salute [h.s]

piper and harry's sleep was disturbed

"Answer it," he whined, pressing his face to the pillow.

"It's yours."

"Mine's in m'ear, petal. S'yours."

Piper sighed heavily and then rolled herself over, slapping her hand down onto the bedside table until her vibrating phone was in her palm. She picked it up and mumbled a groggy, "hello?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you Agent Stone, but there's a situation." She groaned, pressing her hand to her face to block out the faint light from the screen of her mobile.

"Why are you calling me?" she grumbled. She was a lowly junior agent. She should be the last one they called when something was happening.

"Agent Lahiri specifically requested your presence in O branch at your earliest convenience."

"My earliest convenience is tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."

When the poor person running the switchboard for the night began to sputter for a response, Harry nudged her hard, this time in the boob because she was lying on her back, and made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat. Even half-asleep, he was a company man. "Fine," Piper sighed, forcing her eyes open, "I'll be in as soon as possible."

After she'd hung up, she lay still and found her eyes slowly drifting closed, lulling her back to sleep. "Don' sleep," Harry mumbled into his pillow. "Work. Go. Geddup."

"Fuck off."

Harry placed his hand firmly against her ribcage and pushed so hard that she had to scramble to her feet or she would have been face first on the floor. "Twat," she muttered under her breath as she stood properly, stretched, and then went in search of proper clothes. She was halfway into a pair of jeans that had been sitting on the top of her folded laundry when Harry pushed himself up onto his forearms with an unhappy moan. "What're you doing?"

"Getting up."

"Why?"

"I'm driving you to work," he said as he pushed himself right up and out of the bed. He stretched as well and Piper took pleasure in her front row seats to his magnificent muscles in his torso bunching and stretching before her eyes. Fuck, he was a tall glass of water. And suddenly she was awake.

"You don't have to, Harry. I can get there myself. Go back to sleep."

"Piper, you got shot outside your flat last month at 10 o'clock. I'm not letting you go to work on your own at 2:30 in the morning. I'll drive you."

His voice was sleepy but he said it with enough finality that Piper didn't argue. She just shrugged an old MIT jumper on over the bralette she'd slept in and did up her jeans as Harry pulled on his own jeans and one of the t-shirts he'd stashed in her flat.

The drive to Vauxhall was silent because both of them were still tired and sleep deprived. Harry held her hand as they walked through the halls from the garage and up to O branch. There was a flurry of activity in the main operations centre of O branch, the screens beginning to light up with data. Heads turned when the two of them walked in but Piper focused on her boss who looked just as sleep deprived and frazzled as she did, dressed in sweats and an old band t-shirt.

"I'm sorry to bring you in Piper," she said apologetically. "But we need all the help we can get."

"'S fine," Piper shrugged off. Agent Lahiri nodded in Harry's direction and then gave them a moment alone. Piper turned just in time to catch Harry's kiss on the side of her lips instead of her cheek.

"I'm going to find a couch to nap on up in Exec branch," Harry told her. Executive branch was the branch for the highest level of senior agents so, of course, it was Harry's branch. "Come and find me when you're done and we'll get breakfast."