Dreamer ~ A Daniel Seavey Fanfiction

Chapter 21

DANIEL'S POV

I slide my hands slowly down Harper's arms, not believing what she just said. "What do you mean, she's your sister? You said she and your brother died in a car accident before junior year started."

"I know, but..." Harper turns back to me, her eyes shiny. "That was her. I would know her face anywhere."

I look into her eyes, seeing the hurt and the pain of losing her siblings all over again. Then, I hand Harper her jacket with one hand, and, holding her hand with my other hand, I take out my keys.

"What are you doing?" Harper says softly, and I can hear the effort she takes to keep her voice from cracking.

"I'm taking you to the hospital. We're going to see your family."

With that one simple sentence, Harper sinks back onto the couch, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "We can't."

"Why not?" I say furiously, dropping down next to her with my keys still out in my hand. When Harper doesn't answer, I ask my question softly. "Why not?"

"Daniel, they left me," she says, sounding desperate, like she's begging me to understand. "After promising me so many times that they would get me out of that house when they left for college, all they did was change their names and forget I existed. They were going to leave me in there to die."

"That can't be true," I reply, standing back up again. "You don't know that that was what they were thinking. They loved you too much to do that to you."

"Did they?" Harper asks quietly, sounding broken-hearted.

"There's only one way to find out." I reach toward her, hand out, palm up, and take her hand, pulling her up with me. I walk her outside to my car, and I drive to the hospital to see her family - just like I promised I would.

☆☆☆

"God, I hate hospitals," Harper says, staring into space in the waiting room. Part of me doesn't think she realizes she's spoken aloud until I answer her.

"Me too. Something about them is too...still. Like you're just waiting for bad news to drop out of the sky."

"They just remind me of every time we were here as kids," Harper says bitterly. "Every time our parents decided that the bruises weren't going to heal themselves, they brought us here and played victim - stuff like blaming me for falling out of a tree, or Dexter for crashing his bike, or Hailey getting hit by a softball - and the hospital staff ate it up." She scoffs and shakes her head. "And then my dearest parents payed our medical bills with drug money."

"That's fucked," I say on an exhale. "That's...God, I'm so sorry."

Harper shrugs, and it makes me both furious and sad to see that this is something she takes in stride, something casual, and not as something that should never happen. "Tell me about it."

I open my mouth to tell her how sorry I am, how I wished I could've saved her from all that, and how I wanted to protect her from it forever. But before I got the chance to make a complete fool of myself, a nurse catches Harper's eye, recognizing her, and waves us toward her down a hallway.

"You go," I tell Harper, taking her jacket from her. "I'll be back after you guys catch up. I have a feeling there's going to be a lot to say."

I smile and she grins back brightly, turning away from me to move toward the nurse. Suddenly, Harper turns back to me and stands on tiptoe to gently kiss my cheek. "Thank you," she says. "For everything."

"You know you've got me, Harp," I tell her, and I know I'm blushing madly. "I'm not going anywhere." I wink at her and nod toward the nurse, and she gives me one last look before she disappears.

I sit back down, rubbing my face with one hand, and taking a deep breath, forcing out an exhale. Whatever Harper finds in that room, I brought her to.

And now, I wait...

~