Chapter 2

A/N: Hey! Sorry I haven't updated in- *tries to remember the last time she posted anything & can't*- a very long time! Life just kinda happened! I will try to be better about it in the future. Anyway, Enjoy and please remember to R&R.

Mike sighed as he tried to think of where to begin in this long, long story.

"I've known Olivia for as long as I can remember. Her family lived next to my grandmother's house and her older brother by two years, Nathan, and Olivia used to be out in the yard all the time, playing. One day their mother came over to ask if I wanted to play with them, I didn't really want to but my grandma pushed me out the door. Long story short, we were really good friends, Nathan and I. We're the same age and went through high school protecting Olivia from the guys that wanted to date her, she hated that." Mike paused as he got lost in a memory. Coming back to Earth he continued. "After we graduated, Nathan and Olivia's mom died. Nathan got a job working at repair shops changing oil so he could afford to keep Olivia in school. Nathan wanted to be a history teacher, but didn't have to money for college. He heard from a National Guard recruiter that if they enlisted, they got money for college through the G.I. Bill. Nathan signed up then and there. He was in for a year before he got called to duty to go the Afghanistan. He was over there for a year and a half, was supposed to be shipped back home in a few months, actually." Mike paused again, looking from Harvey and Donna to the windows overlooking the city.

Donna sniffed. "I'm so sorry, Mike."

Mike swallowed and slightly shook his head; willing the grief he felt welling in him to quiet down, tell it that here was not the place, pleading with it that Olivia needed him now. In a retrospective moment, Mike realized that death, and in effect, grief, knew no mercy. Outwardly, the blonde shrugged, too busy trying to breathe past the lump in his throat, much less speak around it.

"Listen, Mike. If you need the day-" Mike cut Harvey off.

Mike swallowed the lump as best he could before answering. "I'm going to need to be with Olivia for a while-two days max." Mike turned, examining his boss' face for signs of anger.

"Mike, that is not nearly long enough. Take the week." Donna insisted.

Mike looked to Harvey, question in his eyes, Harvey nodded his approval and the young man sagged in relief.

"What is Olivia's family situation? Will she be staying with you?"

Mike shook his head and sank into a seat at the table, resting his head in his hands before looking back at Harvey and Donna.

"She's in college, freshman year for her Bachelor's in Nursing. She's currently attending a school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but we made a plan should this happen."

Harvey's eyebrows rose as Donna's brow wrinkled in confusion.

"They have these-seminars, I guess, that the family of a deployed soldier can go to. One of the biggest things that they drill in your head is to make a plan. Make all the hard decisions now, when you aren't grieving. So; Olivia and I laid out a plan-made a contract and everything."

Harvey nodded, admiring both youth's smart thinking.

"So, what's the plan?" Donna questioned.

Mike took a breath. "Olivia would transfer to a college here-she said that she would feel safer closer to a family member or a person of equal or greater value. She doesn't want to live with me; believe me I tried to convince her that she needed someone, but ever since Nathan left-she's felt the weight of the whole world. Suddenly, there's her bills, food, books and classes with essays and that require time, plus she took on the responsibly of taking care of Nathan's apartment, paying his rent. She told me that learned how to be an adult the hard way and she wouldn't go back to depending on anyone ever again. Anyway, I managed to get her to agree to taking a semester off and living with me for that period of time."

"Will she hold true to that?" Harvey asked.

"She signed a contract and we pinky promised- she might need a little reminding, but I don't think she's ever broke a pinky promise."

Donna laughed shakily, wiping her eyes before rising. "Well, I'm going to go get this ball rolling then."

Harvey nodded briskly, "Call the college, let them know the bare minimum and get someone to get her stuff here, asap. Also, put her monthly bills on auto- pay out of the emergency fund for now." Harvey put up his hand in a 'stop' gesture to keep Mike from interrupting about the money. "Leave Nathan's apartment factored in with her bills-she doesn't need to think about that right now."

Donna nodded, for once not throwing out a sarcastic retort for being ordered around, and left the room.

Mike physically felt the pressure of Harvey's full attention when it landed on him.

"Mike-"

"Don't." Mike wiped his eye. "I can't right now. I have a girl in that room that just lost her whole world. I'll worry about me later."

Harvey nodded. "You can go do whatever you have to do-go shove your work off, anyone gives you lip, sick Donna on them."

That pulled a hallow burst of air from Mike that might have resembled a laugh, before Harvey walked from the conference room and back to his office. Mike followed him out the door, but turned towards his cubical.

Harvey quickly checked on Donna, who was on the phone as he passed, but he received a thumbs up for his trouble. Harvey silently entered his office, dimming the lights for the sleeping teen on his couch. He paused to study her face.

Though it was relaxed in sleep, Olivia's face somehow still looked haggard, resembling the stressors in her life he had just learned of. He watched as her brow scrunched in what must have been a response to something in her sleep.

Harvey kicked his shoes off and lightly padded to his desk where he slowly and as silently as he could proceeded to read through paper work, occasionally casting his eyes to his charge.