Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 16

(Zayn's POV)

Its late morning when I wake up, and I'm the last one to do so. I find myself in my old room, the one I shared with Niall and Liam before I started pulling away from the group. I'd been a bit over obsessed with Perrie, even before we were married. It felt almost dishonest to be sleeping in a different room when she wasn't there, so I had taken to sleeping in my own room whether she was there or not. But it was necessary at times. I was a part of this band, and I needed to act like it. These men were among the very few who had attended mine and Perris's secretive wedding, and at times it felt like they knew me better than even Perrie did.

Shaking myself from my minorly depressive thoughts I stand from bed. The room itself is empty, but I can hear the groups voices in the other room. Not to mention the rumpled sleeping bags on the ground. I'm not sure why they're as twisted up as they are, but I'm also quite certain that I dont want to know. I step carefully over them and into the kitchen. The three of them are sitting at the table, and I take a moment to appreciate how much Harry and Louis are trying to include Liam in the disscussion, despite the fact that he is obviously the third wheel in this situation. The poor boy looks almost releived to see me enter the room.

"Zayn, nice to see you up." I nod halfheartedly at his greeting. I actually have a purpose in the kitchen, unlike them. But when I open the drawer, they aren't there.

"Harry, what did you do with my cigarettes?" I ask, suddenly bitter. I know it was him. He had been trying to get me quit ever since we first met.

"You've been doing so well. We didn't want you to backslide like last time." He dosen't answer the question, and I wince at his words. He is of course right. I had gone months without smoking. The last time I managed to go this long with out smoking even once I had ended up ruining all of my hard work by getting riled up and smoking when I got back from the basement.

"Fine. Louis where's the liquor?" I snap. If he's not gonna let me smoke off my stress, he's gonna have to deal with it.

"Zayn, it's ten in the morning. No need for liquor yet." Louis responds, though I've seen him drunk at this time in the morning plenty of times.

"What is this, some sort of self-improvment seminar?" I grab a peice of dry toast and take a seat at the table, munching on it.

"We just dont want Niall coming home to a drunk Zayn. We need to be strong for him. He needs us." Harry whispers. Sometimes I forget that Harry and Niall had been best friends back when they had been terrified of me and that Harry knew a lot of things about the boy that I didn't. But I of all of us knew his mood swings best. I had talked him down from suicide last year and I honestly feared that I would have to do it again when he returned. And from the steadfast way that Louis and Harry and Liam are trying to keep me sober, I'm starting to think that they are thinking the same thing.

"Fine." I grumble. Because as much as I want to relax a little, I know that it wont help anything.

"We need to do something." LIam decides after several minutes of somber silence. After someone is taken to the basement, it's as much of a game of keeping Niall happy as anything else. Without him needing our constant reassurence, distractions, and smiles, no one really knows what to do.

"Like what Liam?" There aren't a lot of thingsfor us to do even when we're all here, and some thingswould just be too cherry for the given situation.

"Lets play a game." He decides, and as much as we want all want to refuse, Liam is always the one to know whats best. Niall is pretty good about that too, but his dramatic mood swings make him a bit unreliable. Not to mention that he isnt here right now. Liam walks out of the room and he is carrying a board game when he walks out. Yahtzee. Stategy, but not really. Mostly luck. NO real need for focus. Because I dont think focus would be possible for us right now. Niall has always been the most vunerable link in the chain. That dosent mean we dont need him, it just means he's more easy to break. And if one link in the chain breaks, we're all doomed.

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(Nialls POV)

I'm not sure what came over me when I kissed her. I tell myself it's the mood swings, that I'm being manic (hyper, over happy and such) and just taking it out on her Because she is the only one in proximity. But deep in my brain I know that I've wanted to lean over and kiss her like that since I was first left alone with her. It wouldnt have been the first time. One of the perks of being famous is that I can get the girls I want, when i want them. But of course, I had Harry and Louis to think of. I had to be their therapist and lawyer. Not necessarily to make any points, but to back up the ones made. That was one thing I was good at, and I had been playing this role for a good while. When i am manic, it only makes me better at my job. When I'm depressive it gives them an excuse to keep an eye on me, and since right now I'm not depressed, I can admit that that is probably a good thing. I mean, last time I was suicidal, Zayn had been around. It wouldnt end well if I tried to end it while I was alone, now would it.

There is a creaking, and I jump. I feel Emma jump beside me as well as light streams in from a ways away. The light stings my eyes and I shut them, leaning into Emma's embrace. When my eyes adjust I pull away and sit up. The room around us is barren concrete, the walls cracking. The only apparent entry and exit pointvisvthe door that is now open, revealing a man in a suit, the head of management. The same jerk we've been dealing with daily since I met Emma.

Speaking of Emma, she soon sits up beside me. She looks tired and rumpled, her eyes red from the sudden light. I'm sure I look worse, what with my restrained cheeks and blood shot eyes. Not to mention the dumb way I have to hold my mouth to minimize the stinging.

"Alright, enough. We let you out." He grumbles, and I don't quite understand what we did to get ourselves freed. "I should've expected that those boys would share their notes with you."

I don't call attention to the fact that I have no idea what he's talking about, and I quickly replay the last scene before we were released in my mind. And then I remember the kiss and realize what he must mean. I grin and give Emma a peck on the cheek, forcing my own blush down as color stains her cheeks. I had to prove my assumptions.

"Woah, Woah, Woah." The man ininterrupted. "We are letting you go so you can finish this at home. As in not here." I laugh and peck Emmas cheeks once more before letting him knock us out for the trio home. Louis and Harry don't know it yet, but whatever they did while they were here Just saved us a lot of time down here. But we'll just let Emma think it was some brilliant plan of mine. I'm gonna need all the help I can get if I'm gonna win this game. A game I think we shall all thoroughly enjoy. But we'll just have to wait and see.

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Well. Lets play our own game while we wait for the results of Nialls. Comment what you think his game is. Wjoevers guess is closest will get...drum roll please... a dedication.