Harry was sitting in the back of the car behind the driver seat. Louis was next to him and Amos was in the front passenger seat. Before, when they passed the driveway to park three blocks down, Louis saw that kelly's car wasn't in the driveway. So they knew they would be waiting for her to come home. Waiting was the last thing Harry wanted to do at a time like this but he knew if they wanted to find Zayn, then they had to. They'd been sitting quietly for twenty minutes when Louis started a conversation.
"So... Amos, right?"
"Yep."
"You really used to be a police officer?"
"That's right. I was a police officer for nine years. Then I became a security consultant. I've been that for the past nine years or so."
"Wow. You like it?"
"Well... yeah. I do. I'm not happy that I deal with kidnapping and extortion and things like that. But I know that my services are needed in the world we live in. So I'm happy that I can be useful in that regard."
"Makes sense."
"So what do you do for a living?"
"Me?" He glanced at Harry and he seemed almost embarrassed to say it. "I drive a truck and make deliveries for a floral company. All local."
"You like it?"
"Yes. I only work four days a week so I'm able to be home and not have to pay the baby sitter for my days off. Even though I required her services today on my day off because of where we are. It pays me enough to rent the house every month, keeps all other bills paid and feeds my kids. It's all that matters."
"Absolutely."
"So what about you? Do you like this aspect of your job?"
"Truthfully, this isn't an aspect of my job. This should be left up to the current policemen and investigators. But I did do this when I was a police officer."
"Did you like it then?"
"At first. When I was younger. But then it started to feel monotonous. Just sitting and waiting. Pissing in bottles. It got old."
Louis chuckled. "I can see how. This isn't exactly a picnic."
"Yeah, but this is slightly easier. We can leave whenever we're ready because we're not being assigned to do this. And it's not all too bad. I mean you're stuck in a car but you've got your old friend next to you. And it's not like you don't have anything to talk about. This would be a great opportunity to catch up with each other if you wanted."
When Amos put his binoculars up to his eyes to look at the house again, Louis glanced at Harry and noticed Harry was looking at him too. In that moment, he realized that even during the fifteen minute ride here, they hadn't said a word to each other. Clearly even with the circumstances of them reuniting, things were still very awkward between them. And despite that they had apologized without actually saying the words earlier, he still didn't really know how Harry felt about him.
"I'm sorry." Harry said out of nowhere.
Louis raised his brow. "You're sorry? Why are you sorry?"
"For choking you earlier. I could've killed you."
"But you didn't. So it doesn't matter. I deserved it anyway."
"You didn't."
"I did. For the stuff I put you and Zayn through. I'm surprised you didn't do it five years ago."
Harry cleared his throat and kept his eye on Louis. "Why did you?"
"Why did I what?"
"Do all the things you did. And why didn't you ever pause to think about me when you were doing them?"
Louis huffed and leaned his head against the back of the seat. "I was thinking about you. At least I thought I was at the time. I didn't like the way you were changing. I liked the old Harry. The more I saw you morphing into something else, the more I felt like you were going to grow out of us."
"Us?"
"Me and Liam. You know we were your best friends. We pulled women together. We went out at night. We drank together. Then suddenly Zayn entered the picture and you stopped doing that. You started dating him without telling us and were willing to let us find out the same way everyone else found out. That hurt me."
Harry nodded once. "Oh. I see what you mean. But Louis, not telling you didn't mean I was leaving you out of something. The truth is I was unsure of the relationship myself. Like you said, we were always picking up women together. But those were one night stands. What I started with Zayn was a long term relationship. I was still getting the hang of it so I wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. And on top of that, Zayn was really worried about what the office would think of him dating the man he worked for. So together we decided to limit what we did in the workplace to keep people from finding out. But..."
"I went and spread those nasty rumors about you two and ruined it."
"Something like that."
Louis looked down at his lap and shook his head.
"That wasn't meant to hurt you, Harry. I only wanted you to leave Zayn behind and go back to the old you. But I didn't realize how you felt about him. You must've loved him even then."
Harry shrugged. "I don't know for sure. We actually hadn't expressed that to each other yet when I fired you."
"But you must've had something there in that heart of yours stirring for him. I mean... You fired me for him."
"True. I did. But at the time I wasn't sure. I just knew he did good things for me. I liked who I saw in the mirror when I woke up in the morning. And I knew that it was because of Zayn. He really showed me something I've never seen before. And I'm not talking about... you know. The private stuff. I'm talking about real things. Before Zayn, the closest I ever came to love is my mother and my cat. But he helped me and my sister repair our relationship by encouraging me to be there for her regardless until she was ready to come around. And he didn't just stop there. He showed me how to love him too. And later showed me how to love our children. He's amazing."
Louis smiled and leaned against the door. "Well, I can't argue with that, I guess. He must be pretty damn amazing if you've married him, decided to raise children with him and have gone through all these lengths to get him back from his kidnappers."
He smiled crookedly. "Yeah. He is. Living life with him is wonderful. Sometimes it's hard to raise the children. Especially Charlie. We've just recently learned that he's a little... slower than most. His mother was a drug addict when she was pregnant with him and used the hard stuff until she went to prison for it. But we make it work and we feel that he was born and given to the right family. Because we can take care of him and give him the love and patience to grow and be a responsible young man. Which he will be. We have faith that he will be."
"It's the only way to think when you're a parent."
"Yeah. Spoken like a true parent. And I am quite suprised to find out you are a father by the way. How is it?"
That seemed to perk Louis up. "Harry, I can't lie. Children really do something to a man. Love does too."
"It does. What made you decide on a family?"
"I didn't."
"You didn't?"
"Nope. About five months after you fired me, I decided to move out of my apartment and into someplace cheaper. I found the house I'm in now so I settled on it and moved in. There was this woman next door. Her name was Dahlia. I saw her working in the yard and struck up a conversation. I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something about her that I really liked. I quickly found out that she liked me too. So we hit it off right away. Long story short. I actually fell in love with her and it was so quick."
"Whoa. Louis Tomlinson falling in love?"
"I know right. But I did. Then one day Dahlia forgot to take her birth control pill and ended up pregnant. We thought about an abortion because we didn't think it was the right time to raise a child. But somehow we were convinced that a baby wasn't so bad after all. So we were going to get married after it was born. Along the way, we found out she was having three. She was really scared. Mostly about how we'd raise them. I was too. One child is scary enough but three? I didn't know how we were going to do it."
Harry could see him frown from the side.
"Then the day came when she went into labor. She had a cesarean section. But she had some complications and bled too much. She died as they were trying to stitch her up. She got to see all three of them as they were born but they won't remember her."
Harry reached out and gently touched Louis' shoulder. "Oh no. I'm so sorry, Louis."
"No. Don't apologize. You shouldn't. I may have lost her, but I still got three beautiful copies of her. I love all three of them and I know they love me. So I don't feel any hatred or regret in my heart whatsoever."
"But you're raising them all alone."
"And I'm managing with the help of Dahlia's mother. Three years later, we're all still here and we're all happy. That's what matters."
Harry nodded. "Well you made three beautiful children."
"Thanks." Then he laughed. "Although I've always found it ironic that a man who didn't always treat women with respect ended up with three girls."
Harry laughed too. "Sometimes life has a way of teaching the most important lessons."
"You got that right. I swear if anybody hurts them, they'll have to deal with me. I will make sure they don't ever have to be mistreated by anyone who even resembles the old version of me."
"Those were the same thoughts I had about Nema when we got her. All I could think about was how responsible I was for her. I knew then that I'd run through walls for her. She's my little girl and she always will be."
"Daddy's girls. That's what Lily, Rose, Daisy and Nema are."
"That's the truth."
There was a momentary silence until Harry thought about something Louis said earlier regarding him being best friends with Liam.
"You do know I'm still great friends with Liam, right?"
"No. I didn't know. We stopped talking after the whole blackmailing ordeal."
"Oh. Well, yes. We're still good friends and we still work together. He misses you."
"Hmm."
"What? You don't believe me?"
"No. I do. I'm just thinking. How is he these days?"
"Apparently he's dating a woman from work. But he won't tell me who she is because he says I'll tell Zayn. I have no idea why it matters that Zayn knows but I guess whenever he's ready to tell me who she is, he will."
"Yeah."
When he saw Louis frown from the side again, he questioned him. "What's wrong, Louis?"
"Does he ever say anything about me or mention me at all?"
Harry shook his head. "No. Not really. At first he did, back when he was really confused about why you did what you did and when he was feeling very regretful for having a part in it. But after a while, he stopped talking about you. I think it hurt him to lose you as a friend as much as it hurt me. I think it was more relieving for him to put it out of his mind."
"Like me then. Cause I was so angry for the longest time. I blamed you and I felt like you were the one who betrayed me. After I met Dahlia, I realized I was so wrong. I was the one who needed to change my attitude. I let my grudge go and I moved on with my life. I accepted our friendship as a loss and vowed to do better with anyone else I should meet."
"Did you meet anyone else?"
He shook his head. "Nope. No one ever came close to being as good friends as you and Liam were. If I had just seen that beforehand, my outcome would have been so much different."
Harry swallowed thickly. "It doesn't have to end forever, Louis."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I wasn't gunning for our friendship to end when I fired you. I fired you because what you did wasn't appropriate for the workplace. I had already sent out the memo that said I would fire whoever started those rumors. Plus, if I felt the way I felt about Zayn and was serious about it, then I had to be honest with myself and honor my word. So I did. And yes, I felt betrayed by you, but I wouldn't have minded rekindling our friendship if you were remorseful for you actions. But you weren't. So that's when the friendship ended."
He turned his head sideways at him. "By the way you're phrasing your sentences, are you saying that if I was entirely remorseful right now, if I was truly sorry for what I did and regretted it, you would be willing to call me a friend again?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Really."
He almost let himself be happy, but then that smile faded. "What about Liam though?"
"What about him? I told you he misses you. I think he would be happy to have you as his friend again."
"And Zayn?"
"What about him?"
"I know he hates even the thought of me, doesn't he?"
"Well... if you want me to be honest, yes. But he has said that he's hoped you changed. And from what I see, you have. I think he would be willing to hear you out as long as I'm there."
"Maybe. But I guess that'll be something we'll find out when you get him back."
Harry appreciated his optimism. "Yep. We will."
"That might actually be very soon." Amos said from the front seat. "A car just pulled up in the driveway."
Harry and Louis quickly put their binoculars up to their eyes and looked in the direction of Kelly's house. There was a white car in the driveway.
"That's her car." Louis said. "That's the car she drove when she was with me."
"Good. Hopefully she's driving it then."
They continued watching the car and after a brief moment, the door opened and someone stepped out of the driver side.
"That's her! That's Kelly!"
"Shh." Amos said. "The widows are down."
"Oh right. Sorry. But that's definitely her. What are we going to do?"
"We're going to wait right here and see if anyone else comes or goes."
"Do you think Zayn is in there?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. It's hard to tell. When we would stake out houses to make drug busts, we usually studied patterns. We'd watch the traffic coming in and out and take notes of the peaks and lows of the day. You know... if anything was abnormal and unusual. But this situation is not exactly the same. In this case, it's a kidnapping and we are working under the assumption that it is indeed a male that she's working with. So we should he looking for a man. If he comes by frequently or at all and then leaves every day then we know this is where they're keeping Zayn."
"And if they are?"
"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we work with what we know. And right now what we see is all we know. So we can't go making hasty decisions."
Harry sat back in the seat anxiously as Kelly unlocked the front door and went inside. Could he really be just a few blocks away from his husband right now after having gone a whole week wondering where he could be? What if finding this place was the beginning of the end of his misery? Oh, if only he could hear and see what was going on inside. Then there would be as many answers as there were questions.