salute ➳ 〚h.s.〛 〚a.u.〛

chapter 11 - breakfast in bed & sexy showers

She came back to consciousness very slowly. It took a moment to pry her eyes open but when she did, she was surprised to see her off-white bedroom ceiling. She rolled her head to the side where the alarm clock stood on her side table. It said 7:13 AM, and it occurred to Piper that she had lost nearly 14 hours of time.

The last thing she remembered was doing push-ups in the gym below MI6. It had been awful and terrible, and she wished she could wipe the memory right out of her head. If she was ever forced to do physical testing for the sake of her job again, she was just going to quit. Or maybe she could actually start exercising for a change.

She figured that was unlikely.

She must have fallen asleep in the gym because it was the last thing she remembered. And yet, here she was, in her bedroom at home. She was wearing her knickers and a baggy black t-shirt that smelled sort of familiar. Smelled sort of like Harry, actually.

Piper rolled onto her side and got a gentle nip in return as she landed on top of Bertie. He let out a low warning growl so she promptly rolled back onto her back, reaching out a hand to pat along the duvet until she felt his doggy body beneath the sheets. "How're you doing, buddy?" she muttered to him as she tried to figure out what was going. "Am I dreaming still?"

Bertie was a dog, of course, so he didn't answer back. That probably would have been the perfect sign that she was dreaming. Or going insane.

Her senses started coming back to her along with her proper consciousness. She smelled bacon cooking which was heavenly. Her stomach grumbled like there was no tomorrow and she felt herself salivating at the thought of blessed bacon in her mouth. She could hear the radio as well, Dev's voice from Radio 1 echoing through her small flat. Riptide started to play and Piper could hear a familiar voice mumbling along.

Harry's shirt and Harry's voice? He must be here, her brain supplied for her intelligently. That was incentive enough to get up.

She shoved her elbows into the bed and tried to push herself up. Immediately, a burning fire seared across her abdomen and her arms cried out in pain. She dropped back down onto her back, letting out a loud yelp.

"You alright, petal?"

Piper rolled her head over and saw Harry's curly head poking out the kitchen door to check on her. She pouted, reaching one arm toward him. "I hurt, Harry."

"Poor thing," Harry said with a chuckle as he stepped fully out of the kitchen and strode down the short hall toward her. He was wearing the same black skinny jeans from yesterday and was also still shirtless. Piper suspected she was wearing the shirt he had been wearing when he had brought her home yesterday. She took in as much of his chest as she could as he crossed the room and sat down on the side of her bed. "Are you quite sore?"

"I feel like all my muscles have started an anarchic revolution and are planning to secede from my body."

"I know one muscle that still seems to be working just fine." Harry's cheek dimpled as he reached up to tap her head gently. "Does this ever shut off?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Must be hell living with all that up there," he joked before he rose from the bed. "I've got eggs cooking. Do you think you can sit up and eat a bit?"

Her stomach growled so loud that Bertie, lying beside her, growled back. Just the idea of moving her body from its prone position to sitting upright was giving her a headache. She felt like she had a hangover all over her body. It was war between her comfort and her stomach.

Like always, her stomach won out.

As Harry went back to the stove to make sure nothing had burnt, Piper slowly shimmied herself up against the headboard, inch by inch. There was lots of groaning and whimpering, which scared Bertie who poked his head out from under the covers and began nudging her already sore stomach with his nose. She attempted to swat him away and yelped at the burn of her overused biceps. It took her the entire time for Harry to finish cooking, load up plates, and come back into the bedroom before she was fully upright.