It was finally my turn to spend an overnight with Harry. It was Friday, and I couldn't be more excited. Since Harry would have one more overnight after ours, the Candle Ceremony would be delayed til Sunday. The closer we became and the more we shared, the harder it was to wait for these precious "alone" times which were normally supervised cameramen. This one would be partly on-camera, and then off-camera as soon as we decided to head back to our hotel. 

When my date card had arrived, it read, "Harper, is it too much to ask for something great? Let's find out together. Love, H." My heart's response was, Is it too much to ask for you to love me and only me? 

There was an excitement inside of me that I couldn't define. Clearly, there was an eagerness to be alone with Harry, but there was also...apprehension, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I chalked it up to nerves in these final days when Harry would eventually make his decision. Luckily, I didn't feel like I had to prove anything else to Harry; I had made it clear how I felt. I knew he felt strongly for me, too. But would it be strong enough?

When we headed out, London was misty and dim, but an air of romance still cloaked us. I was with Harry. In London. About to spend the night together. That alone was perfect. 

I would be lying if I said we didn't make out a little on the way to the airport, and I was left to wonder, once again, where we were going. I gave him puppy dog eyes and asked, "Please tell me where we're headed this time."

"Oh, fine," he chuckled, kissing my nose. "How do you feel about Dublin?" 

"Dublin, Ohio? I've never been there," I joked, pretending to be excited.

"Ha ha, very funny," he said. 

"Dublin sounds wonderful, Harry," I smiled. "I would be happy anywhere if I was with you." 

"Are you kissing up to me?" He laughed, to which I responded, "No, I'm just planning to kiss you. A lot." 

"Now your jokes are getting as funny as mine," he celebrated. 

Once we were cuddled on board the plane, Harry asked, "How did you like Paris?" 

A dreamlike smile came over my face. "It was enchanting. One day wasn't nearly enough. Not that I'm complaining, but it was amazing beyond words. But one thing was missing."

"What's that?" He asked, already knowing what I was going to say. 

"You," I said.

"Is all this flattery going somewhere, Ms. Blackwood? If I didn't know better, I'd think you were sweet-talking me to have your way with me."

"Not at all, Mr. Styles. You made it very clear where you stood on activities of a sexual nature," I replied, sitting up straight and scooting about two feet away from him. I sat there, staring at the window across from me, waiting to see if he would budge.

After several minutes, he finally burst into laughter and lunged at me. "Come over here!" He said playfully, yanking me onto his lap. I offered a chaste, close-mouthed kiss, but I allowed him to coax my mouth open with the promise of his tongue chasing mine. 

"I missed you," he said when we eventually pulled away from our kiss.

"I missed you, too," I said. Remembering that funny little twinge of dread from earlier; strange, it was completely gone now. Surely, my heart was just apprehensive, still not having Harry's commitment to love me and me alone. But now, with him like this, it made so much sense that I forgot about everything else.

In Dublin, we were taken straightaway to a castle, I assumed for a bit of sightseeing. However, I soon discovered that it was our hotel for the night. I would never have expected the accommodations in a castle to be so posh and comfortable. I knew such things existed, but maybe I expected them to try to maintain the authenticity of the castle by having guests sleep in cold, stone chambers. In contrast, our suite was incredibly warm and inviting.

"Harry," I chided lightly when he closed the door behind us. "Did you know there's only one bed?" 

"I like to cuddle," he shrugged. "But if it makes you uncomfortable at all, I will sleep in the bathtub."

"No you won't," I laughed. "I'll at least let you stay on the sofa." An unwanted thought crept in. I wondered whether he shared a bed with the others. I trusted him to stay true to his word, but he had also said he wasn't planning on sex until he decided who he wanted to marry. What if he had made that decision already? 

Following me into my thoughts, he circled his arms around my waist and said, "I'll tell you a secret. With the others, we had arrangements with two beds, just in case we didn't feel comfortable sharing. But I knew I wouldn't be able to resist holding you all night."

"Are you kissing up to me now?" I asked, giving him a suspicious look.

"No, I'm just telling you the truth," he replied, raising his eyebrows back at me. "I hope you don't mind - tonight's plan is somewhat casual. No romantic, candle-lit dinner. Just beer," he said with a smirk. 

"I love a good beer," I said. "And since we're in Ireland, I assume that good beer abounds. But you don't care for beer much, do you?" 

"I'll drink it with the right company," he said, grinning. "We're going to the Guinness Storehouse in downtown Dublin. Beer, wine, atmosphere. There are several restaurants and pubs, so we can either choose to eat dinner out, or we can come back here and order room service. As you know, that's when the cameras get turned off, so we might want to come back sooner rather than later just to make the most of our alone time. And you know, we might just want to take our clothes off," he said rather casually.

"You!" I laughed. "What's gotten into you?" 

He responded in a defensive tone that wasn't at all serious. "I just meant that we could change into something more comfortable and hang out, all right? Sheesh." 

I loved this about him. About us. This free-flowing banter. 

"Shall we go?" He asked formally, even though he was dressed in his basic attire, tight jeans a low-buttoned shirt. I looped my arm through his and we headed out.

I didn't expect a brewery to be so aesthetically pleasing. Breweries had become a "thing" in the US over the past twenty years, but this was on a completely different plane. And since I loved a good dark beer, I was in heaven, being able to sample several varieties.

The layout of the place was fascinating, in and of itself. The seven levels were laid out, comparing themselves to a glass of beer. Not just any beer, of course, a perfect glass of Guinness. We stopped on each floor to see what information was offered. Harry had to drag me around the third floor, which covered advertising for the world-famous beer over the years. I was quite interested, actually, but I mostly mused to myself about certain approaches and designs, while Harry listened intently. 

I stopped at one point and looked him in the eye. "Welcome to my brain at work," I laughed. "It's not nearly as exciting as what you do for a living."

"I love your brain," he chuckled. "And the rest of you, too." He wrapped me in a hug and kissed my forehead. There were very few patrons today - I wondered if it was the day of the week, or if they had limited the number of customers due to the "event" taking place - the fact that Harry Styles was touring the brewery. Either way, it was always nice to have space. Well, what space the cameras were willing to give, which wasn't much at times.

We made our way through the levels and found a gorgeous view of Dublin from the top floor, in a pub called Gravity. Surrounded by glass on all sides, Gravity provided a 360-degree view of Dublin in the darkening hours of the evening. It was just perfect. Being with Harry was perfect. I stood close to one of the windows, sipping what I'd determined to be my favorite variety of Guinness after trying many samples, and Harry came up to stand behind me. He wrapped one arm around my waist and leaned his head close to mine. 

I turned just slightly to say, "I love you, you know." 

He kissed my cheek tenderly. "Yes, I know." He was pressed so close to me, I could feel his heart-rate, and if I wasn't mistaken, the pace sped up when I told him I loved him. 

Who knew beer could be so romantic?

We decided we would go back to our castle hotel room and order in for dinner, wanting the privacy away from the cameras. But they followed us back to the first floor and through the gift shop as we browsed for a little bit.  

Before we left, I told Harry I wanted to use the restroom. I guess I'd sampled a few too many flavors. Luckily, the cameras had their limits and didn't follow me.

I entered the restroom and found it so welcoming, as everything had been thus far. I quickly took care of business, washed my hands and looked in my bag for some lipstick. I wondered if any of my other makeup needed touching up. After a satisfied glance at myself in the mirror, I noticed a woman standing two sinks down, and out of the corner of my eye, it seemed she was staring at me.

I turned my head to look at her reflection in the mirror, not at the actual person, thinking a quick smile would stop her from looking or staring, so that's exactly what I did. I looked down and pulled the lipstick cover off when the recognition suddenly hit me. My head jerked back to the mirror as the woman still studied me in a way that would have been very rude under most circumstances. But it didn't take me long to understand why she couldn't tear her eyes away from me.

I knew exactly who she was, even though I hadn't seen her in seventeen years.

"Mom?"

_____

I'm just gonna leave that right there, okay? *evil grin*

BTW, I hope I didn't scare you with the title of the chapter. "Deadly" is Irish slang for "Fantastic." You can decide for yourselves if Dublin is indeed deadly or fantastic after the next few chapters.