Thanks for the feedback, guys! Unfortunately I am but a mere slave to my muse, and can't always control what I'm going to feel inspired to write. But I hope you'll enjoy this one- it's basically Mike starting out at Pearson Specter (I didn't include any Darby merger stuff, so just pretend that Hardman is gone and it's just Jessica and Harvey as managing partners). Also I know that canon Harvey is probably quite proficient with technology, but I just enjoy writing him as being slightly hapless sometimes *innocent shrug*

Mike's age: 20

Off I go

Where I fall is where I land

-From "Off I Go" by Greg Laswell

It was weird having to wear a suit and tie to Pearson Specter.

He had been coming here regularly since he was fourteen years old, but he'd managed to get away with a very casual dress code up until now. He knew it had always driven Harvey crazy to have Mike running around the office clothed in his usual stock of ripped jeans and dirty converse and well-worn flannels, but that was how he felt most comfortable, and the only way he was going to willingly wear a suit to his father's office was if someone forced him to. He suspected that the only reason he'd managed to survive for so long without Harvey stepping in and banning him from the firm unless he was dressed appropriately was the fact that Donna secretly found his scruffy appearance both adorable and puppy-like (two of his least favorite adjectives) and since she was Donna, she got what she wanted.

But today was different—he was wearing one of his new suits, tailored perfectly to fit his form like a glove. His feet sat in shiny, new loafers, and he had a new haircut that, in his opinion, screamed 'I'm-an-unbearable-deuschbag!' but according to Harvey, was the best-looking haircut that Mike had ever had (probably because it was fairly similar to Harvey's own haircut). Another thing they had disagreed upon was Mike's bag—Harvey had tried coaxing him into carrying a posh leather briefcase, but Mike had played the 'I-consented-to-getting-my-hair-cut-how-you-wanted ' card, and was able to get away with a messenger bag and a skinny tie.

And Harvey worried about his skills as a negotiator.

He checked his bike lock for the millionth time in a fit of nervous energy and to put off the inevitable.

"You know you're going to have to go inside eventually, right? Louis is good at yelling, but I don't think he'll be able to shout his orders to you from his office window all the way down here," A smooth, familiar voice broke into Mike's train of thought and he blushed and turned to face his father, who was standing on the sidewalk a few feet away. Ray waved cheerfully at Mike before driving away.

"I was getting there," Mike mumbled unconvincingly. "Just checking my bike lock—did you know that in New York City last month, the amount of bikes stolen more than doubled—"

"Alright, hotshot. You can cut the statistics—you were hired to be an associate at Pearson Specter, not the head of the bike safety committee," Harvey said, crossing his arms across his chest. Mike got the impression that his father was quite enjoying this.

"Alright, alright, I'm going," Mike said. He swallowed and stared at the office building—had it always been so big and austere? He had been here not two days ago and it hadn't looked so intimidating back then.

"Do you have everything you need?" Harvey asked, a bit of anxiety suddenly seeping into his voice. He could pretend that he was cool as a cucumber all that he wanted, but Mike knew that Harvey was just as nervous about Mike's first day of work as Mike was. The reason he knew was because Harvey had been up at the same time as Mike that morning—as one of the managing partners of Pearson Specter, he didn't actually have to be in the office until he wanted to be, which meant that he usually didn't go in until 8 or 9. But here he was now, at the firm at 7:30 with Mike.

"Yes, Dad. You already read me off a checklist this morning," Mike said in exasperation. He was not a morning person, and his father listing off all the items he probably wanted to bring that morning hadn't been very helpful. "And you're forgetting that I managed to live abroad in Europe for a year just fine without you reminding me to pack a lunch and to drink lots of fluids to stay hydrated. I think I can survive one day at the office on my own without getting dehydrated or fainting from hunger." On that resolute note, he turned to bravely walk into the office but then he got too intimidated again at the last minute and turned around to continue his conversation with Harvey to buy a little more time.

"And if you were planning on showing up at the office at the same time as me all along to make sure I was okay, you could have at least let me ride with you and Ray," he pointed out.

Harvey looked distinctly shifty-eyed at this. "I wasn't planning on coming in at the same time as you," he said. "I just…remembered a clause that I left out of a bylaw and decided to come in early to fix it," he explained. "But…well, I guess since I'm here at the same time as you I might as well, you know…wish you good luck with everything. You ready for this?"

Mike rolled his eyes at Harvey's transparency, but smiled at the thought all the same. "Yes," he said. And god, was that ever a true statement. He had worked his ass off to get through Harvard and become a lawyer, and now here he finally was at his dream firm with his dream job. "It just…it's weird being here as an associate. It's different," he confessed quietly, suddenly glad that Harvey had decided to show up early to wish him well after all. "What if I mess up?"

Harvey smiled at this, and gave Mike a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You'll be fine, kid. We both know that you're ready for this. And plus, you know everybody at the firm already, and Louis actually likes you, weirdly enough. It'll be okay, Mike."

Mike nodded, biting his lip and feeling a strange mix of nerves and excitement flutter around in his stomach. "Okay," he sighed, his tone much like how a prisoner who was about to face a firing squad might sound. "Guess I'd better head up there and get to it."

"That's the spirit," Harvey said bracingly, beginning to walk next to Mike.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mike asked. "You can't walk in with me, Dad…are you trying to humiliate me on my first day?"

Harvey rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you're not still a teenager?" He asked. "And hey, I'm managing partner…I'm cool around here! You should feel privileged to bask in my very presence."

"You just keep telling yourself that, Harvey," Mike said. "You're also the person who doesn't understand social media and can hardly find his way around a Smartphone."

"Hey, I'm a classically romantic guy!" Harvey exclaimed defensively. "Women love a man who isn't reliant on texting and the facebook for communication."

"Dad," Mike groaned. "For the last time, it's not 'the facebook'; it's just 'facebook'."

"Be that as it may, the point still stands that women love me and I'm a kickass closer who drives the greatest sportscars on the market and wears perfectly tailored three piece suits. And you can twitter that to whoever you want!" Harvey retorted, clearly very pleased with himself for working Twitter into the conversation.

"Tweet, Harvey," Mike mumbled under his breath, resisting the urge to slap himself on the forehead. "Tweet, not twitter."

"What was that?"

Mike sighed. "Nothing. Look, I had better go; I don't want Louis to yell at me on my first day. Please wait here for a few minutes before you come up, Dad. You can't walk me in on my first day of work—it'd be so embarrassing," Mike said, shuddering at the thought. "And besides, we're not even supposed to know one another, remember? I can't be seen walking in with the managing partner on my first day; all the other associates will suspect something."

"Alright, alright," Harvey conceded, waving him off. "I'll wait here. Good luck, kid."

Mike grinned nervously. "Thanks, Dad," he said, before he was suddenly blinded by the flash of the camera on Harvey's phone. "Ow—did you just take a picture of me, or are you trying to blind me to get my workman's comp now that I'm officially employed?" He asked, blinking and rubbing his eyes.

"Nope, that was a picture," Harvey said, looking pleased with himself. "I just realized I never took any pictures of you on the first day of school, so now I've got a first-day-of-work picture."

"You are so embarrassing," Mike groaned, although he secretly found the fact that Harvey found his life important enough to document to be heartwarming. "I'm leaving before you start trying to give me lunch money and a kiss on the cheek."

"Who doesn't know their way around a Smartphone now!" Harvey called defiantly as Mike walked up the steps to Pearson Specter, smugly waving his phone with the picture of Mike.

Mike shook his head at his father's antics as he made his way through the lobby and past the security guards to the elevator. He bit his lip nervously as he stepped on the elevator and as the door were closing he caught Harvey's eye. Harvey was still standing outside, reading his morning newspaper. He looked up just before the elevator doors closed and flashed Mike a thumbs up.

Mike felt a little calmer at Harvey's reassurances, and as he rode the elevator up to the familiar Pearson Specter floor, he mentally prepared himself for what was to come. The hard part was over—he'd finished law school in a year and passed the bar with flying colors. Then he'd had a fun year traveling abroad and now the time had finally come for him to take his place at Pearson Specter. Now all he had to do was be the most kick-ass of all the associates, try to act like he was old enough to fit in with his coworkers, and keep his relationship with Harvey a secret.

That didn't sound too hard…right?

He stepped out of the elevator and began the familiar trek to the associate bull-pen where Louis and all the other new first years would be meeting. First he stopped by Donna's desk, needing an extra dose of reassurance from the woman he considered to be a sort of surrogate mother.

"Hi, Donna," he said nervously, smiling weakly at her as he stepped up to her desk.

"Oh, Mike, sweetie!" She cooed when she looked up and saw him standing there in his suit. "You look exactly like Harvey did on his first day at the DA's office! Can I take a picture of you?"

"No," Mike said grumpily. "Harvey's already got that one covered, actually."

Donna opened her mouth to respond, looking slightly confused, but was cut off by the arrival of Louis.

"Hello there, Michael," Louis said in his familiar oily voice. "Donna," he nodded in her direction. "Is what you're discussing with Donna work-related? Because according to my watch it is now 7:36, and you began working at Pearson Specter six minutes ago."

"Bye, Donna," Mike said sadly as Louis dragged him away by the elbow.

"Break a leg!" Donna cheered.

"Listen, Mike," Louis said in his best buddy-buddy voice as he steered Mike down the hallways. "I'm not sure if you're under the impression that you're not going to have to work as hard as all the other first years because you're Harvey's son, but I'm here to disillusion you of that idea. You will have to work just as hard as all the others…maybe even harder. Harvey might be your father, but I'm your boss."

"But isn't Harvey your boss?" Mike asked before he could stop himself. "I mean…just throwing that out there," he added quickly at the look Louis gave him.

"Mike, just because you graduated from Harvard in a year doesn't mean that people here are going to treat you like some kind of superstar…like one of Harvey's basketball stars for example. I hate to break it to you, but you aren't going to be Shaquille O'Bryant anymore in these hallowed halls."

"It's Shaquille O'Ne— you know what, never mind," Mike said, shaking his head as they entered the bullpen, where about a dozen first years stood in a nervous-looking clump. "Don't worry, Louis—I expect to work really hard. Thanks for the pep talk."

"Get ready for me to mentor your ass off," Louis vowed solemnly, completely missing the disturbed look on Mike's face as he turned to address the group as a whole.

Mike mostly zoned out during Louis' speech—he was pretty immune to Louis' intimidation tactics after having known the man for six years. He was kind of like a weird uncle, in a way. He didn't get along with Harvey or Paul at all, but he genuinely seemed to want Mike to succeed, and had been very pleased to offer 20-year-old Mike a spot as a first year associate even though Mike was much younger than the 25 and 26-year-olds that Louis typically hired for the job. So Mike was content to just stand at the back and roll his eyes as Louis employed all of his scare tactics on the other first years—Louis' approach was a bit…unorthodox, but he really did care about the associates and he'd whip all of them into shape in no time.

After Louis had finished his speech of terror and torn them all to shreds, leaving most of the first years trembling, nervous wrecks, he assigned them to their cubicles and left them all with stacks of files.

As soon as Louis left the room, it seemed like the group let out a collective exhale of relief.

"Thank god he's gone," one young woman said. Mike squinted at her nametag and he thought it might have said Bethany. "I haven't been that scared since the time I almost fell off a cliff while hiking."

Mike personally thought that this comparison was a little extreme, but most of the other associates seem to agree with Bethany.

"Yeah, he seems like a complete tyrant and a nutjob," a man name Chase groaned, collapsing into his uncomfortable desk chair. "Can you believe all that shit he was telling us about how we're all terrible at our jobs? We haven't even started yet, and we're the best of our class at Harvard… it seems to me like he's the one who's terrible at his job."

"I didn't think he was so bad," Mike piped up, automatically coming to Louis' defense before he could stop himself. He realized that this might have been a bad idea when all the first years turned to stare at him, most of them frowning. But he couldn't help but defend Louis—the man was a tyrant, but he was part innocent, bullied child at the same time.

"You weren't in our year at Harvard," a girl name Kate stated, her voice curious but not unkind.

"No, I wasn't," Mike admitted. "I…er, graduated early." He had graduated after just one year there and then had taken a year off to travel, which meant that his friends and classmates were only just starting their third and final year at Harvard. He wished that Jake and some of the other guys were here with him—it would make it so much easier to have a familiar face or two around, but he'd have to wait another year for that.

"You graduated early?" Someone at the back said in disbelief. "People don't just graduate early from Harvard Law! Hell, most people barely even graduate after three years."

"Wait a second," Chase said. Mike didn't like the look in his eyes. "I've heard about you…you're that Ross kid…the one who graduated in just one year." He let out a laugh. "How old are you, man? Can you even drink yet?"

"Er…I'll be twenty-one next month," Mike said quietly, feeling his face flush. This was exactly what he'd been afraid of.

Chase laughed again. "I saw you locking up your bike this morning…what, are you too young to drive, too?"

"Leave him alone, Chase," a mild-looking young man named Sam said calmly but firmly. He clearly seemed to have some past experience with Chase; probably from Harvard. "He's just said that he's twenty; of course he can drive. You just feel threatened because he's so much younger than you."

Mike smiled tentatively at Sam, wishing the blush on his cheeks would go away.

"Why aren't you all working right now?!" Louis barked, stepping back in the room. The associates instantly scattered and fled to their desks to begin work. Louis caught Mike's eye and raised an eyebrow as though to ask if Mike was okay. Mike nodded slightly shakily, grateful that Louis was keeping an eye out for him, and sat down at his own desk.

Well, that hadn't been terrible. Sure, he'd ruined the secret of his age already, but at least Sam had defended him. Now all he had to do was buckle down and prove what a kickass associate he could be and keep his secret about Harvey.

He could do that. Time to get to work.

After a few weeks, Mike's days at Pearson Specter blurred into a routine.

He'd get up around 6 in the morning and shower and eat breakfast, and then he was hopping on his bike around 7 in order to make it to the firm by 7:30. Then he would usually put in a solid twelve-hour day, go home, eat dinner, and crash before waking up the next morning to do it all over again.

Things with the other associates were…okay. He had befriended Sam, and he and Kate sometimes exchanged amiable banter. Other than those two, however, most of the other associates seemed to be copying Chase's example. It was similar to his first month at Harvard; where most people regarded him with cool indifference, and a couple of people (namely Chase) seemed to genuinely dislike him, especially as he had quickly proved that he was just as smart as his reputation portrayed him to be.

It was nothing threatening and it had never escalated. But it was frustrating—Mike realized now that he had started to take the existence of his friend group at Harvard for granted, because he found it hard to go back to being the bottom rung of the social ladder again.

It was also hard to juggle his relationship with Harvey around the office. Louis and Donna and Jessica had been good about giving him his space and not making a big deal out of the fact that they knew one another. Most of the partners and older associates knew that Mike was Harvey's adoptive son because they'd seen him around the office for the past few years. But they didn't care about the first-years, so as far as Mike knew, nobody had really spilled the beans on him and Harvey.

For the most part, they didn't see each other much during the work day, which was something that Mike missed. He had always associated his experiences at Pearson Specter with working closely side-by-side with Harvey, and now to be relegated to the bullpen and doing mostly solo work or grunt work for unfamiliar partners was a major adjustment.

He wished he got to see Harvey more, but it was always a little weird when they ran into one another in the hallway. Usually they would just give one another a polite nod, but Mike was really bursting to tell Harvey a joke or ask him to buy more milk at the store or just ask how his day was going, as a son talking to his father instead of a first year associate talking to one of the managing partners at the firm.

And what was hardest was keeping his cool when the other associates criticized Harvey. He understood where they were coming from; he really did—Harvey was notoriously difficult to work with, and he was a hardass and a perfectionist when he was in work mode. So it was only natural that the associates would grumble that "Mr. Specter is making me completely re-draft this brief and it's 400 pages long!" or "Mr. Specter told me that he'd give Louis permission to use me as a permanent cat-sitter if I didn't memorize the Henderson bylaws by the end of the day!" The worst though was when people would criticize Harvey's demeanor.

"God, he seems so full of himself. I hear he's a total womanizer but can't get anybody to stay by his side long term," were some of the things people would murmur when Harvey walked by, looking as perfectly put-together as always.

Half the time this made Mike want to laugh, because some of it was valid criticism. But the other half of the time it just made him angry—they didn't see the full picture of who Harvey really was. And okay, maybe Harvey hadn't gotten married, but Mike sure had stuck by his side long term, as had Donna and Jessica.

Sure, he was the man who'd once yelled at all the male associates for having ties that were too skinny, but he was also the guy who'd made Mike soup and tea last week when he had a cold and had it ready for him when he got home from the office. And he was the guy who made certain Mike ate three meals a day and slept at least five or six hours a night. And the guy who sometimes got up and went to the office early so that Mike could have a morning off from riding his bike and catch a ride with him and Ray.

But Mike wisely kept his mouth shut, although it was especially hard when it was someone like Chase who was doing the complaining. He knew that it would be a complete nightmare if the other associates found out about Harvey—they already gave him shit for being Louis' favorite, and he'd never hear the end of the jokes about being a 'daddy's boy' if they learned that the managing partner was his father.

Other than that, things were going pretty well. Mike was really loving the work he was doing. Even though he'd been able to do most of this legal stuff since he was fourteen or fifteen, it was different and more exciting doing it as a real lawyer who had passed the board and was getting paid a full-time salary for his work. It meant that the responsibility was solely on his shoulders for the first time—if he messed up or missed something, it was his fault. And that just made him want to work even harder to become better.

Louis was impressed with his work; Mike could tell. He had even promised Mike that if he kept up the good work, he'd get a couple of housing court cases of his own. Everybody knew that housing court was a complete joke, but it was a rite of passage and it was a good place to start.

And so things continued to sail along smoothly until the day that Luke Renner came to the office.

It was mock trial time, and Louis had somehow gotten everyone in Pearson Specter involved. Mike wondered if there had been blackmail involved, because he didn't see how Louis had managed to get both Harvey and Jessica to agree to participate, but Harvey refused to tell Mike how Louis had convinced them.

Louis loved to encourage competition amongst the associates, so naturally he'd picked Mike to be the head of the defense because he knew that it would get almost any other associate that he picked to be the prosecutor riled up and looking for blood. Mike found this to be extremely uncharitable of Louis, especially when Chase was mysteriously picked to play the prosecutor, but he had virtually no say in the proceedings. The only thing he could do was prepare for any and every possibility.

So he'd spent the past few days researching like a madman and scraping up any and every precedent that might have proved applicable. Harvey had been concerned with Mike's aggressive preparation and had imposed a no-working-at-the-apartment rule to get Mike to take a few hours off and relax every night. He'd been an unwilling participant in a Star Trek marathon all week, and as he and Harvey sat on the couch watching, he'd mentally go through his opening and closing arguments until Harvey would smack Mike on the arm and tell him to stop thinking so loudly.

Mike would always protest that Harvey didn't know that Mike was thinking about the mock trial, but he couldn't stay mad for long, because Harvey always covered him up with a blanket when he inevitably dozed off in the middle of an episode, thoroughly exhausted from his long days of work.

On the day that Luke Renner showed up, the trial was already in full-swing. Louis had hoped that it wouldn't last more than a day or two, because it was unproductive for business to waste so much time on what was essentially a dog fight between the associates. But this mock trial was turning into a bloodbath already—both Chase and Mike were pulling out all the stops and putting their most convincing witnesses on the stand.

Jessica and Harvey were both on the jury, and Louis had taken it upon himself to act as the judge. Mike found this to be incredibly nervewracking—it was one thing to have to perform like this in front of your bosses and supervisors, but another thing completely to do it in front of your father and various other adults that you looked up to as your role models. Fortunately he had Donna as his star witness, and he wasn't sure it was possible for him to lose with her on his side.

And besides that, he had this case in the bag. Chase was trying to put on a big show, but he didn't have anything to back up his arguments. He was putting up a good fight, but he'd run out of steam soon enough and that was when Mike's vast technical knowledge come through and trounce him. It was just a matter of tiring Chase's arguments out until then.

Chase was in the middle of questioning Donna, who was doing a phenomenal job of fake-crying about how her ex-lover had framed her, when the door burst open and Luke Renner stormed in.

At first Mike assumed it was just one of Chase's stunts. But Chase had looked genuinely surprised and distracted from his argument by this sudden entrance, and he didn't appear to recognize Luke. But Mike did.

Luke was from an older case—a case of Harvey's that had gone down about a year prior. Luke's ex-wife was the CEO of an up-and-coming online company, and things had turned nasty in the middle of their divorce proceedings because Luke wanted to split their wealth in half, even though 90% of their income came from Miranda's company. Harvey had been called in by Miranda Renner to mediate the division of their assets, and he had managed to make sure that Miranda was able to keep all the money she had made at her company, which had effectively cut Luke off.

And by the look of things, Luke hadn't been having such a great time since then. His cheeks was stubbly and his eyes were bloodshot and baggy. He looked like he had been drinking, and his suit was wrinkly and crumpled, as though it was in dire need of a good wash.

"You!" He shouted suddenly. "We need to have a word because I've just about had it with the way that you've screwed up my life!" He pointed at Harvey, swaying slightly.

Yep, he had definitely been drinking.

Harvey slowly stood up from his place in the jury. "Hello, Mr. Renner," he said, his voice deliberately calm and soothing.

Mike frowned, his heartbeat speeding up as Luke advanced menacingly towards Harvey, who seemed to be trying to distance himself from the rest of the jurors—probably so that they'd be out of harm's way if Luke got violent. He noticed Donna subtly calling the building security on her cell phone out of the corner of his eye and slid a little closer to where Luke and Harvey were standing.

Chase had backed out of the way, looking confused. Luke had his back to Mike, and he was facing off with Harvey, who looked perfectly reserved if not a little tense.

"I lost everything because of you!" Luke shouted accusingly at Harvey. "Now I can't see my kids and Miranda has all the money and it's all your fault!"

"Actually I think that it was your fault when you decided to cheat on your wife and then try to steal half of her money," Harvey said coolly, and Mike wanted to strangle Harvey for his stupidity.

"Harvey," Jessica hissed warningly from her seat with the other jurors. "Do not provoke him."

But it was too late. Luke was enraged, and Mike could see that he wasn't going to go down without a fight. The security guards were nowhere to be seen, and Mike could feel the furious tension radiating off of this drunk, angry man who had lost it all and wanted to blame his problems on Harvey. It was both a very dangerous and volatile combination.

Everything happened very quickly then.

In the split second that Harvey turned his head to look at the door as the security guards finally entered the conference room, Luke cocked his arm back and was coiled to lunge forward and take advantage of Harvey's distraction.

He was diverted from pouncing on the managing partner of Pearson Specter by Mike, who, acting on complete instinct, leaped forward at the last second and tackled Luke Renner from behind. Luke reacted like a feral animal and physically threw Mike's weight off of him.

Everything was a blur as Mike felt himself flying through the air and then heard a sickening crunch as his head and then the rest of his body collided with the solid oak of the judge's desk, where Louis sat and looked on in horror.

What followed then was a dizzying mix of sharp pain radiating through his head and the right side of his body, and a lot of shouting and concerned voices.

The last thing he saw before the spots dancing in front of his eyes faded into darkness was Harvey's face hovering above him, tight and pinched with concern.

Well, he'd wanted to end this mock trial with a bang, but this wasn't exactly what he'd envisioned.

Mock trial always turned out to be the worst day of the year, but not for the same reasons as usual this year. Normally Harvey hated it because it just consisted of Louis pitting his two best associates against one another and watching them destroy one another in a very juvenile and haphazard fashion. While this was somewhat entertaining on a very base level, Harvey generally had much better things to be doing with his time than watch pompous, wet-behind-the-ears little shits from Harvard duking it out over some imagined crime.

This year, it was extra terrible. He hadn't anticipated how frustrating it would be to watch Chase attempt to demean and belittle Mike and not be able to interfere. His protective instincts had become so deeply engrained over the course of the past six years that it went against his very nature to listen to someone make sly jokes about Mike's age and abilities as a lawyer without tearing them a new one.

Of course, Mike could dish it out just as well as he could take it, and Harvey knew that Mike had the trial under control. In fact, it was impressive to watch the kid in his natural habitat, kicking ass and pulling out all sorts of tricks that he had learned from Harvey himself. That was extremely gratifying; to see firsthand how his mentoring had helped shape Mike's talents and abilities.

But then things just got worse when a very belligerent Luke Renner decided to make an appearance. Harvey had had the situation completely under his control, honestly…okay; so maybe he shouldn't have looked away when Luke was so dangerously irate, but had it come down to a fair fight Harvey could have taken the man down in a matter of seconds with one hand tied behind his back.

Which made it all the more stupid that it had been Mike—clumsy, pacifist Mike who had never come out on top in a fight in his entire life—who had decided it would be a good idea to jump on Renner and bring him down.

And now the ensuing result was complete pandemonium, with Mike laying prone on the floor and bleeding from a painful-looking head wound. The security guards had quickly intervened and restrained Renner and dragged him away, and now all that was left were panicked, gossipy associates and partners.

Harvey knelt down next to Mike, trying to cut off all of the paternal instincts that were urging him to take Mike's hand and reassure him and drag him away to the hospital. He had to remind himself that they were at work and that while they were in public like this, he had to play the role of the cool, objective boss instead of panicking dad.

Donna was already there, her hand rubbing soothing circles on Mike's shoulder. "Norma went to get an icepack and I've called an ambulance," she said. "He's going to need to get that head wound looked at."

Harvey swallowed thickly, feeling guilt settle in his stomach and gnaw away at his internal organs. It was his fault that Mike had gotten hurt—his fault that Mike had had to step in to try and defend him from Renner. If only he hadn't looked away; Mike would have never had to try and intervene.

"Are you okay, Harvey?" Donna murmured, sensing his train of thought. She accepted an icepack from Norma and gently placed it on Mike's forehead, where there was a nasty gash from where his head had collided with a corner of the desk. It was bleeding sluggishly and didn't look too deep, but a nasty bump was beginning to swell underneath.

Harvey made a noncommittal noise and tried to snap himself back into character. He could do this—he was a hard-ass attorney who was the co-managing partner of New York's best law firm. He didn't have emotions, and he didn't care about injured employees beyond a basic level of polite concern. And especially not first year associates.

Mike had been blinking slowly on the ground for a few seconds before he suddenly shot up into a sitting position, looking completely out of it and shaking Donna's hands off of him.

"Whoa," he said, looking around dizzily. "What's going on?" He winced as he brought one hand up to touch his forehead and drew away with blood.

"You're alright," Donna said gently, rubbing his shoulder. "You've got a nasty bump on your head, but the ambulance will be here soon."

"I feel funny," Mike complained, his tone of voice similar to the dopey, confused tone that he sometimes got when he was on strong pain medication. He looked at Harvey. "You look worried, Dad. What's going on?"

Harvey winced and exchanged panicked glances with Donna, suddenly very aware of the presence of all the first years who were crowding behind them and trying to see if Mike was okay. They no doubt were interested in how Harvey would treat the man who, in their eyes, was just an anonymous first year who had stepped in to save him from Renner, and Harvey knew he was going to have to handle this in a calm and professional manner.

"You're going to be okay…Michael," Harvey said, the more formal name tasting strange in his mouth.

Mike looked baffled at this. "Why are you calling me 'Michael', Dad? You only do that when you're really mad. Did I do something?"

A couple of the associates began tittering behind Harvey. "Did he just call Mr. Specter his dad? Holy crap, I can't wait to see what Mr. Specter's going to do!" Someone that sounded a lot like Chase murmured with a laugh in his voice. Harvey made a mental note to tell Louis to give Chase the 2000 page Gunderson brief to work on over the weekend as punishment for being an asshole.

"Alright, there's nothing to see here," Louis said, trying to wave the associates away in vain. "Back to work, everybody; the show's over."

Mike's face was scrunched up in pain, and Harvey had to physically restrain himself from putting a reassuring hand on Mike's arm.

"Are you okay, Mike?" One of the associates that Mike was actually friends with stepped forward. Harvey thought his name was Sam, and he supposed he could appreciate Sam's intentions. To the other associates, it probably looked like their coworker had taken a hit to the head and was now convinced that his boss was his father. "I think you're confused."

"I'm not confused. He's my dad. It's a secret though. I'm not supposed to tell you guys," Mike said in a horribly loud stage whisper.

Harvey resisted the urge to bang his own head against the judge's desk.

The associates began laughing again.

"It's true!" Mike exclaimed indignantly, and Harvey wondered if it would be cruel to cover the mouth of someone with a concussion. "He's actually really nice—he makes me soup and coffee and we live together and he's a really good dad!"

"And there goes both my reputation and my masculinity," Harvey muttered ruefully under his breath.

"Er—are you sure, Mike?" Sam asked tentatively, appearing concerned with the fervor of Mike's false beliefs about Harvey. "That's Mr. Specter right there—maybe you're thinking of someone else."

"Nope, he's really my dad," Mike said dopily, giggling slightly. Harvey wondered where on earth the ambulance was and why Louis wasn't herding the associates away with more aggression. "Now you can see where I get my rugged good looks from—"

"He's adopted," Harvey clarified hastily.

That was when he realized that he had just confirmed his relation to Mike in front of all the first year associates, who were looking at him, aghast.

Confused muttering broke out amongst them and Harvey groaned. Mike let out a whimper at all the loud noise and covered his ears. Unable to watch Mike in pain, Harvey finally slid a hand onto Mike's upper back, figuring that the jig was up and he might as well comfort Mike to the best of his abilities.

"Alright," he snapped. "Everybody out! My son and I don't appreciate having an audience right now. So leave in the next ten seconds, or I'll have Louis assign you all so much paperwork that you'll forget what the word 'weekend' means."

The associates promptly scattered and ran off, looking much like chastised schoolchildren and still exclaiming over the revelation that Mike Ross and Harvey Specter were apparently related and that the fiercely imposing managing partner was apparently "the best dad ever" and "actually really nice."

"Well, the cat's out of that bag," Harvey remarked dryly to Donna as he rubbed soothing circles on Mike's back.

"You shouldn't put cats in bags, Harvey," Mike lectured randomly, his features screwed up in a grimace. He appeared to be trying to block everything out, and Harvey's heart ached for the kid.

"Hang in there, buddy," he said. "The ambulance will be here soon and they'll get you something for that concussion and the pain."

And as he sat next to his injured son, he wondered not for the first time if Mike was too young for this life.

"Stop thinking so loud, Harvey," Mike groaned. "I'm okay. Can I have ice cream for dinner tonight?"

Harvey laughed at this nonsensical request. "Sure, Mike," he said. "You can have whatever you want for dinner tonight." Though he wouldn't have admitted to it at gunpoint, he was glad that Mike was at least able to keep a little bit of his childish spirit alive.

"You know what would be really good right now, Harvey?" Mike was saying. "Some ice cream." He ignored the odd look Harvey flashed him as he looked around his hospital room. He had just woken up and had been informed that he was being kept overnight so they could keep an eye on his concussion and make sure that he had plenty of pain medication for his bruised and battered torso.

"Alright, I'll ask one of the nurses if she can rustle up some ice cream for dinner," Harvey said slowly. "How are you feeling?"

Mike shrugged. "I'm okay. Did they get that Renner guy? Things get really blurry right after I jumped on him."

"Yeah, you're probably going to have to give the police a statement about what happened at some point. Do you want to press charges?" Harvey asked.

"Nahh, it seems like his life is rough enough already right now," Mike said charitably, and Harvey felt a surge of pride for Mike's kindness. "So when can I go back to work?" Mike asked eagerly.

"Er—about that," Harvey began. "I'm not sure that you're going to want to go back to work right now. You might want to give the other associates a few days to let it all sink in."

"Let what sink in? Oh god," Mike said suddenly, understanding dawning on his features as he began to remember bits and pieces of what he'd said. "I told them that you're my dad, didn't I?" He groaned loudly. "Shit."

"Yeah, you did," Harvey said. "But it's not like you can take it back now. We just have to live with it."

"I'm sorry, Harvey," Mike said. "I didn't mean to, really. I just wasn't thinking clearly."

"It's okay, Mike," Harvey said, his voice surprisingly gentle. "It's not your fault and it was going to come out sooner or later. The only thing you should be sorry for is jumping on that guy in the first place. You know I could have handled it myself, and now you got yourself hurt on my account."

"I'm not apologizing for that," Mike said firmly. "I couldn't just let him beat you up—and it was pretty badass of me, wasn't it?" He grinned. "Kate will probably admire my battle scars."

"Ah, so you like Kate, huh?" Harvey said. Mike blushed fiercely.

"What—no…I just…she's just a friend. She's like 26!" He stuttered.

"Now that the secret is out that I'm your father, I should warn you that I am not afraid to give you a sex talk in the associate bullpen if I need to," Harvey said, smirking evilly at Mike's horrified expression.

"You're a terrible person," Mike said. "I should have let Renner punch you."

"Never cut off the hand that feeds you soup when you're sick," Harvey advised sagely. "But really, Mike, I do appreciate you trying to protect me. I shouldn't have provoked him. And Louis told me today that you've been doing phenomenal work. Keep it up and you'll have your name up on the wall before you know it."

And Mike couldn't help but smile at that praise as he ate the chocolate ice cream the nurse delivered, imagining the day some years down the road when he'd step off the elevator into the lobby and see a wall that read 'Pearson Specter Ross' or even just 'Specter Ross.' It would happen—he'd make it happen, and until then he could deal with Chase and the other associates being assholes and putting him down. He knew that there would probably be some annoying and frustrating backlash from the news he had spilled earlier today, but he couldn't bring himself to care that much. Because it would all be worth it in the end.

Come to think of it, the name 'Specter and Son' had a nice ring to it for the name of a law firm.

So...yeah. I know it ends at kind of a weird place, but it was getting really lengthy and I didn't want it to drag on. Hope you all enjoyed it :D Poor Mike, I probably beat him up way too often but it's too fun to resist sometimes.

And to the poor high school reviewer who I freaked out with my depiction of college, don't worry- when the time comes and you find the right school, you'll have a great time. College is lots of fun; trust me hahah XD

As always, I'm open to any requests or suggestions. Thanks for reading; you guys are the best :D