Nothing is mine but the story idea

Written for Jessiikaa15 - my bestest of friends, my sister from another mister, because she loves Suits so much

Nothing Else Matters

In Mike Ross' thirty years on the planet there were not many times that he had experienced an epiphany, and yet, a week after seeing his Grammy, that's exactly what happened to him. Walking down the street after finishing for the day at a reasonable hour, Mike recalled the conversation he'd had with Grammy a week ago and it struck him, like a bolt of lightning.

He'd been absent from visiting for a week, time had gotten away with him. Mike had been working nearly every day from six in the morning through to ten or even eleven at night. Breaks to go visit Grammy were few and far between. She understood, of course, she always did. Grammy knew of the fraud he was committing, the woman had always been able to work out what Mike was up to, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

But, even though it was something she worried over, Grammy knew that Mike was making a difference to people's lives. She made sure that when his resolve wavered, he was reminded of all the cases he'd worked on that his brilliant mind had been able to find the clincher to the argument, the one loop hole that allowed them to win the case and make someone's life better. Grammy was brilliant like that. The last visit had been different, though. She hadn't wanted to talk about work, Grammy had wanted to talk about Mike, and the change she had noticed in him.

"Michael Ross you're hiding something from your dear old Grammy!" Edith cried, a sly grin turning her lips up.

Mike looked at her oddly. "What? Grammy, I'm not hiding anything from you!"

Edith levelled him with a knowing look, put her knitting needles down and patted the covers of her bed for him to sit with her. "Mike, sweetheart, I've known you inside out since the day you were born. I can always tell when you're hiding something from me."

Sitting on the bed as directed, Mike looked at her steadily. "Grammy, I promise you, I'm not hiding anything from you. The last time I was, was about the job at Pearson Hardman and you've known about that for months now."

Something in Edith's eyes shifted and her sly smile turned into a soft one, warmth in her pale blue eyes and a wrinkled, age spotted hand rested over the one he'd plopped on her thigh over the blankets. "Oh, my darling boy, who is it?"

Blinking at her, Mike frowned. "Who is who, Grammy?"

"This person that's got you full of secret smiles and soft stares?"

"What? Grammy, stop talking in riddles. What are you getting at?"

Edith picked up the hand on her thigh and held it between her own two. "Mike, my sweet boy, I couldn't say for sure when it first started but it's been since you started at Pearson Hardman. You come to visit me and sometimes you get this far off look in your eyes, or this little smile on your lips, like you're seeing something, or someone, in your mind's eye. I've only ever seen that look on you one other time in your life, and you never told me who it was, but there was someone."

Feeling as if the world had been pulled out from under him, Mike stammered awkwardly, desperately trying to think of something to get her to stop. But the look on her face, the hope, he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. "Grammy, there are some things I just don't feel ready to tell you. There was someone, a long time ago, but there isn't anyone now, okay?"

He couldn't very well tell her that he'd been sleeping with his boss for weeks on end, months even. Mike had never told Grammy he was gay, and it wasn't like he expected her to react negatively, but after Trevor had found out he preferred men he'd blown up, and that day still haunted Mike to that day. Logically, Grammy would just be happy for him no matter what, but still.

And like the proverbial lightning strike, Mike suddenly knew what she'd been seeing in him. The far off stares, the little smiles, they were all the times he'd been thinking about Harvey. It had started out simple, a mutual attraction that neither of them had been willing to ignore in the end. Harvey didn't do relationships, and he'd told Mike as much, and they'd agreed it was purely physical. It was just sex. Fantastic sex, but only that.

And Mike was okay with that. All his relationships had ended because of Mike's ability to recall absolutely everything, so when his partner at the time tried to say something hadn't been said or written, Mike could say with perfect recollection they were wrong, and they hated it. Winning an argument was nigh impossible.

He hadn't realised it had been happening, the slow way he'd been falling for the unflappable man. Grammy was right, there was someone. He'd fallen in love with Harvey! Oh god, he had to tell him! Harvey didn't do relationships, he'd said, but the words didn't match up to the actions. Harvey had been letting Mike stay after they'd had sex, he'd woken many a morning to find Harvey wrapped around him, and not to mention the number of times their formerly frantic coupling had grown softer, more gentle.

He had to have hope that Harvey felt the same. He knew Harvey wouldn't be done for a few more hours, he was still wrapped up in the Grant deposition and would be for some time. Mike pulled out his keychain and spied the key to Harvey's apartment the man had given him weeks ago and a plan formed in his mind.

Mike hailed a cab and gave the driver Harvey's address. He could bike there but he didn't want to arrive sweaty and need to shower, so he took a cab dispute the expensive fare, paid the man and greeted Harvey's security doorman, hoping the man wouldn't mention to Harvey when he got home that he'd be up there. He could say something about keeping it secret, but he worried that made him look suspicious.

There was a violin that he remembered Harvey telling him about, the one his father had bought him when he was just a boy. Mike had never told his lover that he played, and he thought it would be wonderful for Harvey to come home and hear the beautiful strains coming through his door, and realise it was Mike playing for him.

And then he could tell Harvey his feelings, that over time he'd come to love the surly and closed off man, Harvey working himself so deeply into Mike's heart there was no chance of him leaving any time soon. Of course, if it all went wrong he'd be looking for a new job in the morning but he was willing to take the risk.

Mike let himself into the apartment and smiled at the pristine state of the place, not a single item out of place. Which made it easy for him to go and get the violin, tuning it, running the bow over the strings softly and feeling his heart soar when it sung beautifully for him. A buzzing in his pocket distracted him a moment, making him fumble while he fished it out of his pocket, noting the number on the screen and frowning in confusion.

-oo0oo-

Harvey was exhausted, the Grant deposition had taken far longer than he'd wanted it to, and without Mike there to help him sift through the information it had taken him longer than he'd ever care to admit to find the smoking gun. But, Mike had been working long hours for days on end to the point where Harvey couldn't even remember the last time the boy had last taken a day off. It would have been cruel to ask him to work yet another long day.

So, when Mike had innocently mentioned he needed to go see his Grammy, Harvey hadn't so much as blinked when he said to finish at five and go see her. He knew it had been some time since his young associate had last had the time to go and Edith Ross was a woman he found amazing. He couldn't allow Mike to lose what little time he had with the elderly woman when she so obviously adored her grandson. He still hoped to one day meet her.

He passed Steve, his security doorman, and greeted him warmly. The man opened his mouth to say something again when his attention was caught by one of Harvey's neighbours struggling to get her pram through the doorway, her arms ladened with bags and boxes. Seeing Steve had it handled he called out a goodbye and strode into the lift just vacated by a young couple.

Blessedly silent, no annoying lift music like in past apartment buildings, Harvey allowed himself to de-stress. He could worry about everything else on Monday, this weekend he planned to give Mike his sole attention if he was free and told Jessica that unless they were at risk of losing the case he was not to be disturbed. It was rare he ever made such a request of his boss but the fearsome woman had acquiesced to his request and promised that his phone would not ring from any of them at Pearson Hardman.

Stopping outside his apartment door he swore he could hear something playing. A smile flitted across his lips. Mike must have let himself in and had one of his records playing, he didn't recognise it but it was possible he was listening to a track Harvey himself had little fondness for. He unlocked the door and slipped inside, his heart starting to hammer when he saw the smashed cell phone on the floor.

"Mike?" He called, fear colouring his voice. "Are you here?"

The music continued to play and realised belatedly the open violin case on the sofa. It wasn't his record playing that was spouting music, it was Mike. He found himself shocked to find his lover was a capable violinist. A cool breeze hit his skin and he found the balcony door wide open, papers littered the floor from the wind.

Harvey stepped through and saw Mike stood out there, the cool evening air stirring his closely shorn hair, his back to him, shoulders stiff and the haunting music hit his ears fully. He vaguely thought he recognised it, but he couldn't quite place it. A book lay on the floor of his balcony, open to the sheet of music Mike must be currently playing and he picked it up, realising it was a handwritten book of sheet music.

Nothing Else Matters was written across the top in unfamiliar writing. Harvey flipped it to the inside cover and found Edith Ross had been penned in. "Mike?" He called softly.

The low rumble of thunder sounded overhead and Harvey saw the clouds darkening, the heavy scent of moisture in the air, charged with something unnameable. Harvey knew Mike had heard him, the slight jerk and stiffening of his body told him, but Mike just kept playing, the music building. Lightning split the sky just as Mike fell to his knees, the piece he was playing swelling and pulling at Harvey's heart just as an inhuman scream of pain fell from Mike's lips.

His playing faltered, the bow slipping in his now wet grasp while rain pelted around them. Harvey gently slipped the violin from his fingers and finished playing for him, his eyes on the open book he'd flipped back to the page of notes. It had been some years since he'd played, but like riding a bike, he quickly remembered and played the final, drawn out note.

Mike was sobbing, his shirt plastered to his back in the pouring rain. Harvey turned inside just long enough to drop the violin on the sofa and guided his lover to his feet, leaving him long enough to grab a towel and quickly flick the lock on the sliding glass doors as he passed. Their height difference was no longer noticeable, the younger man hunched in on himself, eyes glassy and seeing something Harvey couldn't.

"Mike, what's happened?" He murmured, cupping cold, wet cheeks between his hands. "Talk to me."

Something in his baby blue eyes sparked and died out. "She's gone."

-oo0oo-

"Michael Ross?"

"Yes, speaking."

There was a pause on the line a moment. "Mr. Ross, I'm calling from your grandmother's nursing home."

"Yes, I saw the number, sorry have her funds run out or something? I can make a direct transfer right away if you just tell me how much in arrears I am. I'm so sorry, everything's been so manic lately I must have forgotten again."

He could hear someone in the background and then the phone clattered as it was handed over. "Mike, it's Ellen, I am so sorry, sweetheart. Edith passed away a few minutes ago. She had her dinner, said she was tired and was going to lie down for a bit. I checked on her a couple hours later and she passed in her sleep. If you want to-"

Mike disconnected the call, his hand trembling, the cell phone falling from his grasp and smashing against the tiled floor, the glass screen shattering and going dark. He was numb, his brain silent. Was this what it took to make it shut up?

Harvey had listened to Mike recount the whole thing in an eerily dead voice, no inflection, no emotion, his eyes just…dead. The rain continued to pour for hours, the sky alternating between rumbles so loud the glass of his penthouse apartment rattled in their frames, the lightning flashing so bright it lit the whole room up.

In the end Harvey had had to give Mike a sleeping pill to get the young man to rest, steering him to the bed they'd shared many a night when it started to take effect. Every attempt to get him to sit down had been met with a staunch refusal to do anything but stand. Once he knew Mike was sound asleep he phoned Jessica.

"Harvey? I thought you said you didn't want disturbing? Why are you ringing me, you're not bored already are you?" She teased.

"Jess," he sighed.

He'd only ever used the nickname once in his career with Jessica Pearson. "Harvey, what's happened?" She demanded.

"It's Mike's Grammy."

"Oh, Harvey, no…how is he?"

"He's a mess, Jessica. I'm sorry to do this to-"

"Say no more, I'll finish the Grant trial myself and get the associates to help. Take the week if you need to, everything else can wait."

Harvey breathed a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Thanks, Jessica, I appreciate it."

"Hey, Harvey, I know you, okay? I know you wouldn't ask anything unless it was urgent. We all know how much Edith meant to Mike, god, the poor kid really is an orphan now. You take care of him and if you need me, just call."

"Thanks, bye."

Hanging up, Harvey huffed a breath and took the time to clean his violin before placing it safely back in its case. He'd planned on spending the weekend wrapped around Mike, relaxing together and maybe discussing what was going on between them. Harvey found he didn't want to label what they had as something so casual anymore. Who would have thought Harvey bloody Spectre would want to commit to a serious relationship?

Stripping, he threw his and Mike's soaked clothes in the washer and pulled on a pair of sweats and an old Harvard shirt. He wasn't sure how long Mike would sleep for but he couldn't stay away. He slipped onto his bed without jostling the sleeping man and breathed a soft sigh when his lover immediately curled himself into Harvey. "I've got you, Mike. I've got you," he whispered, pressing his lips to Mike's forehead.

-oo0oo-

The week leading up to the funeral was days spent planning Edith's final goodbye, and nights of sobbing and anger. Harvey didn't go to work, he didn't call work, and his phone never rang – not once. He didn't care if the Grant case went smoothly, he didn't care if they'd won or lost. His primary concern was the young man whose heart had been shattered.

It was disgustingly sunny on the day of the funeral, and Harvey was furious about it. How dare the skies be clear and bright on the day Mike had to lay his beloved Grammy to rest. He'd never get to meet the enigmatic Edith now, to see the woman who had raised Mike into the wonderful man that he was.

The turnout was massive. People from the nursing home came, old friends and new. Hell, even Trevor, Mike's old friend, had come. Jessica had taken the day off to pay her respects, as had Donna. Louis had stayed at the office to keep Hardman at bay, but he had arranged a beautiful arrangement for Edith's coffin, in colours as bright as the woman was.

Mike had written a eulogy, well worded and filled with snippets of stories, but he hadn't been able to finish, so Harvey had taken over. Mike had grasped his hand so tightly at the podium, and Harvey held on tighter, uncaring for the stares. His lover needed him, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't be the support Mike needed right then.

In the end, Mike had opted to have Edith cremated, her ashes placed in a beautiful urn that depicted the sunrise. Mike had yet to return to his apartment, and Harvey was in no rush to ask him to leave. The urn sat on his mantle, looking like it belonged there. When Mike talked about going back home, Harvey told him to stay. Permanently.

Out of the misery of losing Edith had come the cementing of their relationship, both unwilling to see other people. Mike had moved in, and with time, his heart had begun to heal. Harvey was with him every step of the way, he held Mike when he cried, weathered the storms of his anger when he raged about losing his beloved Grammy, and through it all, Harvey knew only one thing: he loved Mike.

At the anniversary of Edith's death, Harvey proposed to Mike. A letter had been left for him at Edith's will reading. He still didn't know how she'd figured out who he was. It sat locked in the safe in his wardrobe, hidden behind a fake wall.

Dearest Harvey,

I hope we one day get to meet, but I know my time left here is running short. My Mike has been the happiest I have seen him in such a long time, and I suspect I have you to thank for that. When the time comes, and I am quite sure it will, use the rings enclosed in this envelope. Of course, there is no way I'd know if you chose not to, and that's okay. But, you would make an old lady happy.

Love,

Edith Ross.

Of course, Harvey could have gone and bought new rings, but he knew that Mike would be so touched to use his Grammy's rings: hers, and the one of her husband, Jimmy. Harvey had them resized to fit them both, and waited for the day. Some might say it was disrespectful to propose to your love on the day their most treasured person died. But, Harvey believed it would make a sad day happy.

He stood on his balcony, seeing the irony in how the skies darkened and thunder rumbled ominously. He heard the key in the lock of his apartment door and took a deep breath. He was confident Mike would say yes, he needed to temper her nerves, but, whatever Mike said, there was one thing Harvey knew for certain: when it came to Mike, and his happiness, there really was nothing else that mattered.