Fanfic: The Man You Deserve (1/?)
Title- The Man You Deserve (1/?)
Fandom- Suits
Ship- OMC/Harvey, Harvey/Mike
Rating- PG-13
Genre- angst, drama, hurt/comfort, first-time, slash
Warnings- domestic abuse
Wordcount- 3000
Disclaimer- I do not own Suits
Chapter Summary- Harvey falls back into an old relationship, one he needs to get out of.
Overall Summary- Harvey is being abused, and Mike will do anything he can to stop it.
A/N- written for a prompt here at suitsmeme : I want to read a story where Harvey is the one in an abusive relationship - it can happen to guys like him too.Can start out emotionally abusive and escalate from there. Who helps him through it? I'd like to see Donna, Mike, and Jessica, but you can include whoever works for your story. Can make it Harvey/Mike in the end, or just friendship.
Beta- myystic
*** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***
Donna didn’t look up as her boss strolled up to her desk. It was late in the morning, well past the time that all of the associates and even most of the partners came into work. “Something keep you up late?” she asked with a little smile as he walked by her. “Or should I say, someone?” As much as she might tease Harvey about it, Donna was glad that he was seeing people, even if it was only for a night. That was progress, great progress, from where he had been only a couple of months ago.
Harvey stopped walking and turned back to her. He smirked and came over, resting his forearms on the low wall around Donna’s space. He opened his mouth to say something witty, but Donna’s attention focused elsewhere. Her gaze zeroed in on the edge of his sleeve, and her body tensed up at what she saw. Before Harvey could ask what she was looking at, Donna seized his hand in a firm but gentle grasp, and pushed back the cuff of his sleeve.
There beneath the fabric she saw the edges of a purpling bruise, in the shape of a hand around his wrist. Her blood ran cold; she knew exactly what the bruise meant. She’d seen them all too many times before, bruises that could be glimpsed at the edges of the clothes, no doubt with others hidden where she couldn’t see. Donna looked up at Harvey with wide, pleading eyes, begging him to tell her it wasn’t true. He glanced away quickly, snatching his hand back and pulling the cuff down over the bruise.
“Harvey,” she breathed, in a tone that conveyed disbelief, horror, and compassion. He turned his head away, refusing to look at her, and pulled the sleeve further down. He was stretching the fabric of his nice suit, but he didn’t seem to care about that. “Harvey.” Donna leaned to the side, trying to catch his eye. “I thought you left him!” She kept her voice quiet; no one more than a few feet away could have heard. No one else could find out. That, she had always known, would only make it worse for Harvey.
“Donna, not now,” Harvey said, but there was a tremor in his usually cool and confident voice. He knew she wouldn’t let this go without a fight. Harvey turned away from her and retreated into his office without saying anything else. Donna stared after him, weighing the chances of getting him to listen to her if she went after him now.
She had not yet made a decision when her thoughts were interrupted by Mike Ross, Harvey’s stray puppy. “Donna?” the kid asked. “Are you okay?”
Donna straightened up, putting on a mask of cheerfulness as easily as she faked tears. “Is that for Harvey?” she asked, nodding to the papers Mike was carrying. He seemed a little reluctant to let the topic go, but that changed quickly when she asked about work.
“Yeah, it’s about the Thompson merger.” Mike proudly held up the large stack of briefs he’d been through that morning. He seemed to be dismissing any signs of distress Donna had displayed, which both comforted and irked her. She didn’t want him prying into what had upset her, but at the same time, she knew he would never be able to see though Harvey’s acting if he couldn’t see through hers. There was no one who could mask their emotions like Harvey. But Mike was the one who was empathetic, who cared about his clients and his coworkers. He should be able to tell that something was wrong, with both her and Harvey.
“He’s here now, right?” Mike asked. “I can give them to him?”
“No,” Donna said quickly. It wouldn’t be good for anyone to go in there right now, least of all someone who didn’t understand what was going on. “No, not right now. He’s got a lot on his mind at the moment, and I can’t have you interrupting his genius thought process. Just leave it with me, and I’ll give it to him when he asks if you’re done with it, alright?”
Mike looked skeptical, and Donna gave him her best “stop wasting my time and get back to work” look. He quickly dropped the papers on the wall around her desk. “Alright, just don’t let him yell at me for having them in late,” Mike said, and hurried off to his cubicle.
Donna shook her head as she watched him go. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Mike to find out about Harvey or not. On one hand, it was a sensitive topic, and it was impossible to tell how someone would react. And every person who found out about Harvey’s “weakness,” as he saw it, was another blow to his already damaged self-esteem. On the other hand, Harvey didn’t have much of a support system. Mike seemed to genuinely care about Harvey, even if Harvey tried to keep him at a distance, and Donna knew Harvey could use all the help he could get.
She shook her head, putting the issue of Mike’s inclusion from her mind for now. If he found out, she would try to get him to help, but she would not be the one to tell him and betray Harvey’s trust. For now, she needed to tell Jessica. Maybe between the two of them they could nip this in the bud before it got any worse than it already had.
Donna waited until she was certain that Mike’s attention was focused on the papers in front of him, and that Harvey was not looking in her direction. Then she quickly stood up from behind her desk and went in search of Harvey’s boss, one of the few people who could handle him when he refused to confront the issue.
Jessica was working when the door of her office opened. She was just about to tell the other person to leave when a strained voice said, “It’s happening again.”
Jessica looked up immediately and saw Donna standing just inside the door of her office, a slightly panicked look on her face, which Jessica had learned after working with Donna for so long meant a great deal. “What is?” Jessica asked, though she knew from Donna’s tone and expression what it must be. She just didn’t want to believe that it might be true.
“You know what,” Donna replied, walking further into the office to avoid being overheard. “Him! James. Harvey’s back with him. I saw the bruise on his wrist, like he’d been grabbed, and he got nervous when I asked him about it.”
Jessica set her papers aside with a sigh, and massaged the bridge of her nose. “For God’s sake, why? I thought he’d gotten rid of the bastard for good!”
“So did I, but apparently not,” Donna replied bitterly. “We need to do something!”
Jessica shook her head. “You know there isn’t much we can do, unless Harvey would make a complaint. You and I both know he wouldn’t. Even if we were to get the police involved, and they went along with a trial against his wishes, do you think Harvey would thank us for it? Unless he makes the decision to do it for himself, pressing charges means nothing.”
“We have to do something!” Donna replied, her voice strained. “I can’t just sit by and watch that man destroy him, not again!”
“We can try to talk to Harvey about it,” Jessica said. Her outward demeanor was calm, but inside she was raging. She had known Harvey for a long time, and seen his relationship with James from the very beginning. As that time, Harvey had been an open and caring person, if still a bit arrogant. She had thought the calm, confident James would be a good fit for him. It had taken quite a while before she recognized the signs for what they were, and she would never fully forgive herself for that. By the time she’d noticed the subtle changes in Harvey’s behavior, he was a completely different person. The self-assured man she’d known was nothing but a shell, and inside he was broken. Even after she and Donna had gotten him free, Harvey had never been the same trusting, caring person he was before. He was cold now, wary of other people, like a stray dog that had been beaten by its owner. She had hoped that he would heal with time, but he never seemed to stay away long enough.
It had taken a great deal of effort to get Harvey to admit that there was a problem, and even more for him to lay blame where it was due. Getting him to leave James had been nearly impossible, and more than once in the past she’d thought he was gone from Harvey’s life for good, only to see the man she cared so much about walk right back into the same relationship. Each time she and Donna dragged him out, he was a little less whole when they’d pieced him together again. She’d been so sure that this was the last time, though. She couldn’t image what had gone wrong. Harvey had never shown any signs that he was thinking of going back.
But then, Harvey had learned to hide his thoughts and emotions well. If he hadn’t, she would have known about the abuse from the moment it started.
“We can talk to him about it,” Jessica repeated, though the words were bitter in her mouth. She wished more than anything that she could make some tangible move to keep this man away from Harvey, but she knew that unless Harvey took the initiative and made the effort for himself, it would be meaningless. Even if she and Donna got James thrown in jail, if nothing changed in Harvey’s attitude he would go right back when James got out. “If neither of us noticed until now, it can’t have been going on for very long. Maybe we can stop this before he gets his claws into Harvey again.”
“They’re already in,” Donna replied bitterly. “He wouldn’t be able to pull him back otherwise.”
“Still,” Jessica sighed. “There must be something we can do, without going behind Harvey’s back to call the police.”
“I just don’t know what else we can do,” Donna said. “It’s been going on for so long, and every time we drag him out, he goes back in by his own choice. Maybe it’s time for some extreme measures.”
“Maybe,” Jessica said thoughtfully, staring down at her desk. “But I’m not sure. I think we should talk to him first. We owe him that, at least.”
“Fine,” Donna muttered. “We’ll talk. But tonight, no later.” Jessica nodded gravely. She knew as well as Donna that every day that passed made it that much harder for Harvey to leave. They didn’t have any time to spare.
It was dark outside, and most of the associates and nearly all of the partners had left the office. Mike was still working furiously, putting on a last burst of speed to finish the final few pages. He paused to bid goodnight to the last associate as she left. Now it was only he and Harvey in the office.
Mike glanced up at Harvey’s office in the corner. He could see beyond the glass the older lawyer sitting at his desk, papers spread out before him. Mike had never known Harvey to stay late, and he hadn’t thought that the Thompson merger was important enough to warrant this kind of action. Mike wondered if he’d missed something, either with the merger, or with Harvey. Harvey’s odd behavior bothered him, made him nervous. He couldn’t imagine what was causing it.
And Harvey wasn’t the only one acting strange. Mike had seen Jessica stop by multiple times throughout the day, seeming like she wanted to talk to Harvey but leaving when she saw he was engrossed in work. That wasn’t like the Pearson Hardman executive Mike knew. Normally if Jessica had something she wanted to say, she would say it, and whomever she was speaking to ought to put everything else aside and listen. Mike didn’t know why she hadn’t just said whatever she wanted to. If it was important enough for her to come down five times looking for a chance to say it, then surely it was important enough to interrupt Harvey’s work, wasn’t it?
Jessica had left late, after quite a few partners and associates. She had stopped by to check on Harvey one last time before leaving, and found him still busy with work. She had left, and Donna had also left shortly thereafter, though she kept glancing back at Harvey like she didn’t want to leave him alone. Mike had never seen either woman act that way towards Harvey, or to anyone, before now. He’d never seen Harvey seem so worried about his work, either. Mike wondered just what was going on, what he was missing in all of this.
Mike’s thoughts were shattered when he saw Harvey stand up from his desk and start towards the door of his office. Mike quickly looked down at the briefs in front of him, speeding through the last few pages even as he heard Harvey approach. He finished his last note just as Harvey came to stand outside his cubicle. “Are you done with those yet?” Harvey asked.
“Yeah, just finished,” Mike replied, shifting the papers spread out over his desk back into an ordered stack. He held it out to Harvey, and the other man lifted a hand to take it. That was when Mike saw.
It was just a glimpse, because Harvey snatched his hand back quickly, and the sleeve had been in the way, and the dim lights made it hard to see anything clearly. Mike knew what he thought he’d seen, but he had no idea if it was real or simply his imagination. He looked up at Harvey and asked in his most casual tone, “Are you going home now?”
“No,” Harvey replied, his voice relaxed. He acted like there was nothing wrong, and Mike wondered if what he’d seen really had been a trick of the light. But he wasn’t sure he believed that. After all, it had been the same wrist Donna had been looking at that morning, when everyone had first started acting strange. “I’m going to stay and read through your notes, so I’ll know where to start tomorrow morning. But you can leave now; I don’t have any more work for you.”
“Okay,” Mike replied, trying not to sound too shocked. It was strange for Harvey to stay late. Staying later than Mike was unheard of! Mike was certain now that something was wrong, but he had no idea what it was, or what he could do about it.
Mike watched as Harvey strolled calmly back to his office like nothing was different at all, like he wasn’t doing something completely out of the norm. He slowly gathered his things and started towards the elevator, glancing back at Harvey’s office one last time before stepping in. Tomorrow, he decided, he was going to ask Donna what was going on, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Harvey was almost shaking as he opened the door of his office and stepped inside. Mike had seen. Mike must have seen- no. He would have said something if he’d seen. Wouldn’t he? Harvey glanced back carefully, and saw the elevator doors close behind his associate. The office was empty now, except for Harvey.
Harvey went to the window along the outer wall of his office and looked out. The view of the city at night was a beautiful one, one Harvey usually reveled in, but now it just seemed distant and lonely. So many people lived in the city, all of them going about their own lives separately from other people. All of them completely apart from him. Harvey sighed and laid a hand on the glass. It was cool against his hand, strangely soothing. But as his cuff slipped down, the bruise became visible, dark and glaring against the rest of his skin. Harvey quickly dropped his hand and tugged the fabric down, making sure the bruise was covered and he wouldn’t see it again.
Mike couldn’t have seen it, Harvey thought. He would have asked if he had, surely. And even if he had seen, he wouldn’t have known where it came from. No, domestic violence certainly wasn’t the first thought that came to mind, when a person saw a bruise on a man’s body. Mike would not have thought of it, because that type of thing didn’t happen to men. And it certainly didn’t happen to men like Harvey.
He sighed softly, though the noise seemed incredibly loud in the silence of the office. Harvey leaned forward and rested his forehead against the glass, looking out over the city, the thousands of tiny pinpricks of light, like a million fallen stars, each representing another person who was part of the huge city and yet inexplicably alone. He couldn’t believe he was doing this to himself again. He knew the relationship was twisted, distorted, from what an ideal partnership should be. He knew that the promises of never being violent again were empty. And he knew that in spite of all of that, he had walked back into it willingly. Perhaps he deserved some of the things that were said to him, if he couldn’t even stay away. No one else will ever love you after they find out how broken you are. This is the best you’ll ever have… Maybe it was true.
The sound of his cell phone ringing made Harvey jump. He looked back where it was lying on his desk, buzzing and lighting up. He could just not answer it… but he knew if he did that, then the calls would keep coming all night.
Harvey took a single step towards the phone, then another. Each seemed incredibly difficult to take. Finally he reached out and picked it up, his fingers shaking just a little. He looked at the screen and saw the letters flashing across it. James was calling. Of course it was James. Who else would it be?
Harvey’s hands wanted to tremble, but he fought to keep them still. Taking a deep breath, Harvey pressed the button and put the phone to his ear.
*** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***
Fandom- Suits
Ship- OMC/Harvey, Harvey/Mike
Rating- PG-13
Genre- angst, drama, hurt/comfort, first-time, slash
Warnings- domestic abuse
Wordcount- 3000
Disclaimer- I do not own Suits
Chapter Summary- Harvey falls back into an old relationship, one he needs to get out of.
Overall Summary- Harvey is being abused, and Mike will do anything he can to stop it.
A/N- written for a prompt here at suitsmeme : I want to read a story where Harvey is the one in an abusive relationship - it can happen to guys like him too.Can start out emotionally abusive and escalate from there. Who helps him through it? I'd like to see Donna, Mike, and Jessica, but you can include whoever works for your story. Can make it Harvey/Mike in the end, or just friendship.
Beta- myystic
*** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***
Donna didn’t look up as her boss strolled up to her desk. It was late in the morning, well past the time that all of the associates and even most of the partners came into work. “Something keep you up late?” she asked with a little smile as he walked by her. “Or should I say, someone?” As much as she might tease Harvey about it, Donna was glad that he was seeing people, even if it was only for a night. That was progress, great progress, from where he had been only a couple of months ago.
Harvey stopped walking and turned back to her. He smirked and came over, resting his forearms on the low wall around Donna’s space. He opened his mouth to say something witty, but Donna’s attention focused elsewhere. Her gaze zeroed in on the edge of his sleeve, and her body tensed up at what she saw. Before Harvey could ask what she was looking at, Donna seized his hand in a firm but gentle grasp, and pushed back the cuff of his sleeve.
There beneath the fabric she saw the edges of a purpling bruise, in the shape of a hand around his wrist. Her blood ran cold; she knew exactly what the bruise meant. She’d seen them all too many times before, bruises that could be glimpsed at the edges of the clothes, no doubt with others hidden where she couldn’t see. Donna looked up at Harvey with wide, pleading eyes, begging him to tell her it wasn’t true. He glanced away quickly, snatching his hand back and pulling the cuff down over the bruise.
“Harvey,” she breathed, in a tone that conveyed disbelief, horror, and compassion. He turned his head away, refusing to look at her, and pulled the sleeve further down. He was stretching the fabric of his nice suit, but he didn’t seem to care about that. “Harvey.” Donna leaned to the side, trying to catch his eye. “I thought you left him!” She kept her voice quiet; no one more than a few feet away could have heard. No one else could find out. That, she had always known, would only make it worse for Harvey.
“Donna, not now,” Harvey said, but there was a tremor in his usually cool and confident voice. He knew she wouldn’t let this go without a fight. Harvey turned away from her and retreated into his office without saying anything else. Donna stared after him, weighing the chances of getting him to listen to her if she went after him now.
She had not yet made a decision when her thoughts were interrupted by Mike Ross, Harvey’s stray puppy. “Donna?” the kid asked. “Are you okay?”
Donna straightened up, putting on a mask of cheerfulness as easily as she faked tears. “Is that for Harvey?” she asked, nodding to the papers Mike was carrying. He seemed a little reluctant to let the topic go, but that changed quickly when she asked about work.
“Yeah, it’s about the Thompson merger.” Mike proudly held up the large stack of briefs he’d been through that morning. He seemed to be dismissing any signs of distress Donna had displayed, which both comforted and irked her. She didn’t want him prying into what had upset her, but at the same time, she knew he would never be able to see though Harvey’s acting if he couldn’t see through hers. There was no one who could mask their emotions like Harvey. But Mike was the one who was empathetic, who cared about his clients and his coworkers. He should be able to tell that something was wrong, with both her and Harvey.
“He’s here now, right?” Mike asked. “I can give them to him?”
“No,” Donna said quickly. It wouldn’t be good for anyone to go in there right now, least of all someone who didn’t understand what was going on. “No, not right now. He’s got a lot on his mind at the moment, and I can’t have you interrupting his genius thought process. Just leave it with me, and I’ll give it to him when he asks if you’re done with it, alright?”
Mike looked skeptical, and Donna gave him her best “stop wasting my time and get back to work” look. He quickly dropped the papers on the wall around her desk. “Alright, just don’t let him yell at me for having them in late,” Mike said, and hurried off to his cubicle.
Donna shook her head as she watched him go. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Mike to find out about Harvey or not. On one hand, it was a sensitive topic, and it was impossible to tell how someone would react. And every person who found out about Harvey’s “weakness,” as he saw it, was another blow to his already damaged self-esteem. On the other hand, Harvey didn’t have much of a support system. Mike seemed to genuinely care about Harvey, even if Harvey tried to keep him at a distance, and Donna knew Harvey could use all the help he could get.
She shook her head, putting the issue of Mike’s inclusion from her mind for now. If he found out, she would try to get him to help, but she would not be the one to tell him and betray Harvey’s trust. For now, she needed to tell Jessica. Maybe between the two of them they could nip this in the bud before it got any worse than it already had.
Donna waited until she was certain that Mike’s attention was focused on the papers in front of him, and that Harvey was not looking in her direction. Then she quickly stood up from behind her desk and went in search of Harvey’s boss, one of the few people who could handle him when he refused to confront the issue.
Jessica was working when the door of her office opened. She was just about to tell the other person to leave when a strained voice said, “It’s happening again.”
Jessica looked up immediately and saw Donna standing just inside the door of her office, a slightly panicked look on her face, which Jessica had learned after working with Donna for so long meant a great deal. “What is?” Jessica asked, though she knew from Donna’s tone and expression what it must be. She just didn’t want to believe that it might be true.
“You know what,” Donna replied, walking further into the office to avoid being overheard. “Him! James. Harvey’s back with him. I saw the bruise on his wrist, like he’d been grabbed, and he got nervous when I asked him about it.”
Jessica set her papers aside with a sigh, and massaged the bridge of her nose. “For God’s sake, why? I thought he’d gotten rid of the bastard for good!”
“So did I, but apparently not,” Donna replied bitterly. “We need to do something!”
Jessica shook her head. “You know there isn’t much we can do, unless Harvey would make a complaint. You and I both know he wouldn’t. Even if we were to get the police involved, and they went along with a trial against his wishes, do you think Harvey would thank us for it? Unless he makes the decision to do it for himself, pressing charges means nothing.”
“We have to do something!” Donna replied, her voice strained. “I can’t just sit by and watch that man destroy him, not again!”
“We can try to talk to Harvey about it,” Jessica said. Her outward demeanor was calm, but inside she was raging. She had known Harvey for a long time, and seen his relationship with James from the very beginning. As that time, Harvey had been an open and caring person, if still a bit arrogant. She had thought the calm, confident James would be a good fit for him. It had taken quite a while before she recognized the signs for what they were, and she would never fully forgive herself for that. By the time she’d noticed the subtle changes in Harvey’s behavior, he was a completely different person. The self-assured man she’d known was nothing but a shell, and inside he was broken. Even after she and Donna had gotten him free, Harvey had never been the same trusting, caring person he was before. He was cold now, wary of other people, like a stray dog that had been beaten by its owner. She had hoped that he would heal with time, but he never seemed to stay away long enough.
It had taken a great deal of effort to get Harvey to admit that there was a problem, and even more for him to lay blame where it was due. Getting him to leave James had been nearly impossible, and more than once in the past she’d thought he was gone from Harvey’s life for good, only to see the man she cared so much about walk right back into the same relationship. Each time she and Donna dragged him out, he was a little less whole when they’d pieced him together again. She’d been so sure that this was the last time, though. She couldn’t image what had gone wrong. Harvey had never shown any signs that he was thinking of going back.
But then, Harvey had learned to hide his thoughts and emotions well. If he hadn’t, she would have known about the abuse from the moment it started.
“We can talk to him about it,” Jessica repeated, though the words were bitter in her mouth. She wished more than anything that she could make some tangible move to keep this man away from Harvey, but she knew that unless Harvey took the initiative and made the effort for himself, it would be meaningless. Even if she and Donna got James thrown in jail, if nothing changed in Harvey’s attitude he would go right back when James got out. “If neither of us noticed until now, it can’t have been going on for very long. Maybe we can stop this before he gets his claws into Harvey again.”
“They’re already in,” Donna replied bitterly. “He wouldn’t be able to pull him back otherwise.”
“Still,” Jessica sighed. “There must be something we can do, without going behind Harvey’s back to call the police.”
“I just don’t know what else we can do,” Donna said. “It’s been going on for so long, and every time we drag him out, he goes back in by his own choice. Maybe it’s time for some extreme measures.”
“Maybe,” Jessica said thoughtfully, staring down at her desk. “But I’m not sure. I think we should talk to him first. We owe him that, at least.”
“Fine,” Donna muttered. “We’ll talk. But tonight, no later.” Jessica nodded gravely. She knew as well as Donna that every day that passed made it that much harder for Harvey to leave. They didn’t have any time to spare.
It was dark outside, and most of the associates and nearly all of the partners had left the office. Mike was still working furiously, putting on a last burst of speed to finish the final few pages. He paused to bid goodnight to the last associate as she left. Now it was only he and Harvey in the office.
Mike glanced up at Harvey’s office in the corner. He could see beyond the glass the older lawyer sitting at his desk, papers spread out before him. Mike had never known Harvey to stay late, and he hadn’t thought that the Thompson merger was important enough to warrant this kind of action. Mike wondered if he’d missed something, either with the merger, or with Harvey. Harvey’s odd behavior bothered him, made him nervous. He couldn’t imagine what was causing it.
And Harvey wasn’t the only one acting strange. Mike had seen Jessica stop by multiple times throughout the day, seeming like she wanted to talk to Harvey but leaving when she saw he was engrossed in work. That wasn’t like the Pearson Hardman executive Mike knew. Normally if Jessica had something she wanted to say, she would say it, and whomever she was speaking to ought to put everything else aside and listen. Mike didn’t know why she hadn’t just said whatever she wanted to. If it was important enough for her to come down five times looking for a chance to say it, then surely it was important enough to interrupt Harvey’s work, wasn’t it?
Jessica had left late, after quite a few partners and associates. She had stopped by to check on Harvey one last time before leaving, and found him still busy with work. She had left, and Donna had also left shortly thereafter, though she kept glancing back at Harvey like she didn’t want to leave him alone. Mike had never seen either woman act that way towards Harvey, or to anyone, before now. He’d never seen Harvey seem so worried about his work, either. Mike wondered just what was going on, what he was missing in all of this.
Mike’s thoughts were shattered when he saw Harvey stand up from his desk and start towards the door of his office. Mike quickly looked down at the briefs in front of him, speeding through the last few pages even as he heard Harvey approach. He finished his last note just as Harvey came to stand outside his cubicle. “Are you done with those yet?” Harvey asked.
“Yeah, just finished,” Mike replied, shifting the papers spread out over his desk back into an ordered stack. He held it out to Harvey, and the other man lifted a hand to take it. That was when Mike saw.
It was just a glimpse, because Harvey snatched his hand back quickly, and the sleeve had been in the way, and the dim lights made it hard to see anything clearly. Mike knew what he thought he’d seen, but he had no idea if it was real or simply his imagination. He looked up at Harvey and asked in his most casual tone, “Are you going home now?”
“No,” Harvey replied, his voice relaxed. He acted like there was nothing wrong, and Mike wondered if what he’d seen really had been a trick of the light. But he wasn’t sure he believed that. After all, it had been the same wrist Donna had been looking at that morning, when everyone had first started acting strange. “I’m going to stay and read through your notes, so I’ll know where to start tomorrow morning. But you can leave now; I don’t have any more work for you.”
“Okay,” Mike replied, trying not to sound too shocked. It was strange for Harvey to stay late. Staying later than Mike was unheard of! Mike was certain now that something was wrong, but he had no idea what it was, or what he could do about it.
Mike watched as Harvey strolled calmly back to his office like nothing was different at all, like he wasn’t doing something completely out of the norm. He slowly gathered his things and started towards the elevator, glancing back at Harvey’s office one last time before stepping in. Tomorrow, he decided, he was going to ask Donna what was going on, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Harvey was almost shaking as he opened the door of his office and stepped inside. Mike had seen. Mike must have seen- no. He would have said something if he’d seen. Wouldn’t he? Harvey glanced back carefully, and saw the elevator doors close behind his associate. The office was empty now, except for Harvey.
Harvey went to the window along the outer wall of his office and looked out. The view of the city at night was a beautiful one, one Harvey usually reveled in, but now it just seemed distant and lonely. So many people lived in the city, all of them going about their own lives separately from other people. All of them completely apart from him. Harvey sighed and laid a hand on the glass. It was cool against his hand, strangely soothing. But as his cuff slipped down, the bruise became visible, dark and glaring against the rest of his skin. Harvey quickly dropped his hand and tugged the fabric down, making sure the bruise was covered and he wouldn’t see it again.
Mike couldn’t have seen it, Harvey thought. He would have asked if he had, surely. And even if he had seen, he wouldn’t have known where it came from. No, domestic violence certainly wasn’t the first thought that came to mind, when a person saw a bruise on a man’s body. Mike would not have thought of it, because that type of thing didn’t happen to men. And it certainly didn’t happen to men like Harvey.
He sighed softly, though the noise seemed incredibly loud in the silence of the office. Harvey leaned forward and rested his forehead against the glass, looking out over the city, the thousands of tiny pinpricks of light, like a million fallen stars, each representing another person who was part of the huge city and yet inexplicably alone. He couldn’t believe he was doing this to himself again. He knew the relationship was twisted, distorted, from what an ideal partnership should be. He knew that the promises of never being violent again were empty. And he knew that in spite of all of that, he had walked back into it willingly. Perhaps he deserved some of the things that were said to him, if he couldn’t even stay away. No one else will ever love you after they find out how broken you are. This is the best you’ll ever have… Maybe it was true.
The sound of his cell phone ringing made Harvey jump. He looked back where it was lying on his desk, buzzing and lighting up. He could just not answer it… but he knew if he did that, then the calls would keep coming all night.
Harvey took a single step towards the phone, then another. Each seemed incredibly difficult to take. Finally he reached out and picked it up, his fingers shaking just a little. He looked at the screen and saw the letters flashing across it. James was calling. Of course it was James. Who else would it be?
Harvey’s hands wanted to tremble, but he fought to keep them still. Taking a deep breath, Harvey pressed the button and put the phone to his ear.
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