Baby, Heaven's in your eyes.

"Oh God." She covers her mouth with her hand. "I-It's Anne. Harry's mom."

Louis stands because sitting made him feel like he was wasting something. "What happened?"

"The rehab center, someone started a fire while all the other patients were asleep."
She says. "She and Gemma are at the hospital with Harry."

*LOUIS' POV*

"Hospital?" I shove my hands into my pockets because the temperature of the room has suddenly plummeted to sub-zero condition.

"Coming?" My mom's picking up a random set of keys that she'll just have to recognise
outside when we're in too much of a hurry to switch.

"Yes." I say softly then once again, louder. "I'm coming."

We end up in my car, a polished Renault. Mom is on the phone with a hysterical Anne the whole drive there, trying to calm her down while I remain dead silent. The hospital comes into view after three minutes of driving and breaking minimal street laws.

"Coming in?" She asks, stepping outside.

"Y-Yeah. I am."

My mind reels as I follow her through the sliding electronic doors of the hospital, anxious and terrified to find out how bad of a condition the patients are in. Could Harry be in a serious state? How badly burnt is he to be in the hospital? My heart rabbits in my chest and I think it has grown arms, ascending through my throat and threatening to come out with a single cough.

The panic in my ribcage has begun to physically hurt with each door I pass that isn't our destination. The reason, is unknown and quite alarming to have considering the way Harry and I parted. Would he have relapsed again? Is he conscious? What if Anne's hysteria was because of something much more worse? I swallow to rid myself of the scary thought. Harry
is still a friend, and I still care about his well-being.

"In here." My mom directs, knocking on a partially open door before pushing it open.

Inside is a customary hospital room, with two chairs beside the bed. One Gemma is seated in, and the other one is empty because Anne is pacing around the room. A doctor is blocking the figure under the covers in the bed but when she moves, I see him.

Harry's eyes are closed and his chest is rising before gradually falling. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I don't see any immediate damage as yet, and my mother soon takes on the duty of
harassing the staff on duty.

"How is he?" She asks Anne.

Anne is in tears, biting her thumb nail and never looking at one thing for more than three seconds at a time. "He-He hasn't woken up. They say he wasn't there but I don't know how
it happened."

"What? What happened?"

While they ramble, I smile at Gemma who returns it, before approaching the bed to look at Harry's sleeping form. I see the scar on his face and frown. It was not prominent and in no way lessened Harry's beauty. There is a slight curve of empty space on the bed and I perch myself on it, against my mother's slight scolding.

"His front is burnt. F-From his chest to his-"

"We don't see any permanent damage besides the scars." The doctor intervened.

His hands are tucked under the thin sheet and a quilt Anne definitely brought with her. His
lips are slightly parted and every so often, his eyelids would twitch.

"He's on morphine now but he doesn't need it." She continues. "We'll be back to check his bandage in an hour."

When she leaves, my mother sits with Anne by the wall and offers her water. I'd never have thought that Anne would end up this way over something-

"He asked for you." Gemma interrupts my thoughts and I realise that I've found Harry's hand even if it's under the covers.

"Who?"

"Him." She smiles, nodding towards her brother before sitting back and drawing her knees up. "Expected it though, only ever speaks about you."

I frown. "Sh-Should I leave?"

"No." She smiles in reassurance. "My mother loves that you're here. She just....was never good at showing it."

"She doesn't like me though, does she?"

"She would love you a whole lot more if Harry smiled for something she did once in a while. She can't handle it."

"I'm sorry." I look down at my small does. "I didn't mean for it to go this far and I'll stop if she wants."

"Absolutely not." She laughs. "My mother asked for you to visit Harry. She thinks that once Harry's better, it'll all go back to normal."

I nod and look up. "What happened?"

"Someone didn't want their meds and he happened to be in the kitchen at the time." She explains. "Harry had to get himself involved."

"Did he try to put the fire out?"

"Gotta ask him that, love. He'll be up soon, the doctors say."

"How-How bad are the.....burns?"

"Not as bad as you'd think. They'll heal over time but....they won't entirely go away. Some on his back, legs and stomach. The guy's an idiot."

I look up at her with a puzzled frown, but regret it when all I can see is her saddened expression. Tears are welling up in the corners of her eyes and her lip is quivering.

"Hey." I sit down next to her, patting her shoulder soothingly. "He'll be okay, alright? I know he will."

"I wish you knew him." She chokes. "Knew him like I do."

"Why? Is he any different?"

She smiles through her tears and rolls her eyes slightly. "No but he wouldn't have to ask you to fall in love with him."

I'm speechless at her words and choose not to say anything. "I'd heard that he was never very friendly."

"He isn't. He hates socialising because he always says the wrong thing." She smiles wryly.

"But he'd really try if he wanted to be your friend."

Of all the people he's heard praise Harry, this one broke his heart. Harry is due to wake up anytime now and he had to make a fair decision before that happened.

"Excuse me." Gemma gets up and walks past her mother, going in the direction of the ladies' room.

Their moms are whispering in the corner of the room, my mom has an arm over Anne's shoulders as she tries to console her. I sigh and slouch in my seat, staring at the waxed floor while my mind tosses and juggles different options. Why the Hell am I in this mess?

"We'll be outside, Louis." My mom says suddenly. "Call us if anything happens."

"I will." I mutter, leaving them to slip out into the passage.

I get up and moves to Harry's side, lifting my leg to rest on the corner of the bed as I contemplates running away to Alaska. Many questions filled my head, and maybe all I had to do was ask Harry for me to understand him. My options were:

First, give Harry a chance though I know nothing at all about him. Let him woo me until I understand his infatuation that will eventually lessen.
Second, ask Harry about the fantasy he had. It could help to comprehend the depth of his emotions.
Third, abandon all hope of completing this task and ignore Harry for the rest of my life.

I had college to attend next year, and what would happen then? Douglas and I haven't spoken about it yet but I'm partly sure he isn't big on long-distance relationships. For that reason and more, we've grown apart and I can no longer let him touch me without flinching.

He always smells like beer and cocaine nowadays, it's disgusting and I hate that he's covered in the odour. He never listened when I pointed it out, and so I gave up.
I look at the scar marring Harry's visage. It runs from just above his jaw to the corner of his eye, an untidy burn mark that's linear. I wanted to touch it and test it's severity but the injury is still fresh and could hurt him. It was neatly bandaged with thin bandage strips, and had stopped bleeding by the looks of it.

The ECG monitor picked up its pace and made more frequent beeps that got louder. I panicked and decided it best to get off the bed.

In the midst of my stride to the door, Harry wakes up. "Louis?"

I freeze and turn around slowly.

"Is that you?"

"Yeah." I answer simply.

He tries to sit up, grimacing at the pain and hissing when it got too much.

"Don't." I warn. "Don't do that."

I approach the bed again and stand awkwardly beside it. There was a remote to control Harry's backrest but I wouldn't risk pressing random buttons in a hospital.

Harry reaches to his face, pressing on the slightly soiled medical tissue so that further red splatters are formed.

I react by immediately ceasing his hand, removing it from that area of wounded flesh. "Don't touch it."

He looks at me from across the little distance between us. My breathing slows and I glance elsewhere. "I'll go tell them you're awake."

"Lou?" He holds onto my wrist.

"H-Harry?"

If I could, I'd swear that Harry's green gaze darted to my lips before he met my stare again.
And option three of ignoring Harry goes out the window.

"How are you feeling?" And maybe it was a gesture of comfort to reach out and brush Harry's hair out of his eyes and away from the still healing burn.

"Awful." He chuckles then winces.

"What happened?"

"I think- I think I heard shouting and thought I could help. Everything was burning when I got there."

I retract my hand. "Is that what happened? Here, I mean." To indicate what I meant, I brush my thumb over the edge of his bandage again.

His eyelids drop and his lips part. "Please don't do that."

I immediately pull back. "Do what?"

"Touch me like that."

"Does it hurt?"

"My heart, yes." His eyes search mine. "Don't rub it in that I can't have you as I want to."

"I promised you a chance when I'm ready, Harry." I sigh.

"And I won't allow you to break that promise; but for now, do not tempt me."

Leaning closer is a terribly selfish decision, but I act on it anyway. He doesn't pull back.

"Tempt you to do what?"

He lifts his head so our foreheads are pressed together and our noses bump. He takes a second to lift his head inch my inch, slowly and very carefully. I could have been shot immobile and chose not to move. But it's the clearing of a female's throat that has me - without letting out a small peep - jumping back and Harry scowling.

"Harry." His mom exhales with relief. "You're awake."

"Hi mom." He greets as she approaches his bed.

I step back to be in line with my own parent who is too smug for it to be good for me.

"What?"

"What 'what'?" She gives me a side wards smirk that's unnerving.

"Don't smile like that." I whisper back quickly, crossing my arms. "It's creepy."

"You're creepy." She childishly replies. "I knew you'd like him."

"Let's not forget why we're in a hospital, Mom."

"Oh relax." She bumps her shoulder with mine. "You know I'm just kidding about him."

I frown. "Huh?"

"He's a wonderful kid but he can't hold a relationship. He's on meds for bordering on being bipolar, and look where he is now. You can't possibly think anything could work out with him."

Fucking woah. Hold on a second, I thought my mother approved of Harry all this time and now she's throwing insults at him. What happened in the corridor that made her change her perspective?

And where did bipolarity come from? I didn't know he was on medication for that and why would my mom bring it up now? Bloody Hell.

Harry and his mom are chatting by his bed, he trying to comfort her while her shoulders shake from sobs. Gemma enters, looking more alive than when she'd excuse herself.

"We should go." My mom says finally. "Getting late."

"Oh okay." I shove my hands into my hoodie and duck my head to start walking out.

"Where are they going?" I hear Gemma ask but my mom's impatiently holding the door open.

"Lou?" That's Harry and I have to turn around, except my mother's got a grip on my elbow already.

I get to wave goodbye before I'm instructed to get an elevator and wait for her. She steps in with me after speaking to the nurse, shoulders stiff and knuckles cracking one-by-one.

"I don't want you seeing Harry again." She says.

[A/N: Hiii :) Haha don't kill me o.o To all those who don't comment, I see you and I love you, okay? Okay. Now, we have a problem. My exams start on Monday and I'm going to be surviving on Red Bull with no sleep for three days straight. Let's hope I survive. Opinions? Thoughts? Story ideas? Answer to 9 x 8 maybe? - S xx]

Notes