***

I’ve only ever been in one airport in my life. I got lost trying to find somewhere to get my bags checked and then a rude lady at the ticket counter scowled at my stained shirt and ripped jeans. People behind me sighed in irritation while I’d been digging around in the bottom of my bag, trying to find some extra change to buy an airline ticket to anywhere; in response I’d tried to hurry and ended up dumping about two hundred pennies onto the linoleum floor. I sat between a man who kept signaling to the bathrooms and a young kid that persistently chucked his crayons at my head.

Everything’s completely different now. Harry takes my duffel bag out of my hand with an easy smile and a swift peck on my lips before eating up the gleaming airports floor, seemingly headed to get them checked. He tells me to get us both a coffee over his shoulder—that I know how he likes his.

I can’t move, though. I’m dazed, lost in the confusion that is now my life, wondering how I got here when I was practically sleeping on the dirty streets of L.A. just a few days ago. Swallowing, I resist the urge to cry when I feel an overwhelming amount of emotions press at me from every angle. I clear my throat before readjusting my purse on my shoulder, and then head in the direction of a small coffee shop that had been shoved into the airport. I order two plain, black coffee’s to go before hunting down Harry. He’s tapping away on his phone while waiting in front of an empty bench.

“Thanks, love,” Harry hums. I just smile a little, dropping down onto the bench with a long sigh. This earns a slightly concerned look that I catch out of the corner of my eye. “Alright there?”

I nod. “Yea. It’s just…It’s just a lot.” I turn to him as I speak and try not to see the slightly hurt gleam that flashes through his green orbs. Reaching for his hand, I give it a squeeze and lean in close. “I want to go with you, Harry. I’m just scared. This is all new to me.”

Harry lets out a long breath that picks up the thin end pieces of my hair, smiling a little as he moves even closer to me. He pushes some tendrils out of my face and captures my lips once, twice, three times. I chuckle.

“I can see how it would be, but I’m here. I’ll take care of you, alright? You know that, don’t you?”

And I do. All the doubts that had been riddling my body for ages now are silenced as I glance up at the man who’d kissed my wounds, healed the broken parts of me that no one had ever touched, and taped back together the lost shards that were my life. It’s cheesy and I know that others would think me weak, but without Harry, I’d be nothing—dead or headed towards a place where I’d soon never breathe again. So I trust him without a second thought now; if he says he’ll keep me safe, then I’ll settle down with that notion and sleep soundly in his arms.

“Of course I do,” I murmur.

He grins widely at me, dimples poking into his cheeks while he whispers a ‘good’ and enfolds me into his arms. I grip my paper coffee cup loosely in my hands while leaning my head onto his chest. I can hear the steady thrumming of his heart underneath the cotton t-shirt he wears; it makes me smile and nuzzle closer.

Moments later, a voice announcing flights to London blares over the loud chatter of the busy airport, and Harry shifts underneath me. I pull my head up and stare at him.

“Time to go, babe.” He cups my face with one of his big, calloused hands and kisses me once more before sliding out. “Come on. I’ll let you pick a seat.”

I pick my bag off the floor, allowing him to intertwine our fingers as we make our way to the departure gate.

“Harry, how long does it take to get to London from L.A.?”

“Oh, twelve hours or so.” When he glances over his shoulder and takes in my expression, he throws his head back while letting out a loud laugh. “Don’t worry. We’ll prank call Niall or somethin’.”

He tucks me into his side while we continue to make our way through, murmuring things into my hair, waving at people who furiously click their camera’s at the two of us. One of the faint whispers that he sends through my strands in a promise that I am safe and he’s here, for always.