United We Live

Five

The afternoon seemed to drag, even after Zayn finally made his appearance and had brought them all something to eat. With no word from the police, Harry asleep, and his family still making their way to them, there was a moment of undesired calm that left them all on edge.

Louis himself had taken the opportunity to get some sleep.

Not that it made him feel any better. What was it about colds that when you feel them coming on, sleeping seems to only make it worse? It's like sleeping only allows the cold to come faster that first night.

Although it wasn't too unbearable, Louis could feel the beginnings of a nasty cold creeping up on him. It was no doubt from running around in the rain the previous night and the added stress from everything that had happened.

His sniffling was increasing tenfold, and the itch in the back of his throat was starting to heat up and become painful. His mind felt cloudy from the added pressure of trying not to sneeze.

But he wouldn't tell the boys. He couldn't.

Harry was more important at the given time health wise. His blood loss, torn ankle and burn marks looked for more painful than a simple headache and stuffy nose. And that was just the physical damage done from the night before. Who knows what kind of psychological damage the trauma of nearly having your leg torn off in the middle of a severe weather storm would cause?

Liam appeared to be holding it together, but Louis knew him better than he likely knew himself. The minute Liam was alone he would crack from the pressure of attempting to appear strong. Not to mention, the older band member was getting suspicious that Liam was in shock, and was trying to go untreated from it to save others the stress like he was.

Zayn, on the other hand.

Zayn was taking all of this pretty hard. He had barely spoken, not that he spoke much to begin with. And Louis wasn't stupid. He noticed that the teen hadn't brought anything for himself to eat, and every movement appeared to be strictly subconscious.

No, he couldn't tell them he was getting a measly cold. He could take care of himself. He needed to watch out for the others.

Eyeing the time, Louis noticed it was nearing 6 in the evening. The rain had maintained a steady, yet calming, beat outside of the windows.

He had gotten a text from Anne only a few minutes ago stating they were catching the first cab to the hospital from the local airport and would be there in time.

Liam had gone to get coffee for himself and Zayn had fallen asleep about an hour ago.

Louis pulled out his phone and eyed the several notifications he had.

He needed to step up for the time being and take the harder tasks. He needed to call Maura Horan and he needed to call Simon; if he didn't already know.

Slipping down the hospital halls under the watchful gaze of security, Louis holed himself up in a small chair at the end of the hall, partially hidden by a wall and started dialing numbers.

He cleared his throat, praying he sounded less sick than he actually felt and waited for the call to connect.

0o0

Zayn awoke with a start.

Temporarily thrown about where he was, the teen shot up in his chair and looked about in a rather comical manner before his eyes landed on two young women. One was hovering over him with a sympathetic smile; the other was sitting near the hospital bed holding Harry's hand.