Love Me Like You Do (z.h. mpreg)

chapter nine

warnings: car crash, possibly some medical inaccuracies

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"You're not a bad person. You're a very good person, who bad things have happened to. Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."

-Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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Niall woke up to the sound of a baby's shrill crying. He blinked several times and tried to collect his thoughts into coherent sentences, but the pounding in his left temple was keeping him from doing so. Slowly, he looked around and tried to take in his surroundings. It was dark outside, and the air held an unusual feeling. Then suddenly, everything started rushing back to him. He was starting to remember now! He remembered seeing the bright headlights coming towards him through the window, and he remembered not being able to do anything to stop the other car from smashing into them.

Zayn.

Where was Zayn? Where was everybody else? Niall began to fight consciousness again, the metallic taste of blood slipping into his mouth. He winced in pain as he heard his baby call out for him again, and then he heard a female voice.

"Sir?" It asked. "Can you tell me your name?"

Niall shook his head and tried to unbuckle his seatbelt, but it had gotten stuck in the buckle during the collision. "My baby," he muttered. "He needs me," Niall turned his head to try and get a look at his kids in the backseat to see if they were okay. Vision blurry, Niall gasped as he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Zayn was passed out in the driver's seat, head slumped against the window. Tiny shards of glass stuck to his bloodied skin and scruffy beard, and there were even a few in his eyelashes.

"Zayn!" Tears welled up in Niall's eyes. He knew Zayn wasn't dead as he could see the very slow rise and fall of his chest, but his mind still feared the worst. "Oh my God, Zayn!"

Harry continued to scream his little lungs out in his car seat, waking up all but one brother. Louis' bottom lip trembled as tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Daddy?" He whimpered. "Daddy, what happened?" Louis looked frantically around for his family, wondering why his Papa and Liam were bloody. When Niall didn't answer him right away, Louis began to sob, scared for his life.

"Sir? I need your name!" The woman said again. "I've called the ambulance, they're on their way, alright? I'm going to get a cloth for your head, since you seem okay. I'll be back in a mo', love,"

Niall shook himself out of his trance. "I'm Niall, is my family okay?" He tried to get out of the car, but a searing pain ripped through his leg. It had gotten crushed when the other vehicle slammed into the front of theirs, and it definitely felt broken. He then tried to turn around in his seat, but the stuck seatbelt restricted him.

"Its okay, Louis, daddy's right here, love," he slipped a shaky hand between the side of the seat and the car, and squeezed both of Louis' little hands tightly when he felt Louis grab a hold of him.

"Daddy, I'm scared!" He cried. "Liam's still sleeping and Harry won't stop crying!"

Niall heard the telltale signs of ambulances and police sirens in the background and sniffled. The woman returned and pressed a cold cloth to the side of his head.

"Hold Harry's hand, Lou. I bet he'll stop crying if he knows you're there!" Niall said. Louis let out a few shuddery sighs and reluctantly let go of Niall.