Screeeeeeeee! I awoke to the sound of a tea kettle shrieking and screaming on a stove, and in a house I didn't recognize. What on earth was going on? I looked down, and saw that someone had covered me with a white fuzzy blanket. Despite my body's protests, I pushed the blanket off and looked around, taking stock of my surroundings. I was laying on a couch in the living area. This place was huge! The kitchen alone could hold my bedroom twice over. I was so in awe that I didn't hear Harry come up behind me until he tapped my shoulder.

I shrieked in surprise, and then winced when a stabbing pain shot through my head. Harry immediately stopped laughing at my surprise and looked me over in concern. "Are you ok?" he asked. I nodded, then winced again. I had a raging headache. Harry held out a mug that had steam frothing over the top, and I noticed that the kettle had stopped whistling. I frowned. "What is it?" I asked, my voice hoarse from sleep. Harry handed it to me, and said, "Earl Grey. Your mum brought some packets from the store, and I figured it would be nice for you to have something hot to drink whenyou woke up."

I smiled and took a sip. He had sweetened it with honey and lemon, so the fruity taste was really prevalent. I smiled at him over the rim of the cup. He smiled back, and pointed upstairs. "I cleaned out the guest room while you were asleep. You can go up and finish your nap, if you like." he said sweetly. I smiled again, and said, "Actually, I'd rather be down here with you if that's alright." Harry nodded. "Of course, I completely understand." He threw his hands up in the air. "Do you want to watch a movie?" he asked. I nodded, and he opened a cabinet underneath the TV stand.


"You can pick." he told me, stepping back so that I could kneel down. I beamed at him, and sat down. I saw his selection and laughed. "Seriously? Mary Poppins? Aladdin?" he noddded sagely. "The classics." he whispered, almost reverently. I honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not. I grabbed Aladdin, simply because Robin Williams voiced the Genie, and it made me laugh every time he came onscreen. Harry's eyebrows arched when he saw what I picked. "You know what they say," I said. "Laughter is the best medicine."

He chuckled and popped the disc in the DVD player. We started watching watching, and he started to laugh when I started to sing, "Prince Ali." I childishly stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed. My eyes misted over at the end when the Genie was set free. "Are you crying?" Harry asked. I laughed as a tear slipped down my cheek. "Yes, of course I am!" I said, blushing. Harry caught a tear as it slipped down my cheek and wiped it on the right leg of his jeans. I smiled as Jasmine and Aladdin kissed, and, very off-handedly, I said, " Wouldn't it be wonderful to be kissed and know you were loved while watching this scene?"

Harry smiled. "I think I can do something about that."he said. I stared into his emerald green eyes and watched them come closer and closer...and then his lips were on mine, and I couldn't pull away. His lips were so soft, and warm, and gentle. At first, anyway. It took a few moments to get over the shock, but once I did, his kisses became rougher and deeper, his mouth taking possession of my own. He kissed me like he was a drowning man, and I was his lifeline. Suddenly, I realized he wasn't just kissing me. He was consuming me.

A voice in the back of my head told me that this was a stupid idea, that it would only complicate things because we would be sharing livng space for the time being, and once we started, it could lead to some REALLY stupid decisions, but at that moment, I shoved the little voice back in its box, and pretended like it wasn't even there.

We were right in the middle of a kiss, and about to go for another round, when Harry pulled away with a groan. I frowned. "Are you ok?" I asked him. He nodded. "I just have a feeling that this is wrong. I mean, you've gone through so much in the past 24 hours, and I'm just wondering if this is good for you as well as me." Rubbing his neck like he always did, he looked at me nervously. I stared at him, smiling. "Are you seriously asking my permission to kissme?" I asked.

He nodded his head sagely, and I laughed. I outright LAUGHED. It was so odd, after the week I've had so far, that I could STILL laugh, but I had, and it was because of him. Didn't he know that? I sat down next to him, and he smiled sheepishly. Istared into those gorgeous green orbs, and said, "Was my response not clear?" He frowned. "What response?" he asked. I didn't answer, instead, I kissed him again, this time being slightly more agressive, and he began to kiss me back with equal ferocity.

We sat like that, just kissing, on the couch, for about thirty to forty five minutes. Then again, you lose all track of time when you're in a situation like this, so a whole day could have passed and I wouldn't have known it. Eventually, the sun started to set, and we broke away from each other for a bit. "Do you want to sit outside?" Harry asked. I nodded, and we stepped outside, and I was awestruck by the BEAUTIFUL sunset in the sky. It looked as though someone had streaked orange and purple and pink paint across the sky.

I just stared for awhile, thinking that there was nothing in the world more beautiful than that sunset right there. Then I looked at Harry, and thought to myself, " Oh, I stand corrected." Harry's eyebrows shot up, and he smirked as he said, "Enjoying the view?" I felt heat creep into my cheeks, and he chuckled. I looked down at my shoes, and smiled. Suddenly, I remembered. "My clothes!" I said. Harry stared at me for a moment, confused at my random statement, and then realized what I was talking about. "Your bag is in the upstairs guest room. Don't worry, they're here." I visibly relaxed, and he laughed, but then his face grew serious.

He drew me in for a hug, and I pressed against him, my arms around his waist. We stood there for a moment, and then he let me go. I smiled, but I was confused. "What was that for?" I asked. He shrugged. "I just felt like you needed a hug." He pointed to the wicker porch swing. "Do you want to sit?" He asked. I smiled. "Wow. Memories are flooding back." I said as I sat down, the swing rocking slightly as I did so. He sat down, and we rocked back and forth a few minutes.

I laid my head on his shoulder, and exhaustion came over me. Before I knew it, I was asleep. When I woke again, the pretty sunset was gone, we were no longer outside, and Harry was carrying me upstairs and laying me on guest bed. He pulled the covers up and over me, and kissed my forhead before walking out of the room. I fell back asleep when the door closed, but the dream that came with sleep was more like a nightmare.

I was standing on the edge of a deep precipice, my loose nightgown billowed all around me, swirling in the wind.I heard someone laughing behind me, and I whirled around to see Adrian slowly closing in on me. He laughed, the unholy sound echoing over the edge of the cliff, testifying to how deep the ravine was. "I will find you," he said. "I WILL find you, and I'll make you watch as Harry dies slowly before your eyes. You will rue the day you EVER said ANYTHING against me." He backed me up until I was standing on the very edge. With a psychotic gleam in his eye, he lunged, and I fell, screaming and screaming and screaming..."

"CALLA? CALLA! Calla, wake up!" I heard someone yelling as I screamed and thrashed, still in the throes of my nightmare. Oh God, it was Adrian! I kicked and scratched, still believing that Adrian was the one holding me down. I felt a pair of arms wrap around mine, and I stilled. These were not the arms of my brother. These arms made me feel safe, and I never felt safe when I was anywhere near Adrian.

"Calla, its me." I heard Harry say as the fog from my nightmare finally disappeared, and I realized where I was. I didn't even say anything, I just pulled the covers over my head, curled up into a tight little ball and wept, my entire body shaking from the force of my sobs.I felt the covers pulled slowly off my head, and I didn't even look up. I felt the bed shift to one side, and then even out. I felt him wrap his arms around me, and he held me until, slowly but surely, I stopped shaking. I was still crying, but the tears came with less urgency now.

After a while, my tears stopped altogether, and I just laid there, exhausted and broken, until Harry spoke. "You want to tell me what happened?" he asked softly. I shook my head. He didn't need to be burdened by my dark thoughts any more than he already was."You sure?" he asked. I nodded, not wanting to say anything. I heard him sigh, and grabbed my hand. I tried to pull away, but he slowly uncurled my fingers, and I let out a small gasp. Why did it sting so much?

"Oh love..." he trailed off as he stared at my palms, which had crescent-shaped cuts all over them from my nails. I had been clenching my hands so hard that I must have dug them into my palms. How did I not feel that? I wondered. I said nothing as I felt him move off the bed and come around to my side. He knelt down so that he could look me in the eye. "Let's get that cleaned up, shall we?"

I didn't expect him to pick me up until he did, and I made a small sound of protest, which he ignored. He carried me to the bathroom, grabbed a wet washcloth, and began to wipe at my hands. I gritted my teeth and hissed at the pain. He looked at me sympathetically as he cleaned them as gently as he could. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks, and I tried to wipe them away, but Harry pulled my hands back to him and placed a bandage ever so carefully on both palms.

I smiled as he kissed my forehead. I leapt off the bathroom counter and began walking towards the bedroom. Harry moved in front of me and opened the door, acting the part of the true gentleman. I stepped inside, and crawled into bed. I turned so that my back would face him, and I started to doze. I felt the bed shift again, and Harry wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my neck. And for the first time in a long time, I felt safe when I fell asleep.

Notes

Hi! So sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been busy with school and other stuff! Hope you are all well, and you enjoy this chapter.
All my love,
~Juliet