In Front Of A Camera

• chapter thirty seven •

Harry wrapped his arms around Louis, and kissed his cheek gently before glaring at Liam again. "You need to get off our property, immediately." He said firmly, "And I'll be calling the police to get a restraining order, we should've done that a long time ago."

"Harry, wait don't-" Liam began to sound a bit desperate, he hadn't expected Harry to go as far as that.

"No Liam, it's too late. Now get out of here, now." Harry said, and for the first time, there was real fear in Liam's eyes. He nodded quickly, and backed away, leaving both Harry and Louis stunned.

"I think you're a little scarier when you're defending me," Louis said with a soft smile. "I'm glad you got here when you did... I don't think I could've fought back."

Harry smiled sadly, "I'm glad I did too."

•

They hadn't seen Liam in a month and a half, which was great. What wasn't so great though, was that during that time Louis had been declining a lot quicker than Harry expected. When the doctor said 2 to 3 months, it sounded longer than what it felt like. It had been a month and a half since the diagnosis, and Louis was starting to become a different person. He would have mood swings and seizures pretty regularly, and he was just slowing down.

Harry had about ten minutes until he had to leave for work, and he'd just finished feeding himself and Everleigh. "Let's go bring daddy some breakfast hm?" He said as he held her on his hip, while grabbing Louis' breakfast with his other hand. It was nothing fancy, just a bowl of oatmeal, but it was easy for Louis to eat and filling.

When Harry walked into the bedroom, Louis was sitting up in bed, and tears were rolling down his cheeks. Carefully, Harry set the bowl of oatmeal on the nightstand and placed Everleigh in her bouncer that they had in their room.

"Baby... what's wrong?" Harry asked, coming over and gently taking his hand.

But that's when he noticed it, the wet patch on the sheets surrounding him.

"Wet..." Louis paused, he'd become so much slower recently. "Wet the bed."

"Oh love," Harry blinked back the tears forming in his own eyes. "It's alright, let me grab you some fresh sheets and pajamas, then we can get you cleaned up."

Harry hurried out of the room to get the sheets, pulling out his phone as he did. He was crying as he held the phone to his ear, waiting for an answer.

"Hello?" Came Mitch's voice, finally.

"Hey Mitch..." Harry took a deep breath to compose himself before speaking again. "Louis really isn't doing well. I can't work today, I'm so sorry. I know it's last minute but I have to cancel. He needs me."

"Shit H," Mitch replied, "I'm so sorry. I'll get the job cancelled for you. Let me know if there's anything else you need, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay. Thanks so much." Harry responded with a shaky voice.

"Not a problem, tell Louis hello for me."

"Will do, see ya Mitch." Harry said quietly.

He slid his phone back into his pocket, took another deep breath, and then grabbed some fresh sheets.

When he came back into the room, he gently helped Louis out of bed. "How are you feeling today darling?" Harry asked, kissing his cheek.

Louis shook his head a bit, "n-not good..." It was rare that he actually felt okay, and everyday seemed to be worse.

"No? I'm sorry love, after you're all cleaned up we can give you your medicine and breakfast alright?" Harry replied.

Louis nodded, not saying a word as he held onto Harry's arm and they walked to the bathroom. "Okay love, I'm gonna start up the bath for you. Will you be alright while I go take Everleigh to the babysitter? It won't take more than 5 minutes."

Louis nodded again. The babysitter lived right down the street so he knew it wouldn't be long.

"Alright," Harry kissed his cheek again and turned on the bath. He helped Louis out of his clothes and into the tub, before turning to go. "I'll see you soon babydoll."

"Bye," Louis whispered quietly. He was really quiet lately.

When Harry came back, he saw a shivering Louis had fallen asleep with his head resting on the side of the tub. He felt bad waking him up, but he had to so he could get him warm and dry. The water was still warm, but Louis' body was having a hard time keeping a regulated temperature.

"Hey love..." Harry rubbed his arm gently. "Can you open those pretty eyes for me? We need to get you back to bed."

Louis' eyes slowly opened, but he looked pretty confused. He was completely zoned out, which was something Harry had noticed was happening somewhat often recently. He just wasn't really there mentally.

With a sad sigh, Harry gently helped him finish washing up, but just as he was starting to help him get out of the tub, he heard a small burp followed by a gag, and suddenly everything Louis had eaten the night before was on the floor in front of them. 

"Oh no... babe," Harry said sadly as Louis just looked at him with a blank expression.

After a second round of cleaning him up, Harry was finally getting Louis settled in bed. "Okay darling, I'm going to get you a bowl of oatmeal, I'll be right back." The one he'd brought in initially had long since turned cold, so he had to make a new one.

When Harry returned, Louis seemed more with it again. Harry brought a spoonful up to Louis' lips and slowly he ate the oatmeal, one bite at a time.

"Haz?" Louis asked, breaking his long silence after he'd finished eating.

"Yeah baby? What's up?" Harry was so glad to see Louis was more there mentally again.

"I'm scared to die... I've been starting to feel it coming." He said, his voice slow. He had to think hard to get every word out.

"Oh Lou," Harry frowned, and grabbed his hands. He hated thinking about this all, but he felt like he had to be brave for Louis. "It's gonna be alright, you won't be in anymore pain."

"Yeah, but like." Louis paused for a long while, trying to compose a sentence, "I can't fathom that death is the end, but," he stopped again, his mouth opening and closing a few times as he tried to speak. "But like, I also can't imagine there being an after either. And both thoughts scare me."

Harry honestly didn't know what to say. He didn't know anything about death and he didn't know how to comfort him either, but he tried his best.

"For a long time, I thought I would be the one to die." Harry said softly, looking into Louis' sunken blue eyes. "Since I wasn't eating or taking care of myself at all. And I was scared too. Really scared."

Louis nodded, waiting for Harry to continue.

"But over time, I kind of figured, that whether we're scared or not, death still happens. And what happens after, is something we'll never know." Harry said, trying not to let his voice waiver. "And I think I just had to look at it like a finish line. Like you've accomplished so much, and you've made it."

Louis blinked back his tears as Harry spoke, they both knew he was getting close to the end. They knew he only had weeks left. After another long silence, Louis shakily squeezed Harry's hand. "I'm almost to my finish line..."

Hey guys!! Sorry if the chapter is rushed or choppy, since we're getting close to the end of this both we've both been having some major writers block. Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks for the support! 💛
-stella

(Also it's official we're going to write another book after this one! Don't know what yet but it's happening! :) )