I'll Be Home For Christmas

December 18th

"Woah, where are you off to in such a hurry? Looking so dressed up?" Gemma asked as she watched Harry put his boots on.

"Oh I uh..." He stuttered. He knew very well how his family felt about Candice and knew that if he mentioned he was going to dinner with her that it would result in a fight. "I'm meeting some friends for dinner." He said.

"You're what?" She asked. Surely he wasn't going to just leave Piper here all evening while he hung out with his friends.

"Ran into some friends while at the shop, said we'd go to dinner tonight." He said. Technically he wasn't lying.

"In case you've forgotten, you've got a friend here that you brought up from London. She's lovely but she's not here for us." Gemma reminded him.

"I know I know." He said. He quickly checked his watch to make sure he wasn't running late. "I just...it's been a while since I've seen he-them and it was suggested. Its one night." He said. He watched as his sister narrowed her eyes and he had a sinking feeling he'd been caught.

"Her? Were you about to say her?" She questioned.

"No!" He said straightening up. Gemma instantly knew he wasn't being completely honest.

"You did. Who is she?" She asked. Who could possibly be so important to pull Harry away from his family, from Piper who he's been gooey-eyed over for the past week! Just as he was about to reply his phone, which had been resting on his hat on one of the steps, rang out with Candice's name on it.

"Shit." He muttered as a look of anger passed over Gemma's face.

"Please, please, please tell me you're not going to dinner with....with her." She spat out. She wanted to call Candice a bitch and really give her idiot brother a piece of her mind, but she knew her daughters could potentially hear her and she didn't want that.

"It's complicated Gem." He said.

"Not really, but in case you don't remember how about I remind you! This is the-"

"I know what what happened Gem, thanks." Harry cut her off.

"Then why are you giving her the time of day?" She asked.

"Like I said...it's complicated." He sighed.

"Hey Harry, we were just about to start Elf, are you going- oh, looks like you're going somewhere." Piper said stepping into the entryway.

"Yeah...just...meeting up...with some friends..." He mumbled.

"Oh. Well...have fun." She said giving him a smile. She smiled at Gemma before turning around and heading back into the living room. Both Harry and Gemma listened as she told Poppy and Tabitha that uncle Harry wasn't going to join them this evening.

"Just know something Harry, Candice Jones will never hold a candle to what you're letting slip through your fingers in there." Gemma said sternly before turning around and following Piper. Harry heaved a sigh before grabbing his scarf and heading out the door.

"Um excuse me, where is the lemon? I specifically asked for lemon water!" She snapped at the poor waitress. Harry shot her a small apologetic smile as she approached the table. He was so embarrassed.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I'll get you another one." The young girl flushed.

"Good. It'd serve you right to do it right the first time. I mean I'm assuming you'd actually like a tip." She snarled.

"Candice, what the hell was that?" Harry snapped leaning forward.

"What? I specifically asked for lemon water and that's not a difficult request." She said. Harry sat back in his seat and found himself comparing her to Piper. Surely Piper would never snap like that at a waiter; frankly he has a hard time even imagining her snapping at anyone. Piper wouldn't have talked down to him for not pulling out her chair once they got their table, she wouldn't have said a nasty word to any of the staff.

Piper was much too kind to do any of the awful things Candice has been doing.

Holy shit, what was he doing here? Piper, had dropped everything to come up here to spend more time with him and this was how he repaid her? She's watching a movie with his family, where he should be, but instead he's on a terrible date with an even more terrible ex-girlfriend.

"I've got to go." Harry said quickly throwing some money down, more than enough he was sure, before hastily retreating to his car.

"Harry!" Candice called after him. She gathered everything and ran after him outside. "Where are you going?" She called after him.

"How did I not see it before?" Harry stopped and chuckled in disbelief.

"What are you talking about? We were having a good dinner. Nice and romantic." She questioned.

"You're a truly terrible person." Harry said shaking his head.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the same mean, awful person who threw me out of her house a year ago. It hurt like hell but I should've seen you were doing me a favor." He said beginning to pace.

"How dare you speak to me like that!" Candice screeched. No one had ever dumped Candice Jones before and he wasn't about to be the first.

"How dare I? That's a good question. I have someone back at my mum's house who is kind and sweet and...genuine. There's a good possibility that there could be something great between us and I might've just messed up any sort of chance by wasting my time with you." He said stopping and facing her. No more than a second had passed before she reached out and slapped him in the face.

"Screw you Harry Styles!" She sneered.

"Not with a 50 foot pole!" He replied unlocking his car. The days of Candice Jones, and pining over her, were officially over.

"Hey you're back." Piper said through a yawn as Harry walked into the living room.

"Yeah, realizing being here was better." He said sitting next to a sleeping Tabitha.

"They just about made it to the end before pooping out." She said softly looking at the two little girls with a smile.

"I'm sorry I missed it." He said shaking his head.

"You've got something on your face." Piper said leaning closer. "Is that a handprint? Did someone slap you?" She questioned horrified. Sure he could get a little mouthy and a bit on the rude side, but certainly nothing to warrant a slap in the face; at least in her book.

"It's nothing to worry about." He said smiling at her gently.

"So someone did slap you." She said.

"Yeah, but I'd take the slap over having to endure the person for a second longer." He shook his head. Piper had a sinking feeling, putting together the pieces of Gemma and Anne huffing about in the kitchen as well as his dressed up attire that there was a good chance Harry was on a date, and she couldn't help it as her heart clenched.

"Oh." She said.

"I'm sorry." Harry said. She didn't know why he was apologizing but he needed her to know that it was a mistake that would never happen again.

"For what?"

"For leaving you here with my family when I was the one who asked you to come up with me. It wasn't right for me to do that." He said.

"I don't know...it wasn't all bad. Got to spend some time with these two little monsters." She said looking at Poppy curled into her side. Yeah Harry wasn't there, but it wasn't a wasted evening by any means.

A comfortable silence fell over them as Piper gently ran her fingers through Poppy's hair to prevent tangles from all her shuffling around. Because she was looking down at Poppy, she'd completely missed the look of adoration on Harry's face as he watched.

"Piper...I think I mig-"

"You're home!" Anne said as she walked downstairs and saw her son sitting on the couch.

"Hey mum." Harry sighed defeated.

"Things go...well?" Anne asked carefully.

"They went as they should. I'm here now and not leaving again." He said turning to face Piper again.

"Good." Anne smiled even though they were too busy looking at each other to notice.