December 2015
**YOUR POV**
I stopped in the doorway of Harry's hopital room the next day, eyeing Harry, sitting on the edge of the bed, feet planted into the floor. A large black vest was strapped to his chest and with a closer look at it, it appeared it was a back brace.
"Is it that bad?" Harry asked, looking up at me.
The majority of his torso was covered by the molded plastic. The front had a metallic plate pushing into his chest and another into his lower stomach keeping the contraption secure on his body. It had straps that extended over Harry's shoulders, hooking into the back portion.
I approached him and rounded the bed to look at the back of it which was identical to the front except one large metal plated extended vertically along the center of his back, held securely by fastening straps on each of Harry's sides.
"It's not bad. It helps heal your spine, it doesn't have to look good to do that." I said, stepping into Harry's line of vision. "It's just more complex than I assumed, but it's fine. How does it feel?"
"Tight."
"Does your back feel any better?"
"Not really." Harry shook his head.
Today Harry got to leave the hospital, but unfortunately it was a bad day for his back. He had good and bad days, today was a bad one. His back has been hurting even more than usual which made everything else a lot harder for him aswell. I tried to make it as comfortable as I cold for him, giving him a pair of soft sweatpants and a warm and soft hoodie to wear to at least feel a little bit better, because I knew how much he loved his soft and comfortable clothes he wore at home all the time.
"I really don't want people to see me with it." He sighed.
"It's really not that bad, H and when we leave, you'll have to wear a jacket over it anyways, so it will cover most of it." I told him. "Doctor Russell actually just gave me your discharge papers and he already scheduled your next appointment, so we're almost good to go. It's gonna be nice for you to be out of here after two whole weeks. Anne already prepped everything at home, she even moved a TV into the master bedroom."
Harry chuckled lightly. "I felt like I was never gonna leave."
"We'll have to celebrate that with some drinks at home then. Of course we'll have to give you the spinal injury friendly one." I joked around, making him laugh a bit. "Alright now, that's what's gonna happen. The boys will be here in a second to help me get you to the car. Paul and his security team are here to make sure nothing happens on our way out, because some paps are still gathered outside. I parked the car as close to the entrance as possible so it'll be easier for you."
"Okay, thank you." He nodded slowly.
"No need to thank me. I'll help you put your shoes and jacket on and we're ready to go." I grabbed his sneakers and carefully put them on his feet, tying them afterwards just as the boys entered the room.
"Ready to get out of here, mate?" Niall asked him.
"Born ready." Harry chuckled lightly.
„Is that for your back?" Louis looked at Harry's torso, eyes wide.
„Yeah, it's a backbrace. Supports my spine and helps to heal. I have to wear it from now on." Harry explained.
The boys nodded understandingly.
"Zayn would you help me have him stand up?" I asked, seeing he was the closest standing next to me.
"Of course." He stood at Harry's other side.
"Ready?" I asked Harry.
"Just give me a second." He took some deep breaths first, knowing the pain was gonna hit him even harder as soon as he stood up. "Okay, ready."
Zayn and I slowly helped him up on his still weak legs, his mouth leaving a painful groan and his eyes shut closed.
„Shit! Fuck me." He breathed heavily and held onto Zayn as I gently helped him putting his coat on, because it was freezing cold outside.
"You okay, love?" I asked him, closing a few buttos of his coat.
He nodded slowly. "Yeah...Can we just please walk slow?"
"Of course, we don't have to rush. Take the time you need." I told him when he switched from Zayn's arm to holding onto mine.
The boys took Harry's bag and already went down to the entrance where Paul probably was.
"We'll go as slow as you want, okay?" I assured him while he tightly held onto me, his arm linked with mine as we started walking out of the room and through the hallway. "Just tell me if we need to stop."
He nodded and we finally got to the elevator so he could stop for a minute.
"How much longer til we're at the entrance?" He asked me, tiredly.
"Not long, just a few meters from the elevator." I told him. "You're doing so good, baby."
"I never would have thought, walking would be such a struggle." He admitted.
"I know, but you're getting there. You'll be walking without my help very soon." I ran my thumb over his hand that was holding mine.
The elevator dinged and we walked out, heading towards the entrance when Harry inhaled sharply and I stopped.
"Sorry...I need a minute." He breathed heavily.
"No worries, lovie." I gently rubbed his arm and kissed his cheek.
As soon as he was able to continue, we walked towards the boys and the security team that waited for us, some of them already trying to get the paps away from the hospital.
"They're struggling a bit to make them leave." Louis told us.
"That's not good. Where's Paul?"
"No idea, I haven't seen him yet."
"Oka-." I got cut off by one of the security guards that came walking towards us.
"We need to leave. Now." He commanded.
"We can't go out, the crowd is too big. We need to clear the area before we can." Liam told him.
"There's no time for that." He said.
"Where's Paul? He told us you guys would clear the area first. That was the plan." I asked the man that looked rather annoyed for some reason.
"I don't care what he said, we need to get him out of here as soon as possible." He looked at Harry.
"Listen, Harry's just had major spinal surgery and is way to weak to deal with this. It would be mad to get out there into that crowd with him, the risk of paps pushing him or just hurt him in any way is too big. It would be severe." I explained.
"No, you listen. I got the instruction to get him out of here as soon as possible so that's what we're gonna do."
"Didn't you listen? He's just had a goddamn spinal surgery!" Louis chimed in.
"Y/n?" Harry tugged at my shirt to get my attention.
"Yes, love, what is it?" I looked up at him.
"I really need to sit down...please."
"I'm sorry, of course. Come over here with me." I gestured to the waiting area just next to us and helped him lower himself into one of the chairs.
"It hurts so bad, Y/n." He looked at me with tired eyes. "I just wanna go home."
I crouched down and cupped his cheek. "I know, I'm sorry it takes so long. We're gonna find Paul and you'll be home in no time."
Harry was tired, really tired. Tired of staying at the hospital, tired of the surgery and he was in pain, lots of pain and the paps outside, stopping us from going home just made it worse. I watched him for a second, running my hand through his soft curls. He was pale and had already lost some weight during his stay here. He didn't quite look like himself and I knew he didn't want people to see him like that, especially the paps outside that would do everything to get a shot of him and put it out into the world.
"You'll be at home in bed soon, I promise." I kissed his lips softly. "And then you can lie down and I'll get you a nice cool pack for your incision. You can sleep as long as you want and I'll spoil you and take care of you 24/7 from now on. We'll watch a movie tonight if you feel like it or whatever you want is fine. You can't do much right now, but I'll make sure to make you feel better as good as I can."
„You know I don't like people fussing over me." A small smike stretched across his face. „Especially when it's you."
I shrugged my shoulders. „You'll just have to deal with it then. I love you too much not to fuss over you." I kissed his lips.
"Fine then. Thank you."
I just smiled at him. „You know what, I'm gonna go out there myself. You stay here. Don't try to get up by yourself or something alright?"
He just nodded, too weak to even try to stop me and I left, walking past the boys that looked at me with a questioning look on their faces and got outside, the paps starting to snap pictures as soon as I stepped out.