Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

AN1: Thank you for the support. Sorry that there was no update yesterday, I had some problems. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, LEAVE A COMMENT.


It has been a little over a week since Allison Holts tried to steal clients and did poach associates, and ever since Harvey, Mike, Jessica, Katrina and even Donna have all been doing everything they can to show that the firm is strong.

Having seen his doctor a few days earlier Mike has been instructed to wear his brace when experiencing pain, lack of movement, or lack of strength, or when he is using his hand for a very long period of time.

It's a Monday morning and Harvey and Mike are in Harvey's office throwing crumpled paper into a bin, both trying to win.

"H-o-r-s. That means you get an 'e' you lose." Harvey informs Mike.

"Thank you, I can spell." Mike tells his boyfriend.

"Too bad you can't shoot." Harvey teases.

"Crumpled paper." Mike says, holding up the crumpled paper he is holding.

"Winners don't blame the ball or the rim or the wind speed in a closed-off room." Harvey informs Mike.

"The fan was on." Mike argues, "And I'm still having issues with my dexterity." He reveals,

"Your dexterity was fine last night." Harvey says with a smirk, which Mike returns, both of them remembering the same thing, "And excuses don't win championships." Harvey informs him.

"Oh, yeah? Did Michael Jordan tell you that?" Mike asks curious.

"No. I told him that." Harvey says as he throws his crumpled paper, and gets it perfectly in the bin.

"Come on." Mike says annoyed, "All right." Mike says before throwing his ball, but then Jessica walks in and catches the ball before it can go into the bin, "That was going in." Mike says in his defence.

"We're in the middle of a game!" Harvey objects in an annoyed voice.

"If you two are playing horse then one of you need to thank me." Jessica says, looking between Harvey and Mike, honestly being a little amused at what they are doing, though she knows that they should be working.

"Thank you." Mike admits.

"Out." Jessica tells her son who nods and heads out of the room, leaving Jessica and Harvey to discuss the Folsom food case and the attorney who has now taken over.


Arriving to her office, as she has been rather busy all morning, Katrina is surprised to see Louis sitting on one of her chairs as apart from when the two of them, and Mike, worked together all night they haven't really talked since Katrina told him that she wanted nothing to do with him.

"Louis." Katrina greats, walking over to her desk where she sits down behind it, "What are you doing here?" she asks.

"I wanted to give you this." Louis says, placing a box on Katrina's desk, "And I want to say that I've missed working with you, and that I'd like to work with you again." He reveals, telling the complete truth.

"You didn't have to get me anything." Katrina says, sounding surprised about the gift.

"It's tickets, and a bottle of tequila." Louis reveals, "Just a little something."

"I appreciate it, Louis, but that doesn't make everything okay." Katrina reveals, "Mike and Jessica are my family, and you betrayed them." Katrina reveals, stressing the word Family and surprising Louis as he knew that Mike was Katrina's best friend, but she didn't know that she considered Jessica to be family too, "You betrayed me too, and Donna and Harvey. That's not something that I can easily get over."

"Can you try?" Louis asks curious, "I am sorry, Katrina, and I would very much like to work with you again." He admits.

"I need to think about this." Katrina admits, "I need some time."

"Okay." Louis says, honestly after the time he worked with Katrina he was expecting he to kick him out of her office again, so her saying that she is going to think about it is better than he was expecting, "Let me know when you've made up your mind." Louis says, heading to the door, but he stops and turns around, "I don't work well with people, but I do work well with you, and I'd like to get back to that." He says before leaving, leaving Katrina alone to think about everything.


It has been a couple of hours since Mike left Harvey's office and ever since he has been working in the file room on the Folsom Foods cause.

"Hey, Mike." A voice says and Mike looks up to see Rachel, suspecting that he knows exactly what Rachel is here to talk to him about.

"Rachel." Mike responds.

"You're working the Folsom Foods case right?" Rachel asks, confirming exactly what Mike was suspecting.

"Yeah."

"Missy Dietler's your paralegal on it, right?" Rachel asks.

"Yeah, when she's not texting her boyfriend every five seconds or her roommate, like every other five seconds." Mike says, putting on a voice.

"Put me on instead." Rachel requests.

"No, that's a really bad idea." Mike comments, "And I don't understand why you would want to be put on it anyway."

"I would think you more than anyone would understand." Rachel admits, telling the truth.

"Well, I don't. I hated worked against Mom during the trial run, and I would absolutely hate working against her for real, and I'd never consider volunteering to be against her." Mike reveals, not understanding why Rachel would want to work against her dad.

"That's because your Mom respects you." Rachel informs Mike.

"I'm sure your Dad respects you." Mike tells Rachel.

"He doesn't, he never has." Rachel tells Mike, "You feel like you need to prove yourself to everyone here, well I need to prove myself to him." Rachel says, forcing the him, "And I'm betting that I'm right about you understanding that." she comments.

"I do." Mike confirms, "I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Look Mike, I'm offering to help you kick his ass, are you going to make room for me or not?" Rachel asks and Mike looks at her and realises that this is something she really needs to do, just like how he needed to go by just Ross for a little while.

"Wow, look out Robert Zane."


Not long after agreeing to let Rachel be the paralegal on the case Mike and Harvey are in Harvey's office about to begin their meeting with Robert Zane.

"It's good to see you, Robert." Harvey greats, "And I don't believe you've meet my associate, Mike Pearson-Ross." Harvey introduces

"Pearson-Ross. So, you're Jessica's son." Robert realises, looking at Mike.

"Yeah, I am." Mike confirms.

"Your mother's very proud of you." Robert informs Mike, having been one of the few people who has actually talked to Jessica about Mike before he started to work at Pearson-Hardman.

"So I've heard." Mike responds as he, Harvey and Robert all sit down.

"First of all Robert, I'm sorry to hear about Derek Portis." Harvey reveals, having been a little surprised that Jessica talked to Robert about Mike.

"Oh, I appreciate your condolences, Harvey, but the fact is, Derek was a dick." Robert says, causing both Harvey and Robert to laugh.

"That's what I said." Harvey reveals.

"That's what everybody says." Robert reveals.

"I any case, you didn't need to come all the way over here. We could've faxed you the settlement." Harvey reveals.

"Here you are." Mike says, going to hand it over, but Robert doesn't take it.

"You and I both know I didn't come over here to sign. I came to negotiate." Robert reminds Harvey.

"To renegotiate, which is bad faith." Harvey corrects.

"The fact is you snookered Derek, ten million is double what any competent attorney would've settled for. It should have been five, I'll give you two." Robert reveals.

"Great, let's settle for two. Then I'll get you the keys to my condo, and maybe you'll drop a deuce on pillow." Harvey says, his voice full of sarcasm.

"Does it have a security code? Doorman?" Robert asks curious, causing all three of them to laugh.

"Okay, you've had your fun, but were not talking that offer." Harvey reveals.

"Then when would you like to schedule Sloane Mosely's deposition?" Robert asks curious.

"You want to use this opportunity to show Sloane Mosley what she's in for." Mike realises.

"When I get done with her, she's gonna jump at that two million." Robert reveals.

"That's more than bad faith. That's just cruel." Harvey tells Robert, sounding annoyed.

"My offer stands." Robert says before leaving.

"This is going to get complicated." Mike says once Robert leaves.

"Something which you only added to by putting Rachel Zane as the paralegal on this case." Harvey tells Mike, though he is pretty sure that they'll be able to use that to their advantage.

"She asked." Mike reveals.

"Why did you agree?" Harvey asks, interested, being pretty sure that Mike would have a reason.

"Because she came to me thinking that I would understand. I don't understand why she'd want on this case, but she wants a chance to prove herself to her father, and that I do understand." Mike explains to Harvey.

"Okay." Harvey responds.

"I'll see you later." Mike says, heading out of Harvey's office.


Downstairs Donna and Katrina have just gotten coffee together and are walking, and talking.

"So, Louis gave you a bottle of tequila." Donna says, a little surprised.

"And two tickets to A Streetcar Named Desire." Katrina reveals, taking a drink of her coffee.

"How does Louis know that you like Broadway?" Donna asks curious as that's a piece of information that not a lot of people know.

"Honestly, I though you told him." Katrina admits.

"I didn't." Donna reveals, "But I'm coming with you, right?"

"Of course." Katrina answers, not even needing to think about it.

"So, what are you going to do?" Donna asks curious, "Are you going to work with him again?"

"I don't know." Katrina says, with a sigh, "It's tempting, but it could be a really bad idea, and there are a lot of things to consider. Plus, it's Louis."

"Which you think is both a good thing and bad thing." Donna reminds Katrina.

"Yeah, which is part of the problem." Katrina admits.

"Okay, you're place, tonight, we're breaking open that tequila and talk this whole thing over." Donna informs her friend.

"Sounds good to me." Katrina admits and the two of them drift into silence as they walk and drink their coffees.


Not long after Mike left his office Harvey has left his office too and is walking towards Jessica's, as he heads there Harvey runs into Jessica near the elevators.

"Robert Zane poked his nose into my office." Jessica informs Harvey.

"He try and hit on you?" Harvey asks curious, "I think he's always had a thing."

"Who doesn't?" Jessica asks with an amused look on her face, "He thinks we're weak."

"I know." Harvey confirms, "He pulled the settlement."

"Not on the case, us." Jessica corrects.

"Are you saying he went over my head?" Harvey asks annoyed.

"He heard about Allison Holt's bullshit." Jessica reveals.

"Let me guess. He's pulling the same bullshit right now." Harvey realises.

"Told me the world knows we need a win, tried to leverage that to get me to settle." Jessica explains.

"Son of a bitch." Harvey says annoyed, "That's not bad faith. That's below the belt." Harvey realises.

"You know what I do to someone who hits me below the belt?" Jessica asks.

"Cut 'em off at the knees." Harvey realises and the two of them walk off in separate directions.


Hours later Donna and Katrina are in Katrina's apartment, both of them being several drinks in.

"I just don't know what to do." Katrina admits, "I enjoyed working with Louis, I enjoyed working with him a lot, but I don't know if I can work with him after what he did." Katrina admits.

"He is sorry for what he did." Donna points out.

"I know that, but I don't know if I can trust him not to do the same thing again." Katrina admits.

"But you want to." Donna realises.

"Which makes it even more complicated." Katrina says, "Especially considering he knows about Mike."

"Okay, you're thinking too rationally, you need another drink." Donna says, handing Katrina a drink.

"Yeah, I do." Katrina says, taking the drink and the two friends enjoy each other's company, why Katrina tries to figure out what to do.


After several drinks with Donna, Katrina has a better idea of what she wants to do, though there are still a few things that she has to take into consideration, one of which has led Katrina to knocking on Mike's apartment door at six thirty am.

Seconds later the door opens to reveal Mike, looking like he is ready to go.

"Hey." Mike says, sounding surprised, but glad, to see his best friend.

"Hey, you leaving?" Katrina asks.

"Yeah." Mike confirms, "You need something?" Mike asks curious.

"Yeah, can we talk, inside? It won't be long." Katrina requests.

"Sure." Mike says, as he and Katrina walk into the apartment, "What's going on?" he asks curious.

"Louis wants to work with me again." Katrina reveals.

'Okay, do you want to work with him again?" Mike asks curious.

"That's not a simple answer." Katrina admits, "There are reasons why I want to, and reasons why I don't want to." She reveals.

"And I'm guessing that one of the reasons have something to do with me." Mike says.

"I know you don't like that Louis knows the truth, and want to know how you'd feel about it if I did choose to work with him." Katrina admits, as Mike's opinion is always important to her, and she will take what he wants into consideration.

"Would I rather he didn't know, yes. Am I mad about how he found out, yeah, but I've forgiven him, and I know he found out because he didn't want to do anything to hurt me." Mike explains to Katrina, "So, if you want to work with him, work with him, don't worry about me." Mike says, walking closer to his best friend, "Do what you really want, Katrina, do what you think is best for you."

"Okay." Katrina says with a nod, "Guess we should both get going." She says, Mike nods and the two of them head out of Mike's apartment, Katrina thinking about what she is going to do.


A few hours have passed since Katrina and Mike talked about Louis and the fact that Katrina is considering working for him again.

Since then Robert Zane has deposed Sloane Mosely, Rachel having been in the room at Harvey's assistance, something which he to rattle Robert, something which was uncomfortable for all of them.

Having just been yelled at by Rachel, who took her anger at her father out on him, Mike is walking through the corridors, and up to Harvey.

"Here it comes. Speech number one hundred and sixty-two, fourteen reasons why I'm an asshole." Harvey comments, seeing his boyfriend who is clearly annoyed.

"No, no, this is gonna be two hundred and sixteen." Mike reveals, not even objecting to the fact that Harvey can be an asshole.

"That's uncharted territory." Harvey realises.

"And you're still not gonna like it." Mike tells him.

"With you being in this mood, I'm not surprised." Harvey admits, knowing that for a fact.

"I know that you might think making things personal for Robert Zane could be good for us, but Harvey, trust me using someone's kid against them, even the kid is an adult, isn't a good idea." Mike informs Harvey.

"And you're not seeing this objectively because Hardman tried to use you." Harvey tells Mike.

"Please, you think Hardman is the first person to try and use the fact that my last name is Pearson-Ross to their advantage, because he's wasn't, and I'm sure he won't be the last." Mike tells Harvey, "I accepted that a long time ago, and I'm sure Rachel and Robert have too, but what I've also accepted is that someone trying that will cause me to fight them a hell of a lot harder, which is would likely be the same for them too." Mike explains to Harvey, "Making it personal for him wasn't a good idea, Harvey."

"He made it personal first." Harvey argues, though he can't help but think about Mike's words.

"How'd he do that?" Mike asks.

"He threatened our firm, he told your mother that her firm is weak, that she is weak." Harvey reveals, and right away he sees the angry look on Mike's face something which doesn't surprise him as he knows how protective of his mother Mike is.

"We can't let him win." Mike says angrily.

"Glad to see we're back on the same page." Harvey says, sounding glad about that.

"We're not. I want to win, but I still don't think using Rachel is a good idea." Mike informs his boyfriend, but before Harvey can respond Jessica walks up to the two of them.

"Did you misunderstand me when I said to cut Robert Zane off at the knees?" Jessica asks.

"You too?" Harvey ask surprised, "Oh, don't tell me you think I went too far." Harvey comments, having not expected Jessica to be mad.

"I don't think you went far enough." Jessica reveals.

"What?" Mike asks shocked.

"Your client just called. She wants to take Zane's bullshit settlement." Jessica says before walking away.

"Mike, appointment." Donna tells him.

"Yep, I know." Mike says before walking away with other word and while he heads to his therapist Harvey goes to talk to Robert Zane.


Hours later Mike is working in the file room going through all of Folsom Food's reviews for the past five years to try and find some evidence to use in the case, something which he had been doing for hours, ever since Mike returned from appointment, and after a little while he was joined by Rachel, who is even more determine to prove herself after the deposition, but Rachel left a little while ago, leaving Mike alone.

As he works Mike hears his phone go off, and so he checks it, seeing a message from his boyfriend.

You still annoyed?"

Not as much as I was.

Mike sends in responds and he isn't overly surprised when a few seconds later his phone starts to ring.

"Hey." Mike answers leaning back in his chair.

"Hey." Harvey responds, "So, if you're not annoyed does that mean you'll answer when I knock on your door?" Harvey asks curious as he's actually on his way to Mike's.

"If I was home, I would." Mike reveals, rubbing his eyes.

"You still at the firm?" Harvey asks, thinking that it is the only logical explanation.

"Yeah, but I think I'm getting close to something." Mike reveals.

"You think? Or are you sure?" Harvey asks curious.

"I'm sure that I will definitely have something for you by morning." Mike reveals.

"Good." Harvey answers, "I better let you get back to work."

"Yeah, you should, my boss can be quiet the hard ass." Mike informs Harvey in a teasing tone of voice.

"I could always give you more work." Harvey informs that.

"You do that and you won't get to see me much, and we both know you'd miss me." Mike responds.

"That's debatable." Harvey says, clearly teasing.

"Well, if that's how you feel, we can cancel Thursday night's date." Mike tells Harvey.

"Let's not do anything rash." Harvey responds, causing Mike to laugh, "I do want to spend more time with you."

"I know; I want that to." Mike responds, "But I really do need to get back to work. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Harvey responds before he and Mike hang up and instead of heading to Mike's apartment where he was heading Harvey heads home, honestly he is tempted to head to the firm to spend some time with Mike, but he knows that if he does that then the work they need to do probably won't get done, and they really need to get the work done.


Two days have passed since Sloane Mosely's deposition and since then the single gender discrimination case has become a class action suit, something which Robert Zane isn't too happy about.

Walking into his office Louis is quite surprised to find Katrina sitting at his desk.

"What are you doing here?" Louis asks curious.

"I'm here to take you up on your offer." Katrina says, standing up.

"You are?" Louis asks surprised.

"Yeah, I am." Katrina confirms, "I did like working with you, Louis, and would like to again."

"That's great! Team Litt is back!" Louis says excitedly.

"Team Litt- Bennett is back." Katrina corrects as she walks over to him, "But if you betray me or my family again then you won't be so quick to forgive you, and we'll never be a team again." Katrina says, walking past him as she heads to the door, but then once she is at the door she pauses and turns back around, "What's with the new title?" she asks curious.

"What are you talking about?" Louis asks confused.

"Haven't you noticed your door?" Katrina asks surprised, and as she does Louis walks over and notices that his door now says Louis Litt Senior Pussy.

"Did you do this?" Louis asks angrily.

"Please, not my practical joke style, and if it were I definitely wouldn't be the one to point it out." Katrina says before leaving.


After an hour of searching his office Louis finds another couple of pranks have been set up in his office to go off, and honestly there are only two people on his list of people who would do such a thing, so he's gone talk to one of them.

"Hi Donna." Louis greats.

"Louis." Donna responds, not looking up from what she is doing.

"Which of you was it?" Louis ask.

"Which of us did what?" Donna asks, pretending to be confused.

"You know damn well what, my door." Louis tells her, "Was it you?"

"No." Donna answers.

"Was it Harvey?" Louis asks and Donna just smirks.

"We're back!" Louis says, happily, before hurrying away, not even hearing Donna's objection.


Hours later Harvey is in Jessica's office where Jessica is explaining what happened between her and Robert Zane. Even though he is very interested in what Jessica has to say Harvey can't help but watch his watch subtlely as he really doesn't want to be late for his date with Mike.

"You got to be kidding me. "Not all women are the same." What the hell does that mean?" Harvey asks.

"He wants to merge." Jessica reveals.

"What?" Harvey asks shocked.

"Pearson Zane."

"No. no way. I'm not doing that." Harvey informs Jessica.

"Oh, excuse me?" Jessica asks, sounding less than happy.

"We didn't fight off Hardman to end up here." Harvey argues.

"Well, you went after the man's daughter, which is what put us hear." Jessica says, and because he heard Mike say something similar Harvey isn't at all surprised to hear Jessica say so.

"You told me to cut him off at the knees." Harvey argues.

"If you're gonna go that low to put someone down, then you better make damn sure that they don't get back up." Jessica informs him.

"It doesn't matter if it's Robert or not. They're gonna keep coming." Harvey informs Jessica.

"Until I put your name on the door." Jessica says, sounding annoyed.

"That's not what this is about." Harvey argues, "We can only take these hits for so long."

"Deaths by a thousand cuts." Jessica says with a scoff, "All right. Well, if they're gonna keep coming, then we may as well just make it one big brawl." Jessica argues, and Harvey can't help but smirk at that.


Forty-five minutes later Mike and Harvey are sitting in Harvey's condo, both relaxing as they are watching a movie while drinking scotch and eating pizza, both having decided to do a causal date night instead of something fancy as they are both tired from a long week.

"Okay, what's going on?" Mike asks Harvey as he leans against his boyfriend as they watch the movies.

"It can wait until the morning." Harvey tells Mike, as he really doesn't want to combine work with personal business, especially when it is something that has to do with Mike's mom.

"If it's bothering you this much it can't." Mike tells Harvey, "Talk to me." He asks.

"Robert Zane wants to merge, make the firm Pearson Zane." Harvey reveals, "And that's the last thing I want."

"He's doing it to make the cases disappear, isn't he?" Mike asks and Harvey nods, "Then Mom's not going to agree." Mike informs him, "There is no way on this earth that she agrees to a merger while staring down a barrel of a gun."

"You believe that?" Harvey asks.

"I know that." Mike corrects, "I know my Mom, and I know that this isn't something she'd do."

"I hope you're right." Harvey admits, starting to kiss on Mike's neck.

"Oh, I am." Mike says, turning around and kissing Harvey on the lips, and after a long deep kiss, the two of them break apart, and then Harvey and Mike both turn back to the TV and continue to watch the movie, Mike leaning against Harvey more as they watch.


Just before lunch time the next day Mike, Harvey and Jessica are in Jessica's office, Jessica telling Harvey and Mike about what happened when she went to see Robert Zane. Mike is leaning sideways on one of his mother's arm chairs, doing something that only he could get away with, while Jessica and Harvey are standing.

"How did it go down?" Harvey asks curious, "Did you tell him if he puts one of ours in the hospital, we put one of his in the morgue?" Harvey asks curious.

"No, Harvey. I did not quote The Untouchables to the man." Jessica informs Harvey.

"Why not?" Mike asks and Jessica gives him a look, "You really should have Mom." He informs her.

"No, you don't mean Mom, you mean you stinkin' Irish pig." Harvey says, to Mike's amusement.

"That's really funny, you lying member of a no good….. Robert." Jessica suddenly says, and Harvey, Jessica and Mike all turn to look at the door where Robert Zane is walking in.

"Oh, I hate to interrupt in the middle of an Untouchables quote fest." Robert reveals.

"Two doors down, they're doing Steel Magnolias." Mike reveals.

"You'll fit right in." Harvey adds.

"I'm more of a Beaches man myself." Roberts corrects.

"I assume you're here to settle." Jessica comments.

"I'm afraid not. I wanted to tell you that my firm has a conflict of interest, so I decided to farm out the case." Robert reveals.

"Whose ass are we gonna kick now?" Harvey asks curious.

"Actually, an old classmate of mine." Robert reveals.

"Let me guess, Daniel Hardman." Jessica comments, and the look Robert's face confirms what Jessica, Harvey and Mike all fear.


Hours later, Harvey and Mike are sitting in Harvey's office, both drinking scotch, Harvey sitting on one of the chairs while Mike is sitting on the couch.

"Okay seriously, this guy is like a cockroach, keeps coming back." Katrina says as she and Donna walk into the room.

"Cockroach, good analogy." Harvey comments as Katrina sits down on the couch next to Mike while Donna grabs two more glasses, "Please, help yourself."

"Always do." Donna comments as she pours the two glasses and hands one over to Katrina and keeps the other for herself before sitting down, "So, beating Hardman again, that's our future."

"Yep." Mike confirms, taking a drink.

"I wish we could just ban him from entering the building." Katrina comments.

"Would if we could." Harvey comments, "We're just going to have to settle for kicking his ass."

"Here, here." Mike comments and the four of them toast.

"Okay, it's Friday night, we need food, and more drinks, and….." Donna starts to say, looking at Katrina for suggestions.

"Movies." Katrina says, "Movies are always a good choice."

"That they are." Mike confirms, "And that sounds like it could be a fun night." He admits.

"Well, I hope you three have fun." Harvey comments.

"Come on, Harvey, you know you want to join us." Mike says, giving Harvey his best, pleading look.

"Yeah Harvey. It will be fun." Donna adds, giving him a look too.

"Do you really want to leave your boyfriend with Donna and I? Think about all the trouble we could get him into." Katrina says with a smirk.

"Okay, fine." Harvey says, giving in more because of the look that is on Mike's face than Katrina's words.

"Great! Let's get out of here." Donna says and they all put down their glasses and get up, Katrina and Donna heading straight for the door while Mike waits for Harvey.

"Don't worry, Harvey. I'm sure this is going to be fun." Mike says to his boyfriend, trying to be reassuring.

"I'm with you, of course it will be." Harvey says, seriously tempted to break his own rule and pull Mike into his arms while in the office, and Mike just smiles back at him.


An hour later Harvey, Mike, Katrina and Donna have stopped for food, more alcohol, and other supplies that they are going to need, or want, and are arriving at Harvey's condo.

"How exactly did my place get picked for our destination?" Harvey ask, opening the door.

"Simple, it's the best." Donna says, walking past him.

"And the biggest." Katrina says, walking past too.

"They're right it is." Mike says, walking behind them and as he does Harvey pulls Mike in close to him and the two of them have a pretty heavy make out session in the doorway to Harvey's condo, something which only ends when Donna threatens to throw ice over them, and so they head to the living area and join Donna and Katrina for a night of drinking and fun.