She Can Hear Us - COMPLETE

Chapter Twelve

*for the -full expierience- listen to Boston by Augustana while you read okay. It will make you emotional.*

*Niall's POV*

After she died, I did exactly what she asked me to. I told everyone what she said. But it was a task tracking Harry down. When he'd gotten word that Bailie didn't make it, he disappeared for a long time. It was almost three years. We'd stop making music and stop for three years because we wouldn't record without Harry. No one had seen or heard from him. Every now and then a picture would surface online of a fan with him. But it was always in some tropical place that no one was even aware had wifi.

**

It was the third anniversary of Bailie's death and I was bringing flowers to her grave. As I approached the grave site, I saw a familiar head of brown hair sitting on the ground. I walked up to the headstone and put the flowers down. 

"Where you been Harry?" I said.

He stood and turned to face me. "Brazil. Thailand. Africa. Austrailia. Hawaii. Alaska. The Galapagos. Everywhere."

"What were you looking for?"

He exhaled. "A way to... forget." He said.

"What'd you find?"

"Absolutely nothing."

I nodded and held my arms out. He came over and hugged me. We stood there in this sad embrace for a while before both taking a seat on the grass.

"It's been three years Harry. What took you so long?"

He looked out onto the massive field of graves. "I don't know. I wasn't ready to come back and face everyone. I felt bad for leaving. I felt bad for missing the birth. I felt bad for missing the funeral and I felt bad for missing Haylie's first birthday."

"How do you know her name?" I asked him.

"She's a famous baby." He smiled.

I smiled too. "Yeah, it was really hard when she was a baby. The paparazzi would follow Haylie and I and ask us intruding questions. Questions I couldn't answer because it hurt too much and questions I didn't know the answer to."

"I'm sorry Niall," He said. "I should've been there."

"I forgive you Harry... and so did Bailie." I said.

He looked at me and widened his eyes. "What? What do you mean?"

I inhaled deeply because this was still hard for me to talk about. After all these years. I still had problems talking about Bailie's last words. I cleared my throat. "Right before she had Haylie, she had a feeling she knew she wouldn't make it because she was telling me to tell everyone goodbye and thank you." I said. "But you were the first one she mentioned. She said, 'If I don't make it out of this, tell Harry I said I forgive him'."

He looked at the ground and I could see his eyes get wet. He wiped the tears away before they fell. "I'm glad she had it in her heart to do that. I probably put her through hell while she was in that coma."

"What do you mean?"

"Well remember when I got that first response out of her?" I nodded so he'd continue, although I kind of already knew. "I told her I was in love with her." I wasn't as shocked as I'd expected to be. I just nodded. "You're not mad?"

I shrugged. "I mean, I kinda saw it throughout the whole five months." I nodded. "You cried just as much as I did, and the way you looked at her." He nodded and pushed his hair out of his wet eyes. 

"Niall I'm sorry," he said. His voice cracked when he said sorry.

"It's okay, I'm not mad or anything. I'm just glad you're back." I said, I reached over and patted him on the back. "You are back right? You're staying?"

He let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I'm staying this time." He nodded. "Where's Haylie?"

"With Eleanor and Louis, it's her birthday you know. She had a party earlier today." I said.

"Can I... can I see her?" He asked. He seemed nervous.

"Of course. She's been saying you're name since she could talk." I said. Remembering her specifically ask for him for the first time brought a tear to my eye. Because I told her he was gone and she repiled with, 'Gone like mama?'