Chapter Four.

"What's wrong with him?"

Dante was sat at one side of the hospital bed, his hand rubbing up and down Mikes back in an attempt to calm the young man. The problem wasn't the room, Mike thought in a panic, the problem was him. He couldn't see a damn thing.

"We were afraid of this," Dr. Grendel bit her lip, took out her penlight, and shined it in an unaware Mike's face, his pupils not reacting a single bit. "The allergic reaction to ipecac was purely inflammation-that's what caused the appendicitis and abdominal pain. Mr. Ross, do you have a head ache?" she addressed the blond.

"Y-yeah." he stuttered, Harvey at his other side, intertwined his fingers with Mikes for assurance. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I...see?" even saying it sounded wrong.

"Rest assured the blindness is only temporary. The inflammation of your retinas-also caused by the drug-should wear off eventually." The doctor assured the three men.

"How soon is eventually?" Harvey demanded.

"Allergic reactions to ipecac are both rare and unpredictable, and while I am quite certain the swelling should decrease and go down, I can't say for sure when that will be. His vision could come back at any time; from the end of today, to the end of this week, to at most, a month."

Mike's unseeing eyes went wide, his expression stricken with distress. "What? No- a month?" What would he do if this...allergic reaction lasted an entire month? A week even? Could he continue to work blind? Would Harvey fire him? How would he pay for his grandmothers' medical bills? How would he be able to pay his rent?

"It's very unlikely it will last that long, but there is a slight possibility." The doctor tried to reassure her uneasy patient. "In the morning we can take some CAT scans to see how severe the swelling really is. You have to understand, all this really is, is an inconvenience Mr. Ross. It's not permanent." She emphasized this point, hoping to keep Mike from hyperventilating. The intercom called for Dr. Grendel in the ER and she excused herself before scurrying out of the room, leaving the three males alone.

"Ipecac?" Mike tried to change the subject of his blindness. "I don't remember takin-"

"That's because someone in the banquet tried to poison you, Mike, and they succeeded, too." Harvey's voice was grave, and Mike almost felt sorry for the person responsible, because Harvey was not a force to be reckoned with-even on a really good day.

"But why?" Mike couldn't grasp the fact that someone had purposely drugged him. "I mean, not many people know I'm allergic to ipecac."

"Perhaps neither did they." Dante piped in, eliciting a subtle glare from the senior partner at Mike's right side. "Could have well been a jealous associate, I should think? I've been to enough of these events to know how hard they like to kiss arse, and the competition between you usual lawyer types is fierce. Although, frankly, I never thought it would go this far." all the while he ran his fingers through Mike's baby-soft tuffs of hair.

"That's outrageous." Mike couldn't believe someone would do that-maybe it was his naiveté was often his downfall.

"But not far-fetched." Harvey begrudgingly agreed with the billionaires' assessment. "It must have been one of the associates, Mike. Do any of them have something against you?"

Mike grimaced. "Try all of them." he sighed miserably. Besides Rachael the paralegal, who had taken some vacation time a couple of days ago and wouldn't be back until the end of the week, none of the associates even liked him.

Harvey arched a brow. He really hadn't thought it was that bad. He knew the whole 'pick on the new guy routine' was normal, a little bit of hazing never hurt, but it had been several months now, since Mike had joined the firm, and Harvey worried that he hadn't made any friends yet. Mike was likable-he tended to grow on people. Were the associates really that petty he'd been picked as Harvey's underling instead of one of them that they couldn't let it go, and one of them had actually tried to humiliate Mike at the banquet about it? "Jesus." Harvey muttered.

"What am I going to do until I can...see again?" Mike asked tentatively, leaning into both Harvey and Dante, their touch the only thing grounding him at the moment.

"You're going to come into work as usual; I hate temps." Harvey replied casually.

It was Dantes' turn to glare at the senior partner. "Have you gone mad? Someone in that bloody office nearly killed him, and you're sending the boy back in there blind?"

"He'll be in my office, not that I need to explain myself to you, and having him there will help us sniff out the son of a bitch who did this if it really was someone in the firm." Of which he had no doubt about at this point. He'd have to tell Louis to keep a look out-sure, Louis didn't like the kid, but Harvey didn't trust him to be so deviant, much less actually do anything to make the firm look bad in front of wealthy and potential clients.

"Well I think that's rubbish."

"Well I think this doesn't concern you."

"Michael's a friend, of course it concerns me."

"Michael's my employee, it concerns me a hell a lot more."

"I have to disagree with th-" Dante paused, looked down, and the two men realized Mike had fallen asleep listening to them argue. He smiled down at the young man-he looked very at peace in between the two, despite his current dilemma.

Harvey, at the opposite side of Mike, pulled up the sheets and tucked his associate in, trying and failing miserably, to hide the small smile that appeared on his face when Mike settled in more comfortably, with a content sigh.

An hour later Dr. Grendel came back with the intention of telling her patients guests they could come back in the morning to visit their friend, when she was struck silent by the sight that greeted her, even before she had a chance to disrupt the peace.

The blond Adonis lay on the hospital bed, to her patients left, in the fetal position, head tucked into the crevice of Mikes' neck, one hand on his breast bone, sound asleep. The handsome brunette lay to her patient's right side, his entire arm laid over Mikes' chest, fingers lightly gripping the cloth of his hospital gown, his head rested just so that his lips were next to Mikes' cheek.

In all her years of being on call during the night shift, Dr. Grendel couldn't say she had ever seen a sight so odd, yet heart-warming at the same time. She was suddenly glad they hadn't been able to find a regular sized-bed to accommodate her patient. Who, she noted, looked rather content in the arms of the two men at his sides. She reconsidered telling them to leave 'till morning came-they looked so comfortable, after all.

"I wouldn't mind going into law if that's the way associates get handled around the office." she muttered under her breath with a small smirk as she shut off the lights and silently closed the door behind her as she continued to make her nightly rounds and check-ins.