the five times that Harry and Piper's sleep was disturbed (and one time it wasn't)
1.
Piper jolted awake quite suddenly, rolling onto her back and away from where she'd been sprawled across Harry's bare chest. He mumbled in his sleep, his arm shifting a bit as if reaching out for her, but she was fully awake now. Something had pulled her from sleep and she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until she figured out what it was.
She rolled silently out of bed, tiptoeing out of her bedroom and down the hall. She nearly jumped right out of her skin at the bang in the hallway. Something was definitely out there. She hurried to the door, pressing her ear against it and listening for more noises. It couldn't be Bertie, not making that much noise. His MO was usually scratching at the door and maybe whining a bit. It didn't sound like it was coming from upstairs either so it couldn't be Clive. This was something new.
She turned on the monitor and gasped when she saw that the front door was wide open instead of closed as it should be. Someone had broken in.
She screamed when a pair of hands touched her waist but Harry was shushing her instantly, grasping her gently and pulling her close so he could wrap his arms around the front of her shoulders. "What's going on?" he mumbled sleepily as he dropped his chin onto her shoulder and looked at the monitor. "Is that door open?"
"I think someone broke in."
"Maybe one of Clive's friends?" Harry suggested. Piper shook her head.
"I don't think so. I think this is something different."
"Stay here," Harry said before he padded off toward her room. He came back a moment later carrying his Glock, holding it at his side. With Piper at his back, he unlocked the door, opening it enough that he could stick his head out and take a look. When everything was clear, he opened it wider and stepped through carefully, Piper clinging to his back.
The door upstairs opened and both Harry and Piper looked up at the landing. Clive was leaning over the banister, holding a bat above his head. "What's going on?" he asked, squinting down at Piper in her bralette and shorts, and Harry in his boxer briefs.
It was like the Twilight Zone. For once, Harry, Piper and Clive were all on the same team. "I think someone broke in," Harry told Clive. The two of them stared threateningly at each other for a moment and then Harry angled his gaze toward Piper. "Stay here. I'm going to check out downstairs."
Piper nodded and watched him go, descending down into the darkness. She kept an ear out for Harry but kept her eyes on Clive, watching him suspiciously. He'd lowered the bat but he didn't take his eyes off Piper so she returned the favour. Neither of them pulled their gaze away until Harry jogged back up the stairs, gun at his side.
"Someone tried to steal my car," he told her. "They went in through the front. The car's hot-wired but they couldn't get the garage door open so it looks like they took off and left the front door open." Harry begrudgingly looked over his shoulder at Clive standing on the landing above. "You get all that?"
Clive nodded, letting the bat drop down to his side. Piper looked between the two of them, a black ops agent and a member of a crime syndicate, and snorted a laugh. "Those idiots picked the wrong building to break into."
Clive sighed and stepped into his flat, shutting the door behind him with a bang. Harry just rolled his eyes.
"C'mon petal, let's just go back to bed."
2.
They both woke up at the same time when the shrill ringing echoed through Piper's small bedroom. She waited, hoping it would stop, but it didn't and Harry, who had been sprawled out on his stomach, patted his hand down until it found her back on the bed and then he nudged her hard.
"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."
Piper managed a lazy smile for Harry, giving his hand a squeeze before stepping away. "Have a good sleep on my behalf."
3.
Harry had thought that Piper's flu during his Moscow mission was as bad as it got but whatever virus was plaguing her now was about ten times worse. He suspected she'd picked it up on the tube. That place was a festering cesspool of disease.
Whatever the virus was (Niall suspected an enterovirus of some sort which was just a bunch of hogwash to everyone who didn't have medical training), it was hitting Piper hard. She'd spent the entire afternoon throwing up, almost to the point where Niall wanted to give her an IV to keep her hydrated, and when the vomiting finally stopped it was replaced with terrible stomach cramps. Nothing had really been helping so Piper was trying to sleep with a heating pad over her abdomen to help with the pain. Trying being the operative word.
They were at HQ so Piper had Niall on hand if she needed him so they were lying in Harry's king-sized bed rather than Piper's double but they still slept wrapped around each other like they always did. Harry was being gentler because Piper was poorly but he still had an arm around her and she was still curled into his side. It seemed to help a bit with keeping Piper calm but it also meant that Harry was jolted awake every time Piper squirmed around when the pain got really bad.
This time when he woke, it wasn't to Piper's usually quiet groan or stifled gasp. It was to a painful cry that twisted his gut. His eyes flew open, training on her face immediately, horrified to see tears on her cheeks. He reached over to wipe them away and Piper's eyes shot over to him. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, her lip wobbling.
"Don't be sorry, petal," Harry said quietly as he propped himself up on his forearm so he was hovering over her and he could see her properly. "Are you in a lot of pain?" She nodded sullenly, chewing on her bottom lip. "Do I need to get Niall?"
She shook her head after a moment's consideration. "He can't help. It — it'll pass eventually. I just can't sleep."
"Okay, okay," Harry said softly when he saw her eyes filling with tears again. He leaned over to press a gentle kiss to her cheekbone and then lay down on his shoulder, his elbow in the mattress propping up his head. "Close your eyes for me, petal."
Piper looked over reluctantly so Harry smiled gently, nodding affirmatively. With a little sigh, she let her eyes flutter shut and then her shoulders sagged down, resting comfortably on the bed. Harry reached down to slide the heating pad from over her abdomen and lay his hand flat over her bare stomach, pushing up her tank top. When he began to rub in gentle circles, Piper moaned, tilting her head toward him without opening her eyes.
"Sleep, Piper." Harry leaned down to kiss her forehead gently, murmuring the words into her skin. "Just sleep. I'm here. You'll be alright."
He kept up the gentle motion until her breathing had evened out, her hot breath blowing gently on his face. When he knew she was asleep, he felt okay with drifting off himself, his hand a warm presence on her belly.
It wasn't the last time they both woke, the cramping so bad that it pulled Piper from her restless sleep. Each time, Harry did his best to soothe her until she could fall back asleep. By about six in the morning, the worst had passed and the cramping stopped, thankfully not replaced with more vomiting. The virus had worked its way through and seemed to be on it's last legs. With nothing to disturb them, Harry and Piper slept wrapped around each other well into the afternoon.
4.
Piper woke slowly to a whispered voice and managed to squint her eyes open. She was lying curled up next to Harry, their hands the only thing touching which was strange for them. Usually Piper clung to Harry like an octopus in her bed at home but sometimes when they stayed at HQ, Harry's big bed allowed them to drift apart a bit.
It took her a moment to recognize Eleanor standing by the side of the bed, looking incredibly guilty. She was muttering Harry's name quietly, trying to wake him. When she noticed Piper stirring, she grimaced apologetically.
"Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you. I just need Harry."
"Gotta be louder," Piper slurred as she pushed onto her forearm a bit, yawning. "He had hot chocolate before bed. Always makes him sleep deeper." Piper placed a firm hand on Harry's shoulder and shook hard, jolting him awake. "Get up. Eleanor's here."
"What?" Harry murmured, smacking his lips as he rubbed his left eye like a little toddler waking from a nap. "What's goin' on?"
"I'm so sorry Harry. I hate to wake you," Eleanor said.
"'S fine. What happened?"
"Your asset in Jakarta's been compromised. He's panicking and he called into MI6 direct about twenty minutes ago. I've had them route the call to your study."
Harry was fully awake by the time Eleanor said Jakarta, forcing himself to sit up properly and rubbing his hands over his face to jolt himself awake. With a sigh, he slid his legs out from beneath the covers and stood, stretching out his back with a pop.
"Go back to sleep, petal," Harry said as he followed Eleanor around the end of the bed. Near the door, he placed a hand gently on her shoulder and said, "you too, El. I've got this."
"I should stay up. I'm going to need to file a report with the office and -"
"El, go to bed. I'm sorry you had to get up in the first place. I can handle it."
Piper noticed for the first time that Eleanor was wearing a pair of pyjama pants and a baggy t-shirt, her hair pulled up into a bun. She wondered how often this happened and whether Eleanor was pretty much on call 24/7 because she was in charge of One Direction.
"Go to sleep," Harry said sternly to Piper as the two of them stepped from the room.
She tried to do as he said but she was wide awake now and willing herself to sleep wasn't going to change that. After about twenty minutes, she finally resigned herself to being up and got out of bed, pulling one of Harry's flannel shirts on over her tank top and venturing downstairs.
She made two cups of tea in the kitchen by the light under the stove so she didn't have to turn on the lights. Once both cups were made to perfection, she ventured down the hall to where a door was ajar, light spilling from within.
Pushing it open with her back, she stepped carefully into the room, carrying the two cups of tea. Harry was sitting at his desk in just his boxers and a t-shirt, a headset on which he was speaking into. On the computer in front of him were CI files that PIper was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to be seeing.
He didn't notice her in the room, too busy listening to what was going on in his conversation to hear her quiet footsteps. When she set the mug of tea on his desk, he looked up surprised and then covered the mouthpiece.
"What're you doing up?" he asked.
"Couldn't sleep without you," she murmured which brought a little smile to Harry's face. He took her hand and yanked her down with it so he could kiss her cheek sweetly and then let her go. He took a sip of his tea and then jumped into action, giving directions to his asset halfway across the world.
Piper picked a book of the bookshelf and spread out on the plush couch that took up the other half of Harry's study. It was a copy of the Hobbit, well worn like it had been read many times. Piper knew the story so it was easy to dive in. She thought the fantasy story would keep her awake until Harry was done with his call.
She woke up the next morning tucked back into bed, Harry nowhere to be found. The Hobbit was sitting on the bedside table beside a fresh mug of tea.
5.
Harry came awake suddenly and all at once as a hand connected flat with his chest. He coughed at the pressure, his hand slapping down to trap hers against his chest. He looked over at Piper who was lying flat on her back, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. He knew that look.
"Had a dream, petal?"
"Sorry," she breathed out, panting for breath like she'd run a mile. "Did I wake you?"
"It's sort of hard to sleep through being slapped in the chest," he told her with an amused grin as he slid his fingers through hers and held her hand pressed over his heart. "Something interesting?"
"It was weird."
"More or less weird than the dream you had where we were sledding while being chased by skiers with machine guns?"
"Weirder," she said with an awed tone to her voice that made Harry smile. When Piper rolled over onto her side toward him, he held his arm out so she could curl up while she told him the whole dream. Based on past experiences, it was going to be one wild story.
"I had a dream that all five of you boys were de-aged," she told him.
"De-aged?"
"Yeah, like you were all proper size but some bad guy gave you all some chemical compound that turned you little. Like toddler size. Louis was a menace and Liam was so shy he wouldn't talk and Niall kept making a mess and Zayn was so clingy and you were... well, actually you were super cute with your baby dimples and your curly hair."
Harry couldn't help himself. The mental image was so vivid that he just started laughing, wildly, until he couldn't stop himself even if he wanted to. Piper pouted up at him. "It's not funny."
"It is funny. Your brain is such a strange thing. Although, you really should lay off the fanfiction. It's planting weird tropes into your head that get turned into these crazy dreams."
"I will never give up my fanfiction," Piper said quite seriously, frowning at Harry. "I have needs, Harry. Shipping needs that must be filled by my fanfiction. Where will I get my 00Q feels? Or my Destial feels. Or Johnlock. Christ, what would I do without my Ten and Rose fics?"
"Piper, breathe." She'd been ranting and when she started ranting it never turned out well. He watched as she took a deep breath, giving her a supportive pat between her shoulder blades where his hand had been resting. "You are such a fangirl."
He forgot sometimes that Piper got so possessive of her characters, both literary and television. She consumed media practically by osmosis and he doubted that there was a single show on the telly that she hadn't seen at least once. Her passionate nature which she exhibited in many facets of her life was just as strong for her fictional loves.
"You got a problem with fangirls?" Piper asked, quirking her brow in challenge.
"'Course not," he said wisely, an image of her heavily poster-clad walls of her childhood bedroom coming to mind. "As long as your OTP is you and me."
She snickered like she always did when he tried to talk about the crazy world of fandom that he only partially understood. Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to his jaw and then, when he turned his head, to his lips.
"We'll always be my OTP."
+1 (6.)
"You think she'll be okay?"
Niall glanced up at Louis who was sitting across the kitchen table from him and then over at Liam who was sitting to his side and also looked like he wanted an answer. Niall sighed and put down his mug of coffee (okay, Irish coffee but it had been that kind of day).
"She's doing the best she can," Niall told them. "She's just shaken."
Training helped agents learn how to operate in many different situations so they can successfully complete missions in the line of duty. It was an entirely different situation when the hostile situation happened in day to day life. The intersection of work and home when someone is an agent is generally their worst nightmare.
Niall didn't know all the details but he did know enough - six masked gunmen had attempted to rob Piper's bank while she'd been there to sort out her accounts. When they'd stormed in and demanded everyone get to the ground, Piper attempted to help an elderly woman and was plucked out of the group for her "insolence" and spent the next three hours with a gun to her head acting as the liaison between the robbers and the police on the phone.
The police said she handled herself brilliantly for a civilian which meant her training had come through but by the time the police had released her and she'd made her way to where Harry and Niall were waiting outside, she'd been shaking so terribly that only Harry's arms around her could help.
Back at HQ, Niall had stitched up a wound on Piper's shoulder and then let Harry take her into the living room to have a bit of a private chat. He knew that Harry was going to do his best to calm her down and centre her, do a bit of a debrief of what had happened. There wasn't anyone better to do it than Harry who had more experience than most in those kinds of hostile situations.
"They've been in there a while," Louis pointed out as he looked over the the doorway to the living room.
"Should we check on them?" Liam asked and before Niall could stop them, Louis and Liam had both jumped to their feet and scurried off toward the doorway. Niall leapt after them, trying to stop them before they burst in and caused a scene.
They all paused in the doorway, taking in the scene in front of them. Harry was sitting on the couch, his head resting on the back. Piper was straddling his lap, her knees on either side of his hips, her arms folded between their two chests. Her head was tucked into Harry's neck and his chin was resting on her head. His arms were wrapped around her back, one across her waist, the other across her shoulders. Both of them were fast asleep.
"Let them sleep." It was Eleanor's voice from behind them and it startled all three of them. She was peeking around them, smiling at Harry and Piper on the couch. "Don't disrupt them. Come on, boys."
They all followed Eleanor back into the kitchen where Zayn was loosening his tie, both of them having just come back from the JIC meeting discussing the bank robbery, the latest in a string.
"Piper alright?" Zayn asked, looking to Niall.
"She's going to be just fine."