salute [h.s]

they got frustrated with each other

the five times that they got frustrated with each other (and one time it just wasn't that important)

1.

Harry was livid and it must have showed because people scattered out of his way as he stormed past them, headed down the hall toward T branch. He wasn't even supposed to be here. It was his day off after a hard mission and he'd planned a day of lazing around in bed taking care of Piper who was still recovering from her gun shot wound.

Imagine his surprise when he got to the flat and it was empty, the only trace of Piper being the four outfits she'd tried on that morning scattered over her rumpled duvet. It didn't take him long to guess where she'd gone. Hence, Vauxhall Cross.

It's like she sensed him coming because by his second step into T branch, her head had whipped up and her face had blanched considerably. And that was saying something because she was already pale, dark bruises under her eyes hinting at lack of sleep. Her forehead was crunched and Harry knew it was because she was in pain and she was just making it worse by sitting there at her desk.

She was already mumbling apologies by the time Harry stepped up in front of her desk. She looked up with wide eyes and seemed to brace herself.

"I told you not to come into work, didn't I? I didn't imagine that?"

"I'm going crazy at home," Piper whined. "You don't know what it's like. I just sit around all day."

"Piper, if you don't let yourself get better, you're going to get worse." She sighed because she knew he was right. "How's the pain?"

"Three."

"Try again."

"Six and a half."

"So that's a seven." Harry took a moment to pull in a deep breath to try and calm himself down, uncrossing his arms and stepping around her desk. "Alright, let's go."

"But -" she tried to protest as Harry took her firmly around the elbow and yanked her up from her seat.

"Piper, this isn't up for discussion. Niall put you on bedrest so you're going to stay on bedrest until he says you're better. I don't care if I have to tie you down, that's what you'll do, understand?"

She looked like she wanted to resist, to fight him off and be her normally stubborn self. But she kept it to herself and let Harry lead her away. He could see by the way she stumbled that her hip was hurting her quite a bit and she'd probably kept her words to herself because his held some truth.

He was angry with her but that didn't stop him from caring for her so he wrapped an arm around her waist to support her weight and take it off her injured leg. When she smiled up appreciatively, Harry managed to quirk his cheek in return. Not a smile, but it would do.

She drove him crazy, but she was his petal and nothing was going to hurt her. Not on his watch.

2.

"You could have cleaned up after yourself."

"What?" Harry had picked up the transmission from Piper expecting well wishes for his mission overseas which he was heading for at that very moment, 14000 feet in the air. He was not expecting to hear her voice nagging at him when he picked up the call.

"My whole flat smells like cooked butter," she complained, "and not in a good way. In a very bad way. And there's pans and plates everywhere."

"I don't understand how that's my problem."

"Listen, Harry, I love that you cook for me because we both know I'd starve otherwise. But you can't just leave your dirty dishes behind."

"I was under the assumption that we were working under the I cook, you clean principle."