My Brob GF Ch 20: The Time To Talk

(Harper)

The wind was cold against my skin, biting at the sea water that still clung to me like a second layer. I wrapped my arms around my knees, tucking them close to my chest, trying to stay warm. It wasn't the cold that bothered me, though—I could handle that. It was the waiting. Sitting here, outside this tiny settlement, freezing, drenched, and alone...waiting for Ethan.

I exhaled slowly, my breath fogging in the night air. From where I sat, the settlement below looked like something I could easily cradle in the palm of my hand. The buildings were so small, so fragile. The base had been wrecked, pieces of it scattered across the sand like broken toys. And amidst all that destruction, the tiny specks of life that still moved—the soldiers, the medics, the injured—were barely more than dots on the landscape.

My eyes traced the scene, searching, squinting to see through the dim light. That's when I saw him—a tiny speck, walking steadily toward me.

"It's Ethan," I heard Dwayne's voice say through the earpiece. His tone was casual, but I could sense the undercurrent of concern in his words.

I leaned forward slightly, peering down at the little figure making its way toward my toes. It was him. Ethan. My heart did that little flutter it always did when I saw him, even if it was just a speck of him from this distance.

He looked so small, walking across the sand. So... *vulnerable*. The urge to protect him washed over me again, the same instinct that had driven me to step in earlier, to shield him from the chaos and destruction that had almost taken his life.

For a moment, I just watched him. Watched how determined he looked, even at that size, even after everything that had happened. It made me smile, just a little, in spite of everything.

I lowered my hand slowly, carefully, toward the sand. I knew how easy it was to startle him with too much movement, especially at this scale. I made sure not to do anything exaggerated, no quick motions that might make him flinch. My finger hovered just above the ground, close enough for him to climb on, but not too close to make him feel pressured.

"Hop on," I said softly, though my voice probably still rumbled in his ears like distant thunder.

From up here, he was just a dot, a tiny, fragile dot. But I knew who he was—Ethan, the man who'd left me. The man who broke my heart. And yet, as I looked down at him, all I felt was relief that he was still here, still alive.

That didn't mean I wasn't angry. Oh, I was. But the anger was layered beneath other things—things I couldn't quite put into words just yet.

Ethan paused for a moment, as if considering, then finally stepped forward and onto my fingertip. I didn't even  feel faintest pressure as his tiny feet made contact with my nail, and I gently lifted him up toward me.

He was right there, so small, so breakable, and yet my heart ached in a way I couldn't ignore and this aching only grew as I watched him climb my finger.

I cradled him in the center of my palm, raising him closer to my face, trying to keep my expression neutral. I didn't want to scare him off—not now. Not when there were so many things that needed to be said.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," I said, my voice quieter this time, but still filled with the weight of everything I hadn't said before.

I waited, watching him, feeling the cold wind on my skin but keeping still, knowing the next move had to come from him.

***

(Ethan)

I could feel the sweat running down the back of my neck as I looked up at Harper. Her eyes—those sharp, piercing eyes—locked onto mine with a focus that made my stomach drop. I had seen that look before, during our arguments over the screen, back when we were still talking. But seeing it up close, at a scale that dwarfed me… it was breathtaking. And terrifying.

I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice. She was so still, her massive form barely moving, but I could feel the tension in the air, like a predator waiting for its prey to make the wrong move.

“Harper…” I started, my voice cracking slightly. I had to push the words out, even though my mind was scrambling. “I wanted to thank you for coming. I know things between us… ended badly. But you showed up, and you didn’t have to. I owe you one.”

Her eyes didn’t change. No softening, no hint of forgiveness. She just stared down at me, her face unreadable, her gaze intense. After a long pause, she finally spoke, her voice low but so powerful it rumbled through the air like distant thunder. “And?”

That one word hit me harder than I expected. My heart skipped a beat, and I stammered, trying to find something else to say. “And… and you saved a lot of lives today. The base, the soldiers—they would’ve been wiped out if it weren’t for you. What you did was—”

“And?” she said again, cutting me off. Her tone sharper, more impatient.

I could feel my palms starting to sweat. She wasn’t interested in my thanks. Of course, she wasn’t. This is Harper. She wanted more, something real. I couldn’t keep skirting around it. She wasn’t going to let me off easy.

I exhaled, my hands shaking slightly as I finally admitted, “Harper, you shouldn’t have done it. You crossed into Gulliverian territory without permission. You could’ve been arrested on the spot. And now… you’re in a lot of trouble.” I glanced up at her face, but it remained the same—cold, unreadable. “It’s going to take a miracle to get you out of this without jail time. Your license—there’s a chance they’ll revoke it. And—”

Before I could finish, the ground beneath me shifted. I stumbled, dropping to my knees as her massive hand trembled slightly. The skin of her palm rippled under me, and I looked up just in time to see her face coming closer. Much closer.

Her eye—massive, overwhelming—filled my entire vision. It was like looking into the face of a storm, all-encompassing and inescapable. I could feel her breath on me, warm and humid, as she spoke, her voice almost too soft for her size, yet it still shook me to my core.

“I don’t want your thanks, Ethan,” she said, her tone firm. “I don’t want you to owe me anything. All I want is the truth.”

I froze. My mouth opened, but no words came out. The truth? What truth was she talking about? I thought I was being honest, but she clearly wasn’t buying it. The fear was clawing its way up my throat now, and I didn’t know how to respond. The pressure of her presence, her demand—it was too much.

Then, from somewhere far above, I heard a voice. “You alright down there, Ethan?”

I blinked, my gaze darting upward, and there he was—Dwayne—sitting casually on Harper’s shoulder, looking down at me with that ever-present smirk. Relief and frustration hit me in equal measure.

“Dwayne?” I said, my voice shaky. “I was wondering where you went.”

He chuckled, leaning forward a little. “Oh, I decided to keep Harper some company,” he said, completely unfazed by the intensity of the situation. He turned to Harper, and she responded by gently lowering her finger to her shoulder. In one smooth motion, Dwayne stepped onto her finger, and she carefully brought him down to the palm where I was.

Once he was settled beside me, Dwayne shot me a glance, an amused smile playing on his lips. “You know, Ethan, maybe you should tell Harper a little story. It might just help you out of this mess.”

I glared at him, frustration bubbling up inside me. But then I looked back at Harper, her face still hovering impossibly close. There was no escape. No more stalling. She wanted the truth, and I had to give it to her, even if it was the hardest thing I’d ever done.