Harry pulled away from her comforting embrace, his beautiful eyes glossy and rimmed with red, and he smiled at her, "How do you always know just what to say?"
Carter smiled softly in return, her hand lifting to his cheek, "Because I learned from you."
Harry sniffled, his nose terribly runny from crying so much, "I think I'm ready to go back inside."
He knew that he didn't have to go back inside to face his family, he could have told Carter that he wanted to go home and reschedule another dinner sometime later in the week, but he wanted to show his brother that he didn't control him and that he could be happy for him, even if he would never return the gesture.
Harry stood up and offered Carter his hand, as long as she was there, he could manage.
Carter smiled up at him and accepted his hand, their fingers lacing together like puzzle pieces. He helped her up and she spoke softly, "You're doing the right thing you know."
She lifted her eyes to meet his, there was a storm raging in the beautiful sea of blue that he loved to drown in. He could tell that she wanted to hit Sam and yell profanities at him, but he knew that she was holding it back because he was more important.
Harry looked down at her with a smile that told her he was alright, "I know."
Carter stared at him for a moment longer, she admired how he wasn't choosing the easy way out and just going home and she admired how he wasn't afraid to show her his emotions, "I love you."
Harry closed the distance between them, his lips encasing hers and radiating affection, "You know I love you more."
Carter shook her head, her smile brighter than the stars, the storm in her eyes had calmed, "No, you love me equally."
Harry laughed softly and leaned in to kiss her again, "You're right, I love you equally. Let's go back inside before Mum sends a search party."
They walked back into the dining room hand in hand with smiles on their faces. Harry was the first to apologize, "I'm sorry about that. Congratulations, Sam and Aurora."
Despite the fact that Harry had made a fool of himself and then congratulated him, Sam was still jealous of how Carter looked at him. Since they'd come back, she hadn't taken her eyes off of him and they were sitting closer than they had been before. Carter was looking at him like he was the sun and she was the moon; Aurora never looked at him that way.
Sam surprised everyone by slamming his fists down on the table, "Why do you always get everything!?"
Everyone flinched, but Aurora was the only one that spoke, "Sam..."
He looked at her like she had just slapped him in the face, his eyes wide and wild with rage and hurt, "What!?"
Aurora shrank back in her seat and didn't say another word. Robin spoke next, "Sam, please calm down." He stayed clear of mentioning the fact that Harry hadn't done anything wrong because he knew that it would only upset him farther.
Sam would have none of it, "No! You all treat him like he's an Angel and you treat me like I'm the Devil! He gets everything that he wants and everyone loves him and I'm sick of it!"
Anne risked placing her hand atop his, "Sweetie, you're not the Devil. We love you both equally and you know that. And he most certainly doesn't get everything he wants. He gave you all of the best Christmas presents that he wanted every year since you were thirteen. Every year he didn't write me a list, he wrote "I want Sam to get what he wants because I want him to be happy and I want him to love me again".'"
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The Artist [h.s.]
FanfictionSequel to Masterpiece: She's trying to forget about him. He's trying to get her back.