Never Gonna Quit It [h.s.]

Chapter Thirty-Three:

Harry

He pushed through the ER doors frantically, tears streaming down his face and his chest heaving to catch a breath after how much he had exerted himself to get there as quickly as possible.

It didn't take long for him to spot his mother and he ran to her, immediately asking, "Where is she? I need to see her."

Seraphina was crying and Ambrose looked both sad and confused at what was going on, his mind too young to fully comprehend the gravity of what was happening around him.

Gemma answered him instead, "123 A. Go. We'll watch them until you need us to join you. Go be with your wife Harry."

He didn't need to hear anything else.

Nurses yelled at him and patients looked at him like he was insane as he ran down the halls, desperate to get to the room his wife was dying in. He didn't care. She was dying and she needed him just as much as he needed her.

His breath left him once he'd reached the room number Gemma had told him, "Scarlett..."

Tubes. There were so many tubes.

The moment her eyes landed on him she began to cry as well, "H-Harry..."

He ignored the fact that the bed was much too small to hold the both of them, and the tubes that riddled her frail body and joined her in the bed, holding her as close to him as physically possible.

Resting his forehead against hers, he closed his eyes and she did the same, "I'm sorry."

"You should be, for making me share this tiny bed with you."

Despite the nature of the situation he laughed, tears falling faster, "You're right."

His eyes opened to meet her blue ones, intensely gazing at him through blurry lenses, her lips parted slightly before closing again.

Softly she asked, "Could we just pretend that I'm not dying right now? I just want you to love me."

Harry nodded, his thumb gently wiping the tears from her cheek, "Absolutely."

"Do you remember, the time that you took me to the beach and I made fun of you because of how bright and short your shorts were? And you...you picked me up and told me to shut up before diving into the water with me?"

Harry smiled softly, recalling in great detail that exact moment, "You screamed and punched at me claiming that I'd gotten water up both your ears and nose. Yet, the entire time you were smiling so brightly that it outshone the sun."

Scarlett giggled lightly, "Or the time that you nearly burnt down my flat trying to make flambè?"

Harry grinned and fussed with their linked hands, "Yeah 'coz you made it worse by trying to "blow it out"."

"And then I said that because you nearly burned down my flat that someday you'd have to take me to Paris." She paused and went back on their earlier agreement, "I never got to see Paris Harry."

There was a rope tightening around his chest, "I know baby, I know."

Just as she had begun to break a lightbulb went off in his brain, "Shhh, sweetheart I can still take you to Paris."

Scarlett wiped at her eyes, she was angry with herself "H-how?"

Harry kissed her cheek before pulling out his cell phone and typing in aomething quickly.

"Just watch the screen and imagine that we're there okay?"

Scarlett nodded and he kissed her before apologizing once again, "I'm sorry that I didn't take you, I was planning to when the kids were older, I uh-I had the tickets already."

Scarlett only cried harder as did he as they forced their attention to the small screen, a virtual tour of Paris playing out as if they were actually there.

The second it had ended, her head against his shoulder, he heard her speak softly as she squeezed his hand, "You need to go get the kids Harry..."

His chest had caved in, there was already a hole where his heart should have been, "Scarlett..."

Scarlett shook her head, her eyes shut tight as the tears fell and her voice wavered, "I've been holding on for you since 12 o'clock Harry, I can't fight it much longer."

Each breath he took hurt worse than the last, desperate, he caught a nurse in the hallways attention, "Excuse me?"

Slightly perplexed she stopped, "How can I help you?"

He didn't bother wiping his tears away, "There's a family in the waiting room waiting for me to come back but, my wife," he gestured to Scarlett, "Doesn't have much time left and I really don't want to leave her. Would you mind telling them to come back? They're the ones with the little girl and little boy, they'll know what it means."

He could've sworn her eyes filled with sympathy as she offered him a soft smile, "Of course, they'll be right in."

It wasn't long before Seraphina and Ambrose ran into the room, automatically going toward their mother and climbing into the already full bed, clinging to her as they cried.

"Mummy no. Don't leave!" Seraphina was nearly as hysterical as her father while Ambrose silently cried and clung to her hospital gown.

"I wuv you Mummy!" Ambrose cried into her shoulder and Harry got out of the bed, as gracefully as he could manage, hugging his mother tightly in an attempt to ease some of the pain.

Scarlett whispered tearfully to her children before calling Harry back over softly, holding out her hand to him as she spoke, "I need you to do something for me."

Entwining their fingers he kissed her hand, tears falling gently like light rainfall, "You know I'd do anything for you Scarlett."

"There's a box under my side of the bed, it's black. Inside there's your birthday present, your anniversary present, and presents for both of their birthdays and Christmas."

She was crying so much that she had to stop momentarily to breathe before continuing, "There's letters in there for each of you, and three for your parents and Gemma. You know what to do with them."

Harry rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and imagining that it was just the two of them and that she wasn't dying, that she wasn't leaving him forever.

"I will sweetheart, I will."

Her voice was small when she next spoke, it felt like an eternity had passed, "Harry?"

Her blue eyes met his one final time although he hadn't known that in the moment, "Hmm?"

Scarlett let her hand caress his face one last time, "I'm glad it was you."

In that moment, he knew she was nearly gone. He couldn't let himself miss his last chance to say goodbye and he kissed her one last time.

"I will always love you."

Her eyes didn't open again and his heart finally shattered into a million tiny pieces as he held her lifeless body in his arms, his other half now missing and never to return.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he instantly recognized it as his mother's, "I'm so sorry Harry..."

The action only made it worse, hiccups now following his heartbroken sobs, "It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair..."

His words felt empty as they tumbled out in a whispered mantra; he was inconsolable and completely and utterly devastated.

Seraphina and Ambrose hugged him tightly and cried with him, almost just as equally hurt over the loss of their mother.

He would have to live without her for he rest of his life, and he didn't know if he could handle it.