By the end of the day, Mike was feeling shitty. The pain in his side wouldn't subside even with the painkillers and he was feeling cold no matter how much hot coffee he took. He was sweaty and more than just tired and if his brain was functioning right, he would've realized that none of those symptoms were something to be taken lightly after a serious injury like the one he'd had.

But his brain was as tired as the rest of his body; he was barely seeing the words on the papers that were sprawled before him on the ground of the file room and he hadn't even noticed how bad his hands were shaking.

So, since he had missed all those other signs, he missed everything else, as well, and when he pushed himself off the ground to go get another coffee, the dizziness took him by surprise; but before he'd even lose his balance because of it, he was unconscious and then he hit the ground; hard and gracelessly.

The worst part was that Mike was in the file room when he passed out and it was already past 8 in the afternoon; not many people had a reason to go to the file room at that hour; so it was hours before someone found him on that floor; cold; with a greyish skin and covered in sweat.

The person who found him happened to be Donna.

She'd been worried about the kid the whole day and by the end of the day, she walked to his desk to see how he was doing. But when she didn't find him there, she sighed in defeat and walked to the elevator to leave for the night.

She was getting inside the elevator car when her mind registered the state of Mike's desk. His messenger bag was still there and the papers were all over his desk, which meant Mike was still in the building; that made her walk back and look for him; she'd almost given up when she remembered that she should check the file room, too, before going home.

And that was how she found the unconscious man; and if she were anyone else, she would've screamed her head off, thinking that she'd just found a dead body.

But being Donna, she quickly ran to the fallen form of the boy she'd come to think of as a good friend and checked for a pulse. It was erratic and all over the place and the coldness of Mike's skin scared her more than even his unresponsive form. The kid had clearly gone into shock and for the life of her, she couldn't guess why.

She suddenly remembered the two weeks that he'd gone AWOL, well, not AWOL since apparently Jessica knew about it, but gone away anyway and she feared that Mike had been sick and had hidden it from them. Could that be it? Could it be the reason the kid needed some days off so bad?

O God, what was wrong with their puppy?

What if he didn't survive?

Those thoughts were running through her head as she called 911 and explained the situation. She next called Harvey and Jessica, telling them that she'd found Mike on the floor in the file room and that she was unable to wake him up.

Harvey and Jessica arrived at the same time, both looking worried and shocked.

"What the hell happened here?" Jessica demanded an answer.

"I don't know; I was looking for him and found him like this."

"Why were you even looking for him?" Harvey asked, not realizing how his question sounded to the others.

Donna threw him a dirty look. "Seriously? After what you did to him today morning? Well, I don't know, maybe I wanted to make sure he was alright after you hit him."

"You hit him?"

"I didn't hit him."

Harvey and Jessica yelled at the same time; Jessica in shock and Harvey in protest to what Donna had said.

Closing his mouth quickly, Harvey looked away.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Harvey?" Jessica spat angrily. "I've let you get away with everything these past few weeks, but this is too much, even for you. You hit him? And seriously? Mike of everybody? I don't know what to say." She sounded genuinely disappointed and pissed.

"I didn't hit him, Jessica." Harvey forced through clenched teeth. "I just pushed him away. And I didn't even push hard; not my fault he's so weak." He said the last word with something akin to disgust; leaving both Donna and Jessica startled and angrier than they already were.

"Wow, you really don't care about him, do you? And here I thought you've changed. Was it all a facade? Did you just threaten to quit if I fired him because you were desperate to use him for his brain?" Jessica's tone was hard and cold. "You don't even know why the kid needed those days and you act like he's sold information about your private life and your cases to another firm."

"He told you why he needed the vacation?" Donna jumped in, remembering her previous concern over the kid's health.

Before Jessica could answer, the night guard entered the room, showing the way to the medics.

"What do we have here?" One of paramedics asked.

"I don't know. I found him like this about 20 minutes ago." Donna answered, thinking that between everyone in that room, she knew the most about Mike's condition.

The paramedics started to examine Mike's pupils and pulse and one of them pulled his shirt open. "And he's been unresponsive the whole time?"

"Yes, nothing I did would help. What's wrong with him?"

Jessica and Harvey were standing back, watching the medics work on Mike.

Jessica kept quiet because she knew that, soon, they'd all find out about Mike's surgery and Harvey was quiet because he was shocked and ashamed of his behavior; trying to figure out whether he'd been the reason behind Mike's current situation and whether he'd actually hit Mike when he thought he'd just pushed him away. Had he really been that out of it?

"What's this?" The Medic's question and Donna's gasp brought Harvey's mind back to present and seeing the closed incision on Mike's side made him take a step back. He'd seen a huge scar just like that on his brother's body and Marcus had just had a renal surgery. Why did Mike have one like that there?

Jessica answered his and the medic's question. "Two weeks ago he had a surgery. He donated one of his kidneys." She said the last part with a pointed look at Harvey.

Harvey felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer; his heart suddenly sank and he had to lean against one of the shelves to keep upright.

Donna wasn't looking any better, but at least she was just shocked, not guilty and remorseful.

Harvey felt lightheaded. Had really Mike done that? Why? Why had the kid felt the need to give one of his kidneys to his brother? How had he even found out about Marcus? And why hadn't he said anything about it? Had he known about Mike's decision, he wouldn't have let the kid do that. Or maybe he would, because Marcus really needed that Kidney, but he would've made sure that Mike received the best care possible, as well and he would've properly shown the younger man how grateful he really was.

"Two weeks ago?" Both medics looked up at Jessica with shock. "Then what is he doing back at work? He needs at least 6 weeks of home rest and then back to just a few hours of light work for some more weeks."

"He insisted on coming back early." Jessica said, not mentioning that she hadn't offered the young associate any more time off; she didn't want to put the firm or her position in jeopardy.

"He's gone into shock and shows signs of internal bleeding. We should take him to the hospital now. Inform his family." They'd loaded Mike on a gurney by then and were ready to leave.

"He doesn't have anyone." Donna said quietly.

"I'm his next of kin. I'll be right behind you and sign any papers you need." Harvey'd finally found his voice and was trying hard not to show how shaken up he was.

"Good. Hurry up, then." With that the medics left with Mike, leaving behind a shell-shocked Donna, a crestfallen Harvey and a disappointed Jessica.

"Why didn't he say anything to me? Why didn't you say anything?" Harvey asked Jessica with so much sadness in his voice that she had to think to remember the last time that she'd heard him sound like that.

"He probably didn't want you to feel you'd owe him for this and I understood. He made me promise not to say a word." Jessica answered truthfully. "Get to the hospital; if you're his next of kin, then they might need your signature for giving him further treatment."

Harvey had so many things and questions going through his head, but he knew Jessica was right; so, without another word, he left the room with heavy steps.

"Call me with updates." Jessica called after him and since Harvey didn't say anything back, Donna nodded her head and rushed after Harvey. She needed to be in the hospital to know Mike was going to be alright, so she could hit him and tell him that he didn't hide things like that from her. She could understand why Mike hadn't said a thing to Harvey, but she believed that he should've come to her. She would've made sure he was alright and didn't have any problem after the surgery.

That thought caused her actual pain, remembering that the kid had been all alone this whole time. Before the surgery. After the surgery; at home. Alone, all the time; putting himself through so much pain and not saying a word just for Harvey's sake.

She definitely needed to have a talk with him when he was up to it; that kid was too nice for this world and it was dangerous.

"And you rubbed it in his face that he has no one in this world." She hadn't realized that she'd said those words aloud until Harvey's head jerked back towards her.

Well, now that it was out, there was no point in keeping her comments to herself. "You told him that he has no one; that he's all alone and just think about it; it's true. Which means that the whole time after the surgery he'd been alone; with no one there to help him with things or to make sure he was not dead; to give him his painkillers and make him soup. He'd been all alone, taking care of himself; going through so much pain and you've been on his case and insulting him for how long? Gosh, Harvey, at this moment, I really don't think you deserve his loyalty and devotion."

She went quiet after that; wishing she had been more persistent and had found out what Mike had been hiding this whole time. She could've helped him. Why didn't he think he could come to her? Did he think that she wouldn't keep his secret? Or was it because he didn't feel comfortable enough with her? Did he think she wouldn't want to help? Did he believe her when she said she wouldn't want to be bothered by his problems?

O God, she needed to change a few things; after a constructive talk about his too big and soft heart, which admittedly had helped them a lot and had currently saved Marcus' life, she needed to talk to him about trust and friendship. That probably was going to be a harder thing to talk about; they didn't have many reasons to convince Mike he could trust them with everything or that he could count on them in time of real need.

Maybe before this whole thing, it would've been easier; Harvey had saved the kid's ass more than once and had helped him a lot; but the past few weeks Harvey had been anything but approachable and if Donna didn't know better, she would've thought Jessica had been right about why Harvey'd fought so hard for Mike.

God, she needed to have a talk with Harvey, too; or maybe she needed to stand up to him more often. Maybe if she hadn't backed down the few times that she'd confronted him about his behavior towards Mike, he wouldn't have become so cruel towards the younger man.

Well, seemed like they all had their regrets.

Some more than the others.

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... TBC ...

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A/N: Share your thoughts with me?

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All mistakes are mine.

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