Beautiful Scars

Welcoming Home

Ally faced the white polished door. Her nerves were tingling, but the more she thought about it, the less worried she was. The night before she had stood in front of this same door, shaking, exhausted, and terrified. She had no idea what was waiting for her on the other side. She had not known if Louis was going to be okay. Or, for that matter, if she was. Now, she knew that things had gone as smoothly as could have been hoped for. She knew that when she walked through this door, her cousin Emily would be waiting for her, concerned, but still the same Emily that she knew loved her. Both of them were safe, healthy, and happy. To Ally, that seemed like the most fortunate thing in the world.

Ally used her key to unlock the door and stepped inside. The same sight greeted her from the night before, but this time, sunlight was shining through the windows and lamps illuminated the room. Surprisingly, she was not immediately greeted with cries or hugs.

"Emily?" she called tentatively.

"Ally!" came the response from the bathroom. "I'm so glad you're back. I'll be out in a second!"

Seizing her chance, Ally lunged for her suitcase on the floor and stripped off her ruined red jacket. Replacing it with one of her baggy grey sweatshirts, she sat up just in time to see Emily striding through the bathroom door.

"Hey," Emily said, taking a seat next to Ally on the pull out couch. She was smiling, but as she took in her younger cousin's appearance, her expression turned to that of shock. "Oh my gosh, Ally Baston, what happened?" She reached out to grab Ally's chin, forcing her to look her in the eye.

"Oh, I'm fine," said Ally, laughing playfully and shaking her off.

"You don't look fine." Emily narrowed her eyes.

"No, really. You will never guess how this happened. You know how I'm in my school's musical this year?"

"Yes, your mother was telling me about that." She raised her eyebrows, unsure of where this was going.

"Well, there is this one scene where everyone gets in a huge fight. So... last night, Samantha and I were practicing stage fighting, and she is supposed to fake punch me in the face. The thing is, I was standing a bit too close and she had a ring on, so..." Ally gestured to her cheek in explanation.

Emily shook her head in clear disapproval. "Stage fighting with rings? Man, Ally you sure are making this hard."

"I'm sorry. It was a huge mistake. Samantha felt terrible." Ally laid on the regret. Fortunately, Emily did not seem to question the story. It must have had just the right amount of ridiculousness.

"And you cleaned it up correctly and everything?" she checked.

"Yes," responded Ally, completing the lie smoothly.

"Alright, but this is the last time I'm letting you out at night. Sheesh, Ally, you have only been with me one day! Your mother is going to freak."

"Please, my mom will understand," she said with a wave of her hand. Then, taking the opportunity to switch topics, she asked, "How's the belly?"

Emily sighed, automatically placing a hand on her stomach. "Don't believe what they say. Pregnancy freaking sucks." She stood up, releasing a groan as she did so. "Mike should be home soon. Do you want to help me start making lunch? It will be fun..." she teased in the way that made it clear it would be anything but.

"Sure," Ally responded, getting to her feet while ignoring the screams of pain in her muscles. Her shoulder was killing her, and she could not even remember it getting injured last night. Maybe she should not have slept in that position after all.... She pushed thoughts of the previous night out of her mind. She needed to stay on Emily's good side. "What are we making?"

"Macaroni and cheese," she said. "He gets me pregnant, he can't be picky about my food choices.

Ally laughed again. "I love macaroni and cheese."

"Good, this is why you're here." They entered the tiny kitchen together and Ally crossed to the old radio on the counter corner.

“Let's put some music on and get this party started." She flipped it on and almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the familiar beat echo through the room.

"Oh gosh, is this that One Direction of yours?" Emily questioned skeptically.

Ally's laughter joined the boy's chorus. "Yep," she said, twirling around the room.

She would never hear the end of it if Louis and Harry found out that she was dancing around the kitchen to their top single. But they were not here, it was just Ally and Emily, and the irony was a bit too much to ignore. Not to mention that who could resist their enticing voices? Even Emily was tapping her foot as she filled a bowl with water. And Ally, Ally could not keep the smile off her face.

A/N: The next chapter will be the final one! I hope you like it :)