Drifting Snowflakes

No Man's Land

For @ThatBitch-     because her DM's cheer me up and she understands how I think. I snuck in a certain bit into this chapter for you :-)

Louis had been curled up in a corner of the couch, thinking about the situation. Yes, he had his baby back, just as he'd wanted, but he'd terrified his sweet little one and he hated that thought. He relived memories of when he and Serena had first had Harry and the severe punishments they had both handed out as they had tried to form Harry into the perfect little one. Louis winced as he remembered how he had beaten Harry after he'd been caught by Josh trying to escape. No, Louis didn't want to return to those days. He wanted Harry to be as he'd been just before the community had been raided. Harry had been sweet and adorable, loving being with his daddy. Louis was determined that Harry would love him that way again and that he'd never have to return to threats and punishments. He sighed to himself and then looked at his watch. Harry had been asleep for ages and Louis hadn't heard a peep out of him. Well, he couldn't let the baby sleep all day or bedtime would be a battlefield.

"Harry! How did you get out of your crib!" Louis shouted making Harry nearly drop his phone in fright. Hastily he stuffed it under a small pile of stuffies next to his changing table, hoping Louis hadn't seen it and turned slowly to face an shocked and angry Louis. Sheer fright had Harry bursting into tears of rage and frustration. Louis felt his heart melt at the sight of big tears rolling down Harry's white cheeks. "Awe, don't cry little man" Louis cooed at him as he picked him up and cuddled him to his chest. "Daddy's gotcha" He patted Harry's diapered bottom in a soothing rhythm. Harry continued to cry, tucking his head into Louis' neck. "Shhhh, Shhh, little one" Louis continued to coo. "You're safe with Daddy now. Come on, let's go downstairs and Daddy will get you a nice bottle. Won't that be nice?" Louis carried a shaking and distraught Harry from the room.

"Niall, are you coming down to eat?" Jamie had tapped on the bedroom door and Niall had yelled at him to leave him alone. He was sick of the man and didn't want to see him, never mind even talk with him. He wanted to be left alone. He held his breath until he heard Jamie's footsteps fade away.  Finally, after looking at the clock, Niall stood up and headed into the adjoining bathroom to shower, The hot water felt good, cascading over his body. The heat even took some of the aches out of his knee. He knew he'd have to undergo surgery to have the damage repaired soon. That crazy doctor had mentioned it needed to be done but Niall was resistant. He'd get it done when he was ready, not when some stupid woman told him to have it done. Reluctantly, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a fluffy towel. Catching sight of his body in the mirror, he scowled. Those f.cking people at that sick community and robbed him of his appearance of manhood and the sight of his hairless body and the scar across his stomach from where his spleen had been removed following his failed escape attempt,  suddenly brought bad memories to the surface in a rush. Biting his lip, he fought to push them away and hurried into the bedroom. Grabbing some clean boxers from the drawer, he quickly stepped into them. The room was hot, and because Niall hated air conditioning, he opted to just lay on top of the bed. He put some music on and lay there listening until he finally drifted away into sleep.

Though Niall had valiantly tried to push the bad memories down, his control over his thoughts had diminished as he slept and soon those terrible memories surfaced through his dreams and the nightmare began. Niall began to toss restlessly as his dreams began to torment him and he relived those moments all over again, exactly as if was just happening to him.

Niall had woken up from his nap to find himself tucked warmly up in his bouncer, his stuffed Giraffe tucked up against his face. He looked around the room, startled, then realized he was had Serena and Louis' house and Serena was obviously going to 'babysit' him. He groaned inwardly. He hated that woman. Still, it gave him a chance to talk with Harry.