Rising Tide

Chapter 11

"No way in hell." Amy snaps as soon as they get into the car. "She is not going home with you, Harry.

"And why not?" Harry snaps back.

"Why not? Why not, he asks?" Amy says throwing her hands in the air almost hitting Lou. "Because, you ass, you left her to deal with all this on her own, she doesn't want your help now." Amy yells.

"And where were you at Amy?" Harry yelled back.

"Whoa, now hold on right there bud. Amy was there with Autumn the whole fucking time." Lou jumps in to defend his wife. "The whole five damn days you were out doing whatever the hell you were doing, Amy was the one sitting there trying to get her to eat, and as you can see she refused. My wife was the one who sat and cried along with her as she sobbed on her shoulder when things got to be to much. All because you, the person who claimed to love her, bailed on her when she needed him the most." Lou snaps at Harry. "So don't sit there and pass judgment on my wife when all this is on you."

"Miss Amy is Aunty Rainy going to see my mommy like my daddy did?" Em asks her when the yelling stopped.

"Oh, no baby." Amy choked out picking the child up. "Your Aunty Rainy is just really tired and she's sleeping." Amy tells her. Amy then glances over at Harry and sees he has his face buried in Autumn's curly hair, and his shoulders were shaking with his silent sobs.

When the car pulled up in front of all their houses Harry gets out and quietly walks over to Louis and Amy's house without arguing. He knew when he was beat. When Amy got the door unlocked he followed her in and took Autumn to the room she wanted her in, he then left still not saying a word and went home. Once there he did what he did best, he cooked. He made chicken soup for Autumn, chicken nuggets for the kids and for him, Lou and Amy he made Chicken Alfredo in cream sauce. Once that was all done he loaded it all up and carried it next door. Harry kicked the door until Lou opened it.

"I figured that's what you were doing. You could have called, I would have helped carried it over." Lou tells his friend.

Harry shrugs. "It's fine, I've got it. She awake yet?" He asks.

"Yeah, Amy and the kids are with her. She's in a bad way Harry." Lou tells him. "This may take some time for her to get over."

"You think she will talk to me?" Harry asks trying not to start crying again.

"All I can do is ask Harry. I'll go tell her you made dinner and we'll go from there how's that." At Harry's nod Lou disappeared down the hallway.

While Lou was in talking to the girls Harry was in the kitchen fixing everyone's plates. Then he heard the distinctive sound of two little girls running toward him. "Uncle Curly." They both yelled as they jumped into his arms.

"Hey my girls, you hungry? I made you chicken nuggets." Harry tells the pair. When they nodded, he sat them at the table and set their plates in front of them. Looking up he sees Lou carrying Autumn into the room. He put her bowl of soup down next Em and he sat across from her.

While Amy and Lou kept a constant flow of questions and giggles going with the girls Harry and Autumn ate in silence. Autumn had eaten all she could of the delicious soup. Reaching out with her foot Autumn tapped Harry's knee to get his attention. After not eating for a week she was weak and now she was feeling sick.

When Harry felt the tap on his knee he looked up and saw Autumn pushing, her not even half empty bowl away, he then looked at her again and knew why. Jumping up Harry rushed to her, picked her up and ran down the hallway with her. When he her got her to the bathroom he sat her on the side of the tub and pulled her hair back for her, just into time for her to lose most of what she had eaten.
"Oh, God that wasn't exactly a very good compliment to your amazing soup." Autumn moaned as she held her stomach. "But I swear I loved it." She tells Harry.

Harry laughed which quickly turned into a sob as he pulled her to him. "It's fine, I was expecting that to happen." He sniffs as he flushes the toilet then sits her on it and get her a spare toothbrush out he knew Amy kept for unexpected guests and handed it to her.

"Are you okay?" Autumn asks Harry not believing he was actually crying.

"No, but neither are you." He tell her honestly.

After brushing her teeth Autumn looks at Harry. "So what's wrong with you?" She asks.

Harry snorts and leans against the door and slides down it to sit on the floor. "Seriously. Look at you, Autumn. Can you honestly say you would be in this shape if I had been there to help you out?" Harry asks her. "No, you're like this because I got scared and bailed on you again, leaving you to deal with everything on your own while I was out pretending to have fun." Harry says shoving his hands in his hair.

"But Harry, Steven was my responsibility, he was my brother." Autumn says.

"Wrong. Autumn don't you get it?" Harry snaps as he crawls to her tears rolling down his cheeks. "He should have been our responsibility, yours and mine, because I do love you." He cried, wrapping his arms around her waist, putting his head in her lap. "I was so stupid for doing this to you, hell to us. Hell I don't blame you for hating me."

"Oh, Harry, I don't hate you." Autumn tells him running her fingers through his hair. "I don't think I could if I tried." She says leaning over putting her head on his back. "Right now I'm to tired to hate anyone or anything even if I could, but truthfully I love you to much to even think about hating you." Autumn tells him.

Harry nods. "If I promise to always try to be there when you need me, will you promise to give me another chance and be patient with me?" He asks her finally looking up.

Nodding Autumn hugged him around the neck. "I think I can do that." She mumbled.

Harry kissed her neck and picked her up as he stood. "Okay now that we are done with our toilet confessions, I'll take you back to bed." He chuckles.

Autumn smiles. "Maybe we should do this once a week, you know, clear the air." She whispers. Getting really tired.

"Nope, we won't need to, babe." Harry tells her as he lays her down and covers her up.

Autumn reaches for him. "No!" She cries out with tears suddenly in her eyes. "Please stay. I don't want to be alone."

"Shh, okay. Let me go tell Lou and asks him to go lock up my house for me. I'll be right back." Harry assures her as he slips out the door. He walks into the livingroom and tells Amy and Lou what going on, picks up a sleeping Em and takes her back to Autumn's room with him. He put Em in bed beside her aunt then crawls in bed and pulls them both closer to him.