Hold On For Dear Love (Sequel to WILD)

Harry's POV

Four hours and eighteen stitches after coming to the hospital I found myself waiting outside the ER doors for news of what was going on with Jack. After finding out that Emily would be alright, having only suffered a minor concussion, and knowing that the boys (along with Sara and Jenna) were watching over her, I felt the need to make sure everything was alright with the older man. His ambulance had pulled up just a minute before mine and Emily's, and I caught a glimpse of them rushing him inside as we got out. Their urgency worried me. It reminded me of when Emily started to crash after the fire because she couldn’t breathe and everyone was in a panic to get her inside.

I prepared myself for the worst, what I would say to Emily if he didn’t make it. Just the thought of having to deliver such news broke my heart, and in the end I just gave up thinking about it. Jack is a tough guy and can make it through this. He had to.

“Hey...”

I lifted my head to find Louis walking up with an extra shirt for me. I smiled at him half-heartedly and slipped it on as he sat down beside me.

“You alright?” He asked me.

“Yeah...How’s Emily?”

“She’s still asleep. The nurse said that she should be waking up soon though”

I simply nodded, but secretly dreaded the moment she woke up. I didn’t want her to be pained by the wait, not knowing whether or not her father was alright. Hell, it’s hard enough for me and I’ve only known him for two and a half years.

“The media is having a heyday with this...It’s all over the news and they have vans and paps outside the hospital right now” Louis said softly.

“Figures...I bet they aren’t even thinking about the fact that they are putting Emily in even more danger by doing that” I said through clenched teeth.

“Paul is working with the police to get them out of here”

“What’s the point? They’ll find some way to get back in”

Louis stayed silent after that, knowing that I was right. That’s the thing about the media. They don’t know when to quit sometimes, even if it’s ruining someone’s life. I understand that most of them have families to look out for or really need the money, but it would be nice to have a break from it all. To just get away from the public eye for a while.

“Mr. Styles?” An unfamiliar voice called.

I immediately stood to my feet ,wincing slightly as my back stretched, and faced the surgeon who was now standing before me with a blank look on his face.

“The nurse told me that you are speaking for Jack Brighten’s family, is that right?”

“Yes. Is he alright?” He took a deep breath before opening his mouth.

No One's POV

Emily woke up a few hours later in a room surrounded by Jenna, Sara, and the boys (except for Harry). All of them were sitting in silence with grim expressions on their faces, Jenna and Sara’s eyes red and puffy from crying, which only meant one thing.... Her heart started pounding, tears already threatening to fall from her eyes. Liam was the first one to notice that she was awake and stood up slowly, catching the attention of everyone else. Louis saw Emily’s worried expression and got up to bring Harry back.

“W-Where’s Harry? Is he alright?” Emily asked Liam.

“Harry is fine...”

“And my dad?” Liam didn’t answer and instead shifted his gaze down to the floor, telling Emily all the needed to know.

~.:o:.~

Louis found the younger boy sitting in the same spot he had left him, in front of the ER doors. He hadn’t moved from that spot since the doctor came out and told them the news.

*FLASHBACK*

“Mr. Brighten has severe brain trauma from the explosion...From what I could see, the blast must have thrown him against the wall head first, causing a great deal of damage. I’ve tried everything I could, but he just can’t breath on his own anymore. We’ve hooked him up to a ventilator to keep him alive until his family arrives to say goodbye, but there isn’t anything else we can do. I’m sorry”

Harry stood there, staring at the man before him with tears forming in his eyes. After a few seconds he moved to the chair he was previously sitting on, unable to trust his legs to hold him up any longer.

“We’ll move him to room 456. You’ll be able to see him in an hour”

“Thank you” Louis said, his voice barely above a whisper.

The surgeon left, leaving the two friends to take in all that happened. They sat in silent for a moment before Harry finally spoke.

“How am I going to tell her?”

*End Flashback*

Louis had been the one to tell the others, knowing that Harry needed to be alone in his thoughts as he tried to sort out how to tell Emily. Now, as he walked up to him once more, he prayed that he came up with something.

“Harry...She’s awake...”

Harry lifted his head to look up at Louis, his red eyes filled with sadness. Without another word he stood up and began to walk to Emily's room, Louis trailing behind him. Before he reached the door he paused and prepared himself, then turned the corner finding Emily standing on the opposite side of the bed from Liam.

“No! It’s not true!” She yelled at him, even though the tears running down her cheeks said that she knew that it was.

“It’s not true!”

“Emily...” Harry choked out, finally finding his voice. Her eyes landed on his and the sad look on his face made it real. “He has severe brain damage...so he can’t breathe on his own...They have him hooked up to a ventilator so you and Matt can say goodbye”

His voice cracked as he watched her world crumble down in front of him. He rushed forwards, wrapping his arms tightly around her trembling body as sobs escaped her lips. Her knees gave out so he gently lowered the two of them to the floor, holding each other as they cried. Knowing that their lives would never be the same again.

~.:o:.~

Harry's POV

We sat on the floor for what seemed like hours, just crying until we didn’t have any tears left. The others were long gone, having left the room because they were unable to handle seeing the broken girl that I held in my arms. She stayed quiet as I stroked her hair, humming softly to her as we rocked back and forth. My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it even though it was probably my mum wanting an update. I focused my attention on Emily, trying to find ways to give her even the slightest lift of mood, but there was nothing that I could say or do that would help her. Nothing that would make everything alright again. It made me feel so helpless.

“...Harry...” Emily said finally, her voice hoarse and weak.

“Yes, love?”

“I want to see him...” I pulled back slightly to look down at her tear stained face, her makeup smeared over her cheeks and around her eyes. I gently rubbed most of it away with my thumbs before looking into her once bright and shining eyes that were now dull and lifeless.

“Are you sure? You can wait for Matt to get here in a few hours”

“No. I need to see him now...Please?”

“Alright”

I got to my feet, pulling her up with me. I pressed my lips to her forehead, her eyes closing when they came in contact with her skin. I moved down to her eyes, giving each a gentle kiss, then to her nose and lastly her lips.

“I want you to know that I’ll always be here for you if you need anything. Anything at all.”

“I know”

I pulled back and straightened out my jacket that covered the dress that she still wore from the VMAs before grasping her hand in mine, her free hand reaching over to grasp my arm. The others watched us walk down the hallway to room 456 where her father was placed over an hour ago.

Emily paused in the doorway, staring at her father who laid motionless on the bed in front of her. He had tubes hooked up to him that were part of the ventilator that blew air into his lungs because he was unable to so himself. She slowly started to walk in, keeping her hand tightly intertwined with mine. I let her lead me to his bedside, watching as she reached out with her free hand to take her father’s. A single tear fell down her cheek, but nothing more. I lifted my hand to wipe it away, but she stopped me.

“Tell me what is going on.” She said in a firm, but trembling voice. “I deserve to know what the hell you all have been hiding from me”

I was a little shocked by her outburst, but decided that it was time to let her in on the situation. I explained everything from the moment we got the phone call to the second the bomb went off. When I was finished she just stared at me for a long time without saying anything. Her face was unreadable and I had no idea what she was thinking until she spoke up again, turning to look down at her father.

“...So it’s my fault...You got hurt, and my father...is brain dead because of me..”

“Don’t say that” I snapped, pulling her around to face me. “None of this is your fault!”

“But it is, Harry! These people are out to get me and they just proved that they don’t care who gets hurt while doing it! I don’t want anyone else to get killed because of me”

“Emily, whoever these people are, they won’t get away with this. We have every possible person out looking for them and trying to figure this out. No one else is going to get hurt. I promise”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep”

I opened my mouth to respond, but quickly shut it realizing that she had me. There was no way I could promise her that nothing else would happen. I couldn’t stop them even if I wanted to. She let go of my hand, turning away from me to look down at her father.

“Go call your mum. I need to be alone for a while”

“Emily, I-”

“Just go...” I reached out to touch her arm, but stopped myself and let it drop back to my side. As she asked, I left her alone in the room and made my way back over to where the others were waiting. This time Paul was with them. They all looked up as I got closer to them.

“Where’s Emily?” Louis asked.

“In Jack’s room”

“You left her alone? Harry, people are out to get her! You can’t just leave her there”

“She just lost her father, Louis, and she blames herself for it! Now she wants to be left alone so we’re going to give it to her,” I turned to Paul. “but could you have security stationed outside the door so no one but us or a nurse gets in or out? Just in case?”

“Of course”

I nodded to him and he left to do so leaving me alone with everyone else. Liam put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"Have they found that man yet?”

“No, but they did find the ball cap, a black wig, a fake mustache, and the jacket” Louis answered.

“So, you’re telling me that the man that we saw at the VMAs was wearing a disguise? And now we have absolutely no way of finding him because we don’t know what he actually looks like. That’s great. That’s fucking great! So we have nothing! We were almost killed for the second fucking time, and now Emily’s dad is practically dead because of it!” My voice cracked, a lump forming in my throat again. “I-I should have done more to protect him...to protect Emily from being put through this. She doesn’t deserve any of it, and it kills me that I can’t do anything about it”

“I know, mate...We all feel the same way, but you’re going to have to let the police handle this. There’s nothing any of us can do, no matter how much we want to” Niall said.
I let out a deep sigh, knowing that they were right. Whether I like it or not I have to let the police do their jobs and not interfere with anything. That’ll just cause more trouble than it’s worth.

“Harry...” I turned around to see Matt standing there with a sad look on his face, eyes slightly
red. He looked tired and exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in a while.

“Where’s Emily?” he asked.

“She’s with your dad in the room. I’ll take you to her” I said, nodding my head towards the hallway that led to the room.

We walked in silence, taking a few turns before finally coming to the door where two men were standing guard. I nodded to them and they stepped aside to let us through. Matt opened the door to find Emily curled up in a chair beside her father’s bed, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. The second she saw Matt she got up and lept into her brother’s arms. I watched as the two of them held each other, crying over their father. After a few minutes I couldn’t take it anymore. I rushed out of the room, leaving them alone to grieve. Seeing them like that made me want to go home, hug my family, and tell them I loved them. Something I felt I didn’t do enough, but after today that is going to change.

Notes