"Lou?" Mark tries to get a promise from his son. None of his family is going to remain in atown as awful as Middleston. "You'll come home with me?""
Yeah. Yeah, I'll come home.
"*NARRATOR'S POV*
Louis had said it softly enough and to the underside of his palm so that no one else got to hear theplot. The hospital room was outstandingly silent as everyone did try to eavesdrop on hisconversation, but luckily to no avail. He couldn't have anyone know his plans, maybe Niall but notat this time.
"I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" His father told him, a promise hidden by his careful wording.
"Okay. Bye, Dad." Louis studies the fabric of his sheets and cotton-covered mattress with hisfingers
."Bye Lou." His father hangs up and Louis wishes he hadn't, wanting a bit more time to be distractedfrom what still needed to be taken care of.
The twins were standing unaffected and expressionless at the door, Harry keeping himself a smallquantity of two steps away from Louis' bed. Edward was staring at Louis when the boy glanced hisway, failing to pass him by entirely.Something was entirely off with Edward today and Louis couldn't put his finger on it.
Hisgreatest outcry of today was that he had to have Edward walk into this room and ignore him, beforeagreeing to go home. The irony was puzzling.Niall sighed and scratched lightly at the damp skin of his forehead, pushing his hair back andgetting up on his feet. He was worked up to a serious state and didn't see himself recovering theounce of respect he had for this town.
"Oh for fuck's sake." He mutters, rigid as a plank and full of total rejection towards the twins.
Edward looks to be completely unaffected, while his brother was blatantly miffed by Niall'sdisrespect. The tension turns to the thickest state of tangibility, hanging in the air while Louislooked up, first at Niall and handed back the phone.
Louis spoke purposefully to Niall. "I'm um....ready to give them my statement."
* * * * *
After Liam took his clipboard with him out to discuss matters with his two companions, Louiscloses his eyes. Maybe if they stay closed for long enough, he'll discover that this life is just anightmare. Harry and Edward did not leave the room, despite being told to, during Louis' statement.They stayed back at the closed doorway and heard every morsel of information he gave up.
Niall stood on the other side of Louis' legs, glaring at everything that breathed. He's got the right tobe as mad as he is.
"What did your father say?"Louis nervously glances at the twins, finds them also awaiting his response, and sighs. "He'scoming as soon as he can."
"Yeah?" Niall crosses his arms, although it doesn't make it to be as intimidating as two particularpeople Louis knows. "That's good."
Nodding, Louis avoids eye contact with absolutely anyone. There's an uneasy stillness lining thewalls and exits of this space, compressing the individuals present until they simply fall off theirrocker themselves. The temptation of succumbing to the predator and pray system of functioning,where the demons in one's head ruled everything, was a strong case.
"Yeah." Is all Louis manages to push out, and he hates it.
"Liam needs me." Niall says, patting his pockets before walking out of the room.
No harm comes to Louis' best friend while he passes by the twins, both sets of eyes following himout just to make sure he's gone. Harry notices the door-stopper and shows it to Edward. His brothernods and says nothing, following in Niall's path to leave the room too. Louis grinds his teeth at theman's new attitude towards him. It was definitely the best decision he ever made to leave.
"Hey, petal." Harry takes a seat on Louis' bed, his hand landing gingerly on Louis' knee.Louis looks at him with indignation.
"Hi."The slightly noticeable bob of Harry's head as he nods could be likened to the rhythm of a Jamaicansong.
"Edward's not doing this on purpose."
"Oh?" Louis doesn't really care. He's getting out of this town as soon as his father says the word.
"Yes. He's very fond of you."
"I'm sure he is."
"Louis." Harry's disapproval of Louis' tone is a new shade in the collection of his easy-to-flipmoods.
"I want to be alone, Harry." Louis turns away from him with heavy eyelids and an absentknowledge of why he's suddenly so tired. "Please."
Harry's hand removes itself and Louis feels the bed being enlightened from his weight. That is, untilhe hears the click of boots not getting any softer and he curls in on himself to hide, to protect hischest cavity where his heart struggled to deliver a pulse.
"Are you going to sleep?" Harry's voice is uncomfortably close to his ear once again, and Louis isburdened by the man sharing a bed with him when he wants anything else.
"Yes." Louis croaks, throat dry and head throbbing.
"Okay." Harry kisses his shoulder. The touch is so sweet that Louis can almost hate it, but hemotivates himself to let happen what may. "I'll be here, petal."
Louis convinces himself that Harry being here is better than his marvellously unsupportive andcritical friend. He knew Niall was right but dammit it wasn't fair. Louis didn't have a choice!He felt Harry shuffle behind him, against his back. He doesn't feel any pain from his ankle becauseHarry positioned it such that it wasn't in harm's way.
"Harry?"The man makes a pleased little sound and kisses Louis' neck. His lips don't burn on the boy's skinfor the first time.
"Yes, darlin'?"Louis is about to confess it all, but something stops him at the very last second. He has to keep hismouth from formulating the words that are biting at the edge of his tongue, daring to cause a riot byspilling out. He sucks in a cold and deep breath, letting the inhaled feeling of ice settle in his gut.
"Petal?" Harry notices the break in his conversation, and shifts slightly to get closer.Louis pretended to be asleep, shutting his heavy eyelids and breathing through his nose. Forcinghimself to take in only so much air in this act got to be painful at a point, and he had to open hismouth just a bit to help out. He probably owes another day of his living history to that smart move.
* * * * *
"Malik." Zayn answers his cellphone the way he always does when he's preoccupied. It's work,always is work keeping his attention away from relationships and social potential.
"Hey, sweetheart." Liam has to turn away from the two officers who resemble helpless, guidelesspuppies more than officials who guard a town."
Fuck right off, Payne." Zayn drops the witness report in his left hand, biting on the cap of hisPentel pen.Their relationship was as casual now as it has always been. Liam and Zayn never sought solace andcomfort in each other's arms the way couples do, but more often than not they found the necessaryrelaxation their naked bodies provided.
"I need you, Zee." Liam pinches his nose over to tough cartilage and sighs at the ground."Um....-" Zayn glances at his watch. "I have to work until-"
"No, not sex." Liam combs his hair back and tries to blink away the burn of his tired eyelids. "Howfar are you from Middleston?"
Zayn had been sorting through case files and affidavits. He stops for a moment. "Middle-what?"
"Middleston." Liam repeats, looking around him and over his shoulder.
"Didn't that guy from uni and-"
"Yeah, the same place."
"Quit cutting me off, you fucker."
"Sorry. So how far?"
"Been moved out for a case maybe an hour or less away. Are you trouble, Li?"
"Not me. That kid from uni."
"What the fuck? Do I expect a reunion when I get down there?"
"No, Zee. Just......get down here as soon as you can." Liam notices Niall leaving Louis'room and the twins going in. "Something is extra fucked up in this town."
* * * * *
Mark deboards the flight, Emirates 627, without holding back for the luggage carousel to comearound. He hardly packed his briefcase before getting on the plane to take him to his son.After hearing the voice of his son over the telephone, so vulnerable and so in need of his help, Markcouldn't help but throw his day's work away for an emergency visit.
Louis was always such anambitious young lad and ready to take on whatever challenge whoever the Hell threw at him. Hedidn't deserve to sound so.....so shattered.Mark made his way out of the tiniest airport terminals he's been under the roof of, grabbing the firstlime green local cab that came to a stop outside the main entrance. The driver is smoking a tobaccocigar with the resulting grey puffs circling around the confines of the vehicle.
"Middleston General Hospital." He barked at the insolent individual, tapping away a final email onhis iPad before the battery is drained.
"Yes, Sir." The driver with untended facial hair sets his cigar down and hits the accelerator with theclink of his worker's boot.Their cab takes a slippery swerve when it rounds the corner, Mark sliding across the leather of hisseat until he's behind the driver rather than the passenger side. He glares at the man in chargethrough the rear view mirror.
"Drive decently and drive faster." He says curtly, eyes not lingering on the reflective surface.The roads are slippery and the storm of a century is due to pass at any given moment, but that's notall that threatens to keep Mark from ever reaching the hospital and his son.
* * * * *
At the intersection between twelfth and fifteenth street, Zayn's GMC Terrain parks before the stopinstruction painted on the black cobble street. He uses the small break in driving to gulp down somecoffee from the Starbucks travel mug he carried.
It's his fourth cup and his head is starting to be asdrained as every other part of him.Working sleepless nights at the office working on thirty consecutive cases in just his first two yearsof being a full fledged police investigator. He looks up and the light hanging above from telephonewires and other insulated cables indicate green.
Mark hasn't looked up from the screen of his iPhone since he hopped in the cab, dialling andredialing Louis' number but only receiving voicemail. He sighs and unbuttons the jacket of his suit,checking for his wallet and other phone again. The light eventually turns green after a forty secondwait at this intersection with foggy windows and the patter of rain surrounding him.
His driver's cigar is not put out and it's too late to just open the window so the smoke escapes easily.The man at the wheel does anyway, and in that time wasted during a green light fails to see anapproaching vehicle in the next lane. He applies the gas and jerks forward, the wet road causing himto slide over into the headlights of a GMC Terrain.
* * * * *
"Trauma!" The nurse over the PA system calls out loud and clear. "Dr. Reilly, Dr. Gallecki and Dr.Parsons to the emergency room!"
The list of names of medical professionals rages on, changing in accents and urgency as differentnurses summon those on break after quarter day shifts. Liam turns around from watching Niallfigure out the vending machine, frowning as he pulls them both out of the way.
"What's going on?" Niall hands him a lidded cup of coffee and packet of generic Oreos.
"Don't know." Liam shakes his head at the God awful coffee and cracks open the packet of cookies.
Edward stood not too far away from them, his extraordinary hearing allowing him to hear from theirconversation what he needed. Instead of waiting for the answer to arrive, he stopped a bustlingnurse in her tracks.
"What's happened?" He asks, fluent and unwilling to repeat himself to the middle-aged woman
."Car accident at the nearby intersection." She tells him, barely registering who it is she's speaking tobefore hurrying along again.
Edward shares a look with Liam over the width of the hallway, one with connotations neither reallygrasped. When Liam was about to step forward to ask about what he heard - because he's a bloodydetective and shouldn't be afraid of Edward - his target disappears after the passing of a gurney.Liam searches for him, coffee cup and puzzled Niall forgotten temporarily, but Edward is reallygone. Was he even standing there originally?
* * * * *
"Petal."Louis doesn't feel a physical touch nudging him out of his dreams where Middleston was an antunder his boot rather than a town he can't escape, but the voice is firm enough.
He tries hiding fromit for a bleak moment, blocking his face behind the arm of the dozing Harry giant behind him.It didn't work. "Wake up, petal."
The arm Louis used as salvation is being extracted and he's left exposed to the cold hospital air. Heopens his eye and sees Edward, looking as pleasing to the sore eye as he always does. Stark whitehair that in the right amount of lighting looked golden, eyes hooded by the shadow of his emotions.
"I have something to show you." Edward extends his hand towards Louis.
Louis flinches when the tips of Edward's fingers brush his arm. "I don't want to see it."
Edward tilts his head to the side in his curious puppy mirage. "It concerns you."
"I don't care."
"Your father is here, petal. Don't you want to see him?" The oblique stare that withheld the reasonwhy Edward was doing this, is unnerving Louis the longer it stays on him.
Louis is more willing to move after that enlightenment, but still insists on crutches rather Edward'shelp moving around. He grabs some sweatpants off the table and slips them on whilst seated, almosttipping himself over when he leans too far forward.
Edward is patient, waiting by the door with his eyes burning holes on Louis' back. How could heever neglect a person of embodied perfection? Gemma seems to think he possesses the willpower todo so.The crutches are a challenge for all challengers. Louis struggles with them sans any help for twoand a half minutes before he can so much as reach the door.
Edward looks him up and down with anunreadable expression, fingers curling in his pockets.To Hell with his sister.He grabs Louis' hip with one hand and drops the crutches with the other. They land with a loud andheavy clutter, heavy and expensive medical aid instruments how cracking the tile. The neglect getsLouis to shout but Edward covers it with his hand. Harry doesn't shift in his sleep.
"Shh, sweet petal." Edward lowers himself and picks Louis up in a swift bridal carry. "I've treatedyou badly enough already."Louis tries to break free - as seems to be a tradition now - but the lock-down of Edward's arms don'trelent even when they're passing people they know in the corridor.
"What are you- Edward!" Louis squirms and almost drops himself when he takes shoving the man'schest too far.
Edward growls in obvious displeasure - his petal is bordering on irresponsible - and pulls him intothe next empty turn-off. It's a small and dark hallway but the wall is all he needs, pressing Louis upagainst it and caging him in.
"What's the matter, petal?" He asks in a brusque and forceful manner.
"Put me down, Edward." Louis couldn't control the injured leg because every small movement andpressure hurt, so Edward held his thigh up against his hip.But Edward saw through that. There was something pained in Louis' eyes and he knows he put itthere.
"I'm sorry, petal."
"For what?" Louis glowered.Edward can't be called a criminal for succumbing to the need to be burrowed in Louis' soft,warm neck. His pulse was against the man's cheek and his goosebumps ran free.
"For my behaviour." Edward opens his mouth to speak, the wetness dampening Louis' shoulder.
"Itook the wrong advice but I am a man of desire, petal. I can't stay away from you."
Really, is Harry the only bipolar twin?
Louis' chest starts to heave as breathing becomesdifficult. He whimpers at the contact of hot skin on warm skin, his fingers gripping the fabric of ashirt he should hate. He can only let Edward press their foreheads together and kiss the tip of hisnose.
"Your father." Edward suddenly remembers. "Come, petal."
Liam and Niall are no longer part of the crowd in the hospital's passageway. Louis searches forthem in the small break room as he passes the door, then the space outside the bathrooms. Hefrowns as Edward takes him further away from his own room and towards the waiting room outsidethe ER.
"Edward?" Louis tries to understand but Edward shakes his head and pushes through the doubledoors.The emergency room is alive, as when a home is established hundreds of years ago it develops alife. People - doctors - are working feverishly to take care of, operate on and sedate those who wereinvolved in the car crash not too far away from here. Three victims, one dead.
"Louis Tomlinson?" A doctor in white scrubs, clean of blood but he seems to be the only one.
"That's me." Louis waits to be put down but the doctor seems to understand when he isn't.
"Your father is Mark Tomlinson?" His name tag reads Dr. Stewart and he looks uncharacteristicallyenergetic with puppy dog brown eyes and untidy hair.
Louis takes a sharp and freezing breath. "Yes."
"He was involved in a pile up just two blocks from here." The doctor fails to slow down and let theblood gushing through Louis' arteries stop from hurting him. "He was severely injured and wemanaged to stop any fatal internal bleeding."
His father.
Louis can't lose his dad, that's all he's got left to rely two hundred percent on. Hecan't hear this but he has to."Mr. Tomlinson is in a coma." Dr. Stewart taps his clipboard and offers Louis a sympathetic smile."We'll have to keep him here in Middleston until he's stable enough to wake up."