Learning How to Fly, Mike and Harvey Snippets
(I blame jebbypal. I have other prompts that I should be working on, but...)
Learning How to Clique, Mike Snippet
By PaBurke
Summary: Mike Ross learning how to fit into the city of Atlantis. Somewhere in the middle of ‘ New Beginnings’
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
Mike wasn’t surprised when Dean Winchester dropped his lunch plate opposite Jack O’Connell and slumped into a seat. The Marines’ explosive expert worked the graveyard security rotation and lunch was somewhat equal to his ‘early morning.’ Mike wasn’t surprised that Jack had coffee waiting for Winchester. He was surprised to note that instead of the usual to-go mug, Jack had prepared a thermos for Dean.
“So the Athosians finally went back to their settlement,” Jack said.
Dean grunted.
Mike was trying not to remember the horrifying terror of his first Wraith siege that had temporarily moved the native people to Atlantis. “Was there anything left?” He had read the reports and knew that the Wraith had committed unseemly numbers of soldiers for an abandoned village. A team was supposed to visit and theorize why.
“Nada.”
Dean growled here.
“What will they do?” Mike asked, because Jack always had the best gossip. Whether he was telling the truth at any point in time (and sharing what really happened, instead of being a troll) was another matter entirely.
“They want to borrow a page from the Genii and build an underground village in the exact same spot.” Dean was beginning to look both more alert and wary. Mike wasn’t sure why, but then no one could really explain or understand the ‘Shaman.’ Jack grinned at Dean and the Marine leaned back and looked ready to flee. “It seems that the Wraith were so determined to get into the village was because something invisible was keeping them out. Say for instance, a dart tried to fly over the village, the front half of the craft could but the Wraith couldn’t and ended up splattered on the back half of the dart that never crossed a very precise circle around the village. There are a plethora of dart ends all the way around the village. The Wraith must have bombed it from a distance.”
Dean actually flinched. He took his earbud out and dropped it on the table. He very thankfully accepted the coffee thermos from Jack and stuffed his BDU pockets with anything transportable from his lunch and then jogged for an exit. Jack flicked Dean’s earbud off the table and continued eating as if all was normal.
Mike knew that the best way to get accurate information out of his boss was to corner him in their office. So he didn’t immediately start an interrogation, which was good, because Colonel Carter was walking into the mess with purpose. Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay flanked her. Carter glanced around the mess and zeroed in on Jack.
“Sir,” she said, even though technically she outranked all of them. “Have you seen Winchester?”
“It’s a little early for him,” Jack replied… entirely truthful and entirely a lie. All of the command personnel bought it without suspicion. Mike was impressed.
McKay was tapping his tablet. “His earbud is still here, somewhere.” He turned in a circle. “That direction.”
“There,” Sheppard spotted it on the floor under another table. He meandered to the table and got one of the Airmen to pick it up off the ground. Predictably, those soldiers hadn’t seen Winchester yet that day. When Mike turned his attention to the other two, McKay was glaring at Mike and Carter was finally getting suspicious of Jack.
“So where is he?” McKay demanded.
“Who? Winchester?” Mike stalled, because Jack was definitely the better liar.
“Yes!” McKay exploded. “I know he’s part of your little clique of outcasts.”
Mike had to smirk. “By definition, one can’t have a clique of…”
“You know what I mean.” McKay cut him off. “Where is Winchester?”
“What happened?” Jack asked so sincerely that Mike wondered if there was more to it than the story his boss had told Winchester. As if that wasn’t enough.
“Winchester’s seal was both a defensive and an offensive weapon,” Carter explained. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sir?” Carter said and this tone was almost an order.
“You won’t get anything out of that Marine by ambushing him,” Jack advised, as if he had more commanding experience than she. “Schedule a meeting that he can’t avoid. You’ve got a good enough BS meter to hit the important points.”
Carter nodded. “Thank you, sir. I’ll do that.” She exited the same way she had entered, the men following. It was obvious that they were confused at Jack’s authority. Mike was too, but he had accepted it as a part of his job and his boss.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf
Learning How to Gloat, Harvey Snippet
By PaBurke
Summary: Mike Ross blew into Harvey’s life for a second time and this time might be even more fun than before. Just after 'New Beginnings'
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
The meeting had been four hours of Harvey pushing and Mike not giving an inch. He thought he could push the SGC over breach of contract but Mike wasn’t folding. He probably had access to whatever file detailed Dr. Cavanaugh’s departure from the famous employer that Harvey couldn’t touch. That was what happened when a super secret program was exposed/leaked, most of the secrets were still behind the veil. Had the SGC violated the agreement or had Dr. Cavanaugh? Harvey was starting to wonder. Cavanaugh was a smart and an arrogant SOB, no doubt, but was he also a liar?
Mike was the brilliant lawyer Harvey had envisioned, able to counter everything without pause.
Jack O’Connell was impossible to read and though he spent most of his time seemingly engrossed in his phone (Harvey was seventy-percent sure he was playing a game on it), O’Connell controlled the meeting with a few well timed sentences. Harvey couldn’t pin O’Connell down. Obviously, Mike respected him even though he was considerably younger, and he wasn’t a genius equal to Mike or even Cavanaugh, so why was he in charge?
The meeting ended with the situation unresolved. That frustrated Harvey on a personal level. It wrecked with his reputation as the best closer in the city. He had to find some way to budge the powerful government entity. Harvey walked out of the building beside Mike; he needed to keep the communication lines open. If Mike refused to take Harvey’s calls, the suit would flounder forever and since there were so few judges with the clearance to deal with the SGC, no one could force them.
At the exit, O’Connell turned to the right without shaking anyone’s hand, leaving Mike to make pleasantries with his former bosses in a hurry.
“Take your time, Mikey,” a new voice suggested.
Mike looked from the new guy (pretty boy, buzz cut, worker’s boots and a leather jacket) to his retreating boss. He positively lit up. “Really?”
“We have a curfew and can’t get caught but yeah.”
“Still getting the SGC to make exceptions for you, Winchester,” Cavanaugh sniped.
“Hey Jackass,” Winchester said in a considerably more cheerful -and completely false- tone. “Did you have fun on Hoth?”
Cavanaugh stalked away and Winchester watched with deadly eyes. Jessica followed to try to pry some more information out of their client while his emotions were high. Harvey was left behind to deal with his old associate. “Are you interested in dinner?” Mike was asking Harvey.
If Mike could set aside the last four hours of debate for some friendly conversation, Harvey could as well and just maybe Mike would let something slip that he could use. “Love to.”
“Great!” Mike’s enthusiasm was reminiscent of their time working together. “Call up Donna and tell her to meet us at an address. I’ll text you it. Do you think that Rachel could come too?”
“We’ll see.” Harvey stood in the middle of the sidewalk and forwarded the text. “I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Cool. Hey, what are you feeling for dinner? Italian, Indian, Korean?”
Harvey decided to be an ass. “We’ll let Donna decide.” He truly wanted to see how far Mike could get in New York on a time constraint. As a member of the SGC, he could get places, but which places and with minutes to arrange it?
Mike, of course, saw the trap and still grinned like he was a step ahead. “Don’t be late,” he teased.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
Ray drove Harvey, Donna and Rachel to the unfamiliar address and Harvey was getting suspicious of Mike’s plans. The females had dressed for the occasion and the shimmery fabrics stood out in with the ratty warehouses.
“That boy better not be yanking our chains,” Donna threatened and Harvey agreed.
Mike was waiting outside of the correct address and he grinned when he saw Ray. “Awesome. I was hoping that you’d get to come too.”
“Ray’s driving,” Harvey pointed out.
“Nope. Dean is. Come on. Ray too.” He was bouncing like a puppy. Part of Harvey was pleased to see that he still hadn’t totally matured.
The trio followed Mike into the warehouse that appeared empty. Harvey couldn’t see a car that could fit all of them. Granted the mint condition ’67 Impala in the corner was an impressive ride, but it was short on room.
“Dean?” Mike called.
Winchester closed the trunk to the Impala and swaggered to Mike and his guests. “Do we know where we’re going yet?” He admired Rachel’s dress and that didn’t bother Mike. Interesting.
Everyone looked to Donna and she smiled enough that even Harvey was wary. “I’m feeling Indonesian.”
Her answer didn’t phase either of the SGC personnel. “Let’s go,” Winchester said. “How scenic of a route are we taking?”
“I want to go all the way,” Mike grinned. “You are going to love this.”
And then an SGC transport ship appeared in the middle of the warehouse. The ships were identifiable even if the specs, hell, even their make and model were a tightly guarded secret. Harvey knew for a fact that the President of the United States had been trying -and failing- to get his hands on one for his transportation. From the way it had been explained to Harvey, there were a limited number of ships and since the SGC was an international effort the ships had to be divided equally and they were more needed for planetary protection. All countries agreed that they were needed more for that. (Which begged the question, what the hell was out there that they weren’t telling the populous?)
The back of the ship opened and Harvey and the others were confronted with a view few had seen and a prospect that few could fathom.
“Welcome to Jumper 17,” Winchester said. “You hurl and you are spending the next several hours cleaning up your mess and scrubbing the rest of the Jumper on your hands and knees.”
“Do we have to throw up first?” Ray asked. “I’ll cheerfully detail the… Jumper? for free.”
Winchester grinned at Ray, obviously recognizing a kindred spirit. “Sorry. Don’t have time for that.” He waved them into the Jumper. “Chop, chop. My Jumper turns into a pumpkin at midnight.”
Harvey led the way into the Jumper and manfully refrained from trailing his fingers over ever surface like a little kid… or like Ray. He spotted the two driving seats, assumed that the ship needed two pilots, and sat behind the one on the left, Donna sat behind the one on the right. Dean sat down in front of Harvey and gripped the ‘steering wheel.’
“Go ahead, Ray,” Mike offered from behind Harvey’s shoulder. “Dean is the only pilot for this baby.”
Ray didn’t hesitate to sit in the front. Harvey twisted and saw Rachel standing behind Donna and Mike typing on his phone. Mike must have seen him from the corner of his eye. “Pre-flight was done before you got here, it idles silent and the internal dampeners work really well.” He paused. “Harvey, you want to turn around.”
Harvey had opened his mouth to say something snide, but he turned around and realized the Jumper had vertical lift-off and he had missed the beginning. He couldn’t help but to lean forward. Mike and Winchester had rigged together something in the roof of the warehouse and just that fast, they were hovering over New York City.
“Don’t we have to worry about people seeing us?” Rachel had a good point, Harvey decided. If someone had spotted a jumper, it would have made national news. There were too few of them around and everyone wanted to know when one was in town.
Winchester answered. “The cloak is engaged. The only thing we have to worry about is other people not seeing us and running into us.”
“And how do you prevent that?” Donna asked.
The windshield shifted perspectives because it wasn’t a windshield but a giant readout. The readout shifted again and the proximity alert was put into one corner. They were gaining more altitude and the Statue of Liberty was growing smaller and smaller. Then the city was growing smaller and the ocean bigger. Then they could see lights and green and blue and it looked like a globe, only everything moved, breathed, lived. It was breathtaking. In that moment, he could understand why kids grew up wanting to be astronauts and not lawyers.
“And on your right is the Daedalus,” Mike said in that bored-tour-guide-voice. The guests ignored him and craned their necks to see the famous ship. The tone didn’t last long as Mike told them every minute detail of the solar system that they were now seeing.
Harvey had to poke fun at the kid. “So the book that you’re quoting; did you read it when you were twelve?”
There was a pause and normally Harvey would be watching Mike closely for his tells but that would be splitting his attention from the moons of Saturn. “Nine,” Mike finally said.
Harvey grinned and leaned back and enjoyed the ride. He knew Mike was telling them things they could read in an astronomy book and no state secrets, but he was still enjoying the impromptu lesson.
Sometime when Winchester was chasing down Eris, the furthest dwarf planet in the solar system, Ray said, “You’ve been keeping busy, Mike?”
Mike laughed and snorted and sighed like the dramatic boy was wont to do. “I have enough work to keep three partners and ten associates busy. But a good law clerk and personal assistance would help immensely.” Mike wasn’t even trying to be subtle and he knew Rachel’s weak points. “Just think, trying new food every day, from all over two galaxies.”
Rachel grinned at him but didn’t shoot him down.
“And me?” Donna challenged.
“I’m sure you’d have a platoon of Marines at your beck and call within days and the gossip. Man, you’d be the queen of it all. Gossip moves faster than a trip through the Stargate.”
Harvey finally looked away from the stars on the universe. “You don’t want me.” He was not feeling like a petulant kid, he wasn’t.
“Harvey, I’d be thrilled for you to join the team. I could let you deal with the Genii and sit back and watch you take them apart every time, but I’ve seen the budget and we can’t afford you. Not even close.” It was true that governmental pay couldn’t compare to his salary.
Then Winchester was skimming the surface of a planet that Earth had only known existed for a decade and the conversation was dropped. Mike told them all about the universe that they lived in and Harvey knew that he’d pay more attention to the sky at night. It was beautiful. Winchester teased like an older brother, but mostly he kept his mouth shut. Harvey wondered where the man fit in the SGC. He didn’t seem like the silent type. He piloted well but Harvey didn’t think he was Air Force. He didn’t mind bending the rules for Mike and that car had indicated a lot of care. Harvey pegged Winchester as blue collar, so the car had to be an heirloom.
The trip had to have taken hours but in no time, they were approaching Earth, the islands on the far side of the planet compared to home. Dean had picked a landing zone in another port warehouse, this one abandoned and without a roof. He set the jumper down with nary a bump and opened the rear hatch.
Harvey felt the warm breeze and smelled the clean ocean air and the exotic spices that reminded him that he hadn’t had dinner yet.
“Let’s go,” Mike called. He was leading the way this time.
“Are you coming?” Ray asked Winchester. Since he was getting a meal out of this, he expected the pilot would too.
Winchester shook his head. “I have to stay with the Jumper.” For as casual as Mike and Winchester were treating it, Harvey knew that there had to be security concerns. Of course, they couldn’t leave the jumper without a guard, even if no one could visually know it was there.
“Comeon,” Mike called. “We have reservations and don’t want to be late. We’ll bring Dean some take out.”
Ray debated a moment, but Dean waved him away and the driver joined Harvey and the others out of the warehouse and to the street. They passed a teacher with eight students of all ages milling about. Every one of them was vibrating with excitement that couldn’t be contained, the teacher included. Harvey didn’t think too much about it until he saw the taxi-van waiting for them at the corner.
The Harvey decided not to think about it anymore and to enjoy the evening (morning local time). He would try to pry embarrassing Mike stories out of Dean on the ride home.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
“So where did Mike take you for dinner?”
“Donna was in an Indonesian mood so he picked a nice place called Layar.” Harvey didn’t pretend that Mike didn’t do a good job with all of the curve balls they had thrown his way. “The shrimp paste was fantastic and the crabs were succulent and so fresh.”
“I’m not familiar with it, is it in the boroughs?”
“It’s in Surabaya… Indonesia.”
Jessica gaped and Harvey enjoyed watching her mind work a mile a minute. “How did he manage that? Wait! Indonesia? Did he beam you aboard the Daedalus and then back down?”
Harvey stopped for a moment to muse on how… cool that would have been, to see the inside of the space ship tasked with the safety of Earth. “No, he did one better, he had Winchester fly us there in a puddlejumper.”
“A puddlejumper?”
“That’s the vernacular for the SGC transport ships. We got the story for how they had been named last night.” He paused and then added, “Jumper 17.” He would never forget a single detail of the night.
Jessica sat in the chair across of Harvey and tried not to look like she was impressed. “Indonesia has several time zones. Surabaya is… twelve hours ahead of us.”
“Good guess.”
“How did he get a restaurant to serve dinner at local morning time?”
“He didn’t say but I’m pretty sure he bribed whoever he needed to with a trip around the solar system for their children. We had the owner of the restaurant, two chefs… and three waitresses that I’m pretty sure have never served food in their lives because they were the wives of the three employees. We had the place to ourselves and all the food we could eat. I never saw a menu or prices, Mike took care of it all.”
“A trip around the solar system?” Jessica echoed.
“That was our pre-dinner entertainment and Mike used the time to arrange dinner.” Not that Harvey was paying any attention to his former associate but it made logical sense.
“So it was one huge gloat session that was so smooth that you get to gloat about Mike gloating at you.” Jessica was trying to sound wry but Harvey heard the envy and awe in her tone.
He grinned, wide and honest. “Yes.” He leaned back in the chair. “Also it was a recruitment trip for a certain law clerk. I’m pretty sure we’re losing Rachel to the SGC.”
“Are you sure he was only recruiting Rachel?”
“He flat out said there wasn’t enough money for me in the budget and Donna won’t leave me.”
Jessica leaned forward. “Harvey, I know you, better than the SGC , Mike and, at times, you. I know that they don’t have to match your current salary to tempt you away from this firm. I saw how much you enjoyed working with Mike again. You’ve missed him and probably have had some sort of contact with him since he left. I saw your envy when you realized that Mike was probably the best closer in two galaxies. Suddenly being the best closer in New York City was small fish and your iron-clad contract with us wouldn’t slow you down because it wasn’t written to exclude you from practicing law on a different planet if you quit.”
Harvey was stunned, but he still managed to murmur, “Mike does most of his work in a different galaxy.”
Jessica waved a hand like he just proved her point. She gave him a chance to digest all of her words. “Well?”
“Mike wasn’t trying to recruit me.”
“Mike wasn’t,” Jessica stressed.
Harvey remembered O’Connell walking away after the failed negotiations and Mike’s surprise when he realized that Winchester was going to be their pilot for the night. Harvey remembered the very young man that he had forgotten during negotiations several times until the kid had spoken and killed whatever legal tactic he had been trying at the time. O’Connell had controlled the meeting with a few words. He normally worked behind the scenes.
Harvey couldn’t help but to be impressed by how the kid pulled strings. By simply making Winchester and Jumper 17 available and letting Mike be Mike, O’Connell had Harvey wondering if he shouldn’t get his resume in order. Could Harvey work for someone so sneaky? Yes, O’Connell was sneaky but he was obviously loyal to and protective of Mike. Yes, O’Connell was young but he was very, very efficient. And with Mike by his side? It would be fun.
“Harvey?” Jessica asked.
The best closer in New York floundered for words. Finally he held up his hands helplessly. “Mike has an apartment like mine… in Atlantis.”
Jessica huffed. “Only for you would gloating be an effective recruitment strategy. Give me a week to look into it. Also, you’re off the Cavanaugh case.”
Harvey grinned at her and let her know that he appreciated that he might be able to return to Pearson Hardman one day. “By the way, the SGC allowed Cavanaugh to leave the program because he attempted to kidnap the father of a competing scientist.”
Jessica allowed Harvey to see her horror at the stupidity of their client. Harvey was glad to have that off his plate. Now he just had to close the rest of the problems on his desk.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
Learning How to Clique, Mike Snippet
By PaBurke
Summary: Mike Ross learning how to fit into the city of Atlantis. Somewhere in the middle of ‘ New Beginnings’
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
Mike wasn’t surprised when Dean Winchester dropped his lunch plate opposite Jack O’Connell and slumped into a seat. The Marines’ explosive expert worked the graveyard security rotation and lunch was somewhat equal to his ‘early morning.’ Mike wasn’t surprised that Jack had coffee waiting for Winchester. He was surprised to note that instead of the usual to-go mug, Jack had prepared a thermos for Dean.
“So the Athosians finally went back to their settlement,” Jack said.
Dean grunted.
Mike was trying not to remember the horrifying terror of his first Wraith siege that had temporarily moved the native people to Atlantis. “Was there anything left?” He had read the reports and knew that the Wraith had committed unseemly numbers of soldiers for an abandoned village. A team was supposed to visit and theorize why.
“Nada.”
Dean growled here.
“What will they do?” Mike asked, because Jack always had the best gossip. Whether he was telling the truth at any point in time (and sharing what really happened, instead of being a troll) was another matter entirely.
“They want to borrow a page from the Genii and build an underground village in the exact same spot.” Dean was beginning to look both more alert and wary. Mike wasn’t sure why, but then no one could really explain or understand the ‘Shaman.’ Jack grinned at Dean and the Marine leaned back and looked ready to flee. “It seems that the Wraith were so determined to get into the village was because something invisible was keeping them out. Say for instance, a dart tried to fly over the village, the front half of the craft could but the Wraith couldn’t and ended up splattered on the back half of the dart that never crossed a very precise circle around the village. There are a plethora of dart ends all the way around the village. The Wraith must have bombed it from a distance.”
Dean actually flinched. He took his earbud out and dropped it on the table. He very thankfully accepted the coffee thermos from Jack and stuffed his BDU pockets with anything transportable from his lunch and then jogged for an exit. Jack flicked Dean’s earbud off the table and continued eating as if all was normal.
Mike knew that the best way to get accurate information out of his boss was to corner him in their office. So he didn’t immediately start an interrogation, which was good, because Colonel Carter was walking into the mess with purpose. Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay flanked her. Carter glanced around the mess and zeroed in on Jack.
“Sir,” she said, even though technically she outranked all of them. “Have you seen Winchester?”
“It’s a little early for him,” Jack replied… entirely truthful and entirely a lie. All of the command personnel bought it without suspicion. Mike was impressed.
McKay was tapping his tablet. “His earbud is still here, somewhere.” He turned in a circle. “That direction.”
“There,” Sheppard spotted it on the floor under another table. He meandered to the table and got one of the Airmen to pick it up off the ground. Predictably, those soldiers hadn’t seen Winchester yet that day. When Mike turned his attention to the other two, McKay was glaring at Mike and Carter was finally getting suspicious of Jack.
“So where is he?” McKay demanded.
“Who? Winchester?” Mike stalled, because Jack was definitely the better liar.
“Yes!” McKay exploded. “I know he’s part of your little clique of outcasts.”
Mike had to smirk. “By definition, one can’t have a clique of…”
“You know what I mean.” McKay cut him off. “Where is Winchester?”
“What happened?” Jack asked so sincerely that Mike wondered if there was more to it than the story his boss had told Winchester. As if that wasn’t enough.
“Winchester’s seal was both a defensive and an offensive weapon,” Carter explained. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sir?” Carter said and this tone was almost an order.
“You won’t get anything out of that Marine by ambushing him,” Jack advised, as if he had more commanding experience than she. “Schedule a meeting that he can’t avoid. You’ve got a good enough BS meter to hit the important points.”
Carter nodded. “Thank you, sir. I’ll do that.” She exited the same way she had entered, the men following. It was obvious that they were confused at Jack’s authority. Mike was too, but he had accepted it as a part of his job and his boss.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf
Learning How to Gloat, Harvey Snippet
By PaBurke
Summary: Mike Ross blew into Harvey’s life for a second time and this time might be even more fun than before. Just after 'New Beginnings'
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
The meeting had been four hours of Harvey pushing and Mike not giving an inch. He thought he could push the SGC over breach of contract but Mike wasn’t folding. He probably had access to whatever file detailed Dr. Cavanaugh’s departure from the famous employer that Harvey couldn’t touch. That was what happened when a super secret program was exposed/leaked, most of the secrets were still behind the veil. Had the SGC violated the agreement or had Dr. Cavanaugh? Harvey was starting to wonder. Cavanaugh was a smart and an arrogant SOB, no doubt, but was he also a liar?
Mike was the brilliant lawyer Harvey had envisioned, able to counter everything without pause.
Jack O’Connell was impossible to read and though he spent most of his time seemingly engrossed in his phone (Harvey was seventy-percent sure he was playing a game on it), O’Connell controlled the meeting with a few well timed sentences. Harvey couldn’t pin O’Connell down. Obviously, Mike respected him even though he was considerably younger, and he wasn’t a genius equal to Mike or even Cavanaugh, so why was he in charge?
The meeting ended with the situation unresolved. That frustrated Harvey on a personal level. It wrecked with his reputation as the best closer in the city. He had to find some way to budge the powerful government entity. Harvey walked out of the building beside Mike; he needed to keep the communication lines open. If Mike refused to take Harvey’s calls, the suit would flounder forever and since there were so few judges with the clearance to deal with the SGC, no one could force them.
At the exit, O’Connell turned to the right without shaking anyone’s hand, leaving Mike to make pleasantries with his former bosses in a hurry.
“Take your time, Mikey,” a new voice suggested.
Mike looked from the new guy (pretty boy, buzz cut, worker’s boots and a leather jacket) to his retreating boss. He positively lit up. “Really?”
“We have a curfew and can’t get caught but yeah.”
“Still getting the SGC to make exceptions for you, Winchester,” Cavanaugh sniped.
“Hey Jackass,” Winchester said in a considerably more cheerful -and completely false- tone. “Did you have fun on Hoth?”
Cavanaugh stalked away and Winchester watched with deadly eyes. Jessica followed to try to pry some more information out of their client while his emotions were high. Harvey was left behind to deal with his old associate. “Are you interested in dinner?” Mike was asking Harvey.
If Mike could set aside the last four hours of debate for some friendly conversation, Harvey could as well and just maybe Mike would let something slip that he could use. “Love to.”
“Great!” Mike’s enthusiasm was reminiscent of their time working together. “Call up Donna and tell her to meet us at an address. I’ll text you it. Do you think that Rachel could come too?”
“We’ll see.” Harvey stood in the middle of the sidewalk and forwarded the text. “I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Cool. Hey, what are you feeling for dinner? Italian, Indian, Korean?”
Harvey decided to be an ass. “We’ll let Donna decide.” He truly wanted to see how far Mike could get in New York on a time constraint. As a member of the SGC, he could get places, but which places and with minutes to arrange it?
Mike, of course, saw the trap and still grinned like he was a step ahead. “Don’t be late,” he teased.
*suits*sg1*sga*lhtf*
Ray drove Harvey, Donna and Rachel to the unfamiliar address and Harvey was getting suspicious of Mike’s plans. The females had dressed for the occasion and the shimmery fabrics stood out in with the ratty warehouses.
“That boy better not be yanking our chains,” Donna threatened and Harvey agreed.
Mike was waiting outside of the correct address and he grinned when he saw Ray. “Awesome. I was hoping that you’d get to come too.”
“Ray’s driving,” Harvey pointed out.
“Nope. Dean is. Come on. Ray too.” He was bouncing like a puppy. Part of Harvey was pleased to see that he still hadn’t totally matured.
The trio followed Mike into the warehouse that appeared empty. Harvey couldn’t see a car that could fit all of them. Granted the mint condition ’67 Impala in the corner was an impressive ride, but it was short on room.
“Dean?” Mike called.
Winchester closed the trunk to the Impala and swaggered to Mike and his guests. “Do we know where we’re going yet?” He admired Rachel’s dress and that didn’t bother Mike. Interesting.
Everyone looked to Donna and she smiled enough that even Harvey was wary. “I’m feeling Indonesian.”
Her answer didn’t phase either of the SGC personnel. “Let’s go,” Winchester said. “How scenic of a route are we taking?”
“I want to go all the way,” Mike grinned. “You are going to love this.”
And then an SGC transport ship appeared in the middle of the warehouse. The ships were identifiable even if the specs, hell, even their make and model were a tightly guarded secret. Harvey knew for a fact that the President of the United States had been trying -and failing- to get his hands on one for his transportation. From the way it had been explained to Harvey, there were a limited number of ships and since the SGC was an international effort the ships had to be divided equally and they were more needed for planetary protection. All countries agreed that they were needed more for that. (Which begged the question, what the hell was out there that they weren’t telling the populous?)
The back of the ship opened and Harvey and the others were confronted with a view few had seen and a prospect that few could fathom.
“Welcome to Jumper 17,” Winchester said. “You hurl and you are spending the next several hours cleaning up your mess and scrubbing the rest of the Jumper on your hands and knees.”
“Do we have to throw up first?” Ray asked. “I’ll cheerfully detail the… Jumper? for free.”
Winchester grinned at Ray, obviously recognizing a kindred spirit. “Sorry. Don’t have time for that.” He waved them into the Jumper. “Chop, chop. My Jumper turns into a pumpkin at midnight.”
Harvey led the way into the Jumper and manfully refrained from trailing his fingers over ever surface like a little kid… or like Ray. He spotted the two driving seats, assumed that the ship needed two pilots, and sat behind the one on the left, Donna sat behind the one on the right. Dean sat down in front of Harvey and gripped the ‘steering wheel.’
“Go ahead, Ray,” Mike offered from behind Harvey’s shoulder. “Dean is the only pilot for this baby.”
Ray didn’t hesitate to sit in the front. Harvey twisted and saw Rachel standing behind Donna and Mike typing on his phone. Mike must have seen him from the corner of his eye. “Pre-flight was done before you got here, it idles silent and the internal dampeners work really well.” He paused. “Harvey, you want to turn around.”
Harvey had opened his mouth to say something snide, but he turned around and realized the Jumper had vertical lift-off and he had missed the beginning. He couldn’t help but to lean forward. Mike and Winchester had rigged together something in the roof of the warehouse and just that fast, they were hovering over New York City.
“Don’t we have to worry about people seeing us?” Rachel had a good point, Harvey decided. If someone had spotted a jumper, it would have made national news. There were too few of them around and everyone wanted to know when one was in town.
Winchester answered. “The cloak is engaged. The only thing we have to worry about is other people not seeing us and running into us.”
“And how do you prevent that?” Donna asked.
The windshield shifted perspectives because it wasn’t a windshield but a giant readout. The readout shifted again and the proximity alert was put into one corner. They were gaining more altitude and the Statue of Liberty was growing smaller and smaller. Then the city was growing smaller and the ocean bigger. Then they could see lights and green and blue and it looked like a globe, only everything moved, breathed, lived. It was breathtaking. In that moment, he could understand why kids grew up wanting to be astronauts and not lawyers.
“And on your right is the Daedalus,” Mike said in that bored-tour-guide-voice. The guests ignored him and craned their necks to see the famous ship. The tone didn’t last long as Mike told them every minute detail of the solar system that they were now seeing.
Harvey had to poke fun at the kid. “So the book that you’re quoting; did you read it when you were twelve?”
There was a pause and normally Harvey would be watching Mike closely for his tells but that would be splitting his attention from the moons of Saturn. “Nine,” Mike finally said.
Harvey grinned and leaned back and enjoyed the ride. He knew Mike was telling them things they could read in an astronomy book and no state secrets, but he was still enjoying the impromptu lesson.
Sometime when Winchester was chasing down Eris, the furthest dwarf planet in the solar system, Ray said, “You’ve been keeping busy, Mike?”
Mike laughed and snorted and sighed like the dramatic boy was wont to do. “I have enough work to keep three partners and ten associates busy. But a good law clerk and personal assistance would help immensely.” Mike wasn’t even trying to be subtle and he knew Rachel’s weak points. “Just think, trying new food every day, from all over two galaxies.”
Rachel grinned at him but didn’t shoot him down.
“And me?” Donna challenged.
“I’m sure you’d have a platoon of Marines at your beck and call within days and the gossip. Man, you’d be the queen of it all. Gossip moves faster than a trip through the Stargate.”
Harvey finally looked away from the stars on the universe. “You don’t want me.” He was not feeling like a petulant kid, he wasn’t.
“Harvey, I’d be thrilled for you to join the team. I could let you deal with the Genii and sit back and watch you take them apart every time, but I’ve seen the budget and we can’t afford you. Not even close.” It was true that governmental pay couldn’t compare to his salary.
Then Winchester was skimming the surface of a planet that Earth had only known existed for a decade and the conversation was dropped. Mike told them all about the universe that they lived in and Harvey knew that he’d pay more attention to the sky at night. It was beautiful. Winchester teased like an older brother, but mostly he kept his mouth shut. Harvey wondered where the man fit in the SGC. He didn’t seem like the silent type. He piloted well but Harvey didn’t think he was Air Force. He didn’t mind bending the rules for Mike and that car had indicated a lot of care. Harvey pegged Winchester as blue collar, so the car had to be an heirloom.
The trip had to have taken hours but in no time, they were approaching Earth, the islands on the far side of the planet compared to home. Dean had picked a landing zone in another port warehouse, this one abandoned and without a roof. He set the jumper down with nary a bump and opened the rear hatch.
Harvey felt the warm breeze and smelled the clean ocean air and the exotic spices that reminded him that he hadn’t had dinner yet.
“Let’s go,” Mike called. He was leading the way this time.
“Are you coming?” Ray asked Winchester. Since he was getting a meal out of this, he expected the pilot would too.
Winchester shook his head. “I have to stay with the Jumper.” For as casual as Mike and Winchester were treating it, Harvey knew that there had to be security concerns. Of course, they couldn’t leave the jumper without a guard, even if no one could visually know it was there.
“Comeon,” Mike called. “We have reservations and don’t want to be late. We’ll bring Dean some take out.”
Ray debated a moment, but Dean waved him away and the driver joined Harvey and the others out of the warehouse and to the street. They passed a teacher with eight students of all ages milling about. Every one of them was vibrating with excitement that couldn’t be contained, the teacher included. Harvey didn’t think too much about it until he saw the taxi-van waiting for them at the corner.
The Harvey decided not to think about it anymore and to enjoy the evening (morning local time). He would try to pry embarrassing Mike stories out of Dean on the ride home.
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“So where did Mike take you for dinner?”
“Donna was in an Indonesian mood so he picked a nice place called Layar.” Harvey didn’t pretend that Mike didn’t do a good job with all of the curve balls they had thrown his way. “The shrimp paste was fantastic and the crabs were succulent and so fresh.”
“I’m not familiar with it, is it in the boroughs?”
“It’s in Surabaya… Indonesia.”
Jessica gaped and Harvey enjoyed watching her mind work a mile a minute. “How did he manage that? Wait! Indonesia? Did he beam you aboard the Daedalus and then back down?”
Harvey stopped for a moment to muse on how… cool that would have been, to see the inside of the space ship tasked with the safety of Earth. “No, he did one better, he had Winchester fly us there in a puddlejumper.”
“A puddlejumper?”
“That’s the vernacular for the SGC transport ships. We got the story for how they had been named last night.” He paused and then added, “Jumper 17.” He would never forget a single detail of the night.
Jessica sat in the chair across of Harvey and tried not to look like she was impressed. “Indonesia has several time zones. Surabaya is… twelve hours ahead of us.”
“Good guess.”
“How did he get a restaurant to serve dinner at local morning time?”
“He didn’t say but I’m pretty sure he bribed whoever he needed to with a trip around the solar system for their children. We had the owner of the restaurant, two chefs… and three waitresses that I’m pretty sure have never served food in their lives because they were the wives of the three employees. We had the place to ourselves and all the food we could eat. I never saw a menu or prices, Mike took care of it all.”
“A trip around the solar system?” Jessica echoed.
“That was our pre-dinner entertainment and Mike used the time to arrange dinner.” Not that Harvey was paying any attention to his former associate but it made logical sense.
“So it was one huge gloat session that was so smooth that you get to gloat about Mike gloating at you.” Jessica was trying to sound wry but Harvey heard the envy and awe in her tone.
He grinned, wide and honest. “Yes.” He leaned back in the chair. “Also it was a recruitment trip for a certain law clerk. I’m pretty sure we’re losing Rachel to the SGC.”
“Are you sure he was only recruiting Rachel?”
“He flat out said there wasn’t enough money for me in the budget and Donna won’t leave me.”
Jessica leaned forward. “Harvey, I know you, better than the SGC , Mike and, at times, you. I know that they don’t have to match your current salary to tempt you away from this firm. I saw how much you enjoyed working with Mike again. You’ve missed him and probably have had some sort of contact with him since he left. I saw your envy when you realized that Mike was probably the best closer in two galaxies. Suddenly being the best closer in New York City was small fish and your iron-clad contract with us wouldn’t slow you down because it wasn’t written to exclude you from practicing law on a different planet if you quit.”
Harvey was stunned, but he still managed to murmur, “Mike does most of his work in a different galaxy.”
Jessica waved a hand like he just proved her point. She gave him a chance to digest all of her words. “Well?”
“Mike wasn’t trying to recruit me.”
“Mike wasn’t,” Jessica stressed.
Harvey remembered O’Connell walking away after the failed negotiations and Mike’s surprise when he realized that Winchester was going to be their pilot for the night. Harvey remembered the very young man that he had forgotten during negotiations several times until the kid had spoken and killed whatever legal tactic he had been trying at the time. O’Connell had controlled the meeting with a few words. He normally worked behind the scenes.
Harvey couldn’t help but to be impressed by how the kid pulled strings. By simply making Winchester and Jumper 17 available and letting Mike be Mike, O’Connell had Harvey wondering if he shouldn’t get his resume in order. Could Harvey work for someone so sneaky? Yes, O’Connell was sneaky but he was obviously loyal to and protective of Mike. Yes, O’Connell was young but he was very, very efficient. And with Mike by his side? It would be fun.
“Harvey?” Jessica asked.
The best closer in New York floundered for words. Finally he held up his hands helplessly. “Mike has an apartment like mine… in Atlantis.”
Jessica huffed. “Only for you would gloating be an effective recruitment strategy. Give me a week to look into it. Also, you’re off the Cavanaugh case.”
Harvey grinned at her and let her know that he appreciated that he might be able to return to Pearson Hardman one day. “By the way, the SGC allowed Cavanaugh to leave the program because he attempted to kidnap the father of a competing scientist.”
Jessica allowed Harvey to see her horror at the stupidity of their client. Harvey was glad to have that off his plate. Now he just had to close the rest of the problems on his desk.
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