Harlowe woke up first, she groggily lifted her head up. She smiled when she saw you sleeping soundly in her arms.
"...like a baby. My baby." She gently pecked you on the forehead. Her large, calloused and tattooed hand slowly brush your loose hairs away your sleeping face.
You groan and stir a bit, your hands roam around trying to find the blanket. Harlowe immediately caught on and pulled the soft fabric over your shoulders.
She chuckled quietly when you relaxed and snuggled into her chest like a pillow.
"Wow. I'm so jealous. Harper gets to wake up to this everyday..." she silently muttered to herself. Harlowe absentmindedly caressed your cheek with her thumb. Harlowe took a deep breath and giggled.
"It's okay, I get to wake up to this everyday too." The blonde gave you a light squeeze. This stimulation would have awaken you up if you weren't so exhausted. You mumbled incoherently and stirred in her hold.
Her hand is colder than the air, so you unconsciously leaned into her touch. Harlowe gave one last kiss on your forehead before carefully and slowly pulling away. She frowned at the coldness that greeted her after successfully removing you in her hold. But it needs to be done, she has work to do.
She sat on the edge of the bed and removed her side of the blanket from her lap.
Wait... something is not right. Harlowe turned around and touched your forehead.
You're burning up!
"Oh, no..." Harlowe pinched the bridge of her nose, out of all the things she forgotten to stock up, it just has to be medicine.
Harlowe is no doctor, but she knows that she needs to keep you awake if there's no medicine to lessen the fever. God knows when will your fever start to fry your brains, if you're asleep when that happens, there's a chance that you'll be sleeping forever.
Well, at least, that's what she thought.
"(Y/n)? (Y/n), my love, my sweet sweet baby..." she gently shook you awake. You grumbled and tried to pry your eyes open, your throat feels oddly dry and scratchy. Also, you're feeling a bit warm, why?
"H-huh?" You slurred.
"I need you to stay awake for me, okay? Please stay awake and try to cool yourself down as much as possible. I'll get you something to drink and something cold for your fever." Harlowe kissed you on your forehead.
"I...I'm having a fever?" You asked as your hand moved up to rub the spot she kissed.
It's no surprise. You're barely getting any sleep because of the stress. Combined with the improper foods going into your body and the unfavourable condition that you live in, (Harlowe's coyotes' saliva, unclean tap water, lack of heating/cooling system, Harlowe's terrible hygiene etc) it's no surprise that you'll fall sick within the first few days of living in this unusual hell.
"I'll be back, okay? Please, try your best not to sleep." You weakly nodded in her arms.
"I love you." She whispered before kissing you on the lips.
Harlowe shot out of bed and rushed to the 'kitchen', well, there isn't really a use for a kitchen when all the appliances there are unusable. She only uses the kitchen to store her pots, pans, knives and other cooking utensils.
Whereas you laid back down, putting only the minimum effort to try and open your eyes.
—
"Hello?"
"Harper, I... I screwed up and I need your help... again."
"What did you do now?" Harlowe took a glance at you. You seem to be somewhat cooling down with the wet towel on your forehead, you had enough energy to keep your eyes wide open now.
"Hold on for a second." Harlowe set the phone down and rushed to you, where she takes the towel off your forehead and dipped it into a bucket of decently clean water to cool it down again.
She wringed the excess water out before whipping it in the air, the wind further lowered it's temperature.
"Are you feeling better, baby? Do you need something to eat or drink?" She whispered. You shook your head.
Harlowe sighed as she gently placed the wet towel back on your forehead. She grabbed the glass of drinkable water from the nightstand and brought it to your lips.
"(Y/n), you must drink. You need water to cool yourself down."
She helped you sit up straight to avoid choking. You meekly brought your hands to the glass and took a few sips.
The blonde frowned, it breaks her heart to see you like this. Only if she prepared medicine earlier...
"I'm sorry, baby. I don't have any meds o-or running electricity to make any ice cubes." She soothingly rubbed your arm up and down.
"Okay." You rasp out.
"I love you, I'll fix this soon." She kissed you on the neck before returning to the call.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. My girlfriend has a fever and—"
"—you don't have any paracetamol to help her. Figures." Harper cut her off. Harlowe nervously tugged on the collar of her plaid shirt.
"What do I do? I can't... I don't know how to deal with this and— and my baby is suffering..." Harlowe started to tear up, she gasped a bit.
"God, I can't even take care of myself, I don't know what made me think I can take care of her." She sobbed.
You lifted your head up to see what's happening.
"...Harlowe, I understand how it feels. But this isn't the time to cry like a bitch, get back to your girlfriend and find a way to cool her down while I come over to send you paracetamol. Use a hand fan, wet sponge, bathe her, whatever! Just cool her down while waiting." Harlowe covered her eyes with a hand and weeped harder.
"Also, Lizard's hot on your trail." Harlowe paused.
"That asshole who can't get anyone's name right?" She asked. Your ears perked up at that.
"Lizard T-boy?" That was the person who immediately came to your mind.
"Yeah, he came to my shop yesterday with a... fat and short, middle aged man? I don't even know who that is, but his friend pissed himself when I fired a couple of shots to scare them away." Harlowe covered her mouth.
"I'm guessing Evanet sent them over when they couldn't get the police to do shit. I didn't tell them anything, I wouldn't worry too much about his friend, it's Lizard that I'm worried of." Harlowe furrowed her eyebrows.
"That piece of crap can't do anything right, out of all the people, why that idiot?" She replied to her sister.
"Lizard may not be the smartest, but he's infamous for having the luck of a four-leaf clover. He's a damn, lucky bastard." Harlowe snorted.
"Ha! I don't believe that stupid dick can find me, even if he did, no one would find his body. He can't outrun me."
"Sure, he has already earned a reputation of a dumbass but don't underestimate his luck. Lizard might catch you and I both off guard." Harlowe ran her fingers through her rough hair.
"Yeah... I guess you're right. Thanks Harper, I owe you one." Harlowe heard her sister groan in frustration.
"Ugh, you owe me many, Harlowe. As your sister, I know you wouldn't be able to pay anything back. Just take care of your girlfriend and be careful, goodbye." Harper hung up.
Harlowe stood there, digesting everything Harper told her as she wiped the tears away from her green eyes.
You rubbed your head. Based on what you could hear from that phone call, you assumed someone sent your 'relationship counsellor' with two guns to find you.
Oh no, why him? Can't Vasilios find someone else better than him? Isn't he in jail? How did he even convince that crazy man to agree to this? Your hand made its way to the bruise that was caused by Lizard's bullet.
You shuddered at the memory of the impact. "I don't want to go through that shit again..."
You watch Harlowe approach you with a strained smile on her face.
"(Y/n), I need you take a bath, okay? This is the only way you can lower your temperature for the time being. This—" Harlowe removed the warm towel from your forehead.
"—is not enough. You need to cool your whole body down. Okay, baby?" She stroked your hair with her fingers. You hesitantly nodded, you don't feel like getting out of bed.
"That's good, can you sit up?" She asked softly.
You tried your best to push yourself up, but you failed, you have no energy to do so. You slumped back down, resting your head on Harlowe's large hand. "Err... no, I don't think so." You replied.
Harlowe nervously bit her lower lip. She needs to find a way, she needs to make you feel comfortable now.
"I... I wish I am dead..." you absentmindedly mumbled. You actually didn't mean it, this is just a way of expressing how uncomfortable you felt.
It felt like a glowing iron rod seared through her heart, she's doing everything she can to make you want to be with her, to make you feel 'at home'.
Harlowe's genuinely trying her best to change for you, she even gave up on smoking marijuana daily, she's trying to be a loving girlfriend to you, but then...
"(Y/n), I'm so sorry..." she sobbed as she buried her head in your neck. You cringed at the feeling of her salty tears dripping onto your skin. At least it's somewhat cooling.
"I can't believe I wish that I'm with Vasilios right now. All this bitch is doing is makin' everything worse— at least Vasilios has some proper ass crap to treat me." You pursed your lips and sighed. You brought your arm to Harlowe's back and patted her as she cried.
"I'm sorry! I can't stop c-crying and I don't know why!" Harlowe wanted to force herself to fix everything now, but her overwhelming emotions crippled her.
You rolled your eyes at her, luckily she didn't see it. You wanted to tell her to stop, however, seeing Harlowe's mental state... that's probably isn't the best idea.
"Let it out, let it out." You murmured, hoping that she would literally let all the pent up emotions out now and quickly snap out of this breakdown.
It made Harlowe feel better, she thought you understood her inner turmoil and war.
"Th-thanks, (y/n)..." she sniffled and wiped her tears away. You gave her a weak thumbs up, it earned a sad chuckle from her.
"I love you, (y/n)" she whispered.
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A/n: check out my book "word of god"
Again, thanks for reading and i love you❤️❤️ :))