Julie woke up the next morning and smiled when she realized it wasn't a dream, and Harry was actually there with her. She hated it, but she felt complete when he was with her. She didn't want to need him but it definitely sucked when she couldn't be with him. She probably would never admit it out loud but she wanted to be with him all the time. She kissed his jawline and pushed herself up a little and that's when she saw it. He had his left arm up over his head and you couldn't miss it. He had a new tattoo. She wrinkled her brow and made a face. "What the hell?" She said out loud.

Harry opened his eyes. "What? What's wrong?"

She looked at him and then back at the tattoo. She just shook her head.

"What?" He laughed.

"I didn't know you were getting a new tattoo." She said. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to tell him she hated it.

"Well maybe if you didn't work all the time, and we actually had a conversation the past few weeks, you would have." He laughed at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Interesting choice." She sat up and put her feet on the floor.

"Whoa, wait." He pulled her back so her head was laying on his stomach. "What's wrong."

"Nothing, maybe it was my fault we didn't get to talk much but it would have been nice to know. Especially, well, the details." She said.

"You don't like it?" He asked playing with her hair.

She smiled at him playing with her hair, he'd never done that before. "Doesn't matter. It's your body."

"Yeah but I want you all over my body so...." He laughed.

"Well I may not have chosen some of those details, like the mermaid, or being completely uncovered." She said.

"So, you don't like anything about it." He said laughing.

"I like the person it's on." She said. "That's all that matters." She sat up, leaned down and kissed him. "The rest doesn't matter." She put her feet back down on the floor.

"I swear that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard you say." He laughed again. "But, where are you going?"

"I have a couple of things to take care of, then we have to start moving, and then I have to get started for Thanksgiving, it's in two days and now I'm not sure how I'm going to get it all done." She said.

"So, you're taking the apartment?" He asked her sitting up.

"Yes, Panda really wants it." She said getting up and going to her desk.

"And what about you?" He asked.

"It's a great apartment, Harry. But I would have been just fine staying here." She said leaning down and writing.

"Well I'm glad you're accepting it." He said.

She walked over to him and handed him a check.

"What's this?" He said looking at it.

"Partial payment. I'm paying you back." She said walking to her dresser.

"Cute, but I'm not taking this." He said holding it out.

"Yes, you are. I will accept the loan to get the apartment but I'm paying you back." She said getting her clothes. "Every penny."

"Julie, will you stop being so damn stubborn." He said.

"No, Harry. I'm grateful for you and everything you do and you've done, but I can't just take this. It's way too much." She said taking her clothes into the bathroom and then coming back out.

"It's not." He got up and walked to her. "I love you, and I will say it again, I don't care how crazy it seems that it happened so fast. You work really hard it's not like you're expecting a hand out. Both you and Amanda work extremely hard for what you have. Julie, you help save lives. I don't think you should have to miss out on this because of bad timing."

"I'm not missing out. Thanks to you and Niall. And I can still pay you back." She said.

He shook his head at her. "Guess I need a frame. Because, stubborn ass, that's the only place this check is going. I won't cash it." He said walking over and putting it in his bag.

"Harry, I wish you would realize how important it is that I can take care of myself." She leaned back against the chair by her desk.

"Baby, there is no doubt you can take care of yourself." He said walking back over to her and taking her hands. "That's not what this is." He kissed her.

"We aren't done with this Harry. You need to cash the check. But I will argue with you later about it because I have a ton of things to do." She said walking over to the laptop.

"You are so lucky I love your stubbornness. What are you doing now?" He said.

"My payment on my hospital bill is due, I'm signing in to make it." She said. "Then I have to shower and see what Amanda wants to do with moving and then grocery shop for Thanksgiving."

"Speaking of Thanksgiving. Niall and I invited some more people to come since they were going to be in LA." He said.

"How many people Harry?" She looked up at him.

"Seven or eight, I think." He said.

"What?? Seriously? Harry even the new apartment isn't going to be big enough for that." She said.

"Well we can do it at my house then. Please, baby?" He said.

She took a deep breath. "Fine, but so much for moving because to get that much food done I should have started 2 days ago." She went back to the lap top. "What the hell? Harry what did you do?"

He laughed. "Wait, I didn't do anything else. What are you talking about?"

"My medical bills are paid in full." She said.

"Well I promise it wasn't me. I tried, not gonna lie, but they were already paid." He said. "That's why I was kind of surprised when you said you were going on to pay them."

"Then who?" Julie thought about it and then got up.

"Where are you going?" He followed her to Amanda's room.

Julie knocked on the door. When she heard come in, she opened the door. "I think I may need to have a talk with your boyfriend." She said to Amanda who was combing her hair.

"He's in the shower but why would you have to talk to him?" She asked looking at her.

"Somehow my medical bills were paid to the hospital in Vegas in full and Harry doesn't know anything about it. Who else could it be?" Julie said crossing her arms.

"Well. it wasn't me." Niall said coming out of the bathroom. "Harry said he was going to pay them so I didn't bother."

"And I told you they were already paid when I tried." Harry said leaning in the doorway.

Julie wrinkled her brow and then looked at Amanda who was practically trying to hide even though she had nowhere to hide. "Amanda! What did you do?"

"Stop calling me Amanda, damn it." She set the brush down and turned around. "Look, since Niall and Harry paid for the apartment I had all the extra money I was going to use for that. Figured there couldn't be a better use for it than that."

"You people need to stop! I swear to God, I can't take this." Julie said walking out of Amanda's room and back to hers.

Harry laughed. "Couldn't be outdone huh? Well, at least I'm not the only one she's going to give hell now."

"I just find it completely unfair that jackass is the one who did it to her and she has to work her ass off to pay the bills. If I could have, I would have made his ass pay them." Amanda said. "But yes, should be quite the interesting day. She's honestly already said more than I expected. I figured she would just internalize and try to process all this. Wish she would realize once she deserves friends and to be helped."

"Maybe, someday." Harry said as he watched Julie walk back into the room and go to Amanda.

"Here." Julie said handing Amanda a check. "It's all I have right now, but I will pay you back as soon as I can. I'm going to call work and see if I can get some more shifts. You are all on your own for Thanksgiving. I'm going to work I'm sure there are a ton of people who would rather have off. And next time any of you have bright ideas that involve your money, and my problems, keep them to yourselves." She said turning on her heel and walking out the door.

Amanda, Harry and Niall all laughed. "There it is." Harry said. "That guard, so she doesn't have to feel overwhelmed and process what she's feeling."

"Yeah, well, I'm not cashing the check. Maybe I will frame it." Amanda said.

"I said the same thing when she handed me one to start paying me back." Harry laughed.

"I better go stop her from calling work." Amanda said.

"I figured she might try something even before I knew it was you, so....." Harry pulled Julie's phone out of his pocket. "She can't call if she doesn't have her phone."

"Oh geez," Niall said. "I'm so glad I'm not you right now."

"I'm always in hot water anyway." Harry said laughing.

"Harry!" They heard Julie exclaim. "Where's my phone?"

The three of them walked out into the front room to Julie standing with her arms crossed.

"Safely in my pocket." He said. "You're not going to work."

"He's right." Amanda said. "And I'm not cashing that check so you don't have to worry about it."

"Yes, you are. Both of you are. Stop doing this, seriously." Julie clenched her teeth.

"JJ, we all know you have a hard time accepting help. But we want to help." Amanda said walking up to her.

"I haven't done anything for anyone. All I've done is cause problems, and drama, and grief and people to spend their money on me. How do you think that makes me feel?" Julie said clenching her teeth again and crossing her arms tighter. "Don't you think all of this makes me feel like more of a failure? Do any of you think about how any of this makes me feel? I swear all you worry about is how it makes you feel to help. Great, glad, but your help is caused by my failures."

"Well, maybe if you would show how you feel instead of hiding we would all be better off." Niall said.

"Niall, babe, we have glasses, you better watch out." Amanda said. She knew maybe it wasn't time to joke but JJ needed to realize they were all there for her.

"I can't take this. I need to get out of this fucking place." Julie said walking to her room. She didn't even bother showering. She threw her jeans on and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. She felt Harry's arms wrap around her from behind. She didn't even hear him come in. "Stop." She tried to pull away.

"No, stop pushing aside the feelings." He kissed her neck. "It's ok to feel overwhelmed. It's ok to cry. But you are not allowed to feel like a failure. Amanda was right. It's not fair you get stuck with all the medical bills when it wasn't your fault. You were trying to protect Amanda and the rest of us. Julie, life hasn't been fair to you, now you have people who truly want to help. And believe me you do more than you think."

"I don't." Julie started.

"You do." Amanda said appearing in her doorway. "But this isn't going to be a fight. I was glad to do it. And maybe what Harry and Niall did is too much but it's already done. We can discuss that later. But they will be here awhile. We can work that out. Harry's right though. Stop pushing the feelings aside. It's ok to be overwhelmed and grateful. It's ok to accept help from those who love you especially when they can do it." Amanda said walking over to her.

"I can't take this." Julie said again.

"I know." Amanda said hugging her.

Harry and Niall wrapped their arms around the girls. When Julie started to cry, she said to all of them. "I hate you all."

"We know." They all said at once and laughed.

Julie pulled back and pushed them away. "Ok, get away now. I've, or I should say, we've got a ton of things to do. Apparently, Niall and Harry invited a ton more people, so much for an intimate Thanksgiving with the 4 of us."

Amanda looked at Niall. "You did?"

"Yes, only like seven or eight more people." Niall shrugged.

"Only?" Amanda laughed. "Seriously? Where are we going to put all these people?"

"My house." Harry said. "I've got plenty of room."

"Sometimes I wonder if the 2 of them think we're magicians instead of regular girls." Julie said. "I'm going to finally shower and then figure out what we are going to need for groceries for a million people and then Harry you are going to have to take us to your house. It's going to be non-stop until Thanksgiving." Julie said wiping her eyes. "And I swear if any of you make me cry again I will hurt you." She turned and went into her bathroom.

Niall looked at Harry and laughed. "How do you deal with all that?"

Harry shook his head and laughed. "I don't know but I can't imagine not dealing with it."

Amanda pushed on Harry a little. "Thanks for loving her."

"No thanks needed. As funny as it sounds. It's pretty easy. Thanks for being her friend and always there." He kinda pulled on Amanda's hair.

"Eh, it's easy." She laughed.

Niall laughed. "Just wish it was as easy for her to deal with herself as it is for us to deal with her." He shook his head. "That's the weirdest thing I've ever said."

"Oh, I don't know about that dear." Amanda said laughing.

"Be nice." Niall said taking her hand. "Let's go talk about a moving plan. Since you're going to be busy cooking with JJ, Harry and I can maybe get things started on the move."

"Oh, you are a knight. I don't wanna do any heavy lifting." Amanda said walking out with him.

*if you are enjoying the story please vote/comment/share. I would love to be able to respond.

*the story is complete fan fiction