When Disaster Strikes

Chapter 23: Jumping to Conclusions

We pulled up to a diner and went to go sit.

"Can I have just fries Annie? I'm not very hungry" Hope said, still full from her morning with Harry.

"Sure" I said smiling at her. The slap didn't look like a handprint anymore. Come to think about it, it didn't even resemble a handprint.

"Hope, what actually happened to your face?" I questioned, scared of the answer.

"I was running around, because I had woken up from when we got home and I slipped falling into Zayn who had came home. His hand hit my face on accident" Hope said 'matter-of-factly'. My entire body froze. I didn't even let Zayn explain. I stood there and accused him of slapping his little sister and he just sat there and took it.

"Liam, what am I going to do?" I said, my voice coated with worry. He grabbed my hand and rubbed circles with his thumb.

"You're going to be okay? He will forgive you. You were super mad anyway for him coming home drunk. Everything will be just fine" Liam said pulling me to his side. Hope was coloring away, oblivious to what was going on.

Once our food had gotten to our table I just played with it. I pushed it around with my fork and my knife.

"Annie, don't play with your food" Hope said giggling. Liam started laughing too. I let out a small smirk, I taught her well.

"Annie you need to eat" Liam said. I nodded and started putting food on my mouth.

"What next?" Hope said sticking four fries in her mouth. I looked at Liam. "Uh we could go shopping if you wanted" Liam offered, Hopes face lit up.

"Can we?" Hope said bouncing up an down on her side of the booth.

"Sure!" I said nodding at her. I loved seeing her happy. It was one of my main goals, I wanted her to feel loved, wanted, and happy.

We walked out of the diner and Liam called us a cab. Fans started showing up one by one. A small, controlled circle began around Hope and I.

"Hope, how are you?" A blonde girl asked genuinely. Hope smiled, "I'm good!" She said smiling.

"I like Olaf too!" Another one said. Hope glanced down at her sweatshirt, surely enough, Olaf the snowman was all over it.

"He's my favorite, then Ana, then Elsa" Hope said happily. Liam came back and put an arm around me.

"How much do you love Annie Liam?" The blonde one asked. Liam looked down and smirked at me.

"Oh you know, not that much" Liam started causing me to laugh. "I'm totally kidding, I couldn't live with out my girl" Liam said kissing my forehead.

"Well thank you guys for all your support but we have to go" Liam said leading Hope and I to the cab.

"That was super sweet" I said leaning into Liam, once we were seated inside the car.

"Those are the moments that I love the fans. No to many, enough to actually talk to them you know. They do so much for us and we want to get to know them, but we can't we they make places unsafe" Liam said sadly. I kissed his lips.

"You have a big heart you know?" I said looking up at him. He blushed. "OH, MY GOSH. I MADE THE LIAM PAYNE BLUSH" I said in a fan girl voice. He laughed.

"Darling, what you don't know is that you make me blush all the time" Liam said pulling me closer.

"Gross" Hope said, shriveling her nose in disgust.

At the mall Liam kept Hope and I on either side of him. He had his grey hoodie on and the hood up trying to stay low. Hope lead us into 'Justice' a little kids store with lots of glitter. She picked out a couple tops and we went to pay.

I pulled out my wallet and started to get money when Liam took it and handed the lady his.

"Liam Payne" I said jokingly.

"Sorry love, couldn't let you do that" Liam said giving me a smirk. I playfully hit his shoulder. Gosh I loved that boy.

"I want to go into the pink side of victorious secret, keep Hope out here please?" I said. He frowned, "but what if I wanted to come with" he said raising his eyebrows. I laughed hitting him playfully.

"Wait here" I said kissing him. I walked in and got a black quarter zip, as well as a blue one. I went to the cashier and paid walking back out.

Liam and Hope were sitting on a couch, Hope had Liam's phone and was tapping randomly on it.

"Finally" Liam said jokingly.

"Funny, I could've spent hours in there" I said grabbing his hand. We intertwined our fingers and kept walking. Hope got up and rubbed her eyes. Liam picked her up. "How about some ice cream then we can head back?" Liam said causing Hope to straighten up.

The ice cream parlor had every flavor you could imagine, from regular vanilla to steak flavored ice cream. Hope ran right in Liam behind her, leaving me in the dust. I laughed before trying to find them.

The store wasn't overly crowded but I couldn't see Liam. I heart started beating faster each minute. I reached for my phone and called Liam.

No answer. Then I felt two arms wrap around my waist. I turned startled to see Liam and Hope with three ice cream cones. Strawberry for Hope, rocky road for Liam, and coffee for me. I smiled. "I'm going to die of a heart attack one day" I joke taking my ice cream.

Liam walked over to a little bench next to us and patted the seat on each side of him. Hope got halfway to him and slipped and fell, dropping her ice cream in the process. Liam hopped up suddenly and I knelt down to see if she was okay.

Hope was sobbing as I slowly lifter her up. Cameras were going off everywhere. My eyes got really wide.

"Liam we need to go to the emergency room. She's cracked open her head" I said trying not to panic. She was and has been extremely clumsy and this has happened once before.

I went to pick up Hope when Liam got there first. We swiftly walked through the mall to the nearest exit and called a cab. Paparazzi started to gather around us, "Pleas guys she's cracked her head" I said pleading. They didn't more. Liam exchanged some colorful words with some of the men as the cab drove up.

"Hospital please" I said sitting next to a crying Hope. I got out my phone and called Harry.

"Hello?" Harry said. "We are going to need you guys to come down the the hospital, Hopes cracked her head open" I said calmly.

"What!" Harry said panicking. "Harry, calm down, she's going to be okay. Oh and Liam is going I need a new shirt" I said as his breathing slowed down a bit. "We will be there in a bit" Harry said hanging up.

We pulled up to the hospital and Liam rushed out.

"We need a doctor" he said walking over to the receptionist. She nodded before walking away. She led us to the room and say Hope on the table. They gave Liam a wash cloth and walked out of the room.

I was holding Hopes hand as they cleaned the cut. "So we are going to need stitches" the Doctor said examining the now clean cut. I nodded as they left the room. Hope remained calm but I was kinda freaking out. I hated needles, couldn't handle them.

"Annie you're squeezing my hand too hard" Hope said jokingly. "You okay love?" Liam said asking me. I nodded unsurely just as the doc came back in with stitches.

"Ah, you don't like needles, here. I'll hold her hand. You just stand behind me" Liam said taking my hand and replacing it with his.

Hope started to shake. Her body did weird things when she was injured. Then she winced. "Are you almost done?" Her small voice asked.

"Yes only three more" he said before continuing. Liam was holding on to my hand as well as Hopes.

"All done" he said standing up and pulling off his gloves. Right then, at that time, a frantic Zayn came in.

"How's my little sister?"