Harry and Molly sat waiting in a room in Florida the morning of the final Jingle Ball concert. Soon, Louis entered, followed by Niall, and finally Liam. They each seemed surprised to see the rest of them there, then saw Molly and realized she had invited them.

Molly watched as the four guys glanced at each other, not really sure what to do. There was a palpable tension in the small room, so Molly got over her internal fangirl screaming and got right into things.

“Here’s how it’s going to go: the four of you will come out when Harry introduces his ‘friends’ and sing with him, then you’re going to sing a song off of ‘Made in the AM’.” She swallowed and bit her lips nervously as she watched four sets of eyes fall on her.

“Which one?” Louis asked.

She smiled. “Harry will explain all of that - I have some friends I have to meet up with.”
“I will?” Harry looked surprised. “Um, okay…”

“Thanks, sunshine!” Molly kissed his cheek and left quickly, hoping things would go as planned, and tried to get her head in the right place for her next task. She drove to the airport to pick up Alexa and Lily, and she wasn’t sure how it would be with them. They had been a little upset with her for not telling them about her and Harry before going public, but Molly hoped they were over that now that they had VIP passes to see a surprise 1D reunion.

As she walked toward the arrivals section of the airport, she got a call from Lily.

“Sooo we brought along another One Direction fan with us, Molls, I hope that’s okay,” Lily said.

“What?! I only have two passes for you guys!”
“She’s a huuuge fan though!” Lily pleaded as she scanned the group of people waiting to pick someone up for Molly.

“I’ll see what I can do, but this is very last minute.” Molly rounded the corner to the arrivals area and started looking for Lily and Alexa. “Even if you could have told me before you left, I might have been able to work something out-” Molly stopped when her eyes finally found Lily, Alexa, and their ‘friend’, and she ran up to her and gave her a hug. “Mom!!”

“It’s just like old times - back when I used to take you girls to 1D concerts in high school,” Deb said as she hugged her daughter back.

“I am so happy to see you, and you guys as well,” Molly added to Lily and Alexa. “Let me help you with your luggage, I have a girls’ night planned for us - and a fun surprise later.”


Harry looked around at Liam, Louis, and Niall, not sure what to say. It was the first time the four of them had been together since Louis performed ‘Just Hold On’ on the X-Factor last year, and a lot had happened since then. They asked Liam how Bear was doing, and Louis about Freddy. Harry and Niall exchanged tour stories, and they caught up on the basics they’d missed over the past few years as they slowly settled back into the way things were - but it could never be quite the same again. The rhythm was disrupted, and the well-worn One Direction groove was long gone -things that had been done and said couldn’t be undone or unsaid- and this left the four boys in an odd stage of limbo.

“So, it looks like the band’s back together again,” Louis joked to ease the tension, and the others laughed.

“That girlfriend of yours is sneaky,” Niall said to Harry. “I had no idea what she was up to when she called.”

“Neither did I, honestly,” Harry laughed. “She’s pretty clever, though.”

“She’s like a mini Simon Cowell,” Liam joked.

“Hey, don’t insult my girl like that,” Harry pretended to be upset and gave Liam a light shove.

“I meant it as a compliment!” Liam defended. “At least she’s got a better hair cut than him.”

“Speaking of which, is that something you’re allergic to now, Haz?” Louis reached over and tousled Harry’s locks.

“What, a haircut?” Harry automatically ran his hand through his longish hair. “No, we just thought it looked better this way.”

“Meaning, Molly likes it longer,” Niall teased and raised his eyebrows a few times, causing Harry to blush at the truth.

“Anyway, as Molly said, we’re going to sing a song off ‘Made in the AM’, one we’ve never sung live before. So, we might want to...practice, or something.” Harry changed the subject.

“Molly’s really rubbing off on you, I see, making you all responsible-like.” Louis noted in a bit of a teasing tone. “He’s probably right, though.”

“My band has already learned the song, so if you’d like-” Harry started, but Niall interrupted.

“Wait, Molly told me my band was going to be backing us, so they’ve learned it too.”

The boys eyed each other in confusion.

“What if they played together?” Liam suggested. Niall and Harry looked at each other for a moment.

“Yeah, I guess,” they both started.

“We could make that work,” Niall added, and they got to work with their bands deciding who would play which instruments on the song, and what not.


Molly, Lily, Alexa, and Deb spent the afternoon and evening getting ready for the Jingle Ball concert that night. Deb opened a bottle of wine and poured them each a glass to get the night started.

“It’s so nice you guys can drink now so I’m not the only one anymore,” she laughed and refilled her glass.

“Mom!” Molly balked, but the others laughed.

“What? All the moms at the concerts used to get a drink together while you girls were up screaming at the boys. But this time?” Deb downed her drink. “I’ll be up there screaming with you too.”

“Oh god…” Molly rolled her eyes, but her friends giggled. “Okay, let’s go before my mom gets too drunk.”

“I am so excited for this!” Alexa exclaimed on their way there.

“You should be.” Molly pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t give away the surprise. They knew all four 1D boys would be there, but not what Molly had in store.

Molly led the other three backstage to see Harry, Louis, Niall, and Liam before the show. Lily and Alex were suddenly reduced to hyperventilating 15 year old fangirls in their presence, while Deb maintained a bit more dignity (for now, at least). Molly watched in amusement and chatted with Harry and his band to make sure everything was going alright.

“You look nice, did Rupe pick this out? You like like you’ve somehow time traveled right out of 2014.” Molly noted his standard black skinny jeans, and loose button up shirt nearly half unbuttoned. Looking over the other three boys, they seemed to have taken the same hint too. “It’s almost like you guys planned this,” she joked.

“You mean you didn’t?” Harry asked.

Molly just smiled and kissed his cheek. “Have fun tonight, I can’t wait to see it!” She peeled Lily, Alexa, and Deb off of Liam, Louis, and Niall so they could take their seats in the VIP area.

The first half of the show seemed unbearably slow, even though they danced along with everyone and enjoyed the artists. But they (and many others) seemed to be here for the potential One Direction reunion.

First Louis sang a few songs, then Liam. When it was finally Harry’s turn, Molly’s foot started tapping uncontrollably.

“What’s wrong honey?” Deb asked, knowing that foot-tapping as a tell tale sign her daughter was nervous about something. “He’ll do fine, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m sure, but it’s not that. Nevermind.” Molly tried to brush it off and enjoy the show. Harry played a few songs, then stopped. He looked right at Molly and smiled slightly, so she smiled back.

“For my last song, I’m going to get a bit of assistance from a few friends,” Harry paused and grinned at the audience as they reacted. “Please give a warm welcome to Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson!” The audience erupted into cheers as the three made their way on stage to join Harry.

Niall had his guitar (as always) so he stood at at the microphone stand, and the other three stood evenly spaced across the stage. Once it quieted down enough, Clare started playing the opening notes of ‘Sign of the Times’ and the audience again screamed in excitement. The song started with Harry, as usual, on the first verse, but Liam took over the falsetto ‘bullets’ chorus. The four of them sang the next section together, and Louis and Niall took turns singing the next part (starting with ‘just stop your crying have the time of your life). Harry sang the ‘we don’t talk enough’ part near the end, and Liam accompanied him on the higher ‘we’ve got to get away’s at the end.

The audience seemed to be in some kind of trance, not even singing along with them, just taking it all in. It was exactly what Molly had envisioned, but so much better to actually see it play out in person. As the song ended, the crowd cheered, and to her surprise, Molly found herself (and her friends) crying. It was a weird, almost eerie, environment, but in a good way.

As the audience settled down after the song, a few members of Niall’s band joined Harry’s, and the crowd looked on in confusion. Even the boys seemed to look at each other with uncertainty, until it was decided Louis would do the talking.

“This is a song I think we all related to over the past two years of the hiatus,” Louis started, indicating he and the other three at ‘we’, and waited for the crowd to settle down again. “We haven’t sung this live before, but off of ‘Made in the AM’, and,” he again paused for some shrieks and cheers before continuing. “This is ‘Long Way Down’!”

They certainly didn’t need that many musicians on stage, but it made the experience even more exceptional to see both Harry and Niall’s bands playing together. The audience sang along with the song, and it was, again, a very ethereal experience, but somehow very oddly out of place. Every 1D fan seemed to accept that this wasn’t One Direction, it was four solo artists, and former 1D members, singing a song from their last album.

As the song ended, they all took a bow and waved to the fans. Slowly, Harry’s band made their way off stage with their instruments, yet to Molly’s surprise, all four One Direction boys remained. Niall spoke to his band for a moment before stepping up to the microphone again.

“Firstly, we’d like to thank Molly for getting us to sing together one last time,” Niall said to Molly, and everyone seemed to turn to look at her. She sheepishly waved, and Niall continued. “This was a nice surprise for our fans, but now we have a surprise for you. The last two songs were a little sad, so this is something to cheer you guys up. If you know the words, sing along; if not, just clap? This is ‘On My Own!” Niall concluded, and looked back at his band to signal them to start playing.

The song started out with Niall, as usual, and they all sang the chorus’ together. The other guys took turns singing the verses, and had fun channeling their inner Irishman. The audience loved it, but soon Liam, Harry, and Louis had to leave the stage. They took a bow and waved a few times before leaving just Niall and his band on stage.

“Tough act to follow,” Niall joked before delving into ‘Slow Hands’, and the audience (including Molly, Alexa, Lily, and Deb) went crazy.

“I see what they did there,” Deb nodded as the show came to a conclusion soon after. “This is closure. Those three songs say it all - Sign of the Times, Long Way Down, followed by On My Own -it’s clear, One Direction is over.”

The other three girls nodded at her wisdom - something Molly hadn’t even noticed. The boys choice of ‘On My Own’ said it all, practically. They had fun in 1D, but now it’s over and they’re enjoying being on their own. Somehow, they didn’t feel sad - maybe they’d known all along it was over - instead it felt right for them to all do their own thing as solo artists.

After the show, Lily, Alexa, and Deb returned to their hotel rooms, and Molly slipped backstage to find Harry. He was talking with Niall, Liam, and Louis, so she just watched for a minute before interrupting them. She could have sworn they said something like ‘we should do this again’ but maybe it was just her head playing tricks on her.

“There she is! Mini Simon Cowell!” Niall shouted when he spotted Molly.

“What?” She laughed and joined them.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Harry reassured her before one of the guys said anything else about it, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Great job though, that came together perfectly,” Liam said.

“Thanks, and that was a nice surprise for me, too,” Molly replied. “You guys were all fantastic...you should form a band or something?”

“What? Us?” Louis joked. It got quiet, and they all eventually found reasons to go their separate ways, promising to keep in touch, just like they had the last time. But Molly could tell this was probably it -her mom was right- and One Direction as they knew it had ended two years ago.



Molly opened up her email the next morning and saw she had an email from Gemma about a new message they had received for their advice column.

Hey Molly, I think this one’s for you:

‘Dear Molly and Gemma,

(Well, just Molly, really [though we love you too, Gemma!].)

Firstly, we just want to say that we get it. We 100% understand your reasons to keep your relationship with Harry private. If we were you, we’d want to keep him all to ourselves, and not deal with any speculation or negative feedback from fans either! But after this weekend, we realized that he’s more than just your boyfriend, and you are definitely more than just his girlfriend. You two are, in a sense, a budding power couple in the music industry, the new Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, if we may.

Don’t take this the wrong way, Molls -we love you- but honestly we were never really sure where you fit in, or what your path in life was. You were a hardcore One Direction fan, with a surprisingly sensible mind for PR. But now that we’ve seen you in action organizing the former One Direction members to perform together last minute at the Jingle Ball in Florida, we realize that you’ve found your calling, your ‘niche’, where you belong. Regardless of who you’re dating, you are very good at your job, and just made thousands (probably millions) of people ecstatic with your 1D reunion. If you keep doing what you’re doing, and can keep your head squarely on your shoulders, you will have an amazing career as a manager one day.

Now, back to Harry (sorry, but, he’s clearly the main interest here). We are his number one fans, and will probably support him no matter what. Yet with your guidance and assistance in his ‘reinvention’, we can see the improvements and the approval of people outside of the fandom. Seeing people who were not 1D fans get into his music, for the sake of his music (not just for him) warms our hearts. So as fans, we thank you for taking that chance and going for it, and eventually turning things around for Harry.

We will always love you and Harry, so the fact that two you are dating is, of course, mind blowing and amazing. But, on a more real level here, we have seen Harry as your boyfriend, the guy who cares about you, beyond just the outward image of popstar/former-1D-member Harry Styles. He is the best guy we could have asked for our best friend to date, and even if we weren’t fans of his before, we definitely would be now. So we will start the trend now: we officially ship ‘Harly’ one of the cutest, most real couples I have ever known.

Love,

Your BFFs,

Lily and Alexa’

Notes

Is it bad that I nearly cried writing the Sign of the Times part? Just picturing them all together singing that song with him made me a bit emotional! Okay basically this whole chapter had me in tears.

And just to clarify, I have no idea if One Direction is permanently broken up, that just seemed like a good way to end the story.

Thank you to all of my readers, I appreciate every one of you for taking the time to read my story!

Image credit to the owner, not mine I just liked it :D