The Mentally Brave

Chapter 34

"You expect me to believe that you are the one that injured Calum that way?" The doctor closes the door to his office. Harry and I are standing by the desk.
"Why are you so surprised? I'm kind of insulted, what about you Lizzie?" Harry turns to ask me.
"Kind of.. Why would I take credit for something I haven't done?" I question.
"I am just having a hard time believing he got his arse kicked by a girl" The doctor shrugs.
"Well if that will be all, Harry and I will be off" I wave my hand at the doctor ready to go back to our room and finish what we were about to start.
"Not so fast miss" He stops me.
"What now?" Harry sighs.
"You injured him quite bad Liz" Dr. Cowell replies, raising an eyebrow at Harry's second sigh.
"Listen, I am not one for violence.. but you must admit he had it coming- he almost killed your son" I remind him
"Well yes, I am very well aware of that, but you see, he is not doing well, I would like you to please heal him" he isn't really asking me but demanding, the way he is standing firmly in front of us.
"He can heal by himself, might take him longer, he can use that time to think of what he did" I say through gritted teeth.
"But that's the thing Liz, he won't heal"
Harry and I turn to find Ashton standing at the doorway.
"Ash, you have no business being here right now" I say blatantly.
"Please Lizzie- hear me out- I know Calum intended to kill Harry, and he is such a sod at times- but you can't let him die" He pleads
"What do you mean die?" I am confused to what part Ashton has in all this.
"When you punched him in the gut-" The doctor starts
"I kicked him- no punch of mine would hurt him in a place like that" I cut in.
"When you kicked him, you tore something in there and he is bleeding out and Stan can't get in to fix it, so you must help him" Ashton is frantic now talking really fast I am having a hard time following what he is saying.
"He is bleeding out" I repeat.
"Listen Liz, he and I grew up together- you have to help him" He begs
"That much damage from one kick?" Harry sounds impressed, but I am full of dread.
"All right, where is he?" I ask Ashton
"Come with me" I see the relief spread on his face and then the urgency take over as he rushes out of the office not looking back to see if we are following.
"Are you really going to help him?" Harry whispers to me. It wasn't as if he is against healing Calum, Harry isn't evil, but I guess after all Calum did he didn't really deserve to be saved.
"I don't really have a choice Harry.. No one deserves to die.. not even sods like Calum, and the fact that he used to be best friends with Ashton makes it even harder to ignore."
We enter the room Calum is kept in, a bracelet on his hand and guards on either side of his bed.
"Lizzie" Natalie stands up from the chair by the bed as we walked in.
"What are you doing sitting by his bed Nat?" I ask raising an eyebrow at her.
"Just making sure-"
"Making sure what? That none of us come in to kill him off? You really think any of us are like that?" I scold her.
"No.. I didn't say that" She was fast to decline
"NO but you thought that- I want to remind you he did try and kill Harry, and if he could he would kill each and every one of us- including Ashton"
Natalie is glancing down at the floor ashamed of her thoughts. Good.
"All right then" I sigh and step closer to the bed. I put my hands to the place I kicked him and close my eyes.
When I am done I look up at Ashton and whisper harshly "Now we are even"
He starts to thank me but I just walk away not listening.
How did we become like this? Divided. We used to all have one purpose and that was bringing the company down. But somehow that purpose changed with the split within the company x, that blurred the lines that we all held by.
"You son of a bitch"
I turn the corner to find Lou yelling at Dr. Cowell "This is bullshit and you know it- you need Calum for something and that is the only reason you saved him"
"That is not true" He shakes his head at her.
"Yes it is- because if it wasn't- you would let him die just like Tom" She hisses
"No" The doctor replies sharply.
"It is true" I step into the conversation.
They both turn to look at me.
"You need Calum- he knows what Foster is up to, that is the only reason you had him saved" I read his mind and share his thoughts with Lou.
"Stay out of my head Liz" The doctor orders me firmly, before he turns and strides away.
"He is up to something" Lou says watching the doctor's back.
"I know, and I will find out what it is" I promise her.
"What is going on?" We both turn to find Michael walking up to us.
"Nothing" Lou hurries to answer
"You're lying" He smirks. She and I exchange looks. I really dislike him, and the distrust we hold doesn't help.
"Why was it so important for Cowell to save Calum?" I ask bluntly.
"Dr. Cowell first of, and second- I don't know" He folds his hands obviously not happy with me.
"You're lying" Lou accuses him
"Am I now?" He grins at me. I glance at him for a moment longer then walk away pulling Lou with me.
"He has no idea what we are talking about, he didn't even know Calum was injured" I tell her when we are out of range.
"I hate it here" She exhales once we step outside to the garden.
"You don't need to keep looking over your shoulder, you're safe here" I tell her after reading her mind. I know I should keep out of people's heads here, but after not having my powers for so long it's kind of hard to keep out.
Lou gives me a look that says you're in my head again.
"Sorry, I need to get used to blocking peoples thoughts again" I smile sheepishly.
"It's all right, I rather it be you then anyone else" She says softly.
"How are you?" I ask leaning on the back of a garden chair.
"I can't remember the last time someone asked me that question" Lou is viewing the landscape around us as she spoke "I'm better, I mean it is hard... being here, knowing what that doctor has done, but I know it's the best place for Lux and me to be at... you know because you lot are here, and it's my family.."
"It gets better.. I remember when Ed and Harry took my family's memory away, made it seem as I was dead- I hated them so much! But as time goes by you learn to forgive" I promise her
"I will never forgive him for killing Tom" She remarks bitterly.
"No you won't, but at least you will never lower your guard with him which is the best thing- I don't care of him being Harry's dad- he is not to be trusted" I look at her.
"No he is not" She agrees.
Just then Perrie and Lux come running out giggling as Perrie tries to catch Lux in their game of tag.
"I will catch you" Perrie is running slowly after her, hands stretched getting ready to catch her little arms.
"No you won't" The little girl shrieks as she grabs her mum's legs hiding behind them.
"Oh no- where did she go?" Perrie makes as if she csn't see her.
"I'm here" Lux giggles peeking between Lou's legs.
"There you are" Perrie laughs reaching out for her.
"Hi baby- having fun?" I smile down at her.
"We're playing tag" She explains in her baby voice, not quite pronouncing the R right, making it sound more like a W.
"I can see that- who's winning?" I ask
"I am, Pewie is slow" She smiles up proudly.
"Lizzie?" Harry comes jogging out.
"Over here" I wave at him, as I bend down to pick up the girl into my hands. I kiss her cheek noisily making her laugh again.
"Luxy! where have you been? You haven't come to play with me in a while" Harry frowns at her, bringing his forehead to hers. I forgot the way he handles her. I like the way he speaks to Lux as grownup, not using a babyish voice like some of the others do when they speak to her.
"Play with me now" She wraps her small arms around his neck reaching out for him.
"I can't believe you are picking Harry over me girl- What happened to girl power?" I ask in playful disbelief.
"Even I lost the race to her attention once Harry showed up" Lou laughs.
"I would love to play with you, but first I really need to speak to Lizzie. Why don't you play with mum and Perrie until I get back?"
"All right" She sighs, making us all laugh.
"Why thank you- it is always fun being second best" Lou kisses her daughter's cheek as she pulls her out of Harry's arms and stood her back on the ground.
"What's going on?" I ask as we walk away from them.
"I just wanted you alone so I could do this" He pushes me against the wall holding my hands to the side as he slips his lips over mine. I try breaking my hands free so I can touch him, but he won't let me go. Instead he steps closer his body touching mine. His thighs, his chest and his lips. I sigh against his. Harry pulls away just so he could move his lips against my jaw line and down my neck.
"Harry" I take a deep breath trying to clear my head.
"mmm" He makes a noise while trailing down my neck.
"I might not know what you're thinking, and I wish we could do this forever but I know for a fact this is not the reason you pulled me aside" I whisper.
He brings his forehead to mine, like he did with Lux just before but this was different, a look of lust in his eyes.
"You're right" He finally pulls away letting my hands free. I pull them around his neck watching his mouth as he speaks.
"I just am not sure when the next time we would be able to have a moment like this to ourselves" He sighs.
"What's up?" I glance at his eyes. The lust is gone replaced with worry.
"My dad is up to something" He replies.
"I know, I just don't know what it is" I reply.
"Yea.. Well I do"