24/7 [h.s.]

98

"What is this?" He asked.

"What is what?"

"This silence between us." He said. "I thought you were happy I was back. I thought things were going to go back to normal."

"I am happy you're back! And I thought they were too. But even though you're here and you're safe, it doesn't feel the same. I'm still scared to lose you." I said, my eyes welling up with tears.

"Emma." He said softly but I broke down.

A moment later I felt the bed dip next to me and then his arms come around me.

"You're not going to lose me." He said, his hand coming up to cradle my face against his chest, his hand stroking over the skin.

"It's just that for months you weren't here, and I had to think about what I would do if you didn't come back. And I don't ever want to have to do that again."

"Shh. I know." He tried to soothe me. "I don't want you to think about that again. I'm here now."

He rubbed my back comfortingly as he spoke again.

"I'm starting to think this traumatized you more than it did me." He said and I just sobbed. "Shh. Come on, let's lay down."

He got beneath the covers with me, our arms around each other as I cried into his chest.

I didn't know I had fallen asleep until I opened my eyes to the darkness of my bedroom.

Looking up I saw Harry's head above mine, his eyes open as he stared at the ceiling.

He seemed to be thinking.

"What are you thinking about?" I whispered and he moved his head to look at me.

"Nothing. I just couldn't sleep." He replied, giving me a small smile before moving so that his forehead rested against mine. "You feeling any better?"

"Yeah." I whispered. "How are you though?"

"I'll be okay."

Harry had made a lot of progress from the time we had started dating, but he still kept a lot of things to himself.

"I know I had a breakdown, but i'm still here if you need to talk. I'll listen."

"I'm not ready to talk yet." He said.

"Okay."

He pressed his lips to mine.

"Let's just sleep."

As we laid there I matched my breathing to his, my head snuggled underneath his.

I was exhausted, emotionally and physically, and fell right back to sleep.

In the morning when I woke up Harry was already awake next to me, his fingers running through my hair.

I opened my eyes and he looked down at me before back at the television while I adjusted my head on the pillow, his fingers still moving.

"In the cell they kept me in, the floor was sand, and at night i would run my fingers through the sand and pretend it was your hair." He said and the breath fell out of my lungs.

I moved to stare up at him.

"And one time I was bored so I was drawing a picture of you in the sand, and one of the guards came in and stepped on it, messing it up. I beat the hell out of him. I hadn't eaten in a couple days so I was surprised I had the energy but I broke his nose and jaw."

I had no idea what to say.

"The night I escaped I figured they were probably going to shoot me before I got away, but I looked at that picture of you and Mila that you gave me and I told it, promised you, that I would get home. And that night I stole the guards gun, shot him, and ran like hell. The gash in my leg was from where I slipped running down a hill and crashed into some rocks. They almost caught me then but I kept running until I saw lights from a town and knew I was safe. I hid in a dumpster until the men searching for me left, and once they did I got out and found the first house I could and thankfully it belonged to one of the allies. I collapsed on his doorstep and he called the military."