Purge (Larry Stylinson au)

Chapter 18

The minute Harry sees Scarlett standing in front of the big, blast doors of the base, he bursts into tears.

There she is: his best friend. All rough exterior, dark hair pulled back tightly, weapons hanging from her belt, and crisp clothes masking her soft heart and playful personality. She stands with her hands on her hips, but she grins from ear to ear as soon as she sees their group, brown eyes sparkling. 

"Harry!" she cries, racing towards him as he reaches the bottom of the hill. She tackles him in a huge embrace, holding him tightly as he cries into her shoulder. 

"You're okay," she notes, stroking his hair. 

"So are you," Harry replies, pulling away and giving her a watery smile. 

She grins. "And look at you! No baby bump anymore."

"Yeah, not anymore."

Scarlett pats his cheek, smirking. Then she looks over his shoulder to see Louis standing there. Louis smiles at her and hands Darcy to Niall. 

"Lou," Scarlett breathes, walking up to him slowly. 

"Hey, Scar," he waves. 

She doesn't respond, only runs to him and gives him, if possible, an even bigger hug than Harry's. She holds him for a lot longer, too.

"I thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead," she mutters into his shoulder. 

"Surprise," Louis jokes. 

Scarlett pulls away and slaps his arm gently. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Tomlinson."

"And I will," Louis agrees. "I'll explain everything, but right now I kind of just want to get into the base."

"One second," Scarlett says. She then walks over to Liam and Zayn, giving them both big hugs and kissing their cheeks. Then she goes over to Niall, who has given Darcy back to Harry, and she embraces him as well. 

Turning to Ella, she says, "Hi, I'm Scarlett. I'm in charge here. What's your name?"

"Blunt as ever, I see," Niall mutters. 

"I'm Ella," Ella responds, smiling. She holds out her hand and Scarlett shakes it happily. 

"How'd you end up joining this little group?" she asks. 

Ella releases her hand and says, "Louis saved me from the concentration camp I had been taken to. He helped me escape with him and we found the others in the woods."

Scarlett nods. "I'm sorry you had to go to one of those camps. But we're gonna help you here. I promise."

"Thank you," Ella says. 

Scarlett nods again, giving Ella a smile, and then she turns back to Harry and Louis. "I wanna see the baby," she says. 

Harry chuckles and turns Darcy so Scarlett can see her face as she comes up. "This is Darcy Lou Tomlinson," he says. "Darce, this is our friend Scarlett."

"I talked to you a lot when you were in your papa's tummy," Scarlett tells Darcy, reaching out a finger to softly stroke Darcy's little hand. 

Darcy giggles up at her, gurgling like the happy baby she is. Her blue eyes light up, maybe a little in recognition. Harry's heard somewhere that babies are able to recognize voices of people who spoke before they were even born, and he thinks that Darcy might be remembering Scarlett from before.

"Wow," Scarlett says, admiring the baby. "She's beautiful guys. And she looks so much like Louis."

Louis beams proudly while Harry chuckles. "Yeah, she does. She's a really happy baby too, especially considering she's grown up wandering around in a forest."