Need You -N.H- Book Two

Seven; All The Small Things

Seven: All The Small Things

"Rosa?" I push the door to the home open, darkness is all I can see as I walk into the hallway and drop my keys into the bucket. I stand at the bottom of the stairs and call for Rosa again with no response.

The only noise in the house is that of the creaking wood underneath of my feet and the sound of the birds in the garden out back. I climb the stairs to Rosa's room and gently knock on the door, it only takes a moment before it is pulled slowly open.

"Dear boy," she whispers putting her hand on my face. Her left hand is bandaged, traces of blood seeping through the white.

"What happened to your heart, is ma alright?"

She nods and takes my hand leading me to my mother's room then gently pushes the door open to show her asleep in bed, peaceful. I follow Rosa downstairs and into the kitchen where she puts on the kettle for me. "Her episodes and seizures are getting worse pequeñita," she says softly.

"How bad?" I ask her and she sets a cup of tea at my hands.

"I can't handle her alone anymore my boy, I'm far too old for it."

"What are you suggesting bringing in more help, I'm here what more do you need?"

"You can't always be here Niall, I need someone permanent."

"I'll look into it tomorrow morning Rosa, for now you should get some sleep. Thank you for all that you do." I say to her. She kisses my hand and walks back upstairs towards her room.

I sit at the counter for a long time just staring out into the dark back yard wondering if bringing in more people would actually help my mother. More faces, more confusion. But would one person really hurt? Rosa would need help with my mother as I traveled more often to visit Sarah.

I push up and away from the counter making my way down the dark hallway until I reach the stairs carefully making my way up and into my room. I stop before stepping forward and turn back towards Greg's room. I turn the knob and push into the room before walking over to his bed and crawling into it. The pain of him returning was strong and still very much throbbing through my veins even now but something about him being home gave me comfort.

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"Thanks for today Lou," I say as I climb from the car, he stands by the door holding it against the wind for me so it doesn't close. He smiles at me and closes the door as I stand back on flat ground.

"You needed a day off Winters."

Louis stands in the middle of the sidewalk just outside the apartment, with his hands deep in his pockets and a smile wide on his face still. "Your sister is a sweetheart," I say.

"When she wants to be I suppose."

I lean forward giving him a small kiss on his cheek and a wrap my arms around him for a hug. "You are too when you want to be Tomlinson."

"I try," he responds and lets me loose. He turns to get back into his car and I stop him before he has the chance.

"How did you know that Niall was gone?"

"He called me," He says getting into the car. He starts the engine and drives quietly away into the darkness. I stand on the sidewalk and shake my head before pushing the door open and wandering upstairs.

The apartment was quiet but not as quiet as I left it, Brad sits on the couch with Liz tucked into his arm. Her soft sobs fill the room around us and I can't help but drop all my things and kneel down next to her face.

"What happened?" I ask and the second she lifts her head to show me her face I see the long cut and deep purple bruise. Her cheek has been hit and it wasn't a football injury.

"You knew about her ex?" Bradley says angry, with me for some strange reason.

"I only found out the other day," I say in defense.

"I would have come back, I could have been here to stop her from going back to the dorms. To stop her from having to face that dirtbag again, but you both forgot to mention she has a drug addicted, abusive boyfriend. Jesus christ."

Brad stands up and walks down the hallway slamming his bedroom door as hard as he possibly can. Liz sits up on the couch her hair falls in her face and she gives me a weak smile. You can tell that it hurts to do so because it follows with a slight cringe and a groan from her lips.

"What happened?" I ask again hoping to get more than yelled yet this time.

"I went home to grab a few things for class tomorrow and he was there waiting for me. I tried to talk it through with him but he was high as a kite I couldn't reason with him."

"So he hit you?" I ask and she nods.

"Luckily a couple of the girls were coming home from the bar and scared the crap out of him so he took off before he could do much else."

"Good, get some sleep, I'll talk to Brad in the morning."

Lizzy nods and climbs from the couch moving back towards the bedroom, I wait until the door closes before I walk back to my own space. The smell of Niall's body is still in my sheets when I press my nose to the pillows. I breathe deeply and close my eyes hoping to fall asleep sooner than later.

When I wake the sun is peeking through the curtains and I can't seem to find my phone anywhere. I pull the covers back to find it at my feet tucked into the bed sheets, I pick it up and check the time. "Fuck sakes," I mumble under my breath realizing that it's almost two in the afternoon.

My body still recovered differently in the months after remission, tiring easily was a big factor, so sleeping until two without even noticing was normal. We had practice at four but I supposed to meet Louis for lunch half an hour ago. I had missed one call from him and two messages but nothin' from Niall. I shoot Lou a text before calling Niall to see how he's doing.

"Hey love," he answers quickly, I can hear the commotion in the background and know that he must have been busy to forget to call when he woke. "How's your day going?"

He asks under his breath as he groans and picks something heavy up, "I slept till two, about to head out."

"How did the day go yesterday? You and Lou have fun?"

"Yea, he's sister did my hair up nice for me, such a wonderful girl." I say pulling an apple from the bowl and pushing it into my purse along with my notebook and hat.

"Yea Lottie's a sweetie." he says I can tell he's busy because he's barely paying attention to what I'm saying.

"Why are you all of a sudden comfortable with me spending time with Lou?" He stops moving around and takes a deep breath before continuing.

"Because I trust you, I don't trust that rat, but I trust you with my whole heart so I have no reason to stop you from being friends and enjoying the healthy life." he says carefully and I smile.

"Oh, good. What are you doing today?" I ask him and he pauses again before the noise starts back up.

"Clearing out Greg's room. Rosa asked me to higher more help for her because mom is getting too much to handle when I'm not around. Just trying to get another room ready for whoever shows up tonight."

"You're okay with that?" I ask and he mumbles a yea. "have you spoken to Greg since the other night?"

"Nah, no reason too. I speak to him when I'm good n' ready. Why are you asking love?"

"Just checking on, making sure you aren't internalizing anything." I wasn't sure if telling him that his brother had showed up drunk yesterday would solve anything or just make it worse so I kept my mouth shut about it.

Greg would call him when he saw fit and they would talk about everything. I had nothing to do with this except supporting Niall when he needed the support. I stood by the front door until Louis's soft knock banged against the wood and said goodbye to Niall. " I love you," I say and he returns it clearly distracted.