Chapter Text
As Louis rounded the corner of the associate's bullpen, Mike was too preoccupied with the by-laws he was reading for Harvey's new case to see the rat faced man handing out folders. Well that was until a stack of about twelve landed on his desk.
"I want these done by the end of the day," Louis stated, before moving on to pass out the remainder of the files he was carrying. Mike didn't even have a chance to protest but he couldn't help but notice that all the other associates were only handed four to six files each, why was he getting double?
Just to make his morning worse, Harvey stalked up to his cubicle. "Have you found me anything in the by-laws yet to dismiss the case?"
Mike had stayed up all night, but yes he had managed to find something. "Yeah, here." Mike passed Harvey the two clauses that would support their claims.
Harvey surveyed the pages with a critical eye before looking back up at Mike. "This'll do," he said snapping the folder shut. "Now, do you know Tamworth Enterprises?"
No thank you, no gratitude. Just the next case. Yep, he loved working for Harvey sometimes.
"Yeah, aren't they in charge of inspecting like half the bridges in New York?"
"Yes. We're suing them."
"Why?"
“Senior executives cut funding to line their own pockets.”
"What do you need me to do?"
"I need you to find me precedent to get a look at their financials and their emails."
"On it."
With one final glance, Harvey gave him a parting look as he headed out of the room. Mike put his head in his hands. He didn't want to disappoint Harvey or get reprimanded by Louis, but he couldn't remember the last time he had had a decent night sleep.
To clear his head, Mike headed to the break room to grab himself a cup of coffee before he got to work, but much to his luck, as he went to go sit back down at his cubicle he found Kyle and Greg were laughing at something on it.
"What do you want?" Mike snapped, taking a seat.
"Oh Greg and I couldn't help but notice that you're quite far behind on your work Ross," said Kyle, who was indicating to the massive stack of files Louis had just dumped on his desk.
"Yeah," Greg piped in, "is the golden boy slipping?"
The two associates laughed, while Mike set his coffee down. "Louis just gave me all these files this morning," Mike spat. "He obviously thinks I'm capable of getting more work done on my own, then the two of you put together." Mike had counted and with Greg and Kyle's files together it only totalled 9 files.
Neither of the associates standing by Ross's desk had any quip to counter what he said, so Mike continued, "So if you wouldn't mind. I actually have work to do."
Mike placed his earphones in, ending the conversation. He didn't notice the others stalk away as he picked up the first of the files.
It was 2pm by the time Mike had finished Louis's work, now he needed to start on Harvey's. As Mike went to drop the cases off in Louis's office, he got stopped. "Not so fast Ross." Mike turned back from the door, "I need you to go through the Roland Briefs. They're waiting for you in conference room C."
The Roland Briefs? He couldn't be serious? Mike knew that case had been huge, meaning there would be a lot of briefs to proof. He didn't have the time, he still needed to look through precedents for Harvey.
"Louis can't you get one of the other associates to do it, it's just that I need to do something for Harv-"
Mike didn't even get to finish saying his boss's name, as Louis cut him off. "I don't care what you're doing for Harvey. These briefs need to be proofed and I'm asking you to do it. You work for me as well Ross, in case you've forgotten."
"How could I ever forget that?" Mike mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?"
"On it."
Just as Mike was about to exit Louis's office, the senior partner called, "Oh and I need them finished by tomorrow."
Mike had to clench his fists to restrain himself from going back in there and taking his anger out on Louis. He didn't get it. Just because he was Harvey's associate made Louis treat him so poorly. Just because he was a fast worker, did not mean he was required to do triple the work as other associates.
But knowing that it would be a pointless argument to engage in, he swallowed his pride and headed to the library. Harvey wasn't due back from court until 4, so he still had time to find precedent before he got back.
According to Mike, 4 o'clock rolled around far too quickly, and before he knew it, Harvey was strolling up to him. "How'd it go?" Mike asked, before Harvey could ask him about the Tamworth case.
Harvey had a smug grin on his face, which could only mean one thing, "We won. It was dismissed."
"Great." Mike said, trying to suppress a yawn.
"Now, have you found me any precedents yet?" Harvey was looking at Mike expectantly, just as he always did. Mike knew that Harvey had higher expectations of him. He knew that if Harvey assigned him something, he expected it to be done in the quarter of the time it would take an average associate to complete it. Usually he thrived on pleasing Harvey, but as of late, it hasn’t been as gratifying. If anything it’s been more exhausting.
"Yes and no." He finally answered.
Harvey raised an eyebrow at him, "Okay?"
"I've found grounds for us to get their financials but I can't find anything to obtain their emails."
Harvey sighed, "Okay, well at least that's a start. Keep looking, it's got to be here somewhere. Our hearing is at 3 tomorrow, so just make sure you've found something by then?"
Mike nodded, "On it."
It wasn't until late into the night, when Mike finally found grounds for them to acquire the emails of the Tamworth board members. Yes! He got up and put away the books before heading back to his desk. To his surprise Rachel was sitting in his seat.
"Hey," she said, smiling lovingly.
"Hey,” he sighed.
"Oh no,” Her eyes were filled with concern as she slowly rounded the table to wrap her arms around his neck. “What's wrong?"
"I'm just really swamped with work at the moment."
"When is that not the case," she tried to joke but Mike wasn't laughing. "When do you think you'll be done?"
Mike shrugged, "I still have to proof the Roland Briefs, so I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight."
Rachel pouted pulling herself closer, "No Mike! You pulled an all-nighter here last night, I won't let you do it again."
"I don't have much choice. Louis made it quite clear that I needed to get it done by tomorrow and I was too busy doing something for Harvey that I haven't even started yet. So as much as I would like to go home with you tonight, I can't."
"Fine, then I'm staying too. We'll finish quicker if we work together."
This time it was Mike's turn to shake his head and pull her closer. "No. You have an exam tomorrow. I'm sorry but I'm not going to let you."
"It's just one exam," she tried to reason.
"Which counts for half of your grade this semester."
Rachel rolled her eyes, she knew he was right, "Fine..." she dragged out the word, "I'll bring you a fresh suit in the morning but if you even consider doing this tomorrow, I’m tying you to the bed.”
Mike cracked a smile at that, “We’ll have to see about that.” He challenged, the smirk never leaving his face.
She sealed their conversation with a kiss. Mike knew that meant it was the end of their talk but that didn't stop him from pushing her up against his cubicle wall, desperately needing the distraction.
Rachel pulled away first, "As much as I'd like to," she breathed, "you have work to do."
"I know,” he sighed and snuck in one final peck before they parted ways, one heading towards the elevators, the other to a long night in conference room C.