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“Today clearly wasnʼt his best day” Mike thought racing on his bike to get to work before Harvey could pass him to Louis for the week as punishment. First, he woke up late so the idea of breakfast and shower left quickly, then he couldnʼt find the papers for the high profile case he and Harvey worked on and last his bike was a wreck, and everytime he tried to paddle faster the bike chain made really weird noises, he should really fix it.“Youʼre late” said Donna without looking at him typing on her computer. “Again.”“Yeah.. I know” Mike said out of breath “Did he notice?”“I donʼt know, pup, did he?” She said raising one of her eyebrows at him.“Right... Iʼm screwed.”“That you are. Now shoo, donʼt make him wait any longer” and that is the code for “Youʼre going to experience Harvey Specter wrath” great.just great.“Look who decided to finally join us” said Harvey with a grimace on his face.“Harvey, Iʼm sorry, but I...” he raised a finger in the air making Mike come to a stop“I donʼt want to hear a half-assed apology from you, in fact I donʼt want to hear anything from you today” at his sharp words Mike let his head down, the dissapoint in Harveyʼs eyes was enough to make him feel bad. The relathionship between the two evolved a lot since Harvey started to treat him as family, confusing Mike at first because beside his grammy and sometimes Trevor he didnʼt have anyome to be concerned about him, and thatʼs when Harvey Specter who didnʼt care about anyone but himself stepped in and made Mike feel like thereʼs someone whoʼll help him along the way, even if he made mistakes. Maybe some people donʼt understand why heʼs so loyal to him, itʼs because he didnʼt just gave him a job when no one would ever consider to, belived in him from the start, but Harvey gave him a family, someone to look up to.“Hey, kid, are you even listening?” Mike was interupted from his hero worship moment with Harveyʼs sharp words“Yes, Harvey, and Iʼm really sorry so I wonʼt make a sound today” that made the partner to gape for a second at him, usually Mike would argue with him about how unfair itʼs the punishment, but not today.“Great, weʼre on the same page then. Have you brought the files for the trial?” Mike handed them to him waiting to see if he needed anything else. “Take this, it will keep you busy for today.” He was handed a stack of files to brief, he nodded his head trying to avoid eye contact with his boss and left the office with a forced smile to Donna.“Wow, Harvey, donʼt you think that was a little harsh for the puppy?” Said Donna trough the com.“Were you listening?” was Harveyʼs annoyed answer.“You bet I did, even if you try to do this “ I donʼt care about the kid, but Iʼm a helicopter dad everytime something bad happens to him” dosenʼt mean you can be that hard on him everytime he makes a mistake.”“Iʼm not a helicopter dad” he eyed her trough the glass door.“Try to listen to him next time before you go full prosecutor Harvey Specter on him and nearly make him cry” she said before turning the com off.“And I was the helicopter parent” he muttered looking at the good work the kid had done on the files, yeah, he was still angry, but he was impressed how in less then 24 hours Mike found a loophole on this particular case.“Huh, maybe I was too hard on him after all” thought the partner getting ready for the trial and deciding that heʼll take Mike with him this afternoon to a client meeting.Half the day has passed already and Mike wasnʼt feeling any better than this morning after Harvey yelled at him and said he didnʼt need him today. He finished the files about an hour ago, but before he could go to lunch, Louis dropped more stacks of files on his desk saying he nedeed them done by yesterday. It was his second day without eating, going on caffeine and energy drinks, simply making poor life choices.“Earth to Mike, are you okay kid?” Donna was trying to get his attention, he blushed because he was caught day dreaming by her and heʼll never live it down.“Yes, Iʼm totally fine, just peachy! He said a little to fast and that caught her attention.“Mike when was the last time you slept?” “Iʼm fine, Donna you donʼt have to worry about me” he said not looking at her because sheʼs Donna and sheʼll figure it out in less than a minute.“Take a break, Mike. Now. Iʼve come bearing gifts” she said putting a box of thai on his desks making his stomach grumble loudly and his cheeks flush.“You brought me food?” He looked at her with his baby blue eyes making her heart ache just a little bit because he sounded like a hopefull kid.“Well, I couldnʼt let the puppy starve to death because heʼs enable to take care of himself, could I?”“Thank you so much!” He said taking the container and dig in fast.“ Hey, slow down a little bit youʼre going to give yourself a stomach ache” She said pulling a chair and standing at his desk, her being here wasnʼt common so a few associates were staring at them pretending to do their work.“Since when do you care?” Said Mike laughing, but slowing down a little bit. He was right, since when did she cared about the rookie associate? Probably the same time Harvey started to act like some kind of figure in his life, she never bothered before to grab lunch for him or to ask whatʼs on his mind, but now she couldnʼt imagine not doing this things for him. She realized she took maybe a little to long to answer noticing that Mike stopped eating looking with those puppy eyes at her.“Well since I discovered youʼll probably starve yourself before you take a break from work” she said gently touching his cheek with her hand, he automatically leaned in, both of them forgetting they were in the midle of the bullpen, she caressed his cheek and stood up.“Now finish the food and drink some water, lay off the caffeine”. She said and for a second she freezed... she sounded exactly like her mother and she didnʼt know how to feel about it, but when Mike grinned at her a warm feeling settled in her heart.“Sure thing, boss”.After half and a hour when his belly was full of the incredible thai food Donna so kindly offered him and endless teasing about how his “mommy” came to give him his lunchbox from Kyle and Gregory, he heard his phone ring. He didnʼt expect Harvey to call him so he answered quickly.“Yes?” “Come downstairs in 10 minutes, Iʼm on my way to a client meeting and youʼre coming with me”. Harveyʼs tone was gentle wich was odd.“I thought that you didnʼt want me with...”“If you donʼt want to come I can always take someone else” He wouldnʼt because Mike was his associate and he didn't care enough to remember anybody's name, but it was fun to mess with the kid.“N-no! Iʼll be there!” said the kid in a rush.“Seven minutes. Get your ass down here by then or Iʼm leaving without you” Mike left in a hurry making it downstairs in 5 minutes, Harveyʼs limo was already waiting for him in the front. He really was curious why the sudden change of heart from his mentor and hoped for something good.
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Mike entered the limo without saying a word looking carefully at his mentor and trying to figure out his mood.“Hey hotshot, I’m not gonna bite your head off, you can talk without me going batshit crazy on you.” said Harvey looking up from his phone after 5 minutes of pure silence.“Did we win the trial?”“What kind of question is that? Of course we did” scoffed Harvey. “ Your loophole was the one that saved the case, good job kid, their client was so mad that he was escorted out.”“Oh man, I would have payed to see that!” Mike said throwing his head back missing Harvey’s smile.“Are you sure you’re 23 and not just 3? It would explain so much."“Wow, Harvey, I’m so amused right now. Best joke ever.”“Brat.” said Harvey rolling his eyes.“So where are we meeting this secret client?”“He requested us to meet at his lab, he’s some kind of scientist who’s study focuses around Genes in Behaviour&Health and DNA.”“Uhh.. he’s not our usual type of client?”“No, he’s not, but Jessica made me have a meeting with him.”“No one can make you do anything you don’t want to, Harvey. Not even Jessica, unless you gain something from it.” said Mike amused, but it hit Harvey like a ton of bricks of how well the kid knows him.“Well, it’s not bad to have the managing partner to owe you one, is it?” for a few minutes it got silent again, but Mike was restless.“Where are we meeting him?”“Upstate” said Harvey looking up from a file.“Upstate New York?!” gaped Mike.“That’s what I’ve said.”“But it’s a 2 hour drive!”“Yeah, that’s one of the main reason I didn’t want to go so I’ve brought you along to suffer with me.”“You’re cruel. Mike huffed. “Why does it need to be so far away from the city?”“They’ve probably got a base up there or something.”“They don’t need a base. They beem down from their spaceship” He wouldn’t admit it, but Harvey smiled at Mike’s reference.“Well maybe they haven’t seen Star Trek, Ozzy.”They’ve got a base. Now Mike understands why Ms. Pearson wanted Harvey to meet this man, anyone who owns something like that is an asset to the firm.At the entrace a tall, bulky man was waiting for them, he was wearing a lab coat over a suit and looked a little bored until he saw them walk in.“David Adams, this is Mike Ross, my associate” said Harvey while shaking his hand, Mr. Adams totally ignored Harvey and when his eyes met his, Mike shivered. As Mike shook hands with Mr. Adams the men’s hand lingered a little to much making Harvey tense and lock his jaw, seeing another male figure touching his ki-mentee was disturbing, he tried really hard to not push the man away from Mike and that, really, should have been the first clue that this meeting was going to hell.There was something about this guy that made Mike take a step back and get a little close to his mentor. As he was explaining about the genes and celular modification he was experimanting, Mike could feel his eyes on him making his skin crawl. Harvey seemed bored, but nodded along with what the client was saying, smiling when he thought it was necessary so he didn’t notice the way Mr. Adams was looking at Mike. -or so he thought-“Mike aren’t you a little bit younger to be an associate at a law firm?” Mike frowned and looked at his boss who was tensing up.“Um, I’ve graduated early, now can we focus on work?”“Your parents must me proud of you” said Mr. Adams totally ignoring his response and making Mike anxious, the phrase struck a nerve in him, he didn’t have anyone to be proud of him anymore.“I’m actually an orphan, how is this relevant to why we’re here today?”“Right, I’m sorry, but you look exactly like my little son, it’s amazing” Mike relaxed a little bit pretending to be curious “Cool, how old is he?”“He would be 18 in a couple of days, he died 2 years ago” said the men smiling towards him.“Oh... I’m sorry” this was beyond awkward so Mike looked at Harvey who was incredibly uncomfortable and begged him with his eyes to do something.“Yes, we’re sorry to hear that Mr. Adams, but can we move along to the point of this meeting?” said Harvey getting closer to Mike and lightly touching his elbow, who gave him a little smile in return.“Yes, right, come with me.”They entered the main lab where the subjects were held, there were dozens of dogs, some of them were very little and not looking good at all.“You’re experimenting on dogs?” asked Mike shocked.“Yes, Harry had the same reaction when he found out” said Mr.Adams smiling at him, Mike took a lucky guess that Harry was the men’s son.“See that’s what I’ve called you here, one of my former collegue has left after we started experimenting on living creatures and he took with him our research. Years and years of work all gone just because he couldn’t stand some dogs being experimented on!”“And what are you doing to them?” asked Harvey looking disgusted, he hoped that they’ll never represent this men.“We’re working on something secret, but I’m going to trust you.” said Mr. Adams looking at Mike and showing them a syringe with a green substance in it.” We evolved so much that we took the DNA and celular test to another level, see all those puppies? They weren’t puppies last week.”“I don’t think I follow?”“Age regression, Mr. Specter, I’m talking about age regression and not the hypnosis one, we’re modifying their genes. Isn’t it amazing, Mike? To give someone a new chance to live their life? Or to give a father a new chance to take care of a kid? Can you imagine how this will change the world?” Mike was terrified at his words, age regression physically can’t be possible, right?“S-Sorry, but you’re insane! Harvey, I think that’s enough.. can we go now?” Harvey was shocked, but recovered quickly and shot Mr. Adams his “prosecutor look”.
“I think that was enough, you’re not in your right mind if you think we’ll represent you Mr. Adams, or anyone would for the matter. Not now, not ever. I advise you to consult a psychologist and leave this firm the hell alone if you don’t want us to sue and believe me we’re the best so you’re going to lose. I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear anything and get the hell out of here.”“But you can’t leave! Harry don’t leave, I just found you again and I can’t ever lose you!” Said the men taking Mike by the arm and squeezing hard, he felt a little pinch of pain enough to make him stay put.“Take your hands of me! Harvey! Harvey!” as Mike squirmed to get to Harvey he saw his mentor face contorted in pure rage.“Get away from MY KID, right now!” Mike had the time to hear Harvey’s growl before the men had fall to the ground from Harvey’s quick punches.“Mike get behind me.” Before the security could reach us Harvey put a hand on the men’s neck restricting his air “For your own good you’ll forget about Mike and your stupid obssesion that he somehow is your dead son or help me God, I’m going to fucking kill you! Harvey let the men go before the security reached them and put his arm around Mike’s shoulders to guide him out of this godamned place.“It’s not over Harvey Specter!”“Oh, I think it is” said Harvey full of venom.“ Are you okay, kid? Something hurts? I swear I’m going to sue this bastard to the last penny he has and I’m making Jessica second chair.”“I’m okay, Harvey... I think my arm hurts a bit, but it’s fine you don’t have to sue him.”“Kid, the men is batshit crazy, he can hurt a lot of people with those sick experiments of fucking course I’ll sue him, he hurt you, Mike, and it was terrifying.” Said Harvey pulling him in a hug, and something has really changed between them, Harvey’s rare hugs were short with a quick pat on the back, now he tucked the kid’s head under his chin and hold him close making Mike feel safe for the first time they’ve got there. When Harvey started to softly caress Mike’s hair the tension really left the boy’s body and he started to relax.
“It was scary, he thought I was his son.” whispered Mike, and if Harvey held him a little thighter muttering a soft “Yeah, it was” they didn’t talk about it.When they arrived back at the firm it was already late but Donna and Ms. Pearson were waiting for them in Harvey’s office.“Mike!” Donna stood up and run towards the boy embracing him in her loving hug, today clearly it was a bad day for him, but a hug from both Harvey and Donna? He must have scared them a lot.“Hey mo-Donna, I’m fine!” Mike flinched a little when she let him go because first, he nearly called her ‘mom’ and that would be both terrifying and awkward, plus the pain in his arm felt ten time worse now, but he didn’t want to put anyone on edge.“No you’re not fine, Mike! You just flinched! What the hell has that men done to you?!”“Is your arm still giving you problems, kiddo?” Harvey interupted his quiet dicussion with Jessica to check him over.“N-no, it’s good. My head hurts a little bit, I haven’t been sleeping much” said Mike trying to hide his yawn.“And who’s fault is that?” said Donna giving Harvey an icey glare. “You were supossed to take care of him, Mike being traumatised after meeting a client is fucking far away from okay! And don’t get me started about how you acted this morning!”.“I know, ok? I was an asshole this morning, but don’t think for a second that if I could have prevented this...” and Mike kind of zoomed off after that, remebering how his parents always fought about him and comparing them to Donna and Harvey right now, he didn’t want to be the cause of their argument.“I don’t think it’s the time or the place for you two to fight, this kid has gone trough some serious trauma today and you fighthing about who took better care of him isn’t going to help.” said Ms. Pearson while giving him a small smile. Harvey and Donna stopped and looked at the glassy eyed associate who looked too tired to stay on his feet.“I’m sorry, Harv, Ms. Pearson is right we shouldn’t have fought, it doesn’t benefit anyone in here. I’m going to stay here with Mike while you finish your conversation in Jessica’s office.” Harvey nodded towards her and ruffled Mike’s hair on the way out muttering a quick “ See you in a couple of minutes, kid.”Mike was feeling exhausted and the pain in his arm was still there, he’ll have to get home to see the damage that mad scientist left .“I didn’t mean to say that to Harvey, I don’t really know what came over me”“He understands, plus you’re Donna he wouldn’t survive without you so I don’t think he’ll hold a grudge”. That really made the redhead laugh while she caressed his face.“Points for flattering, you learn fast”“Only from the best” Mike really enjoyed how she played with his hair so he relaxed completely next to her inhaling the scent of her sweet perfume and feeling like home. Not the crappy apartment he lives in, his old home where it was always warm and cozy and his mother perfume would linger in the air. He thinks a lot about his old life these days, he’s emotions are all over the place... even this simple gesture from Donna makes him think about his mom and how easy the things were before the accident.“Harvey called me his kid today.” Mike really doesn’t know why he said that, but it was eating him alive and not talking to someone about it would have made it worse. Donna’s hand stopped instantly and she had a smile on her face.“It was about damn time. I really thought he would stall this a little longer.”“You knew?”“That Harvey cares about you so much to put his ass on the line every single day just to have you here and sees you as his kid, takes care of you, reminds you to eat at lest twice a day and brags about you and your accomplishments? Yeah, I pretty much knew.” Donna was amused, she knew the kid didn’t see the obvious signs because Mike is inclined to think that everyone who’s closed to will leave eventually, but ahe thought maybe by now he’ll figure it out. “Look, Mike, Harvey isn’t good with his words if there are feelings involved, so you’ll never hear some sappy words about how much he cares about you, but I thought by now you’ve noticed the things he wouldn’t do for anyone but you.” And she was right, as always, lately Harvey was a constant presence in his life, not only in his Pearson-Hardman life, but in his personal too. He would drop by in the weekends( when he wasn’t working) just to eat take out with him and maybe watch what game was on TV at the moment or when he went to him looking for help with his relathionship and he didn’t shoo him away like he would normally do, the men teached him how to play catch because his father didn’t get to, for God’s sake and he didn’t realize that maybe Harvey cares so much that he treats him as his kid.His kid. Someone’s kid. Sure he had his Grammy and he’s lucky for that, because he wouldn’t be here without her, but he was her grandson. It’s been ages since he could say that he’s someone’s kid and it felt really good, but he couldn’t just call Harvey ‘Dad’ because that would me weird... sometimes his brain is foggy and dosen’t understand why is such a problem, like before when he nearly called Donna ‘Mom’ in front of everyone, but today he thought that maybe he deserves all this love and he’ll enjoy everyone’s affection towards him, like Donna playing softly with his hair and her warm embrace or Harvey’s hugs and constant hair ruffles which he knows they’ve grown into a habit by now, even Ms. Pearson’s smile and softness since he returned. These people are family even though they’re not by blood.“Mike?”“Yes, sorry I was..”“Thinking, yeah, I’d noticed...you’re just like him that it’s amusing.”“ Slightly better looking I’d say” that made her really laugh.“Hey, kid, Jessica just told me what happened, are you okay?” Louis was standing in the door looking a bit uncomfortable but genuinely worried.“H-hi Louis! Mike smiled at him and made the lawyer relax a little bit “Yeah, I’m fine we’re waiting for Harvey to get back.”“Don’t worry about coming in tomorrow, take a day off, you deserve it. If you want I’ll sue the son of a bitch quicker than he could say „science” and be done with him by noon.”“Woah, thank you Louis! But you don’t have to, seriously I’m fine.” Mike knows that Louis has a soft spot for him now and he’ll exploit it in the future.“Take care of you, kid, see you on Monday” and with that Louis left, Donna was on the verge of crying from how hard she was holding her laughter in.“Oh my God, Mike, you made Louis Litt soft! Wait until Harvey hears about it!”“Yeah, maybe I’ll have a change of heart and be his associate instead, I’m sure there would be candy waiting for me.”“Didn’t I teach you to not take candy from strangers kid?”“Harvey, you scared the shit out of me! You can’t do that!” groaned Mike clutching at his chest.“Language!” both Donna and Harvey said at the same time.“Oh, come on you can’t lecture me I’m an adult!”“Look at him, Harvey, he thinks he’s all grown up now, soon he’ll want to leave the nest.”“It can’t be, I could have sworn last sunday we were watching Disney Channel while he was eating cereal.” He said with a smug grin.“Harveeeey! You promised!”“If you act more like a child you’re not exactly making it any easier. I think it’s adorable.”“I agree and I want an invitation next sunday!” said Donna laughing.“Whatever.” said Mike rolling his eyes while he smiled.“Come on, kid, I have an early morning tomorrow so if you want to sleep I sugest we should go.”“Yeah, okay. I just have to take a trip down tot the bullpen to get my keys for my bik...”“Mike you’re staying at my condo tonight, I’m not taking any chances.” remebering Mr. Adams and this afternoon, his smile vanished instantly and a lump forming in his throat at the thought about being in his apartment alone, but he couldn’t ask Harvey to stay with him for the night.“N-no it’s okay, you don’t have to...”“Damn right I don’t have to, I want to and that’s final. I’m not leaving you alone tonight, Donna can come too if she wants.” Mike looked at her with hopefull eyes and she couldn’t say ‘no’ to the kid.“ Sure, we’re having a sleepover!” she said making both of them smile.When they arrived at Harvey’s place, Mike felt much better, he always liked it here, Harvey gave them comfortable clothes and Donna made hot chocolate for all of them while they watched a movie. He was between Harvey and Donna with his head leaning on Donna’s shoulder and his legs in Harvey’s lap, it was domestic and he loved it, Harvey and Donna too, he could tell from their playfull banter and the smiles on their face.“We should do this more often.” whispered Donna when she saw Mike slowly falling asleep.“Yeah, we should...” whispered Harvey looking at Mike with affection, he started the day in an awfull mode, Mike not picking up his phone and getting in late making Harvey anxious and impatient thinking about all the bad things that could have happened to the kid, then losing his patience while he saw that he was okay and didn’t feel like answering his calls, he made the kid feel a lot worse and banished him to the bullpen getting Donna angry at him( which never was a good sign) and final that fucking men who had an obssesion with his kid. It made him furious just thinking how the men touched him and asked him about his family making Mike uncomfortable, but Harvey saw pure red when the men gripped his kid arm and pulled him towards his chest and even after Mike was safe in his arms he didn’t feel his heartbeat go any slower, he couldn’t protect Mike today and it was eating him alive.“Hey, I know what you’re doing and whatever thing is going through your mind I can tell you it’s wrong. I was completly out of line and wrong when I said those things to you earlier, I was scared and felt like somehow I failed him.” said Donna grabbing his hand“You didn’t fail him, Donna.”“Neither did you, and before you go all lawyer on me, it’s true. He needed you today and you were there for him, he looks up to you Harv.”“He really found the worst person to look up to...”“He told me you called him ‘your kid’ today.”“Oh, so he did heard that.” Harvey didn’t wanted his first time referring Mike as ‘his kid’ to be in a fist fight, it didn’t seem right.“Yeah, he did and you should really talk to him. Harvey, until he met you he had no one, sure, the kid has his grandmother but he takes care of her for years, he didn’t had anyone to look up to since his parents death and I know that it’s frightening, but he chose you so you better fucking do something about it.” while her words may seemed harsh she was smiling towards Harvey, one hand caressing Mike’s hair and one hand in Harvey’s.“Us, he chose both of us. You’ve been really good to him.”“Yeah, well I try, he deserves something good after all that happened to him plus he’s just like you, only the smaller and more polite version.” After that Harvey carried Mike to his guest room and tucked the kid as slowly as he could, brushing some hair from his face, on his way out he heard a small voice call out for him.„Harvey?” Mike blinked slowly trying to understand where he is.„Hey, kiddo, it’s me” Harvey aproached him carefully trying not to scare him in the dark. „You should go to sleep, it’s pretty late.” „I just wanted to thank you... for today. You were there and I really don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t, so thank you.” This kid is gonna be the death of him thought Harvey while cradling the kid’s head.‚There’s nothing to be thankfull for, I was just protecting you, like I should, but if it makes you feel better you’re welcome.”„You care about meee.” Mike said with a grin „ And you can’t deny it now.” Harvey scoffed flicking the kid behind his ear, but not contradicting him.„You’re literally a pain in the ass, go to sleep now, it’s an order”„Sir, yes, sir!” Mike saluted with his eyes half closed.„Stupid kid” muttered Harvey with a grin while closing the door.The rest of the week went great after that, on friday Harvey decided to take the day off so he could spend it with Mike and Donna and have a nice quiet weekend whatching movies, Donna and Harvey cooking and some fiery debates about old cases, but Mike’s ” vacation” didn’t last long because since monday morning he has been feeling awfull, it’s like the pain in his arm extended to his whole body and wouldn’t leave him alone, beside that he was feeling itchy and really sensitive about anything, like how Harvey snapped at him or Donna would ignore him for a couple of hours, he knew they were busy and stressed, but that didn’t hepled his mood so he started to snap at everyone, even Harold who just asked him if he was okay. He felt tired all the time and couldn’t focus his attention on anything more than 10 minutes. He sat at his cubicle and tried to ignore Kyle and Gregory for the past 30 minutes when Kyle just struck a nerve.„What did you just say to me?” Mike saw red as he was grasping Kyle shirt.„That you’re a sad little orphan boy who plays house with mommy Donna and daddy Harvey? Or is it a kink of yours to...” Kyle didn’t get to end that sentence because Mike was punching him in the face, pretty hard. Before things could have gone out of control he heard Donna’s sharp voice from the entrace.„Michael, stop that right now!” she said coming towards them and looking scary. „And you two, wait by Jessica’s office and tell her assistant what you just told Mike, no lying or I would go and talk to her personally.” They looked scared of her and made a run towards the elevator. „Donna thank you...” „Oh, don’t thank me yet, you’re coming with me in Harvey’s office.”„C’mon that’s not fair! They started it!” Donna gave Mike a look that silenced him on spot, she must have texted Harvey on their way up because he was already waiting for them, while Mike sat himself as far away from Harvey, Donna took his side looking intimidating.„Ok, I know punching him was a mistake, but he was saying things, disgusting things about both of you and I just... I didn’t think of what would happen after that. You can start screaming at me now.” Mike whispered avoiding Harvey’s face.„I’m not going to scream at you Mike, everyone has a breaking point and they hit yours, while I would never encourage office fist fights I’ll let this slide this time. But I have to send you home for today.” Mike’s stomach dropped, Harvey was mad at him, he was sending him home that’s all that Mike could comprehend right now, seeing the look on Mike’s face Harvey added quickly „No one is mad at you, kid, we just want the best for you.” „But why... I can work, it’s just...”„No, Mike, you can’t! You’ve been distracted all week, snapped at everyone including me and Harvey and got in a fist fight! We thought it’s going to pass quickly, but you clearly need rest. Go home for the night, kiddo.” her gentle tone only fuelled Mike’s mood.„You’re not my mother! You can’t tell me what to do!” he regreted it as soon as he said it, but now he can’t take it back.„Michael!” Harvey was on his feet in a second having a scowl on his face. „Apologize right now!”„It’s okay, Harvey. Yeah, you’re right Mike I’m not your mother, but someone has to tell you when you’re over the line and today it was me, the secretary, so suck it up and go home” she passed by him with glassy eyes, but her head high. He made Donna cry, the only maternal figure in his life, oh god he would never forgive himself for this.„ Harvey I’m sorry! Oh my god! I’m stupid, really stupid!”„ Hey, breathe Mike, I’m not sure what’s wrong with you this days, but you really need to rest. Donna’s going to forgive you at some point so you can calm down.” Harvey was dissapointed in him, he made Donna cry and he thinks he’s slowly losing his mind.„I’m not okay.” said Mike while leaning his head on Harvey’s shoulder.„I know, you will be... kid you’re burning up! Why didn’t you say something?” „I thought it will pass by now...” Mike whispered feeling awfull.„That’s it we’re getting you to a hospital.”„N-no please, please I don’t want to go to a hospital!” „Okay, okay no hospitals, I’ve got it.” Harvey started to play with Mike’s hair with one hand and text someone with the other. „ I’ve texted Ray and he’ll get you home, but you have to promise me to eat, take some pills for your fever and sleep exactly in that order, ok?” „M’kay” said Mike with his eyes closed.„If you’re not feeeling better by tomorrow, I’ll move you and your sickness to my guest room, understood?”„Yes boss!”When Mike got home things have gotten way worse, Ray was about to call Harvey, but Mike convinced him to not bother the senior partner anymore because he was busy, but it wasn’t such a good idea because Mike felt like he was dying. His fever spiked up, and there was a sharp pain in his chest and ribcage that scared him plus he was sweating like he ran a marathon. He tried to eat something to take the pills, but he puked not 3 seconds later, he couldn’t see straight and his head was pounding, he wants to call someone, Donna was his first thought even if she was still hurt and mad by what he said she’ll come to help him, right? Before getting to his phone Mike collapsed on the hardwood of his apartment. He couldn’t feel his legs, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. „Am I dying?” was his last thought before everything went black.