Dark Shadows

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Harry's POV.

I had no idea who this girl was. She could be just another girl living in this world, or she could be a  crazy fan that may throw herself at me the moment she woke up. But I felt like I should stay with her. At least till the morning. She had been so scared when I found her... I just felt a strange urge to calm her. Make her feel comfortable again.

As she stirred awake from her sleep, her eyes eventually opened and found mine. Maybe it wasn't so wise of me to stay here. Sure, I did have security waiting on the other side of the door, ready to cut in if things got spicy. But I don't think she recognized me yesterday; she was way too frightened to think clearly, the poor thing.

There was, nonetheless, no doubt she could see me now. I saw recognition cross her features and idly wondered if I should make a run for it. Don't be redicilous, Styles. My superego let itself be heard. Not all girls are after you. It was true, of course. I shouldn't let media and attention get to me. But let's face it: no one could deny that I was good looking. So there was always this worry with meeting girls. Some of them were genuinely creepy and frightening, to be honest. Not to mention their deafening screaming...

But that was when there were swarms of them. One at a time they were almost always harmless and nice. This girl seemed to be one of them. As she moved to lay on her back instead of her side, she made no sign of wanting to attack me. I shook off the paranoia. 

"Hey there sleepyhead," I greeted, winking. A faint blush crept onto her cheeks, but she kept her eyes locked on mine, returning my smile shyly.

"Hello." As soon as the words left her mouth she winced. I instantly felt my brows creasing in response.

"Are you hurting? I should probably tell the nurse that you're awake."

"No!" She half shouted. Then, looking down at her entwined fingers, she continued. "I mean, I want to talk to you first" 

She seemed to suddenly recall something. "The two of you were fighting." It was a statement rather than a question. 

"Yeah... It was kind of necessary. He wasn't about to give up."

She reached out and traced the bruises forming on my knuckles with the softest of pressures. "Thank you." The words were simple, yet filled with so much gratitude that I felt I'd done the right thing protecting her.

"No worries," I grinned. "I'm sure everyone would have done the same thing. Do you want me to get the nurse now?" From my experience with House and Scrubs the beeps from the heart monitor were a tad too fast.

"Wait, there is another thing I want to say." She tucked a mahogany lock behind her ear and thoughtfully bit her lips. "I am, of course, extremely grateful and lucky that you were there to help me. But why were you out that late? Is it too much of me to ask what you were doing?"

No matter how hot the girl was I couldn't spill my guts to her. Lux's disappearance had brought all of us down. I really missed having the little spirit around, not to mention the constant worry in my head. Was she alright? Or the even heart-breaking but still vitally important question: Was she even alive? I had not been able to sleep properly the past three days, and yesterday wasn't an exception. To ease my mental cramps I'd decided to take a walk, searching for any clues even though the outlooks weren't looking good. I'd just figured I should try to do everything I could to find her.

"I was just taking a walk since I couldn't fall asleep," I answered her question. At least it was partly true. "There's been lots of things going on lately." She let hear a short laugh at that. 

"Sure it has. The busy life of being a worldwide recognised pop-star." I smiled at that. The action felt weird, unfamiliar. I think I'd gone through the three days without Lux straight without any amusive actions. If the fans saw us backstage now they would be long gone. We were pretty much like a sack of potatoes, only pretending everything was ok for their sake. 

"We just got back from Australia. A totally different time zone," I explained. 

"What a coincidence. I just got here from America." She made it sound like it was some kind of competition. Interesting.

"Are you here on vacation?" Unlikely considering the time of year.

"No, work called. So I picked it up," she answered, reaching for the remote control on he bed side table. I handed it to her, observing her choice of channel and lifting an eyebrow questioningly when she chose to leave CNN on. 

"I like to be updated with the news," she shrugged, noticing my look. However, instead of watching the news she sat up and made herself comfortable against the headboard, keeping the volume low. 

"You know, Harry." It was the first time she'd addressed me with my name, I couldn't help but notice. "I don't have the regular job most people around my age do."

"No, you travel around a lot, don't you?"

"Not always, only when it's needed. I'm fairly sure you know what happened to Lux, the baby?"

My heart almost stopped. "What about her?" We hadn't made the kidnapping public yet. She couldn't have a hope of knowing.

"She's gone missing. I was hired by her parents to help the police find her. And also to do some investigations of my own." She looked me straight in the eyes.  "I'm a detective."

I could feel my eyes widen in surprise. Wow. I certainly didn't see that one coming. But behind the first dose of shock I sensed some relief. At least she knew. I didn't have to pretend to be happy near her.

And why had Paul hired her of all people? I knew there was a detective to join us shortly, but I'd sort of expected a middle aged man with a fedora and a mustache he would twitch whenever he was deeply thinking...

I hadn't expected a young, and dare I say rather attractive, girl. I absolutely hadn't anticipated her. Which reminds me; I still didn't know her name.

As if she could hear my thoughts, she carried on.

"My name is Lauren Kimberlyn, before you ask," she winked. Winked. Huh. Looks like I'm not the cheekiest one in the room for once. 

"Well alright, Lauren Kimberlyn. It was nice to get to know the reason behind your being in London. I'm Harry Styles and I'm getting a nurse now. Sit tight."

With that I left the room before she could object and hold me back further. I was getting that damn nurse to check her up no matter what she said. We could talk later about her job. We could talk later about how much closer she was to finding Lux. Then I would also get to ask her the thousands of questions that were welling up inside my head with every passing second.

"Nurse!"