Capture (A Liam AU)

Forty-Nine

I woke up before Liam did and slipped out from under his arm tiptoeing into the living room.

The room was lit with the early dawn light creeping in from the windows I peaked over the back of the couch to check on Danielle but she wasn't there instead her blankets and the bedding Liam had given her was folded neatly in her place. I felt my heart sink wondering if she had fled in the middle of the night.

"You're up early." She spoke from the chair behind me. I whirled around quickly as she closed the book she was looking at.

"I could say the same to you." I responded.

"You could, but that would mean that I slept, which I didn't." She shrugged.

"I've been there, can't stop thinking of Louis huh?" I asked.

"I without left him. He probably hates me. Or worse, thinks I hate him." She confessed as quickly as a hiccup.

I smiled from the corner of my mouth. "Trust me, Louis is just as worried about you, because he loves you. I know." I assured her.

"You and Liam seem good together." She said changing the subject.

"Thanks, our relationship is still so new, but it's good." I said walking into the kitchen for coffee. Danielle followed me in sitting at one of the barstools. I handed her a mug, "Tea or coffee?" I asked.

"Tea please." She took the mug as I dropped in a tea bag from Liam's cabinet filling the rest of the cup with boiling water. I poured myself some coffee. I checked my watch and realized I had plenty of time before work left. "Do you have to go?" Danielle asked watching me.

"Not yet." I smiled at her and took another sip of my coffee. "I probably shouldn't ask but I was just wondering what Liam was like when he was younger?" I felt almost embarrassed to ask and instantly regretted it. She sighed twirling the bag of tea around her cup. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." I apologized even before she could answer.

"It's ok to be curious about him, you know, you are dating him now. Lord knows Liam could open up a bit more about himself." She laughed.

"I know about that night, when his dad died, and he told me some of you and Trey. I found out about Louis when he showed up here." She looked surprised for a moment then her face held no expressions as she chewed the inside of her cheeks, processing the thoughts only her mind could hear.

"I suppose he's told you more than most are lucky to know." She shrugged.

"You mean there's nothing more you can tell me?" I knew I sounded disappointed but I couldn't help it.

"That's not what I said love. There's lots I can tell you, but maybe you should wait for Liam to tell you."

"I've known him for the better part of a year and I barely know anything about him. He isn't the most forthcoming with his past."

She laughed. "He wasn't always so guarded. When I first met him he was a skinny kid with longer hair, and babyish looks. He was like a little lost puppy." I settled with my elbows on the counter resting my chin in my hands listening to her talk. "He was a loner, the kind of kid Trey like to recruit for his crew. Trey took him under his wing and turned him from a harmless baby brother of two older sisters into a brooding gang member."

She spoke like a narrater in a movie, very calm and methodical. "One night Trey and his right hand guy Harrison want out to rough someone up and Trey made Liam stay and babysit me."

"Why?" I asked.

"Let's just say that Trey is the type of guy who likes control. I wasn't so much his girlfriend as much I was just another person he controlled."

"Sounds like an ass." I scoffed and she laughed.

"You know it." Danielle agreed. "Anyway, that night was the night I fell for Liam."

"In one night you fell for him?" I asked shocked. "That's crazy!"

"He saw me for what I was, truly saw me I mean, he actually cared about me. Which was something I desperately wanted."

"I know I shouldn't bother you with more questions but indulge me will you?" She nodded.

"How did you and Trey become, well, you and Trey?

"I was a stupid girl in high school that went weak at the knees for the first boy that paid me any attention. Trey, unfortunately, was that first boy."

The bedroom door opened as Liam stepped out yawning as he rubbed his eyes. Both of us turned to him. "Morning Li." I greeted him with a hug and a kiss.

"Morning." He yawned shuffling into the kitchen for his own cup of coffee.

"I have to go." I checked my watch not realizing how long I'd sat talking to Danielle.

"Already?" Liam asked sadly.

"Sorry babe, I will see you tonight." I pecked a kiss on his cheek and he held me tight not letting me go.

"What am I supposed to do with Danielle all day?" he whispered in my ear.

I smiled and whispered back. "You're a big boy, you'll figure it out."

"Emma, I'm not kidding." Liam groaned.

"How about you start by talking to her?" I suggested. "I have to go." I walked to the door leaving him behind as I pulled my bag over my shoulder. "Have a good day Danielle, Liam has my number if you need me." I waved goodbye to both of them and stepped out into the hallway.

The weather was still cold and blustery as the November air nipped at my exposed skin, not much of the snow from last night remained on the ground but it was still cold. I turned on the heat in the car letting it wash over me.

Traffic was little to none on my commute in and I pulled into the lot driving around the side of the building so I wouldn't have to cross the whole lot in the icy temp.

I got out of my car and grabbed my bag from the seat behind the drivers side beginning to walk to the building. "Excuse me miss?" a man in a car I hadn't noticed called out for me. I stopped walking and bent down a little to see into his window.

"Yes?" Suddenly from behind me a hand covered my mouth and arms wrapped around me dragging me into the alleyway beside the building. I thrashed against my attackers but they were too strong.

I couldn't see or tell anything in the scuffle of limbs jockeying for control until I was slammed up against the brick wall of the building. Two men with ski masks looked down on me, one was larger than the other, and tightly holding my mouth shut still. "Hi Emma." The heavy growl escaped from his mouth making my skin crawl. "How's that boyfriend of yours?"

I wiggled trying to break free but that only made him hold me tighter. "Do you think he'd be mad if we, I dunno, had a little fun with you?" He asked pulling a knife from his pocket and flipping it open in front of my face.

I felt the saltiness of my tears stream down my face, freezing almost instantly in the cold, at the sight of the blade as the man slowly drew the sharp blade around my features. Suddenly the second man in the ski mask grabbed his arm from behind pinning the knife against the wall and away from me. "We were sent here to scare her not kill her." He reminded the first man.

I couldn't place him but as I stared at him I tried to remember those eyes, they looked so familiar.

"Hey!" a voice at the end of the alley rang out as the two men looked that way. "Let her go!"

The first man leaned in really close and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me but he stopped inches away and whispered "Tell Liam Trey says hi." Then in a swift motion smashed my head into the bricks as I felt instantly dizzy, he let go of me and I slid down the wall into the ground with blurry vision. Just before I passed out, in the final fleeting moments of consciousness, I thought I saw Niall standing over me with a gun pointed towards the fleeing attackers.