baby [h.s.]

nineteen

    The clock read ten when I rolled over. Harry was still asleep, his arm draped across the middle of my body.

    "Harry," I whispered. I nudged him and he groaned. "Harry it's ten in the morning,"

    "Shit," he said, moving his other hand to cover his face. "We're so late,"

    I sat up and his arm fell.

    "I need to shower," I said.

    "You have a meeting with Perkins today at noon," he said. He looked up at me. My shoulders slumped.

    "Why didn't you tell me this?"

    He sighed. "I didn't know until yesterday. Your training isn't through, but he thinks you're far enough that he can place you."

    "Far enough?" I echoed, eyes widening.

    "We've been working for a month and a half now, Tilly," he said. He propped his body up on his elbows in the bed. I ran a hand over my face. "Don't worry, love, he's mad about you."

    I arched an eyebrow. "Mad about me?"

    "Your progress has really impressed him,"

     I sighed and turned around.

    My shower was brief and when I was out and ready, Harry had prepared breakfast for the two of us. Two plates of pancakes sat at my dining room table, pancakes that were topped with blueberries.

    "Thank you," I said to him in a low voice after I sat down. He was already seated, but didn't begin eating until I had joined him.

    We ate in silence, and the pancakes were great. I wasn't aware he could cook so well.

    "You should've told me about your talent, Harry," I said from the kitchen, after we ate, where I was washing the dishes.

    "Now you're going to make me cook all the time," he called back.

    I just smiled and didn't respond.

    It was as we were preparing to leave that I realized I wasn't dressed to meet with Perkins. I was wearing my workout clothes.

    "Harry, we're not going to have time to work out before I go meet with Perkins, and I can't go in there dressed like this."

     He turned and looked me up and down.

    "Just go put on a dress," he said with a wave. And I did as I was told.

     The outfit I replaced the other one with was a dress and heels. I figured I shouldn't attempt to look too immature, so I went with a more style.

    "Looks good," Harry said when I returned to him. I grabbed my jacket off the coat hook beside the door and he held the door open. My palms were sweating, but we were ready to go.

    It seemed as if it took forever to reach the warehouse. I had only been to the headquarters a few times, and it seemed scarier than it ever had before.

    Harry placed his hand on the small of back and it never left as we walked into the building. We walked through the sets of security rooms, stopping briefly in each one to get to the next. And before I would've liked, we had arrived in the lobby.

    "His office is at the back," Harry said to me. He nodded to the man sitting at a desk in the lobby and we began to walk down a hall.

    At the end of the hall was a door that led to the main part of the building. It was a big room with concrete floors and walls that echoed just about every sound. I paid no mind to the activities going on around me, instead locking my focus on the double doors that I knew led to my fate.