Together

Stubborn

This idea came from the lovely sofaroffbway as did about 50% of this book probably haha (you guys, she sent me a WHOLE LONG LIST of prompts and I've used so many of them and forgotten to give credit and I feel SO BAD) Anyway, before the chap- how are we liking the new ts music? I love 'London Boy' and 'Miss Americana,' so much, and the first one reminds me of all of our favorite couple- Harper and Patrick! So let's find out about them, shall we? Enjoy/comment/vote xxx
-ab

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December 2, 2026

Patrick

I've missed Harper so much, ever since I put her on that plane to New York. It's been quite lonely without her for the past few days, and there's still so much longer until it's time for her to come back.

Don't get me wrong: I'm so glad that she's there and having so much fun. She saw The Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway last night. She has seen it before in London, twice I believe, but she loves it equally every time.

I know that she's super excited to see the most recent Broadway revival of Les Miserables, too. Twice, I believe. But that's a bit of a surprise that Nessa let me in on. Harper thinks they are only going once.

I try to text Harper whenever I can, but between my work and necessary sleep schedule, and her busy tourist activities, it's hard for us to find a time to talk. I haven't heard her voice since I left her at Heathrow Airport.

I do mange to lose myself, thinking about my amazing wife, but my thoughts are interrupted by the final client of the day coming in for her appointment. I've been doing much more work with children now, and this is a new little girl who I've never met with before.

When she comes in, she is immediately being disagreeable with me. She won't do anything that I tell her to, and in fact, does the opposite. I've never had to deal with a situation like this before, though I have had a bit of training in it.

"Sweetie," I say to her, kneeling down to her level, "if you don't do what I tell you, then your leg won't be better."

"No," she says, crossing her arms across her chest. She's being very stubborn.

I look to her mother, who is simply standing in the corner, staring at her phone and not paying a bit of attention to her little girl.

I sigh, and continue trying to reason with the child, but she won't do anything that I ask her do.

Eventually, I bite my lip and realize that I'm going to have to get one of my more experienced co-workers to come and help me. While I know that I won't be reprimanded, I don't like when I have to do that. I was so lucky to get this good of a job in the first place. I want to be able to prove myself.

Without saying anything, I excuse myself from the room and go to the break room.

"Hey, guys," I say to the group sitting in there, "I have a little girl who won't do anything that I tell her to. Would somebody mind coming and helping me out?"

"I will," a man called Thomas stands up and walks over to me. He's never been the friendliest person, but I know that he's very good at what he does, so he will probably be able to help me out. "Didn't you take a whole class in working with kids?" I hear him mutter under his breath. I'm not supposed to hear the comment, but I do. And it hurts.

I stand to the side silently, as Thomas gruffly takes over the entire session.

I think that the little girl's mom has some sort of idea as to what's going on, but she's not being a responsible parent and stepping in.

Someday, when Harper and I have kids, I vow that I'll never let my child do something like that.

Eventually, Thomas gets the little girl to cooperate and ends up doing her entire session with her. He doesn't even give me a chance.

Once she is dismissed, I look at Thomas. "Thank you so much..." I say, reluctantly.

"No problem. I wish you would have helped a bit, though."

At that, he walks away, and I stand there, dumbfounded. I've never known Thomas too well, but he's never been super friendly to me. Today's interactions with him have taught me that I don't want to know him very well, at all. I'm hurt by his remarks, especially the last one. He completely took over the appointment and wouldn't have let me help if I'd have tried.

I push through the rest of the day, but I'm relieved when I get to go home and just be by myself. I'm still upset about everything, and suddenly find myself crying. I can't believe that Thomas did what he did to me.

I wish that Harper were here. Her cuddles and kisses always make things better.

I look at the clock and see that it's just after 18:00. That means that it is just after 1:00 for Harper. She's probably eaten lunch and is out exploring the city with her friends. I decide to try to call her anyway. I just need to hear her voice.

When she picks up, I'm surprised, yet relieved.

"Patrick," she asks, "is everything alright?"

"Harper..." I say, taking a deep breath. "I just needed to talk. Do you have a minute?"

"Um..." she hesitates.

"No, it's fine," I tell her. "It was stupid of me to even ask. You're off having your fun and you shouldn't have to be worried about me. I'm sorry that I even called. I'll leave you alone now, hon."

"No, Patrick," she insists, "it's fine. I'll find a spot to talk. Hold up."

I hear voices, but can't make out what they're saying. I'm assuming that she's saying something to Nessa and Katherine.

"Okay," she says a minute later, "I'm in the bathroom at the 9/11 memorial museum. I can't talk for too long, but I can tell that something's wrong..."

"I just had a really hard day at work today, and I miss you so much," I admit.

"What happened?" she asks.

I explain the entire situation to her.

"I'm so sorry," she tells me. "That's unacceptable. You should file a complaint."

"I don't know..." I admit. "I'm just so upset that it happened in the first place. I want my co-workers to respect me, you know? Like, I'm so much younger than any of them, and I want them to respect me and think that I know what I'm doing."

"Love, of course they think that you know what you're doing. You've been doing so great with all of the kids, and they know that you were hired for a reason: because you're amazing."

"Thanks, lovie."

"Now, take a few deep breaths and make yourself some yummy food, alright? You've just gotta get it out of your head."

"I'll try," I say, wiping a tear off of my cheek. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Hey, I'm your wife. I made that promise to always be there for you on the day that we were married, and I'm not going to be breaking that promise. I love you so much, okay? You're amazing."

"I love you too," I tell her. "Thanks, love."

"You're welcome. Bye."

"Bye," I say, then we hang up the phone.

I feel a bit better after talking to Harper, and take her advice. I fix myself some pasta for dinner, then turn on the telly and try to take my mind off of everything.