Let Me Fix You (On Hold)

|17| Eight Boys and A Box of Wafers

Katie's POV:

After Emily left with her 'father', the police and ambulance arrived. They rushed Calum to the hospital and Luke and Niall rode along with him in the ambulance and Michael and Ashton followed the ambulance in one of Paul's security vans. The rest of us stayed at the loft and filled out a police report on what had happened.

Now we were all at the hospital waiting to hear if Calum was going to survive. The last we heard he was still alive but had to be rushed into emergency surgery to remove the bullet. He took that bullet for Emily and Niall...or maybe just Emily...I wonder how Niall must feel about all this? He was sat in a chair across from mine, hunched forward and just staring at his feet. I really wanted to walk over there and talk to him, comfort him or something but my body wouldn't allow me to move. I was still in a state of shock from everything that had just happened in the past day or however long it had been. It was probably only a few hours but it felt like an eternity.

"I brought you some coffee, babe." Louis sat down next to me and handed me a small paper cup.

"Thanks." I said without looking at him.

We managed to nearly fill up the entire waiting room. I watched Louis look around the room at everyone's faces. Everyone looked generally the same: depressed and scared. Ashton and Michael were huddled in the corner, I don't even know why. I assume they were crying and didn't want us to see them. Luke was sitting next to me, staring blankly at the wall. Harry was pacing around by the receptionist desk and Zayn and Liam were both fidgeting nervously in their chairs beside Luke and I. Norman was arguing with his manager on the phone. From what I could hear, his manager was pretty pissed at Norman for hanging around us because we've caused such a firestorm in the news. Paul was pacing around by the door, talking on his cell phone and writing things down on his notepad. He had already hired a team of investigators to hunt down Mr. Manon and the police were looking for Emily.

I love Calum and I love all the rest of boys in this room that I call my friends...but I was so worried about Emily that I could barely even comprehend what was going on with Calum.

I decided I wasn't just going to sit there and watch Niall dying inside. I stood up walked across the room and sat next to him. Louis seemed to have fallen in a similar daze as everyone else and didn't notice I left him.

"Niall." I put my hand on his shoulder as I spoke to him. He slowly looked up at me. His eyes were red from crying. It hurt so much to watch any of these guys get hurt enough cry. They were all like a family to me now. We all know how he feels about 5sauce. They're just like brothers to him. Niall just lost his girlfriend and one of his brothers and there was nothing he could do to stop it. "Niall, please talk to me. Tell me what you're feeling, I can't just sit here and watch you hurt like this."

Niall stared at me for a moment before he looked back to the floor. "I don't know how I feel." He said quietly. "How would you feel if you're one of the richest people on earth and have a whole team of trained security guards and the power to do anything you like? Yet you have to sit and watch your best friend and girlfriend fall in harm's way?"

"I understand. I'd feel helpless too." Niall still refused to look at me or anyone. I tried to wrap an arm around his shoulder for support but he pushed me away.

"I appreciate it but, I want to be alone, Katie."

"I'm sorry." I sighed and stood up and walked back to my chair beside Louis.

Niall looked back at me. "No, don't say your sorry, I..." His voice trailed off and he dropped his head into his hands and cried. I walked back over to him and sat down. Louis joined me this time and we both sat beside Niall. Zayn sat on the other side of Niall and he tried to comfort him along with Liam who knelled on the floor in front of him. Niall allowed me to hug him this time while Louis patted him on the back.