

"Your Mom." Harvey realises, "She is both our bosses, and I'm not completely sure how she is going to react to the fact that I'm dating her son." Harvey admits as honestly he could see it going either one of two ways, either she'll be happy for them or feel that he is betraying her in the worst way.

"And the firm has an anti-fraternization policy." Mike reminds Harvey.

"Which makes things more complicated." Harvey admits as it won't look good for Jessica if she bends that policy for them, "But Donna and Katrina already know."

"I'm pretty sure they knew before we did." Mike admits, looking amused at the thought as while he isn't surprised that Donna and Katrina get along so well, he is a little worried about what they might do together.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Harvey admits, "The question is, are we comfortable keeping this from Jessica." He realises

"Honestly, I don't know." Mike admits, "But I do know that if we tell her, at least right now, it will make things a lot more complicated, and may even make it harder for us to figure out what we are."

"So you think we should keep it from her, at least for a little while." Harvey realises.

"I think it's a valid idea, what do you think?" Mike asks, honestly wanting Harvey's opinion.

"I think not telling Jessica will allow us to figure out what we are without expectations, and it will be a lot less complicated, but I also know that we can't keep it from her for too long, because that wouldn't be right." Harvey admits.

"So, we give it some time, figure things out between us, and then tell Mom once we do." Mike realises.

"Which means we're going to have to be even more careful about keeping things professional at the office." Harvey says.

"When have we ever kept things professional at the office?" Mike asks curious and Harvey can't help but laugh at that,

"Good point, but you know what I mean." Harvey comments.

"Yeah, I do." Mike admits, "And if we're keeping it from Mom, at least for a while, then we should keep it from everyone else too."

"You mean everyone except Donna and Katrina." Harvey corrects.

"Well yeah, and Doctor Jenkins because it's probably going to come up." Mike reveals.

"I figured that." Harvey responds, not even minding, "But that brings me to the other big thing we have to talk about." Harvey says, not completely sure how to say what he knows they have to talk about, "I don't want us to do anything that makes you uncomfortable." Harvey says, "So, if you need us to take us slow, then that's what we're going to do, but I need you to be honest with me, Mike. If something makes you uncomfortable, or if we're moving too fast I need you to tell me." Harvey tells Mike, this being the most important thing to him as the last thing he wants is to push Mike, or hurt him without realising because they're moving too fast.

"I will." Mike says, putting down his glass to walk over to Harvey, "But I don't know what I'm going to be okay with and what will be too much." Mike says, "So I agree that taking things slow is best, but I don't know if it will be that simple." Mike admits as he sits on Harvey's lap, and Harvey puts his hands on Mike's waist, "I told you that I feel safe around you and I feel comfortable, and I meant that, I do mean that, but I don't know how I'm going to react to things." Mike admits, "I want to say that I'll be okay because it's you and I do trust you Harvey, but I can't say that for sure." Mike admits, wishing that he could.

"That's okay, Mike." Harvey assures him, "Like I said, we'll take things slow and the second you think you're uncomfortable with something we'll stop, and if your think you're not ready than we won't even try." Harvey promises him and the fact that he is so clearly telling the truth means so much to Mike.

"Slow, I can handle that." Mike says before leaning down and kissing Harvey, a kiss that Harvey enthusiastically responds to, but while he does it is clear that it is leading to nothing more.

After a while Mike and Harvey break apart and as they do Harvey searches Mike's face for any sign of fear or anything that tells him that Mike's uncomfortable, but he doesn't see a sign of either.

"So, work, taking things slow, Jessica, is there anything we need to figure out? Anything else you want to talk about?" Harvey asks Mike, once he is sure that he is okay.

"Not that I can think of." Mike says, making no effort to move off Harvey as he attempts to ignore an inch on his plastered arm, something that is rather difficult to do.

"How much longer have you got that on for?" Harvey asks, realising what Mike is trying not to do as he recognizes the signs, and as the plaster is the one visible sign of what happened to Mike he will be very glad when it is gone, though he knows that the non-visible signs will last a hell of a lot longer.

"Another week, I get it removed on the third, but after that, depending on things I could have to wear a brace, or do some physical therapy, or maybe even both." Mike admits, "But right now I'm just really looking forward to getting it off."

"Don't blame you there." Harvey admits, "Do you want to finish watching that movie from the other night?" he asks curious, doing so partly because he really wants to, and partly because it could distract Mike.

"Sure." Mike responds, and the two of them move over to the couch where they settle in and watch the movie together, and even though they start side by side within half an hour Mike is leaning against Harvey and Harvey has his arms protectively around Mike, a position that feels so natural that neither feel the need to say anything about it.