salute [h.s]

i'll see your face again

As Time Goes By (takes place after the end of Salute)

*

December 26, 2015

"Would you hurry up?"

Harry sent a scowl over his shoulder, purposely slowing down as Piper tried to shove him into the lift of their hotel.

"Do I need to remind you that I'm carrying a cannister of VX in this case?" he asked as he carefully lifted the case in his hand, a leather briefcase on the exterior that was fortified with layers of titanium on the interior. "If I drop this and it cracks open, it'll paralyse all of us in seconds and we'll all die of asphyxiation."

Piper immediately retracted her hands, sending a sheepish smile in Harry's direction that he answered with a roll of his eyes. "Sorry," she murmured as she brushed off the back of his suit jacket where she'd creased it, following him as he stepped into the lift. "I forgot."

"You forgot?" Harry asked incredulously, quirking his brow at Piper as he leaned across to press the button for their floor, both hands grasping the handle of the case as the doors shut. "The most dangerous nerve agent in the world and you just forgot?" He snorted a laugh as he propped up against the back wall of the lift, shaking his head. "I'm bloody glad I'm the one that's carrying the case now that I know that."

"Oh shut it," Piper muttered. "I just have, um, something on my mind."

Harry's brow furrowed as he studied her, as if trying to read all her secrets on her face. She tilted her head up toward the numbers ascending above the door, counting down to their floor at the top and pointedly averting her gaze.

"What's going on?" Harry asked slowly. When she snapped her gaze over, he was watching her suspiciously.

"Nothing."

"Now I know something's going on. What is it?"

"Nothing, I swear."

"Piper —"

"Oh look, our floor." Piper slipped through the doors before they'd even opened all the way, ignoring the way Harry called after her and scooting as quickly down the hall as she could. For someone who had complained about being pushed earlier, Harry was sure moving quickly now because he caught up with her before she'd made it halfway to their room.

Stupid long legs.

"You're hiding something," Harry accused, the heat of his stare concentrated on the side of her face as she looked anywhere but him. He was too good at reading her and she'd spent too long trying to set up this surprise for him to ruin it because he was too fucking paranoid for his own good.

"I'm not hiding anything," Piper bit out as she patted down her pockets for the room key, jamming it hard into the lock. When it beeped red, she forced it back in, letting out an aggravated huff when it rejected her once again.