salute [h.s]

not a sun person

"It's definitely okay, petal," Harry said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. "I actually think it's very sweet. Sort of perfect. I do feel bad though."

"Why?"

"I didn't get you anything," he said with a frown. He hadn't even thought about it if he was totally honest. He wasn't sure how big of a deal Piper was planning on making about their anniversary. Apparently, a big deal.

"You didn't have to," she hurried to say. "You've done so much for me over the last year and I feel like I've never returned the favour —"

"You've saved my life," Harry reminded her. "Four times."

She shrugged as if that was no big deal which made Harry scoff a laugh. Trust Piper to completely minimize the importance of the fact that he wouldn't even be standing in that airport without her. "You've saved my life too," she countered which was undeniably true. They were evenly matched, him and Piper.

"Anyways," she continued before he could say another word, "the trip is nonrefundable so you can't say no. And you don't need to get me a present. We're going to be staying in a private cottage on one of the quieter islands with nothing to do but lie around in the sun and have a lot of sex." She pressed herself up against him delightfully and Harry had to use a lot of restraint not to touch her inappropriately in the middle of the airport. "That'll be my gift."

He kissed her, sweet and slow. She sagged against him as she sighed into his mouth, her arms coming around his neck to hold on to him. His hand slid under the back of her t-shirt so his palm was pressed flat against her warm skin. He loved touching her. It was one of his favourite activities. "Thank you," he said to her softly when they'd stopped kissing for the time being. "I love this idea. I really can't wait to spend a week alone with you. I feel like it's been ages since we've had any time to ourselves."

"By the end of this week, we'll have spent so much time together, you'll be sick of me."

"I could never get sick of you, petal."

Piper gave him a hungry look and seemed for all intents and purposes like she was fighting with herself about whether being arrested was worth jumping him in the hallway and ripping his clothes off. Harry understood the feeling. He used to have the same feeling when he walked into T branch and saw her typing on her computer, wearing a look of concentration as she bit on her lip. He loved having her working with him but he would always miss those T branch days for that exact reason.

She forced herself to step away and take a deep breath. "Go change and put some shorts on," Piper instructed, pointing toward the men's room. "We have a flight to catch."

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

He didn't put on shorts but he did change into a pair of comfortable jeans and a t-shirt, sunglasses hanging from the collar. It made the flight experience a lot nicer since he wasn't wearing a suit. Granted, his suits were pretty damn comfortable because he had them tailored expertly but it was much easier to sit back and relax wearing a worn pair of jeans.

Of course, sitting back and relaxing wasn't something that ever actually happened when he was on flights with Piper. She'd always been a terrible flier. On their first flight together, she'd practically sat in his lap the entire flight while he stroked her hair and tried to comfort her. It hadn't gotten much better since then despite the number of flights they'd taken. Usually if it was an overnight flight or a long trip, he'd surreptitiously drug her so she could sleep the flight away. It didn't work on these shorter flights.

Her anxiety was a bit irrational, especially since the engineering side of Piper knew all about aerodynamics and the mechanics of flying. He'd asked her what the problem was but she'd never been able to articulate it. Harry speculated that it was just her brain doing what it always did and thinking too hard. She was always worried about little improbabilities and got really jumpy at the slightest disturbance.