Mia

  The London air was far different from what I was used to. There was something so brisk and so cool about it, not the kind of frigid cold air that every winter in the east coast brought, but a kind of cool that made you excited for fall weather and over sized sweaters. I was absolutely in love with it, whilst all Harry did was complain about it. 

  "I'd much rather have warm Los Angeles weather all my life." He shrugged, sitting next to me on his balcony with a warm cup of chamomile in his hands. 

  "I think I would much rather prefer this," I admitted. "Although I wish the sun would come out a bit more." 

  "See that corner of the yard, back in the left?" Harry asked, gently grabbing my face and tilting it so I was looking at a bare patch of grass in his long lawn. "I'm thinking of making a garden there. Or maybe I'll put a greenhouse in." 

  "If you did that, you could make your own chamomile." I said, gesturing to the drink in his mug. 

  "That I could." He chuckled. 

  We sat like that for a long time. In my head, I pictured how we might look doing this same thing in forty years time. Maybe this is what life could be for us. We could slow it down, live in London for the rest of our lives, and enjoy every invigorating morning that the city had to offer. 

  I closed my eyes, trying to picture a life that was less complicated than the one I was living right now. There was so much that needed to be worked out yet, this was the calm before the storm and I very well knew it. Almost startling me, Harry leaned over and pressed his lips to my forehead, brushing a piece of my tangled hair behind my ear. 

  "Remember, we're not going to worry about it, alright?" He reminded me. 

  "I have to face the music sometime, Harry," I bit my lip. "I need to catch up and see what's being said on the news and we need to talk to my lawyer. There's no doubt that I'm going to have to go to court over this."

  "At this point, what's your biggest fear?" He asked. 

  "I'm afraid that they'll get away with what they did to me," It was the first time I admitted it out loud. "I just know that it's not gonna work out." 

  "Mia, why the hell wouldn't it?" He asked. "There are several different counts against him and absolutely none against you. There isn't a thing you should be worried about."

  "Yeah, there is," I interrupted. "I signed that document, too. And if they bring that up in court there won't be any solid evidence and it'll just be a he-said-she-said battle. I know what these people are like, they're manipulative and cunning and-"

  "Mia, stop." Harry turned his chair so that he was completely facing me. "Do you hear yourself right now? You must not be opening your eyes, because there is no way that they are going to get off scott-free from this. It just isn't possible, and if you don't think that your lawyer is up to the task, I have a whole team of lawyers who are always at the ready. Alright? You shouldn't have to be the one worrying about this, not after all those months of what they put you through."

  I wasn't sure if I had seen Harry this angry, ever. Maybe when he broke up with me on the yacht or when he saw my black eye, but those were the only times. Now his face was turning red and his knuckles were white. 

  "I believe you," I said, not sure if I truly did or if I was just trying to make him feel better. 

  "I call bullshit, because you still look as concerned as before. It makes me feel awful that no matter what I say, I still can't get through to you." 

  "I'm sorry, okay?" I almost laughed. "I've been through a lot these past few months that have made me rethink a lot of things, and I'm going to be worried about this no matter what. You can promise me things, but at the end of the day, neither one of us can be completely certain of what will happen in the future. So yeah, I'm a bit worried."

  I felt bad for snapping at him. He didn't deserve it, especially when he always risks himself and puts me first, but I felt like if I didn't speak my mind and vent then I would eventually completely explode. I groaned loudly and grabbed fistfuls of my hair, dropping my head and closing my eyes. What started out as a peaceful morning was now becoming complicated and a perfect recipe for a headache. 

  He stayed silent, so it was difficult to try and comprehend what he was feeling. I didn't stick around, turning back around and going through the sliding glass doors and back into the bedroom. From there, I flopped into the unmade bed and laid with my face buried down in the pillow. How was it possible that we did a 180 in not even five minutes? That must have been a record for us. 

  I heard the door opening a few moments later, then the opposite side of the bed sinking down. Harry turned toward me with a grunt and I could practically feel his eyes on me, but I didn't look up at him.  

  "Hey, woman, look at me." He was smiling. 

  "No, I'm annoyed with you." I said stubbornly. 

  "Annoyed with me, huh? How am I so annoying?"

  "You're annoying me right now." I complained. 

  "I'm annoying? How am I so annoying?"

  "You know what you're doing right now. Trying to get me to laugh." 

  "Well, I think it's working," Harry smirked. "Is it working?"

  I glared at him and gave him the middle finger. To that, he only laughed even harder and wrapped his arms around me, barricading me completely so that I had nowhere to go. I squirmed and struggled against his arms and then finally stopped struggling once he started to tickle me, giggling as he realized that he had won the battle.

  "Fine, fine! White flag!" I surrendered. 

  "That's what I thought." He said smugly. "Now, c'mere, I wanna show you something."

  Hand in hand. Harry led me through the house back into his living room. He was wearing a blue and white striped sweater and I was in another sweater of his. We sat in the living room on the leather couch and he rummaged through a storage chest, pulling out a few magazines and setting them in my lap.

  "What are these?" I asked, glancing down at them. To my shock the cover of all of them were beautiful portraits of Harry- ranging from ones where his hair was luscious and long to when his hair was cut short. I opened the one magazine and began flipping through the pages, amazed at all the beautiful shots they had gotten of him.

  "It's the Another Man magazine. Back in late April I did an interview for them, and my first shots. Then as time progressed and my hair changed, we did some more shots. It took a lot of time... but it means a lot to me. These copies are the first ones that went into print." He explained. 

  "Wow..." I breathed, stopping at an article written by his sister Gemma, who I hadn't before had the privilege to meet. 

  "Gemma's a writer, so immediately she wanted to get on board when I told her about this. It's a big deal for her to get an opportunity to be published in this magazine." 

  "If it's such a big deal for her to write an article in it, it must be an enormous deal that you're what it's all about. And- oh my gosh! Paul McCartney!?" I gaped at the pages.

  "Yeah," Harry laughed. "It was an honor. He's a really wonderful man." 

  "These pictures are amazing," I gushed. "They're so different and artistic and high fashion. They're so different from what you've done with the band, it's like you're truly stepping out for the first time." I knew I was blabbing, but my pride for him was soaring high.

  "Thank you," He chuckled. 

  "It's the journal," I said, pointing to a picture of a raggedy looking book on the page. "That's the journal that's sitting on your desk, the one with songs about me." I blushed, realizing I had just given away secret information. 

  "Snooping through my journal, eh?" He was surprisingly calm even though I had totally gone through his private diary. "It's alright. You're the subject of most of my writings, it would only make sense for you to get to see what's inside."

  For the next twenty minutes or so, I flicked through the pages and read it cover-to-cover. The information about the man sitting beside me overflowed across the pages, it was like I was seeing the side of Harry that I had grown to love. He was artistic and creative and full of bright ideas, and finally the world was going to be able to see it. 

  "I want you to have a copy. The first copy." He finally said. 

  "What? Harry, no, I couldn't do that. This is your work... this is what you've worked so hard for. You deserve to keep the first copy." I protested.

  "You're right, I worked hard for this. I think I deserve to decide what happens to the first copy," He smiled. "I trust that it's in good hands."

  Before I could respond, my phone was ringing. I didn't even have to look at the called I.D to know that this was the dreaded phone call update from my lawyer. Immediately my heart stopped and Harry and I both looked at each other. He knew about this call, too, and how important it was. When I didn't answer right away, he nudged me. 

  "Hello?" I said through the phone.

  "Ms... Mia," Mr. Jones, my lawyer, said awkwardly through the phone. I could tell he was about to address me as Ms. Roden, but my last name was still Miles. I didn't exactly have an identity. "I have some information regarding the case that I thought you would be interested in."

  "Yes, of course," I said. "Is it good news? Bad?"

  "It depends how you look at it," Mr. Jones said. I wasn't sure how to take that. "Is Harry there with you? This is probably a conversation he wants to hear."

  "Yeah, I'm here," Harry said as I put the phone on speaker so Mr. Jones was easier for the both of us to hear. 

  "Alright. So I've been in meetings all day and in constant contact with Mia's husband and father's lawyers. Basically, they're all asking me to get you to drop the charges. It already looks bad that they're in jail, but getting a sentence would be murderous for their companies and they know it." The information sent knots in my stomach. 

  "They should have known since the beginning that this would happen and it wouldn't make their companies look good," Harry deadpanned. "They're stupid to think otherwise." 

  "Well, here's the dilemma we're facing: we're either going to go through a long series of trials and have to dig up as much dirt as we can on them, or the charges can be dropped from our end. You just have to decide on what to do." Mr. Jones continued. 

  "So you're asking Mia to completely drop the charges against those bastards?" Harry was angry. 

  "I'm not," Mr. Jones made sure we were aware of this. "But their lawyers are. They say if you drop the charges you won't have to hear from Matthew or Mr. Roden ever again. They're agreeing to cut communication with you, Mia, and let you be with Harry. You wouldn't have to go through the process of trials, you'd essentially be able to back out now."

a/n: SOLO HARRY IS RISING

those Another Man shots are seriously golden i am in luuuuuuuuuuvvv ajeoorwnuoaewunfenuowunoafeuonefunouggtirgfirf (my exact reaction when all the pics came out)

my favorite pic is the one where he's laughing in the flowers, so cute :'-)

  -del