Taken

Two

"I don't need you turning up here everyday" Louis says as he opens the door the next afternoon to Harry and Scott and two police officers he's never met before

"And here we thought you might have missed us just a little" Harry smirks, Louis hates that he finds it attractive

"We wanted to introduce you to your night guards from now on. Louis, this is Murdock and Lucas" Scott says

They seem nice, big, muscly and like they can hold their own. They give Louis a stiff smile as he greets them with a small hi.

"We will be in the patrol car all night if you need us Louis" Murdock says as they then make their way off the porch and to the patrol car

Louis watches them go before he looks back at Harry and Scott

"Not going to invite us in today?" Scott asks in jest

Louis rolls his eyes and leaves the door open for them to follow him inside.

"Aren't you due to go for your run? It's 4pm" Harry says as he enters the house. Scott and Harry are both in slacks and business shirts, unbuttoned to their chests, their holsters around their shoulders

Louis looks a little taken aback by the question and plays with the sleeves of his pyjamas, that he hasn't taken off at all today. He shrugs in response

"If you're scared we can come with you, until the retrial is sorted" Harry says

"No thanks" Louis says a hint of distaste in his tone

"Ouch" Scott says feigning hurt

"Don't you have other places to be" Louis says frustrated

Scott and Harry both smirk but don't answer.

They take Louis in, and realise he's pale, and looks like he hasn't slept. They sigh

"We need you to come to the station" Harry says gently

"No" Louis says outright

"Louis, please don't be difficult" Scott says

Louis really doesn't like the station, it brings back so many bad memories for him.

"Like Harry said, it's 4 o'clock I'm going for my run, maybe some other time" Louis says as he turns around to head upstairs to get changed.

"Louis" Harry says sternly as he watches Louis go.

Harry and Scott sigh and look towards each other

"We knew he wouldn't come willingly" Scott says to Harry

Harry sighs

"Yeah but I was hoping he would be a little more cooperative" Harry says

"When has Louis ever been cooperative" Scott smirks

Harry and Scott have always had a soft spot for Louis, they spent two years basically in his hip pocket, they saved his life, helped him through the trial became friends with him. They didn't realise he was so affected by them pulling back.

Scott and Harry realised they were to invested in the kid, they realised they were attached and that just couldn't happen, for a mountain of reasons, the big one being their arsehole of a boss. So, they pulled back, stopped coming over, pretty much ghosted Louis, something they regretted as soon as they made the decision.

Harry and Scott are two very dominating personalities and they have always discussed bringing a third into their relationship. They both realised they wanted Louis as that third person and that complicated things greatly, especially when they had to work the case with him.

The boys take a look around the house, nothings changed in a year, not that they expected Louis to deviate from his routine. Everything is spotless and clean, apart from Louis bedroom they assume, which they remember as being like a bombsight when they came across it a few years ago.

Louis makes his way down the stairs in his Nike running sweats and matching jacket and shoes. He sighs when he sees Harry and Scott still in the house, he was hoping they'd left.

"We will give you an hour before we're coming to find you" Scott says

"I run for an hour and a half" Louis says

"One hour Louis" Harry says sternly

Louis sighs but doesn't say anything, he grabs his phone and headphones and walks past Harry and Scott.

They watch as he makes his way into the woods and starts his run

It's taken Louis a good year and a half to work up to running for an hour and a half, alone in the woods. His therapist Kimberly recommended it as a healing exercise, as something he could do for himself, something he was scared to face, something to help him take back control and his life a little.

Louis hasn't seen Kimberly for over a year but he feels like he's slipping a little and might need to think about making an appointment.

Seeing Harry and Scott, Drew and Edward last night, brought back so many feelings all at once. He's missed them so much, yet he felt abandoned when they stopped coming around and he's angry about it. Angry that they think they can just show up like nothings happened and expect him to be okay with it all.

The boys are the only people he completely told every single detail about what happened to him to. Even at the trial he remained as vague as he could, thankfully it was a closed court room and the media didn't get hold of the finer details.

He knows they want him to go to the station to re live everything and he feels like he's been thrown to the wolves again and he's trapped.

Louis loses track of time on his run, he's anxious and it helps him relieve some of that anxiety. When he walks back off the trail and into his huge yard he sees Harry and Scott about to head into the woods

"What are you playing at?" Harry asks annoyed

Louis looks at him confused

"We told you an hour, you've been gone nearly two" Scott says upset as he places his hands on his hips

"Sorry, lost track of time" Louis says as he continues walking

"Louis, we know this is hard for you" Harry starts but Louis isn't having any of it. He turns towards Harry angrily

"You have no idea what's hard for me Harry, don't pretend to know me" Louis finds himself saying

"We do know you Louis" Scott says and he sounds upset that Louis would think otherwise

"You've been gone a whole year Scott, I've changed, things have changed, don't come in here as though nothings happened and pretend to be my friend again" Louis says as they reach the house.

"Look Louis, we're sorry okay, we thought it was best for everyone if we backed off a little, let you get your life together again, without relying on us" Harry says

"There is so many things wrong with what you just said Harry, I'm so sorry I burdened your life by needing you all so much" Louis says with a hint of sarcasm

"That's not what Harry meant kid" Scott says

"Look I'm not coming to the station tonight okay, I'll find time tomorrow, just leave me alone please, I have work to catch up on and I need to shower" Louis says, he doesn't want to continue this conversation.

"10am tomorrow Louis, we mean it, if you're a no show, we will be turning up to escort you, in handcuffs if you're going to be difficult" Scott says.

"Whatever, I guess nothings really changed with you two, still the same cold hearted arseholes I first met" Louis says

Scott and Harry don't bite, they just leave Louis alone like he asked and hope that he shows up tomorrow.