*Hannah’s POV*

I observed myself in the mirror, smoothing my hands over my stomach and chest. I made sure that my beige top covered the place on my breast that was finally healing up, but it was obviously going to leave a ragged scar. Putting on my sweater over that, I walked to my jewelry box and picked up my beige earrings. My fingers traced over the intricate designs of my sweater and then I ran my hands down my jean clad thighs. I went to my closet and pulled out my tanned boots and buttoned them up my calves. My hair was gently curled and I did my bare minimum makeup.

I checked the mirror again as Harry walked up behind me. He stood there for a moment until I noticed and recognized him before he walked closer and with something in his hands. I knew exactly what it was. Pulling my hair up, I watched as Harry carefully traced my neck with his fingertips as he drew the necklace around my neck. I watched the key and the puzzle piece fall to my chest and then I saw the paper plane fall around my neck on a separate chain. Question filled my face, but Harry quickly dismissed it, as if it just belonged there. I sighed, letting the exact same feeling take over me.

Today was the day. The last time that I had left the apartment, I had been terrified out of my mind and Harry hadn’t helped the situation by ripping my heart from my chest. The important thing that Harry had told me to remember is that he picked it up off of the floor and brought it back to me. I told him to keep it, and he stayed so that we could share it. This time, there were no surprises waiting for me when I got there. We were all going to Zayn’s flat just to hang out, so I wasn’t quite sure why I was getting so dressed up. I think that it’s because I hadn’t seen any of them in what seemed like forever, and I wanted them to see me at my best, even though my best hadn’t been showing its face for awhile.

Following Harry out of my room, I shifted a little uncomfortably under his gaze. I smoothed my hands over my clothes once again and turned my stare awkwardly towards the floor. I grabbed my beige bag before I took a deep breath, looking towards the door that I had only walked out once since it had happened. Harry stepped forward and slipped his finger under my chin and I tried hard not to flinch – silently, I wondered how long I would be this jumpy around him – as he lifted my face up to meet his eyes. There was a sparkle deep within them that I hadn’t seen for a long time. It was a contagious look that tugged up at the corners of my mouth.

Not knowing what exactly he was doing, I watched as Harry slipped something over my hair. The smell of him rained down on me and I knew that it was his cream colored beanie. I closed my eyes and let a small blush rise to my cheeks as he softly kissed the tip of my nose. I had let him done this, but was still too afraid for him to kiss me on the mouth. His fingers brushed my face and my eyes shot open, searching for the comfort that I seemed to find in his emerald ones. There was a look of sorrow spread across his face and my head instantly tilted down again. I knew that it was killing Harry that he had to be so careful with me, and I wished that I could magically not be afraid anymore, but there was no way for that to happen. There was only a dim light at the end of my tunnel and I knew that it was Harry, but he was still a fair bit away.

“Can you not look at me like that?” My voice was barely above a whisper as I peered up at him through my lashes that were coated in mascara; unlike they had been for the past three and a half weeks. He looked away and rubbed his hand over his mouth, trying to get rid of the look on my face. I knew that he was just worried, but still. “I’m sorry. I know that you can’t really help it,” I looked away too, “I just… I don’t need a pity party. I need you.” I grabbed the front of Harry’s shirt and fisted the fabric. “I need you to be strong and I need you to be my something to lean on. Okay?” We met eyes again and both of us were trying to be full of faith and compassion. He nodded his head ‘yes’ and waited as I slid my hands down his arms and led his hands gently to my waist.

I gasped a little as he pulled me a little bit closer. Our hips met and I shakily let my fingers travel back up his chest and rest on his neck. Harry pressed his forehead to mine gently and I relaxed at his careful touch. Our noses brushed and he stared intently into my eyes. “Hannah, I love you.” I allowed my breath to hitch in my throat a little. This was the first time that I had really heard Harry say those words since the night when he came to my door. He didn’t say them very often – and I think that he had learned to expect not hearing them back- but every time he did I got lead butterflies in the pit of my stomach. Harry was the only thing in my life that I could totally count on right now. I hadn’t seen any of the others or heard from anyone else for a while; not even Zayn.

Risking the hurt that was about to rise in his eyes, I turned my head to the side, not being able to bring myself to say it back to him. It was that, and the fact that his lips had drifted dangerously close to mine, and I didn’t know if I could handle that right now. We were already headed to Zayn’s, and I didn’t need anything else causing me panic. Not looking back into his eyes, I grabbed Harry’s hands and removed them from my waist, pulling one of them along with me towards the door. One of my hands rested on the handle as I took a deep breath, torturing myself to turn the knob.

*Niall’s POV*

I poured a glass of scotch and handed one to Liam. The sleeves of his plaid shirt were rolled up and I was sure that this wasn’t going to be our last drink, even though it wasn’t our first either. Trying to wash away the guilt, I downed my drink and my glass cleared my eyes soon enough to see Liam doing the same. I poured us another and took another sip, cemented another brick into the wall.

All of the news was still sinking in for me. I had thought that I had heard someone yelling quite a few nights back, but I would’ve never imagined that it was Zayn. Already feeling bad enough about what had happened between Hannah and me, I felt like an ass as well for telling Harry at the club. To add another brick, I caused the fight that caused Hannah to go home with Marcus… and that’s when he… I was astonished when Harry told me. I wasn’t going to go to Zayn’s tonight, and I still wouldn’t be if it weren’t that Hannah was going to be there. I had to see her, talk to her, apologize… for everything. Harry told me that he wanted all of us there tonight.

I looked across the way at Liam as he finished off what was left in his glass. He had been here since Harry had told us. God knows where Dani is. She got pissed and left after Harry broke the news. She wasn’t mad at Harry or Hannah by any means, but she told Liam that Hannah had spent three weeks alone because he had got Harry all riled about her and Marcus leaving together. So instead of Harry finding out what happened to her the morning after their fight, it took him weeks. And all that time, the one who was suffering the most was Hannah. With that, she walked out the door, leaving a teary eyed Liam in the middle of my living room.

Deciding that Liam and I should stop before we had to go over to Zayn’s, I took the bottle off of the table and put it back in the liquor cabinet, much to Liam’s protest. We sat there, staring at each other for quite awhile. Part of me wanted to sober up before we left, but another part wanted the alcohol to help dull out the pain that seeing Hannah was going to cause. I had never meant for all of this to happen.

“This is completely my fault.” Liam looked at me, astonished.

“Ni, how could you say that?”

“I kissed her Liam… I don’t even love her like Harry does.” I looked down into my empty glass. “I’ve always thought that she was mighty fit, but I don’t think of her the way Harry does. He’s known her forever and shows more love for her than he has anyone else, except maybe Anne and Gemma.” I took a deep breath, needing to get it off of my chest. “When Hannah came back into the picture, I… I don’t know… I wanted to see if I had a shot… If I had had any idea of how sturdy their relationship was… I never would’ve medaled in it.” Liam put his hand on my shoulder.

“You’ll find someone lad. Right now, you just have to find a way to make things better for Hannah. She’ll forgive you and Harry will too.” His hand dropped from my shoulder. “I only wish that things were the same for Dani and I…” I saw his eyes tear up and I patted him on the back as I walked to the door, grabbing my shoes and sitting down on the couch. I just tucked the laces in, knowing that I’d probably kick them off once I got to Zayn’s anyways.

~

There was a knock on the door. Zayn stood up and stopped lecturing Liam and I for showing up half drunk and drifted over to the door. He stood there for a moment before the obvious muscles in his back tensed up. It took me a moment to register the small arms that had wrapped around his waist. I sat up a little straighter, trying to get a look at her. Zayn eventually started laughing and returned the affection. He began backing up and Hannah came into view. They let go of each other as Harry followed in behind them, shutting the door behind him. His expression wasn’t relaxed and everyone could tell that he didn’t know how she was going to react to so many people. Haley followed suit in giving Hannah a hug. They were much more comfortable with each other now that they didn’t think that their boyfriends were screwing around on them with each other. They both laughed shortly before Hannah turned to observe the rest of us.

Everyone kept a smile on their face, but we could tell that we were faking it. Right now, smiling was the last thing that I wanted to do. Breaking down right about now should have been seen as acceptable. Hannah could tell too, and before long her face fell to the floor as she became shy, being able to see that we all knew what had happened weeks before this moment.

Soon, Louis decided to take initiative. He stood from his place in a recliner and strolled up to Hannah. Everyone observed what was happening between the two of them. Hannah’s eyes widened with every step that Louis took towards her. At first, Louis extended his arms to hug her, but took a step back when she became about three times smaller as she backed into the wall. Louis took another step forward and reached out to her with one hand. Hannah relaxed slightly as he gently brushed his finger over a spot that was high on her cheek, obviously covered by makeup. He pointed out a blemish on her face that was obviously the start of scarring. Both of them took a deep breath before Hannah seemed to be struck with a certain amount of courage. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him in. He stood there for a moment, not allowing himself to react to her touch. Whispering something in her ear, Louis let his hands creep around her back and he kissed her hair. When they pulled away, Hannah’s eyes were ready to bubble over with tears; it made the blue and green in them an exceptional color pallet.

Hannah took her hand and traced the outline of Lou’s face. “I missed you so much.” Her voice was barely a whisper and I silently wondered if she was uncomfortable having this reunion with everyone else in the room with them. She had a weak smile on her face as she said this. Louis was her best friend besides Harry. Yeah, she and I talked sometimes while she and Harry were fighting, but Lou was really the one that was closest to her.

“I would’ve called but…”

“Don’t.” She shook her head, obviously not wanting to bring up what had happened.

El walked up next to Louis and pulled Hannah into a tight embrace and Hannah easily wrapped her arms around Eleanor. They sat there for a while as Hannah buried her head into El’s shoulder and El seemed to be whispering soothing things into her ear as she rubber her back. I wished that I could do that, but I couldn’t here. I wasn’t going to. I would wait until later so that I could actually talk to her and there wouldn’t be anyone there when I inevitably broke down in front of her.

*Liam’s POV*

Now it was my turn. I would talk to her later as well, but I still wanted to support her, for everything that was my fault. Getting to my feet, I walked towards Hannah who still had her head face in El’s shoulder. When she looked up from Eleanor and spotted me, everything about her visibly stiffened. I shifted guiltily under her uncomfortable gaze.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” El questioned, holding Hannah out by her upper arms. She followed Hannah’s terrified gaze and met my eyes before instantly turning back to the broken girl that we all observed. “Honey, it’s just Liam.” She rubbed Hannah’s arm comfortingly. El took her hand and led her over to me. I stood there with no good feeling running through my veins. They were all full of guilt and sorrow. Hannah didn’t meet my eyes again before she wrapped her arms around my waist and tried her hardest to snuggle into my chest. I pressed my cheek gently to her hair as I secured my arms around her.

“It’s my fault,” I mumbled into her hair. She shook her head ‘no’ into my chest as she held on tighter. She looked up warily into my eyes.

“It’s not though.” She smiled meekly before pressing her face back to my chest. I nuzzled my face into her neck, trying to hide the fact that I was crying. How was it that she was being stronger than me at a time like this? “Hey, where’s Dani?” I let a soft sob escape my lips before I swallowed my tears to explain.

“Gone.” That was all that I said and I felt Hannah hug me tighter and rub her hand up and down my back.

*Hannah’s POV*

I couldn’t believe it. Dani was gone and I was here. Haley and El were here too, but I couldn’t believe that Dani had just up and left, especially now. Feeling arms around my wrap around my waist from behind me, I panicked slightly before I turned in the arms of my green eyed wonder. My heart beat returned to normal as I turned back to look at everyone observing me intently. I put a smile on my face to wait for someone else to strike up conversation or anything at all really.

“Oh, Hannah,” I turned to look at Haley, “I hope that you don’t mind, but I have my stylist coming over in a bit. She has a job for me and she needed to talk…”

“I don’t mind,” I gave Haley a warm smile. This was the first that I had seen her since she and Harry had told me about their false affair, but Harry had given her my number and we had been talking since he had come to make things right. We were finding a way to be friends again and she really seemed to feel guilty for what she and Harry had done, even though I had told her a thousand times over to just forget about it.

We all sat down and were talking for a while before Niall plugged in the Wii and challenged me to a game of Mario Cart. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had played, and accepted his challenge with mastery in my eyes. Behind my confidence, I silently wondered why Niall hadn’t followed suit with everyone else in welcoming me back. Maybe he didn’t want me back here. If he didn’t, then screw him. He was the one that had told Harry all of this and I had long forgiven him, but if he couldn’t grow a pair and talk to me about it, even a little, then he could just not talk to me.

Notes

Okay you guys, I know that I haven't posted in like forever, but I'm gonna do a double update for you guys. So... who's fault is it - if it's anyone's... Let me hear some feedback! I need it so much, I feel like my writing might be getting worse... please tell me that's not the case :/ ugh!

Anyways, no more boy trouble. It was a big misunderstanding and I'm so freaking glad. He and I are 7 and a half months into this relationship and I didn't think that we were going to let something get in the way of that lol but thank you to my commenters for making me feel better about the situation :) love you all!

xoxo Hannah <3