Salvation

42

Harvey looked around the surroundings. The neighbourhood hadn't changed at all. Lines of houses all darkened by the night, yet still in suitable conditions. Then there was the darkened house in front of them.

"Harvey, you've really let this place go." Adelaide said while tugging on his hand, Harvey looked down at her.

"Can I remind you that I've not been here in ages?" He smiled and walked up the steps to the front door. Letting go of Adelaide's hand he took to rummaging in his jacket pockets. Pulling out the keys he stuck them in the lock and turned. With a creak the door opened, a darkened corridor greeted them. Adelaide stuck her head into the darkness and sneezed. Harvey looked as she straightened up and sneezed again.

"This place is more dusty than what my home was." Adelaide said while twitching her nose. "And that's saying something because my home was extremely dusty." Getting gently nudged into the building she sneezed again. Adelaide ended up putting her hands over her mouth and nose. Walking quickly into the living room she pushed the curtains open, grimacing at the grubby windows she reached out and pushed them open. Turning around she gave Harvey an odd look. "You all right?"

"It just feels odd being back here is all."

Adelaide walked past him and took to opening the windows in the rest of the downstairs rooms. Walking back to the living room she put her hands in her pockets. Harvey was running his fingers over the spines of the books which were crammed onto the bookcase. "It's still impossible to get a book from it." She stated, Harvey looked up at her and smirked, pulling a book off he waved it at her.

"Not impossible. Remember you took a book off? You never put it back, thus creating a gap." Harvey explained and flipped through the dusty pages. Adelaide rolled her eyes and took to cleaning, Harvey raised an eyebrow at her. Snapping the book shut he reached out and held onto the back of her jumper. "What are you doing?"

"Making this place more liveable." She said, "I can't live with all this dust." She shuddered at the mere thought of dust and looked up at him. "You can help me considering it's your home." Adelaide pulled his hand off, took the book from his other hand and pulled him away from the bookcase. Harvey rolled his eyes and pulled his jacket off, rolling his shirt sleeves up he took to helping Adelaide out.

----

"Just like new." Adelaide said happily while looking over her room, she had just cleaned it out and slammed the window shut. Nodding and reaching down, she picked up the dusty bedding and walked to the bathroom. Dumping the sheets into the washing bin, she turned on her heels and walked along the corridor. Peeking through the door she looked into Harvey's room.

He was sitting on the bed looking around, upon noticing her, he jumped up and smiled. "I was just-"

"Slacking. Your room is still a mess!" Adelaide jumped into the room and crossed her arms.

"Woah," Harvey blinked and pointed a finger at her. "Who are you?" She narrowed her eyes. "I mean, Addy I've never known you to be so up for cleaning."

"Dust!" She exclaimed and swatted her arm in the air. Dust particles flowed in the path of her arm which caused her to look at him. "You'll contract asthma or something by being in here." Harvey still looked at her simply, not really taking on board what she had said.

"You having a moment over cleaning is quite cute." Harvey stated cutting into Adelaide's ramble about dust and the need to get rid of it. Hearing his words caused her to put her hands over her cheeks and frown at him. Embarrassing her was still a fun past time, Harvey could freely admit to that.

Adelaide just pointed at him which he raised an eyebrow over, half expecting a rant about more dust and cleanliness, but instead she turned and walked off back to her room. Being left on his own, Harvey looked around. It was so odd being back here. When he left he didn't think he'd come back to it. There were so many memories in this building which had flooded freely back to him. Looking towards the door, he stood up and walked down the corridor. Adelaide was happily whistling, leaning against the door frame he watched as she quickly made her bed and closed the curtains. Turning around she jumped at the sight of him.

"Please don't sneak up on me." Adelaide put a hand to her heart and sighed heavily. Looking up she smiled. "Deciding your room is too dusty, huh?"

"Addy, let the dust go."

Smirking she waved a hand at him and collapsed in her bed. Curling up she contently sighed and shut her eyes. Laughing when she got suddenly poked in the side she wriggled. "Hey! This is my bed, not my fault your room is too dusty to stay in."

"Have you not heard the saying, share and share alike?" Harvey asked while Adelaide peered over the duvet. Sitting up she wriggled her arms over the duvet and twiddled her thumbs. "What's wrong?" Harvey asked when a rather disheartened look flitted onto Adelaide's face. She looked up at him quickly and then back to her hands. Lifting her face up to look at him he smiled. "Come on, whatever is bothering you can't be that bad."

"Deja vu, and...annoyance."

"Care to explain?" Harvey asked while Adelaide shifted in the bed and made room for him. She lifted his arm up and put it around herself while she used his chest as a pillow.

"Deja vu because we're acting just like we used to before everything that happened, happened." Harvey gave a slow nod at that, he couldn't disagree with her words. "Annoyance because," she paused at this for a while. For a moment Harvey actually thought she had gone to sleep because she was being so silent. Looking down he watched as Adelaide's expression turned into a thoughtful one. "I am annoyed because we could have continued like this. Yet some bastard popped up and hurt you, and all that stuff...happened..." Adelaide trailed off distantly. Yet again Harvey couldn't disagree with her. Leaning his head on top of hers, Adelaide looked up. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, wait..actually, is your question something I should be worried about?"

"No!" She laughed and then went silent. Leaning her head up she looked at him. "Can we continue to live like this? Like we used to, you know...you with a day job and me sticking around the house. Although I did have a job I technically lost it...but that's not the point!"

"You know what the problem is with that?"

"No."

"You're thinking too far ahead, Adelaide." Harvey smiled and ran his fingers through her hair. "Take one day as it comes." Adelaide shifted and leaned up. Placing her lips against his gently she sighed contently when Harvey wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back.

----

Waking up and realising he was holding tightly onto something, Harvey looked down. Adelaide was still fast asleep wrapped up in the duvet. She shifted and turned around so she was huddled against his chest more. Pulling the duvet around her again, Harvey took to running his fingers through her hair. A content sound came from Adelaide as she slept. Leaning his head against hers, Harvey shut his eyes. "Is it morning?" Came a quiet voice, looking down, Harvey watched as Adelaide's eyes opened and she looked up at him.

"It is, why?"

"I had a dream." She said while rubbing her eyes. "You know one of those 'that so didn't happen' sort of dreams."

"What happened?"

"You weren't here." She said quietly yet honestly, Harvey lifted her head up to look at him. "Silly, huh?"

"Who knew you were so attached to my company?" He smirked while kissing her lightly. Adelaide reached up to hold onto him. He just smirked more when he pulled away to see a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. Definitely something he was never going to get sick or tired of doing, and with the future now looking brighter yet still uncertain, Harvey was quite looking forward to sometimes accidentally embarrassing her from now until whenever.

----

(Edited: 30/Jan/2020)