United We Live

Fourteen

It was chaos all over again. It seemed like the cycle had yet to end, which to Liam seemed like he was the equivalent to being trapped in hell.

Maura and Bobby were understandably, angry.

And they had the questions going at rapid fire to everyone who was available to listen to their desperate pleas as to what had happened to their son.

Where was security when it happened? How could they lose someone as famous as Niall? Why haven't they talked to the police in person yet?

Most importantly they kept asking the same question that no one seemed to have an answer for.

What happened? What happened to our son?

When Liam came around the corner, pushing Harry in the wheelchair, he couldn't help but swallow hard at the sight of Niall's family.

Why?

Cause Liam felt guilty. Between Harry getting injured and the impending court case, Louis admitting into the hospital, and Niall going AWOL; he hadn't had time to actually reach out to the Horan's. He couldn't even think of a time where he had the moment to breathe much less worry about Niall and he hated that above all.

Because Niall was family. They all were family, and none of them had anything to tell the Horan's that stood before them about what had happened that night.

And what followed was far worse.

"I think it might be a good idea to have all the boys admitted into therapy," He overheard one of the managers mumble as he sat in on the meeting with everyone present.

They had taken a conference room in the lower levels of the hospital for management, family and the band member's themselves, minus Louis and Harry. It was mostly to catch the Horan's up on the past few days, but it was slowly developing into more of a planning session.

"Agreed," The man whispered back, attempting to not interrupt the woman currently giving the rundown of the initial police investigations to their missing member.

"They're mental health is important. I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them come out of this experience with PTSD and that would be catastrophic."

Liam pondered, tuning out the woman to listen in on the conversation, if she was referring to the PTSD as catastrophic to their health or their careers.

"They also need to be prepared for when the police come hounding for statements. We can only keep them at bay for so long with the excuse that they're emotional, the police will eventually get through. We have to make sure they're ready to be asked the hard questions."

"Hard questions?" The man raised an eyebrow, not actually looking at the woman.

"They will likely start looking at other avenues to Mr. Horan's disappearance. Meaning they're going to want to know if there was any fighting within the band, how he was treated amongst the group, if there is any possible way he left due to mistreatment or neglect."

Liam felt his heart sink. He hadn't thought about that.

"All four of the boys will need to prepare statements for such an occasion so that Modest doesn't take any brunt from this media frenzy. We can't afford a hint of bad publicity with the tour already on hold."

"The police will also start asking about Mr. Horan's mental health too. If he gave any signs to suicidal thoughts perhaps, because that information could completely change the game," The woman added, daintily writing down some note in her pad.