Through The Dark

Perfectly Innocent

*Flashback*

"The baby's coming." I read the Zayn's text out loud. "Are you ready to go, Sammie?" I stand up and slip my shoes on. We had just woken up, from the four hours of sleep we actually did get. Perrie was in labor with their highly anticipated second child. They never did find out the gender, but now is the time.

"Yes!" She runs down the stairs, still in her pajamas. "Let's go! I love babies." She grabs me and pulls me put to the car.

"You could have gotten changed. Her water just broke we have a little time." I say as she crawls in. "We don't want to be there to say the baby literally come out of her." I laugh and start the car.

"No no, it's okay. I don't have time for that. I have to be there the whole time. I want to be there the second she is born. Ah, Niall I am so excited!" She claps her hands. "I've never been so awake at four AM before!" I back the car out of the garage and drive out. The drive isn't very long, since they're at the closest hospital. Finally, I pull into the parking garage, and of course, Sam jumps up and runs to the elevator. "Hurry up!" I pick up my pace a little just as the elevator doors open. She takes my hand and pulls me into the elevator. It slowly rises and Sam continues to fidget. "Almost there! It's on floor seven!"

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Seven

The elevator dings and the door slowly opens. Sam jerks me out the door and we run down to the desk. "Hi there! Where's the maternity waiting room?" She asks the nurse sitting at the desk.

"It's right down this hall to the right. Are you here for someone?" She questions her.

"Perrie and Zayn Malik."

"We will let them know that you're here." She says and picks up the phone. "You can go have a seat." As soon as she says that, Sam pulls me to the waiting room.

"This is so exciting!" She repeats over and over. "It'll be soon!" We turn into the waiting area and are greeted by Harry, Madi, Liam and Louis. "I'm so glad you're all here!" She says overly eager to the obviously tired friends. Madi lays across Harry's lap. Liam has his self spread out on the other couch. Louis keeps his head propped up with his hand.

"Hush young child..." Louis puts a single finger up at her, with his eyes still closed. I pull Sam into me before she says something else.

"You just sit down." I say and sit in a chair, grabbing a magazine.

"I'm just so excited! I don't think I can!" She paces around the room.

"Oh I'll make her sit." Louis says and starts to stand up.

"Louis enough." I grab Sam and pull her onto my lap. "Calm down, within the hour we will get to go see a baby okay? Relax." I pull her closer.

Just as she finally relaxes, we hear footsteps coming around the corner. Everyone sits up straight and waits, as Zayn turns the corner. He stares at us with a straight face, before it turns into a large smile. "It's a girl..." He says and everyone stands up. "She's here..." We all go hug him. "She's so precious. Come see her." He leads us back into her room. She sits quietly, looking over at us when we walk in the room. I hold a tight grip on Sam and she looks up at me with a smile.

"She's so tiny..." She whispers as we walk up to the little hospital crib. "What's her name?"

"Meredith Louise Malik." Zayn smiles and picks her up, handing her to Sam. She cradles her in her arms and sits down. A smile forms, and she looks up.

"She's lovely..." She runs her fingers over the babies thick black hair. "I love her."

"Can I see her Z." Perrie says in a tired voice.

"Of course." Sam stands up and lays Meredith on her chest. "I bet Mason will be excited." She sits back down. We all settle into the room and admire the baby as Perrie holds it against her. Everyone soon got their chance to hold her, but of course eventually she made her way back to Perrie.

"I can't wait to be home with..." Perrie starts but then drifts off.

"I can put Meredith in the crib if you'd like to sleep, love." Zayn starts.

"I'm okay." She mutters, almost inaudibly. The room gets quiet again, until the machine starts beeping.

"Does it usually do that?" Madi sits up to look at it. Suddenly Perrie's leg begins to twitch, soon after, her eyes roll back. Her arm flings off Meredith, causing her to slide down. Zayn quickly picks her up and frantically starts pressing the call button. All the commotion startles the new baby, causing her to start screaming as Zayn moves too quickly. Sam jerks away from me, taking Meredith into her own arms. Louis jumps out of he's seat and runs out to the desk. But as soon as it began it was quiet again. Perrie looked forward, then her face began to droop. Everyone took a step closer to the bed, waiting to see what would happen next. Her fingers began to twitch again as Zayn grabbed her arm. The first tear rolled down his face. More and more followed.

Then it all stopped. Suddenly everything went completely silent. All movement around me slowed down to an excruciating pace. She stared straight ahead. Machine screamed loudly as the monitor flat lined. Doctors rushed in finally, but it all seemed like slow motion. I pulled Sam away from the side of the bed, and held the three of us close to the wall. She buried her head in my shoulder. Every little detail started to glow. This wasn't happening.

Harry holds Madi close. Louis stands with a blank expression. Liam held Zayn back as he screams, tears falling down his face. Meredith begins screaming again, causing Sam to walk out of the room.

But I hear nothing.

The doctors try to revive her but nothing changes. Her body jolts up as they use the defibrillator. Still nothing. Again, it all stops. The doctors back away and look at all of us. We all just watched our friend die. There was nothing we could do about it. Nothing anyone could do apparently. Zayn collapses into a little ball on the floor. Madi drags Harry out of the room with a tear stained face.

Life began feeling real again, as it started moving at a normal pace again. I heard the sobbing, from everyone. I noticed the tears that ran down my own face. Louis slowly made his way out in tears. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't leave Zayn here all alone, after what just happened. But I walk out to find Sam.
I turn the corner to see her against the wall.

But just as nothing happened, Meredith sleeps on Sam's chest as she slowly rubs the babies back. Sam looks up at me with questioning eyes and I shake my head. Meredith is unaware she just lost her mother. She is unaware of the fact that her father is bawling on the floor. She's perfectly innocent.