Captured [Narry]

Epilogue

That night, Niall fell asleep to the sound of Liam's breathing. Liam didn't dare leave Niall alone, not even when Niall began to scream and curse and cry and break down in a panic attack, screaming at Liam to leave, that he didn't want anyone if it wasn't Harry. It was true, but it also wasn't. The last thing he wanted was to be alone, and if Liam hadn't taken the few punches Niall threw at his chest, Niall would be alone.

Niall cried himself to sleep against Liam's bruised chest. Liam held him, hushed him into sleep. It was the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for Niall- talking him through his tantrums and shushing him through his cries until he fell into a comfortable sleep. Niall's heart fluttered just at the thought, only he was asleep, so he really didn't.

That morning, Niall woke up to the sound of Liam's breathing. There was more added to the noise, though. There was talking in the background, and Niall's head wasn't leaning on Liam's chest anymore.

Niall opened his eyes. Liam was standing up, his back turned to Niall. There was someone sitting on the bed beside him, someone who giggled at something that Niall didn't hear. It wasn't Harry. It was a girl. Turning to look, Niall found Eleanor there.

"Hello, Niall." Eleanor said, her voice sympathetic and sweet. Niall broke down again. The last time he saw Eleanor was just a few days after the kidnapper was announced loose. He remembered how terrified he was to lose her or Danielle or Perrie, and now he had all of them here. Except for Harry.

Eleanor pulled him into a hug immediately, kissing the top of his head as he cried. The voices stopped talking, and Niall had no doubts they were all staring at him. He tried to stop crying, tried to calm down and look at everyone else- whether it be just the boys or the other girls, but he couldn't. He was a wreck.

"Harry will come back." Eleanor promised, moving her hand out of Niall's hair and taking his hand. Niall wanted to pull away, stand up and scream and tell her not to touch him, because only Harry was allowed to hold his hand, but he didn't have the energy.

"Harry's gonna be okay, Niall." It was Perrie's voice that came from right beside him. He glanced over at her. Her hair was pink instead of its normal blonde, and he frowned. It looked nice on her, yes, but she looked different and Niall almost hadn't recognized her.

"Something wrong?" She asked, then she glanced down at the hair falling over her shoulder. She chuckled, picking up a few strands to examine it closer. "Oh, yeah. I got this dyed on tour. Do you think it looks good, Niall? I'm still debating."

Niall realized he'd stopped crying. He pulled away from Eleanor and studied Perrie's hair. It did look nice, but Niall wasn't in the mood to talk about Perrie's hair, so he just nodded and said, "Yeah, it looks great."

Perrie gave him a smile, then moved close to wrap her arm around his shoulders. "You know, Harry wouldn't want you to be upset. I know you're probably not in much of a mood to hear this, but Harry stayed behind for you, so you could be safe and well and, um, happy. Josh promised, too, to get him back. This is a good situation for the police in case he doesn't."

That was true. Greg was holding Harry hostage, but Harry had still just walked in there. He wasn't taken, he walked right into Greg- gave himself up. Was it? Was this a good enough situation for the police to get involved?

"Don't worry about it." Perrie said. "We'll keep you safe and work hard to get Harry back. In the end, everything is going to be okay."

Niall nodded. He glanced at Danielle and Liam, who were standing off to the side. Danielle gave him a smile when he looked. He didn't smile back.

"Everything is going to be okay." Niall repeated after a minute or two of silence. Everyone nodded in agreement, and Niall nodded, too. He took the next few moments of silence to try to convince himself of just that. Everything is going to be okay.