Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
Harvey sighed heavily as he entered the attorney room at the courthouse to meet his new “client”. He was a highly successful corporate lawyer and couldn’t believe he was doing this even under protest. But when a judge calls you to offer your services you don’t get to say no. He could have, sure, but he might need to try another case with him presiding, best not piss him off.
He had tried to refuse the assignment that had landed him in this mess, but Jessica Pearson had “insisted”. With most people, even other lawyers with longer careers than him he could talk them out of it or bluff his way past it. Jessica was one of the few exceptions. If he wanted to impress her enough to make senior partner someday he would do more pro bono work. And no amount of talk would get him out of it.
Okay, he could probably accept that. There was a reason he was willing to work for no other besides Jessica Pearson. Pulling him out of the mail room was only partly to blame. Jessica was the best. If Harvey wanted to be the best he could learn from no other. He hated pro bono work, not because it didn’t pay despite what he led people to believe, but because most people were not worthy of it. He’d seen enough people lie and cheat to get what they want that he had simply become too jaded for the pro bono cases. Not that he ever let anyone see that this was the case. Harvey knew better than to show such weaknesses to anyone.
All of that didn’t help him here though. Somehow he’d been strong armed to take not only a pro bono case but also a case involving some kid accused of dealing drugs. How exactly this case had landed at his feet he wasn’t exactly sure. One minute he’d been dealing with the arraignment of his client, some kid of one of the CEO’s at one of Pearson Hardman’s top clients accused of driving while drunk, the next minute Judge Richards had roped him in to supervising some kid who refused an attorney claiming he could represent himself.
It’s not like Pearson Hardman took criminal cases as a rule, they were a corporate firm dealing with financial disputes or criminal cases involving the higher ups at those same corporate clients. Still, this was his case now and he would do what he had to do to do right by his client. Harvey would never sully his stellar reputation by losing.
Harvey gathered his thoughts and entered the room. The young man who entered was probably around in his early twenties, blonde messy hair and the brightest bright blue eyes Harvey had ever seen. He had an open trusting face that Harvey could just about read like a book. If this were a bar Harvey might just buy him a drink. The kid looked not at ease exactly but not uneasy either. Harvey guessed he was keeping a fairly calm head, but hadn’t been in such a position before.
“Mr. Michael Ross, my name’s Harvey Specter and as you heard Judge Richards has assigned me to take your case and/or supervise you defending yourself.” No reaction from the kid.
“So Michael, What exactly were you thinking by refusing a public defender?” Harvey asked casually as he sat down.
“It’s Mike. I was thinking the overworked, underpaid, solid C student from a subpar college would be less than helpful,” the kid snarked.
“But you can do better?” Harvey queried with skepticism. “What, you think YouTube University has a decent law school?” Harvey couldn’t help but voice his thoughts.
“Beats Hollywood High,” was the smart ass response. Ok, Harvey had to admit that was pretty clever.
“Yeah, Law & Order.” Harvey Challenged.
“The Practice,” Mike returned.
“Perry Mason,” they said simultaneously.
“At least I actually care whether or not I do time,” the kid continued.
“Fair point,” Harvey admitted. “Okay, if I’m going to help you out of this mess I need you to tell me what happened.”
“Look, you don’t-” the kid tries to deny his help.
“Save it. I’m already assigned to your case by the Judge. I’m here now so lay it on me,” Harvey said, cutting off yet another round of objections. The kid had been objecting since the judge stopped Harvey on his way out of court to have him supervise the kid’s defense.
The kid sighed, looking defeated. Actually, he looked absolutely devastated. Shoot, Harvey didn’t sign up to be this kid’s emotional dumping bag. “The facts, kid, just the facts,” Harvey quipped before the kid could start.
Surprisingly the kid laughed, the devastated look retreating. Harvey hated to admit it but he was impressed when it turned out Mike actually recognized the quote. Mike sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Okay, Dragnet. Look, I’d love to say this is all a big mistake, wrong place wrong time, or whatever. Truth is, I had a briefcase full of pot that I was delivering when the buckle broke and it all spilled out in front of an undercover cop. I was promptly arrested.”
“And you thought in that circumstance you’d take the case yourself?”
“Look, the defender wanted me to deal, one year in prison. My grammy can’t take that, it’d give her a heart attack.”
“That’s not a bad deal considering the amount they found on you.”
“Oh, please. They found exactly 14.4 grams of the stuff. That's enough for possession but not enough for intent to sell, no matter its appearance. For them to charge me with intent to sell it has to be over 15.5 grams. Possession- especially first offences- don’t normally include jail time.”
“Yeah, but according to this report they found it in separate baggies. They’ll argue you intended to sell.”
“People v. Wexly : they can’t infer shit. For all anyone knows I intended to make sure I didn't smoke it all at once.”
Harvey barely kept his eyes from widening. He thought this was just some smart alec kid who got in over his head. Maybe he watched Law & Order or something and thought that made him an expert. But to cite a specific case he might actually hold some true knowledge.
“How do you know how much they found?”
“I weighed it before I left my place. I may have been desperate enough to try this ‘delivery’ but I’m not so foolish as to take a risk with mandatory jail time. The death risk was plenty risk enough.”
“What death risk?”
“A person had a greater chance of dying while dealing drugs than on death row- in Texas.” Harvey raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask the obvious question. How did he know that?
“All the more reason not to do it,” Harvey said.
“I needed cash. Medical bills don’t pay themselves.” Harvey knew the truth of that. He helped his brother cover his costs when he got cancer while Harvey was attending Harvard. No quicker way to go broke in this country than to need medical care- except maybe gambling without skill.
“So why are they charging you so heavily?”
“They're hoping I’ll turn on the guy who supplied me. But that’s never gonna happen.”
“Why not? If you give up your supplier, they reduce or even dismissed the charges and your home free. It’s a win for you.”
“No it's not, I won't betray my friend,” Mike said adamantly.
“Loyalty is an admirable quality. Is it really worth going to prison for?” Harvey asked him.
Mike sighed. “This dude has been there for me every time I ever needed him.”
“Has he really? The expression on your face tells me even you may not actually believe that.”
“So things have been complicated since we grew up, that's no reason to turn on him. He’s a mess but what 22-year-old isn’t? I was a mess when we were kids and he was there for me. He defended me and I won’t turn on him now.”
“If this guy is so noble, where is he? You may be willing to go to prison for him, but is he willing to go to prison for you? Is he really the kind of friend you wanna throw away your life for?”
“It’s nothing I haven’t done before,” Mike said. Harvey didn't think he was imagining the bitterness in his voice there but he wasn’t sure the kid could detect it despite it being his own voice.
“Whatever other trouble he’s gotten you into this time it’s bigger. Prison is no joke. You don’t come out of prison the same person you are going in.”
“I know. And I can’t do prison. I can’t have that on my record if I’m gonna ever-,” Mike cut himself off before he could say whatever else was on his mind.
“If you’re ever gonna, what?” Harvey said with what he hoped was an earnest expression. He didn’t do earnest most of the time, but somehow this kid was getting under his skin.
“Look, you're gonna think it’s silly. Really I’ve already blown it already so it doesn’t matter.”
“Looks like it still matters. Let me guess you actually wanna be a lawyer someday and you can’t have a prison sentence on your record and pass the bar?”
Mike looked at him in shock. “Actually I’ve already taken the bar, but actually getting a legal license is another matter. How do you know?”
“It was the only thing that made sense. You have too much specific knowledge to just be a Law and Order fan. You clearly have studied law somewhere and then there’s your absolute refusal to consider any prison time. I’m smart enough to put two and two together.”
Apparently that’s all that was needed for the floodgates to open. And suddenly this kid was emotionally sob story dumping on him. He got the whole background and how his kid had been orphaned at 11 years old and some sleazy lawyer had offered them a pittance for the lives that had been taken that night. How this had inspired the young man in front of him to become a lawyer. However, a “friend” in desperate straits had convinced him to copy a test and he’d been kicked out and black balled from New York University and Harvard.
“How did you copy the test?” He asked.
“Oh," Mike said sheepishly. “I might have a perfect memory?” He said almost as a question.
“You’re kidding me. You’re telling me you have perfect recall?”
“You want to test it, I could easily prove it to you. However, I don’t see many books around here so while I could recite it perfectly, you’d have no way to verify.”
Funnily enough, Harvey didn’t really need him to prove it. He actually believed the smart ass kid when he said he had perfect memory. After all it’s an easy thing to disprove so why would anybody claim to have it if they didn’t. Harvey had a strong suspicion that Mike’s “friend“ was more the person who used Mike for his smarts. Or maybe he’d really been a friend at one point but had begun to suffer an inferiority complex and decided to compensate by putting Mike down any way he could. Harvey didn’t know and Harvey didn’t care. Really, he didn’t.
Despite the fact that Harvey believed him he went over and pulled out the room’s copy of the Barbi Legal Handbook. Harvey opened it up to a random page and began to read out loud.
“Civil liability associated with agency is based on several factors including-”
“Including the deviation of the agent from his path, the reasonable inference of agency on behalf of the plaintiff, and the nature of the damages themselves,” Mike recited. Word for word. Harvey was officially impressed. And even more attracted. Brains was probably one of his biggest turn ons.
Harvey read from two more passages that Mike continue to quote verbatim. Mike was clearly gifted with eidetic memory. When Harvey pressed him further, Mike was currently able to formulate arguments based on his knowledge of caselaw. It was seriously hot. If Harvey weren’t here in a professional capacity, he might seriously consider kissing the living daylights out of Mr. Mike Ross, but for now he tabled that thought until after he cleaned up his mess.
“How the hell did you know all that?” Harvey asked.
“I learned it when I studied for the bar.”
“Why take the bar if you haven’t even been to law school yet?”
“Some idiot bet me I couldn’t pass the bar before going to law school. But once I read something I understand it. Once I understand it, I never forget it.”
The beginnings of a plan begin to stir in his head. Mike had made a mess with his life, but only in the last year or two. He could argue the kid was emotionally compromised. Normally that kind of thing would never fly with the prosecutor, but Harvey could make a case for it with Mike’s legal knowledge and a case for him being a well productive citizen if only they could get him off this charge with probation.
As a back up, Harvey began to think he might have his investigator look into who Mike’s “friend“ could be. Perhaps they’d be able to dig up enough dirt on him that they could hand over to the cops and prosecutors without Mike having to turn the man in himself.
“All right I’ll talk to the prosecutor and see what I can work out with them. She’s an old colleague of mine that I helped out a time or two, so I might be able to work something out here. One question for you: if I get you off these charges, what are you gonna do next?”
“What do you mean?” Mike asked him.
“I mean, are you gonna continue to waste your potential fooling around and being a punk ass? Or are you gonna get your act together, go back to school and become a lawyer for real?”
“I’d love to go back to school. But how the hell am I gonna pay for it? I lost my scholarship when I was accused of cheating. NYU and Harvard will never take me with that black mark on my record. Most other schools won’t either. And I have to be working so I continue trying to pay Grammy’s medical bills.”
“Oh Shut Up with your self pity party. You’re only 22, you're still young enough to clean up your act, turn around and go back to school. With your legal acumen you could easily apply and get a job as a paralegal at any decent firm. Prove yourself there and they’ll probably gladly fund your return to college to get a degree. Any decent lawyer will be able to talk to you in the door with their alma mater. Meanwhile, you’ll get medical insurance, which will take care of your grandmother.”
“What legal firm would hire not even a college dropout but someone who was kicked out of school?”
“Well maybe don’t put that on your resume? You have to disclose it but do that in an interview where you can plead your case for stupidity. Be upfront and frank about the mistakes you’ve already made, but have an explanation and a reason why it won’t happen again ready for the interviewer.”
“Do you really think that’ll work?” Mike asked him with a puppy dog look in his eyes that made him look at least five years younger than he really was. Shit. Harvey thought he was attractive before. Those puppy eyes were worse.
“I think it’s worth a try. Failure isn’t just about not succeeding. It’s also about not trying in the first place. What you showed me here today is what you’re capable of with self study and two years pre-law. I wanna see what you’re capable of with an actual JD.”
“What about your firm- do you think they would hire me with my credentials or lack thereof?” Mike asked him. The hopeful look was gone, replaced with more despondency once again.
“Let's get you off these charges first. Once we succeeded at that and I’ve had time to test your legal acumen further in a more hospitable setting- I’d be willing to help open the door for you if what you said about your expertise is true. Mind you, at most I might be able to get you an interview. I’m not in charge of hiring paralegals.”
“Why the hell would you be willing to risk your neck for me? You’re some big hot shot lawyer already, you clearly weren’t expecting to pick up a punk like me to defend today so why the hell would you be willing to risk yourself like that?”
Harvey couldn't explain why but for some reason he found himself dispersing just a little bit of truth to this kid who didn’t believe he could do anything. This was a kid who had been knocked down and seemed to have lost all faith in himself and his ability to succeed in life. Maybe it was because at one point, Harvey was in the same boat, maybe it was because he thought the kid could really make something of himself if he tried. Or maybe it was just because Harvey thought the kid was hot, who knows.
So Harvey told him about his baseball dreams that had been shattered with a bad shoulder injury told him about how he’s been working in the mail room of a legal firm, barely making end meet not trying for anything more when one of the senior partners offered him the chance to go to law school if he came to work for them afterwards. Explained how he went to Harvard, got his degree and found something he was good at.
“Most of the associates or junior partners I work with are idiots. Harvard is really good at producing law students but less skilled about producing people capable of clever, independent, or creative thinking never mind all three. But in the 30 minutes I’ve known you've already proven more creative than any of them. I wanna see what you can do.”
With that, Harvey walked out and got to work fixing this mess. He wasn’t exactly sure how he managed to convince the prosecutor to drop the charges, but Harvey was a smooth talker and soon enough she agreed. Harvey managed to get Mike community service hours to be served at the prosecutor’s office combing through legal minutia. Harvey knew the experience would benefit both the prosecutor’s office and Mike himself.
Debbie kept him updated on Mike’s progress while he served in the prosecutors office. They were very pleased with his work. Within a few short weeks Mike was able to make connections across cases that would never have been spotted by another paralegal. Mike’s ability to speed read, yet understand what he read and recall it later was unparalleled. He was a great asset to their office, and they would be sad to see him go if he decided to proceed to another area of law.
Debbie complained that she was pretty sure Mike would never stay in the prosecutor‘s office. But she also confided in Harvey that as long as he didn’t go into criminal defense, they could probably live with it.
What should’ve taken a normal person a year to complete Mike was done in a matter of months. Mike impressed everyone, including Harvey with his work ethic. Some expressed concerns that Mike would put in the bare minimum and or had no ability to be of assistance. Harvey was proud that he had read the man correctly and that he had a strong work ethic. He had just needed someone to put him on a path that would lead him to success again.
Though Harvey didn’t have any further contact with Mike for the next several months he kept apprised of his performance and progress from the prosecutors he knew. Within the first few months of his community service, Mike had started finishing his undergraduate degree through an online school. Harvey was pretty sure that the kid was probably testing out of most of the classes. And/or overloading his schedule, allowing him to take more classes at once than a normal student. At least he hoped so. He suspected that what Mike really needed was to push his brain and to feel challenged in order to keep him from retreating into drugs.
Harvey just hoped his gamble on the young man would continue to pay off. He had no idea what was in store for his future and how much more he would be willing to gamble on the young man named Mike Ross.