Chapter Seventy Five – Harry
Harry's chewing on his thumb as he paces the hallway outside Zayn's room, several doctors and nurses had come crashing into Zayn's room a few minutes ago kicking himself and Niall out, while they check over Zayn. Niall has disappeared to where Harry's not sure, but Harry refuses to leave the hallway, let alone the floor. The door opens and one of the doctors steps out into the hall, Harry looks at him with hopeful eyes, but he shakes his head, “I'm sorry, your friend is stable but there's no change yet” the doctor says before he disappears around the corner of the hall. Harry wants to scream in frustration, he's angry about the whole situation, because it was completely avoidable. He's also completely confused about the last thing Zayn had said to him before he completely lost consciousness, “Eleanor” surely as crazy as she was, there's no way she would organize something like this, is there? Harry's so caught up in his thoughts he doesn't see anyone approaching and jumps when cool fingers wrap around his wrist, pulling his thumb from his mouth. “Gemma?” he asks slowly, she nods smiling lightly, and Harry pulls her into a tight hug, “Mum's parking the car” she mumbles, Harry hears her but he doesn't respond, he's not ready to say anything, telling Liam had been hard enough and he's not in a hurry to repeat any of the information about Zayn any time soon.
“How is he?” Gemma asks, leading Harry over to a couple chairs in the hallway. Harry shrugs his shoulders and rubs at his eyes, he's been crying so much that he knows they're probably bright red and puffy, “no different. But they keep telling me he's stable, so I guess that's good, right?” he asks. Gemma sighs and nods her head, “yea stable is good” she answers, rubbing Harry's arm. Niall returns then, leading Anne down the hall and carrying a tray of hot drinks, “I figured we could use 'em, and I found your mum on the way back” he says by way of explanation. Harry doesn't get a chance to respond as he's being pulled to his feet and into the familiar embrace of his mum, she smells like home and Harry can't help it, he can't hold himself together any longer, he feels the tears streak down his cheeks, and there's nothing he can do to stop them. “Shh” Anne coos holding him tightly and rocking them slightly, “let it out baby, but you know how strong Zayn is, he'll pull through this” she adds. Harry nods against her shoulder before pulling away and rubbing his face with his sleeve. He sees Niall and Gemma speaking quietly to each other in the chairs and is grateful that for once the pair aren't arguing. Niall looks up at him then and sends him a tight smile,”Josh just sent me a text, they're on their way” he says. Harry nods because he doesn't think he can say anything else, not now. But he's glad that Liam will be here soon, maybe his voice can bring Zayn back. More than anything though, as selfish as it is, he can't wait to be back in Louis' arms, he needs his boyfriend's comfort now, more than ever.
The door to Zayn's room opens again a few minutes later and the rest of the doctors and nurses file out, Zayn's main nurse, a sweet younger woman named Holly stops in front of Harry, “you can go back in now” she murmurs, and Harry nods. “If you need anything just call, alright?” she adds, Harry smiles “thank you” he mumbles, and then she's gone. Harry doesn't waste any time and is back in Zayn's room in a few quick steps, he can hear Niall, his mum and Gemma following behind him as he slips back into his chair beside Zayn's bed, but he doesn't really pay attention to them. He hears Gemma gasp as her eyes land on Zayn's broken, and bruised body, and that's when he turns to look at them, “I know right?” he croaks out, as Niall wraps an arm around Gemma to comfort her, he feels Anne rest a hand on his shoulder and squeeze gently. Harry reaches up with his right hand to place it over top of hers as he leans more into her touch, “Zayn please” he murmurs, using his left hand to squeeze Zayn's hand, gently, “please, come back, wherever you are right now, just please we need you, I need you, just come back” he pleads,his voice cracking slightly.
The room falls silent after that, except for Niall offering everyone the drinks he bought, Harry manages to take a sip and then forgets about the cup entirely as soon as he sets it down. The room stays that way until there's a loud commotion coming from the hallway that makes Harry furrow his eyebrows. He gets up and carefully makes his way to the door opening it slowly and peeking outside to be met with the large form of one of Liam's security team, he thinks his name is Alec but he's not entirely sure. He sees Josh next, the drummer's eyes scanning the hallway quickly until they land on Harry and he smiles tightly, “hey Ni?” Harry calls back into the room, “come here” he adds. Niall is quickly by his side a tired smile breaking out over his face at the sight of his boyfriend, and he pushes past Harry into the hall to throw himself at Josh. Harry smiles at the pair, despite everything, they are pretty adorable, he sees Perrie next and she smiles at him before just stopping to lean on the wall beside Alec. Louis is the next person to appear and Harry can't stop himself, much like Niall, he's launching himself at Louis as soon as the older is close enough.
Louis stumbles back with the force of Harry, before he recovers and wraps his arms tightly around Harry's taller frame, “how're you holding up?” Louis murmurs, pulling back slightly to look at him. Harry shrugs, because in all honesty he doesn't know, the accident was only hours ago, and his best friend since as long as he can remember is currently in a coma. Louis nods as if he understands and pulls Harry tightly to him again, “I'm so sorry, babe” Louis murmurs pressing kisses to Harry's head. “Not your fault” Harry answers pulling away so he can press a kiss to Louis' lips instead, Louis smiles when they pull away and nods, “yeah, but it still sucks” he adds. Harry nods his head and pulls away, only to wrap his hand around Louis' “how's Liam?” he asks curiously, and Louis shakes his head. “he's pretty broken up, I managed to get him to nap on the flight here. Jim's downstairs with him trying to convince him to come up. All he wanted was to see Zayn, and now that he's here, he's refusing to get out of the car” he explains. Harry nods, because he gets it, “he's scared of how he'll look?” he asks and Louis nods, “something like that, I don't really know, he was talking to me, but he's kinda shut down in the last fifteen minutes or so” he says dejectedly. Harry nods, and starts leading Louis towards Zayn's room, “think about it from his point of view, if it was me in that room, instead of Zayn how would you feel?” Harry asks quietly and Louis makes a face before he nods. “But it's not allowed to be you, ever” Louis says, before kissing Harry again.
Harry pulls Louis back into the room where his mum and sister are still sitting, Louis smiles slightly and waves, “hello again Anne, Gemma” he says politely and Harry smirks. He watches as Anne pulls Louis into a hug, squeezing him tight and pressing a kiss to his cheek, before whispering something that makes Louis blush, and releasing him. Harry furrows his eyebrows, curious as to what his mum said but doesn't get to ask because Gemma is grabbing Louis and hugging him as well. Louis comes back over to Harry, flushed and with a small lip gloss smear on his cheek, “what did they say to you?” Harry asks, pulling him with him towards his chair, and sitting down, Louis on his lap. Louis taps his nose “never you mind Harold” he teases, pressing a kiss to Harry's lips afterwards. Everyone falls silent as the attention turns back to Zayn in the hospital bed, Louis cursing under his breath, “I...you didn't tell me he was this bad” he murmurs. Harry shrugs and burrows into Louis' shoulder, “yea, it's kinda hard to look at” he mumbles sadly, Louis turns in his lap and wraps his arms around his neck, “hey, you're allowed to be upset about this, we all are” he says, leaning forward to knock his forehead gently against Harry's. Harry smiles tightly and snuggles further into his boyfriend's embrace, because he needs him right now, more than he's ever needed anyone before.
Josh and Niall come into the room with Perrie a few minutes later, and Harry watches as Josh moves to comfort Perrie as soon as her eyes land on Zayn. His eyes flit to Niall where he's standing watching his boyfriend, but he doesn't look upset about it so Harry doesn't say anything. Louis gets out of his lap when they hear another commotion in the hallway, he disappears into the hallway after peeking out the door, and Harry can hear him talking but not what he's saying, but he figures Jim has managed to get Liam out of the car and into the building somehow. Harry waits, because as much as he needs Louis, Liam needs him more right now, and he can share, he knows he can. “Hey, Harry?” Perrie asks quietly, and he swings his head up to look at her, her normally bright eyes are dull, and she looks like she's been crying for a long time, which, Harry thinks, she probably has. “Yea?” he asks, his own voice coming out raspy, “I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am, about Zayn” Perrie murmurs, Harry smiles at her and stands to wrap her in hug. They didn't really spend a lot of time together but he knows her and Zayn got really close “thank you” he murmurs, pulling away from the hug, “how are you doing?” he adds. Perrie shrugs and smiles, but Harry can tell she's forcing it, “I was doing ok, but he just looks so...” she trails off, and Harry nods, because he gets it, it's hard to describe how Zayn looks right now. “He's a fighter though, it looks bad, but Zayn will pull through” Harry encourages, although the words feel empty even as he says them. Perrie nods and hugs him again, before disappearing back over to sit with Niall and Josh.
Louis' still not back, although Harry can still hear him in the hall, and he's starting to get worried, he knows it's hard to see Zayn like this, but to be honest he looks a hell of a lot better than he did when Harry ran to him on the street. Surrounded by blood, and exploded paints, the whole scene has been burned into Harry's mind and he sees it every time he blinks, or closes his eyes. He can feel the tears burning at his eyes again, and as much as he wants to stop them, he can't and he feels them slip down his cheeks, as he waits for Louis. He reaches out and grabs Zayn's hand gently again, “please Zee, please” he mumbles, his head resting on the bed beside Zayn. He feels soothing hands on his shoulders and knows it's his mum, “you're alright” she murmurs and he feels himself relaxing slowly, both from her touch and her soothing words, although he can't stop the tears, not now that they've started again.
The door opens five minutes later and Harry's head snaps up to see Louis holding it open, while Jim carries a struggling Liam through the door, “put me down, I hate you” Liam spits, thrashing wildly against the much larger man's hold. Louis sighs and rests a hand on Liam's arm, Harry watches as he leans closer to him to speak in a soothing voice he's never heard Louis use before, “you don't hate us, you need to come in and see him. Remember back at the hotel, you told me you needed to see him, well you're here with Zayn now. I know it's hard, but we're all right here, Zayn needs you though Li” Louis says soothingly, and Harry's eyes widen as Liam instantly relaxes and nods his head slowly. Jim groans and moves to set Liam down “I'm going to put you down now, okay?” he asks, and Harry smiles slightly when Liam nods, before his feet are put back on the floor. He still hasn't looked at Zayn, or anyone else in the room for that matter, and Harry's not sure he wants to see when he finally does take in Zayn's bruised and broken form. He bites his lip as Louis comes back over to stand beside him, “he alright?” he asks quietly and Louis shakes his head, “he's scared” he mumbles and Harry nods his head in understanding, because he gets it, he's scared too, scared of losing Zayn. It feels like the whole room is holding their breath as Liam turns slowly to look at the hospital bed, Harry watches as his eyes focus on Zayn, before scanning his body from head to toe. Liam takes three steps until he's standing directly beside the bed, chewing on his lip, Harry notices a few tears falling down Liam's cheeks as he takes it all in. Liam then reaches out and lets his fingertips trail lightly down Zayn's cheek, before sinking into the chair directly opposite the one Harry's been sitting in. Harry furrows his eyebrows and glances at Louis who does a “hold on” gesture with his hands, Liam reaches for Zayn's other hand, his thumb tracing over the back of it, before he leans forwards, “Zayn, baby, who did this to you? Please, please don't leave me I need you” Liam murmurs, the tears really flowing now. Harry feels his heart breaking a little at the sight, then Liam rests his head on the edge of the bed and the scream that rips from his throat shatters Harry's heart completely.
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A/N: My poor Liam...and Zaynie... :(
Bet you weren't expecting a Harry chapter.
xo