The glass shattered into thousand shards as it hit the wall and yet Scottie didn't feel any better. The anger, the resentment, the grief and the bitter betrayal still lingered underneath her skin and wouldn't just come out.

No matter how much she screamed at empty air or how much glasses she broke, the emotions that wreaked havoc in her mind wouldn't lessen; wouldn't release their grip on her soul and she hated herself for being so weak – so emotional.

They all saw it, Scottie realized and if her throat wasn't so sore from already screaming so much she would have screamed even louder in anger and mortification. Jessica Pearson, Louis, Harvey, Donna, Norma…they probably all had seen the scene she had caused and were questioning her suitability as future Senior Partner.

Scottie balled her hands into fists, her nails cutting into her palms. She had worked so hard, so long, to get into the position she was now. Just for one moment of weakness – of passion, of emotion – to destroy everything? No, she wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't allow it! This was her life and no one but her would destroy it!

When she travelled back to Manhattan she would don back her old persona – the ice-cold, aloof, ambitious bitch of Pearson Hardman – and never let go of it. And she would never trust again. No co-workers, no lovers and definitely no random strangers who were kind and compassionate and made her forget that she probably lost her soul along the way to the top.

Trust, Scottie thought, was for the weak.

And if there was one thing she wasn't, then it was weak.

"Dana?" Someone knocked at the door and Scottie turned around, her face distorted into a mask of fury.

"Leave!" she screamed. "Haven´t you done enough already? Just leave!"

"Please, Dana, hear me out!" Mike pleaded, but everything Scottie felt was this all-consuming rage that ran through every vein in her body. She had trusted Mike. The first time she had let a stranger in and he turned around and broke her trust like it meant nothing.

And I didn't even get sex out of it, Scottie thought and giggled hysterically. Oh, how far she had fallen.

"Dana…"

"Just LEAVE!" she shouted. Why couldn't Mike just go, so that she could hate him in peace?

"Should I call the police?" Scottie breathed out in relief. That was the voice of old Tom from across the street. Maybe he would take care of Mike, so that she didn't have to.

"No, there´s no need," she heard Mike protesting weakly.

"The lady obviously wants you to leave," Tom barked. "You better go before I call the police."

"Okay," Mike replied. Scottie could hear his steps on the gravel becoming quieter the further he walked away. When the last sound had faded away and silence descended upon her again she allowed herself to lean against the front door, slide down to the ground and just cry until no tear was spilling forth anymore.

Harvey found Mike aimlessly wandering on the street.

He beckoned Ray to slow down and pulled down the window.

"Mike!" he shouted, startling the blonde who just continued walking, ignoring Harvey completely.

"Mike!" Harvey shouted again.

"What?!" Mike snapped and turned around. "What do you want? I thought that I wasn't worth your trust anymore." That stung. Harvey hadn't meant to hurt Mike like that. It was just…he hadn't been in control of the situation, there had been too many violate variables. He could have gone on with his list, but it all boiled down to the fact that Harvey was insecure when it came to his feelings.

Mike continued walking.

"Mike, get in the car," Harvey pleaded. Mike just shook his head. That left Harvey no other choice.

"Ray, just wait for me, will you?" The Indian nodded and the moment the car halted Harvey was already out of it, sprinting on the sidewalk towards Mike.

"Mike, please, let me explain," Harvey begged.

"What is there to explain, Harvey?" Mike turned around. He looked worn out, tired, just done with the world and Harvey wanted to wrap a blanket around the younger man and hide him away in his condo, so that the world couldn't get at him anymore.

"You don't trust me," Mike continued and his voice was so full of hurt that Harvey could feel nothing but shame. He had done this. He had hurt this beautiful man.

"Mike," Harvey said the other´s name like it was salvation and for a moment the familiar warmth that usually resided behind those beautiful blue eyes returned. "I trust you. With all of my heart."

"It didn't sound like that a few hours ago," Mike sneered.

"Mike," Harvey gulped. "You have to know…when I was younger…my mother cheated on my dad." There, he said it. "He loved her with all of his heart and she slept with our neighbour the moment he went out of the house each morning. It destroyed him when he discovered it and ever since then…I´ve learned that you shouldn't trust the people you love." He had done it. Harvey had bared his deepest insecurities, his greatest fears, to Mike and now he hoped that it was enough to make the other man forgive him – to make him stay with him. Don´t leave.

"I´m not your mother," Mike remarked calmly.

"I know," Harvey replied and ran his hand through his slick hair like a nervous teenager on his first date. "I know that now. You´re compassionate, you love with your whole heart, you would do everything for your friends and you couldn't even hurt a fly. You´re everything she isn't and – please, Mike – I don't want to lose you like I lost her and my father. So, please…" Harvey didn't even know what he was pleading for anymore. Forgiveness? Absolution? A smile on that beautiful face?

Mike just stood there and for once Harvey couldn't read the other man´s emotion. It made him uneasy, not knowing what was to come. He had no control.

But that was what all this was about, wasn't it? With Mike Harvey didn't need any control. He could just let go, knowing that there was someone who would catch him if he fell. Someone to have his back even in the direst circumstances.

"Harvey," Mike said, all the hurt and anger in his voice faded away. "Look at me." Harvey looked up from the ground at Mike and then there were Mike´s lips on his and Mike was kissing him! Harvey held to the other man like he was the only life line in a stormy sea, like he feared to get lost forever if he ever let go of him. He kissed Mike like there was no tomorrow and tried to convey everything he was too craven to say in this one gesture.

The kiss ended and reluctantly Harvey let go of Mike.

"I forgive you," Mike said, still breathless from the kiss.

And right now everything was good.

It seemed like Scottie couldn't shake off her ghosts.

Every evening Mike would ring the bell downstairs and every single time Scottie would ignore him. She could see him from her window, looking up hopefully, but when the door wouldn't open, his face would fall until he finally turned around and walked back. A lonely figure, with hunched shoulders and hands in his jeans, walking down a lonely street until the darkness swallowed him whole.

Scottie didn't know why, but somehow the sight made her feel this strange sense of melancholy. She closed the curtain.

The past had long since passed by and no matter how much she wished, it would never come back.

It was time for Mike to learn that as well.

"Can you at least hear him out?" Scottie looked up from the papers she was currently reading and stared at Harvey, who was casually leaning on the door frame. He looked like the epitome of put-togetherness, but he couldn't fool Scottie. She saw the tense lines around his eyes and mouth, the tension in his whole body posture. He was anything but relaxed.

"Who are you talking about?" she remarked, her eyes wandering back to the dreadfully boring briefs.

"You know who," Harvey shot back. Scottie looked up again, her expression cold.

"There´s nothing to talk about," she replied resolutely, but inwardly she was seething. How dare he? How dare he coming in her and dictate her what she should do? "You and Mike had your fun with me and now life continues."

"Scottie…." Harvey started, but Scottie cut him off.

"What, Harvey?!" she snapped at the other man. "What is there left to say?" She stood up, hands on her desk, because she felt like she was about to explode. "You send your boy toy after me and I – stupid fool that I am – let him in and trusted him. I hope you two had your laughs at me, because now I´m finished with you."

"For God´s sake!" Harvey exclaimed. "Do you even hear yourself anymore? Or are you too busy wallowing in your hurt and self-pity?" Scottie´s mouth fell open. "Are you unable to listen? I didn't even know Mike knew you until the funeral. We started dating barely a month ago! And I definitely need none of my lovers if I want dirt one you. I have Vanessa for that!" And with that tirade Harvey walked out of the office, leaving behind a shell-shocked and confused Scottie.

When the door rang on this evening Scottie allowed Mike to come up.

"What changed your mind?" Mike asked as he stood in her doorway, hair wet from the rain, the very picture of desperate puppy as he looked at her with rekindled hope behind his cerulean eyes.

"You´ll have to live with that mystery for the rest of your life," Scottie replied snippy. Mike grinned ruefully and then entered her apartment. Scottie led him to her diner table where he sat down, nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

"Anything to drink?" Scottie asked. She hadn't forgotten her manners, after all. Mike just shook his head. Scottie sat down in front of him.

"So, what do you have to say?" she wanted to know.

"Honestly?" Mike laughed. "I didn't think I´d get this far. And…" He laughed again. "I have forgotten what I wanted to say!" Then he couldn't hold himself anymore and went into a full-blown laughing fit.

It is funny, though, Scottie had to admit as she supressed her own laugh, the man with the eidetic memory forgets his apology.

After a while, the laughter abated and the atmosphere turned sober again.

"I´m here to say," Mike began, "that never – during our whole acquaintance – have I abused the trust you put in me. I know, it sounds like hollow words, but it is the truth, nevertheless."

"How can I believe these words?" Scottie whispered.

"You can´t," Mike replied. "Not if you have to ask that question. You have to ask yourself, if you still trust me enough to believe what I´m saying. And I´m saying to you that I never told anyone about the things we talked about. Not to my friends, not to my grandmother and certainly not to Harvey. They were always just between you and me."

"Then why…?" Scottie didn't need to finish the question. Mike knew what she wanted to ask.

"Because I saw someone who needed help," he replied. "I saw someone strong; someone fierce and yet also fragile and delicate. I saw someone lonely and I know how loneliness feels like, even when you´re surrounded by people. No one should feel that way." He stood up and made his way out of the room. Before he was through the door, though, he turned back again. "I´d have been happy to call you a friend." And then he was walking out, back turned towards her.

Scottie stared at the seat Mike had just vacated and remembered lonely nights, crushing emptiness and the gaping hole in her heart where her father had been. She remembered midnight talks, sharing secrets and the certainty that there was someone else who understood.

And with clarity that only came in moments like these, Scottie knew what she had to do.

"Mike!" she shouted and ran after him. "Mike!"

On the stairs Mike turned around, his brow creased in confusion.

"Mike!"

AN: I can´t believe that this story is over now. It started as comment fic and it turned into a 30k monster.

I wanted to thank everyone who commented and followed. Even though I do not always answer, I read every of your reviews and was very happy about them. You are the best! THE BEST!

I also know, I could have made this longer, but I´m not a big fan of several chapters of angst and miscommunication as plot device.