little do you know // niall horan au

chapter 21; trouble

Liam held her for a few more moments before leading her to the waiting area where the Zayn and Harlow had set up camp. Zayn passed her a cup of something warm when Liam sat her down on a long chaise-looking seat, pressing his lips to her hairline before sitting next to her, nudging her lightly. She couldn't feel anything. Her body was so numb. And when she looked over at Zayn, she knew from the look he gave her that he understood exactly how she was feeling.

Liam sat across from her, Harlow by his side. Harry had nuzzled up on Mona's other side. "Well I just spoke to one of the nurses. Apparently Niall was walking near the park and ran into the street to save a kid who wasn't paying attention. Niall got hit instead." Mona drew in a breath that sounded a bit like a struggling gasp. Her hands were starting to shake. Beside her, Harry and Zayn pressed against her closer, as if holding her together with their bodies. "The parents of the boy were the ones that brought Niall here. But he'll be fine, just bunged up his knee a bit. They're just gonna fix him up and he'll be okay."

Liam sounded like he was trying to convince himself of that fact, which really didn't help. But Harry placed a hand over one of hers, which was still holding on to the cup Zayn handed to her. "See? Everything is fine. It sounds like it's just minor surgery." Something about the way he smiled at her had her feeling much more at ease. He guided the cup closer to her mouth. "Drink."

She brought the cup to her lips and sipped, the hot liquid falling easily down her throat, warming her from the inside out. It was hot chocolate. Suddenly, her body felt as if it were being yanked back into a memory and she felt like she was falling again. Only this time, snow crunched under her shoes and she was surrounded by trees and she could see their winter cabin in the distance, at the bottom of the hill that Niall made her climb because "it's a full moon and the stars are out and you don't get this kind of view in the city."

A memory, where Mona had grinned into his coat, hot chocolate in the thermos he had brought with him all warm in her hands, and she asked him whether the view reminded him of home. A memory, where Niall's eyes glittered just like the stars twinkling in the sky, and he had smiled the most beautiful smile when he looked at her and explained that while it reminded him of Ireland, that wasn't home anymore. A memory, where he whispered that home was right there with her.

A memory.

She gasped slowly, blinking a few times until she was back in the waiting room in a hospital, pressed against Harry and Zayn, holding a cup of hot chocolate, trying to keep it together. She took another sip of the beverage and hoped she wasn't drawing attention to herself, hoped no one would point out how hard she was trying not to freak out because that would probably cause her to freak out.

A nurse was approaching them and Mona's fingers started to shake so much that she had to put the cup down. She asked if any one of them was Niall's relative and Liam responded that Niall didn't have any relatives here. He ended up being the one to go speak to the doctor because he had all of Niall's insurance information anyway.

When Liam went away, Mona realized that Harlow, sitting across from her, had not even acknowledged her existence. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. After all, this had been the case for the past few weeks. Still, under the circumstances, there was a small bit of hope in her chest that they could at least reconcile their differences. Clearly, she should just stop hoping for things.

She closed her eyes to blink and all of a sudden she was somewhere else. A memory, in a different hospital on the opposite end of the country, sitting on a waiting room chair not unlike the one she was sitting in now. A memory, where it was Harlow by her side as Mona pressed her forehead to her shoulder. A memory, where she was too stunned to cry and too overwhelmed to speak but Harlow held her hand and told her it was going to be okay and somehow, that was enough for her.