Things We Don't Normally Do

TWENTY FIVE

It didn't take long before Alex pulled herself back together. It felt like she had opened the flood gates, but it was time to reel it back in, as she was only willing to let enough out so nothing overflowed.

She took the deepest breath she could, before tapping Harry's back to let her go. She straightened up and plastered a smile onto her face.

"Thank god I don't have any makeup." she joked as she looked at the damp patches on Harry's signature childish hoodie.

"You're pretty without makeup anyway." he shrugged.

She squeezed his arm, "Stop that."

"I mean thank fuck for that!" he smiled, "I'd be fuming if you ruined my jumper, you know? I don't even think you can get this anymore."

She smiled back. For someone who gets made fun of a lot for being odd and possibly not being able to read social queues, Harry always seemed to know how to cheer her up when it mattered the most.

"Get me coffee." she said, changing gears.

He pouted at her, "Shouldn't you be buying me coffee? I've only crossed the Atlantic Ocean to get here for you."

"I bet I'd been through more to end up here, though." she said, trying to make light of her situation.

He shook his head, "Yeah, I suppose you win."

Harry admired how strong and resilient she seemed. But he knew just as good as anyone how a strong exterior meant nothing. He knew a thing or two about putting on a very believable facade.

He got up and offered her his hand. He was just glad she took it without a fuss.

The ward she was in wasn't high security, with most of the patients suffering from relatively low risk, acute mental distress. But still, they would have to go through two locked doors that could only be opened by one of the nurses from the nurse's station to get out.

Alex walked up to the nurse's station, making her way to her nurse to ask if she could step out. Olawumi smiled and explained to her that she was allowed up to thirty minutes, and she would have to write her sign-out time on the whiteboard, across from her room number. While the unit wasn't very strict, Olawumi warned that a code yellow or a missing adult emergency might get called if she took way longer than the allotted 30 minutes to get back.

She nodded in understanding, and thanked Olawumi, before walking to the whiteboard, with Harry following closely behind her.

"So I guess I can't just abduct you today then." he shrugged as he caught up to her, standing at the door, waiting for Olawumi to press the button to unlock it.

"Not today, no." she smiled as the first automatic doors swung open.

They stopped at the second door for a moment, waiting for it to open. He reached for her hand, hesitantly at first, just brushing the back of his hand against hers as if to see if she would pull away. When Alex kept her hand in place, he took it as a sign that it was alright, so he laced his fingers with hers, "You're alright?"

"I don't know," she started, making Harry's expression tense until she completed her sentence, "I mean I haven't had decent coffee in ages. So it's anyone's guess how I'll react, really."

"Wanker!" he exclaimed as they walked out the second set of doors.

They took their time strolling through the hospital hallways, and Alex was glad Harry was there on her first time being allowed out. Because she would've otherwise been way too anxious about making it back in time and getting lost in the hallways.