Caged Birds Don't Sing

Epilogue

Liz POV:

The ride to the airport was quiet. Now that we were together, none of us really wanted to leave each other. But we had to. As we dragged our bags into the airport and Niall and Liam took care of the plane tickets to the US and Germany, we said our goodbyes.

"Come to Germany soon, Liz. Or better yet, we will come to America!"Selina said, her eyes full of tears as she hugged me tight. Roni and Vanessa followed, all of us promising to message the group chat when we landed and everything. Niall came walking back over to us, four tickets in his hands. Thank god it was a time where the airport wasn't super busy. He handed three to Vanessa, and then the last one to me. They both stopped and just surveyed us for a second, sad smiles on their faces.

"Here are the tickets. They are both boarding soon. Drivers will be at the airports to pick you up and take you home. Never thought I'd actually have the chance to be best friends with fans before...there are so many of you...but you four...you saved us. You saved all of us, and we couldn't thank you enough."

"Is there anything we can do for you? Photos, autographs, anything like that? I'm sure Harry and Louis would send some in the mail or..."

I stopped Liam by putting a hand on his arm, and he faltered, looking at me.

"We don't need anything. No one is supposed to know that we were involved, anyway. It's better if we just...pretend this never happened." My voice caught at the end, and I knew that the other three felt the same way that I did at this moment. It wasn't like we wanted to forget. We were literally friends with One Direction. We had saved two of their member's lives. I was wearing Louis fucking Tomlinson's clothes, which he told me to keep! This was everything a fan could wish for and more. But it wouldn't be right to use them like that, and we all knew that.

"Flight 28 to JFK on American Airlines will be boarding in ten minutes time." A voice sounded through the loudspeakers and I sighed. I gave all of the girls one last hug each and then hitched my backpack higher on my shoulders, turning towards Niall and Liam. They both came forward and hugged me gently.

"Thank you. Even if you don't think so, we owe you. We'll make it up to you somehow. We promise," Niall said with a smile, and I gave a small smile in return. Liam hugged me again, and before he could let go, I whispered into his ear,

"Go see him. Tell him how you feel. There are a lot of supporters of you two as well..."

He blushed but nodded, and I headed down the hallway towards my gate, but turned at the last minute. They were all watching me go, and I lifted a hand in farewell before hurrying off down towards the gate, where people were already lining up to board. I filtered in with the crowd and got to my seat rather quickly. Pulling out my headphones, I plugged them into my phone and unlocked it. A picture of Larry was now set as my background. It was a picture that I had secretly snapped at the hospital, when Harry and Louis had kissed in front of us. I was the only one that had it, other than Selina, Vanessa, andRoni, and it just felt special to me. It reminded me that this wasn't all some crazy story, but that it had actually happened. The only reminder I'd ever have. I turned up the music as the plane prepared to take off, and closed my eyes. When I woke up...I'd be home.

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The slight turbulence as we got closer to the ground in America woke me up, and I looked blearily out the window. I could see the skyline of New York City through a thick haze of rain, and it both made me happy and broke my heart. I was back home, but without my friends. It almost felt like a dream, just like I expected it to. I gathered my things and prepared to get off, just keeping to myself. I picked at the hole in my jeans (because they were mine now, holy shit) and waited as people all around me grabbed their bags and toys and babies and whatever else they had.

My trip through the airport was quick and I soon met up with a driver who was rather young and kind of attractive. He led me to the car that would take me home and promised a safe journey to me before closing the door and getting into the driver's seat. I leaned my head against the window and looked out at the drizzle of rain hitting the window pane. It was at that moment that I remembered that my phone would work again, and I pulled it out eagerly, glad to finally be able to post again. The first thing I saw were four tweets, one from each of the boys, and I opened them with interest. The first one was from Niall.

@niallofficial: So glad to have our own Larry Stylinson back with us after a nasty bought of appendicitis for Louis. He's doing just fine !

The second, from Liam, was very similar.

@Real_Liam_Payne:Reassuring you all that Louis is doing well and we should be back on tour in a few days time!

But when I got to Louis' and Harry's, I almost choked on air. Tears sprang to my eyes as I read them, mouthing the words.

@Louis_Tomlinson: Four angels were watching over me, I'm sure of it. No worries, Hazza is taking care of me. See you all soon !!

@Harry_Styles: Sometimes you find help in the strangest ways. Thank you...we owe it all to you .xx All the love

I bit my lip, retweeting all four of them and immediately messaging the group, where the other three were already squealing about the tweets. We all knew what they were about and who they were directed to, but to the rest of the world, it was just the boys tweeting like they normally would. No one would ever know.

When I got home, it was to a torrent of yells and demands from my parents, but I just calmly talked to them and told them that I had gone out with a few friends for a school project and it was top secret. Somehow, this won them over, and they hugged me, just happy to see me home and well.

"Where did you get those jeans, Elizabeth? I didn't know you liked the ones with the holes in them..." My mom commented as I made my way towards the stairs. I smirked to myself.

"Oh...a friend gave them to me. Said they didn't need them anymore. I'm tired, though. Gonna get some sleep...night!" I called over my shoulder, heading up the stairs. I dropped my bag on the floor and flopped down on my bed, sighing as I sank into the memory foam. My eyes were already closing when my phone buzzed one last time, and I somehow had the strength enough to pick it up. Louis had tweeted again, and when I opened it, I literally laughed out loud, retweeting it and falling asleep before I had even locked my phone.

@Louis_Tomlinson: I seem to have lost my pants...

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A/N: Well, there you have it. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Personally, it didn't really go the way i had envisioned it in my head, but sometimes you just have stories like that. I really hope that you will keep reading my stuff, and while you're at it, go check out LHShip cause she's fabulous (and totally better than i am, if im being honest) Flashlight, my next fic, is already in progress, should you care to read a classic School AU with a few twists and turns. All the love, as always xx

~L