Here is the chapter we've all been waiting for...
Prepare your hearts... that's all I'm going to say...
Enjoy:)
Genevieve
After a peacefully lovely day out with Louis, he drove us to the hospital as fast as possible. However, I don't remember anything from the phone call to now, which is currently the hospital parking lot.
"Would you just pick a spot already," I snap at Louis, unintentionally directing my current stress towards him. I lost cell phone reception as soon as we entered the parking garage and I have no idea what is going one with Jonah.
"I can't pick a spot if there aren't any available," He mumbles under his breath annoyed that I am snapping at him for no reason. "Look we don't know what happened, all we know is that Jonah is with the doctor. Your grandmother said it's nothing to worry about," Louis says squeezing my knee in an attempt to calm me down.
"Nothing to worry about?!" I exclaim in frustration. "My three-year-old child is currently in the hospital and all anyone will tell me is to stop worrying. Something really bad happened or they would tell me," I say as my voice begins to break. "You don't know my grandmother as I do, she has always downplayed how big the problem is to keep me from freaking out. When my dad was on trial for theft, and substance abuse she told me he was on a business trip in South Carolina, and there was nothing to worry about. But he never came home. I found out from a friend who texted me the screenshot of the news article." I say trying to hide my face from Louis because he does not need to see me like this.
"How do you know she's downplaying it this time?" He said, trying to rationalize with me while he pulls into an empty parking spot. "How do you know this isn't just a broken bone, from him playing outside? I did break my arm a few times as a kid, it comes with being a kid." He says putting the car into park, grabbing my hand forcing them away from my face.
"Babe, look at me," He says, gently, as he brings his free hand to my face. I look at him, and I can tell by the look in his eye that he's afraid too. "Genevieve, love, I'm just as scared as you are, may slightly less. You're getting all work up to about this, and we don't know what happened," He says, wiping the tears from my eyes. "I know you, and I know that right now you're thinking of the worst-case-scenario, and I also know that 9 times out of 10 your worst case-scenarios never happen. So, I want you to take a minute, and get your breathing under control," Louis says, as he notices the signs that I'm about to enter full panic mode.
"In," He says, breathing in slowly as I slowly begin to breathe in through my nose.
"Out," He says breathing out as I slowly release the breath from my lungs through my mouth.
"In, and Out." Louis continues to direct my breathing patterns as I begin to gain control of my breathing again, and I also begin to feel my panic subside.
"Now, how do you know it's not just a broken bone? Broken bones happen all the time," Louis tells me as he grasps my hand in his, rubbing sweet circles on the palm.
"I just have a gut feeling. I mean, my grandmother tells me every time Jonah get a paper cut, so if it was a broken bone, I just know she'd tell me," I say breathing, feeling slightly less stressed than I did before. "Louis, what if he's dying?" I ask, revealing my worst-case scenario.
"Love, we can't assume anything. We just have to walk in the waiting room, wait for the doctor to update us, and try figuring out what happened. Let's take this step by step okay?" Louis says squeezing my hand cheering me up, knowing that I am not alone in this.
"Okay, our first step is to get out of the car," I say unbuckling my seatbelt, and opening my door. I slowly step out of the vehicle with my phone and crossbody and gently shut the car door behind me. I slowly walk to the back of the car to wait for Louis and to hopefully stay out of the way.
After taking it step by step, Louis and I eventually made it into the hospital hand in hand. Louis takes the lead leading us to the pediatric wing, which happened to be on the fifth floor, at least according to the directory. I hate hospitals. They freak me out, and every time I come to the hospital it's because of something awful.
"Babe, I can feel you shaking," Louis says taking note of my nerves. "Everything is going to be alright, would please calm down until we know what's going on?" As much as it annoys me that Louis has been telling me to calm down and to stop worrying every five minutes, the only thing on my mind is getting to my little boy.
We hear the familiar ding of the elevator, telling us we have arrived at the fifth floor, and I walk out of the elevator, with Louis closely behind, holding the small of my back.
"Hi, how may I help you?" the nurse at the front desk says greeting us.
"Hi, um, my son Jonah Gregory was admitted, and I would like to know what's going one," I tell the kind lady behind the desk, as she begins to type into the computer.
"I need you to answer a few questions, just to ensure the safety of the child," the lady behind the told me as she begins scrolling.
"What's Jonah's date of birth?" she says reading the screen.
"January 13, 2016," I tell her, as she nods scrolling through her system.
"What's his middle name?" she asks.
"Chase."
"Okay, so it says here that Jonah is in surgery and it might be a while so can have a seat in the waiting room. A doctor should be out soon to update you guys." She tells me as Louis wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me into him.
"Hey, listen. I know you are thinking of every possible thing that could've happened but until we talk to your grandmother, we won't know anything," Louis whispers sweetly into my ear before gently kissing it.
'You guys make a really cute couple by the way," the lady sitting behind the desk says. I turn my head slightly to the right, looking up at Louis making eye contact with him, smiling.
"Thanks," I say directing my attention back towards her. "Let's go," I say gently pulling Louis behind me. Since the waiting room was on the other side of the wall it didn't take very long for us to arrive in the waiting room.
The first thing I notice is my grandma sitting in a chair reading one of the home improvement magazines that was sitting on the table and a Niall pacing the room.
"Hi grandma," I say sitting next to her, still holding onto Louis, who sits in the empty seat right next to me. I can feel Niall looking at me but I purposefully ignore his presence as I start to piece together what happened.
"Hi sweetie, I see you and Louis made it in one piece. She didn't drive you insane with her constant worrying?" My grandmother asks jokingly, as Louis just laughs at her joke.
"Grandma. Tell me what happened." I say.
"It was an accident," I hear Niall say from across the room.
How did I know he was somehow involved?
"I don't believe I was talking to you," I. says, finally acknowledging Niall's presence.
"I don't know much. Niall came over, and the next thing I know Jonah I screaming bloody murder," My grandmother says shrugging her shoulder.
"Grandmother, how did you not know anything happened? How did you not know he came over?" I say trying to stay calm, but it's really hard when it feels like I am the only person in this room that would stop breathing if anything happened to this little boy.
"I was in the restroom, powdering my nose. I told Jonah to let me know if he needed anything, and then he started screaming," my grandmother explains. "And please stop acting like you are the only person here that cares about that boy You have three other people in the room here because they genuinely care about him," My grandmother scuffs.
"What the hell did you to my son?" I say pointing at Niall with my teeth gritted.
"Babe, would you calm down? Please? Can we go somewhere to talk?" Niall says trying to grasp my arms in his hands, gently guiding me to stand up. I can tell by the broken look in his eyes that he knows whatever he did, he messed up, and I almost believe it.
Almost.
"Stop telling me to calm down." I snap at Niall, pushing him away from me, not caring that I am causing a scene in the middle of the waiting room. "This boy is my life, and you don't understand what it's like, for me as a parent. Nobody is telling me anything, and naturally, I am going to assume the worst, because that's who I am. I'm here, and I'm freaking out because I don't know what's going on. I'm freaking out because that little boy is the light of my life, and he's here. So please stop telling me to calm down, until you know what it's like to have your child suffering because of your mistakes," I shout, as tears fall down my cheek. I feel the gentle familiar touch of Louis, as he is standing next to me rubbing circles on my back. His touch causes my jaw to unclench, and my entire body to relax.
"It's fucking true," Niall says, looking between the two of us. "I can't believe that Zayn was right. He fucking told me something was going on between you two and I didn't believe him." He scuffs, clenching his fists together.
"Are you that self-obsessed that you only care about the fact that I'm as you would say it, playing the field," I say rolling my eyes. "If you took that stick out of your ass a long time ago, we won't be in this situation right now, would we?" Before he can respond we are interrupted by the doctor.
"Hi, I need to speak to Jonah's immediate family," The doctor in blue scrubs says. He looks a little young to be a doctor, so it makes me wonder if he is even qualified to operate on Jonah. We all gather up around the doctor and wait for him to update up.
"Due to HIPPA, I can only speak to the immediate family, and based on the heated argument I walked in on, I don't think either one of these guys is that," the doctor says, rather sassily. Louis backs away from the doctor, and sits in the chairs, knowing I'll update him.
"I'm practically the kids' father," Niall says trying to shove his way into the conversation.
"No, you're not," I say sternly. "I'm sorry, but Jonah always thought you didn't like him. You brush him off like he's an inconvenience. Now, we can finish this conversation later," I say pointing between us. "Until then, have a seat," I tell him shooing him away.
"I'm sorry about that, what were you saying?" I say as I turn to the doctor, who is flipping through his clipboard.
"So we have Dr. Greene, and Dr. Simmons our ped's surgeons working on your son. He came in with a deep laceration on his forehead, a broken nose, and some cracked ribs. He's in critical condition, but he's stable. After surgery they do plan on keeping him for observations, they just want to make sure he doesn't have a concussion or any other brain injury." The doctor says, as he continues to read off the clipboard, as I stand there trying to take it all in.
Critical condition, but he's stable.
Critical Condition.
"I should get back to the surgery, someone will be back to update you guys soon as the surgery is over," the doctor says, slipping back into the authorized personnel area of the hospital.
"You have five seconds to tell me what you did to that sweet little boy," I say stomping over to Niall.
"Eve, baby, can go somewhere more private to talk about this?" He says whispering, nodding his head in the direction of the multiple families that are staring at us.
"I honestly don't give a shit what they think, I need to know what you did," I say fuming with anger.
"Okay fine, but please promise you won't freak out, or shout. I don't those people calling DSF," Niall says, pointing to the nosy people behind me, sounding extremely worried.
"Okay," I say in a slightly calmer voice. Niall grabs my hand leading me over a section of the waiting room where no one is sitting.
"Okay, so I came over to fix things between us, because I was a total douche to you at that party last, and felt like I owed it to us to fix what I messed up," He says, grabbing my hand into his, but he can tell by the look on my face that I'm not buying it.
"So why is my child in the hospital?" I ask bluntly, trying to get to the point.
"I promise, I didn't mean it," He says tearing up, clearly beating himself over what happened. "I knocked on the door, and Jonah let me in. When I walked up the stairs to your room, I found it-empty, and I noticed that room smelled different. I didn't like that. And Jonah was following me around the house, obsessively asking if I would play racecars with him because you and Louis were gone and your grandmother was off doing something else, and I just lost it," Niall says, as the tears finally begin to roll down his cheek.
"I wasn't paying attention and pushed passed Jonah, trying not to cause a scene. I tried so hard not to let my anger and jealousy get the best of me, but I guess I pushed a little too hard, and he lost his balance and fell down the stairs." He says shaking his head.
"Eve, I know what I've done to you, and I truly have been working towards suppressing my anger in different ways, and I promise I would never lay a hand on Jonah like my father did too me. I know what it's like to have your parent despise you no matter what you do." He says hiding his head in his hands. Niall is rarely like this, which is how I know he truly didn't mean to hurt Jonah, but that doesn't change anything.
"Niall, you can't keep doing this," I tell him pushing his hands away from me. I can't fall for this again. "Every time something tragic happens, you always excuse your behavior with how awful your father was. Have you ever thought about how I feel? Do you know how many times I blamed myself every time you put your hands on me? Do you know how it feels to have the person you're madly in love with taking every bit of anger out on you? And I'm sorry, but I don't think I can jeopardize Jonah's life for this anymore."
"Jonah's involved in this now, and I know you say it was an accident, but how do I know this won't happen again? Do you remember the first time you hit me? You said it was an accident, and it got worst. I just can't trust you anymore, I don't feel safe around you anymore. I know you've been trying to work on things, and that's great, I'm happy for you. But it doesn't change the fact that I physically and mentally can't do this again." I say shaking. I can't explain the amount of pain my heart feels right now. I feel like everything from the past three years just came crashing down. As toxic as our relationship was, there's no denying the love we had for each other.
"Eve, please don't do this to me. I can't survive without you," Niall says, panicking.
"Niall, stop. I've made up my mind." I say crying. "I can't put myself through that pain again, I can't put Jonah through that. Hell, I can't put you through that. Our relationship is so unhealthy, and I think we've both known it was over a long time ago," I say, as I continue to cry.
I have to stay strong I can't let him manipulate me.
"It's because of him isn't it?" Niall says nodding over to Louis. "I'm sorry I couldn't get over myself fast enough to see that he was going to steal you from right under my nose,"
"I could lie to you and tell you it's not because of him. But I can't do that to you, when you'll see us around campus, knowing I lied to you." I say grabbing his hand comfortingly.
"Does he make you happy?" He says, biting his lip trying to hold in his hurt.
"More than you know," I say smiling. "I've fallen in love with him, and that scares me because we haven't known each other very long," I say smiling, as I admit that I'm in love with Louis for the first time to my ex.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to fix myself in time, but I'm glad you're happy," Niall says, showing off a hurt smile, but can you blame him? I just broke his heart into a million pieces.
"I know this is a really cliché thing to say in a breakup, but I do hope we can be friends. It'll take some time, but I hope in the future we can laugh about this over coffee." I say, truly meaning what I say. Despite all he's put me through he was still a huge part of my life, and I want to see him be successful.
"Well, I guess I should get going. I don't have a reason to stick around anymore, and I can find out about Jonah through a text, if you want to tell me what's going on with him," Niall says standing up, sticking his hand out for me to shake.
"I did not spend three years with you, to end this over a handshake, come here," I say, pulling him into a hug, and I feel his body relax under my touch, and it breaks my heart knowing that I have this effect to him.
"Go, I'll be fine. Besides, I think you have a few things to tell Mr. Loverboy over there," Niall says winking at me, knowing that I admitted I was in love with Louis for the first time. Niall lets go of me and begin to walk away out of the hospital. I take a minute to myself before walking back over to my Grandmother, and Louis.
"Hey, where's he going?" my grandmother asks, referring to the blonde-haired boy that just walked out of lives.
"Home, he said he'd check in on Jonah later," I say shrugging my shoulders before turning my attention to Louis.
"Hey," I say smiling over at boy that snuck up on me. I sit in the empty seat next to him before, before laying my head on his shoulder. "We broke up," I say whispering to him.
"Are you okay?" He whispers placing a gentle kiss on my forehead, before wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"No, but I will be," I say linking our finger together.
Soo.... how are we?
Did we make it?
Poor Niall :(
Don't worry I have big plans for Niall. I haven't written him out of the story yet
Let me know what you guys think :)
-Autumn <3