alive [h.s.]

Chapter 47

Harry's POV

Louis bursts through the front door loudly a few hours later, looking down at his phone. "Harry! I'm home! And I've brought you some-"

I shush him loudly. "Jesus, Louis. Be quiet."

"Oh. Sorry, mate. I thought you were upstairs." He looks up from his phone and his eyes widen as they land on me. "Holy shit." He gazes down at Allison, asleep with her head in my lap, and looks back up at me in shock. "She's.. she's awake?"

He looks like he's about to fall over. I nod at him and he walks over to us cautiously, as though he's approaching a wild animal at rest. He gets down on his knees in front of her. Allison's head is in my lap as I sit up on the couch. She was so tired after our event in the shower. It is, after all, quite physically taxing. I think and smirk to myself.

"How long has she been up?"

"A few hours. I helped her take a shower and then we came out here and started talking. But, she got tired and wanted to sleep. She's been asleep for a half hour."

"Huh." Louis says, studying her.
He nods and stands. "Now, like I was saying, I brought you some candy, but it'd probably be better if Allison ate it. Her blood sugar is probably low, she hasn't eaten in weeks."

"I don't mind. She can have it." I say and look down at Allison, stroking her hair gently.

Her eyes squeeze shut and she stretches, blinking a few times before sitting up. "Oh. Hi, Louis." She says quietly, cocking her head to the side.

"Hello, love. How are you feeling?"

"Um," Allison says and brings her hand up to her head, "yeah. I'm good."

"Lovely. Are you hungry?"

Allison shakes her head. "Not really."

Louis' mouth presses into a line in dismay. He drums his fingers on his thigh in thought. "You should eat something. It'll help, I promise." He says and Allison looks to me, almost like she's not sure if she can trust Louis.

I grab her hand and squeeze it. "Baby, you've got to eat something." I say and she nods.

Louis smiles and claps his hands. "Perfect. Why don't we go out?"

I look back at Allison, mentally asking if she's up for that. She nods warmly and I turn to Louis. "Sure. Where did you have in mind?"

"How about Sister's? I'm craving a sandwich." Louis says and pats his stomach.

I look at Allison again for confirmation. I'm so worried about her and I don't know why. She's here. She's alive. She's going to marry me. The last thought spreads a warm feeling throughout my entirety and I smile. I just want to make sure she's comfortable. She nods to me again.

"That'll be good. Can we phone the other boys too? I'm sure they'd like to see Allison."

Louis smiles and walks to the kitchen. He grabs his phone out and holds it up to his ear, calling one of the boys, I'm assuming.

I turn to Allison, her expression unreadable. "What's wrong?" I ask and pull her into my lap, cradling her to my chest as Louis begins talking into his cell phone. I tune him out, focusing only on her.

She purses her lips and frowns. "I don't know, Harry." She looks down at her fingernails. "Are we making a mistake?"

I furrow my eyebrows. "With what?"

"With a marriage." She says and my heart sinks. "I mean, we've known each other less than a year."

I push her hair back behind her ear, resting my hand on her cheek and forcing her to look at me. "Love knows no time." I whisper and she smiles. "I'm not going to pressure you into it though. I know you said you needed time. All I'm saying is, do you see us ending up anywhere else?"