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Knowing that Harvey plays in the gray is one thing, but Rachel has a habit of assuming the worst of Harvey and trying to rope Mike into it for no clear reason. I always read so much animosity between Rachel and Harvey and can't help but see them fighting over Mike's loyalty and attention.

i've said this before, but harvey almost certainly had no idea whatsoever who rachel was before mike showed up and started showing an interest in her. his entire frame of reference for her is "person who mike knows and spends (wastes) time with," and for someone like harvey who likes to be the center of attention in a crowd, is deeply insecure about the people he loves abandoning him, and needs to be in control of (or at least able to manipulate) every aspect of a situation in which he's involved, rachel is pretty much the worst thing he could possibly have to deal with.

i have to wonder if rachel would be so dead set on believing that harvey buried evidence if she wasn't fighting him for mike's attention. he is, again, her boss, and she seems to have nothing but admiration and reverence for pearson hardman as a firm; without mike, harvey wouldn't treat her any differently from any other paralegal, and jessica may have taken a personal interest in her when she was hired (four years ago at this point), but i doubt any of the other senior partners treat her like she's special, so he probably wouldn't stand out as being excessively rude by not remembering her specifically. that is, rather than "that unscrupulous bastard harvey specter," he'd just be "harvey specter, yet another senior partner." she might have some uncertainty about the allegations at first, but would she really, genuinely believe that the firm she loves so much would employ somebody like that? she accuses him as a means of trying to control mike, but does she even think it's true? has she given it any real thought, or is it a knee-jerk reaction, the most convenient way to get what she wants?

And you know drives her INSANE that Mike ran to him when she cheated on him despite the fact that Harvey is also the one who told Mike it was okay to forgive her (despite it being completely Ooc for him).

She wants Harvey to take all the blame while she gets a Mike without a felony conviction on his record who is finally just hers and not Harvey's. The worst part is that she knows damn well that she would not have even looked twice at Mike if Harvey hadn't found him.

@historycat makes a really good point that rachel is very used to getting her own way and being other people's priority; her mother clearly adores and dotes on her, her father wanted to use his connections to get her a job and only backed down at her insistence, jessica hired her despite her lack of experience and lack of harvard pedigree; it's clear in her relationship with mike, as well, that she's not used to compromising or looking at issues from multiple sides. she wants what she wants, and she expects others to give it to her. not that she won't put in the work, but she refuses to accept failure mainly on the grounds of "because it's me" rather than "i am objectively in the right."

i hate that harvey was the one to tell mike to go back to rachel after she cheated on him, but i do have one interesting little thought experiment to make it the slightest bit more palatable: harvey told mike to take rachel back because he saw how happy she made him (or how happy he claimed to be with her, in any case) and he knew mike wanted to take her back. mike wanted an excuse, he wanted to be told it was okay to forgive her even though he was hurting. he wanted reassurance that it wouldn't ruin his life to give her another chance. harvey will always do his best to make mike happy, so if that's what mike wants, that's what harvey will give him, even if it kills him.

but what if harvey was waiting for mike to say no?

mike knows well enough what harvey's history is with martial infidelity, and he knows that harvey would never, ever fool around with a woman in a committed relationship, or advocate for someone else to do the same. what if harvey told mike what he wanted to hear to give mike the chance to say thanks, harvey, but i know you don't mean that? i know you're trying to look out for me, but i can't do it? what if harvey saw this as his last greatest chance to get mike away from rachel, to "save him," if you will?

and then mike basically says fuck that, thanks for the seal of approval, bestie, let's just pretend this never happened and go right back to where we started.

If we allow for Harvey having romantic feelings for Mike, there are other reasons to stop himself from making a move. Harvey knows Mike is very vulnerable at this moment:

- He may or may not be getting out of a serious relationship with someone he thought would never betray him.

-He's coming back to the firm and carrying a secret that seems to be hurting him more by the minute, one where he is breaking the law

-He will be Harvey's subordinate again if he returns to the firm. While this is a fun dynamic in fanfiction, realistically, Harvey would never ever want Mike to feel like he'd hurt Mike or treat him differently if Mike said no to a relationship. Harvey likes having power and authority in his relationships, but ultimately he wants people to choose to be with him. If there is even the slightest chance he'd scare Mike, he wouldn't go through with asking him out.