Stay With Me (Liam Payne)

Part 19

 Nicki woke up in the ER covered in bandages. Her nose was indeed broken. She had a cut along her hairline and her eye socket had a fracture. Her eye was bandaged. They wouldn't know if they could fix it until the swelling went down. That could take up to a week. He had bashed her eye right into the bar. She kept hitting the nurse button, trying to ask for her phone. Finally someone did come in, but it wasn't a nurse. It was the grandmother who hated her. Who had called her? How did anyone know about her?

"Nicki, we are so sorry. The PI we hired couldn't find you. He suggested that we report that you had stolen property. Then, if you even got a parking ticket, you'd be taken to the police station. We were desperate. Your trail was cold. I didn't realize that you had disappeared for a reason." Margaret said.

"I have nothing to say to you. What stolen property do I have? I wasn't allowed on my flight. I'm going to lose my job. You have just taken the new life I was building for myself and tossed it into the trash. I want you to go away. You've had two chances to get to know me. It's too late." Nicki spat.

"We regret what we did. We really didn't know about you. Once I saw you, I knew it was true, Nick did have a daughter. You couldn't be anyone else. We hired the PI to investigate and find you."

"So you had me arrested?" Nicki fumed. "Look what you've done to me! What did I steal?"

"Well, we needed a valid reason to report theft. You must have your mother's engagement and wedding ring. They belonged to my grandmother and Nicholas took them without asking." Margaret explained.

"Get away from me. NURSE!" she screamed.

"Please Nicki, don't do this. We want to know you. We lost our son. This is our second chance." she begged.

"Do you have any idea how I grew up? Going to bed hungry? Hoping my mom brought home food from the diner she worked for? You can't make it right now. It's too late. Get out. NURSE!" she yelled again.

Finally, a nurse came in and Nicki demanded that her 'grandmother' was removed. She also demanded her phone. The nurse explained that she hadn't been brought in with a phone, but she could make a local call, if she needed to, and pointed at the phone on the table next to her. The nurse left, taking her 'grandmother' with her.

Nicki picked up the phone and decided her best bet was the diner and Lee. As she dialed, an officer came in and took pictures of her injuries. She had witnesses. They had the assault on camera. This time, the charges would stick. Matt was going to jail.

The diner finally answered, but Lee wasn't there. She left a message for him and then tried to remember anyone else's number. The problem was that they were programmed into the phone. She never dialed numbers. She just pressed 'harry' and it called him. She looked at the time. 8 o'clock. She must have been knocked out for a while. Liam had to go on stage in an hour. She knew he was worried. He wouldn't want to go on stage until he knew she was safe. How to get a message to him? She called the nurse again and asked if she could use a computer. They didn't have anything to give her. She asked if she had a phone.

It took much convincing, and a date with Harry Styles, but she let her use her phone. The nurse, Ashley, watched as she logged on to her twitter and typed her second ever tweet. "I am safe." and sent it. By now it was 8:30 and she was in a panic. He needed her to be okay, so he could go on stage. The nurse showed her how to send a private message so she sent one to Paddy, telling him to tell Liam she was fine. Just as she pressed send, Liam tweeted "Thank god". She sighed in relief and wrote down her information for Harry.

Paddy sent a private message back asking where she was. She made him promise not to tell Liam. Once he agreed, she told him that she was in the hospital. Her phone was at the police station, along with her passport and planner. She was using a nurse's phone. Harry owed Ashley, the nurse, a date. She gave her back her phone and asked how long until she was put into a room. She was being transferred, so it would be a while. Her grandparents were paying for a private hospital and the best plastic surgeon in Britain. She was too tired to care.

The next time she woke up, she was being transferred. She asked the time. It was 11 o'clock. The concert was over. She went back to sleep. Everything hurt less while she was asleep.

Lee was sitting outside of Matt's flat, waiting for him and dosing off. Around 8:30 he got the all clear from Liam and went home to sleep.

Liam forced everyone to hurry and was on the plane by midnight, which was a record. Once they were safely on the plane and it the air, Paddy told him the truth. Liam went back to freaking out. She was safe, Paddy convinced him, but it just wasn't the kind of safe that meant 'at home and waiting'. He also explained that all of her things were at the police station. She couldn't call. Paddy wasn't even sure why she was at the hospital. Paddy had called the police station where she was taken but he couldn't get information over the phone or without proof of relation to the prisoner. He did manage to get the most likely hospital she would be taken to. He called that hospital and was told she had been transferred and they couldn't tell him where. Paddy had no choice but to call every hospital until he found her. The plane landed and everyone had disembarked before Paddy found her. He had no idea how many places he had called. He got Liam in the SUV and drove.

It was nearly 2am before they were even insight of the hospital. It took much begging and pulling the 'do you know who I am?' card before he got a room number. Paddy made him walk to the elevator and down the hall. He needed to be calm. They had no idea what they might be walking into and he didn't want to upset Nicki. The nurses station told him that Nicki was sleeping and it was best if he came back later. He tried explaining what had happened but the wouldn't let him on the ward until 7am. He asked for the closest waiting room, a pillow and a blanket. Then he told Paddy to go home.

He had just settled on which rock hard couch to sleep when the nurses took pity on him. They didn't believe he'd really stay. He was told she looked awful and to not upset her. She was in pain and had been given extremely powerful narcotics to help with the pain. She may not even wake up. He walked into the private room, dropped the bedding on a chair and moved back the curtain. He couldn't help but gasp. She looked worse than she had before. Black eyes, one covered, broken nose, stitches on her forehead. He walked over to take her hand and she stirred, opening her eyes. "Liam."

"Nicki. I am so sorry. I should have paid attention. You'd never been in an airport before." he began.

"Liam." she said again. She patted the bed. "Liam." He pulled off his jacket and shoes. Then he crawled into the bed. She moved to her side, bad eye up, and laid her head on him. "Stay. Liam. Stay with me." she muttered before she fell back asleep.