saving darcy h.s.

9

*Harry's POV*

I uncovered myself and brought the blanket with me before walking to the sliding door before closing it behind me. Niall moved back to his room with the questions that were probably swirling around in his mind left unasked and unanswered. I covered Emily up with the blanket. She didn't smile nor acknowledge my gesture. A few stray tears flowed off her cheek leaving a few wet marks on the blanket covering her. I crouched down in front of her chair and reached up to wipe her tears. She didn't pull away or move into my hand, but her face was as cold as ice.

"What's wrong Em?" I asked. She shook her head and didn't say anything. With that I stood and scooped her up and laid her on my lap ignoring her protest for a moment until she settled in and curled into me.


"What's wrong Em?' I asked again, this time whispering it into her ear.

She took a moment to answer; only leaving silence until she answered. When she did, though, her voice was full of sorrow and was shaky from her crying, "Everything." She stated, "Everything's wrong."

"Explain it to me." A few more tears escaped and I wasted no time wiping them away.

"I woke up at four thirty and moved to the kitchen and absentmindedly made a bottle. Four thirty is usually when Darcy wakes up for the day and I feed her her last bottle for the night. It wasn't-" I looked down at Emily when she paused; she was trying to stop herself from crying. She eventually found the strength to take a deep breath and continue, "It wasn't until I opened the door to Niall's room and Niall sat up asking me what I was doing that I understand what I had done."

"What did you do?"

"I realized that Friday morning could be the last time I see Darcy. It could have been the last time I feed her her morning bottle and the last time I get her dressed for the day. Harry, if they haven't found her by now, they aren't going to find her ever-"

"Hey," my voice almost sounded like I was scolding a small child with the tone and how it sounded. I took a deep breath and made my voice softer, "Where's your confidence? Where's your faith? Emily, they're not going to find her with the attitude that you have now. If you keep telling yourself this, you're going to start believing it. Eventually so much that you'll ask Mindy to stop the investigation and you'll be alone."

"Her name's Mandy." She whispered.

"Whatever," I hugged Emily tighter and then softened my grasp, "What I'm saying is, you need to be positive. Nothing good will come from being negative. Don't think people are going to expect you to still be happy and smiling. Not at a time like this. It's ok to be sad and heartbroken about this. You're not alone either. I'm not sure what this guy is like nor what he's done in the past. I can't tell you that everything will turn out for the better. I can't tell you that in the end of this, you're still going to have a daughter with out it being a lie; but, you need to be positive. It's perfectly alright for you to sulk in your tears and stay in bed for days because of this. I'm surprised you haven't already."

She didn't say anything. She just listened.

"You are the strongest person I have ever met Emily, and believe me, I've met some emotionally strong people. No one should go through this, especially you at this age, but you have amazing people right behind you every step of the way. I promise you won't be alone in this. Okay?"

She nodded her head telling me she understood. I needed to get that into her head.

"There's another child." She said.

Her words echoed in my brain waiting for them to process. When my mind fitted it together I almost lost it.

"You have another kid?!"

"No. There's another kid going through the same thing Darcy is. Another family going through the same thing I- we are." She explained, "Across town there's another case where the teenage mom was killed and the baby was taken. They're so identical Mandy thinks they could be related."

I took a minute to process what Emily said. This guy "Steele" has done this before? How lovely.

"I thought about trying to meet the other family. Maybe the grandmother or an Aunt of the boy's-"

"You don't want to do that." I interrupted her.

"Why not?"

"Because that will cause too much emotion and that's something we certainly don't need with you." I explained.

"No," she tried to stop her hiccuping that was cause from her crying which has for the most part stopping, "This could give me a sense of closure. Knowing that someone out there is going through the exact same thing as this. That maybe I'm not alone in this after all. That someone knows more about what is happening and could help me through it."

I laid my hand on hers, "Em, you're most definitely not alone in this. You have me and Haydn and Sedona. Not to mean my other three friends and Kayla and Ellie. We're here with you every step of the way."

"I can't rely on anyone but Haydn, Harry. After the wedding, who knows where you're going to go with the band. America, China, South America? And when you leave, Sedona, Kayla, and Ellie surely won't be around either because you all won't be here. I don't even know them that well. Why would I lean on complete strangers at a personal time like this?"

"Woah, woah, woah. Who said anything about a band?"

Emily rolled her eyes at me in a gesture like the answer to my question was the most obvious thing ever, and it probably was. Our body guards, in my point of view, haven't done the best at keeping themselves scarce while still doing their job of watching over us. "Oh please, it's obvious! You and your friends have body guards everywhere! They swarm you when you're in public! Besides, Haydn told me the day after her date. Said Niall was the most magnificent person she's a met and admitted she really liked him. To be honest, I was a little hurt when time went by and all you had told me was they were close friends and all of you were attending a wedding."

By this time Emily is sitting up away from my chest. I would have expected her to move off my lap but then again, I had the blanket and it felt like the air was getting colder and colder. I took a deep breath and a pause before I responded, "Look, everyone knows that you would want me to come along to meet this family so you wouldn't have to do it alone. Think what they could do if these people told something to someone that I was in a band! This whole thing about me trying to cover it up wouldn't exactly work now would it?"

"So you're saying you'd rather keep the fact that you messed up when you were a teenager from the press than help me find our baby? If you think that once this is over I'll want you to move in with me and help with Darcy than you're wrong. I honestly don't want you raising my child. She doesn't need to be around someone who is as arrogant as you are, and she doesn't need to be in the spotlight. In fact, if you could find a way to disappear from my life after this whole thing then that would me marvelous." I could see some tears etch the outside border of Emily's eyes as rude comments flooded the space between our mouths, "Don't get me wrong, I love what you're doing for me: giving me a place to stay, agreeing to help me, providing comfort. That's all great. You even helped out Haydn; granted her boyfriend is here in the same hotel room. I just don't want my child growing up and acting like you."

I was utterly shocked by Emily's words. All this time I thought she wanted me to be apart of Darcy's life. She said she wanted me to be a father figure to Darcy. Doing all the things that fathers do, like acting protective when daughters bring their first boyfriend home. Showing her that there aren't monsters in the closet when she's four. Yet, here she is telling me straight to my face that she doesn't want me near her and Darcy after this blows over. I'd be lying if I said her words didn't hurt.

Emily stood from my lap while taking the blanket from me and wrapping it around her.

"Goodnight Harry." She walked inside.