After hours of just laying together, we finally fell asleep, our bodies curled against each other and soaking in each other’s warmth.  Surprisingly, I slept through the night, and suspected he did as well because when I woke up, he was still curved against my back, arm securely wrapped around my waist as he breathed lightly against the skin on my neck. 

At first I wasn’t sure what had woken me- I was so comfortable and warm that I would have very much liked to stay asleep for a few more hours.  A knock at my door alerted me to what had probably woken me in the first place. 

“Joey?” a voice called throught he door.  My body stiffened as I processed the voice, not the one of my mother, who I had been expecting.  This voice was male- my dad.

“Yeah, hang on,” I called quietly, not wanting to wake Harry.  I gingerly peeled his arm off my waist.  He grumbled in his sleep, subconsciously stretching out his arm and flexing, pulling me back down to him. 

I giggled quietly before tugging it off again and scooting away out of his reach.  I grabbed the first pair of sweats I could find and pulled them on before opening my door and quickly slipping out, unsure of how my father would react to seeing Harry in my bed.  Probably not well, despite his affection for him.

“Hi,” I said, closing my door and trying to control the shock I was feeling at seeing him, especially so early in the morning.  He shot a suspicious look at my door before switching it to me, raising an eyebrow before deciding to not ask. 

“Hey, um, can you talk?” he asked somewhat awkwardly.

“Yeah, sure, downstairs?” I offered, wondering what this was about.  Had he heard about Colt? I don’t really know what he could possibly have to say about that- he’d hardly known Colt even though I dated him for such a long time. 

He nodded in response, giving me a small smile as he turned to head down the steps.  When we arrived in the kitchen, he poured himself a cup of coffee, offering me one, which I declined.  I was already on edge enough from last night, the last thing I needed was to add caffeine to the mix. 

We sat down at the table together while he distractedly stirred sugar into his mug.  I waited patiently, staring at him while he stalled.

“So,” he said, looking at me briefly before dropping his gaze to the table top again.

“So.”

“So… I know you’ve noticed that I haven’t been here,” he started, looking at me nervously.  It was still so strange to see him this way- so tentative and quiet and different in every way from the man I remembered.  I blinked, nodding slowly but staying silent.

“Well I was away for work again, so nothing different, I just felt bad for not saying anything before I left.  I just thought you needed some space and you were dealing with Harry so I didn’t want to interrupt,” he explained, looking at me sheepishly over the mug as he lifted it to his lips to take a sip.

“Oh,” I said, unsure of what to say.  In all honesty, I hadn’t been sure what to think of his sudden unexplained departure, but I supposed that was the best explanation I could have hoped for.  “It’s okay, Dad, I understand.”

I did understand, but I was also too exhausted to bother working up any anger towards him when I innately felt none.

He looked relieved when I wasn’t angry.  “And… I wanted to tell you that I’ll be moving out,” he continued, grimacing slightly as he waited for my reaction, expecting me surely to be angry this time.

Again, I felt no anger.  I had figured he would- couples don’t decide to get divorced then continue to live together, after all. 

“Okay,” I said, my expression blank.  “Where will you move to?”

“I’m… I’m going to sign a lease on an apartment across town today,” he said.

“Really?” I asked, surprised.  I had expected him to move to a completely different city, far away from here to put as much space between us as possible.  I couldn’t deny that I felt excited, happy even, that he would still be here.

“Really,” he said, encouraged by my enthused tone.  “I told you I wanted to be around more from now on.  Just because your mother and I are separating doesn’t mean I can’t still be around you,” he said earnestly, smiling now.  A grin split across my face.

“I’m glad you’re staying in town, dad,” I told him, smiling across the table.  He beamed.

“I’ll still be out of town a lot for work, of course,” he said, frowning slightly.  “But when I’m not working, I’ll be here and we can spend more time together like we used to.” 

“That’d be great, dad,” I said, feeling a rush of appreciation for him.  I reached my hand across the table to grip his momentarily before releasing.  He grinned. 

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said, and I giggled at his somewhat formal tone.

“Me, too.”

“I can let you go back to bed now,” he said, chuckling.  It was decently early yet, which I had hardly noticed.  “I just wanted to catch you early to make sure I didn’t miss you before you ran off with Harry or anything,” he explained, winking at me. 

“It’s alright,” I said, blushing slightly.  Little did he know Harry was up in my bed at this very moment, practically naked.  “But I am gonna go back to bed,” I laughed.

“Good night.  Good morning? Whatever,” he said, shooing me off with his hands as I stood from the table.  I had reached the arch to the hallway when I paused and looked back at him, smiling softly to himself as he stirred his coffee once more.

“I love you, dad,” I told him.  He looked up at me, surprise quickly being replaced on his features by a look of elation.

“I love you, too, Joey,” he returned, beaming.  I smiled warmly at him before leaving to return to Harry in my room. 

When I reached my door, I turned the handle as slowly as I could, determined to be stealthy and not wake him.  The door creaked lightly as I pushed it open just enough to slip my body through and I cringed, but was pleased to discover his eyes were still closed. 

In my absence, he had clutched a pillow to his chest, but had a slight frown on his beautiful face as if unsatisfied with it, craving something else.  Me.  I smiled to myself as I slipped off the sweatpants I had hastily thrown on and pulled back the covers.  As carefully as I could, I pulled the pillow out of his grasp, biting my lip in concentration. 

I had just freed the pillow from his clutches and was feeling victorious at successfully removing it without waking him when his arms slipped around my torso, very consciously pulling me to him.  A grin spread across his face, eyes still closed with lashes resting on his cheeks as he hugged me tighter, burying my face into his neck. 

“You’re not very sneaky, love,” he murmured, his voice gravelly from just waking up.

“Damnit, I thought you were still sleeping,” I grumbled.  He chuckled.

“I was until you whipped the covers off me,” he explained.  “It gets cold when you leave me and take my blankets,” he joked. 

“Sorry, babe,” I sighed, pressing my lips into his neck.  He hummed quietly. 

“It’s alright,” he said, clearly not minding being woken up now that I was back.  “Where did you go?”

“My dad’s here,” I told him.  He pulled his head back in surprise to look at me.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he wanted to talk,” I said.  Harry blinked.

“What about?”

“Well first off, just that he’s been gone for work lately so nothing really weird there,” I started. “And that he’s moving out.”

Harry bit his lower lip into his mouth as he studied my face.  Gathering that I wasn’t upset, he continued.  “Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, I mean I figured he would,” I said.  “And he’s getting a place in town, so he’ll still be around when he’s not working.” I smiled again at the thought.

“That’s great, Jo,” he said, smiling too. 

“Yeah, I’m happy about it.” 

He grinned at me before kissing my nose lightly.  “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said lightly, letting my fingers trace patterns over his bare chest.

“What are you doing today?” he asked suddenly.

“Probably whatever you’re doing, if I’m honest,” I said, only half joking.  Whether we intended to or not, we spent nearly every single day together. 

“Good,” he grinned. 

“Why?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.

He raised his eyebrows innocently, pursing his lips together, raising my suspicions even more.  “You’ll see,” he said mysteriously.

“What, Harry?” I pressed, feeling a smile tug at my lips.  “Tell me.”

“No.”

“Tell me, Harry,” I said again, sneakily sliding my hands down to his sides, ready to attack. 

“Never,” he said, grinning at me as he gazed into my eyes.  I let my fingers twitch against his skin and he jerked away from me.  I smirked at him threateningly.

“Oh, don’t you dare,” he warned, pointing a long finger at me.  I bit the tip of it playfully. 

“Tell me and I won’t,” I said, raising my eyebrows.  He shook his head defiantly.

“Not telling, you’ll have to kill me,” he said playfully.  I tickled him again, knowing how very sensitive to it he was.  Just as he had before, he bucked away from me. 

I let out a cackle as I dug my fingers into his sides, tickling relentlessly as he thrashed around, attempting to get away from me.  He had nearly pushed himself off the bed when I wound my leg around him, pinning him down by sitting on his lap as he laid on his back, wildly trying to fight off my attack. 

I laughed like a mad woman as he clutched at my hands, managing to grab one only for the other to attack.  Somehow, despite his squirmy body and my valiant effort, he successfully captured both of my wrists in his large hands, stopping me from tickling him further.

“Now I’m definitely not telling you,” he teased, gasping slightly as he smirked up at me.  He released my wrists to slide his palms against mine, interlocking our fingers.  I stuck out my lower lip in a pout.

“Harrrrryyy,” I whined.  “You always get to surprise me, you can just tell me once, can’t you?”

He shook his head in an exaggerated movement and pulled me down to rest against his chest, stopping me inches from his lips.  His pretty green eyes looked excited and clear as he held my eye contact.

“All I’ll say is there’s someone I want you to meet,” he said mystically before pulling me down the rest of the way and pressing his lips to mine, his kiss preventing me from asking any more questions. 

Not that I could remember what I was going to ask in the first place now that he had kissed me properly, clouding my mind and taking over my body, as usual.