Piper ~ H.S

~Fifty-One~

What the fuck have you done now, Heath?

"See you later, guys," Heath gave us all a brief wave before he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked away from the door – and I immediately shut it as soon as he was gone.

"Piper, are you hungry?" I asked her, "Harry's making pizza tonight," I gave her a knowing smile.

Piper gasped and looked up at Hary hopefully. "Really, daddy?"

"I certainly am," Harry smiled at her as well, "with lots and lots of stretchy mozzarella – just how you like it."

"Yay!" Piper jumped up and down excitedly on the spot and tightly hugged Harry's waist, "Thank you, daddy! I can't wait!"

He chuckled. "Well, first things first: go on upstairs and get ready for mummy to give you a bath – because you won't get any pizza until you wash up."

"OK! I will!" Piper replied with a bright smile, "C'mon mummy, I want a bath!"

"Why don't you head on upstairs first, sweetheart?" I suggested, "I'll meet you there in a minute."

Piper smiled again and nodded before she turned and ran out of the dining room towards the stairs – making my eyes widen a little.

"Piper, don't run on the stairs, please!" I called after her.

"OK!" I heard her call back – and I broke out a smile once I also heard her footsteps starting to slow down.

However, as soon as I knew she was out of earshot, my smile instantly faded.

"Something's happened," was the first thing I said to Harry.

"What?" Harry looked at me with a slight frown, "What do you mean, love?"

"Something happened with Heath," my voice was tense, "I can tell."

"How can you tell?" asked Harry.

"You didn't notice how Piper was acting kinda weird when she first arrived?" I looked at him, "When I asked her if she had a nice weekend, I felt like she avoided the question completely. And when I asked her to say goodbye to Heath, she was reluctant. Really reluctant. Like how she used to act around him all the way back to before the court trial."

"Well...that's true," Harry began to nod slowly, "I did notice that."

"And I heard Heath say something to her when they said goodbye," I continued, "he told her 'don't tell your mum what you saw'."

"Wait, what?" Harry's eyes widened, "Seriously?"

"Seriously," I replied, "something's definitely happened."

"Yeah...yeah, I agree," Harry nodded again – more vigorously this time, "and we need to find out what it was."

"You think?" I asked him.

"Definitely," he replied without hesitation, "I mean, shit, Leah...we need to know how serious this is."

"Yeah...you're right," I nodded back at him, "you're right. We need to know," I let out a shaky sigh, "so...I'll give Piper her bath, and then after dinner, we'll both sit down with her and try to get it out of her. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Good plan, Leah," Harry smiled with a small, nervous smile, "good plan."

***

"Piper?" I called to her before she could run back upstairs, "Piper, can you come here and sit with us for a minute, please?"

Piper looked back at us and nodded before she turned and made her way into the living room – where Harry & I sat down on the sofa and invited her to sit in between us.