Hey everyone! I'm back with a part two! Thank you all for your reviews, I'm really self-conscious about my writing and reviews are really the only things that motivate me to continue posting, so they honestly mean the world to me! Sorry if this one is fairly unremarkable, but I needed a bridge to sort of establish Mike's situation and give a bit more of an idea of the place he's in during this series of one-shots. I'm currently working on two more that should be uploaded within the next few days, which will hopefully give you something a bit more dramatic! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

As Mike Ross shuffled down the dingy concrete corridor, he felt his mind start to drift, as it so often did during difficult situations. The first thing it drifted to was an image of Harvey, stumbling around his office and grabbing for a glass of water. At the time, Mike had assumed the worst about Harvey's condition, but as soon as his boss told him the real problem – a panic attack – Mike was kicking himself for not seeing it. Panic attacks are practically a "buy one get one free" deal when you're an 11 year old boy trying to deal with the loss of not one, but both of your parents, and although Mike hadn't had one in years, he should've seen the signs right away. He knew how they started. The uncomfortable feeling in your gut, sinking lower and lower until it's so heavy you can no longer breathe…

Mike's palms were sweating, and he tried to manoeuvre the gear he was holding so he could wipe them on his new, prison-issued orange jumpsuit. In this corridor, with prisoners – or rather, his fellow prisoners – leering out at him, Mike felt more exposed than he'd ever felt before, and he found himself longing for someone familiar, anyone with a face he remembered. He was beginning to feel choked, swathed in orange and branded one of them.

He was one of them. A criminal.

When he finally reached his cell, all Mike wanted to do was collapse onto the only available mattress he could see, but the face of the man on the top bunk told him otherwise. As the guard walked away, Mike had to stop himself from calling out to him to stay. The man in the top bunk was strong – anyone could tell that just by looking at him, and his close crew cut revealed a long scar over the top of his head, where the hair hadn't quite grown. Mike swallowed, squirming under the gaze of the older man.

"Harvey would know what to do right now."

Mike didn't know whether he was wishing that Harvey was here with him right now, or whether he was thinking that Harvey should be here instead of him. He hoped it was the former. Harvey didn't deserve to be here. Mike did. And that's how it turned out.

Still, Mike was longing for the older lawyer's smooth talking tongue as he stood in the doorway of the cell, still laden with sheets and shoes in his arms, and tried to steel himself to hide his weaknesses. The man on the top bunk still hadn't spoken, and Mike wondered whether he should just walk in and put down his stuff. Eventually, he decided to do just that. His mind was screaming as he stepped forward – Mike didn't think he'd ever felt so afraid of performing such a simple task.

"Hey, I know you."

Mike had to stop himself from leaping a foot in the air as a deep voice rang through the small concrete cell. His head snapped up in time to see the man lowering himself down from the top bunk, to stand at Mike's level. Well, he would have been Mike's level, had he not been at least a foot taller than him. Mike swallowed cautiously, and tried to muster up the courage to reply. But before he could, the man continued.

"You're that fake lawyer kid, the one who didn't go to law school."

Memories of the night he'd spent in a cell with the US Marshall came flooding back to him, and Mike began to question how he could've ever been so confident and cool in the face of danger.

"Y-Yeah," Mike cursed himself immediately for stuttering, "what's that got to do with you?"

"Got nothin' to do with me pal, except that it's got everything to do with me."

Mike squinted in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Well, let me put it this way," the man replied. "You're my cellie, and whether I like it or not, I gotta go to sleep every night, knowing that you're on the bottom bunk. Now, the guy I had before this… Wasn't too accommodating of my needs." At this, the man ran his hands over his knuckles, balling them into fists and releasing them, in a gesture that Mike knew was supposed to appear to him as threatening.

"He thought," the man continued, "that he was tougher than me. He was in here for… Assault, aggravated robbery… I can only guess. He didn't have the privilege of making the papers like you did…" The man eyed Mike up and down.

"Now, I'm not trying to be threatening…"

"Yes you are." Mike thought, but didn't say.

"But I've just gotta tell you the facts. Do what I say, and we both sleep like babies at night. Don't and… Well, let's just say you're not gonna be seeing my former cellie out in the yard anytime soon." He chuckled slightly, which only made Mike feel queasier.

Mike's mind was working overtime. He knew this guy's angle, and he knew what might happen if he agreed to comply with anything and everything he wanted, but he had to weigh that up against what definitely would happen if he didn't. He found himself recalling his very first day at Pearson Specter Litt (or Pearson Hardman, as it had been called then), when Harvey had strolled into his office and told Mike that unfortunately, he was going to have to let him go, because Jessica might find out what Harvey had done. Back then, Mike had told him that, while if Harvey kept him around, Jessica might find out, if he fired him, Jessica would find out. It had been a guarantee back then, or has Mike had put it, him putting his interests back up next to Harvey's. The memory relaxed Mike somewhat. He suddenly felt secure, as he got a vision of what his life could've been like, had Harvey not taken a chance on him. In fact, he'd probably be in prison anyway by this point.

"Well, I seem to be at a disadvantage," Mike said, trying to keep his voice level, "you know my name, and apparently my life story, but I don't know a thing about you."

The phrase wasn't meant to be challenging, but Mike noticed the man raise himself up slightly, as if squaring up for a fight, before he stuck out his hand for Mike to shake.

"The name's Lennox,," he said, gripping Mike's hand unusually tight. "People call me Lenny. And I know you already – Michael, right?"

Mike forced a polite smile.

"People call me Mike," he replied.

"Well, Mike, why don't you park your pretty, polite self down on the bottom bunk and get all your things set up." Lenny's gaze slowly travelled up and down Mike's body, and he suddenly felt choked up.

"I think we're gonna work out to be a perfect match- as cellmates, of course."

And with that, Lennox clambered back onto the top bunk, leaving Mike to collapse onto his undressed bed, trying to stop his chest from heaving. His throat was closing over, as hot tears threatened to force their way out of his eyes, and the thought crossed his mind for the umpteenth time.

He couldn't do this.

That's it for now! Sorry that the ending was a bit of a sad one, but I'm trying to establish Mike's state of mind right now, and it's more reflective of the helpless, in-need-of-guidance Mike from the earlier seasons, rather than the overconfident Mike we've been seeing ever since season 4.

Also, I apologise in advance for the lack of Rachel in this series so far. I'm a much bigger advocate for the main relationship of the story being the friendship between Harvey and Mike, because that's the whole reason I liked the show so much, but I have no problem with Mike and Rachel together, and I know many people like seeing them together, so I will definitely include her, I just find it hard to write her because her relationship with Mike doesn't really interest me in the slightest, unlike Harvey and Mike's friendship, which I love writing.

Anyway, don't forget to review and let me know what you think, and request other one-shots that you want to see! Like I said, I am working on a couple more over the course of today, that should be uploaded very soon! Thank you for reading xxx