"No. No way. I'm not going in there."
Piper stopped halfway up the stairs and turned back. Marlow was standing at the bottom of the stairs, in the doorway to the building, and she was sneering at the peeling paint on the floorboards and the mysterious stain on the carpet.
"Come on, Marlow. Please?" Piper pleaded as she skipped back down the steps. The real estate agent who'd been showing them around gave a long sigh at the top of the stairs and began tapping her foot impatiently. Marlow narrowed her eyes at her over Piper's shoulder. "It's the last one, I promise." Piper took Marlow by the hand and attempted to drag her into the building. Marlow, it turned out, was stronger than she looked and didn't budge. "Please, please, please."
"Be serious, Piper," Marlow hissed so the estate agent wouldn't hear them. "You don't actually want to live in a place like this, do you? Your flat on Whitechapel is ten times better."
What Piper couldn't tell Marlow was that she had to move because there was a member of crime syndicate living a floor above her so she'd had to paint some excuse about bad landlords (which wasn't really a lie at all because Curtis was a wanker) and shoddy pipes. It was the only way she'd convinced Marlow to come out on this flat hunting expedition with her.
"The bottom line is that I need to move. Soon." Piper looked pleadingly at Marlow as she tugged on her hand. "Please, just come up and take a look with me? I need a second opinion."
"Fine," Marlow grumbled as she let Piper pull her up the stairs, her foot clomping unhappily on each step. "But only because I'm afraid you're actually going to lease one of these horrid flats."
They'd been to four that afternoon already and all of them were pitiful. Most were rundown and smelled weird. One of them had a bathroom so grimy and deplorable that Marlow had literally fled the premises, complaining about this being "the worst way to spend her day off". Piper wasn't all that happy about it either but she was working on a limited budget and a limited schedule — she couldn't be choosy.
They were shown into the flat and within seconds, Marlow was murmuring under her breath about mold and peeling wallpaper. "I don't know why you brought me," Marlow huffed as they both tried to squeeze into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and immediately shut it at the sight of whatever was sitting in it, sticking her tongue out with disgust. "I mean, Harry's practically going to be living at your flat too so shouldn't he have a say?"
That was pretty much the argument Harry had given Piper on Tuesday when she'd told him that she was going flat hunting. He'd shown up, ready to pack her things up and move her out because her lease was meant to be ending the next day. It hadn't gone well when she'd told him she extended it for two weeks and paid Curtis way too much money to do it. He seemed to be confused of her motives. She kindly reminded him that she didn't have a flat to move into.
"You're moving in with me," he'd said immediately like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.
"Oh am I? Remind me, when did I agree to that? Better yet, when did you ask me?"
Harry had spluttered for an answer that didn't seem misogynistic and controlling, and then finally he just sat down on her bed with a sigh. "Sorry," he'd mumbled. "I shouldn't have assumed. I just thought it'd be natural for you to move in with me once the lease was up. We used to spend most of our nights together anyway."
"Used to," she'd pointed out. "We're taking things slower, remember? And I sort of like how it's been going."
They'd been trying this new "slower" thing over the last week and Piper was really enjoying their new dynamic. Instead of being with each other all the time, they arranged to have tea or get dinner together. They went out on a real, honest-to-god date. The time apart was making the time spent together more special. Everything felt more meaningful because it was saved up and held onto until they finally had the chance to be together. There was a sense of thoughtfulness that had never been a big part of their relationship before.
Most of all she treasured the conversations. Each night, they'd have a long phone call before they went to bed and Harry would open up like he never had before, talking about anything and everything with no limitations. He talked about his family and growing up in Holmes Chapel. He talked about uni. He talked about his early days at MI6 and of the beginnings of One Direction. She wasn't sure how she'd missed it but Harry was an amazing storyteller and when he got going, she'd just lie on her side and listen, a little smile creeping onto her face. She felt like having a phone between them made it easier for Harry to be a little vulnerable and it would take time before he would be completely comfortable with sharing face to face.
"I've liked it too," Harry admitted with a tiny little smile that gave Piper some hope that she wasn't being delusional and that this really was working out. "And I understand where you're coming from. If you want your own flat, that's your choice. But at least let me help you choose one?"
As much as she appreciated the help, she wanted this to be something she did on her own. "How about I choose a flat and then let you help me move all my stuff?"
Harry was about to enthusiastically agree when his brow scrunched up and he pouted his lips out adorably. "Hey, this sounds like a trick."
"It is. I just want you to help me move."
"I showed up today with boxes," Harry pointed out, nodding toward the stack of boxes leaning against the wall in her hallway. "I think you can be pretty confident that I'll help you move either way."
"Thank you, my big strong man." Piper laughed when Harry puffed his chest up and perched beside him on the bed instead, being careful of his shoulder that was still sore. "And thanks for letting me do this on my own. It's important to me."
"Then of course I'd let you do it. I just want you to be happy."
Admittedly, Piper was struggling to picture herself being truly happy in a flat that looked like this but she was just trying to make do. She was running out of options so she just had to make the most of that situation she'd been given.
"I asked you to come," Piper told Marlow as they shoved out of the kitchen together, "because I value your opinion. You gave me some really great advice last time."
Marlow rounded so she was walking backward down the short hall to the bedroom. "So how are you and Harry?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows. Piper rolled her eyes. Her and Niall really were perfect for each other.
"We're taking it slow."
"Slow?" Marlow's eyebrows shot up and she seemed very surprised by that. "But you guys are the fast and dirty sort of type." Piper flushed and hissed at Marlow as she smacked her arm disapprovingly. "How is slow a good thing?"
"Because it's what we want and it's actually been really good so far. We're getting to know each other better, like you said."
Marlow considered that for a moment and then shrugged, accepting it for what it was. "Well, I'm happy if you're happy." She turned around properly and took one step into the bedroom before immediately turning back around. She forcefully shoved Piper away from the bedroom door before she had a chance to see what was inside. "I can't let you get this flat. You're way better than this." The real estate agent, coming out of the room behind her, tried to protest but Marlow cut her off as she shoved Piper toward the door. "Come on, let's go get drinks to celebrate the end of this awful experience."
Piper grimaced apologetically at the estate agent but let Marlow tow her down the stairs by the hand. "Can't drink," she told her once they were out on the street. "I'm having dental surgery tomorrow."
"What?" Marlow narrowed her eyes at Piper as if she was trying to determine if this was a trick. "Why?"
"I'm having tooth implants put in." Marlow still looked doubtful so Piper tugged back her left cheek to show off the space where her back molars should have been. Marlow scrunched her face up, shutting her eyes and shaking her head. "Someone knocked out a couple in the back," Piper added as she released her cheek, "so I'm getting implants so I don't end up with a huge gap in the front."
"Ew, gross." Marlow stuck her tongue out, disgusted. "How did that happen?"
Right, another one of those things that Piper couldn't tell Marlow about. "Um, I... I got mugged."
It sounded stupid the second she said it but luckily, Marlow seemed to buy it because she shook her head sympathetically. As she looped her arm with Piper's as they began their trek back toward Piper's flat, Marlow sighed. "Man, no wonder Harry's always so worried about you."
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Piper had done everything in her power to keep from thinking too much about her dental surgery and her best distraction had always been Harry. She called him that evening and suggested they go out to get something to eat. She still didn't feel very comfortable at home, not with Clive banging around upstairs, so she appreciated any excuse to get out. They ended up at a little sandwich shop not too far from Piper's flat, the two of them being disgustingly cute and sitting together on the same side of the booth, their sides pressed together as they nibbled on bacon sandwiches and sipped tomato soup.
"How were the flats you saw?" Harry asked, taking special care to keep his voice casual. He was being careful not to seem too interested in case she misconstrued it as him trying to weasel his way into the decision process.
"To be honest? Just rubbish. I don't think there's anything out there right now that'll work. It's frustrating."
She didn't miss the triumphant grin that slipped momentarily onto Harry's face before he had a chance to cover it up. "I'm sure you'll find something soon enough," he said with an aloof shrug. Apparently, he was still keen on her coming to live with him at HQ but he was being respectful and giving her space.
They exchanged casual conversation for the rest of their dinner, Harry talking about the latest work disaster he'd had to deal with. Piper tried her best to listen but she was practically vibrating with nervous energy and she couldn't stop herself from tapping her fingers on the table top. Eventually, Harry's hand came to rest over hers, stilling them. She smiled sheepishly, pressing her palm flat to the table.
"Come on, petal," Harry said fondly as he tossed money to cover the bill onto the table. "How about a walk? You can tell me all about the flats and how horrible they were."
He led her out of the shop, hand in hand, and the two of them began a winding trek through her neighbourhood. Piper went into detail about each flat and how atrocious they were. Marlow's reactions to everything managed to get Harry laughing and by the time they were back in front of her flat, her nerves were gone for the time being. When Harry asked if he could stay, Piper didn't hesitate in bringing him up and the two of them wasted away the rest of the night snogging, their hands roaming all over each other but never straying farther than that.
The next morning, he kissed her awake and then offered to drop her off at the surgery without coming in. He was keen on keeping his distance until it was time to come and pick her up. She knew it was probably killing him to stay away because he worried about her and wanted her to be safe but he was trusting her to be able to care for herself. She could see that he was trying his very best and it meant a lot to her.
Unfortunately, she'd chosen the worst possible time to insist on being a full grown-up because she was completely petrified and she wished she had a hand to hold. She hated dentists and the only thing worse in her mind than a dental check-up was a proper dental surgery. This was something that needed to be done in the end so she had to grin and bear it. If she was going to ensure that she was treated her like a proper adult, she had to act like one. And that meant conquering her fears on her own.
The date on the news reel playing on the telly kept looming in front of her — Friday the 13th. That had to be a bad omen. Her stomach was already in knots about the whole thing and having that stupid superstitious date flashing in front of her eyes every three seconds wasn't doing a whole lot to help. At this point, she was tapping her foot so vigorously that she was shaking a nearby table, the vibrations on the floor knocking the leg up and down loud enough that the receptionist kept sending dirty looks her way.
She nearly jumped a foot in the air when the door opened, banging against the wall as the wind picked it up and tossed it forward. The man walking over the threshold seemed displeased with it and slammed the door shut particularly hard behind him. Shaking out his arms to warm them up a bit, he took a look around the room. Piper watched out of the corner of her eye as he glanced first at the man sitting across the room, holding his hand to his swollen face (who Piper had been studiously ignoring), and then to her, so nervous that her heel on the floor was creating a small earthquake.
It took him about three seconds to turn on his heel and run out, his leather jacket flapping behind him. Piper didn't blame him. She sort of wished she could do the same.
Of course, it was at that moment that the receptionist stood, a chart in hand. "Miss. Stone?" she asked, even though Piper was the only woman in the room and she'd checked in with the woman fifteen minutes ago.
As Piper rose to her feet, walking on shaking legs to the door that led back into the surgery, she couldn't shake the deep feeling of dread that had taken residence in her stomach. She had a bad feeling about this and her instincts hadn't proven her wrong yet.
She hoped for her sake that she was wrong.
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Her eyes opened slowly and lethargically, and the whole world was a blurry haze around her. Shapes blended together into indistinguishable blurs, colours blending into each other until she couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. Blinking slowly, she tried to focus on the ceiling above her and let her vision sort itself out. She recognized the slow pace of her thoughts and the fogginess of her head as a byproduct of the anaesthesia; it was a feeling she had experienced before so she wasn't too worried.
It only took a minute or so for her eyes to adjust and give her a better picture of what was going on around her. She was lying in a hospital bed in recovery, blankets right up to her chin, and there was a curtain drawn around the bed for privacy. A steady beeping in the background was echoing her heartbeat, two quick pulses and then a longer pause. She tilted her head in the direction of the sound and was startled by the figure at her side.
At first she thought it was a nurse because the person — a man she realized as she squinted her eyes and took a closer look — was fiddling around with the cord connecting the IV bag with the needle in her hand. He was trying to stick a syringe into the port at the top of the cord and seemed to be having quite a deal of trouble with it, especially for someone who was meant to have been doing it for his whole career. Piper was pretty sure IVs were the first thing they taught in nursing school.
As she started to come awake properly, everything started to become clearer. Certainly, the pain in her jaw was much more present than it had been. The surgery had obviously been a success and they'd put the anchors for the implant into her jawbone because it hurt like hell and it was the kind of pain that could only come about from a serious intrusion on the body. With each waking second, the pain became more and more palpable until she could hardly stand it.
She tried to ask the nurse if that was morphine he was giving her because she could sure use some but all that came out of her was a hum. It was enough to get the nurse's attention and when his head jerked around and Piper got a good look at him, she realized that he wasn't a nurse at all. On his shoulders was that leather jacket that she'd seen whipping behind the man who had run out of the surgery hours before when she'd been in reception and, as she blinked her eyes into focus once more, she realized she recognized the face too.
"Hey look, it's you. It's Dumb." Her head felt foggy and the nonsense words that tumbled out slurred together. She knew she was right though. That face had been on one of the gorillas who had come to the flat the day of her fight with Harry. He was one of the ones meeting up with Clive. He was from the Shoreditch syndicate. "What're you doing here, Dumb?" she asked him, her voice high, breathy and whimsical, the pain making her a little loopy. "Where's Dumber?"
She wasn't sure if she was expecting a proper answer but she didn't get one because Dumb began fumbling with the IV, trying to pull out the syringe. When it got stuck, he abandoned it altogether and, without saying a word, he stumbled backward and raced for the door.
"Hey!" Piper called after him, pushing the blankets down with wobbly arms that she was only just barely in control of. "Where are you going?"
She rolled onto her side and then hoisted herself up, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the bed so she could get her bearings. She slid down onto her feet and had to grab the bed when her legs went wobbly as noodles beneath her but it only took a second to get her strength. She haphazardly yanked out her IV and then she was stumbling toward the door. She wasn't sure why she was following Dumb — she just had to. All of the alarm bells were ringing in her head and she knew she had to follow him and figure out what he'd been doing in the first place and why.
The hallways of the surgery were quiet as she shuffled out of the recovery room. At the far end, there was an emergency exit to the alley out back. The door was open.
She pushed herself into a jog, heading straight in that direction and hoping to catch Dumb before he had a chance to get too far. She had questions for him, so many questions, and she wasn't letting him get away. Her determination to catch him kept her going even when she bumbled around, tripping on her own two feet and nearly sprawling on her sore face as she stepped out into the alley.
Her head was still out of sorts from the aftermath of the anaesthetic so it didn't even cross her mind that she was running through a back alley in a hospital gown, a pair of loose cotton pants and her socks which were quickly becoming dirtied by the grime on the ground. She didn't think about the IV she'd yanked out that left the port in her hand exposed to any number of bacteria and germs. She didn't even notice her zigzagging walk or the way her feet were starting to go numb. She only had the one thought. Must catch Dumb.
As she turned the corner from the alley onto the street, she collided hard with another body and went jolting backward, barely keeping her balance as her feet scrambled for purchase. She was already mumbling an apology when she looked up. In an instant, all the blood rushed from her head and she nearly felt ready to faint.
Standing before her, wearing a perfectly tailored suit and a pair of aviators that reflected her horrid appearance back at her, was Clive and the smarmy smirk on his face sent chills straight up Piper's spine. He had his hands in his trouser pockets and looked for all intents and purposes like he was out for a stroll. Piper doubted that was the case.
"Well, well," he said as he eyed her up and down. His voice sounded like it never had before. Gone was the irritating, grating Clive that was a constant annoyance. In his place was a smooth and dangerous sounding Clive who made her very frightened, her heart beating double time in her chest. "You always make things so complicated, don't you Piper?"
"What're you — what?" She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat.
"You really should be more careful, walking around like this when you're not at your best." Clive looked around the side street they were on which was deserted for the most part, the only sound being the traffic echoing back to them from the busier road up ahead. He directed his attention back to her, his eyebrow quirking up past the top of his sunglasses. "Someone could try and hurt you."
Before she had a chance to react, he'd pulled a handgun from where it had been tucked in the back of his trouser. He tossed it with practiced ease so he could catch it by the barrel and a second later the grip was connecting hard with her forehead above her left eyebrow.
Within seconds, she was out.
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When she woke, it was to a pounding in her head that was only superseded by the throbbing pain in her jaw. Before she was even fully awake, she was crying, tears streaming over her swollen left cheek. For a moment, all she could do was lie there in incredible pain and wonder why this was happening to her. There were supposed to be drugs — morphine and sedatives that would keep her calm and pain-free. This was not the way it was supposed to be.
When she pried her eyes open all the way, blinking against the light from the window, she found herself staring at her familiar bedroom ceiling. It took only a moment for it to click in that she was meant to be lying in a dental surgery clinic halfway across town and that this ceiling above her could only mean bad things. The sun was streaming through the window at the angle it always did in the late afternoon. Harry was meant to be picking her up around seven in the evening to take her home so it hadn't been him that brought her here unless somehow he'd been contacted to bring her home early. But that didn't sound right. Nothing about this was right.
Turning her head the other way, she yelped when the cotton of the pillowcase scraped against her forehead. When her fingers found the spot on her forehead that was hurting, the slight pressure on the wound made her wince and when she drew her hand back, her fingertips were coated with fresh blood.
She tried to remember what had happened but she was drawing a blank and that was the thing that was making her heart race in her chest so hard she could hear it. She couldn't remember how she got here. She couldn't remember what had happened to her head. She couldn't remember anything.
She craned her head so she could see the side table and nearly cried with relief when she saw her phone sitting there on the table edge. Grabbing it, she tapped out the number to Harry's transmitter as quick as her fumbling fingers would allow.
Harry's voice was bright and cheery when the call connected and she could almost hear his smile on the other end. "Hi, petal. How're you feeling?" Before she could say anything, he interrupted once more, this time with a confused undertone to his voice. "I thought you weren't supposed to be awake for another hour or so."
When she tried to say something back, her mouth felt all wrong and her jaw ached terribly on the left side. All she could manage to get out was, "Harry."
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, his voice dropping to a low grumble full of concern. "You sound out of sorts."
"I'm — I'm at m-my flat."
"Piper, I told you I would pick you up." He sighed heavily and Piper could almost picture him pinching his lip, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't come out wrong. "Are you mad at me for something? Even still, you shouldn't have taken a cab —"
"Harry," she interrupted, swallowing hard past her dry throat and ignoring how much it hurt to do that, "I don't know how I got here."
It was quiet for a moment and Piper worried that something had disconnected until she heard Harry's panicked voice. "What?"
"I don't — I don't remember." She was crying again, thick tears streaming down her cheeks and over her nose before dropping down to the pillow. She sniffled and then whimpered when it sent a sharp pain right up from her gums to her head. "I was at t-the surgery," she told him, her voice shaking, "a-and then I woke up h-here and... I don't know. I c-can't remember."
It was the scariest feeling in the world for someone who had a great memory and who spent most of her time living up in her head. Piper's brain was her best tool — it was her strongest feature and the thing she was proudest of. The idea that it was failing her now was making everything even worse. A strangled sob forced it's way from her throat and she only just managed to clamp her lips down before another could follow.
"Okay, calm down petal," Harry said smoothly, his voice steady and strong on the other end of the call. He was slipping into professional mode and Piper found something about that very comforting. Her head was a mess right now and she had no idea what was going on. She needed Harry to be the boss for once. "I'm leaving right now and I'm coming to you but I'm up in the north end of the city so I'm going to be awhile."
"Please," she whined without really knowing what she was asking for.
"I know," Harry said anyway, "I'm coming as fast as I can. I'm going to call Louis because he's at Vauxhall and he can get to you quicker, okay?"
"Okay," Piper whispered back, raising her hand to press it to her sore cheek. The pressure helped a bit but not a whole lot.
"I'm going to let you go so I can call Lou but I'll tell him to call you from the car so at least you have someone you know on the other line, alright?"
"Yeah."
"Right," Harry said, mostly to himself. "I'll be there soon. I promise. Just, stay calm, try to take deep breaths."
"Okay."
"I'm coming for you, petal."
The call disconnected with a click and Piper just lay still for a moment, listening to the steady hum of the dial tone from the speaker. She slid her finger over the screen to press the button to end the call. She kept it there, waiting with her eyes trained on the phone until a couple minutes later it lit up and Louis's face took up the space of the screen. She slid across the screen to take the call and mumbled out a quiet, "hello."
"Hi Pips." Louis's voice was surprisingly gentle, not his usual upbeat drawl that was infused with sarcasm and cynicism. "I'm only about five minutes away because I was on my way home so I'm going to be there soon. You doing alright still?"
Piper mumbled something in reply and then had to press her lips shut once more. The pain that had started in her jaw as a resilient ache with the occasional sharp shooting pain was now like a burning sensation that was bypassing her self-regulatory system entirely and going straight to her tear ducts. A steady stream of tears were moistening her cheeks and creating a little puddle on the pillowcase.
"Okay, I'll take that as a yes for now. Listen, I called Niall after I talked to Harry so he's going to meet us at your flat and make sure everything's okay. You're going to be fine."
"Hmm," Piper hummed in agreement because it was all she could manage.
"I'm going to keep talking until I get there, just so you don't feel alone." It was exactly what Piper had been hoping for and it meant more than words could say that Louis had picked up on that. She nodded even though no one could see it. "Could you do something every so often so I know you're okay? I don't know, a mumble? Or even a grunt?"
Piper chuckled and then winced when it hurt all over her head. "Okay," she said softly.
"There we go," Louis said brightly, his voice so positive that it sort of helped distract Piper from everything else. "So, what can we talk about. Let's see..."
The one-sided conversation progressed in that way for the rest of Louis's drive to Piper's flat, with Piper making the odd interjection every so often so Louis knew she was still awake. Time was passing in a strange sort of way so Piper had no idea how long it actually was before she heard the doorknob jiggle.
"I'm at your flat, Pips," Louis told her as he opened the door which hadn't been locked in the first place. Louis rushed into the flat and Piper forced herself to roll over just in time for Louis to come crashing into her bedroom.
"Hi Pips, it's just me." Louis perched down on the mattress beside her and his eyes scanned over her quickly. "Shh, it's okay," he said and Piper realized that she'd been whimpering. She pressed her lips shut and tried to reach a hand up to wipe her wet cheeks but she clipped her chin instead and had to shut her eyes tight when it sent shock waves through her whole jaw. Louis's fingers caught her wrist and guided her hand back down and away from her face. He reached over to the bedside table and pulled a handful of tissues from the box. "I've got you," he told her as he gently mopped up her cheeks with some and pressed the others to the wound on her forehead. "You're going to be okay."
"It hurts," Piper managed to choke out, squeezing her eyes shut as Louis applied pressure to her forehead.
"I know," he said sympathetically. "But we're going to get you sorted out soon, I promise. Now, do you think you can sit up? Niall said you shouldn't be lying flat what with your implants and all that."
Sitting up seemed like the last thing in the world Piper was capable of right now but she nodded her head just the same. Louis's free hand curved under her shoulder and then he was pulling her upright, doing pretty much all the work as Piper flailed uselessly trying to support herself. He eventually got her sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs hanging off the side and her dirty socks skimming the floor.
He moved to crouch in front of her, reapplying the tissue compress to her forehead. "Hey, I know you're hurting right now," he said softly, his free hand resting steady on her knee over top of the flimsy hospital gown she was still wearing, "but do you think you could tell me what you remember?"
"I — I think..."
"Just take your time, love," Louis coached, looking up at her earnestly. Piper nodded and swallowed hard, trying to retrace what had happened.
It took a while to get it out of her because she was a stuttering mess and she had to stop every so often or the pain in her jaw got too intense to handle but eventually she managed to get back some of what she'd forgotten, starting right at the beginning. She told Louis everything up to when she'd run out into the alley. That was where it got muddled.
"Just try to think." Louis's hand was a steady pressure on her knee, squeezing supportively when Piper was really struggling.
"I — it's fuzzy, what happened," she said as she shut her eyes and tried to remember. "I was w-walking and —" It hit her all at once and she gasped suddenly as the memory hit her. "No, I remember. I-It was Clive."
"Clive?"
"I ran into s-someone on the street and it was him. He said, um, he said —"
"It's okay if you don't remember everything," Louis said comfortingly when he saw she was struggling. "Just try to think of what happened next."
"Something about being more careful or... or I could g-get hurt. And then, he hit me." Piper glanced up, locking eyes with Louis. He held her gaze and then flicked his eyes up to the wound on her forehead that he was still applying pressure to.
"Clive did this?"
"With a gun. The, um, the handle part, I don't remember what it's called."
Louis frowned hard at that. Piper had undergone so much weapons training over the last month that naming gun parts should have been child's play. She would have been more worried about her memory gap too but her head was too foggy to do much of anything at this point.
"So let me see if I have this straight." Louis was chewing on his bottom lip, staring down at the floral pattern on her duvet. "Clive ran into you wandering around in the street chasing after a suspicious figure who'd been messing with your meds." Piper nodded. "So it was probably a friend of his in the surgery which means this was likely all his doing."
"Sounds right," Piper croaked out.
"I don't get the motivation." Louis frowned hard, looking stumped. "He tries to do something to you at the surgery but you thwart it so he knocks you out and brings you back here? That must mean that whatever they were trying to do didn't involve hurting you or kidnapping you. What were they after?"
She watched Louis puzzle it out, focusing on him so she wasn't focusing on her sore mouth, so she was able to see the exact moment that an idea hit him, watched his eyes widen and his lips slip open.
"Alright, I don't want you to freak out," was the first thing he said which automatically set her heart racing in her chest and made it harder to breathe.
"Already doing that," she told him sternly, watching with wide eyes as he pushed himself up so he was standing in front of her. "What's g-going on?"
"I'm going to do a quick scan." Louis pulled his brick of a phone out of his back pocket and began to tap around on the screen. Louis's mobile was like an entire computer shoved into a little box and could do things that Piper didn't even know were possible. Apparently, one of those things was "scanning".
"What're you scanning f-for?"
"Outgoing frequencies." The sheer terror must have shown on Piper's face because Louis immediately stopped fiddling with his phone and lay a supportive hand on her shoulder, bending so they were at the same head height. "I don't want to scare you but I think they might have put in another tracking chip while you were unconscious."
Piper let that sink in, focusing on taking longer breaths to replace the shallow gasps. "Wouldn't I f-feel it?"
"You're in a lot of pain everywhere else," Louis said sympathetically, his eyes flicking over to her swollen cheek. "I doubt you'd even notice." He held up his mobile, waving it in front of her. "You okay if I go ahead and do this?"
Piper nodded to give him the go ahead and Louis began moving the phone in the space in front of her, his eyes trained on the screen. He didn't pause until it was hovering over her left shoulder, frowning at the reading. "Found something?" Piper asked him and he nodded, grimacing.
"Do you mind?" he asked as he plucked up the material of the hospital gown with two fingers. She nodded for him to go ahead and he reached his hands around her neck to undo the strings at the top that were holding the gown closed. He carefully pulled it away so the top of her shoulder was exposed but everything else stayed covered.
He looked closely at her shoulder and then pulled her hair back from her neck to check that too. When nothing stood out, he clambered onto the bed behind her to check the back. She knew he'd found something when his fingers touched down on the skin beside her shoulder blade. She hadn't felt any pain before but his cool fingers on the inflamed skin were a clear indication that something was wrong there. "What is it?"
"Small cut and it feels like a raised bump. When Niall gets here, we'll see if he can take it out."
Piper nodded sullenly, wincing when it flared up in her cheek and sent a shooting pain right to the back of her skull. Louis climbed back around and bounced down onto the bed beside her. She leaned in closer to him when he settled.
"Can you, um, can —"
"What is it, Pips?" Louis's hand was gentle on her thigh and it squeezed supportively when she struggled to take a full breath. "What do you need?"
"Can I just have a hug?"
"'Course you can." His voice was soft and sweeter than she'd ever heard it and when he wrapped his arm across her shoulders, it was a careful action. He wasn't acting like Louis and yet she felt like this was as close to Louis as she'd ever been. She leaned into him, taking shaky breaths to try and get through the pain in her jaw. Louis just held her, shushing her gently as he ran his hand over her back as soothingly as he could.
She had to admit — as fucked up as everything was right now, she was damn lucky that she had the friends that she did. The only thing keeping her from losing it entirely was Louis's gentle hold and his voice muttering out comforting words whenever a sob managed to push past her lips. She didn't know what she would have done without him.
Both of them jumped when the door slammed open violently, Niall's lithe body sprinting into the flat and skidding to a halt just inside the door. He turned his head left and right quickly to get his bearings and then stumbled over his own feet down the hall to her bedroom in his haste to get to her.
"Pips, thank god you're okay," he huffed out as he stopped in front of her and dropped his bag to the ground with a thump. He went to hug her and then seemed to think better of it, pausing in midair and then retracting his arms. Instead, his cool hands cupped her jaw tenderly. The sensation was such a nice contrast to the hot pain that she sighed and closed her eyes gratefully. "You feel warm," Niall pointed out, his voice transitioning effortlessly from emotional to professional. "How's the pain level?"
"Five?"
"Don't be brave," Niall scolded as he drew his hands away from her face. She cracked her eyes open and saw that he was frowning at her, more concerned than anything.
"A seven."
Niall nodded, reaching down to grab his bag and sitting it beside Piper on the bed. He rooted around in it until he found what he was looking for — a syringe and a vial. "I'm going to give you some local to numb it and then a sedative to help you relax a bit. How does that sound?"
"S-sounds pretty good-d."
Niall grimaced empathetically at her pained stutter. He tapped his fingers on her forehead gently to the side of the cut. "How did you get that?"
Piper took a big breath and prepared to explain but she slammed her lips shut, unable to manage it through the pain. Louis jumped in instead. "Clive hit her with the butt of his handgun. Knocked her out and she woke up here instead."
Niall began asking her a series of questions about her head injury that only required her to nod or shake her head. As he did, he loaded up the syringe and then pulled back her lip so he could inject it straight into her gums. The burning sensation of the local anaesthetic was barely palpable, especially when compared to the overwhelming relief that set in as her nerves were numbed to the pain.
Niall fixed her up with a sedative that took a little longer to set in, hitting sometime after Niall had cleaned her head wound thoroughly when she really could have used it before then. She just sat in silence, hunched over, as Niall bandaged her forehead carefully, answering questions when she was asked and following Niall's directions when he made her follow his penlight to check for a concussion.
"You're going to be all out of tears by the time this is over." Niall wiped at her cheeks gently, brushing away the few that had fallen while he'd been applying the final pieces of tape to hold her bandage in place on her forehead. "We'll get some water for you in a second and I'm going to call someone about getting your teeth checked tonight —"
"There's something else first," Louis interrupted, rising to his feet. He'd been sitting at Piper's side the entire time Niall was working on patching her up and she hadn't even noticed the steady presence of his hand on her back until it was gone. "We have a problem."
"Christ, what else?" Niall asked as he brushed his fingers through his hair, blowing out a long frustrated breath.
"I'll explain the details later but the whole reason behind this fiasco was Shoreditch chipping her again." Niall's mouth dropped open as his face morphed into a disgusted sneer. He said some choice swear words, mumbling them into the fist he'd stuck in front of his mouth, and Piper could tell by the tense set of his shoulders that he was not happy whatsoever. "It's in her back, by her left shoulder," Louis told Niall. "And you need to take it out. As soon as possible, really."
"Show me." Louis and Niall both crossed around the bed and climbed on behind her. She couldn't tell whose hands were whose but if she had to guess, the cool fingers holding back the gown were Louis's and the long lithe fingers probing the wound were Niall's. She could hear them conferring back and forth to each other but couldn't keep up with the words. They sounded too fast and seemed to jumble together. Piper was pretty sure that was the sedative.
Both men clambered around until Louis was sitting by her side with his legs crossed, facing her side, and Niall was rifling through his med kit once more, pulling out the supplies he thought he'd need.
"Here's what we're going to do," Niall told her as he slipped on a pair of gloves, the snap of the latex making Piper wince. "I'm going to make a small incision, not very big at all, and I'm going to get this chip out. Here's the problem — I don't have any more local. It's going to have to be without anaesthetic."
"Fuck," Piper muttered.
Niall couldn't help his sardonic little smile or the huff of laughter. "I know it really sucks and it's going to hurt but it's the fastest way to get the chip out. If you want to wait, we can take you back to Vauxhall but someone will have to come and scramble the chip before you can go into the building —"
"Just do it."
"You're sure?" Niall asked, giving her an out if she wanted to use it. "I know this is a tough thing to do. You don't have to be brave. You're allowed to say no."
She wanted to use the excuse and be a coward. She'd had more than her fair share of unfortunate things happening to her and she deserved to take the easy way out, to wait until she could be drugged and unconscious, to insist that she be pain-free and comfortable. She'd fucking earned that. But if there was one thing she'd learned since she'd met the brave men she counted as friends, it was that the easy way wasn't always the best option and that sometimes she had to suck it up and take one for the team. There was only one option really because there was no way she was putting her friends and her boyfriend at risk.
"Get the damn thing out of me," she told Niall through gritted teeth.
He rolled his lips uncomfortably and she could tell there was something he wanted to say that he was holding back. He gave Louis a long look and then finally nodded, picking up the things he needed and climbing up onto the bed beside her, walking on the unsteady mattress until he was kneeling behind her back. She could feel him prepping, rubbing the sore spot with alcohol that was cold to the touch and made the wound sting. He paused with his fingertips pressed around the spot, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
"Hold her hand," he told Louis. The other man didn't hesitate a second before grabbing Piper's other hand in his own, wrapping his fingers around the back of her hand so they were pressed palm to palm.
"Squeeze as hard as you have to," Louis told her, a supportive smile slipping onto his face for a brief couple of seconds. Piper nodded, pressing her lips tight.
She wouldn't say it didn't hurt because it did but it was nothing compared to the pain she'd been in earlier so she was able to grit her teeth and bear it. She did squeeze Louis's hand hard enough to break a couple fingers but he didn't say one word in complaint. He just held on tight all the way through. Piper tried to ignore the sensation of Niall's fingers in her back and shut her eyes, thinking of happier things instead. Like beating Clive's head in with a baseball bat.
"Aha!" Piper's eyes opened when she heard Niall's triumphant exclamation.
"You got it out?" she mumbled to the floor where she'd been looking for most of the procedure.
"Yes, you are officially chip free. Shoreditch can go ahead and kiss my arse."
Harry had chosen that exact moment to walk through the door and all three of them looked up at the primal sound that seemed to come out of his throat. Piper could see the concern in his eyes as they jumped over her figure sitting slumped on the bed but it was tempered by the uncontrolled rage on the rest of his face, in the way his brow furrowed and his nostrils flared and his jaw was impossibly tight. She opened her mouth to say something, anything really, but Harry had already spun on his heel.
Her heart thudded to a stop in her chest. He couldn't seriously be leaving her while she was scared and in pain? But of course not, because sure enough his footsteps clomped heavily up the stairs, not down. Within a couple of seconds, it seemed, he had scaled the steps because they all jumped when a furious pounding echoed back down to them, Harry's fist beating on Clive's door.
"I know you're in there, Cavanagh!" Harry's voice bellowed as he practically beat the door down. It stopped for a moment and then Piper could barely hear Clive's hiss.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
There was a strangled yelp and Piper could only assume that Harry was manhandling Clive in some way. His voice was low and deadly when he spoke, sending shivers right up her spine a whole floor below. "If you touch her again, I'll kill you."
"Do you know who I am?" Clive asked, his voice sounding more dangerous than Piper had ever heard it.
"Do you know who I am?" Harry countered. Of the two, only one of them sounded like he meant business and it wasn't Clive. "This is your last warning Cavanagh. I'll end you if you come anywhere near her again. And I promise you, it'll be nice and slow and agonizing."
Feet banged on the stairs before Clive had a chance to say anything back and seconds later, Harry was standing back in her hallway. This time, the rage was taking a backseat to the clear concern on Harry's face as he jogged across the small space toward her.
As if by an unspoken command, Louis and Niall both moved away from Piper in time for Harry to reach her. He bent so he could sweep her up into his hold, his arms circling her back and pulling her close. The relief at being in his arms was staggering and Piper tucked her face into his neck carefully, cautious of her injuries. Her own lethargic arms circled his waist and hung on desperately.
When the tears started up again, the ragged sobs wrenching forcefully out of her even when she tried to muffle them in Harry's shirt, he just rubbed her lower back gently and whispered nonsense to her to try and calm her down. The sound of his low voice wrapping around the word petal was what managed to calm her down. In the last two months of hearing that, she'd come to associate it with the feeling of safety that being with Harry gave her.
When she looked up, she realized she was sitting in Harry's lap with no recollection of how she'd gotten there or how Harry had managed to shift them around. Blinking her eyes slowly, she looked around the room and tried to get her bearings. "I feel different," she murmured as she turned back in toward Harry, her eyes trained on the collar of his jumper. He'd taken off his coat and had rolled up his sleeves too and Piper's fingers began tracing over the rose near his elbow.
"That's the sedative, petal," Harry told her in a soft, quiet voice, leaning over to press his lips gently to the part of her forehead that wasn't bandaged. "You're going to be alright."
"I know," she mumbled as she gripped the soft knit jumper in one hand, curling her fingers into it. "You're here so I'm safe."
Harry was quiet for a moment and when she glanced up, he was smiling that fond smile he had, his green eyes bright and warm. "That's right," he agreed as he reached a hand up to brush her hair back from her face, tucking it carefully over her shoulder. It was probably a mess but that didn't stop him from smoothing it out gently, twisting the end of a strand around his finger. "You're always safe with me."
Piper nodded, her forehead bumping against Harry's shoulder. One of his hands had slid under the hospital gown at her back and was rubbing circles over her side. The one that had been in her hair dropped down to her thigh and gripped gently. It was a nice feeling. Comforting. Piper nuzzled herself closer to him and gripped his jumper tighter.
"Can you take me home? To your home? The place where you live?" Harry chuckled as she struggled to figure out what she was trying to say. "I don't want to be here anymore," she said with a sigh and Harry patted her thigh gently.
"We won't stay here long. Niall just has to finish bandaging your back and then we'll get going. Just a quick stop at Vauxhall and then I'll take you home. You can get a good night's sleep and I'll make you a chocolate milkshake in the morning. How does that sound?"
Piper had to work to keep up with everything he'd said but she nodded cautiously all the same. She thought that sounded pretty good overall. "Why are we going to work?" she asked curiously.
"Niall's called in a favour and there's a dentist waiting to check on your implants."
Piper's fingers, which had been tracing a nonsense pattern on Harry's back, stilled so her palm was pressed to the warm material. She looked up at Harry, scowling hard so her brow knit together. "What?"
"There's someone waiting in medical branch —"
"But what about my dentist?" The dentist she had spent three weeks searching for and interviewing so she knew he was the best of the best. As someone who was terrified of dentists, it had taken a lot of strength and bravery to do this procedure in the first place and she'd gone through emotional hell lining up an oral surgeon to do it who she felt comfortable with and who she trusted. She didn't want anyone else.
"We can't, Piper," Harry told her, an apology laced in his words. He knew how hard this was for her. "It's obviously not safe there if Clive was able to do all this."
"No." Piper released her hold on Harry's jumper and tried to shuffle away from him. "No, I don't want to go. Don't make me go."
"Hey, petal," Harry said hurriedly, shushing her gently. He seemed surprised by her reaction and his hands scrambled to get a better hold as she squirmed in his lap. "It's okay. Calm down."
She pushed violently against his chest so he was forced to release her and then shot off his lap, stumbling away from him. She didn't get far, dropping to her knees on the carpet and planting her palms on the ground as she gasped for breath. "Please don't," she pleaded when she felt Harry's hands clasp around her biceps, his body hovering behind her. "I can't. I don't want to. Please."
Harry got down on his knees beside her, his hand squeezing around her uninjured shoulder and using it as leverage as he bent over so he could see her face tucked away. "Piper, hey, it's me." He didn't touch her except for that grip on her shoulder, giving her the space she needed to breathe. "I'm here," he reminded her. "You're safe."
She took a moment to catch her breath and try to calm down. Pressing her shaking hands together, she tucked them between her thighs to make them stop. When her stomach had settled and she didn't feel like throwing up thanks to the wave of anxiety that had washed through her, she glanced up at Harry through the hair that had fallen into her face. "Do I have to?"
"I'm sorry," Harry grimaced, reaching up to push her hair back so he could see her properly, "but you do. You're risking a nasty infection if something went wrong. It's for the best." Piper pressed her lips shut tight so she wouldn't be tempted to cry again, nodding her agreement. She knew Harry was right and that she was just going to have to tough it out. "But I'm going to be with you the whole time, okay?" he told her earnestly. "I won't leave your side for a second."
"Promise?" she asked. The request was a loaded one, considering what had happened that last time Harry made a promise.
When he spoke, it was with absolute conviction and she could tell by the stern set of his face and the way he looked her dead on that he was serious. "I promise."
Harry gave Piper a moment to sort herself out and then called for Niall to come back in. With help from Harry, Niall sealed the incision with some sort of medical grade super glue and then slapped a bandage on it. Harry helped her change into a pair of leggings, a baggy jumper, and a clean pair of socks, and then he tied her hair up into a messy bun for her. It felt so much better to be out of the flimsy hospital gown and the socks that were covered in London sidewalk grime.
He got her on her feet and then took most of her weight as they all shuffled out of her flat. He could have carried her but he knew that wasn't what she would have wanted if she wasn't on a powerful sedative. Instead, he caught her if she stumbled but let her drag her own feet slowly down the stairs and to Niall's SUV parked beside his Aston Martin in the garage, which he chose to leave behind as he slid into the backseat with her. Louis took the Range Rover and agreed to get things set up at HQ so Piper could stay the night.
Piper let her mind wander a bit as they drove, replaying everything that had happened since she'd walked into the dental surgery that morning to try and bolster her shoddy memory. When one thing stuck out to her, she nudged Harry gently until he was looking down at her curiously. "When Clive asked if you knew who he was and you said yes, what did you mean?"
Harry rolled his lips, pouting them out for a moment before pressing them shut. Piper suspected he was debating whether or not to withhold the answer from her so she gave him a jab in the ribs with her elbow. "That meeting in North London? Zayn and I were talking to a CI working within Shoreditch." He paused and looked away from Piper for a moment before turning back warily, a sullen grimace on his face. "He hadn't recognized the name Clive Herrington but he did recognize Clive Cavanagh. He's not just any member of Shoreditch. He runs the show."
Piper felt the incredible pressure on her chest once more and she reached her hand up to her sternum, feeling the hard thud of her heart underneath. "You mean —"
Harry nodded unhappily. "Clive is the head of the Shoreditch syndicate."