"I don't get it."
"It's not your fault. Your mind understands very little. Maybe when you're all grown up it'll make sense." Harvey commented dryly as he walked down the halls of Pearson Hardman, flipping a file closed with satisfactory as he went. Just another case closed by yours truly.
"But…" Mike said, floundering behind him as he tried to keep up. The Senior partner resisted the urge to smile as he thought about how much Mike must actually look like a puppy tailing him right now, every so often stumbling as he tried to keep up.
After entering his office, Harvey set down his files and took a seat, watching as his pouting associate put down his share of paperwork, and turn to leave.
"Alright, what don't you get?" he said, allowing the smallest hint of amusement to lace his tone as Mike spun back around and practically bounced over to his desk.
"The Carney brothers." He told his boss, shaking his head in complete bewilderment. Harvey on the other hand snorted. The men Mike was referring to were their clients, David and Jacob Carney. Both were annoying, obnoxious, and had been sued for supposedly copying Harry Johnson's computer programs and distributing them as their own. Harvey had sorted all that out though. As per usual.
"What about them? They take your wallet?" he asked and he could see the younger man's face getting increasingly frustrated at the lack of understanding.
"No. It's just… I don't get it!"
"I figured that much out actually. Care to elaborate on a second grade level now?"
"They acted like they hated each other the whole time we talked to them…but, when Johnson attacked David, Jacob went ballistic. Why didn't he just let him shred him?" Mike asked, his expression suggesting that his mind had just been blown.
"They're brothers obviously."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Mike demanded and Harvey took a moment to remind himself that his associate was not really accustomed to the ideal 'normal' family. He had grown with his parents ripped away from him at a young age, and lived in some not so family friendly neighborhoods after that.
"Go ask Donna."
"But she's not here!" Mike whined and Harvey could have sworn that the kid was dangerously close to stamping his foot. It was obvious that not knowing was driving the genius absolutely crazy.
Ugh. Harvey was really going to have to end up explaining this wasn't he? God, he better not sound sappy…
"Alright. Shut up and listen. All siblings usually have this kind of messed up relationship. Their main goal in life is kind of to drive the other one crazy. Like the Carney brothers were." He said, watching Mike nod slowly, probably taking notes in his head. "The thing is, when somebody else tries to mess with one, the other doesn't like it."
"That makes no sense."
"Fine then. Imagine if I took your bike right now and road it home. Would you be okay with that?"
"Um. No. Leave my bike out of this." Mike said defensively and Harvey rolled his eyes.
"But you ride your bike home every day."
"Yeah, because it is my bike. I have that right."
"Exactly. Same thing applies. Jacob got mad because David was his brother, and only he had the right to screw around with him." There was a pause in which understanding dawned in his friend's eyes.
"Oh" he said and quickly added "I knew that."
"Yeah, yeah. Get out of my face and back to work." Harvey grumbled and Mike grinned, walking out of the room looking as though he had just learned Quantum theory rather than why siblings fight.
How did he end up with a clueless genius anyways?
Mike was feeling pretty proud of himself at the moment. The Carney brothers' odd behavior had been bothering him for a while now, but he knew better than to ask such questions while in the middle of a case. He could already tell Harvey was going to give him Hell for asking it later, but the associate didn't mind too much, now that he had the answer.
Sitting down in his cubicle, Mike grinned and waved at Rachel who was walking by and paused when she passed him.
"You look happy. Did you make a new friend Mikey?" she teased
"I learned something new today." He told her, playing along. Laughing, she set down her files and shifted them around.
"You close the Carney case today?"
"Yep. It was awesome, the other guys didn't even have a chance to get a word in. I think if the trial had gone on any longer, the prosecutor would have started crying… I guess Harvey does have that effect on people." He commented and Rachel snorted.
"Nice." She rolled her eyes before making a face "Oh great. Look who it is."
"Hmm…It appears to be dumb and dumber." Mike groaned as Kyle and Greg walked in, handing out donuts to the other associates "You think they're poisoned?" he whispered.
"Just yours." Rachel told him as the two approached them.
"Well look who it is. Golden boy is back." Kyle commented, leaning on the wall of the cubicle "You planning on doing anything useful now?"
"Yeah." Mike shrugged "About the usual amount- which is twice as much as you." Kyle's face instantly flickered from smug to annoyed within a second.
"Go to Hell Ross. You couldn't beat me in that mock trial, could you?" Mike bit back a number of retorts that tried to fight their way out of his mouth mostly for Rachel's sake. What was it people always said? Count to ten? One…Two….
"What? Have nothing to say?"
Three…Four…Five….
"Come on Mike, just admit it you-" Aw, Fuck this whole counting thing.
"Ugh, just shut the Hell up Kyle." He groaned and the idiot in question glowered for a moment.
"Language Mikey boy. You should learn to say things politely." He taunted and at this point, Mike had about had enough.
"Oh my apologies. Now please excuse me for asking in the most impolite ways, but I would really love to know what the fuck your problem is." He snapped out, and a couple people who had gathered around to watch the fun began to make appreciative noises.
"Wow, are you going to be a smartass now Ross?"
"What? Oh no, I'm actually not a smartass. I know it must seem that way, but that is only because I'm talking to a complete dumbass right now." He retorted and Kyle hissed, letting out a low growl as a couple more people began to laugh quietly or move away before someone threw a punch.
"You better watch it Ross." Greg said dangerously from behind his friend and moved a little closer. Mike rolled his eyes, already knowing he had made a mistake by losing his temper. He should have just let them have their fun and leave.
"Can I watch you leave instead?" he muttered, trying to pull out his files and get back to work. Unfortunately though, most of the associates had gathered around to watch the banter, and now Kyle was looking as though he wasn't about to take his beating like a man. Snatching the file from Mike's hand, he let Greg come up from behind him and jerk his arm upward.
"You have any other smart remarks before I throw this in the shredder?" Kyle asked, waving the file Mike had been working on tauntingly. Scowling, Mike went to reach for it, only to find Greg holding him back as Kyle chortled happily.
"Come on Kyle." Rachel spoke up from his side "Give it back." Kyle smirked, but ignored her, continuing to wave the file dangerously close to the shredder and all Mike could think about was how the Hell he was supposed to explain any of this to Harvey.
"That's a case." Mike warned "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He tried, but Kyle just smiled, before there was the loud sound of paper being ripped and Mike almost cringed at all his work going down the drain.
"Oops." Greg said, releasing him "Looks like you have a lot of work to do, don't you?" he asked, and Rachel let her mouth fall open in horror at the scene.
"You did not just do that!" she gasped "That could have been something important and you-" before she could even finished, almost everyone scattered, dispersing throughout the office. Mike paused, trying to figure out why, only to have it answered by Louis approaching his desk seconds later.
"Ross. I need these done in three hours, got it?" he asked pompously and Mike thought back to Harvey's now lost files.
"But I-"
"I'm sorry, did I ask for a response?" the older man asked with a raised eyebrow and he tapped the manila folders with his finger. "Three hours. You take a second longer, we're going to have problems." He told him and left Rachel and him standing there.
"I'll go tell Harvey." Rachel snarled, her face still in a mask of outrage.
"What? Rachel no!" Mike cried, jumping up to block her. The paralegal gave him a perplexed look, her eyes questioning his sanity.
"Um…Mike. That move right there could as good as fire them. Besides, Harvey needs those files right?" she asked and Mike bit his tongue. The last thing he wanted was for Harvey to find out about this at all. Perhaps if he finished Louis' stuff real fast, he might be able to squeeze in his lost work as well. He had about another three hours to report to Harvey. Would that be enough time? Looking at his new stack of work, he doubted it, but refused to admit defeat.
"I'll take care of it." He smiled at Rachel, who fixed him with a suspicious glance before nodding slowly.
"Alright." She agreed and then looked at her watch, no doubt knowing she had her own pile of work to get back to. "We'll get them back." She added to Mike with a small smile before hurrying off to her office.
"Yeah. Great." Mike said to the empty space she had been in before turning back to the shredder and sighing. This was going to be a seriously long day.
"Uh…Hi." Mike winced as he bit his lip and entered Harvey's office. The older man spared him a glance, gesturing for him to hurry up and get in the office.
Ugh. This was going to be a long conversation he could already tell. Mike really didn't want to explain the whole story to his boss. The explanation already sounded stupid in his head. Oh, because I was being such a wuss, Kyle and Greg just shredded the files you wanted. Sorry I was so incompetent I couldn't stop them.
Perfect. He sounded just like a first class lawyer there. Really nice.
"Are you just going to stand there?" Harvey finally asked him impatiently, holding out his hand for assumedly the file he was supposed to give him.
"Umm…" Mike started, shifting his feet awkwardly. It was amazing how childish he felt right now. Like he was getting sent to the principal's office over the food fight he was blamed for starting in fourth grade.
"Um what?" Harvey suddenly asked sharply and Mike sighed, resigned to the fact he was screwed.
"About those files…I don't have them."
"Well how much longer do you need to finish them?"
"No, I mean…I don't have them." Mike explained, trying to force himself to meet his mentor's sharp eyes.
"Well, where are they?" he asked and Mike's mind instantly went to his own personal wheel of excuses, spinning it to see what it landed on.
"I lost them." He blurted out and silently congratulated himself. That seemed believable, right?
"You…lost them? Don't you have eidetic memory?" Huh. Well…It was still sort of believable right?
"I'm sorry." Mike told him, trying to keep his face totally expressionless. When nothing happened, he looked up again to see Harvey glaring at him.
"Get out."
"What do you want me to do?" Mike tried and was almost instantly cut off by Harvey's sharp voice.
"I don't know. Hopefully something that you can't screw up. Maybe look for those files. If you can't find them, I would suggest you somehow get another copy. Now out." He said through gritted teeth, and Mike sighed, running a hand through his hair as he exited the office, ignoring Donna's pursed lips as she passed.
Great. He was going to spend all night trying to get another damn copy of those files. What a way to start off his Friday night.
"Sit down and eat a cookie." Donna growled. Her voice was oddly vicious for someone who was offering cookies, but Harvey didn't question it, instead opting to just take a bite and sit down.
"Do you need something?" he asked her and watched as the redhead gave him a filthy look and threw something on his desk that appeared to be shredded paper.
"Why thank you…" he told her, trying to figure out where this was going.
"I am going to be honest with you Harvey Specter. I don't like a lot of people in the building, but Mike Ross is one of them, so you better as hell fix this. Right in front of you? Is the file you wanted from him." What the heck? Opening his mouth to ask her a billion things, Donna cut him off by holding up one manicured finger threateningly.
"He didn't lose them- your intercom was on by the way- they were taken from him by those two doofuses. Kreg and Gyle? Something like that. Either way, they threw his work in the shredder. Now…Fix this."
"And Mike didn't tell me this because…?"
"Harvey, I know that I know everything, but honestly. You need to figure out some things yourself. Now, I told Mike you wanted to see him, so he should be coming in in five…four…three…two…" as If summoned by magic, Mike popped his head warily through the door.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked and Donna turned to him and stuffed a cookie in his mouth.
"Eat. You look a stray...If you need some milk with that, just let me know!" she added chirpily and exited the room, drawing a finger over her throat in warning to Harvey.
Still trying to get over his shock of Donna's words, he simply narrowed his eyes at Mike, who looked distinctly uncomfortable with the look he was getting. Slowly Harvey grabbed a fistful of the shredded paper and lifted them for Mike to see.
"Explain." He said simply at Mike's rapidly white changing face.
"Uh… Well… Okay, so it isn't what it looks like."
"It isn't? Because it looks to me like this was the file I wanted."
"I guess I accidently shredded it…" came the resigned voice and if possible, Harvey's anger intensified.
"You shredded it?"
There was a long pause in which it looked as though Mike was debating whether or not to lie. Harvey raised an intimidating eyebrow, daring the younger man to try something.
"Alright, so maybe some other guys might have-"
"Names? Where do they live? How old are they?"
"Harvey…"
"Do they work for Louis? Did Louis tell them to do this?"
"Harvey…"
"Do you think their families would notice if they went missing?"
"Harvey!" Mike rose his voice to stop the flurry of questioning. "Look, I got another copy of the files right here, okay? Turns out they were still on record."
"Good for you. Now, answer my questions."
"What? Why? I got what you wanted! Why do you want to mess them up still?" There was a pause in which Harvey felt his glare turn up about a hundred degrees, but didn't answer the question.
"Names. Now."
"But-"
"Mike, so help me if I have to force them out of you I swear to almighty God that I will-"
"Jesus, okay, okay! Greg and Kyle. Why do you-" Mike tried, but was cut off by Harvey exiting the room and storming over to where the associates worked.
Oh shit.
Feeling his face go white and the thought of what Harvey might do to those men for hurting his precious files, he didn't even notice Donna sidled up next to him.
"This ought to be fun." She grinned and Mike gave her a sideways look. "What?" she asked "It's been a while since I've seen Harvey beat someone up. Why do you think I told him about the files?"
"You did? Donna! How could you-"
"Shh!" she cut him off and gestured to Harvey leaning over one of the cubicles to where Kyle and Greg were conversing. The whole office had gone quiet so even though Harvey's voice was low, it still echoed throughout the whole floor.
"I'm only going to say this once, so I would shut your mouth and listen if I were you. If you ever pull any kind of stunt like that with Mike again, I will not only make sure your asses are fired, but I will make it so you never get any kind of job as a lawyer ever again. In fact, if you decide to even talk with my associate again, I'll take you to my favorite boxing ring just to spend some one on one time with you. Are. We. Clear?"
"Oh damn." Mike muttered as the two lawyers both stuttered nodded at Harvey who gave them one last withering look before turning and walking back over, now rounding on Mike.
"And you." He snapped, causing Mike to take a step back. "If you ever decide to even think about keeping something like that from me again, I will kick your ass. Clear?"
"Yep. Definitely clear. Crystal." Mike told him, his eyes wide as he followed both his boss and a cackling Donna back into his office.
"Good." Harvey told him and glanced at the files before tossing them in the shredder. "Get me another copy within the hour."
"What?" Mike sputtered, completely aghast. "But…You…Greg and Kyle… Why did you just do that!?" he asked in confusion and Harvey rolled his eyes.
"Simple. I'm the only person who's allowed to screw with you. Now get your ass back to work."
Feeling as though a point had been made, Mike widened his eyes at the implication before letting a small smile hint at his lips.
"Fine. But you're going to get it in two hours." He told him before leaving. In truth, it would only take him thirty minutes to get another copy of the files, but the thought of waiting two hours would irritate Harvey to no end, which was the purpose.
Because that was what little brothers were for.