Running With Lions

Lavin woke up tangled in Harry's arms and legs. She, very slowly, inched her head to see if he was still sleeping. His eyes were closed and she looked at his long red-blond eyelashes that shaded his cheek in the light that dusted over them through her translucent curtains.

If she hadn't woken up next to Harry she would have thought she dreamed up last night.

They spent the entire night lying on her bed talking about a million things. Their childhood, the last time they were together, her years at University, his years in the Middle East, and other topics that they floated to for a little while and onto the next.

Lavin snuggled closer to Harry, pressing her ear against his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat. She closed her eyes, loving Harry's scent and soon found that her eyes were heavy and her thoughts were clear.

An indeterminate amount of time later she rolled over to grab her noisy phone off the bed but buy the time she picked it up she missed the phone call...or, rather, calls.

Her parents had called her around twelve times and just as she was about to call her father back when her phone started ringing again. This time it was her mother.

"Hello?" she said, sitting up in bed. She knew that the phone call had woken Harry up for he was stretching beside her.

"Were you sleeping?" Temperance asked.

Lavin could tell buy the steady, low tone to her mother's words that something was wrong. She instantly felt panicked.

"What happened?" Lavin asked, ignoring her mother's question. It wasn't important for her mother to be polite when Lavin knew she was about to deliver bad news.

Harry sat up and watched Lavin carefully, placing a hand on her exposed thigh.

Temperance sighed. "It's your grandfather, sweetie. He took a stroke last night."

Lavin covered her mouth with her hand, silently gasping and absolutely caught off guard. Her grandfather seemed completely healthy at his wedding anniversary, dancing all night with Lucy. Sebastian couldn't have had a stroke.

Maybe Lavin was still asleep. Perhaps this was a horrible dream. A nightmare.

"What?" Harry asked quietly.

Lavin met his eyes, shaking her head. If she talked to him she would surely begin to cry.

"Is he...?" She didn't want to finish her question.

"No, but they’ve put him in an induced coma to reduce the chance of any brain damage. He’s been stabilized."

"I'm coming home," Lavin said immediately. She scrambled out of the sheets and out of bed leaving Harry only to wonder.

"I knew you'd want to," Temperance answered. "Your father has sent a jet for you and Gen. It'll be at Heathrow in an hour. Can you be there by then?"

Lavin nodded and after a few seconds realized her mother couldn't see her. "Yes," she answered finally. "Yeah, I'll be there."

"Will you tell Gen?" Temperance asked.

"What...?" Lavin was floored. "Why can't Aunt Ev or Uncle Rodger tell her?"

"Evelyn and Rodger are on a flight from Paris right now. There is no possible way that they can tell Gen."

"I can't tell Gen that, Mum," Lavin said, sounding pathetic. She cradled her forehand in her palm as she stood in front of her open closet. "Please don't make me."

"It'll be worse if you wait, Lavin," Temperance told her. "You can do this. I believe in you."

"Mhm," Lavin muttered lamely. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"See you soon." And with that Temperance disconnected the call.

Lavin brought the phone from her ear and tightened a fist around it.

"What's wrong, Lavin?" Harry asked. He was now sitting at the edge of her bed that was nearest to her closet. He reached for her hand and held it tight.

"Grandpa’s in the hospital. He had a stroke last night."

Harry made to pull Lavin into him but she pulled her hand away.

Lavin sucked in a sharp breath. Lavin always seemed to cry more when someone hugged her or touched her in anyway. "Please don't, Harry. I can't cry about this right now. They want me to tell Gen."

"I'll be right back," she said, opened her bedroom door and padded down the hallway to Gen's bedroom.

The door was shut.

She didn't bother knocking.

She was at Gen's bed before she realized and shook her cousin gently awake.

Gen turned her head to the left side where Lavin was shaking her.

"What do you want?" she grumbled.

"Wake up, Gen. I have something to tell you."

Lavin guessed her tone of voice gave it away, that something terrible had happened because Gen swiftly propped herself on her elbows, looking up at Lavin through blurry but serious eyes.

"Grandpa's in the hospital."

"What? Why?" Gen was now sitting up.

"Stroke. They're sending a jet to come get us," she told her.

Gen wiped her eyes clear of sleep and stared at Lavin. "Are you serious?"

Lavin nodded.

"Is he alive?" she asked, sounding unnaturally calm.

Lavin nodded again with her lips tightly sucked in.

"I'll be ready in twenty minutes."

Lavin gave her a meek 'okay' before heading back to her room. She found Harry where she had left him.

"How did she take it?" he asked. Harry was playing and pulling at his fingers.

"Like she usually does: calm and inappropriately unemotional," she told him. "I need to pack. The jet will be here in an hour.”

Lavin grabbed a suitcase from the corner of her closet and began to stuff clothes into it. She grabbed what seemed like three dozen outfits and there was another smaller suitcase slowly filling up with shoes.

She was trying to keep her mind off her grandfather and the image of him lying in a hospital bed looking unlike himself. She was kneeling in front of her suitcase folding a shirt when she lost herself to her tears.

Her face found its way into the palms of her hand as worst scenarios flashed before her on the dark canvas of her eyelids.

She heard the faint skidding of her suitcase and Harry took her into his arms. She removed her hands to hold him.

"What if he dies?"

"He won't," Harry reassured her, rubbing her back. "He'll pull through. Your grandfather is one of the toughest people I know."

There was a knock on the door.

Had twenty minutes already passed?

"Lav, I'm ready."

Lavin unfolded herself from Harry and dried her face. Harry managed swiped the last few tears that she missed.

"Okay. Give me five more minutes," she replied.

She looked at Harry and attempted a smile. "Thank you."

"That's what I'm here for," Harry said with a smile. He stood and helped Lavin to her feet.

Lavin pulled him into her and squeezed him tight. "I can't believe this is happening right now when everything was starting to fall into place."

She then finished throwing her things into her suitcases and zipped her bags up. Lavin quickly changed into a comfortable outfit and grabbed a pair of dark sunglasses from her drawer.

"I'll drive you two to the airport," Harry offered.

Lavin extracted her key ring from her purse and handed them to Harry. "Take the Mercedes."

The ride to Heathrow was silent with only the radio playing at the lowest volume. Gen sat texting her classmates and emailing professors that she would be missing classes and asking them to round up all her homework for her while Lavin sat silently in the passenger seat as she tried to steady her shaking hands.

She was anxious to get home, get to the hospital and see her grandfather.

The jet was idling on the tarmac as they pulled up. Harry helped Lavin and Gen get their bags from the trunk and into the hands of the airport staff.

Gen boarded the plane ahead of Lavin.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Harry asked.

"No, thank you, Harry. As much as I would love for you to come we can't risk being seen by anyone that isn't family. I'll let you know when I land."

They had talked about this last night. Being seen together. Being 'officially' a couple. It would be crazy to announce to the public that they were dating so soon. The world would be up in arms that the Princess Lavinia and Prince Harry were dating again--it would mean that there had to have been cheating involved; and there really couldn't be another scandal.

"Alright." Harry said, he rubbed her arms swiftly before pulling her into a hug and kissing her. "Let me know how Sebastian is."

Lavin nodded. "I will."

She kissed him again.

"Miss you."

"Miss you too."

Lavin made her way up the portable stairs and into the jet. All the while the engines fired up she watched Harry wave one last time before walking back to the car.