i just need to defrost
december 18 - snowed in/blizzard
1D fanfic/Salute Extra
Harry/Piper
*
"Piper, where are you?"
"Hello to you too."
She could practically hear Harry rolling his eyes on the other end of the line. "I've been at your flat for almost an hour. Where the hell are you? This storm is getting really bad."
"About that." Piper looked out from the alcove she had sequestered herself in and was immediately hit with a blast of wind and snow that blinded her. She shuddered as she pulled back into the small space that was just barely keeping her protected from the weather. "I think I may be lost."
"You're what?"
"Lost," Piper said again, her cheeks burning with shame as she said it. For fuck's sake, she was a grown adult. She'd lived in Greater London all her life. She'd worked at Vauxhall Cross for a year. She wasn't supposed to get lost. "I, um, I must have taken a wrong turn. I don't know where I am."
"Piper, Vauxhall is a block away from the tube station. How did you manage to get lost?"
"I don't know if you looked outside in the last little while but it's like the fucking North Pole out here. I can barely see my own hand in front of me, never mind the fucking street signs!"
"Okay, alright, calm down." Piper sucked in a long breath and then let it out slowly, trying to get her temper under control. It wouldn't help anyone if she lost her shit standing in an alcove while the apocalypse raged on around her. "I'm sorry that I inferred that this was your fault."
"Thank you."
"Now, where are you? Are you safe?" Harry's first concern was always her safety.
"I'm tucked into a storefront so I'm protected from the brunt of it. I just don't even know where I am. I got really turned around somewhere and there's no one out on the street to ask for directions. Not that anyone would stop in this weather." Piper had passed a grand total of one person between Vauxhall and here and that had been many blocks ago. Everything in the surrounding area here was locked up. Even the storefront alcove she was hiding in was gated, completely shut off from the world. She was utterly alone.
"I'm going to come and get you, okay?"
"You shouldn't drive in this weather Harry," Piper said, shaking her head ineffectively because no one was there to see it. "It's too dangerous. The last thing I want is for you to crash because of me. I'll be fine here to wait out the worst of it."
"It's going to be snowing well into the morning, petal," Harry informed her. "Just stay where you are. I'm coming for you."
It was nice to know that someone out there was concerned for her safety. It made her feel infinitely better about this entire situation that Harry was on his way to her. "I think I crossed the tracks at some point," she told him, trying to give him some helpful directions to find her, "and I was walking for about twenty minutes before I ducked in here —"
"It's fine," Harry interrupted. "I'll just get Louis to track your phone and put it on the GPS. Just don't move."
Right, of course he would use a GPS. Piper felt a little stupid for not thinking of that right away. GPS tracking was what she did, what she was good at. And when it mattered, it flew right out of her head. Some operations analyst she was.
"Please be safe," Piper said to him as she watched the snow blow past the opening of the alcove, practically sideways with the force of the wind.
"I always am, petal. Now I'm going to hang up so we don't waste your battery. Keep your phone handy in case I need to reach you."
"Okay."
"Good. Keep an eye out for me."
And then his voice was gone and Piper had an overwhelming sense of being alone that she couldn't shake.
She'd never seen weather this bad in all the time she had lived in London. They'd been calling for snow, not unheard of in the least in London, but they hadn't predicted snow in these quantities. It had started about five that afternoon, just a light swish of flurries in the sky, blanketing the city in a thin layer of white. Sometime between then and now, it had evolved into this cataclysmic storm, the snow so thick and falling so fast that it turned the air opaque. On top of that, the wind was howling through the empty streets, blowing up the snow that hadn't properly settled and swirling the falling flakes into impenetrable walls of white.
It might have been beautiful if Piper wasn't so uncomfortable, cold from her head to her feet. She wasn't dressed for outside weather — she was dressed for a shift at Vauxhall and a ride home on the stuffy tube. She was wearing high heeled booties that were more frivolous than functional and her coat was a pretty wool thing that did nothing against the cutting winds. She didn't have mittens or a hat, just a flimsy cotton scarf that was wrapped up in such a way that it covered as much of her neck as possible. She was going to be an icicle by the time Harry found her.
She had a startling moment of clarity where she realized just what was going on. Harry was coming to get her. Harry, a man with whom she was regularly partaking in bedroom fun, was driving through the snow in the worst conditions possible to come and get her. A year ago, she couldn't have said that. Two months ago she couldn't have said that. In the short time she had known Harry, he'd filled a void that she hadn't even realized she had. She didn't need a man, not by any measure, but it sure was nice to have one around once in a while when she needed someone to call to bail her out of situations like this. It was nice to know that someone out there was waiting by the phone for her call to say she was okay and safe and home.
Because she was having all these lovely thoughts, she was smiling by the time the Range Rover pulled up at the side of the road, idling just down the block from where she was. The driver's door was flung open and then a familiar frame, tall and slim, was headed in her direction. He was wearing his wool coat and had his hands shoved into his pockets. On his head was a bright blue beanie, his curls peeking out from beneath it. He tucked his face into the scarf around his neck as he surveyed the area.
"Piper?"
"Here!" she called out. She intended to raise a hand but her fingers were so frozen at this point that she literally could not bring herself to move her arm an inch.
Harry's head snapped up and if there hadn't been so much snow between them, he probably would have been able to see her. Instead, he moved in her direction, peeking his head into the alcoves he passed until he found the right one. He stepped into the small space with Piper until they were pressed together to fit.
"There you are," he said with a faint smile as he reached out to cup her face in his gloved hand. He frowned and then yanked one of his gloves off and tried again. "Christ, Piper, you're freezing."
"I'm fine," Piper said weakly, attempting a smile for him. "I just wasn't really dressed for the weather but I just need to defrost..."
She hadn't realized her teeth were chattering until she heard the punctuated nature of her words and the click-clack as they banged together. She tried to force her jaw shut but it was hinged in place, her cheeks numb from the cold. When she raised her arms toward Harry, they quivered.
"Oh, petal," Harry commiserated as he pulled her gently toward him, wrapping his arms around her tight. She sunk against him, shoving her face into the fabric of his scarf for some warmth. He felt like heat and sunshine, brightness in the dark, and Piper would have been perfectly fine just staying there in his arms. But he had other ideas and he was already shuffling her away, putting his arm around her shoulders and bringing her in close so they could walk hip to hip (well, hip to upper thigh). "Let's get you in the car. I have the heaters on full blast."
They ventured out into the snow and Piper was almost instantly blinded. She relied on Harry to get her where she needed to go, waiting patiently as he opened the car door and then clambering in. Harry shut the door behind her and then jogged around the front of the car. He slammed his own door shut and immediately rubbed his hands together for warmth. "It's vicious out there."
"Yeah," she agreed in a shaky voice as she leaned over to put her face right beside the vent that was blowing out hot air. She warmed one cheek and then the other, wincing when her skin began to tingle as function came back into her nerve endings.
"Hands on," Harry corrected as he reached over to push her frozen hands over the vent, pulling her back by the shoulder so she wasn't getting hot air right on her face. "I think I might have some extra gloves in here somewhere."
He leaned over the seats, reaching into the back for something. He let out a frustrated groan and finally just jostled over the seats and right into the back to search for whatever he was looking for. Piper waited until he was distracted and then stuck her face back in front of the vent. "Piper, don't," Harry said sternly from the back. How did he manage to see everything? "You're going to fuck up your sinuses if you do that."
"It feels nice."
"Yeah, now, but don't come crying to me when you're dripping mucous like a faucet later on."
"Gross."
"Reality."
Piper rolled her eyes and sat back up again, flipping her hands over so the vent was warming the backs of her hands as well. Her fingers were tingling unpleasantly but she'd take that over the numbness of before. She wondered if Harry would get mad if she toed off her boots and stuck her frozen toes in front of the vent as well.
He climbed back into the driver's seat a moment later with an armful of things. Once he'd plopped down into place, he began sorting them out. "Here, let's get you warm," he said as he unfurled a blanket. He prompted her to lean forward and when she did, he tossed it gently over her back and pulled it over her shoulders, tucking it right around her and under her thighs to hold it in place. Next came a pair of thick gloves that he slid on for her before putting her hands back over the heating vents. He took the beanie off his own head and stuck it on hers, taking the time to carefully tuck her hair in so she could see properly.
"Do you want socks too?" he asked as he held up a woolly pair that was balled up.
"God, yes!"
"Feet up," he said as he patted his thigh. "Shuffle just a bit."
Eventually they managed to get Piper twisted enough that she could raise her legs onto his lap but still keep her hands on the vent. He pulled off her booties for her, tossing them into the backseat carelessly, and then pulled the woolly socks on over her ankle socks, tucking her work trousers into them so there wasn't an inch of skin exposed to the air. "You feeling a bit warmer?" he asked.
"Much," Piper replied quietly as she watched him. "Thanks for coming to get me."
"Of course I would," Harry said, making a funny sort of face as if he couldn't believe she would ever doubt him. "Now let's get you home and you can take a nice hot bath."
"That sounds wonderful," she sighed as she reached around herself to grab the seatbelt, clicking it into place over top of her blanket cape. She drew her legs up so her feet were up on the seat with her and then wrapped her arms around her legs as she pressed them to her chest. Scrunched up like a little ball, she felt warmer. She caught Harry giving her an amused grin before he turned his focus to the road. "Are you sure you can drive in this?"
"Do you doubt me, petal?"
Piper raised her brow skeptically. Harry reached over to touch the screen on the dashboard between them. She'd always thought it was a fancy mp3 thing or one of those rear cameras for people who couldn't parallel park but, when it lit up, she realized that it was some sort of advanced navigation system. She would have said it was radar navigation but the technology was much too advanced for that. The street before them was schematically laid out with all the obstacles taken into account. It was almost like inertial navigation but about a hundred times better. Piper had no doubt that this was a Louis Tomlinson creation.
Harry pulled away from the curb with more confidence than Piper would have had driving in this storm, although he did keep to a relatively low speed for London streets. He wasn't taking any chances even if the roads seemed practically empty. His eyes switched between the nav system and the windshield in front of him that didn't allow for much useful information about the traffic to be ascertained. Harry didn't seem to mind that he couldn't see three feet in front of them. He looked just as relaxed as he always did when he was driving, as if he'd been born driving manual transmission.
She didn't want to talk and distract Harry from his driving so she kept to herself, focusing on getting warm. When she thought Harry wasn't looking, she lifted her feet and stuck them over the vent on the dashboard to heat them up. Of course, Harry noticed because she wasn't very subtle (and Harry noticed everything) but he didn't say anything so she kept her cold toes right where they were.
Somehow, by miracle or by the sheer force of Harry's will, they managed to get all the way back to her flat. Piper wasn't surprised to see Grady's, the pub below her flat, had all the lights on and seemed to be open despite the weather. She had no doubt that if she could see through the windows, the regulars would be lined up at their stools.
Piper used the remote entry code that Louis had synced to her phone to open the garage door and Harry pulled smoothly into the space. They both got out, Piper abandoning her booties in the backseat in favour of getting into the flat as quickly as possible. Harry followed behind her at a slower pace because he was concentrating on responsible things like locking the car and closing the garage door. Piper fumbled with her keys in all three locks of her flat door and when she got in, she left it wide open for Harry as she made a beeline for the kitchen to put the kettle on.
"Never leave this door open," Harry said sternly when he finally joined her in the flat. "Okay?" he asked as he crossed the kitchen, letting his hand rest gently on the nape of her neck. He bunched her hair in his hands as he leaned over to press his warm lips gently on her forehead. "You have to think about your safety."
"Sorry," she said as she reached a shaking hand up to the cabinet to grab two mugs. Harry twisted her hair around his hand distractedly and Piper found herself sinking in toward him and his touch. He stood still, letting her rest against him for a moment.
"Are you tired?" he asked and she nodded. Frankly, after everything that had happened today, she was absolutely exhausted. "You make the tea and I'll go run you a bath, alright?"
Once she had nodded, Harry disconnected and left the kitchen. She heard the water start a moment later and the echo of the splash as it began to fill the tub. A bath sounded so good and the only reason that she hadn't followed immediately behind Harry was because the only thing that could make that bath better was a mug of Earl Grey.
She walked into the bathroom a moment later with two mugs — milk and sugar for her and just a splash of milk for Harry — to find a hot bath filled with bubbles that smelled like her apple shower gel floating along the top. "Bubbles?"
"Thought you'd like it," Harry said with a gentle smile as he reached over to take both mugs of tea in his hand. "I'll hold yours until you get in."
"You're not joining me?" Piper asked, surprised, because if there was a bath or shower and she was naked in it, it usually didn't take long for Harry to join in.
"You've had a long day," Harry said as he shook his head. "Just relax."
"You'll stay though? Sit and have a chat?" She didn't realize how desperate she was for him to stay close and keep her company until she heard that desperation in her voice. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and attempted a nonchalant shrug. "I mean, if you wanted."
Harry was smiling at her in that way he did when he thought she was being cute. She hated that smile sometimes. It always reminded her of her age and the difference between it and Harry's. "I'll sit with you. I need my daily fix of Piper."
Piper tried not to grin like an idiot and focused instead on peeling off all of the layers she was wearing. Harry had perched on the closed toilet lid, cradling both mugs, and didn't take his eyes off her for a second. She should be used to Harry seeing her naked by now because it happened a lot, but she still found her cheeks flushing and her neck getting hot as she took off her last layers. She peeked a glance at Harry at the exact moment he was sipping on his tea. She couldn't see his lips but his eyes were doing all the talking anyways. They liked what they saw.
She climbed carefully into the bath, sighing at the sensation of the hot water on her cold skin. She sunk right in until only her head was showing over the layer of bubbles. Her eyes stayed shut for a moment, relishing in the moment, fully experiencing the sensation of being engulfed in warmth. When she finally opened them, she reached a hand out above the water to take the mug that Harry had been dutifully holding for her.
They chatted a bit as they relaxed. Harry asked about Piper's day and she told him all about how Agent Lahiri had let her sit in on a field guidance by one of the senior agents in O branch. It had definitely been the highlight of her day. When she reciprocated the question, Harry told her a bit about the mission he was going on early the next week to Morocco. Piper was jealous because she'd always admired Morocco from afar and was dying to go. "I'll take you someday," Harry said in a sort of offhand way, as if he didn't realize the significance of those four words. They implied continuance. They implied long-term. They implied a relationship that lasted.
"Do you mind?" Harry said after a moment as he rose to his feet, stretching upward uncomfortably. "Could I sit on the floor? This is killing my back."
She, of course, agreed because she was completely incapable of denying Harry anything. She knew that he struggled with his back sometimes. Field work was not easy on the body and while most of him handled it well, his back gave him problems every now and then.
He ended up leaning his back against the side of the tub, tilting his head back to rest on the edge. Piper's fingers found their way into his curls within seconds and she stroked through them carefully, rubbing her fingertips into his scalp soothingly. He let his eyes drift shut, a blissful smile on his face. She noticed that he looked tired too. With the work he did, she couldn't imagine how weary he must get.
Harry was halfway through explaining how to dismantle a dirty IED (how they got on that topic of conversation was another story). Piper's fingers were still tucked into his hair but Harry's eyes were open and he was using his arms to talk, which he didn't usually do. Obviously he was talking about something he felt passionately about. Apparently it was IEDs.
Piper's hand stopped moving when Harry stopped talking abruptly. He sat up quickly. "Styles here," he said aloud as he glanced back at Piper. When she frowned at him, utterly confused, he pointed to his right ear where his transmitter was implanted. He was obviously receiving a transmission. "Yeah, tell me what you know," he was saying as he rose to his feet languidly. He gave Piper an apologetic shrug and then pointed toward her bedroom. Obviously he was going to have to take the call. She just nodded, waving him off. She wasn't surprised when he closed the door behind him — it was probably confidential business.
Piper took her time in the bath, giving Harry the opportunity he needed to talk shop with whoever had contacted him which was probably someone from MI6 judging by the way he had first answered. If it had been one of the One Direction boys, he probably would have told them to fuck right off and let him have a night to himself. She wondered if all his transmissions just went through automatically. Did he not have the option of denying a call? Was it controlled by the mobile-like thing he carried with him? So many questions. She'd have to call Louis and pick his brain because she knew if she tried asking Harry, he'd just brush it off as technology mumbo jumbo.
She eventually had to get out of the bath or risk being permanently wrinkled. She wrapped the towel around herself securely and then cracked the door open. "Harry? Are you off the phone?" she called out as she began sorting through her medicine cabinet, looking for makeup remover.
"Yeah," she heard him say back.
"Do you need to leave? Is it something important?"
"Oh, I'm not leaving anytime tonight. I've just had a look out the window. Your garage is blocked by about two feet of snow. I don't think I could get out even if I wanted to."
"A night in then," Piper said, a sly grin slipping onto her face as she wiped it down, removing all the makeup that had survived the day. Her skin was splotchy underneath from the extreme temperatures but she knew Harry couldn't give two fucks about splotchy skin so she couldn't be bothered to care either. "However will we pass the time," she purred, already having a very good idea of how she wanted to pass the time.
She slunk out of the bathroom, her fingers running over the edge of the towel where it was tucked under to hold it in place around her. She swished her hips a bit, attempting to look sexy and tempting as she pushed the door to her bedroom open all the way. "I have some ideas about how to spend the night," she said as she crossed the threshold.
Those ideas flew right out of her mind when she saw the Irish Setter sprawled across Harry's lap, getting a neck message from Harry that made Piper a little jealous.
"Sorry, petal, I don't think so," Harry said softly as he continued to lightly stroke Bertie's fur. The dog let out a long breath, sounding almost forlorn. "I think this guy is going to be hogging the attention for the night. Something isn't right with him."
Piper's attention immediately shifted from herself onto the dog that she loved like her own. "Is he hurt? Is he sick? Should we take him to the vet?"
"Piper, settle down." Harry was using his no nonsense tone which knocked a little sense back into her. She realized that going into a panic over Bertie when he looked well enough, all while wearing only a towel, was not very sane behaviour. She immediately composed herself, standing properly and letting out a long sigh.
"What happened?" she asked instead.
"He was scratching at the door so I let him in. He seemed a bit off, really quiet, walking really slowly, and he could barely jump up on the bed." Piper looked worriedly at Bertie who was looking up at her with big brown eyes. She wanted to give him a big cuddle. "I called a 24 hour vet. They said that he just sounds a bit tired, maybe has a bug or something. They said to keep an eye on him and if it gets worse to come in but that he should be okay with some rest."
It warmed Piper's heart that Harry had gone to so much trouble for Bertie. He knew that Bertie was important to her and he had done what he could to take care of him. Honestly, sometimes he was so good of a person that she didn't know how he existed. "Thank you."
Harry shrugged it off like it was no big deal, patting Bertie gently. "'S no problem. Unfortunately, it means that those ideas you had for the evening will have to wait."
"Yeah," she agreed. "What about Clive? Where's he tonight?"
"I took a look at the flat and he's not there. Probably somewhere out there with his friends, getting up to no good." Despite a lack of concrete proof, Harry was entirely convinced that Clive worked with the Shoreditch syndicate. Doing what? Who knew. But he was doing something. Piper, for the most part, did her best not to think about it. "No matter. Bertie's got us. He'll be fine."
"That's right. Should I make him something to eat? Get him some water? Blankets?"
"How about you find something to wear first."
Piper looked down at the towel that was still covering her up, but just barely. "Right. Pyjamas."
She changed into warm sweats and one of Harry's t-shirts that had been left behind on one of the nights he had stayed over. Harry seemed pleased to see her in it judging by the satisfied smirk he was wearing. He shifted Bertie onto Piper once she was settled under the duvet and stripped himself out of his clothes, climbing in beside her wearing only his boxer briefs. She latched onto him the second he was beside her, wrapping herself around his naked torso shamelessly. She rested her cheek on one of the swallows and smiled against it when Harry cradled her in his arms gently. Bertie was lying between them, his head resting on Harry's stomach and half of his body sitting on Piper's thighs. He seemed content where he was, even if he wasn't feeling his best. It probably helped that Piper was petting his shoulders gently in what she hoped was a soothing manner.
"Did you ever picture this?"
"Hmm?" Harry asked, tilting his head over to look down at her. They had been lying in comfortable silence before Piper had chosen to speak up and Harry had obviously been lost in his thoughts.
"Did you ever think that you'd be lying in some tiny flat with a crazy girl curled up beside you, a dog lying on your stomach, snowed in? And not doing something interesting like talking or watching tv or having sex, just lying around in the quiet."
Harry was quiet for a moment, the only sign that he was still present being the gentle circles he was tracing on the skin of her collarbone just under the collar of her shirt. "I never pictured it, no," he admitted, his voice quiet and sort of distant. "I never really pictured myself doing any of this. I've never had a consistent relationship with someone before. I've never had someone to come home to, someone who was waiting for me. Certainly not someone like you, petal, that's for sure."
His voice didn't give away the connotation of those words so Piper gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was a compliment.
"And what do you think of it? Of me?"
Piper tried not to let the insecurity leak into her voice but it had slipped in somehow. She shouldn't have been so worried about this whole thing, this relationship, but they had yet to define it. They hadn't said the words boyfriend or girlfriend. They hadn't promised exclusivity, though Piper figured it was assumed based on what Harry had said in the shower, about being clean and coming home to her. Still, it would be nice to know that this was real, that it wasn't some figment of her imagination.
"I think that you're a pretty special woman, Piper," Harry murmured into her forehead, his lips hovering delicately over her skin. "And that I'm pretty lucky to have you. I may not have pictured this," Harry reiterated as he pulled her in closer, "but I couldn't have asked for anything more."