Just to Hear You

Nate

**Niall's POV**

I watched as Audrey took her phone out of her purse and looked at a message. She was so beautiful. Her face made an annoyed expression while she typed something back and hit send. She kept staring at the screen, still looking annoyed for a few minutes, until her eyes grew big and looked up at me. She had tears in her eyes and she looked scared. She looked at Seth and signed something. All I understood was "I" and "go". That was enough for me. She was going to leave. Seth looked to me and said "She needs to go home. Now." I looked at her and a tear spilled over her cheek. I signed "Why?" I thought we were having a good time...why would she leave? She signed something and Seth looked back to me. "It's her brother. There's something wrong." Audrey looked at me, tears silently falling down her cheeks. I reached over the table and wiped them away. I talked very slowly, almost like I could barely speak English and said, "It'll be okay. Let's go." She nodded and wiped her eyes. I asked the security with us to get the check and gave him some money. I turned to Seth and told him to drive us back to Audrey's house. We walked back to the car and Audrey signed something to Seth in the drivers seat. He nodded and sped out of the parking lot.

I signed to Audrey "What's wrong?" Having to spell wrong out with the alphabet. I scolded myself for not learning more words before tonight. I should've tried harder, so we could have better conversation. She wiped away more tears and signed something, obviously changing some words so I could understand and going very slow, "It's my brother. I don't know what's wrong yet."

She always mouths the words as she signs them so I can understand better. I was touched by how much she cares about her brother. Seeing her so upset made me want to find out what was wrong right now, just so I could calm her down. I reached over the middle seat and wrapped my arms around her. She buried her face in my neck and tried to stop crying. We pulled up to her house and I said very slowly "Call me when you find out." She nodded and hugged me one last time. She was about to get out of the car, but she hesitated and leaned back to me. She kissed me on the cheek and signed "Thank you." I smiled and kissed her cheek and said "Go." She smiled and got out of the car. Then she disappeared into her house. "Let's go." I said to Seth.

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**Audrey's POV**

I ran into the house and found my mom. She was sitting in the living room, obviously torn up. She was on the couch, her head in her hands. I walked up to her and she looked up at me. Mascara was smeared across her face and she had tear stains on her cheek. "What happened?" I signed.

"Nate...he...he..." She was crying so hard that she could barely bring her hands up to sign the words. "He's in the hospital."

At that moment, my body took over. Before I knew what was happening, I was sprinting to the car. I opened the passenger side and waited for my mom to come out after me. We had to leave. Now. I had to see my brother. We couldn't have very much conversation, but I watched him grow up. He was my best friend, even if we didn't talk very much. If anything happened to him, I don't know what I would do. He had to be okay. My mom came running out of the door and swiftly put the keys in the ignition. She practically floored it as we rushed to the hospital. The usual 20 minute drive to the hospital ended up being 10 for us. When she parked, a thought rushed into my head. I turned to her and signed "Why were you still home? Why weren't you already here?" She looked at me and started to cry again.

"I've already been up here, Audrey. I was hoping it wouldn't be as bad as it is and I could just tell you when you got home. But it is bad. So I went home and waited on you." Tears welled up in my eyes. What did she mean it was bad?! What was bad?! What the hell even happened?! I watched her start walking towards the hospital doors and grabbed her hand, pulling her back. "What happened. I can't look at him without knowing." My mom knew I would ask this, but she looked scared to tell me. She brought her hands up slowly, probably trying to figure put what exactly to say.

"...He was beat up. By....by your father." Did I just hallucinate? Or did she just say my father beat up my little brother? WHAT THE HELL?! I screamed what was supposed to be 'WHAT?' But I think it came out more like gibberish. Mom took my hand and pulled me into the hospital doors. She walked right past the nurses station, I'm guessing they already knew who she was. She barged into the second door on the right. When I walked through the doorway, I fell to my knees. Someone was in the hospital bed. But it couldn't be Nate. No way that was my little brother. My little brother always had a smile on his face, showing the blue braces on his teeth. He was always hyper, annoying me sometimes.

This kid could not be Nate. This kid was in the bed, laying motionless. The left side of his face was so swollen that his eye wouldn't open. It was also purple and black. His right cheek had a large cut in it, obviously ace from a knife. His right eye was black also, and his nose looked broken. His right arm was in a sling, and his left leg was in a cast. His left arm had another cut in it, with stitches running through it. I sat on my knees on the floor, sobbing and letting out loud whimpers every 2 seconds. I couldn't breathe, and I was about to pass out. Then I remembered.

Someone did this. Someone hurt my little brother to the point of hospitalization. My dad. OUR dad. Nate's own dad had done this to him. And my only question was, why? Who could do this to their own flesh and blood? How did he even find us? We moved out of the house my mom and him had together, and we've never spoken to him since. Anger flooded through me, giving me more strength than I've ever had. I got up off the ground, wiping the tears from my face. I walked to my mom, grabbing her arm. I spoke, knowing she knew what I was going to say. "WHY." She already had tears in her eyes, and now they flowed out of her beautiful eyes. She looked straight into my eyes and signed "Can we worry about that later and focus on THIS?" She moved her hands so fiercely that I thought she was going to hit something and pointed to the bed. When I looked again, the tears came back. I let go of the anger and let the sobs come back.

"Is he going to be okay?" I signed.

"We can only hope. But I think he should wake up soon."

I walked over to my baby brother. Even when he was unconscious, you could see the pain he was feeling in his expression. I leaned down next to the bed and layer my head on Nate's shoulder. I wrapped one arm around him and let my tears soak through his hospital gown. I don't know how long I kneeled there, but I got up. I layer next to Nate in the bed, putting my arm around his shoulders, careful not to make him move his broken arm. I lay next to him, leaning my head in the crook of his neck. When I finally stopped crying, I kissed him on the cheek. I hugged him and got up. I started to walk away when I felt a hand catch mine. When I turned around, my baby brother's one eye that would open was staring at me. He smiled, kissed my hand, then fell back asleep.

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(A/N) HAPPY NEW YEARS GUYS! Thank you so much for reading and voting! I hope you liked this chapter! I know I do! There will probably only be one more update before I have to go back to school, and after that I don't know how often ill be able to update. I'll try my best to update a lot! I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and I hope we don't all die from having to start getting up early again :/

LOVE YOUUUS!!(:

<3 Katie