I Think I've Been Kidnapped

Chapter 31

***Mai's P.O.V.***

I sat back in the uncomfortably stiff hospital bed that I had been in ever since the doctors had looked at my ribs. Turned out that I had a really bad break in my rib, and they had been afraid that it had punctured a lung, but it turned out to only be a false alarm. After they had done what they could for me and then put me on some pretty heavy medication, I was left to be alone in my hospital room. The TV had been turned on before the nurses had left per my request, but it was really only background noise as I tried to fall asleep. My mind seemed to be too filled for rest, though, and I found myself starring at the wall blankly.

Just earlier today I had been on my way to a horrible life in a developing country with a father who had an unhealthy obsession with me. Thinking about the situation I had been in had sent shivers down my spine by itself. Then I thought about the boys; where were they now, and did they know that I was here? The last thing I wanted was for them to try and come to the hospital to take me away again. I didn't want anyone to take me away again; I just wanted to go home and hug my mom and step dad.

I heard my name come from the TV and was greeted by a news report which made me cringe and turn off the TV. It wasn't helping to distract me anyways...

Pressing the button that would make the hospital bed lower into an actual bed position, I sighed heavily and willed my mind to take a rest for a while. Thankfully, it decided not to rebel, and I closed my eyes in hopes that I would be able to get a decent nights sleep for the first time in a long time.

My eyes snapped open when I heard the door to my hospital room open and a male's voice drift through the room. My impulsive thinking caused by recent events told me that it was my father and that he had somehow managed to escape. Though, my mind and heart soon slowed their panicking when I saw who it really was.

"Ay!" My mother's voice exclaimed happily as she slightly pushed my step father to the side. He only chuckled at her actions and watched while she rushed to me. Tears were already starting to pool in her eyes when she approached me, and I could feel myself tearing up as well. She embraced me quickly, though it was a bit awkward with the wires getting in the way and everything that was around me. I pulled her into a tight hug and sniffled away the coming tears. "I was scared to death," she breathed out, and I could feel her breath puffing against my hair with each word, "you were just gone."

"I'm sorry, mom, I'm so sorry," I mumbled, finding that I wasn't being successful in keeping the tears away.

She kissed my forehead after pulling away from our embrace and wiping away my falling tears, "you have no reason to be sorry, Ay; this wasn't your fault."

"It was your bastard of a father's fault," my stepdad stated from where he stood on the other side of my hospital bed.

"Earl," my mother chastised, but I shook my head.

"No, he's right," I sniffled while looking up at him with a smile which he returned, "but that man isn't my father; even if we share the same DNA, he could never be a father to me."

He seemed to get what I was saying, and he tapped my nose lightly like he had when I was younger, "glad to see you're okay, Mai. God only knows what we would have done if he'd had you any longer."

There was a short but comfortable silence between us for a moment before I asked, "does Clay know that I'm okay?"

"Yes, dear," my mother nodded, "he's on his way here right now." I smiled, bringing her into my arms again because I was just beyond happy right now. My family was here with me and I was safe. That was all that I needed.

"I missed you guys so much," I struggled out, feeling the tears come back. I had the urge to laugh at myself; today was starting to turn into a crying party, and I was honestly surprised that I had more tears to shed. However, they squeezed their way out and trailed down my cheeks quickly as if it was a race.

"We missed you too, so impossibly much," she replied shakily, rubbing circles onto my back. The mere gesture seemed to calm me down, and the amount of tears pooling at my chin decreased. I liked the gesture, it reminded me of when I had gotten really stressed out while doing my college homework, ,and Liam had-. No, I wasn't going to think about them at all. They were part of the reason that I was in this mess. "I'm seriously considering never letting you out of my sight again."

I let out a strangled laugh, holding her a bit more tightly as we sat there on the bed, my stepdad regarding us with a fond smile.

"Ay!" I heard a familiar voice call from the doorway, and I looked over with a wide smile to see Clay. He looked almost unbelieving when I finally locked eyes with him, but then he had the widest smile on his face as he rushed towards my bed. My mother had moved away from the bed, stepping to the side with her hands clasped up to her mouth and watching us both with a wide smile that was completely characteristic of her.

Clay wrapped me in his arms, a familiar thing that I had missed a lot when I had been gone. This was exactly what I needed; all of my family was in one room, and I had never been happier in my whole entire life. Clay only made it better; he pulled a mountain dew bottle out of one of his large coat pocket-knowing that it was my favorite-and he handed it to me before sitting down next to my bed with my parents.

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

***Louis' P.O.V.***

All of our eyes were glued to the television on the private jet as we were on our way to Australia. It was putting out all of the information that we wanted to hear, and all of us had smiles. Harry was probably the happiest of us all while he sat with his face practically smushed against the screen that was broadcasting the information.

In the past hour, we had learned almost everything about what had happened to Mai (hurrah for the American police commissioners who couldn't seem to hold back information from people in the press). Apparently, she had been kidnapped by her own father. How messed up was that? He had been planning to take her to Africa. We had seen police cars at the small private airport that we had gone to, but we had had no idea that the man that they were dragging to the cars was the accomplice to Mai's father. If I had known that than I probably would have gone straight up to him and given him a proper sock in the mouth.

"Do you think she might show up on the screen? Do you think we'll see her?" Harry wondered, the excitement so obvious in his voice as he said it, "see that she's okay, and that she's safe. Maybe she wouldn't hate us anymore, either. Do you think she misses-."

I cut him off, "are you quite finished?" He looked to me for a short bit, but he knew that I wasn't annoyed with him because I was still smiling about the great news. Harry nodded curtly, looking back to the screen with a widening grin. Just as he looked back, the news switched to back to Mai's story, and we were all ears again.

"As you can see, I am standing in front of the Florida Hospital Carrollwood," the reporter started, making all of the boys and I look to each other with impossibly large Cheshire cat smiles, "Eira Mai Kendricks was brought here shortly after being found with her father who had kidnapped her. Eira was treated for a broken rib earlier today and it is reported that she is doing well. Her family and a friend were seen going into the hospital..."

Liam's voice interrupted the words once we saw that she probably wouldn't be showing up on the TV anytime soon. "She's okay, guys," he breathed out in relief, "she's okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally an update, yeah? So sorry that this is very very late, but I had AP tests and then other things got in the way. I'm off to a special place for the weekend, and so I wont be able to update again until next weekend (maybe Monday if I'm lucky). I hope you enjoyed, and I wish you all a great rest of the day. Hope you're having fun at Dinsey, CookieKrumm (but next time you should sneak me inside with you)!

-cow_queen