Over the next few days, Harvey did his best to avoid Mike - he sent him on unnecessarily long errands, gave him huge piles of paperwork to file, even let him work another pro bono on his own. At first, Mike seemed excited, his face framed in the eager, puppy dog expression he always got when he thought Harvey was proud of him; but by the end of the third day of Harvey evading him, however, Mike's excited face soon morphed into his despondent one, and one glance at what Mike looked like despondent was nearly extreme enough to make Harvey take him by the hand, drag him to the limo, and reluctantly succumb to whatever the manly version of pining was while they rode to the client meetings. Nearly.

Finally, Harvey couldn't take it anymore, and he decided there was only one person who could possibly sort out such a tangled mess, the sole person at the firm he willingly admitted was smarter than him - Jessica. This meant, Harvey realized with a sinking feeling, that he would to have to tell her how he felt about Mike. She was never, ever going to let him live it down, but seeing Mike mope around the office was enough to convince Harvey that it was a price he would have to pay.

So it was that at 8:35 PM precisely on that Tuesday evening, when he was sure that everyone else had already gone home for the night, Harvey Specter stormed into Jessica Pearson's office and thrust a single dollar bill onto her desk. "Here."

Jessica looked up from her desk, her expression one which on anyone else would have seemed like confusion, but somehow on Jessica just appeared calculating. "Wow, did you lose another bet with me already? I've lost track; it happens so often."

"Haha, very funny," Harvey said with a roll of his eyes, "It's a retainer."

"I believe, last time I checked, my going rate for retainers was fifteen thousand dollars. Plop another fourteen thousand, nine hundred, ninety-nine on my desk and we'll talk."

"I'm not kidding around, Jessica!" Harvey said frustratedly. "I am in severe need of some attorney-client privilege right now."

The edge in his voice must have convinced her that something was actually going on, because Jessica slowly slid the dollar across her desk and ostentatiously placed it in her wallet. "In all the time we've known each other, I've never known you to look this serious about anything. What the hell is going on, Harvey?"

Harvey sighed and sank down in the plush, leather chair across from her desk - it was time to face the music. "I'm in love with Mike," he said gravely, never taking his eyes from Jessica's.

To his utter astonishment, Jessica simply burst out laughing. "Honestly, Harvey, you are a bit of a neanderthal sometimes. I don't know if you've heard, but it has very recently become socially acceptable to be in love with the people you're sleeping with." She leaned forward conspiratorially to whisper, "Some actually encourage it."

"What do you mean sleeping with?" Harvey asked, too flabbergasted to respond in an appropriately biting manner to Jessica's sarcasm. "Mike and I aren't sleeping together!"

"Oh, come off it, Harvey, of course you are!" Jessica scoffed, laughing, "The whole office has known for ages!"

"The whole of-...known for ag-..." Harvey shouted, in a manner which he admitted was a bit abrupt, but Harvey Specter did not sputter, damn it.

"Well, yeah," Jessica replied, looking a bit at a loss. "I mean, come on, Harvey, it seems like every time I see you, you're holding hands with the kid!"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Harvey defended, still reeling from the revelation that the whole office apparently thought he was already sleeping with Mike.

"I'm sorry, you're right," Jessica said in a tone of mock conciliation, "Holding hands is the new fist bump, isn't it? I think I read that in GQ."

"Oh, shut up," Harvey shot back in lieu of a comeback. "The point is, I am not, I repeat NOT sleeping with him."

"...And you'd like to?" Jessica finished for him, suddenly looking very amused.

"No!" Harvey yelled instinctively. "I mean, yes! I mean...damn it, Jessica!" This wasn't going at all like he'd planned, Harvey thought desperately. Not only was Jessica not shocked at his feelings for Mike, but she'd apparently assumed that he'd long since acted on them. He buried his head in his hands in despair.

"Wow, you do have it bad," Jessica said with a low whistle. "I've never seen you this flustered, Harvey, not in court, not at the bargaining table, never."

Harvey merely groaned and leaned back in his chair. That was it, he decided; he couldn't take this any more, and he quickly pushed up out of his chair and said, "I gotta go - I need some air. Just...forget I said anything."

"Harvey," Jessica said, standing up as he turned to leave, "Come on, I didn't mean to rib you about the kid. Truth is, I think he's a good influence on you."

"I wasn't aware I needed any influencing," Harvey said defensively, "But...thanks, I suppose. I'll see you tomorrow, Jess."

"Til tomorrow, then, Harvey," Jessica said with a smile that Harvey found frustratingly enigmatic, as if somehow she still knew something he didn't.

Feeling even more worked up than before, Harvey left the building in a rush and headed straight for the comfort of his waiting limo.

"Mike not joining us again, Harvey?" Ray called out from the front seat, his tone surprised, but thoroughly amiable.

"Just drive, please, Ray?" Harvey responded, his tone tired and entreating, "I don't care where."

"Sure thing, boss," Ray said brightly, although Harvey could detect an undercurrent of worry beneath the cheerfulness that warmed his apparently all-too-existent heart a little bit.

As he leaned his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, the soothing sounds of a piano started filtering through the limo's speaker system, immediately followed by the dulcet tones of Ol' Blue Eyes himself:

It's quarter to three / There's no one in the place except you and me / So set 'em up, Joe / I got a little story I think you oughtta know.

Harvey couldn't help but smile as he realized this was Ray's musical version of, "Hey, you can talk to me about it." You know, he forgot sometimes what a lucky son-of-a-bitch he was, Harvey thought to himself, to have so many people in his life who cared about him, despite his constant protestations that he didn't care about anybody. This, of course, made him think of Mike, who cared more than anyone else, and he finally caved.

"Ray, you've known me for a pretty long time now," Harvey began.

"Eight years next month, boss," Ray agreed pleasantly.

"Do you think that Mike and I have been sleeping together?" Harvey asked, slightly afraid of the answer.

"Of course not," Ray replied, and just as Harvey was about heave a sigh of relief, he continued, "I mean, sure, you've been in love with the kid for awhile now, but the sexual tension is still way too high for you to be sleeping together.

"God, am I the only one who didn't know?" Harvey asked, exasperated. The whole fiasco had officially become out-of control.

"What, that you love Mike? Besides the kid himself - who's as much in the dark as you were, by the way - pretty much. I'm afraid Donna and I have had a bit of a pool going, and from the looks of things, I think I'm gonna owe her twenty bucks."

Harvey moaned and smacked the back of his head repeatedly on the leather seat. "Everything's such a mess, Ray, and I don't know what to do."

Ray didn't answer for a moment, then said finally, "Boss, can I be frank with you for a second?"

"Always, Ray, you know that."

"Harvey, I've been your driver for eight years, and I'd say that by this point, I know you pretty well. So I'm going to tell you three things. One, the only person you're fooling with your "I don't care about people" shtick is yourself."

"Now, I really don't think that's-" Harvey tried to object, but Ray cut him off.

"It's no good trying to bluff me, Harvey. You may talk a big game, but at the end of the day, you always go out of your way to help the people who are important to you. Hell, you go out of your way to help people you don't even know because it's the right thing to do. Face it, Harvey - when it comes to being a heartless bastard, you are a complete and utter failure."

"Two," he barreled on before Harvey could interject further, "I have seen you do a lot of different things with a lot of different people in the back of this limo over the years. Clients, opposing council, models, Congressmen, and, as I recall, on one memorable occasion, the entire Swedish mixed doubles Olympic tennis team - kudos on that one, by the way.

"But in all that time, there's only one person I've ever seen you really be yourself with, and that's Mike. It's like when it's just the two of you back there, you take off all that armor you put on to convince people you're a big, bad lawyer who's going to ruin them if they don't do what you say. And, I'll tell you, the way that kid looks at you when he thinks you aren't watching - devotion, respect, affection, it's like you're his whole world."

"Which brings me to three," Ray finished as he slowly put the limo in park and turned around to look at Harvey. "You, my friend, are not a coward. In all the time I've known you, I have never, ever seen you back down from a challenge. You are Harvey Specter, the best damn closer in the city, and there isn't a problem out there that you can't handle. Which is why you're going to call Mike right now, tell him to get down here, and put both of you out of your misery once and for all."

Harvey instinctively looked out his window and was surprised to see that Ray had driven them straight to Mike's apartment building. He looked back at his driver, who was smiling at him, and gave a little sigh. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Nope," Ray returned with a firm nod of his head. "If you don't tell him, I swear to God, I'll run up there right now and do it myself."

"You're a bit of a bastard, you know that, Ray?" Harvey said, though there was no edge to his voice.

"One of us has to be," Ray deadpanned. "Now, go on, call him!"

Harvey rolled his eyes and pushed 1 on his speed dial - in retrospect, that probably should have been a clue, he thought ruefully - and waited for Mike to pick up.

After only a couple rings, Mike's voice came through bright and eager, "Harvey?"

Mike's obvious excitement made Harvey feel even guiltier for avoiding him, and he barked out, "I'm outside, come down," hanging up before Mike could reply.

"Smooth," Ray said sarcastically, shooting him a look.

"Cut me some slack, I'm new at this," Harvey said defensively, before slumping back in his seat and taking a deep breath. "God, Ray, why does it have to be this much work?"

Ray gave him a little smile and said, "Come on - everything worth having is, Harvey, you know that."

Harvey sighed again and said, "Well, whatever happens, Ray, thank you. You're a good friend."

"Anytime, boss," Ray said, before flashing him a cheeky grin and adding, "I will, of course, expect this to be reflected in my Christmas bonus."

Harvey was prevented from uttering a witty retort by the sudden opening of the limo door and the appearance of Mike's face, his expression uncharacteristically apprehensive and voice hesitant as he asked, "Harvey?"

"Well, don't just stand there gaping at me all night, get in," Harvey said, trying to keep his voice level and commanding to hide his own rising panic, which had only spiked upon seeing Mike.

"Sorry," Mike mumbled as he slid in beside Harvey and shut the door.

Ray shot Harvey a look through the rear-view mirror that clearly said, "Hey, be nice to the kid," before raising the partition to give them a bit of privacy.

As Ray pulled out from the curb, Harvey could sense that Mike was fighting the urge to move his hand a few inches to the right to rest on Harvey's, as he so often did. Harvey was surprised when Mike spoke instead, his voice tentative as he asked, "Harvey, are you mad at me?"

"Did you know the whole firm thinks we've been going out together?" Harvey asked in lieu of a response, not giving Mike a chance to respond before continuing, "For weeks, apparently! Jessica was shocked when I denied it, absolutely shocked. There's nothing I hate more the idea of other people spreading false rumors about me behind my back."

"Harvey, you can't have been avoiding me because you think that I told -" Mike interjected hurriedly, still looking a bit shocked at Harvey's outburst.

"Of course not," Harvey waved him off, adding an impatient, "I thought we had a talk about you interrupting me. Now, as I was saying, there's nothing I hate more than false rumors. And the simplest solution by far seems to me...to make it so that the rumors are no longer false."

"No longer...false?" Mike asked, confused, until his face suddenly lit up with realization. "Wait, Harvey, are you...are you asking me on a date?"

"Yes," Harvey said firmly, because Ray was right, he thought - Harvey Specter was no coward.

"Oh," was Mike's only reply, although Harvey thought he looked as if he wished to say more.

"Unless you're dumb enough to say no," Harvey continued, as this frightening possibility occurred to him for the first time, "In which case, I am definitely not asking you out, and Ray is my witness."

Mike looked at him for a long moment, then, ever so slowly, raised a hand and brushed it against Harvey's cheek, before muttering, "Idiot."

Harvey felt his heart leap in his chest and, keeping his eyes locked with Mike's, he leaned forward so their faces were mere centimeters apart.

And so it was that at this moment, for the very first time - although definitively not the last - Harvey reached for Mike's hand for no other reason than because he loved him; no excuses, no convenient explanations, just a simple little emotion, the likes of which he'd never felt before.

Harvey subsequently closing the few inches between them and kissing Mike, however, could legitimately have been blamed, at least a little bit, on the limo's sudden jolt left and a surprisingly romantic limo driver named Ray, who received a bonus that following Christmas equal to what he would have made in two years of driving Harvey; attached to the cheque was a note saying, "Worth. Every. Penny."