Changed [stylinson]

Summary/Prologue

SUMMARY/INFO:

brief refresher for those who finished Caught a while ago: This story takes place a little after the epilogue of the second story, Caught, leaves off. In Caught, Louis and Harry met in the grocery store just before Paisley's fifth birthday, if you'll recall. Louis lived with Zayn and Harry lives on his own; Colette has moved out and married a husband of her own. The band broke up when Harry found out Colette was pregnant. 

This story will be basically taking place almost a year after the grocery-store meeting, to be more blunt. Paisley has just turned six the week before this story begins, Louis is twenty-eight, and Harry is twenty-six. It is the end of October. Harry and Louis are engaged once again after their rekindled relationship started up at the end of Caught. They live together and both serve as fathers to Paisley when she stays with them. Their second child is due in about three months.

I'll say this now so that we don't get confused later on; Gemma is the surrogate mother for Harry and Louis's second child, Cameron. I'll explain (briefly) what that means. Surrogacy is basically when a woman carries a baby that isn't hers, to keep it short. If a gay couple wishes to have a child biologically related to them, they can use a surrogate. Now, a surrogate can provide the egg and carry the child or just carry the child using an egg donor's egg. In this case, since Gemma is Harry's sister, Louis's sperm was used to fertilize Gemma's egg (in a clinic, don't worry, no actual sex or anything. they're able to fertilize eggs in a lab) and then she carries their child, who shares traits from Louis and from Harry's family (since Gemma is related to Harry, of course, and they look scarily alike) so yes, hopefully that makes sense? Anyway, she's pregnant with Harry and Louis's child for them. So, props to fictional Gemma.

with all that boring explanation stuff, let's move on to the prologue.

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PROLOGUE:

When Louis wakes, it's not morning. Well, not what he considers morning, at least.

He knows it's not morning, actually, because the room is dark and the door is still closed. Harry is snoring next to him - loudly, as usual, and Louis makes a mental note to talk to him about it - as further evidence that he should, in fact, still be asleep. He rubs his eyes, still a little dazed, and he startles when his phone vibrates on the beside table. Ah, the culprit.

With a quick glance to his alarm clock, he decides that it's not worth answering. It is, after all, two in the morning; he thinks his lack of motivation is excusable. Louis scoots closer to Harry, slotting their legs together and resting his head on Harry's chest. Despite the amount of noise Harry's making on his own, Louis feels comfortable. 

The phone keeps vibrating. 

At first, it's annoying. He assumes whoever's calling has just got the wrong number and should really take a hint. Probably someone from another country, or something. It quickly becomes concerning, because Louis is sort of a Big Deal and random people having his number is not something he approves of. The final stage is worry, and the longer it rings the more apparent it becomes to him that whoever is calling really needs something.

So, he sits up. Harry makes a noise in his sleep when Louis accidentally kicks him in the midst of leaning to grab the thing, but he doesn't stir even when Louis stands from their bed and shuffles into the hallway. 

He doesn't recognize the number on the screen, so he's a bit skeptical about answering in the first place. He does it anyway, of course, because the entire ordeal has already put a damper on his night and he'd really like to get back to sleep now, thank you. It's his turn to make breakfast in the morning - a deal that he had absolutely no say in, mind you - and burning the entire house down due to fatigued pancake-making isn't the most ideal option Louis has ever considered.

"Hello?" he whispers, because everything sounds about a million times louder when the house is silent. 

"Mr. Tomlinson?" asks the unmistakably female voice on the other end, so Louis mentally checks confused elder with the wrong number off of his list of Possible Culprits. 

"This is he, uhm. Him. Yeah, I'm Louis."

"Right, hello. Sorry to wake you at this hour, but. It's urgent. I'm calling from Cheswold Park Hospital?"

Louis blinks a few times to make sure he's fully awake. "Cheswold Park Hospital?"

"In Doncaster, sir." 

"Alright..."

"We have Johannah Deakin here. Does that ring any bells? You're in her emergency contacts, and-"

"That's my mum." Louis feels every cell in his body switch from irritable and tired to alert in half a second. "What's wrong? Is she okay?"

"It's alright, son. She came in a few hours ago with a man, said she had a massive headache and nausea. She was very confused, so we took her back- and, I'm sorry, sir. I really am. It's not easy to say this-"

"Oh, God. Is she dead?" he blurts, unable to help himself. He feels like he's about to explode.

"Goodness no! She has a cerebral aneurysm that burst - that's in her brain, to put it in simpler terms - but luckily she was in here when it happened. She was able to receive... almost immediate medical attention."

"What do you mean, 'almost immediate'? You're in a bloody hospital!" Louis shouts. A part of him feels bad for yelling at the woman, especially since he knows she isn't personally responsible, but it's his mum and everything feels scary. He rushes back into the bedroom in search of his keys and shoes. 

"Well, sir, we didn't realize until-"

"How do you not realize someone is having an aneurysm?!"

"The symptoms are similar to that of many other things-"

Harry stirs, muttering Louis's name a few times, but Louis is too busy trying to put on his jeans with one hand. "How is she right now?"

"Unconscious."

"Like, she passed out?"

"Not quite."

He freezes. Harry sits up in bed, hands resting behind him, and he looks at Louis questioningly. Louis looks at him blankly, but his lips are stuck. He's stuck.

"She's slipped into a coma." 

Louis feels his entire face contort with sorrow, and his free hand flies up to cover his mouth. He doesn't want to wake Paisley with the sob that makes its way out. Harry is up almost instantaneously, arms around Louis even though he doesn't know what's wrong. 

"Wh-what?" he can't speak without blubbering, especially not with Harry wrapped around him. 

"I... I think it's best if you come on down. To see her. You can talk with the doctors, then. I'm sorry, Mr. Tomlinson."

He hangs up before she can say another word. "Harry, I. I have to go to Doncaster."

"Why?" Harry asks, voice as soft as a gentle breeze. It's an almost startling contrast to Louis's own demeanor.

"It's my mum. I'll explain later, but I - can I take your car? Can't f-find my fuckin' keys."

"Of course, Lou. Is she alright?"

But Louis is already out the door, and he knows he has a long drive ahead of him.

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i did a lot of research on aneurysms holy shit

the first real chapter should be up within the next few days.

the cover is temporary sorrysorry