Capture (A Liam AU)

Twenty-Eight

I woke up to car doors shutting. Rolling out from under Harry's arm I stood at the window pulling the blinds open enough for me to see. "By you guys, drive safe!" My mom called after my brother Rick who was about to pull out of the driveway with his wife Rachel sitting next to him. My dad was standing by the open back window leaning down talking to presumably my 8month old nephew, Jackson.

I looked back to Harry deciding not to wake him as I crossed the room to the bathroom. I washed my face and retied my hair into its bun before heading back downstairs to see the rest of my family. I stepped into the kitchen seeing my mom cleaning up after the meal, the clock said it was 10 at night. My mom turned around seeing me, "Oh you're up! Are you hungry?" She asked.

"You didn't wake us up." I stated the obvious.

"I went up to but then you two just looked too comfortable and I figured you needed the sleep."

"I think he needs more sleep than me, I crashed on the plane ride here." I told her as I grabbed a fork digging into a Tupperware container of pasta salad.

"He's pretty cute Em. You guys make a cute couple."

"We aren't really dating mom."

"That's too bad, he is a doll."

I shudder at her use of the word doll. "We're just really good friends mom."

"Good friends who fall asleep together?" She asked trying to catch me in a lie.

"Occasionally, yes." I smiled at her.

"I'm glad you have a friend again after what went down with Ian."

"Mom, please, could we not bring him up?" I groan.

"I'm sorry. It's just you left so quickly we didn't get a chance to talk about it." I felt a pang of guilt thinking back to that night.

I already had my bags packed before I'd even talked to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." I whispered.

"Oh baby, I wasn't worried about me, I was worried about you." She answered motherly with a kind twinkle in her deep brown eyes.

"I'm better now. Liam is what I needed." I tell her.

"Liam? Who is Liam?" She asked confused. "I thought you said his name was Harry?"

"What?" I stammer as my body floods with fear at my slip of my tongue.

"You said Liam is what you needed. Who is Liam?"

"I said London is what I needed." I corrected trying to cover up my Freudian slip.

"You said Liam darling. Who is he?" My mother asks me again. I feel my palms go sweaty as I decide how to answer her.

"My other neighbor, he isn't anyone though, bit of an asshole if you excuse my language."

She looks like she believes me for a moment. "If you say so sweetie." She quickly gives me a kiss on my forehead just as Harry enters the room. "Oh hi dear!" My mom greets him cheerfully.

Harry smiles at her but his eyes dart to me trying to gage what he just walked in on. "I'm not interrupting am I?"

"No, we were just talking." I tell him.

"You two hungry?" My mom asks. Harry crosses the room to come stand by me.

"I'm not." I speak for myself.

"No thanks Mrs. Diamond." Harry says politely.

She goes about putting away the leftovers humming to herself. "You couldn't sleep either?" I asked Harry.