Where We Belong

Grief Is The Color Grey

Gillian squeezes her eyes shut tightly when she feels the sunlight hit her face. She turns her body away from the light but quickly realizes that she seems to have very limited mobility. When she feels a hand move along her waistline, her eyes shoot open and she starts panicking. She is careful not to make any sudden movements but blinks her eyes a few time trying to remember where she is. She is instantly relieved when she sees that she is still in the bar.

Then Gillian thinks back to last night. She remembers Danielle making an unexpected visit and what a huge ordeal it turned out to be. She thinks about Declan and how he surely hurt himself punching the wall. She sighs thinking about what a mess everything turned out to be but mostly, she is worried about him because she recalls how angry and upset he was when he left. Then she remembers Harper coming back to the bar to check on her and her body goes cold. She turns her body slowly to see the blonde sleeping on her back practically underneath her, one arm protectively around her waist, and the other one up over her face blocking the sun that is hitting her in the eyes.

Gillian slowly releases the breath that she is holding. She shuts her eyes again and bites down on her lower lip, contemplating her options. She needs to get up without waking Harper which is going to be problematic considering she is on top of her. There is no way that she is going to be able to pull it off. She begins wondering how the both of them got into this situation in the first place. She recalls how upset she was and all the bourbon she had while she was telling Harper about what happened between her and Danielle. She also remembers how comfortable she felt when Harper was holding her. The combination of those things must have caused her to fall asleep at some point.

Gillian lays there for another minute or two until she feels Harper start to move beneath her. She decides to take the opportunity to get up as swiftly as she is able to. Unfortunately, she momentarily forgets about Harper's arm around her waist and she is pulled back down towards the sofa when she tries to get up. The motion causes her to accidentally wake Harper with a sharp jab of her elbow into the other woman's chest.

"OW!" Harper cries as she is has the wind knocked out of her by the strike to her sternum.

"Oh my god, Harper! I'm so sorry." Gillian reaches out instinctively touching the spot on Harper's chest so she can help to sooth the pain. Seconds later when she realizes that she is still on top of her and also rubbing intimately on her chest, she pulls away quickly and pushes herself up onto her feet.

Harper continues to rub on the sore spot when she finally looks at Gillian and smirks. "Geez woman, that elbow of yours is no joke. Did you learn that move in kickboxing? I guess you really wanted to get me back for that very first night out on the sidewalk, huh?."

Relieved that Harper is more focused on that than the fact that they were just intimately sharing the sofa, she apologizes again frowning. "I'm really sorry."

Harper laughs this time. "It's fine. I'll live." Then she looks Gillian in the eyes, her expression changing to one of concern. "How are you feeling?" She asks.

"I'm fine." Gillian answers almost too quickly.

Harper looks at her skeptically. "You got something more convincing than that?"

Gillian looks at Harper and sees that she is not going to be able to fool her. She sighs and sits back down. "I'm better today. And it gets easier everyday." She pauses for a moment so that she can gather her thoughts. "I never expected that I'd see Danielle again after we split up." She shakes her head. "I don't think that Declan did either. For as hurt and angry as I am, I know that it's just as much of a nightmare for him, and that part of it makes it all so much worse for me. Because he doesn't deserve that."