Unexpected

(Perrie's POV)

"Purple!?" I hear Zayn 'yell' from the staircase "you said paint the dining room whatever I wanted to, so Yes purple" more foot steps join his and then I hear multiple sighs. I turn around and all three men are starring at the newly painted wall "isn't it pretty?" I ask in a high pitch voice "you do know three guys live here" Louis says "yes and two girls, besides it's just the one dining room wall" they all sigh and plop on the couch. Big babies, I bet Anna will love it. something nice and bright to come down stairs to every morning, it'll be a nice change from her previous living conditions - from what I hear - and it's a whole hell of a lot better than the walls of the hospital. Come to think of it I haven't seen her today "where's Anna?" Ezra answers "she's upstairs, said she'll be down after her shower" I nod. I'm going to see if she needs any help with her bandages. Hmmm would this hallway look pretty blue "don't even think about it" Zayn's voice startles me a little "what?" He smiles "I've lived with Anna almost my entire life. I know how women think, and right now I know your thinking about redoing this hallway wall... probably in another girly color" well shit, he's good. I can't help the smile that's on my face when he walks away "and another thing" he turns around "the walls are already stone" I giggle and continue my walk up the steps "stone can be painted over!" I yell from the top of the steps, I don't get a response but I do hear him laugh. Opening the door to the sitting area outside everyone's bedroom I notice the shower isn't running. I knock on the bathroom door but no one answers "Anna? Its Perrie... Are you ok?" She sniffles and then the door cracks open slightly "do you need help-" when I walk in she is sitting on the floor crying, holding her face in her hands. I bend down and rub her back gently "what happened, why are you crying? Are you in pain, because I can give you different medicine" "no" her voice comes out, but it's just a whisper "do you want Ezra" she shakes her head 'no' "I don't want him to see me like this" there it is. Now I understand. "You know he'll love you no matter what you look like" she sniffles again "even like this? With all these marks and bruises and scars... Do you really think he'll love seeing me like this, and being reminded of Harry, every time I get undressed" "I think he loves you and has wanted you for so long that your scars and bruises won't matter to him... he's a good guy Anna, he knows what you've been through and he's been with you through all of it. So no I don't think he'll love seeing you like this, because he won't all he is going to see is the girl he loves" the door opens and Ezra comes in "you should listen to her you know" he bends down in front of her and smiles "she is right... I don't care about the scars as long as your in my arms everything will be perfect" I stand up and pat him on the back before I walk out and shut the door. "why can't I find a guy like that"

(Anna's POV)

When Ezra walked into the room I immediately tried to stop crying. I hate it when he sees me like this, even though it's been a lot. He's seen me at the best and worst times of my life... Recently everything has been worse though. "She is right... I don't care about the scars as long as your in my arms everything will be perfect" Perrie smiles at him and leaves the room "Darling, I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You are exquisite, beautiful, gorgeous." He kisses me with each compliment and I have to swallow the lump that's suddenly made its way into my throat. I desperately want to believe his words, but it's hard to when all I've heard is the direct opposite for so many years. But Ezra still tries, he stands me in front of the mirror, with his body right behind mine. "Do you see what I see, love?" he whispers softly. He trails a finger down my cheek. "I see heavenly eyes, that light up my world." His finger traces over my lips. "I see lips that entice me, that shower love, that laughter spills from." I close my eyes, holding back tears. That's not at all what I see in the mirror. I see every single imperfection. Every single hit, kick, burn, knife mark, belt mark. "Darling, please" he whispers in my ear. "To me, you are perfect. Every single inch of you." I can't take this I start to shake my head slowly, trying to tell him to stop, but he keeps talking. "I love your skin. Even these scars, especially the scars, because it proves how tough you are, how strong you are to survive. You're the one I want to wake up to every morning. All of you, every inch, every scar, every bad dream." soft tears are in his eyes as he bends down to kiss me gently before continuing "I am so deeply in love with you. You are my everything. Trust me when I say that I want, I need, everything about you." I can't hold back the tears anymore as they start to spill. "Darling, do you trust me?" I nod weakly, not trusting my voice. "Then trust when I tell you that you are my everything. That you are the other half of my soul, and that without you I wouldn't want to live. There is not a single thing about you that I would change... Except that I'd want you to see your true beauty. To see the beautiful soul that's inside." He moves to stand in front of me, cradling my face in his hands. "Love, please... I know I can't change the past for you. But promise me you'll let me help you through the present, through the future. I promise to always be here for you." I nod and wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him close. I start to relax, as if a tiny bit of my troubles have just floated away. He has that affect on me, he will always have that affect on me. I'm not sure if i trust my voice or not, but i manage to whisper "Thank you." For the first time in forever, i know I finally have one person who i can trust with my whole being... mind, body, heart, and soul. And that no matter what, he will love me.

After my mini meltdown was brought to a peaceful end, Ezra picked me up and carried me to our bedroom- our bedroom, I think I like that. He lays me down on the bed and comes to lay down with me. He wraps me in his arms and gently pulls me close. Oh I could get use to this. "Feel better now love?" "Much... I'm sorry I kind of freaked out" he chuckles "Anna you don't have to apologize for that, it's ok" I nod and he kisses my head "I still haven't seen the rest of the house" I remind him "mhm but I think I like this right now, we're all cuddly and warm" I giggle as he squishes are bodies together more. I decide to tease him, just a little "maybe your nickname should be cuddles" he laughs "nah it fits you better, I know you love this" he kisses my lips and pulls away too fast, making me whine "why'd you stop" he smiles and lifts me off of the bed "because you wanted to see the rest of the house" "Ezraaaaa-" he stops me with a kiss and let's it linger, it gets heated quickly and I can't help running my fingers through his soft dirty blonde hair. The warmth of his body is intoxicating to me. "Better?" He asks as he pulls away, I'm so breathless all I can say is "mhm" he gives me one more peck on the lips then grabs my hand and leads me to the stairs. "awe I love this little tv room!" He chuckles "I knew you would, I hooked up the gaming systems too" he turns around and grins at me. Oh god. he takes me down the steps and opens a French door. "Wow" it's wonderful - a big kitchen, an actual dinning room, and a living room with a fireplace. "Ezra this is amazing" he smiles and grabs my waist "you finally have your own kitchen" he let's go of me and runs to the fridge "complete with a stocked refrigerator, freezer, and wait for it...." he moves to a cabinet and slowly opens it "drumroll Zayn" I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders then hear Zayn do a drum roll with his mouth "cooking appliances! complete with a coffee machine" Zayn bends down to whisper in my ear "because lord knows what happens to you when you don't have your caffeine" I laugh and hit him on the chest "meanie" he winks and walks away, into the living room. "Like it?" Ezra asks "I love it, it's beautiful" both men smile and I laugh. "There is one more thing I have to show you" Ezra comes back over to me and puts my hands over my eyes "what?" "You'll have to wait and see" it's wrong to be nervous right? I shouldn't be, I know Ezra would never hurt me and neither would Zayn... But I am nervous, I can't help it. as Ezra is walking me to his surprise my heart starts to race and the palms of my hands start to get sweaty. It doesn't help that I can't see, because he has his hands over my eyes. flash backs start to fill my head, of the night Harry proposed, and I'm trying so hard to block them out.

(Ezra's POV)

She is going to flip when she sees this, her own studio where she can dance. Me and Louis set everything up - full length mirrors on each wall, ballet bars, and I even wrote and recorded her some music to dance to. I can't wait till she sees it! The studio is in the basement, we converted it. "ok stand still and keep your eyes closed, I need to pick you up" she does what I say and I continue waking down the steps. "Are you cold? your shaking" I feel her nod against my chest and I hold her closer, trying to warm her up. we reach the bottom and I stand her up "ok you can open your eyes" she does and I turn her around "now open the door" she takes the knob in her hands and slowly twists it. When she gets it open I reach in and turn on the light. She gasps and her eyes get watery "it's your dance studio that you've always wanted" "I... It's..." her hand goes up to cover her mouth "do you like it?" She nods "it's beautiful" a small tear escapes her eye and when she moves her hand she's smiling "I can't believe you did this... you remembered" I walk over to her and take her waist in my hands "of coarse I remembered, you were always dancing, always even if you didn't have any music" she smiles "you would always play me music on your old guitar" I smile and kiss her lips "I also bought another guitar" I whisper in her ear and she gets a chill "do you want to stay here or go upstairs?" "She wants to go upstairs!" Louis yells from the top of the steps, making her roll her eyes "c'mon" I take her hand and lead her up the steps. I'm so glad she loved it, when she started shaking I thought she might have been scared... I guess I was over reacting because of earlier. Once we reach the living room Louis grabs her and picks her up swinging her around "alright alright, hands off Tomlinson" he chuckles and puts her down "over protective much?" He jokes but I don't think it's funny "With you yeah" "stop it both of you" Anna breaks the tension that is now in the entire house. She's always been able to do that, even when me and Harry would fight and let me tell you that was a lot. every time though she'd put an end to it like that. I decide to be the 'bigger man' and walk away first "what was that all about?" Zayn asks me while I sit down next to him on the sofa "nothing, apparently I'm being 'over protective'" he points to Louis "yup... so I'm just suppose to trust him now, is that how this works?" "No Anna doesn't trust him one hounded percent either, look at her" when I do I don't see anything that's unusual "what? She looks fine" he shakes his head "no look, her body is tensed, she won't look at him in the eyes, and every time he gets closer to her she backs up. She doesn't trust him, if anything she is still scared of him" I pay more attention and see what Zayn sees, and he's right she does look scared. Why couldn't I see it before, I should know what she looks like when she's scared. She's shaking too- oh my god she was scared when I was taking her to the studio... she was scared of me.

"You were scared of me?" I blurt out the question, in front of everyone, that I already know the answer to and she turns to look at me "Anna, were you?" She starts to walk upstairs so I follow her. She's in our bedroom sitting in our bed when I make it there "why would you be scared of me?" She's not even looking at me, what happened, did I hurt her, maybe I shouldn't have kisses her like that, maybe she wasn't ready for that "look I'm sorry, whatever I did I didn't mean to-" "you didn't do anything... it's just me, I don't know I started thinking about the past and it got to me" I sit on the bed next to her "why were you thinking about that?" She takes a deep breath "because that's how Harry proposed- he- he covered my eyes and told me it was a surprise" "I'm sorry love I didn't know" she nods and lays down. I'm such a fucking idiot I should have know that would scare her. That would scare anybody, oh hey I going to cover your eyes and lead you down to a dark basement. Real fucking brilliant Ezra. I feel her hands tug at the bottom of my shirt and I let her pull me down to lay next to her. once I'm down she lays her head on my chest and traces the tattoo on my arm with her fingertips "I don't want you to be upset" she whispers "I'm not baby, I just feel like a complete arsehole because I didn't think that would scare you and I should have known it would" my phone starts to vibrate in my pocket and I groan "it's ok" she says, letting me know I can answer it. I get off of the bed and go into the hallway "hello?" I hear someone laugh on the other line "whoever the hell this is better start talking" I warn then hear a sigh "Ezra, Ezra, Ezra, you still owe me money" shit shit shit shit! No oh shit how could I forget "I don't have the money right now, a lot has happened and-" "I DONT FUCKING CARE!! Get me my money by this week or I'll have to come and collect" the phone beeps in my ear and I drop it. How am I suppose to get four thousand pounds in a week? And what did he mean by 'collect'?
(Anna's POV)
It's been a long time since Ezra left the room to answer his phone and my mind starts driving me crazy. You really screwed up this time. This is why Harry beat you. Ezra really isn't going to stay with you now. Harry was right you are a piece of shit. Should have just stayed with him and let him kill you. I shake my head at my own thoughts and decide to go and find Ezra. He's not upstairs "Ezra?" I holler for him... no answer. ok "Zayn? Louis? Perrie?" "There not here sweetheart" I freeze when I feel his hands touch my waist "you look good babe, not as bloody as I wanted you too but..." he turns me around and traces my face with his fingertip "I really missed you while I was away" then I feel it, a sharp sting on my face "H-Harry-" he puts his hand over my mouth and starts to drag me to the basement. I squirm and try to struggle against him but he grabs my back and instead I fall to the floor in pain "ANNA GET UP!!" he picks me up by my shoulders and continues taking me into the basement "p-pl-lease-e" "Stop it Anna" he warns me. Why is this happening, how did he get out of the hospital, where is Ezra? "What did you do to him!?" I scream as loud as I can, he laughs "I didn't do anything, he left you" he throws me on the ground "he-e wouldn't-" he cuts me off "he would and he has, it's just me and you sweetheart" he goes into his pocket and brings out a knife "just like it use to be... but first" he bends down and lifts up my shirt "you've been a bad bad girl" the blade slices my skin and I yelp in pain. Another cut on my stomach makes me scream "no-o st-top!" I try to move but I can't, I can't move at all... "w-what did you give m-me?" He chuckles "nothing love" he bends down and kisses me "you can't move because someone is holding you down" what? He's crazy! "Anna love get up" he slams my body down on the wooden floor "GET UP!!" He starts shaking me and all my body is capable of doing is crying. Cold water is thrown on my face and I gasp for air "please love" more water is thrown and I can't breathe "s-st-to-op-p" "open your eyes Anna!" I can't "someone has to slap her" it's Perrie's voice, she was in on this "are you crazy!?" I hear Ezra say, oh god please help me "no I'm not she needs to wake up!" I feel a sting to my face and I open my eyes.

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