Together

Begin Again

Hi hi hi! I hope you're all having a good day! To anyone affected by the snow storms, I hope you all have two hour delays or snow days tomorrow! ;) this week has been crazy for me, but I managed to get some writing in tonight, so yayyy! I quite like this chapter, and I hope that you all do too! Don't forget to drop a comment and vote, if you wish.
-ab

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October 13, 2025

Patrick

"Hey hon," I say, barely looking up from my phone as my soon-to-be wife walks in the door of our flat. "How was your rehearsal today?"

"Patrick," she whispers, running toward me. The quiver in her voice grabs my attention.

"Love, what's wrong?" I ask, drawing her into my arms as her whole body begins to shake.

"I- I- I-"

"Shhh. Deep breaths, love. With me." I slowly inhale and exhale, and after a moment, the rhythm of her breathing begins to match with mine. "Now, tell me what's happened."

"It's Luke. He told me today that if I can't get a dance down by the end of the week, then they're going to have to replace me."

"What? But you're a fine dancer. That shouldn't be a problem for you," I tell her.

"No, love, you don't understand. This dance has been giving me problems for the better part of two weeks now."

"Oh," I reply. "Hon, please don't stress about it. I'm sure that you'll be able to get it."

"I've been working so hard with Sienna on it, and she thinks that it was the heels that were the issue, so I took them off and did the dance a few times barefoot. I was able to do it with just her, but then, when we took it to show Luke, his eyes were just burning into me, and I couldn't handle it. I messed up again."

I bite my lip, unsure of what to do about this. Harper just can't lose this job. She worked too hard for it.

"Do you know the dance? Like, can you do it by yourself?"

"I think so, yeah," she replies.

"How about you show me? Right here. We can work on it at home, too. You won't lose this part. I promise."

"I guess so..." she states, hesitantly. Climbing out of my lap, she goes to stand up.

"What song is it, hon?"

"It's 'Paris Holds The Key (To Your Heart),'" she tells me.

I pull up the song on my phone, and I begin to play it.

"Oh god," she groans. "I used to love this song. Now, I can't even listen to it without wanting to die."

I pause the music. "How about this?" I stand up, and press something on my phone, then walk over to Harper. "May I have this dance?"

She looks at me with confusion, so I simply wrap my arms around her waist and pull her in toward me. From my phone, the opening notes of 'Enchanted,' by none other than Harper's favourite, Taylor Swift, play in the background.

She gives me a small smile.

"You like this song?"

"Of course..."

"Then, let's have a dance."

She rests her head on my chest for a moment, as we sway in time to the music, then I take a step back. "Spin," I command, releasing one of my hands. Confused, she decides to just play along, and spins under my arm.

For the rest of the song, I continue trying to throw in some fancy moves. Joe and I took a basic dance workshop back when he was preparing for his wedding, and he knew that he would have to dance with Taylor. Now that I think about it, I don't think that Harper knew about that, so it's certainly taking her by surprise as I try to pull out the little steps that I learned during that afternoon.

When the song is over, she actually has a smile on her face. She flops down on the sofa, giggling.

"What was that?"

"How many beats per minute is 'Paris?'" I ask, ignoring her question.

"Um, I'm not sure," she replies. "Google it."

I do just as I'm told. "79, apparently."

"Really?" she asks, surprised. "That's quite slow."

"Hush," I state, typing something else into my phone.

After a moment, I begin playing Taylor's song, 'Begin Again.'

"This also has 79 beats per minute. Get up."

"Patrick," she laughs, "I don't think it works like that."

"Let's just give it a try. Do your dance."

I watch her as she goes to try to do it. She's really putting her mind to it, and to, quite honestly, both of our surprises, it works.

Not as wonderfully as it would with the real song, of course, but it works at least a little bit.

"Okay, what just happened?" Harper asks, stopping short after her dance is done.

"I have no idea," I laugh, standing up to give her a kiss, "but I think that you just did the dance."

"Did I?"

"Well, I mean, I don't really know, because I've never learned it, but whatever you just did looked pretty good."

"What- Why- How did that happen?"

"I have no idea," I laugh. "But I think that the change... like, you dancing to a song that you really love, and that you don't associate with struggling, may have helped you to change your mindset."

"Do you really think so?"

"Maybe," I tell her. "It sounds good. Now, how about you try it with the real music?"

"I guess," she sighs. I rub her back before sitting back on the couch and playing the dance.

"Don't think that you're going to mess up. Pretend that it's still Taylor,' I instruct Harper.

I can tell that she's trying really hard, as she moves through the steps in the routine.

"Hey, look at that," I tell her, once she's done fumbling through. "It's getting there."

A smile breaks onto her face. "That was better than any of my runs today during rehearsal."

"You've just gotta keep working hard. You were born to play Anya, honey. Actually, you were born to play Cosette, but then, Anya came along, and she needed an amazing girl, just like you. This one, measly, little dance is the only thing standing between you and your second West End role. I know that you can do it."

Harper looks at me with a sparkle in her eyes. "I love you," she tells me, jumping into my arms and pressing her lips up against mine. "Thank you so much."

"For what?"

"For... literally everything. Thank you for supporting me, no matter what. Thank you for allowing me to even go on this whole crazy journey in the first place. Thank you for always encouraging me and being there, as a shoulder to cry on, or a friend to share a smile with. Just... thank you."