I'd Choose You Again Tomorrow [L.S]

Chapter Three

Gemma meets them at the airport the moment they touch down at Heathrow. Liam had told them on their manic way to the airport back in LA that Jay and his own mum were already on their way down to London. Lottie, Felicity and Gemma had all already been in the city and had been the first one's to arrive at the hospital. Louis had lost consciousness by that time. Expected, the doctors had apparently said. The shock to his system upon waking up from a four year coma would drain him for a long time yet and these next few weeks would be filled with him battling long periods of sleep.

Expected. He'd had to chant it over and over in his mind these past fourteen and a half hours since he got the call. He found it about the only thing preventing him from having a full blown panic attack. That Louis wasn't going to slip away from him again, that this time his lumber was temporary.

That, and Liam and Niall who had stuck to him like never before. Had not left his side once even as Liam had frantically gone about postponing the concert, informing the rest of his team of the situation and have them deal with the fans whilst simultaneously booking him on the next flight to Heathrow. Harry hadn't had it in him to ask what had come out in the media of his sudden cancellation, a coinciding fleeing from the country back to his homeland, unbeknownst to the general public. Knows Liam and his team are working tirelessly to transition this into something quiet, give him space and time to piece this all together. It's overwhelming, every part of this is too much. Though every piece of him feels incompetent to be dealing with this he doesn't have a choice. This is everything he's been waiting and hoping for for the longest time. Reality isn't going to scare him away, despite it's overbearingness.

It's nearing 6pm in London, winter greeting them the moment they out of the plane. Heathrow is heaving with people, the only thing they have going for them currently is the large security team that meets them to escort them through the airport and the fact that word hasn't gotten out that Harry Styles has unexpectantly returned to the UK.

He walks amidst the security detail in a daze. The sounds fading out around him as he focuses on putting on foot in front of the other, knowing that with every step he's getting closer to Louis.

He'd last been to Willowburn Medical a month ago, the last time he'd stepped foot on English soil. The medical facility where Louis had been placed ten months into his coma when he'd taken those life savingly unexpected first breathes on his own off a ventilator. He'd been housed in the recovery center ever since, till three days ago when he'd done his monthly trip back to London Bridge to assess his condition. And whatever had occurred this time around within him and roused him from his mindless state of rest.

Gemma becomes the first thing he truly focuses on since hearing those vital words across the phone back in LA the moment he sees her. She's dressed in a long woolen coat, a beanie pressed low down over her head, Michael diligently standing by her side.

Harry breaks from the security detail the moment their eyes lock and he runs straight into her arms. She pulls him into her as fiercely as he grabs for her, burying his head in her waves of unbound hair.

"Harry." She murmurs to him.

"Is he alright?" He croaks out. He thinks numbly that those are the first words he's spoken in hours.

"Yes he's... Lottie, Jay and Fizzy are still there. They haven't left since they arrived. Mum's with the twins, she didn't want you being overwhelmed. He's still not conscious yet but I've seen him. He's truly ok Haz."

His tears spill over at her words, feeling as though this is actually happening upon hearing her voice it. That she's seen him, that this isn't some sort of fever dream. She breaks away from him as he furiously wipes at his eyes, his actions having drawn the attention of some of the surrounding people waiting near them.