Through The Dark

Cold

The car is quiet except for Olivia's crying and Sam's attempts at calming her down. I try to drive away without causing damage, no matter how much I'd like to run every one of these assholes over. I look in the rear view mirror for a moment to see Sam's looking desperately into Olivia's car seat. I swallow my anger and focus on getting us out of here. I try to keep all of my attention on the road, but it's hard when I can hear my baby girl crying feet away from me and knowing I can't really do much.

Finally, after a while of silence once Sam got Olivia to go to sleep, we arrived at Zayn's penthouse. Sam carefully lifted Olivia from her car seat and we shuffled inside, distress heavy between the three of us.

***

I look back just has Harry craws out of the car. He hasn't spoken since he got in the car a half hour ago.  He fixes his shirt and walks up to us. The rest of them crawl out of Madi's car and join us. Before we can even think of our next move, a lady in a pants suit walks up to us. "Are you the party for Mr. Malik?" She asks and most of us nod. "Alright, follow me." I take Sam's hand and follow the group inside the building.  Stereotypical elevator music is playing in the lobby and it smells strongly of vanilla.   She scribbles something down on a piece of paper and hands it to Liam. "Press this code in the elevator to get into the penthouse." She then sits down and basically cuts off the conversation. I look over at Sam who is waiting for the lady to continue talking, as most of us are.

"Alrighty...." Liam mumbles and we all follow him to the elevator. Once the doors shut, it slowly starts to rise. Ticking after each floor. I watch the number rise one by one as we approach the penthouse. Then it dings and the door slowly opens. The elevator fills with a musky-man smell mixed with lysol. The tv is playing and I can hear a women talking softly from somewhere in the apartment.  Liam is the first to step out and the short lady turns around.

"I totally forgot you guys were coming. I'm so sorry. I would have cleaned up the place a little." She says and looks over to the living room. "The place is a mess I'm so sorry" She picks up some random dishes laying around, wipes off her hands, then reaches out for a handshake. "I don't believe I've met any of you before. I'm Katie." She says. "Although, I have heard a lot about all of you." She seemed way too happy to be here. She tucks a small piece of hair behind her ear. "Let me see, I know you're Harry. You must be Madi." She smiles. It was kind of awkward as she was the only one talking. "Um, Mason," She turns away. "Look who's here!" She walks around the counter. I take the brief two minutes she isn't talking to look around. The west wall is complete glass that looks out over the city. When you walk in, you're in the kitchen looking towards the living room. If you turned right, there was a hall that probably led down to the bedrooms. The whole apartment was very modern. Lots of black and white. Lots of glass.

"Hi Uncle Niall." Mason shyly says as Katie places him up on the counter. He turns to whisper something to her and she nods. I look over into the living room and Meredith is laying on the floor surrounded by toys. Ignoring most of them, she watches the TV with her mouth open.

"Could I get anyone a drink? I have a pot of coffee going over on the counter. I can put the tea kettle on if anyone wants it." Katie offers and I accept a cup of tea.

"So are we going to talk about him or what?" Harry bitterly says as he takes a cup.

"I'm sorry." Madi says and nudges Harry.

"I want to get out of here. Let's get this over with." He grumbles and Katie steps back up to the counter.

"Alright, okay." I've never seen him act this cold with someone before. "I took Meredith out for the afternoon, while Mason was in was at preschool. We just ran around town and did errands to kill some time. I picked up Mason around three, or three thirty, and then headed home. There was traffic jam because of some accident. It was practically stand still for an hour. Once I could, I pulled off the highway and took the backroads to my parents house. They just love the kids. It was better than just sitting in the car for hours. I stayed there till about five, when we heard the road was clear again." She stops at takes Mason back to the couch, only after handing him a snack. "I texted Zayn that we were on the way home and my parents sent dinner. He's usually getting home around then and starting dinner. I didn't think much of it when he didn't respond; he's not on his phone much."

She fills up my tea cup again and I thank her. Everyone is quiet as they sit around the island. "I walked in around quarter after five. The house a little colder than usual. He normally turned the heat up when he walked in the door. I knew he was home; his car was in his spot. Mason went to his room to get changed out of his school clothes....and I set Meredith down in the living room" She quiets down a minute as her voice cracks. "I called for him...through the apartment. I told myself he just walked downtown." She turns away from us and looks at the kids. "Mason ran back from down the hall, saying he had something to show me..." She wipes her face takes a seat back on the barstool. "That's when he took me to Zayn's room... And there he was...slumped over in bed. He had...just spit falling down his chin.."She stops and excuses herself, walking down the hall. We all exchange looks and then go back to our mugs. No one said a word. The only sound was the soft murmurs on the tv. Meredith was watching some children's cartoon.

"I'm sorry..." Katie says as she walks back into the room. "I just can't imagine what these two are going to have to go through. Meredith never knew her mother. She won't remember her father...but Mason will remember everything. That's the worst part. He's going to remember finding him like that." She wipes her face again.

"What's going to happen to them..?" Louis asks, scooting closer to her.

"I don't know...." She chokes up again. "They're in my custody right now while the will is being read. They said that could take a couple of days. I wouldn't mind raising them forever, but now I'm a bit out of work..." Louis places his hand on her back.

"It's okay....they'll be fine." He says and pulls a tissue from his coat pocket for her. The room is quiet, aside from Katie's quiet crying.

"If he didn't write a will, they'll be put into the foster system...." She sniffles.

"I'm sure he did... He wouldn't do something like that without having a plan for his kids. He loved them almost as much as he loved Perrie..." I add and pour yet another cup of tea. "He probably gave them to his mother."

"I found something he left for each of you..." She stands up and walks down the hall. I look over at Louis and he just shrugs his shoulders.