"Gurveer," a soft voice cooed in my ear, and as my eyes fluttered open, Harry was only centimeters from my face. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and gave him a weak smile. I uncurled myself out of the ball I had slept in and all my muscles groaned in pain. Sleeping in a hospital waiting room wasn't the most comfortable thing ever. "Good morning love," he whispered, and when I looked around, everyone was still asleep, except Paul who stood at the door, watching the hallway. Something struck me as off. Why had we been allowed to stay here?
"Why didn't they make us leave?" my voice was still hoarse from sleep, but I knew he understood what I had said. He shrugged in response.
"I guess Paul talked to them or something. Do you want to go see Liam?" I nodded, and he helped me up from the chair, my knees cracking as they stretched for the first time that morning. Harry held my hand and the warmth of his palm against mine was one of the most comforting feelings ever. As we approached Hannah's room, I saw Liam. He was sitting outside of the room in a plastic chair and he had his head down between his knees. I could hear him crying. I let go of Harry and ran towards him, and Harry stuck close behind. I crouched next to him silently, and laid my hand on his thigh.
"Liam, what happened?" I spoke calmly, bracing my mind, heart and whole self for more bad news, but when he looked at me, he was smiling. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"She's woken up," his voice shook with sobs of happiness, "She'll be alright." At that moment, my emotions were the definition of indescribable. Hannah was alright. I kept telling myself, trying to make myself believe it. My eyes started to water, and I couldn't help but laugh. Liam laughed with me though, and pulled me in for a brief hug. I turned to speak to Harry, to see his reaction but he wasn't there. Instead, he was running back to the room, and I could already hear him waking the others up. For once, his boisterous personality was coming in handy. He emerged from the room second later, dragging a only half coherent Louis behind him. Tara scurried past them, a look of disbelief on her face.
"She's okay?" her voice cracked as she came closer and when I nodded, she dropped on her knees and cried. Tara had taken some of the blame for this on herself, even though we persistently told her it wasn't. Tara had egged Hannah on, told her that the couldn't handle as much as she could, and it'd turned into a competition. Tara had been right, Hannah's body couldn't handle it, but she was okay now and that's all that mattered. Our little pow-wow in the hall carried on in the hall for about 20 minutes before the nurse said we needed to keep quiet. In the ICU, the rooms are walled with windows, so that patients can be monitored at all times. When I looked over, I noticed Hannah stirring in bed, and she slowly opened her eyes. I thought I'd regained my composure, but the light in her eyes when she saw all of us created niagra falls all over again. She weakly smiled at me and lifted her hand to give us a small wave.
"G," Liam said, his voice tired, but not full of angst as it had been last night, "Thank you for saving her. For diving down there to rescue her. Today, you're my hero, and I owe you the world." I graciously blushed.
"You don't need to thank me for anything. And you most definitely don't owe me the world." I smiled in embarrassment.
"I do," he smiled, patting my on the shoulder, "Because you saved my world when you pulled her up."
"Sara?" Niall's voice echoed throughout the all but empty house. Niall, Sara, Harry and I had come home to prepare food for everyone. The others had stayed with Liam, for support and to keep us posted.
"Sara's in the shower," I yelled to him, and he appeared in the kitchen, startling me, I hadn't known he was so close. Harry sat at the island, reading through his twitter feed. Every now and then I saw his lips turn up into a smile, but more than anything, I saw him look down at his phone in disgust. Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a twitter.
"Oh," Niall nodded, he'd probably just woken up from a nap, judging by his voice. He rubbed his eyes, and smiled at me. "I got it G, you go rest for awhile. You've done enough for us in the past few days." I tried to protest, but he pushed me away from the stove with his hip and snatched the spoon from my hand. I laughed as he fought me for it, but I gave in. He was right, I could use a few minutes to sit down. I moved toward my room, and it then everything hit me. My room had never seemed so far away. I leaned against the wall, and closed my eyes, just for a moment, to get the energy to make my way up the stairs.
"Babe," Harry chuckled, "Babe, you've fallen asleep in the hallway." I picked up my head slowly to look at him. His eyes sparkled with amusement, and I gave him a sleepy smile.
"Oh," I looked around, "I guess I did." I laughed silently at myself and Harry smiled.
"Let's get you to bed then love," he picked my up gently, cradling me in his arms and I let my head fall onto his chest. His heartbeat thumped against my chest and I slid my arms around his neck to bring me closer to him. He climbed the stairs at a swift pace, and when we reached the hall that my room was in, he let me down onto my feet. I looked up to him in confusion, searching his face for an explanation. His eyes locked on mine, and held me in my place. His green irises swirled and without a word he leaned in and pressed his lips softly to mine. My initial reaction was shock, then instinct took over. His hands found my waist as mine rose to his neck. He pulled my closer to him, and the kiss became less gentle, it became urgent, and needy. He gripped my slim hips and something inside clicked. This was right. Harry was right, he wasn't like Daniel, and he ever would be. Even as our kiss deepened, and grew more passionate, it was still loving and not just utter lust. I smiled against the kiss and his lips left mine. He looked down at me, his lips forming a brilliant smile.
"I've never kissed you sober," he admitted softly, but I wasn't surprised, something in me knew that. "I was missing out."
I rose on my toes to kiss him gently once more and when I pulled away his gaze was longing. I gave him a sly smile, then turned on my heels and ran for the stairs.
"Gurveer!" He laughed, sprinting after me, "Get back here." He caught me, I knew he would, and held me around the waist. When I struggled playfully against his grip, he held strong, not letting me go. We collapsed on the hardwood floors of the foyer in laughter. We were so focused on the each other, that neither of us heard the door creak open softly.
"Well, this is quite a welcome back," his low voice softly snickered. I reluctantly pulled my attention from Harry to flash him a smile.
"Zayn," I grinned but I this didn't add up. " What are you doing back so soon?" I asked him, looking up from the ground.
"I missed you too," he replied sarcastically, but gave me a soft smile, "I couldn't stand being away from you guys. I didn't want to wallow." I nodded as Harry lifted us off the ground. They shared a moment and talked quietly to each other. I knew when Harry told Zayn about Hannah because face fell into deep concern. He muttered Raina's name, and Harry shook his head. Zayn's eyes flitted to me, and I quickly looked at the ground, not wanting to be caught listening.
"Hey," Zayn called as I walked down the hall. I turned around and he smirked. "Find Sara so I can thank her."
My eyebrows came together in confusion, "For?"
"For defending me and my family at the airport. I heard she got that girl good." I smiled at the fact that he was smiling again. Zayn was back, Hannah was alright, how much better could this day get. My attention was stolen by an odd smell coming from the kitchen. I weaved through the mess left from last night and stepped through the swinging doors to the kitchen. Sara had Niall pushed against the wall and was having her way with his neck. A small moan escaped his mouth and I just stood there in disbelief. I shook my head and grabbed the skillet from off the stove.
"So we'll order something in then?" I snorted, throwing a piece of burnt pepper at the back of Sara's head. She turned towards me, cheeks flaming with embarrassment.
"Could it be Chinese?" Niall asked, hiding his embarrassment behind a devious smile. I rolled my eyes and pointed to the phone book then left the kitchen. These boys were just too much.
