Vienna {h.s.}

chapter twenty seven - promise

^i haven't updates in over a month? i don't know what you're talking about^

^inline comments much appreciated^

Vienna's leg bounced up and down as she waited for Harry to open his front door. Her arms crossed over her chest, and her eyes were bloodshot red, another evidence of her unending cries. Harry finally opened the front door, and she looked up at him and he knew that something was very wrong.

"Oh no, Via, what happened?" He asked as he ushered her into the house.

"Venice-Venice is-" Her sobs cut off her words, and Harry got increasingly worried.

"Okay, okay duchess. Let's calm you down, we'll go take a shower and then make you some tea." He soothed both of them, concealed his emotions well as he was scared out of his damn mind.

He led her upstairs and watched as she got undressed, barely even noticed as he took off his own clothes as he was too focused on the crying she was performing. He then turned on his shower and laced their fingers together before he tugged her gently until they were both under the stream of water.

"Vienna, baby-"

"Venice is sick." She revealed, and gasped in a harsh breath, her tears blended in with the water streaming over the two of them. "Really sick." She whimpered out, and Harry pulled her into his chest and held her.

"I'm so sorry, Vienna." He whispered, and she let out a sob.

"I'm might lose my sister, my best friend. She's so young, she doesn't deserve to have cancer." She spoke, and he winced. "Oh my god, I might lose her. What a shit sister I am, she's been with me through everything and I can't even save her." She cursed herself, and Harry shook his head.

"You can't blame yourself, Vienna. You couldn't have done anything to prevent it, and you sure as hell can't save her unless you found a cure to cancer that you're not giving her. Don't you dare blame this on yourself." He instructed her, and she let out a faint cry.

"Harry, what if she dies?" She breathed, and Harry's eyes widened as she let out another round of sobs. He realized there was nothing he could do to appease her, her minds work had to run its course of horrible thinking.

He cradled her frame into his chest and swayed them back and forth as she cried into his skin. Her mind swirled and pain flickered through her temples from her harsh thoughts and swollen eyes. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, the only easement he could provide for her in that state. She nuzzled her nose into his protective frame, and they let the water run over them for a good while.

He nudged her after a while, tapped her hip and signaled for her to turn around. She listened to the cap of a shampoo bottle being opened, and then the strong, caring hands of her lover made their way through the strands of her hair. She let a few more years escape silently in the room where the only sounds were the stream of water and the soapy massage of shampoo into her hair.

He grabbed her shoulder and slowly turned her back to face him and walked them back so she was directly under the stream of water.

"Vienna, you're not going to be alone. Even if the worst does happen to her, you're always going to have people around you who love you. You'll always have me." His heart skipped a beat at his near-profession of love.

She made eye contact and held it with his green eyes, he pushed the hair that budged into her face back behind her ear.

"Promise?" She uttered huskily, and he tugged her into him once more. This time they both embraced each other, their arms around each other's waists.

"I promise, V."

{•}{•}{•}

The next morning, Vienna was tangled in a thin blanket on the couch, a mug of tea in her hands. Harry had gotten a call early that morning and left bed, triggering Vienna's wake. She made herself a drink and watched the sunrise in a numbed state.

Harry walked back in from his porch, and saw her sat on the couch. Her legs tucked under her, her hair pulled messily from the night's previous ponytail. Her eyes showed the evidence of a night spent crying. But she still looked beautiful to him.

"Hi duchess." He greeted quietly, and she shifted her gaze to look at him.

"Hi." She responded, and he walked over to her blank state, and shifted her so he slid under her and she sat on top of him. He wrapped his arm around her and placed them in her lap, and they watched the sunrise take over the colors of the sky.

"How're you doing right now?" He asked quietly, kissing the back of the ear he had whispered into.

"I could definitely be better, but I'm not having a mental breakdown so I'm doing okay." Vienna answered him, and traced his anchor tattoo with the hand not holding her mug.

They sat there for a while in comfortable silence, just absorbing the environment. The sun rose beautifully in the Pennsylvanian town, and Vienna was there to watch it all. But then as the sun rose enough to bother her eyes, reality seemed to crash back down on her again. Harry had sat motionless under her for a half hour and eventually fell asleep again.

"Harry." Vienna called, woke him up slowly. He looked at the side of her face that could see him with sleepy eyes. "I'm gonna go check on Venice. I'll see you later." She told him, and he nodded, not protesting in his drowsy state.

She walked across the street in the day's previous clothes with no shame, and entered her house in a daze. Her mind felt hazy, and she didn't want to think too hard in fear of another breakdown. Vienna climbed the stairs softly, opened the already half-opened door of Venice's room to see Jay and Venice tangled together in an organized mess on her the bed. Vienna let a twitch of a smile pull on her muscles, but it didn't encase her entire face.

She kneeled in front of the bed that held the two unexpected parents, and brushed the hair off of Venice's face, which triggered a wake up of the younger sibling. Venice showed evidences of crying just as Vienna had, and Vienna smiled sadly at her.

"I love you, Venice. And no matter what happens, I will always be here for you, and I will still be your best friend now like I have been before." Vienna assured her, and Venice smiled widely, a tear escaped the corner of the younger sister's eye.

"Best friends until the world ends?" Venice asked, held out her pinkie finger for Vienna to take. And take it, Vienna did.

"Best friends until the world ends."

^i ship jay and venice harder than the titanic hitting the iceberg^