Clean Criminal // l.s.

xxxvi.

[I'm coming up with many ideas for endings, so it will be interesting to see where all of this goes. -M]

"You've got to go home. I swear to God, Harry, I will drag your ass out of this hospital if I need to. You will get rug burn in places you really don't want it," Ed spoke, threatening Harry.

"You can't make me leave him," Harry said simply, staring out the window as if he were in some sad music video.

Ed let out a sigh, patting Harry's shoulder, "he'll be here when you come back later. We can even come back tonight, but after you get cleaned up and take a nap. You've been here for over twenty-four hours, Hazz, you need to get some rest."

Harry nodded, not really paying attention to anything Ed was saying. He was so tired that he couldn't even comprehend anything. The only thing on his mind was Louis. Louis was the only thing he could think about-worry about.

"He'd want you to sleep, Harry. He wants you to take care of yourself. You've been taking care of him for as long as you two have been together, you need to take care of yourself now, for him. He needs that. He needs to know you're healthy, well-rested and positive about the situation."

"He's not even out of surgery next, Ed. How can I be positive if I don't even know what's going on in that room? They could be hurting him for all we know."

Ed kneeled in front of Harry, "there are doctors taking care of him, he's in good hands. I promise."

"You don't know that."

Ed stood once more, "looks like it's time for me to drag you out of here. Come on now, let's go," he said, taking Harry's hands in his. Harry gave him a look, "this is ridiculous, Harry. Stop acting like a child."

"But Eddie," Harry whined, playing around, "I don't wanna leave. I wanna stay and wait for my Louis."

Ed smiled, "alright, it's not time for you to go all Baby Harry on me. Please, will you just come home with me?"

Harry pouted, but stood up, "my Lou-Boo I must wait for." Harry wobbled, his foot half asleep.

Ed wrapped his arm around Harry's waist to help hold him up, "we'll get you back to your place where you can wash up and I'll make something to eat and you can rest."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Hey, thanks for everything, Ed. You're always there when I fall on my ass," Harry thanked.

"Anything for you, bro. Now can you please walk on your own because this is really uncomfortable for me."

.

As Harry took a shower, he tried his hardest to relax. But his muscles were very tense and his mind was not at rest. Instead of taking his hour long shower like he usually did, he hopped in, washed his hair and certain body parts and then hopped back out, not wasting any time just standing there.

He came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist and another he was using to dry his hair, and greeted Ed with a half smile.

Ed looked up from the eggs he was making and laughed, "you've been working out, eh, Styles?"

Harry flexed and then laughed, "gotta stay in shape for my job, Sheeran."

Ed raised an eyebrow, "so it's not for other things. Like tempting your boy into bed."

Harry slapped Ed's arm, his eyes wide, "that was uncalled for."

The ginger lad shrugged it off, laughing as he did so, "how do you like your eggs?"

"Scrambled. You should know this by now," Harry commented, looking through all of his mail he's neglected for the last few days. His smile quickly turned to a frown when he came across a familiar looking handwriting with no return address. "Hey Ed, have you seen this hand writing before?"

Ed sat their plates on the counter and then stepped forward to see what Harry was talking about. The handwriting looked foreign to Ed, but he encouraged Harry to open the letter just to see what it is.

With an "ah, hell no," coming from Ed and an "ah, shit," coming from Harry the two of them quickly finished their breakfast and then rushed to the police station, not taking any naps before hand.

.

"I don't know what we're looking for," Ed commented as he continued to shuffle through papers as Harry sat at his computer searching for news articles.

"See if anything was said about the hate crime against Louis. Maybe there's some news about it or something," Harry commented.

"You know, I saw on the news that they were talking about it. They said eyewitnesses didn't know what to do so they called the police but by the time they got there, it was too late. They were both shot."

"I need to know who hurt Louis," Harry stated.

Ed looked up from the pile of newspapers and other random articles, "who was that letter from, Hazz?"

Harry shrugged, "not sure, but I have my ideas."

They continued to work in silence, trying to look for anything that might make sense, might help them in some way. Ed was no detective, that was for sure, but he did manage to come across something that might be useful, something personal of Harry's.

"Hazz, let me see that letter you got," Ed stated. Harry raised an eyebrow but handed it over to Ed anyways. Ed shook his head, laughing, "the handwriting on each of these are the same."

Harry gave a confused look but got up to take a look for himself, "what is that from?" Harry asked, taking the other paper away from Ed.

It was a birthday card from Harry's father when Harry was around ten years old. Harry didn't know how it ended up with everything else, or why he kept it all these years, but the two separate things did have the same handwriting which could only mean one thing: Harry's dad tried to kill Louis.

"So this means-"

"Yep," Harry interrupted, "this means my father tried to kill my boyfriend."

Ed didn't seem to be getting the point, "but why would he?"

"My father thinks I'm an illness, Ed!" Harry yelled, "he thinks that people like me-people who like people of the same sex-are bugs-viruses-of today's society. We're the reason for everything wrong with the world. He wants to get rid of us, kills us off. He never really accepted me for who I am. He never even cared, Ed! Never!"

Harry took a deep breath, his body shaking with anger, "so help me God I will kill him." Harry grabbed his jacket, rushing out the door with Ed following behind him.

"Harry...Harry! You can't just go out and kill the guy! You have to talk to him, see where he's coming from," Ed spoke, trying to negotiate with a crazed Harry.

Harry through his hand up in the air, pointing in the direction of the hospital, his tears mixing with anger "he's there, Ed. Louis' there at the hospital, probably dying because of him. I will not stand by and watch the love of my life die without me trying to gain any sort of justice for him!"

"Harry!" Ed screamed, "you don't even know where your dad is. You don't know if he's already dead or not! You need to calm down and take a moment to actually think about what you're about to do before you make a huge mistake that might land you in prison."

Harry looked at Ed, tears streaming down his cheeks like rivers flowing down a mountain side, "I love him, Ed. I'd do anything to protect him."

Just as Harry was about to hop into his car to drive to the hospital once again, his phone started to ring, a number he's never seen popping up on the screen, "hello?"

"Harry," a female voice spoke, "it's your mother. Your father is in the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. I think the family and I would like it if you came to see him."

Well, how could Harry turn down such a great offer?