Amy's POV
I picked up on the second ring.
'Hey Alex.'
'Amy! You're alive! Are you okay?' She sounded frantic on the other end of the line. I leant against the bedroom wall, watching Niall's napping form. After everything that had happened within the last twelve hours, I had completely forgotten to call Alex.
'Sorry. My heads been all over the place and I completely forgot to call. I'm just not feeling well.' The lie came so easily. I hated myself for it.
'Oh, is it the flu?' Alex asked, concern and curiosity evident in her tone of voice. I sighed, couldn't she just leave well enough alone?
'Maybe. Which means I probably shouldn't come near you until I'm better. You're more susceptible now.'
'Good point. Although I feel like I should come and take care of you.'
I shook my head, before realising she couldn't actually see me. 'I'm fine. Mum keeps calling and said she will come home at lunch. Its fine.' I scrambled for a distracting change of subject. 'But speaking of taking care of things, how did it go with your parents last night?' Waiting with baited breath, I really hoped that the Johns' had been understanding.
'It actually went great. They were disappointed at first and I think dad was ready to go hunting, but once we talked about everything rationally, and I explained my plans, they relaxed and said they will support my decisions. They asked to know who the father is, but I told them that I needed to tell him first and that we could do introductions afterwards.'
I smiled, 'Not like they will need introductions. Do you think your dad will punch Jamie? I'd really love to see that.' We both laughed.
'I'm not sure dad would be stupid enough to try and land one on Jamie, not even with his bi-weekly karate lessons under his belt. Still it's going to be entertaining how they react after the bomb drops.'
'Well either film it or invite me over. I'll bring popcorn.' I laughed and Alex did too. I'm glad she was looking at the positive things and taking charge. 'I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself. You're going to be a wonderful mum Alex.'
She sniffled dramatically on the other side of the line. 'Oh stop it you. You're making me get emotional. And that's honestly not hard to do now.'
'The next nine months are going to be fun. I can just tell.' I glanced up as the sheets rustled, Niall trying to move on the bed. If he wasn't careful he was going to be pull his stitches. 'Tell me about your plan.' I said to Amy as I headed towards the bed.
'Well my first plan is to get a job. Something that I can do on the weekend and after school. I need to start saving. Mum and dad said they would help out a bit because they don't want me dropping out. There's only a few months left until we finish and they want me to be studying and completing my major works. Yet I still want to start earning so I can provide for the kid, we can't live off my parents forever.' I kept the phone to my ear with one hand as I leant the other down to brush Niall's hair out of his face. He was really hot to touch. I frowned and headed to the bathroom as Alex kept talking.
'Part two is informing Jamie. And then obviously the rest of your family and I suppose the school faculty probably needs to know.' I ran a towel under some cold water, heading back into my room to place it gently on Niall's forehead. The effects were pretty instantaneous. I relaxed as he did.
'Part three is learning everything I can about pregnancy and babies and going to the doctors. All the medical stuff to make sure I'm doing it right.' Even though his temperature was coming down he was still determined to sleep in weird positions. I ran my hand slowly down his face, trying to coax him into calming down. I gently pressed my hand into his shoulder, forcing him to stay on his back.
'Part four is graduate high school with a mark that reflects my best effort. And will hopefully give me some options for after the baby is born.' He stopped thrashing, but he also stopped sleeping all together. His blue eyes blinked open and his face lit up in a smile as he spotted me. He opened his mouth to say something, but I placed a finger on his lips.
'And part five is give birth to the most amazing baby you'll ever meet.'
I smiled at her words. 'And what makes you think he or she will be the most amazing?' Niall's tongue darted out from behind his lips and licked the top of my finger. Narrowing my eyes, I moved to pull my finger away, but he caught it gently with his teeth.
'Because they will be the product of me and Jamie. You can't get more amazing.'
Focusing on her words, I tried to ignore the electricity that ran up my spine, originating in my finger tip. 'Sure. Look Al, I need to go. I'll call you later okay?' My eyes were locked with Niall's as he let my finger go.
She agreed that she would check up on me this evening before hanging up the call. I stuffed the phone into my pocket, shooting daggers at Niall with my eyes. 'Will you stop messing around.'
'Just admit you liked it Ames. Admit to the fire that's between us.' He was smirking as he moved to sit up.
'The only one with a fire here is you because you're burning up.' My matter of fact tone dropped when the pain flashed across Niall's features. He had tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed, before grimacing and falling back slightly. I rushed to his side, touching his forehead, keeping him on the bed; trying to do everything I could to keep him still.
Pretty sure I stopped breathing as I pulled back the bed covers and gently unstuck the pad on his side. My face blanched as I took in the red skin; it looked like it was throbbing and maybe oozing something. 'Fuck.' Niall winced as I touched the outer edges of the redness.
'I'm taking you to the hospital.' He opened his mouth, but I shut him down with one deadly look. 'Now.'
***
'Can you stop eating for five minutes?' I snapped as Harry shovelled another mouthful of omelette down his throat. He shrugged, mouth too full to defend himself. After a few minutes of silence and a large swallow, Harry decided to pick a fight. 'What was I supposed to do? Let it go to waste? We wouldn't be here if you hadn't tried to sew him up yourself.' He snickered. 'What idiot tries to perform minor surgery in her bathroom with zero experience and a half delirious patient as her only guide.'
My throat constricted, and it was hard to breath. I felt like all the air had left me and I didn't deserve to have it anymore. I tried to calm down, but everything was threatening to erupt. Standing up, I rounded on him. 'If we're pointing the blame here, how about we start with you Harry.' His eyes narrowed. Only a slight sheen of nervous sweat at the base of his throat told he knew exactly what I was about to say. 'I would have not had to help Niall if he had not left his house last night. To pick you up I may add.' With those words, I turned on my heel and stalked off down the hall.
This hospital was way too big to not get lost in, but too small for the town and all the accidents its residents seemed to get in.
I sighed, resting my forehead against the wall, focussing on just my breaths. Making them go in and out at a reasonable pace. 'Excuse me Miss, are you with Mr Horan?'
I jumped at the small voice that sounded next to my left eye. It belonged to a petite blonde nurse, her shiny badge naming her Dory. Her smile was warm and kind, I liked her already. Nodding seemed to be all I was capable of as Dory launched into Niall's update.
'What you did probably saved his life, but he lost a lot of blood and his body started to go into shock. It was only infected because Niall started having an allergic reaction to the products used. He informed us that he had no idea he was allergic to anything, so there was no way you could have known. You did well, just next time, please bring him straight to the professionals.'
I nodded, relief washing like a calming wave over me. 'Wait, you said he informed you he wasn't allergic to anything. Does that mean he's alright and awake?'
Dory smiled, 'Yes he is. Room 307, he's been asking for you.'
My feet moved faster than my brain could comprehend. Within seconds I was stood in the doorway of Niall's room. He was sat up in his hospital bed, a heart monitor beeping steadily next to him. He was hooked up to a few other things too, one looked like a bag of blood. A smile spread across his face when he saw me. 'Hey beautiful.'
I rolled my eyes, 'Even in a hospital bed, you're trying to flirt with me.' He just kept grinning as I moved into the room and perched myself on the edge of his bed. 'You really need to sort out your priorities.' He chuckled, and I smiled, glad that he was so lively. 'Have the doctors questioned you yet?'
'They tried to, but I claimed that I was too fuzzy and not up to talking yet. They'll probably come back soon. What's our story?'
'Camping.' I answered, Harry and I had devised our cover story while sitting in the waiting room. 'There was an accident with a knife, no one's fault – we were just careless. And since we were in the middle of nowhere, we patched you up. You seemed okay, but we came home anyway, and by the time we'd got unpacked and cleaned up, you were a mess and, so we decided to bring you in. We were going to bring you in anyway, but the situation escalated.'
Niall nodded along with what I was saying, taking it all in. 'Where were we camping?'
'The Blue Mountains. Just say we went off the beaten path a bit, saves us giving an area name.'
A knock on the door startled me. Turning around, I found Dory accompanied by a doctor in a white coat. How very cliché.
'Hi, sorry to interrupt, we would just like to chat about the nature of the incident if that's okay?' The doctor had a kind voice, and smiled at us both, much like Dory had done. 'Now you don't have to answer any of my questions, but you need to know that we are obligated to report suspicious and unknown incidents to the police for further investigation. The more we can get for our file, the easier this whole thing is.' Niall and I both nodded and we proceeded to tell them the story.
**
Harry was snoring, loudly I might add, in the middle of the waiting room. His long form sprawled over multiple seats. His right foot was hanging over the edge, so I nudged it with my own.
'Wha – wha's 'appening?' He jerked upright, still sleep addled but trying to figure out his surroundings. I must have eventually come into focus because he offered me a peace keeping smile and stood up. 'Is everything okay?'
'Everything is fine. I'm just heading home to grab some stuff for Niall. He's in 307 if you want to see him.' Harry nodded, and I moved towards the exit.
'Amy?' I turned back, cautious of what mood he was in. 'I'm sorry about earlier. None of this your fault. I know you were just doing what Niall wanted.'
I smiled slightly. 'Thanks for the apology Harry, I am sorry as well. I was tired and stressed and it wasn't your fault at all. I just took it out on you.' We shared a quick nod before Harry turned to go and see Niall and I left the hospital.
**
'Where the hell have you been?!'
Oh no, angry mother. Not good.
I pulled my keys from the front door and stepped through into the house. Mum was standing in the hallway, hands on her hips, and fury radiating off of her in waves.
'Mum, please relax I can explain.'
'I'm sure you can Amelia, because when I let you have the day of for being sick, I didn't know that meant you had a free pass to go galivanting off and spend the day how you pleased!' She was waving her arms around, not a good sign.
'Niall had an emergency and I had to take him to the hospital. I just got back from there.' I calmly told mum the truth – there was no point in making everything worse with a lie. Her face fell and her whole angry posture vanished.
'Oh no dear. Is he okay? What happened? Does he need anything? Are you okay?' She launched into caring mother mode and I smiled. I reached for her and she opened her arms wide, giving me a soothing hug. After a few moments I pulled back to look her in the face.
'I'm fine – just needed a hug. As for Niall, he had an accident with a knife; tried to patch himself up and he got worse and called me. He needed some blood and restitching, but he's going to be fine.'
Mum smiled, 'I'm glad you could be there for him. Have you two worked through the issues at all?' Mum was prying, but it weirdly sounded like she was on the encouraging side.
'No.' I answered, 'We've not really worked through it, but we called a truce on the being outwardly angry and not talking part. He seems very determined to make things right though.'
'Good.' I had turned away and was heading up the stairs when mum answered, I thought I must have been hallucinating. Weirdly enough, it seemed like Niall wasn't the only one who wanted to see our relationship work again.
**
Dashing around the house, I grabbed some food, took a quick shower and redressed in some comfy sweats. Moments later I was out the door. Pulling Niall's key from my pocket, I headed into his house. Niall had requested all the necessities and his laptop. I found a small duffle bag in his wardrobe that I packed with some underwear, and change of clothes for when he gets released, his toothbrush and deodorant, a book from his nightstand and all the technological items he requested. Niall being Niall, wanted to keep working while he was in hospital. The doctors had stated he needed to stay in for at least the week. Even then his discharge would depend on improvement and whether his body suffered any more shock.
After I grabbed everything Niall had asked for, I headed back out to my car. The porch was remarkably clean, I could see a few spots which Harry had done his best to scrub away - we'd have to have a proper go at them another time – but other than that, the whole area was pretty blood free. It looked as if he hadn't really started bleeding heavily until he neared my house. There was a trail on the grass under my window to the front door. All of which were now faintly visible, but only if you were looking for it. Google had saved my life with the whole cleaning up blood problem.
Slipping into my car I drove back to hospital, unable to shake a weird feeling on the back of my neck that someone was watching me.
**
Niall spent the rest of the week in the hospital. Either Harry or myself were by his side the whole time. I brought homework, which Niall helped me with; and he worked on the play, which he asked my opinion about. He also kept hinting that I should practise my audition monologue for him, but I argued that it would show too much favouritism and that I wanted to earn a part not be handed it.
It was still hard to be around him so much, but with those assholes out there seemingly determined to attack Niall and Harry, I hated the idea of either of them being alone or at least not too far away.
The day after we admitted Niall to the hospital I'd had to have a slightly odd conversation with Norma the receptionist and a couple of faculty members. Niall's doctors had provided me with medical certificate explaining his leave of absence, and Niall himself had called the school, but I was the one who ended up delivery it to the staff and the third degree questioning I received afterwards had me all jittery and paranoid. Why would Mr Horan give this to you? Do you know Mr Horan well? How do we know this isn't a prank by a student? So that last one was a bit obscure, but a couple of the teachers apparently had trust issues. Niall's phone call had squared everything over, and he explained that were neighbours and he's good friends with my brother, and that he had called for help expecting to get him or my mother, but I had been the only one around and I couldn't ignore him.
This whole thing was getting more elaborate by the minute. It was making my head spin.
Alex was pretty awed by the truth when I confessed it to her during lunch on Thursday that week. I hadn't meant to bring her into it at all, but I'd just snapped when the constant questions from everyone who heard I'd been involved had become overwhelming.
I left out the part about the crazy gang determined to get to Niall and Harry any way possible, and just told her that he had been attacked and then all the truth from there. Alex being Alex, found the details of our stolen kisses a lot more riveting than the Niall bleeding out in my hallway fiasco.
'So, are you thinking of rekindling your forbidden love?' She asked, wiggling her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. 'I have no idea what's going on. Like I told you we're in a neutral zone at the moment. There is still a lot for us to work through.' She hadn't let it go though, and had only shut up when I brought up the subject of telling Jamie about the baby.
'I'll tell him when I'm certain that we're out of the initial danger period. You do support me on this right?' She added looking worried for a moment. I smiled.
'Of course, I do you numpty! I was just using it to stop you from drilling me about Niall. You tell Jamie whenever and however you want. I've got your back.'
We'd been more inseparable than usual since then, working on my audition for the show, and doing as much baby research as we could squeeze in between homework, classes and sleep. Alex was going to speak to Niall about assisting with some costume and set design, since she was an art and textiles student.
Friday came and went with my audition going pretty well I might add, Niall had requested the teachers in charge to film each student, so he could see them for himself and assist with the decision making process. He was the director after all. He'd asked me a million questions about the audition when I'd gone to visit him after school on that Friday, but I'd refused to loosen my tongue. He would just have to see for himself.
'Hey guys, how are things?' Jamie asked as he strolled in. We were currently sat watching some old movie on one of the lifetime channels on the room's television. I was curled up in a chair next to Niall's bed. Jamie took the vacant one I'd been using as a foot stool. Sitting down and begrudgingly letting me put my feet back on top of his lap. Grinning, I grabbed the bag of chips off Niall and offered some to Jamie, my thanks to him.
'We're great I think mate. They should be clear to discharge me any day now.' Niall grinned, a look of longing in his eyes, he was so over being in hospital. He was starting to go a little crazy. Which is why he'd requested the outside world food. And I had obliged well – the tote bag at my feet still quite full of food.
'That's brilliant. I'm really glad you're alright.' Jamie reached for some chips and glanced up at the screen, 'what are you guys watching anyway?'
'Not a clue', we replied simultaneously. Shrugging as we too ate more food.
A few moments later, Dory interrupted us. 'Excuse me, Niall, but I have your discharge papers ready for you to sign, they're letting you leave in the morning.' We all grinned as Dory handed them over to Niall. She was so sweet. If I ever have to come back here, I wanted Dory to take care of me.
'It says that I'm required to be picked up by someone at ten, tomorrow morning.' Niall said, his eyes drifting over the page as he read.
'I'll be there.' I replied, mouthful of chips.
'Thanks love, I'll put your name down.' He replied. I tried not to react to the casual pet name. I'm sure he called a lot of people love. It just seemed to happen to me quite often.
'Do you mind if I tag along?' Jamie asked. 'You may need extra help getting him home.'
'Not at all bro. The more the merrier.' I wanted as many people as possible around Niall; now he was getting out of the hospital, the target on his back had grown.
Dory came back a few minutes later to retrieve the papers and informed us that they needed to do some tests and checks on Niall. Both her and Niall had all but shoved us out the door, apparently the tests were going to take a while.
'Let's go and get some fresh air?' I suggested and Jamie nodded, leading the way to the outside courtyard.
We rounded a corner and I wished more than anything that we hadn't. Alex was just exiting a room with a nurse patting her gently on the shoulder. They hadn't seen us, but Jamie and I had stopped dead. I tried to subtlely move him along, but his feet turned to lead as we heard what the nurse was saying.
'I assure you Alex. You're baby is just fine and will be just fine. But it's still early so its good to be cautious.'
'Thank you Pamela. I was just paranoid and my mum wasn't around.'
'I understand sweetie, now have a nice night. We will see you in a few weeks.'
They exchanged a smiled and Alex turned almost walking directly into Jamie. 'Oh, I'm so sorry.' Her expression faltered as she realised who was standing in front of her. Jamie's was unreadable and I stood there wishing that I could blend into the wall behind me.
'Hi.' Alex offered lamely, accompanied with a nervous smile. Jamie just shook his head, staring at her like he'd never seen her before.
'You're pregnant?'
****
Authors Note:
Sorry about no update on Thursday, I just lost track of the days of the week.
Here's an extra long update to make up for it :)
See you next time x
Chapter 69 Songs
Vibe - Fly By Midnight
Never let you go - Carda, Maddy Tab