Author's Note: I didn't expect everybody to be so thoroughly bummed out by the last chapter. (You know how I know you're bummed out? Disappointed people don't leave reviews.) Have a little faith, hmm? Harvey's character (the one I've altered for my purposes, anyway) is basically one I wear like a suit at this point, so let's say I know what I'm doing. Posting this chapter so quickly is me making it up to you. You'll like it. I haven't finished moving 11 from my brain to the page yet, but you'll like that one too, so don't be bummed out, okay?

Suits isn't mine. Sadface

Mike hadn't shown up for work in three days. Harvey was livid. So livid, in fact, that he didn't so much as glance up from his work when Jessica stepped into his office.

"Harvey."

He grunted.

"Harvey."

"Yes?" he answered finally, tightly. It struck him when he bothered to look at her that Jessica looked careworn.

"Have you spoken with Mike?" she asked, settling into a seat on one of Harvey's over designed chairs.

"Not since he stormed out of my office three days ago," Harvey replied tersely, still trying to skim the page in front of him.

"Was that before or after he asked me a leave of absence?" Jessica asked casually, making Harvey's head snap up.

"He what?"

"You didn't know?" she arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. He scowled at her.

"Would I be asking if I did?"

"I suppose not," Jessica smoothed the fabric of her dress, "I did think it was a little odd that he came to me. You're his immediate superior, and you have the authority to grant a request like that. I assumed that you had directed him to double check with me after giving your agreement."

"And why would you assume a thing like that?"

"He led me to believe it was true," Jessica almost shrugged.

"He led you to believe? Don't bullshit me, Jessica. Mike Ross couldn't lead you to believe anything you didn't already know was true," Harvey almost hissed. Her eyes flicked up at him once, a quick warning, before glancing away again.

"That's frankly untrue. He may be naïve but he's not stupid. The kid can get what he wants," Jessica looked at him again, letting her gaze linger a little, "Clearly."

"What is that supposed-"

"Aren't you at all curious to know why I'm in your office asking if you've spoken to your associate in the last few days?" Jessica interrupted as if she hadn't heard him speaking, and was simply restarting the conversation after an awkward silence.

"Jessica, I'm busy trying to clear 2 million in profits as fast as I can, remember? Can we skip the dance, please?" Harvey didn't entirely manage to force the pleading note out of his voice. He just wasn't sure if he was desperate to be left alone, or desperate to find out what she knew.

"I'm worried about Mike."

Harvey sat back in his chair.

"You are?" He sounded a little dazed even to his own ears.

"Yes, Harvey. He came into my office to ask me for a leave of undetermined length after having a blowout with you that half the office heard. I generally make it a policy not to get involved in disputes between associates and their immediate superiors, but I'm not going to lie to you, Harvey. He looked like shit," Jessica paused, her cool gaze holding steady, "I would consider it a disservice to the firm if your behavior caused one of our most talented associates to quit."

"He's not even really a lawyer," Harvey answered reflexively, but Jessica brushed his comment away.

"That's irrelevant to the discussion we're having. He works for this firm, and I would be disappointed to find out next week that that's not so anymore. Am I making myself clear, Harvey?"

"Yes."

"Good," Jessica smirked a little as she stood, "Just this consider this the exception to the rule."

"What rule?"

"The one about not letting puppies clean up their own messes."

Even standing outside the door of Mike's apartment, Harvey wasn't really sure what he was doing there. He could've called; Mike always answered. Instead all he could think to do was try to explain why distance was better, that Mike shouldn't be too close when the bomb went off, but that this was too far. He couldn't do that over the phone. So he pounded loudly on Mike's front door until it opened.

Well, Jessica hadn't been wrong. Mike's eyes were glassy and unfocused as he lounged against his door frame in ratty sweats, looking at Harvey expectantly. For a moment Harvey considered the possibility that Mike was high, and then dismissed it. There was no warm, loose giddiness in Mike's gaze. He wasn't far away; he was lost.

And Mike wasn't lounging, he was leaning like the walk to open the door had exhausted him, his knees loose and sagging. When Harvey didn't say anything or nudge the door open Mike sighed heavily.

"Look, I know I should've said something but I figured you didn't want to see me, and I assumed that you'd figure it out. It seems you have. Let's the lecture over with, shall we?" Mike grumbled, avoiding Harvey's eyes.

"I don't lecture on doorsteps, Mike," Harvey's tone was falsely light, "The least you can do is let me in."

Mike almost stumbled backward, bracing himself against the kitchen counter. He left the door open and Harvey stepped inside, shutting it quietly.

"Jessica came to see me today," Harvey announced after nearly a minute of awkward silence in which Mike had simply stared at him, the slouch of his neck making him look almost drunken. Mike still didn't say anything, and Harvey soldiered forward.

"What's going on, Mike? Since when do you run to Jessica when we have a disagreement?" Harvey demanded. That startled a hollow laugh out of Mike, though he still didn't speak.

"Why is that funny?" Harvey snapped, and Mike just shook his head.

"Because of course you think this is about you." An ugly smile still twisted Mike's lips and Harvey resisted the urge to swipe his thumb over that mouth until it relaxed.

"If it's not about that, then by all means, enlighten me," Harvey made a wide gesture, eyebrows rising. Mike scoffed

"Grammy's dead."

Time stopped in order for Harvey to process the new information.

"When?" he asked bleakly, although he was certain he already knew.

"About ten minutes before you threw me out of your office," Mike answered blandly as he stared at the wall behind Harvey's head.

"Mike, I'm so sorry." Harvey didn't know what else to say, and he regretted the platitude immediately.

Mike didn't even hear what he'd said. He was too busy squirming under the vacant, knowing look Harvey had fixed him with. Mike never knew how to make Harvey quit looking at him like that, and he would've given anything in that moment to make him stop it. The squirming did nothing to alleviate the nervous energy caused by the whirring thoughts in his brain about just what Harvey was seeing. So Mike did the only thing he knew how to do right then. He stepped forward and kissed Harvey, hard. All teeth and his fingers in Harvey's hair pulling just a bit too hard as he pressed the line of his body against Harvey and prayed he wouldn't fall down.

Harvey's arms slid around him with practiced ease, fingers teasing the skin just above the waist of Mike's low slung track pants as he braced Mike's back. Mike eased slightly, letting his hands fall against Harvey's neck as he sucked gently on Harvey's lower lip. Harvey's mouth drifted away, down his jaw to his neck.

"Harvey." The soft, desperate whimper in Mike's voice made Harvey pause, pull back, swallow hard, and look Mike in the eye.

"This isn't..." Harvey drifted off, because it sure as hell didn't feel like it wasn't right. Mike silently finished the thought for him, and his mouth coiled up again.

"I did it for you," Mike's tone was almost accusatory.

That made Harvey jerk away, backing up several paces. Mike had to grab the counter to keep from toppling.

"What?"

"You needed to not feel alone the night that Donna got fired and I gave you what you needed." The words tumbled out at breakneck speed, as if once given the opportunity to escape Mike couldn't hold them back any longer.

"Mike," Harvey started to argue, because that wasn't what it was and how did Mike not know that?

"And right now," Mike continued as if Harvey hadn't spoken and Harvey was getting really tired of that, "I need you to come over here and fuck me."

Harvey didn't know what to do with the haggard, expectant look on Mike's face. Except that all of a sudden he had Mike pinned up against the counter, and those cheap track pants fell off with barely a tug. Mike made quick work of Harvey's jacket, tie and shirt, barely pulling his mouth away from Harvey's skin long enough to discard the offending fabric. The thought of wrinkles barely crossed Harvey's mind as he yanked off Mike's T and he heard the dull clunk of his belt buckle on the linoleum. Mike's mouth was leaving burning red marks along Harvey's collarbone, clinging to the skin of his shoulders. Mike was clinging, one leg wrapped tightly around the back of Harvey's thighs, the fingers of one hand grasping Harvey's bicep and the other fumbling with his fly.

The edge of the countertop dug into Mike's spine, but with Harvey's body pinned against him he barely noticed. Harvey squeezed his hip with one hand, trailing long fingers down Mike's chest and stomach to his abdomen with the other. Mike made a choked noise and his forehead came to rest against Harvey's shoulder as his body went still

"Mike." There was a question in Harvey's voice that Mike didn't want to answer.

"Don't stop," he moaned instead.