[A/N: I don't know if I said this, or if I've said it enough but your support has been the greatest constituent of my happiness for this past few months. It's been a terrible and hectic period, but I've always updated this and read every one of your comments. I love every vote and every bit of feedback. I love you, and don't you forget it ♡ - S ✗]

Don't be gone to long, because you won't be there to love me.

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

*LOUIS' POV*

I look to her in bewilderment, my jaw open and ready to question her motive when she raises her finger.

"I don't say the things I do for no reason, Louis." She chastises. "Anne's just told me
everything and-"

"What is everything, Mom?"

"His medication, for one. Did you know they've had him see over sixteen doctors this past year. We don't even have that many of 'em here in Middleston. Besides schizophrenia, he's prone to mood swings and shuts down for days at a time."

"She told you all this?"

"Yeah." She combs her wavy hair back onto her slumped shoulders. "And I guess you were right, Lou."

I'm too busy chewing on my lip to fully comprehend her. "What?"

"About him. He's not the best guy and it seems I may have to start getting to know Douglas better."

I roll my eyes and try to hide it. As if Douglas would really care enough to spend time with her after these years of her ignoring him.

"But....Harry doesn't seem that bad-" I start.

"Did you even listen to me five seconds ago? You've known him, what? Two days. You can't decide that. Do you know how long he's had this obsession with you?"

"No."

"Since that day you came to get that report from me. He was there also for something and I asked him to give it to you outside. Remember that?"

"Um...." I really couldn't.

Had it been Harry who gave that to me and I failed to register that it was him? It was a hectic day so it was excusable. I'd been applying to colleges that day with Douglas hounding me to take a ride with him somewhere. That was our first strike-out as a couple and ended up not talking for three days.

"Yeah." I finally answer.

"Anne says he came home asking about you. That was almost a year ago, Louis."

My jaw drops and there's a powerful sting in the nerves of my teeth from the cold gust of air that hits us when the elevator doors part. A year? A whole year of being the way he is. He never approached me after that incident though.

"I never saw him though."

"Anne said he started going to town more frequently and never explained why. He'd come back drunk sometimes even."

And that gut-dropping feeling has only expanded. Harry's twenty-three if I remember correctly, which puts him well above the legal drinking age while I was still eighteen.

"But-"

"No buts, Louis." She cuts me off. "I allow you free reign of everything in life and today I'm asking you not to do something. Will you listen?"

I sigh and look at the hospital exit, then the elevator. It felt like a choice. If I walked out with my mom, Option Three of avoiding Harry comes back into play. If I disobey her and go back up then I'm putting myself in the safety of Harry's arms forever.

"Fine." I surrender and follow her out to the awaiting car.

I knew the guy for two days. I cannot simply have grown attached to him in such a short span of time. Besides, our means of being acquainted was less than orthodox and I don't want that looming over us in the future. Life was fine before Harry, and it will perfectly fine now after Harry.

Phoebe is asleep on the couch when we get home, my father as well with the TV heating up in front of them. Mom switches it off and asks me to take Phoebe while she wakes Dad up.

"Alright." I gently lift her off my father's chest and try not to wake her on the staircase.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Lou."

I take Phoebe into her room, pulling back the covers before putting her between them. I concentrate on removing her socks and tucking her in, switching off her bedside lamp and kissing her forehead.

After hearing my parents' bedroom door close, I take a shower with the water a little on the hot side. I haven't had this much drama in my life ever, and I don't like it. It's been a much too long day that I hope to avoid thinking about from this moment forth.
The steam eventually burns me and causes a throbbing headache so I turn off the shower head.

Slacks and no T-shirt is what I go with, my skin is still red from the shower and felt sensitive. When my mind is rushing with thoughts of memory and recap, I escape to downstairs where I huddle up with a blanket and Fawlty Towers. Mr. Fluffles is abandoned on the adjacent couch and I pull him to me so neither one of us is alone.

*HARRY'S POV*

Louis laughs and I see him blush.

"I love your giggle." I comment before poking the slight pudge of his tummy. "And your tummy."

"Stop that." He warns me childishly by gripping my wrists. "Obsessed much, Harold?"

We were on our bed, tangled up in each other after we'd made love. Louis was on my lap, stop my crossed legs with his ankles crossed behind my back. He'd asked me to stay in, and I could never say no to him. It was my favourite place to be.

I chuckle softly. "You're adorable and I never thought I'd use that word in my life."

"Why not?"

He shrugs. "Never thought I'd meet you."

Suddenly, he's being pulled away and it's not a force I recognise. It's not a quick flash either before he disappears. I feel every centimetre that he moves away, against me holding him back. It feels like the warmth is drained out of the world. My world.

He looks to me, frightened and helpless. I reach out for him across the small distance between us, scrambling out from under the sheets to chase him. But the distance multiplies and he's gone before I can save him.

Would everyone please stop taking him away from me?

*NARRATOR'S POV*

"Nurse! Please, help my brother." Gemma frantically asks the nearest medical assistant.

The woman nods and follows her to Harry's room. "What happened?"

"I don't know. He just started shaking and then the screen went crazy- oh God."

Harry's head is thrown back at a painful angle, two prominent veins bulging through the skin. His back is arched at a cruel angle as well and his fists are clenched tightly. Gemma is grateful that the rehab center had him cut his nails or he'd be bleeding by now.
She had an arm around her mother's shoulder while the nurse worked to put Harry under again.

The bed rattled and every monitor beeped quickly, loud enough to summon two other nurses with a doctor. They managed to calm him down, and pump a reasonable dose of morphine to him.

"What was that?" Anne asked, the tissue in her hand has long since turned to dust flecks.

"Violent shock. A fit." The doctor explains. "Brought on by a nightmare."

"A nightmare did that?" Gemma goes on while Anne hurries over to her son's side.

She's brushing his hair out of his eyes, wiping away the sweat and watching a few drops run down his chest.

"It did." He answers. "We gave him a sedative and extra morphine for the burns. We had to remove the covers because the added heat won't do any good for his burns."

"Oh okay. Thank you, doctor."

"My pleasure and when he wakes up, ask him what it was about."

"What?"

"The nightmare."

"I will."

Gemma folded Harry's covers neatly so they were away from his open wounds that recently had the bandages changed for. The skin around it was slowly becoming red and itchy, because Harry twitched so often. When he shivered, she kissed his forehead and told him he'd be okay.

She had Louis' number from previous meetings when their moms visited one another. Noting the time, she dials him.

"Hello?" Louis sounds tired but he'd answered too quickly for him to have been asleep.

"Hey. It's me."

"Oh, Gemma. Something wrong?"

"Harry uh.....had a fit because of a nightmare. They had to sedate him."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. He's asleep because they sedated him. I was so scared, you should have seen him. Louis, I'm terrified one day I'll come here and he won't be." She let's the tears roll down as she sniffs, wiping her eyes and nose on her sweater sleeve.

"Hey, hey now." He whispers. "Nothing like that will ever happen, okay? He'll be fine and he'll always be your brother. It was just a bad dream."

"But it wasn't. It looked like he was.....I don't know but I don't want to see him like that ever again."

"And you won't. He's happy you're there for him, yeah? It's just a bad time but we always pull through those, don't we?"

"We do." Louis and Gemma were always like siblings anyway.

"Breathe, Gems." He soothes. "Do you want me there?"

"Please. Will you stay until-until he wakes up? Then ask him what the nightmare was about because I don't think I can handle it."

"I-I can't stay, Gem."

"Why not? Please, Louis."

"It's......I just can't, okay? I don't want to see him." As much as it was a lie, Louis had to say
it. "Like that."

"What?" She sounds horrified.

"He needs to recover, Gem. I can't be there for that if he's going to be getting over me."

"I can't believe you."

"No, Gemma-"

"He needs you as a friend but you're selfishly deciding to stay away because you can't handle it? You're a coward."

"Gemma-"

"I'm his sister and I'm here when he doesn't even want me here. When all he wants and asks for, is you. Why would you do this to him?"

"Gemma, he's imagining everything!" He exasperates. "It's all in his head and what use am I if I show up?"

"It doesn't bloody matter! You should be here for him just because he wants you here. I know he hasn't told you anything, so make that your excuse. Please Louis, be here when he wakes up."

He sighs and she hangs up. Louis throws his head back and rolls off the couch. He waits for the rush of blood to his brain to level out before placing Mr. Fluffles back on the couch. He goes to the kitchen and makes a cup of coffee because despite his exhaustion, this night was far from over.

He was faced with a decision, one that he apparently had to make tonight. He groans and let's his head hit the breakfast counter. He doesn't owe Harry anything, let alone his presence during his recovery against his mother's wishes. That was a puzzle on its own because his mother was pretty ignorant to encourage Louis at first and not now.
Twenty minutes later he finds himself standing outside Harry's room in Middleston County General Hospital. It was so pathetic that he had to sneak out of his own house, and not put shoes on until he was outside. He was going to be in immensely deep shit when and if his mother found out.

Gemma sees him first and comes to speak with him at the door. Her clothes haven't changed since he'd seen her last and her eyes are red-rimmed. "He's awake."

"Really?" Louis feels like an idiot.

"Yeah." She breathes through her nose and puts her hands in her jeans back pockets.

"How long?"

"About two minutes now. He's a little loopy." She forces a smile. "Thank you, Louis. For coming."

"My pleasure." He gives her a hug that she returns. "You're both my friends."

She nods and withdraws from the doorway, letting him step inside. "Mom's gone home for a few hours. I'll be outside."

Louis looks to her with an urgent expression that she dismisses and steps outside after seeing. Louis slowly turns to Harry lying in the hospital bed, stripped of a covering and slightly shivering.

"Harry." He breathes, coming to the side of Harry's bed.

"Lou." He looks up, blinking against the harsh hospital lighting. "Why....-"

"Snuck off to see you after Gemma called." Louis thinks that sounded better in his head, especially since he said it to a friend.

Harry smiles weakly and doesn't move any further. Louis yawns and covers his mouth with his hand. He sits on Harry's bed with his one leg folded under the other.
He examines Harry's burns that are now out in the open. The hospital gown offers no coverage for Harry's modesty and Louis' cheeks flame up slightly.

"Painful?" Louis looks at him.

Harry silently shifts over in his bed, wincing a little but not letting out a pained sound. He offers Louis half of his pillow.

"Yeah." Harry croaks and Louis' heart cracks.

"Scale of one to-"

"Ninety, Lou."

Louis rests his head on Harry's pillow and stares up at the ceiling. He hadn't noticed the TV attached to it. "Anything I can do?"

"Food."

"You're hungry?"

"Hospital food's gross."

Louis laughs and turns his head to look at the good half of Harry's profile. Both sides were good to him, because he was a professional in insecurities and he wasn't about to go around highlighting others'.

"Maybe next time." Louis says in wonder.

Harry turns too and now his scar is in full view. "Why'd you have to sneak off?"

"Mom doesn't want me coming here."

"Why?"

Louis brushes a lock of Harry's hair - that he notes upon contact, is damp from sweat - away from tickling his bandage. "Don't know. Thinks....Thinks we're no good as friends."

"We aren't."

Louis frowns and looks away.

"We're more."

Louis goes stiff and looks at Harry from the corner of his eye. "You're high."

Harry let's his head slide onto Louis' shoulder. "Meds don't affect me anymore."

Louis sighs and relaxes because he's sure a tense shoulder must be uncomfortable for poor Harry. "I'm sorry."

"I love you."

"I know." Louis folds his hands together on his tummy. One day I'll say it to you too and mean it.

"Harry?"

"Hmm."

"Can you tell me.....about, you know. Us."

Harry's nose brushed against Louis' collar and it was freezing cold. "Our story?"

"Y-Yeah."

"It's really long." But it's my favourite story.

"Get some rest and tell me later. Promise?"

"Promise. Lou?"

"Will you stay?"

"Can't, Harry. I'm sorry."

"Mm okay. Let me fall asleep first, please?"

"Alright. Goodnight."

"'Night, love."

[A/N: I have a question for you guys. Could you please rate this story out of 10? Vote if you think it's above 5 and you don't want to comment. Please, I will check :) - S x]

Notes