The Ones We Lost And The Ones We Found

8

An hour or so after Louis went back to sleep Lizzie woke up, still hazy from all the meds in her system. Eleanor had life enter in her body again when she heard her daughter call out for her when she was her. "Mommy, it hurts." Lizzie told looking at her mother, who had tears pooling in her eyes, with eyes stinging with tears of her own. Eleanor took a seat by her head and gently lifted it and placed on her lap whispering soothing words to make Lizzie and herself feel better.

"It's going alright, darling. Mum is here now." Eleanor whispered running her hands through her daughter's brunette hair, trying not to break down. She knew she had to be strong now more than ever. Eleanor kept whispering sweet nothings till Lizzie drifted off to sleep still in pain but feeling much better having her mother right there with her.

Eleanor slipped off the bed and went out, only to be crowded by her friends wanting to know about Lizzie. "She is in a lot of pain. I don't know if I am strong enough." Eleanor said looking at her friends who covered her in a bear hug. "It will be just fine, El. She is going to make it through this." Jade said softly. "And you are going to be strong for her. She needs you, El. You can do this." Leigh-Anne continued after jade giving her friend hope. 

"But what if I break? What if I can't do it anymore?" Eleanor asked still unsure of herself, only to be shushed by Jessie. "You were strong enough to raise her for 6 years on your own. And you are the same person now." She said giving Eleanor hope. "And if you do break, we will all be here to fix you back up." Perrie finished and broke everyone off the hug and gave Eleanor a promising smile.

"We all will be." They heard a voice say from behind them, "Sorry, we did not mean to eavesdrop but we were just passing by could help but to listen." Niall continued and they made their way to them. "Eleanor, we know it's hard for you. That girl in there is your daughter and I can't even bare to imagine your pain. But you will make it through this, and you will be stronger than ever." Zayn said to Eleanor to let her know that they understand what she is going through.

"I don't know, Aaron. I can't look at her in pain like that and not blame myself for it." Eleanor said looking at Zayn, whose face went from confused to realization to slightly humoured and then settled at concerned. "No. You don't have to blame yourself for this, you did not know what was happening. It sure as hell not you who is to blame for." Liam said holding her shoulders in both is hands, making her look in his eyes. "No one could have guessed something like this would happen, so now we all need to be strong for them." He continued making her feels loads better.

Then all of a sudden her eyes opened wide like saucers when she remembered about the man who dove in the middle of bullets to save her daughter, "Your friend! Oh my God! I totally forgot about him. How is he doing? I should probably do something for him. Is there anything I can do for him?!" She asked freaking out. "No. There isn't anything you need to do." Niall said slightly amused by her. "But he saved Lizzie. I could've lost her if it wasn't for him then my Lizzie would not be here." 

"It's alright. Lou will be fine. We will make sure that tiny little shit gets proper rest this time." Zayn said with certainity in his voice, "If you say so. But do not hesitate to ask if you need help, Aaron. I'll give you my number so you can call me whenever you need me." Eleanor said holding her hand out for Zayn's phone. Zayn chuckles making Eleanor look at him with confusion evident on her tired face, "I'm sorry, it's just my name is not Aaron." Zayn said making all the girls look at him with betrayed look in their eyes.

"The name's Zayn." He said handing his phone to Eleanor before continuing, "Aaron was my cover name for the mission." He ended with a cheeky smile on his face. "Okay, so everything that day at the club was fake?" Jade asked with slight disappointment in her eyes. "What no?! Just the name." Zayn said only a little bit defensively.

"Hey, Eleanor is it?" Liam asked looking at Eleanor, to which she only nodded. "Umm, remember how you said we could ask you for any help?" He asked sheepishly, "Yeah, is there something you want help with?" Eleanor asked with hope in her voice. "Well kinda yeah. The thing is tommo never ever looks after himself, self care is alien to him." Liam said looking at eleanor who nodded, indicating to carry on.

"He never gets rest. The only person who can make him is his mum. I would call her but then she wouldn't waste a second to fly out here and then Lou would murder me in cold blood and I'd rather not die in the hands of my best friend." Liam said with a look that said he can see his death right in front of his eyes, which reflected on Zayn and Niall's face too.

"And...." Eleanor encouraged him to go on, Liam took a deep breathe before speaking again, "Since you are a mother yourself, I would be really grateful if you would very motherly scold tommo tomorrow, when he wakes up, to take care." Liam asked, the tip of his ears going a bit red, and the boys nodding along.

Eleanor let out a chuckle while the other girls laughed, "Yeah, sure! I could do that." Eleanor said smiling a genuine smile for the first time that day since she met them. "And I could also help with many other things, you need only ask." She said, "We can help too you know." Leigh-Anne said and the girls agreed. 

"Thank you, we will keep that in mind." Niall said with a grateful smile. "Hey. Has anyone seen Harry?" Perrie asked looking around, "Who?" Zayn asked confused. "Curly headed lad. Tall. Flailing limbs. Pretty clumsy. Cute as a button." Perrie said with a sad attempt at discribing him, "You know, Pez, one day when I am actually lost or kidnapped, don't even try to describe me to the police. They'd lose their minds at your description before I am found." They turned to the direction of the sudden voice to see a guy, kind of matching Perrie's description, walking towards them, with a few paper bags. "I figured all of you are to exhausted to even think about food so I bought some snacks." Harry said holding the bags out to them. 

"It's been a crazy day. I didn't realize I was hungry until now." Jessie said taking the bags. "You guys go ahead and eat, we'll be there soon." Niall said only to be pulled in by Harry, who wrapped his arm around Niall's shoulder. "Whatever spy business you might have will have to wait till after you have something in your stomachs." Harry said already pulling Niall towards the canteen. "You bought food for us too?" Zayn asked surprised, 

"'Course I did! Were you planning on starving to death and your friend finding your cold corpses when he is out the hospital?" Harry joked. "Not really. Thank you for doing this." Liam said genuinely happy, "What? For the food? It's nothing. Wouldn't want your agency to kill us all for starving their agents." Harry said lifting the tension a bit. "Not only that. For everything letting us know about Micheal and his dirty work too." Zayn said gratitude flashing in his eyes. 

"Let's get some food in you boys before we talk about this." Harry said modestly and dragged them to the canteen where the girls were sitting. They sat on the table next to them and ate making small talk and waiting for the night to pass by quicker.