Harper Collins sighed as she turned the hot water on in the bathtub. It had been a bad day in the emergency department where she worked as a doctor. All she wanted to do after her shift was to curl up on the couch with her boyfriend of a year and a half, Pete “Cal” Calvin. Unfortunately, he’d texted her to see if she wanted to meet him and his team of U.S. Marshals at the bar they usually congregated at after a hard day of work. She’d told Pete that she was tired and it had been a long day. Not a complete lie but also not the whole truth.
Harper sighed as she sank into the steaming hot water and tried to relax. She thought about texting Pete and coming clean about work. After all, about three months into their relationship, Pete and Harper had almost broken up. It had been a night much like the one unfolding in front of her right now: He had texted her to say he’d had a long day, was going to bed, and he’d check in with her later. She didn’t hear from him again for three days. Harper had been drinking at the bar with Andrea, one of Pete’s teammates and had brought up that he had completely shut her out. Andrea had let it slip that an op had gone sideways, a drug dealer had taken his wife and kid hostage. The dealer had killed his wife and was about to kill his kid when Kayce finally got a clear shot through his sniper rifle and taken the guy out. Harper drove over to Pete’s and demanded he talk to her. He tried to play it off like a casualty of job but she could tell it weighed on him. They’d had a huge, screaming match in Pete’s living room. Once the dust settled, Pete had finally admitted that he didn’t want to tell anybody the truth about what happened with his job because it wasn’t pretty and it was a lot to take on. Harper had assured him that nothing he did was going to make her run, she knew all about the harsh realities of a high stress job where lives were in your hands. They’d both promised each other that they’d be totally honest about their work days and would let the other help lighten the burden they carried.
After her bath, Harper dried her hair with a towel, threw on Pete’s favorite hoodie, some sweats, and socks before brewing herself a cup of tea. Once it was done, she went and sat in one of the wooden rocking chairs on the front porch. Harper sighed again and looked out at her surroundings as she sipped her tea. Pete had found this three bedroom, two bathroom house while out on one of his drives to clear his head after a particularly bad nightmare. He told Harper that it was perfect for them, tucked in the woods a little out of town. Harper had agreed immediately after they toured it and before she knew it, her and Pete had bought a house together. Belle said that was as close to married as Peter Calvin was ever going to get again.
The ringing of her phone pulled Harper out of her memories. She checked the screen and scowled in confusion. “Hey, Maddie,” she answered.
“Hey, Harper,” Maddie returned the greeting.
“Everything okay?” Harper asked. It wasn’t often that Pete’s daughter called her.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Maddie responded. “Dad’s phone died. He asked me to call you and let you know that he’s headed home.”
“Thanks for letting me know.” Harper tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just tired. It was a long day.” Harper smiled softly. It was nice of Maddie to be concerned for her.
“Well, take care of yourself.” Maddie replied.
“Yes, ma’am.” Harper chuckled softly before Maddie ended the phone call. Pete’s daughter had his same protective nature.
She tipped her head back against the chair and studied the porch roof. She wasn’t ready to face her boyfriend. A while later, the sound of a truck door shutting had tears instantly pricking the backs of her eyes.
“You look like you’re trying to solve all the world’s problems, baby.” Pete said as he climbed the stairs.
Harper let out a breath and shook her head. “I’m trying to figure out how to get peace on Earth.”
Pete chuckled as he eased himself into the unoccupied rocker next to her. “Good fucking luck.”
Harper looked at him and took a sip of her tea. “Yeah, wishful thinking.” She reached over and intertwined her fingers with his.
Pete gave her fingers a gentle squeeze, his brow furrowing at her. It was dark out but not dark enough that he couldn’t see that something was upsetting the woman he loved. “That jerk Golding say something again? Because if that son of a bitch is giving you a hard time, I’ll go down there and talk to him. You just say the word.”
Harper smiled at him and shook her head. “Nah, he hasn’t said anything since you threatened to cut his tongue out.”
“He deserved it,” Pete shrugged. “Nobody talks to my girl like that and gets away with it. Shit, you should have seen the team after I told them what he said.”
Harper laughed at that. “I can imagine.”
“It was a fight between Coyo and Dre over which one was going to get to him first,” Pete laughed as well, referring to Kayce and Andrea. “Belle was going to threaten him a little and Miles…well, Miles just got that dark, scary look he gets when he’s mad.”
Harper shivered slightly. Miles was a big teddy bear usually but when he got mad, he got scary. She sat quietly next to Pete, holding his hand and enjoying the quiet.
“You gonna tell me what’s got you in your head?” Pete broke the silence.
“Rough day,” was all she said.
“I figured,” Pete replied. “You wanna talk about it?”
“No,” Harper’s voice broke as tears welled in her eyes.
Pete’s heart constricted in his chest. He hated seeing her hurting. “One is none, baby girl.”
She nodded, her chin starting to quiver. “Uh,” she cleared her throat, untwined her fingers with Pete’s and started fidgeting with her fingers, “Goldfish Willy came into the ED today.”
“You love it when that old, crazy alcoholic visits the emergency department. What happened?”
“It all started so normally, Pete.” She shook her head as a tear fell down her cheek. “Willy was all smiles, cracking jokes, like always. He asked if I was still seeing the ‘cock blocking copper.’”
Pete chuckled. “He will never forgive me for moving in on his girl. He told me that you were the light in the dark for him.”
All Harper could do is nod as the dam broke and tears streamed down her face. Pete grabbed her hand and pulled on it. She got up and settled on his lap, her legs over the arm of the rocking chair, her forehead tucked against his jaw, one of his arms wrapping around her back and resting on her upper arm, his other hand resting on her thigh. He held her while she quietly sobbed.
“He died,” Harper said once the sobs subsided.
“Baby,” Pete said quietly, placing a soft kiss on her head.
“He was fine one minute and the next he coded.” She brought a hand up to idly stroke Pete’s beard.
Pete sighed, wanting to take her pain away. “I’m sorry, Harper.”
“I did everything I could.”
“I know, baby,” Pete rubbed reassuring circles on her arm. “What’d Reid say?” Reid was a fellow attending doctor in the emergency department.
“Catastrophic heart attack,” she answered. He smiled softly to himself at her way of dumbing down medical terms so he could understand them. “He ran the code with me the whole time. Willy was in the exact right place for something like that to happen, not out on the street and I still couldn’t save him.”
“You did everything you could, sweetheart.”
“Did I? There were other things I could have tried. Instead of–”
“Hey!” Pete shifted her so she was straddling his legs so quickly it made her dizzy. He cupped her face in his hands. “You are a great doctor, Harper Lilith Collins. You did everything in your power to save Goldfish Willy. You know if there was anything that could have been done, you would have done it or Reid would have suggested it. Stop second guessing yourself.”
Harper nodded as fresh tears ran down her face. Pete wiped them away with his thumbs. “I know I shouldn’t be upset. It’s part of the job. I got too close.”
“If it didn’t upset you, I’d be worried. You told me that doctors that are completely detached are bad doctors. You are not a bad doctor. I don’t want you to become a bad doctor either.”
“It’d be easier,” she gave him a mirthless smile. Pete dropped his hands to her shoulders and rolled his eyes at her. “I know, I know. I don’t do anything easy.”
“No, you do not. Need I remind you of the time you decided to switch out the dead 65 inch tv for the new 55 inch tv, which I’m still mad that you went smaller by the way, all by yourself when I was less than 10 minutes from home?”
“Look, Pete,” she genuinely laughed, “you just have to understand that I’m used to going smaller.” She shrugged.
Pete clenched his chest in feigned pain. “Ouch! You really know how to wound a man’s ego.” He flashed a wide smile at her. “One of my favorite things about you is how much you care.”
“I thought your favorite thing about me was my ass.”
“I said one of my favorite things. I realized I was in love with you that day at East Camp when Tate found those three abandoned kittens. You spent weeks nursing them back to health and cried for days when one didn’t make it. You even got a little teary eyed when Coyo was talking about killing that wolf on his property. You care so deeply about all living creatures, baby, even the ones that don’t deserve it. I love that about you. Please don’t ever change that.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Now, let’s go inside and watch ‘Help! I Wrecked My House’ before bed. My legs are going numb.”
“I knew you liked that show.” Harper teased as she stood up and grabbed Pete’s hand, pulling him to his feet.
“I hate that show, but you love it and you need to watch something mindless.”
“It’s also given me some good ideas for our kitchen.” She said, leading him into the house.
“Abstolutely not.” Pete said as he closed the front door behind him and threw the deadbolt.
summary: you and pete just had an argument, you’re both relaxing on separate couches and scrolling through your phones when you get a message from cal.
warnings: just light swearing! also your outfit is chosen (literally just cal’s hoodie and a pair of sweatpants so like loungewear).
wc: 540
a/n: i’m really sorry i haven’t posted, ive been busy as hell. i’m finally on study leave though so ill be posting a lot more i hope.
masterlist!
You were curled up on the sofa, facing the television, wearing your husband’s baggy hoodie and a pair of sweatpants while mindlessly scrolling through TikTok on your phone.
Cal was lying on the sofa to your left, sprawled out across the couch and watching some kind of reels on his own phone.
It was quiet.
Not tense or uncomfortable, just… quiet.
Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Cal glancing at you constantly, his eyes flickering over to you every few seconds from the opposite sofa.
You opened your messages app and clicked on Cal’s contact.
‘Stop looking at me, asshole,’ you typed, your fingers flying across the keyboard.
Across the room, you heard his phone buzz. Almost immediately, the three little dots appeared as he started typing a response.
‘Can’t help myself, babe. You look so hot right now.’
You forced your expression to stay neutral, trying not to let him see how amused you were by his comment.
‘Well, thanks,’ you replied before quickly adding, ‘I guess.’
Cal rolled his eyes at his phone. You were always so stubborn. Then again, this whole argument had been his fault, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
‘You’re welcome, baby,’ he sent back before swiping out of the app and returning to his reels.
‘Still pissed off, by the way,’ you added, just to remind him that his compliments weren’t enough to fix your mood.
‘I know. Me too,’ Cal replied before rolling onto his side and switching his phone off so he could properly look at you.
“But just because I’m mad,” he murmured softly, careful not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere, “doesn’t mean I’m fucking blind, baby.” His lips twitched into a grin. “I can appreciate my pretty girl whenever I want.”
“Well, be quiet with your admiration. You’re being annoying,” you grumbled, shooting him a playful glare.
“Oh, I am, am I?” he chuckled as he stood up and walked over to your couch. “Guess I’ll just have to ramp up my annoying behaviour.”
He grinned before getting up of the couch and approaching you, leaning down and practically collapsing on top of you as he begins pressing a trail of kisses against your neck.
You giggled, weakly pushing at his chest while secretly enjoying the playful ease of your slow reconciliation.
“Oh my God, stop!” you shrieked as his beard tickled your sensitive skin. “You’re such a dick!”
“Oh, wowww, I see how it is,” he said with an exaggerated nod, pinching your hip and pouting dramatically. “I try to apologise and be nice, but no, I’m a dick.”
You nodded despite the grin spreading across your face as he continued attacking your neck with kisses.
It was probably the happiest the two of you had been all evening… It was nice to finally feel okay again.
Harry telling the story about a fan (Lucas) who spoiled his marriage proposal to his partner (Natalia) by telling him on the street | Together, Together Tour in Amsterdam Night VI (May 26th)
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