She's Not Afraid

"We Got Her"

"Now how about we all relax?" Sikes said, a smile playing on his face, "Here, I'll even give you these two back." He looked at the guys on either side of him, and nodded his head. They released Ella and Niall, who flew forward. Niall grabbed Ella quickly, stepping back from Sikes.

"I'll hold on to her, if you don't mind," Sikes said, holding a gun to a whimpering Emily's head, "Just so we're all clear that I will walk out of here alive."

"I'll let you walk," Liam said, swallowing hard, as he eyed the gun, "Just let her go."

"No, I don't think so," Sikes said, "Now, how about we talk? I have a game I'd like to play with you?"

"A game?" Harry growled, "This is a game to you?" His eyes were narrowed, and his fingers reached for the gun that was in the back of his jeans. But Sikes clicked the gun, cocking his head at Harry, and pulling Emily's hair.

"Ah, ah, Styles," Sikes growled, "I will kill her, and then I will shoot whoever I can aim at first. Perhaps one of the little ones."

"Fucker," Louis hissed, every bone in his body cold.

"Look, we don't know where Sofia is, so if that's what you came here for, we can't help you," Liam said.

"I know you don't," Sikes said, "See, I came to her five days ago. Telling her that she would come to me, and bring my daughter..."

"You're what?!" Harry snapped, "Who's your daughter?"

"Birdie, of course," Sikes hissed, his smile even wider, "What Sofia didn't tell you? She really needs to go over her wedding vowels again, congratulations on that by the way...."

Harry's nose flared, as his chest began to rise and fall in anger. His eyes were narrowed, and he was trying to convince himself that Emily was more important then killing Sikes in this moment, he would get to him later.

But as he heard those words, he literally felt his heart pull in his chest. It was another secret, a big secret that Sofia had kept from him. He didn't care that Sikes was Birdie's biological father, that didn't change anything for Harry. Birdie was his daughter, she belonged with him, he loved her in a way that Sikes would never know how to love. But it hurt, just the same, knowing that Sofia knew and knowing that she wasn't the one to tell him.

"Birdies your daughter?" Eleanor whispered, her voice in shock. Sikes looked over at her, he looked bored with her question, and amused that she would try and speak to him.

"You allow your woman to speak out of turn," Sikes growled, rolling his eyes, "No wonder Sofia thinks she can run away."

"How about we just cut to the chase?" Liam barked, still not taking his eyes off of Emily who was silently crying, Liam swore he could see her mouthing a silent prayer.

"Yes, why don't we do that," Sikes said, "I came to Sofia five days ago, and I offered her a deal. I said that if she came to me and brought Birdie, we would leave the country and all of you would be unharmed. I told her that if she didn't, you tried to get you involved, or you tried to trick me, I would kill you all."

Everyone in the room froze at his words; every single one of them felt their blood go cold. Is this what this was? He was here to kill them all? Make good on his words?

"Of course, she caught me on a technicality," Sikes shrugged, "I never thought she'd be stupid enough to go off on her own, especially with the child..."

"That makes two of us," Harry mumbled, his jaw locked, "What do you want?"

"Well, I have video of the last place Sofia was seen. I'm hours ahead of you in finding her...." Sikes said, grinning, as Liam and Louis both got panicked looks on their faces.

"So you came here to brag?" Harry barked, "Or to kill us? Which one is it? Because I'm kind of over talking."

"Neither, Styles," Sikes barked back, "Unless of course you keep running your mouth, then I might just kill you."

"Let's all just calm down," Louis said, trying to break the tension between the two men, and trying to keep Harry alive.

"Look, I'm not one to punish people who haven't done wrong. You haven't done anything wrong, Sofia tricked us all," Sikes hissed, Harry laughed at him, rolling his us. The fact that Sikes was saying he would punish the innocent sounded like a joke to Harry, because so far that was all he had seen the man do, "So now, I'm just out to punish her."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Liam asked, "You don't know where she is?"

"No, but I'm close to finding her," Sikes growled, grabbing a CD from
his jacket pocket, "This is security footage of where Sofia was last seen with Birdie."

Everyone in the kitchen looked at the CD in his hand, knowing that this was the clue to getting Sofia back. This was the clue, and Sikes held it in his hands. This was the clue, and he was going to dangle it in front of them, teasing them.

"You mentioned a game..." Louis said, his voice quiet and concerned as his eyes flicked between the CD and Emily.

"Yes," Sikes said, sighing, "You know, you're sister and I have been playing a game all along. She tried to trick me, turns out I was tricking her. I send in James, she kills him. I send in Marco, she sends him back. I try and kill some of your people, she ignores me. I actually kill some of your
people, and she runs..."

"Yeah," Liam said, his eyes furrowed in confusion. He didn't know what Sikes was getting at.

"It's really been a game the whole time. But, now instead of winning Sofia, I just want to prove that no one can beat me," Sikes said, his eyes lighting up as he looked around the room, "Have any of you caught on yet?"

"I don't think you've made your point yet," Niall growled, "So why don't you go ahead and make it?" His eyes were narrowed, and he wasn't showing fear, but having Sikes in his kitchen, made Nialls blood run cold. This man took away his future children, this man killed his friends, and this man killed his boss. This man almost killed the love of his love. Niall would never show it, but he was scared. They were all scared.

"We both want Sofia and Birdie," Sikes said, "So, I'm willing to give you the information I have. We'll start on a pretty even ground, give or take a few hours."

He held the CD in his fingers, his eyebrows raised, as he waited for them to catch on.

"You want to race us," Harry said, "You want to prove that we can't beat you. You want to see who finds them first." Harry's eyes were narrowed, his jaw locked. Sikes smiled even wider, as though someone had just offered him the moon and sun.

"So that's it? We get to them first, you back off? You get to them first, you get them?" Liam asked, "That's your deal? That's you're game?"

"Not quite, you get to them first, I'll back off," Sikes said shrugging, "If I get to them first, I kill them both."

Danielle, Eleanor, and Emily all couldn't help the sobs that escaped their mouths. Niall's mouth flew open, while Liam and Harry straightened up their backs, as though they couldn't believe what they just heard. Louis was just trying to control his breathing.

"After all this?" Harry hissed, "After trying for months to get her? You would kill her? You would kill your own daughter?"

Sikes turned and looked at him, his eyes black now, he looked like a man with no soul. It took a lot to scare Harry Styles, but as he looked into Sike's eyes, he knew that if he found Sofia and Birdie first, they would never come home to him.

"Haven't you learned by now?" Sikes hissed, his voice no longer silky or charming, but cruel and cold, "There is nothing I won't do." He raised his gun, and before anyone could blink, two shots rang out, causing screams and chaos in the kitchen. Everyone flew to the floor, trying to protect one another, the biggest concern being the babies. The sobs coming from the girls were uncontrollable at this point. The babies were screaming their heads off. Liam sat up, looking around, looking for the blood, and the body. But he didn't see any.

"Everyone alright?" he asked, as everyone began to sit up, looking for who had been shot. Harry looked behind him, and saw two bullet holes in the wall. Sikes was gone.

"That fucker," Louis mumbled, holding Eleanor to his chest, taking Leo from Danielle, who was trying to stumble over to David.

"Here," Emily said weakly, still on the floor, tears running down her face. She held up the CD, "He gave it to me, right before he shot."

Liam reached out for the CD, desperate to get his hands on any sort of clue that would save his sister and Birdie. Harry grabbed it from his hands before he could do anything with it, walking from the kitchen and leaving the rest of them behind.

"Go!" Danielle said to Liam, "Go and find them."

"Are you okay?" he asked, "We have time..."

"No, you don't," Eleanor said, shaking her head, as she tried to push Louis from the room, "We don't have time. We have to find them."



***



Sofia sat at the table in front of her, looking around the near empty room of the small house. It was nothing like she remembered it to be, but her memories of this place were few. Her body felt tired, as though she couldn't really go on. She felt like she could crumble at any minute. But her mind was telling her otherwise, to push on. That of course when it wasn't telling her to turn around and go back, or to forget the whole thing.

There were moments as she drove, that she couldn't believe that this is what it had come down to. Moments where she cursed herself over and over again, because she knew that in the end, it was a selfish thing to do. She knew that back at home they would be worried, they would be angry, they would be hurt. She had promised herself when she had decided to return home for good that she would never do that to them again. She promised herself that she would never be the reason for Harry to be in that much pain again. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she thought of all the promises she made to herself, and all of the promises she made to him. He probably thought she was a liar, which, in a way she was.

She thought of Liam, and how he would worry about her. He wouldn't worry about whether she was safe, because he knew she could keep herself safe. He would worry if she was eating enough, or if she had remembered to lock the doors wherever she was. She thought of Danielle, and how she had only been encouraging to her, and loving, from the moment she stepped through their front door. She thought of her nephew, the one who she wouldn't see turn a year old. She wiped another tear from her eye.

She thought of Louis, and tried to remember one of his stupid jokes, or something funny that had happened. Anything to make her laugh, anything to make her smile. Louis could always do that, but he wasn't there, and she couldn't smile. She thought of Eleanor, who never gave up on her, even when she should have. And she thought of Leo, who was so handsome and so loved already. She would never see what he grew into, would he be quiet like his mother? Or loud and bossy like his father?

She thought of Niall, who was probably using every brain cell that he had to track her down and find her. Niall who had once carried her home himself, when she didn't think she would ever see it again. She thought of how he always had her back, and even now, he was probably trying to figure out ways to help her. But he couldn't, no one could. And Ella, beautiful Ella, who could heal anyone with her touch and her smile. Ella, who had patched up Sofia more times then she could count. She was probably pacing the kitchen, wondering if Sofia was injured or hurt, her hands were probably flexing with the thought of not being able to help her if she was.

She thought of Emily, who she had just left at the worst point in her life. Poor Emily, who had just lost Daisy, was probably loosing Zayn, and now Sofia was gone too. Emily, who no matter what, was always next to her. Emily who had been her closest and oldest friend, the one that was in most of her old pictures. She wondered if Emily hated her, or was angry at her. And then she thought of Zayn. Was he okay? She hadn't even stopped in to say goodbye. She couldn't face him. Was he alive? Had he awoken? Or had he passed on? Was he with Daisy and Danny? And her parents?

Her parents, the ones who had started this whole thing to begin with. The ones, who at the end of the day, gave her life. This life. The life that she loved and hated so much at the same time. The life that used to give her such a thrill, and gave her the most incredible love, but that also tore her to her core and made set a fire of rage and disappointment inside of her that she didn't know would ever be put down.

But after all of her thoughts, she thought of Harry. She knew that he would never forgive her for what she was going to do. He would never forgive her for leaving, and for taking Birdie, and for not letting him in on her little secret. But she also knew, that even if he didn't forgive her, he would love her still anyway. And that's what made her heart hurt the most. That's what caused the sobs that tore through her body, because she knew that even if he hated her, hated her right down to his core, he would still always love her. She knew because that's how she felt about him. She hoped he would make this easy for himself, and just hate her and move on. But she doubted it. She knew that in this moment, he was searching for her. Although, she guessed he was probably more concerned about Birdie.

Her poor Birdie, Sofia thought. She held her head in her hands and she cried. The poor little girl was confused and sad and she just wanted to return home. And Sofia just told lie after lie after lie. All she had done was lie to her. She would lie to her, and then tell her how much she loved her. And then she would lie to her again. She ignored Birdies cries and protests, and it took everything in her not to turn around and bring Birdie back to where she wanted to be. But she didn't, she just lied and kept driving.

Sofia knew that there was no turning back, but she still couldn't believe that this is where she was. Again. She had forced herself to think that this was the only way, and maybe that was how she kept going. Maybe that was how she told lie after lie, and betrayed and hurt everyone she loved, and kept driving when she just wanted to turn around. She had forced herself to believe it, because that was the only way she would go through with it. But as she sat there, in this little wooden cabin, looking around at how empty and lonely it was, her heart hurt. Her body hurt. And she didn't know if she could go through with it. She just wanted to go home, but she wouldn't, after all was said and done, she knew she couldn't anyway.


***


Harry watched the video for what seemed like the hundredth time. He watched as two cars pulled up to the gas station. It was dark and late, and you couldn't see much. He knew it was Sofia because of the way she stepped out of the car. He knew it was Sofia because of the way she walked towards the person who was getting out of the other car. He couldn't tell who it was, their face was hidden. But he watched again, and Sofia went back to the car she arrived in, pulling what looked to be Birdie wrapped in a blanket, and placing her in the other car. They were doing a car switch, that much was clear. She was trying to cover her tracks, and make sure that if anyone saw her in the first car, didn't see her in the second. As she placed Birdie in the backseat of the second car, Harry knew again that it was her. He knew that ass anywhere. And then Sofia turns to the camera that was being pointed out to her, lifts her gun, and shoots. And the picture goes blank.

"That was Emily," Eleanor said quietly, walking into the room, Harry looked up from the computer.

"How is she?" he asked

"She's okay," Eleanor shrugged, "She's... tired. She's been through a lot, we all have."

"I should go and see her," Harry said quietly, "I just keep re-watching this video. Seeing if I can get anything else out of it, but I can't. We got everything we could get from it."

"Well, if you want to go over, I'll go with you," Eleanor said quietly, "But first, let me make you something to eat?"

"No, that's alright," Harry said, "I'm not hungry."

"Harry, you need to eat, and a nap would do you some good," Danielle said, walking into the room, "Liam and Louis will be back with some information soon, and you should be rested."

"I can't sleep anyway," Harry said miserably, "Every time I close my eyes I see Sofia, or worse I see Birdie. And Sikes is always there too. What if he's already gotten to them? What if he's already figured it out?"

"He hasn't," Eleanor said, shaking her head, "We would know."

"I just... wish there was something else I could do," Harry said quietly, standing from the desk and walking around it.

"Harry, they're going to come home. It'll be okay. At least we know she didn't hand herself over," Danielle said, gently, "That's good, isn't it?"

"No," Harry said, shaking his head, "It's worse. If she was handing herself over, I could see how she would leave me out of it. But, running away? Without telling me? Without letting me go with them? No, this is worse."

"Harry, we're going to get her back," Eleanor said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "And you and Sofia will work through this."

"I don't know if I want to work through this, El," Harry said, his voice so quiet and broken she could barely hear him. Her eyes shut as she heard the words he whispered, they caused her pain.

"WE GOT IT!" Louis cried, as he ran through the door, holding pictures in her hand, "WE GOT HER!"

"What?" Harry snapped, standing up and stalking over to him, he grabbed the pictures out of his hands. They were grainy and dark, but he knew that face and body anywhere. That was Sofia. And he recognized where she was.

"Is she?" he asked, looking up at Louis, as Liam came running into the room.

"She's been sighted a few times," Liam said, "Right by Narrow Woods. She's there. We gotta go."

"What the fuck?" Harry mumbled, his eyes furrowed in confusion.

"Seriously," Liam hissed, "We have to go now, because it's a good 2 hour drive from here. And if these people are giving out information to us, there are giving out information to anyone."

Harry didn't need to hear more, he reached for his jacket, still staring at the pictures in his hand. They had found her; frankly, he thought it was a little too easy. Maybe she was so far gone in the end, she had forgotten how to really cover her tracks. Or maybe, she would be gone by the time they got there. Maybe this was just another lead that would go nowhere, just like all of those he had followed months and months before. But, whatever this was, he had to see it through. He hoped to God she was there, and he sent up a prayer that they found her first.


***


"You sure this is it?" Sikes asked into his phone as he pulled into the narrow road that lead into the deep forest of Narrow Woods. He glanced back and forth and he drove his car up the road. What an odd place for the girl to run and hide. She should've known better then to come out of the woods, once she went in them.

"No, I don't need you to come," Sikes scoffed into his phone, "It's just her and the girl in there. All I have to do is walk in, and she'll be on her knees and begging."

He drove further into the woods, taking the winding road, as he insisted that he could handle this on his own. He wasn't scared of Sofia Styles, and he knew that she would do just about anything to save that child. He had found her first, and now he was going to make an example of her. Hanging up the phone, he saw the small cabin up ahead. There was no car with it, it sat perfectly still. It was almost as though no one was there, but he knew better. She was inside, and he was going to go in and yank her and Birdie out.

Turning off his car, he slid out of the drivers seat quietly. He closed the car door, glancing up at the cabin. He pulled out his gun, and walked as quietly as he could up the stairs to the front door. He didn't want to give her any opportunity to run. He noticed that the front door was open, almost asking him to come in. He rolled his eyes at the girl, she thought she was too good. It was going to get her killed. And he was going to be the one to kill her.

Stepping into the cabin, he looked around, searching for any sign of life. He took a few cautious steps forward, waiting for one of them to make their presence known. It was a small cabin, and it seemed fairly empty. It didn't look like a space that a mother would bring her child, but maybe that was why she did. Maybe she thought no one would find her here, no one assume that she would bring that girl to an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods.

He took a few more steps, deeper into the cabin. Maybe she had gone out, like the stupid girl she was. Maybe she had taken off, although he doubted it. He glanced around; he wasn't sure what to do. He approached the other room, what may could've been a kitchen at some point. But he stopped when he heard the door slam behind him. He turned and saw Sofia standing there.

"It's about time you found me," she said, a small smile on her face. He looked at her, tracing her body up and down.

"Excuse me?" he hissed

"Oh, did you think that I didn't want to be found?" she growled at him, stepping forward, "No, if I didn't want to be found, you wouldn't have found me."

Sikes scoffed, before sighing deeply, his jaw locked and his eyes narrowed on her smug face.

"So, this was a trick?" Sikes growled.

"Yes, and you fell for..." Sofia hissed, "Again."

Sikes bit the inside of his cheek, and Sofia watched as his eyes went black with rage. He lifted his gun and pointed it at her head.

"You should put that down," she suggested.

"And why would I do that?" Sikes growled, "You aren't armed! You stupid girl! What's stopping me from blowing your head off and taking the child?" Sofia grinned even wider, her eyes going black now too.

"That would require her being here," Sofia said, "And she's not." Sikes froze, he eyes blinking a few times as he registered her words.

"What?" he growled, causing Sofia to grin wider.

"She's not here. Only I know where she is," Sofia said softly, cocking her head to the side, she was the only one grinning, "And if you kill me, you'll never know."

"What are you playing at?" Sikes said, he tried to see if she was lying. Her body and eyes weren't giving anything away. He listened for the child, but he didn't know. He couldn't tell if Birdie was here or not. Part of him wanted to shoot Sofia and get it over with, but the bigger part of him knew that she had tricked him, again. And if she hid Birdie, he would never find her. He needed answers. He needed Sofia alive.

"I'm not playing," Sofia said softly, a ghost of a smirk playing on her face, her eyes black, "Just put down that gun. And I'll make YOU a deal."