Two days.

Two days till I can leave this awful hospital and go back to my dance, my job, my uni... oh, wait.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my douche bag of a manager at the cafe, who told me that because of my "impromptu leave", I'm not welcome back to work there anymore. Stupid asshole wouldn't know the word hospital if it hit him right between the eyes. At least that's what Louis said. So now I'm sulking because I have no job. That means no money, which means no dance, no uni, no rent. Fuck.

"Brookeeeeee, I'm hungry!!", Niall whines. I giggle. "Niall, you're always hungry!" Harry lifts his arm from around Caitlin's shoulders, and yells, "Macca's run!!" I wince and grasp at my ears. Niall puts his hands over mine and scolds Harry. "Concussion, idiot!"

"Oooh, sorry!" He stands up, and reaches a hand out to Caitlin. "M'lady?" She blushes and grasps it. "Thank you kind sir!" They head out the door together, cackling like maniacs. "Is it weird that I ship them?", Liam asks. Niall puts his arm around my shoulders. "I think we all do", he smirks.

Niall is sitting cuddling me on the bed, while Liam, Louis and Zayn are on the ground, looking through all the photos and videos in my dance folder on my phone. "Holy shit, you can get your leg all the way up there??", Zayn exclaims. They all immediately try to replicate the Grande Battement to me and Niall's amusement, all of them looking like uncoordinated chickens. "My lord your dancing is good!", Harry says. I blush. I don't take compliments very easily. "Thank you." "No, like really good! Have you ever thought about going professional??" I look down, going red. "Nah, I've never really had the time, and now... let's just say I won't be back in the studio for a couple of months at least." Niall rubs my knee comfortingly. "We'll get you back there soon enough."

A knock on the door got all of our attention. The nurse poked her head into my room, and said, "Brooke, there's someone here to see you." She opens the door wider, and there stand the two people I had thought I'd never see again in my life.

My parents.

"Mum? Dad? Wha-?"

They smiled nervously at me, and stepped further into the room.

"Hey, honey."

"No, no! Don't take another step! Please, can we take this outside?", I said, looking around at all the boys, who were looking curiously from me to my parents. My parents nodded, while Niall helped me into my wheelchair. "Thank you", I smile warmly at him. He grasped my hand. "You'll be ok? You seem kind of... edgy." I grimace. "I'll be fine."

I wheel myself out slowly, looking at the ground.

My dad leans against the wall, while mum stands in front of me, nervously fidgeting. She starts to speak. "We... never-"

"You never what? Expected to see me in the hospital?" I snarl. "Yeah, I suppose not."

Mum stares at me, surprised at my outburst. "I... but he was so nice when we met him!"

"Yeah, and he was still so nice when I called you in tears, telling you everything? When I came around, looking for somewhere to stay, you called me a liar! You sided with him, over me!"

Dad spoke up. "And we're very sorry! We never thought he was actually doing anything to you. You were always a little... dramatic at home."

"I WAS DRAMATIC BECAUSE MY BOYFRIEND WAS FUCKING BEATING ME! YOU CALLED ME A LIAR! YOU TOLD ME TO GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE! YOU DISOWNED ME WHEN I ASKED FOR MONEY TO PAY FOR A LAWYER!"

My parents were speechless at my language. "So yeah, I think I had a good reason for being dramatic! Thanks for all your help", I say sarcastically. "I haven't heard from you ever since I moved to Brisbane! I am your only daughter, and you chose to believe my lying, son of a bitch boyfriend over me? I can't believe you!"

I spun around, but mum put her hand on my arm. "Brooke, please - we wanted to come and help you!"

I fake-smiled. "Well, I've been doing fine without you. Don't try to contact me again. If I recall, those are the same words you said to me before you denied me a place to say. Funny how what goes around, comes around, isn't it?"

And with that, I shook her hand off, rolled back into the room and slammed the door.

The boys are all staring at me, pity and shock on their faces. "They disowned you?", Liam asked. "Yup", I replied grimly. "I'm so sorry", he said. I shook my head. "It doesn't matter", I said, ending the awkward conversation. "Now, where were we? Netflix?" The boys all looked at each other with confusion on their faces, but all got up and jumped on the bed anyways.

Niall's POV

She's acting like nothing's wrong. But I can tell something is. Her parents disowned her? We all were wondering why they hadn't contacted her, but she never talks about them so we didn't ask. I'll have to talk to Caitlin about it when she gets back. Right now, we're cuddling on her bed, the opening credits of Brooklyn nine-nine on the screen. We've already gone through two seasons, all of them spent with us all squished on the bed, normally with my arms around her. She's just so cuddly, and so open to affection. All of the boys are really close with her and Caitlin now, especially Harry and Caitlin.

The door to the room opens and Caitlin walks in with Harry, holding several large McDonald's bags. "Maccas sell 40 packs of chicken nuggets here?", Harry exclaims. Me and Brooke crack up as all the other boys jump off the bed and run to look at the bag Harry's holding open. Caitlin picks up her phone and snaps a quick picture of the boy's faces looking the happiest they've ever been, with their mouths full of chicken nuggets.

While everyone's grabbing food, I touch Caitlin's arm and pull her out of the room into the hallway. "Why did Brooke never mention her parents?"

"What?"

"Her parents? They just left. Or more like she kicked them out."

"They were here?! Oh my gosh, is she ok?"

"She said she was fine, but she was white as a sheet and trembling when we got on the bed. I can't believe that she's ok. She's so good at hiding her feelings, I can't properly read her."

"I think that after everything that happened with Jake and then her parents, she can't really get over the idea she's unwanted, no matter what I try to do. She basically just goes blank whenever something happens, as an attempt to make it go away. She buries her feelings instead of showing them to keep herself safe."

"Does she have any other family? She never talks about them, so I never can figure out if she has other siblings or not."

Caitlin looks up, sighing. "Yeah, she has three older brothers."

"Then why aren't they here then?! Or did they kick her out too?"

"No, no, that's not it at all! They're all in the military, and all deployed in Iran for peacekeeping duties. She hasn't seen them for three years, and it's another two before they come back to Australia. She never mentions them because I know she misses them, so she doesn't like talking about them."

"What are their names?"

"Josh, Cole and Daniel. Josh is 24, Cole and Daniel are twins and they're both 22."

"Wow, that's sad. I can understand why she feels unwanted."

Caitlin looks down. "I try my best to keep her happy, but sometimes it just gets really hard."
I put my hand on her shoulder, "you're doing an amazing job, love.Keep it up!"

She smiles. "We better get back inside, they'll be wondering where we went!"
I nod, and she pushes the door open and walks back inside.
I lean against the cool wall and sigh. Who would have thought that our break would be spent in the hospital getting to know the two girls I've been waiting to meet for my whole life. They treat us as normal, teenage boys. They like me, for me. I smiled, and pushed open the hospital door to get back to the people I want in my life for ever.

Notes

Helloooo lovely people!

Wow, it's been way too long :/ School, sport, drama, I'm so bloody busy ugh

I'm sooorry for the ridiculously long wait for an update, I'll definitely try to be more onto it, but this story isn't exactly a top priority in my life!

Thank you for putting up with me, I don't know if people still read this story, but I'm sorry anyways.

Lots of love,
Half_a_heart x