The sun was just hinting at showing the first rays of the day. Looking out over the terrain he wasn't sure really how long he'd been out there but it didn't matter regardless. He had nowhere really to be- he had all the time in the world now. Walter wasn't there breathing down his neck and Austin was still strung up. The entire thing made a laugh rumble in his chest and he smiled as the first bit of heat of the day hit him. Breathing deeply the crisp morning air he let his body relax and just be. He wasn't on guard like usual. It was surreal to finally let those walls and defenses fall completely away since building them up.

There were things to do and debts to be paid but he wasn't going to dwell on that now. He knew he needed to get shit done but he also needed to catch up on everything that had changed in his time away. Months had passed and while things were the same as he left them he could see a difference. Harper had been left unchecked and while he'd never given her rules over things at his place he found his eye twitching all the same.

When he woke up she was sprawled over his chest glued to him and it took some effort and work to get out of the bed without waking her but he did. Walking through his house as he'd done up his clothes is when he started seeing things. Things were different sure but then things had been a fucking mess when he'd been arrested. The living room had been destroyed along with part of the kitchen things. Harper managed to get all of it cleaned up like that night never happened. There was more of her present in the house than ever before when he stood looking around the room. The blood where Duke had laid panting was gone and Mac huffed at all the sentimental bullshit. She had a few pictures around but he shook his head not studying them.

Harper made it clear that the cave was his to handle. She blocked the entrance to make sure it would go unnoticed but other than that she steered clear of it. He could see in her eyes when she told him that she didn't want to see the body of her father. There was no lingering fear there from the man but disgust still heavily in place. She loathed that man on a deep level and even in his death didn't want to see him. He didn't blame her though the man was a piece of shit and the lowest of the low in his mind. He was right there next to Walter and that said something.

It was the house though that he noticed first. Walking around it small things here and there. His pack of cigarettes was still setting where he left them months before. His tools still remained where he'd last left them, untouched and apart of everything around them. Everything around them was clean and put together with his disarray of shit mixed in with hers. Even more so than before he got his ass locked up and the thought had him inhaling deeply and flicking away his cigarette. Harper was a part of him that seemed to burrow deeper and deeper even while he was away- even more while he was away.

Turning he walked back into house and was assaulted with the smell of cooking food and coffee. Eyes going to the clock let him know he'd been out there for over an hour. Harper was smart enough to give him that time to get his shit together. He didn't like people constantly around him before and now it was the same. Though where she was concerned he sneered despite himself that it didn't bother him really that she was there. She was fucking everywhere in his life and only digging deeper. Burrowing so deep into him that the time away from her was so painful that he flinched thinking over the time locked up. It wasn't the shit he had to deal with in there with officers, the Warden, therapist, lawyers, cops, and other inmates that bothered him. All that shit he took in stride cause one way or another he'd been dealing with motherfuckers like that his entire life. They were all like Walter in some mocking way and the realization just made him smirk cause he was already so use to it that he didn't even blink. But Harper...that was another monster altogether.

Mac watched her move around unaware he was there. Harper stood there in his black henley he came home in. She was doing the same shit she done before and despite himself he found it soothing. Harper was still Harper. She was humming along to some shit only she could hear and for once she looked care free.

"Do you want pancakes?"

Mac looked over as Harper smiled at him. Her hair was loose and hanging around her lithe frame as she waited on his answer. She was always waiting on him it seemed with everything. Harper had a knowing smile- the same smile that he'd seen countless times before. Like he said Harper always seemed to be waiting on him whether it be to decide on something or come to the same fucking conclusion. She silently waited though like she already knew his answer.

Just raising a brow at her she smiled even wider. "Alright then." Her voice was smug.

"Did you paint?"

Harper stiffened at the stove as she whisked batter. She only paused for a mere second and then started working at the stove again. Mac felt a growl rumbling through his chest at her silence and stood up. Walking forward and grasping her arm just as she put the bowl back on the counter he spun her to him. Harper's chest was heaving below the henley and Mac grabbed her jaw forcing her to meet his eyes.

"Did you forget how to talk?" Mac snapped.

Harper shook her head as much as she could and he tightened his grip on her jaw. The wince was there and her eyes darkened watching him.

"Mac." Harper panted, "The cops and investigators were going to pick things apart." Her voice was level but pleading.

Mac released her and looked to the pan. Harper listened without so much as a word from him and turned the pancakes before turning back to him. Her eyes went to his immediately as she looked him over and then she sighed.

"Let me finish cooking and then I'll tell you more about what happened."

Mac huffed but Harper was already busy at work. Getting a cup of coffee Mac moved back to the table his eyes focused on everything but nothing. It wasn't long before she slid a plate in front of him and took a seat across from him. She was silently eating her frame tense as if waiting for him to lash out. It was almost comical to him that she was so tense now. How many times before had she specifically ignored him and done something he told her not to. She knew what happened and he knew she craved it but she never acted like he was going to beat her for the sake of beating her. She didn't act like she was now and it was pissing him off.

"When you left everything was a mess and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if you were going to get to come back and then Pratt was insistent that he knew where bodies were." Harper sucked in a breath and let it out slow. "I came home and there was blood everywhere in there from the fight. The cops had already took pictures for evidence. They didn't go move anywhere else in the house and thank fuck for that Mac."

He raised a brow then smiled knowing what she meant. The house was a mess of blood and tool's he'd used multiple times. "What did you do with everything?"

Harper finally let some of the tension go and settled more in her seat as she chewed. She nodded for a second and then cleared her throat. "The only place I knew too."

"I'll handle it." Mac replied.

Harper didn't stop there, "I painted and made sure anything that could be tied to anyone that went missing was gone from here. If they came back looking for evidence to link you to anything they wouldn't find it."

She was sure and sincere about her words that she spoke to him. Her eyes were intense as she set her fork down and stood walking around to him. Mac watched her fluid movements that were more feline than ever. He could almost hear the purr in her chest as she stopped in front of him. He'd yet to touch his food and was still turned in his chair to be able to look out the door and she used it to her advantage as she straddled him.

Her arms went around his shoulders as her hands slid up into his hair tightening her grip and tugging hard. His head angled back for her like she wanted and he watched her. Mac slid his hands up her thighs his thumbs pressed against her over her scar. She sucked in a breath and smiled as his thumb continued to trace the scar and the new broke skin over it.

"I wanted to keep you safe."

Mac nodded at her words and knew she was telling the truth. They both done what they done to keep the other safe. Harper cleaned his mess left over up and made things seem normal while he cleaned house and left them dead. He'd do it again if it meant she was safe and that was the only concrete thing he had.

Smirking at her when he didn't meet any underwear she raised a brow at him. "What are you going to do today? You know Pratt is going to have his eye on you. They all are."

Growling low in his throat at the thought of the other man he felt like pitching her to the floor. Tightening his grip on her she slid more over him and wrapped her arms more around Mac. Leaning her forehead into his she held his eyes chocolate depths meeting arctic blue both in understanding. She didn't need him to talk like he didn't need her too. He could see it in her eyes that she knew that he was going to hurt someone soon.

"No more jail Mac."

Tossing his head back he huffed and then snorted, "You nag so goddamn much."

Harper leaned in against him her breath fanning against his throat. Her tongue slipped out over his throat and slid up and around to his ear. "I missed you."

The sound of a vehicle pulling up had his head turning and she tucked herself against him even more. "Get cleaned up and put some fucking clothes on you look like a whore." His hands bit into her bruising her slim waist and she smiled at his words.

"Say what you want Mac but when it comes to being your whore there is a worth there, we both know it." She stood up looking down at him, "I'm alive."