Author's Note: I finally got a chapter up woop!
I'm currently reading 2 very intense university courses at once and that paired with my mental health issues has lead to me being completely burned out.
I've been wanting to update for a long time now but I've just not had the energy or mental capacity but I finally managed to do it so I'm proud of myself.

I unfortunately don't have the time to spend editing it, so I apologize for any mistakes that I've missed.

CHAPTER 20

Several traffic laws were broken when Harvey sped to the hospital but that was the least of his worries right now.
When Mike had called him "dad", he had frozen, needing a couple of seconds to process it but then that simple, little word had activated his father instincts.
After being informed about what had happened he had rushed out of his office and had quickly informed Donna about the phone call and she had promised to deal with the meeting.
The lawyer had then ran to the elevators, not caring what the other employees would think of him.
They could think whatever they wanted and the very important case that he'd been working on could be completely screwed up for all he cared, being there for his son was the most important thing to him at the moment.
Harvey arrived at the hospital and immediately spotted the pair in the waiting room.
Rose was looking at the TV, pretending to be interested in the cooking show that was playing, while Mike had his eyes fixed on his Converse, his entire body language screaming sadness.
Harvey sat down next to the boy and put his arm around his shoulders, softly asking him what exactly had happened.
Mike started to tell him but when he got to the point about him finding his grandmother passed out on the floor, he was unable to continue but Harvey had heard enough to put the pieces together himself.

"Do you want a coffee?"

He lifted his head to see Rose standing in front of them with a forced smile on her face, the kind someone had when they tried to remain positive in a bad situation.

"Yes please."
"Do you want anything, Mike?"

The kid just shook his head and Rose nodded before she disappeared, only to return a couple of minutes later with two cups of coffee.
The coffee was from the best he'd ever had but he still made sure to thank Rose, who had sat down next to them and was anxiously chewing on the rim of the cup instead of actually drinking the coffee.

Harvey lost track of time as they sat there waiting, they were all trapped in a sort of daze.
A doctor finally arrived and when he asked them to follow him to a smaller room where they could talk undisturbed, Harvey instantly got a gut feeling telling him that this was real bad.
He just hoped that it wasn't too bad, especially not after seeing the hopeful look on the kid's face as he asked the doctor if his grandmother was okay.
Harvey studied the doctor and he could tell what kind of news they were getting just by the look on his face, and he for once hoped that his abilities to read people's faces were faulty.
Unfortunately his ability was working perfectly fine and he hung his head as the doctor confirmed what he had expected, Edith was gone.
After the initial tension between him and Edith, they had actually started to get closer and Harvey had taken a liking to the woman, especially since she was always there to help him with Mike.
He looked over at his kid and he couldn't even begin to imagine what Mike was feeling right now, he had lost so many important people in such a short amount of time and it truly must feel like his whole world was falling apart.
Mike seemed to be in shock for a minute or two but then he suddenly exploded and the incredible rage was sent Rose's way.
The old woman looked shocked while Harvey stood back, letting Mike yell at her since he knew that the anger was a part of grief, and he hoped that Rose understood that as well.
Then with no warning, Mike lunged at the woman, causing her to hold her hands up to protect herself, but Harvey managed to grab the boy before he did something he would later regret.
Mike struggled for a couple of seconds before Rose decided to leave the room, which caused him to cease the struggle and instead he broke down.
Harvey did the only thing that he could do, he held him tighter as he cried.

"I've got you."

He mumbled, not even bothering to say that it was okay since he knew that it was far from.
The doctor had allowed Mike to see his grandmother one last time.
She had looked so peaceful laying there in the hospital bed and if he hadn't known better he would just have believed that she was sleeping.
He waited by the door as Mike held her hand and whispered things to her before placing a kiss on top of her forehead.
As soon as they left the room, Mike had broken down again, begging them to please go home because he could no longer stand being here.
Harvey had quickly signed a couple of papers before they left, and as he was doing so he realized that even though he had been Mike's parent for a while now, he was now the sole guardian of him and the only family he had left.

Once they were back at the apartment, Mike went straight to his room and shut the door behind him.
Harvey felt the urge to go after him and try to cheer him up but he knew that there were no shortcut, Mike would feel bad for some time while the worst of the grief hit him, and Harvey couldn't do anything about it, he just had to give him his space and be there when he needed him.
He sighed as he got his phone out of his pocket.
Donna had bombarded him with messages, wondering how it was going and if Edith was alright.
Harvey walked out on the balcony to get some fresh air before he called his secretary and told her about Edith's passing.

"I'll be right over."
"Donna, you don't have to."

Harvey protested but Donna had hung up before he had even finished the sentence.
He stayed outside for a couple of minutes before he went inside again.
Nothing seemed to catch his interest so he ended up just sitting on the couch and scrolling through his phone until he heard the doorbell ring.
When he opened the door he was met by Donna who was carrying a big bad filled with groceries and two large pizzas.
He raised his eyebrows at her and she gave him a sad smile.

"Comfort food. I didn't know what he would like so I got it all."

She explained and handed he pizzas to Harvey before she walked inside.
Unpacking he realized that she had indeed gotten everything, she had bought donuts, ice cream, chocolate, chips, Mike's favourite candy and soda.
Harvey left Donna in the kitchen and walked to Mike's room, knocking on the door before entering.
Mike was on his bed, curled up into a ball and was staring at the wall.

"Donna's here, she's brought some food."

At first he wondered if Mike had even heard him because the kid stayed silent and didn't even move a muscle but then he finally mumbled a reply.

"Not hungry."
"You've got to eat something, kid."

He prompted and after a minute of thinking the boy sighed and got up.
Mike greeted Donna who gave him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek before they all sat down.
It took a little extra prompting from the two adults to get him to eat but he finally had a slice of pizza, which probably made him realize how hungry he was because he had two more slices, two donuts and some candy.
After eating Mike seemed a little more energetic and they all sat down on the couch and watched some lighthearted comedies together.
As the second movie started, Mike laid down on the couch, placing his head in Harvey's lap and his feet in Donna's lap.
Harvey absentmindedly ran his fingers through Mike's hair as he watched the rest of the movie.
Eventually it was time for Mike to go to bed and Donna to go home, she had offered to stay but she had done more than enough.
He had made sure to thank her, thinking that even if he was alone in parenting Mike he would always have Donna by his side.
She was like an aunt that showed up to spoil the kid and give him support in tough situations and he really couldn't thank the universe enough for letting him meet her.
Once alone he stayed up for a while and tried to enjoy a movie but his mind kept wandering to today's event.
He never knew before that it hurt so incredibly much to see your child in pain, and he really wished that he could take it all away.

Harvey was almost asleep when he heard a creak outside his door, he held his breath as he listened for more sounds but nothing else could be heard.
He had just convinced himself that he had just imagined it when he heard another sound, this time the creaking of the door as it was opened.
When no other sounds were heard, he rolled around to face door and opened his tired eyes to see Mike standing in the doorway, holding something tightly to his chest.
It was too dark to see his facial expressions but Harvey could tell by his tense shoulders and the way he kept looking back towards his room that he was feeling uncertain.

"You okay?"

He asked in a soft voice.
A whole minute passed before Mike answered, his voice shaky.

"I had a nightmare...c-can I sleep in here?"
"Of course."

Mike closed the door behind him and then walked over to the bed.
Now that he was closer he could see that the thing he was holdin onto so tightly was a stuffed bunny.
He vaguely remembered it from when Mike first moved in, the kid had told him that his grandma had made it for him while his mother was pregnant and then giving it to him at the hosptia thus making it his first stuffed animal.
Mike had told him that he had never been able to get rid of it, even if the bunny was worn from years of playing with it, it had ears of two different sizes and was missing one eye.
It was kind of ugly but it had a great sentimental value, especially now.

Mike got into the bed and got comfortable, without ever loosening his grip of the bunny.
Harvey turned around and started to drift back to sleep but as he was almost asleep, he was yet again disturbed by a sound, this time a low sniffle that caused him to go from almost asleep to wide awake in less than a second.
He turned back toward Mike and saw that the kid was trying to muffle his sniffles by burying his face in the bunny.
Harvey reached out for him and carefully pulled him closer to him, ready to give the kid space if he protested but Mike didn't object, instead he just buried his head in Harvey's chest and started full-on sobbing.
It felt like the crying would never stop, and it was absolute torture to listen to the crying and not being able to do anything but hold him, but eventually the kid went quiet and his body went limp.
The poor kid had cried himself to sleep.
Harvey placed a kiss on the top of Mike's head before he drifted back to sleep himself, hoping that if he just kept holding Mike close to him, it would protect him from having any more nightmares.

The next day Mike seemed to feel even worse because this time it didn't matter how much Harvey coaxed, bribed and even threatened, the kid just wouldn't eat and wouldn't do anything but just lay in his bed.
By pure habit Harvey got his phone out and pressed Edith's name, almost pressing the call button before he remembered that he couldn't do that anymore.
It felt empty in a way, considering that even when they hadn't liked each other she had still been there to help him and give advice.
He put his phone away and sat down at the kitchen island, trying to distract himself with work.
It had been so quiet in the apartment all day, so that when Harvey heard a crash from Mike's room he was so startled he almost fell of the chair.
Then he had hurried over to Mike's room to investigate the source of the noise and found Mike sitting up in his bed, his elbows resting against his knees while his face was buried in his hands.
The lamp that had been on the desk was now on the floor, shattered into a million little pieces, and right next to it was Mike's cellphone, clearly broken.
He guessed that Mike had probably, for some reason, thrown his phone across the room, most likely in anger, and it had hit the lamp.

"You okay?"

Harvey asked and Mike lifted his head, his theory about Mike being angry confirmed by the fire in the kid's eyes.

"Leave me alone!"

He wanted to stay and clean up the pieces of the lamp before someone got hurt but he decided to not anger Mike further and he left the room.
Harvey came back a little while later when the boy had calmed down some and cleaned up the glass, but Mike would not tell him what had happened.
The only thing that was sure was that whatever it was, it had really ticked him off.

Night came and just like the previous night, Harvey was awoken by the sound of his door opening.
This time Mike didn't ask, instead he just crawled into the bed, clutching his bunny tightly and then falling asleep, this time without any tears.
When Harvey woke up the next morning, he immediately that something was wrong, a feeling in his gut that he simply couldn't explain.
He reached out for Mike, to make sure that the kid was okay, but his hands were met by nothing but a cold pillow and the sheets.
Harvey opened his eyes and looked over at the other side of the bed, just to make sure that it was in fact empty.
The knot in his stomach suddenly grew worse and he tried to use logic, Mike might have just gone to the bathroom or back to his own bed.
The kitchen and living room was empty and so was the bathroom and Mike's room.
He checked every single corner of his apartment, just to be sure, but the was nowhere to be found and he couldn't find a single note or anything else that told him where he had gone.
Harvey picked up his phone and called Mike but it went straight to voicemail, he swore loudly when he remembered that Mike had broken his phone.
He moved on and called every single person that knew Mike, even if it was only slightly past 7AM on a Sunday, but no one had seen him.
Trevor, Rachel and Harold were all sleeping soundly in their own beds and Donna had not had any visitors.
The panic was unbearable as he said goodbye to Rose, who had not heard from Mike either.
As soon as he ended the call he slammed his phone down on the kitchen counter in frustration.
He closed his eyes and tried to remember every single thing he knew about Mike and hoped that it would help him figure out where Mike would go.