-Chapter 9-

Wolfenden looks across the line of us, Harry, me and Joey still leaning into me with his arm slung over my shoulder. His eyes are as cold as I remember they were when he was choking the life out of me, mouth set into a thin line before he inclines his head, "I believe we've met before. I'd shake your hand Harry but," he raises his arm in the sling. Like he's sore about Trick hitting him with his car. Well I'm sorry but I'm a little sore about the attempted murder.

Shaking my head, I step back, clutching onto Joey's hand with one of mine, reaching out to tug on the cuff of Harry's sleeve with the other, "No...NO," I say desperately. "You stay away from us!" But as I take another step back, my body collides with a hard torso, turning around to stare up at the twisting scars of Niall Horan's face as he grabs onto my shoulders, stopping me from running out of the door. This is a trap. That's all I can think, looking from Olivia, to her mother, to Niall and the suited man, struggling against Niall's grip though he holds me fast, stronger than I'd have thought he would be capable of.

But I don't know what these people are capable of anymore.

"You're with them," Harry spits at Wolfenden who doesn't seem perturbed at the accusation one bit, picking at the nails of the hand on his good arm casually.

"And I'm with you as well, idiot child," he says with a dismissive shake. "Who do you think helped you escape? I was supposed to catch up to you and deliver you here, but these two...." His eyes flicker coldly over Joey and I "couldn't resist sticking their oar in."

"Liar!" I seethe, "You tried to kill me. I saw you shoot someone....You scared my mum."

"Cleaning up," says Wolfenden who obviously isn't the least bit sorry. "If I didn't get to you first, who's to say they wouldn't have been far behind? It was supposed to be an in and out job, no witnesses, no trails. But you thoroughly screwed that one up," turning to Harry he sighs and rubs his temple. "I used to work with the people chasing you. To feed information to our side. I was helping....until you hit me with a car."

"And you hit us with a van so I guess we're about square," I can't help but snap, still staring down at Wolfenden, still half expecting him to snap and turn on us at any minute. Beside me Joey sways and mutters something, and Olivia darts forwards putting her hand on his stomach and looking on him tenderly as though she actually cares.

"You're still weak Joey," she says quietly. "Why don't you both come with me and rest a minute?"

"Hang on how the fuck do you know his name?"

"Do you know what year it is?" snaps Wolfenden suddenly. "Facebook, CCTV, medical records. In five minutes they know everything about you. Speaking of which...that little twitter stunt could have fucked everything. At least I was able to clean up a little."

His mouth twists into a smile as he says this, and my heart sinks as I realise what he's driving it before he reaches into his pocket and tosses a bag at Harry. Inside of it is a battered iphone with a graffiti cover.  Ashley's phone. It's covered in blood. 

As Joey lolls his head more, I look at Harry who hasn't understood and shake my head firmly as I grab the bag and secret it away before Joey can see this.

I can't have my brother feeling responsible for Ashley's death in the same way that I feel responsible for Trick's. I just can't. 

"Let's go get you comfortable," I whisper as I lean my head into Joey, before anything more can be said about Ashley and his fate. Poor, dumb Ashley- just another one of Joey's mate's. Before all of this all he had to worry about was school and homework, scoring a little weed on the weekends and doing what his mum said.

Shit, his mum. Does she know yet? How will she ever cope and does he have other family? For a minute I picture that he has a sister, about my age who spends all her time thinking he can be a little shit. But she still loves him ferociously; she'd still be heartbroken if anything were to ever happen to him.

Olvia's explosion of curls bobs as she walks just as Chantalle's do and she slings Joey's arm over her shoulder too as both of us help Joey out of the hallway. This new room is as rundown as the rest of the house, but there are signs that it was once beautiful. The ceilings are high with swirling patterns in them, even if the paint has chipped and flaked onto the floor like snowfall or dandruff.  The windows are large, with dirty, dusty panes that filter the sunlight through with an ethereal glow while motes of dust dance in the light like butterflies. Helping Joey onto a battered armchair he sits down and spreads out his sore leg again.

In the corner is a table, a rucksack on it with a few bottles of water and yet another box of papers, once Joey is settled, Olivia gets up while I wrap my hands around my brother.

"Geroff," he mutters.

"Shut up," I say fondly and hold him closer; that image of Ashley's sister who may or may not exist still lurking in the back of my mind. Behind the door comes the sound of muffled talking, I hear Harry and Wolfenden and Olvia's mother. On her way to the table she gets up and shuts the door, it's hinges creaking ominously before the finality of it slamming shut.

"I think there's going to be rain in a little while, I can see a big dark cloud," she says lightly as she peers out the window. "I hope it doesn't storm. I hate lightening."

Watching Olivia closer, I find that her age is impossible for me to gauge. Her body is slim and small, hidden behind cargo pants, a large army jacket and large thick battered boots once black but now smeared with layers and layers of dried, flaking mud. Her face is round with the lingering traces of puppy fat, but when she walks and speaks it's with the poise of a woman in her thirties or older. Niall I understand, Wolfenden I can even sort of gauge, but I have no idea how Olivia has managed to find herself in this situation.

"For the pain," she says as she comes back, one of the bottles tucked under her arm, holding out two tablets to Joey. Small and white and loose, I wouldn't know if they were ecstasy, painkillers or poison. I know Joey has the same thought as he doesn't take them, just looks up at Olivia who smiles again. That calm, warm, creepy smile. "You're afraid. You don't know who to trust and that's good. That's the difference between life and death- but you're hurting. You need these right now, Joey. It won't harm you, it'll just make you sleepy- I promise."

"If this is a trick..." I growl, still holding Joey close.

"Why would we trick you? We're on your side. We're the goodies," Olivia beams.

Goodies and baddies? Like out of some stupid kid's fairy tale where there are princesses in towers and brave knights coming to rescue them. Where there are witches and sorcerers who are old and ugly and easy to identify as bad. Real life is different though. In real life the baddies kill and so do the goodies- Trick, Ashley, that man from the first night out on the balcony. I don't know if I would classify Olivia and her kin as goodies exactly.  But reluctantly, Joey takes the pills and washes them down with a big gulp of water.

"You drink too," Olivia tells me. I am thirsty; my mouth feels dry and parched as desiccated desert land- but the fact that she tells me to makes me reluctant to accept anything she gives me. In case this is a trap, I want to at least be alert, if the worst should happen.

"I'm fine."

"You're frightened of us," she counters. But doesn't push the water on me as Joey settles a little more and the painkillers begin to take effect. I see his eyes grow a little dimmer. A little hazier. "So was Niall at first. But being frightened and doing something anyway is what makes people brave."

"You were the ones who freed Niall, then," I feel confident in saying and Olivia nods her head.

"We wanted to free more. But we could only get Niall. All of the originals were being kept in a place up North....except Harry. Nobody knew where Harry was for a very long time."

"Why would they only separate Harry?" I wonder out loud. It couldn't be because it didn't work with him- I'd seen the other Harry on stage and in the newspapers. But Niall had said in the van earlier that they had never sent a Harry after them before. What was different about Harry?

Deep down there had been this strange feeling that Harry was...oh, I don't know...special. I thought it was me being dumb; a silly teenage girl who hadn't been with a man since things with Trick went sour. But maybe it was something a little stranger than that.

Olivia opens her mouth to speak, but then shuts it again as though thinking better of it before shrugging. "Dr Roslin took him. And now Dr Roslin is dead." The scientist who died on the night Harry escaped and who told him to run away. I know that Olivia knows more than she is letting on- all of them do. "He was better at hiding than you were," she can't help but add impishly. But no one ever taught me how to hide from shady scientists and men with guns- I'm a supermarket checkout girl for god's sake. I was out of my depth with Trick and now I can't even see the surface.

**

Olivia was right about the rain clouds coming. Where once there had been brilliant sunshine, now there is only a thick grey blanket wrapped around the world, making everything feel murky and grey and sombre. Thanks to the painkillers, Joey has drifted off to sleep on my shoulder, snoring in a low rumble, the breath from his nose making my hair tickle against my cheek.

When he's asleep like this, I can only think about how it was when we were kids. When we used to watch cartoons after school and kick each other under the table, bickering over some stupid thing or  other like who had the most chips at dinner or who could hold their breath the longest. I remember when mum would be moved by the council or have another bad breakup and we would all have to pack up and start again in a totally new part of London, sometimes at a new school, surrounded by new people with only each other to turn to. I remember when Mum and some boyfriend we didn't like would scream at each other and hurl plates as we tried to sleep. Chantalle- who was only baby back then would start crying and then we'd all get into one single bed together to try and comfort her and ourselves, burrowing under the covers to try and block out the noise. Tish, Joey and Chantalle against the world.

I hate seeing him in pain. I hate seeing him frightened. He told me to at least think about going home and I have. Ashley sealed my decision; I know what I have to do and what my answer has to be.

"Is he alright?"

Looking up, I see Harry in the doorway holding a rucksack, flanked by Wolfenden and Olivia's mother. Instinctively, my grip on my sleeping brother tightens as I look over all of them.

"You sit and rest for a while," says Olvia's mum. "Livvy, you go with Niall and watch the parameter. Make sure we weren't followed."

Nodding, Olivia jumps up. And I still have to wonder how safe I feel knowing that the only people watching out for us are an almost ageless teenage girl and the mangled remnants of an xfactor contestant. I suppose it's better than nothing though, and honestly watching over Joey has become my main priority. The rest of them leave, leaving just Harry in the doorway.

"They gave me some stuff to cook with, if you were hungry," he says holding up the rucksack as he walks into the room and sits down on the floor. From the rucksack he pulls a little metal camping stove, a pan and a pack of own brand sausages. Yet more culinary delights offered from a life on the run.

There's a heavy silence, but for the sounds of the packet opening and the gas stove roaring to life. I'm struggling with what I have to say- though I know I shouldn't be. After all, he tried to leave before, tried to do the decent thing and leave Joey and I to it and I wouldn't let him. Soon the sausages are crackling in the pan, the smell of cooking pig flesh filling up the room.  I thought I was starving- we had to skip breakfast to go chasing after Harry after all- but as I watch the sausages slowly turn from a dead looking unappetizing grey colour to brown, I suddenly don't feel so hungry anymore.

"You were talking a long time," I say. I think I'm stalling from the conversation that is coming but I can't help it.

Harry just shrugs and from the window I look out and see Olivia and Niall, standing watch full and looking over that sea of green and gold fields that stretch out to the horizon. In between their duties, Niall must have said something amusing because Olivia turns her head up to him and smiles. I look down as they embrace, feeling bad for peeping in on an intimate moment, gently stir from underneath Joey taking care not to wake him as I sink to the floor next to Harry to poke at the sausages. But I draw my head up again the sausages have been cooked, the stove turned off and Harry is looking out of the window, frowning.

They've stopped smiling and embracing now. Instead they are practising throwing knives at a post. I can hear the swish and the thunk of the blade piercing through wood with startling precision.

"He's changed so much," Harry says grimly. "Not just...you know," (here he makes a hand gesture waving around his face to signify Niall's burns). "He used to be fun and alive and...yeah, cocky as hell. We were all pretty full of ourselves in the end there, I think. And...full of hope. We thought we had it made. Like it was the start of a dream and not...this nightmare."

Swish, thunk.  Who taught Niall to use a knife? Has he ever had to use it on a person? He sounded pretty serious when he threatened to cut me back there in the van.

"Is that what living like this is going to do to me?" Harry asks so desperately it makes my chest ache.

I can't tell him the truth. I can't tell him that I just don't know. At least Niall has Olivia, at least he has something to keep him slightly tethered to staying human, to the person I have to assume he used to be. So because I don't know what to say, I just put my hand on his shoulder and squeeze. His fingers find mine and they interlock as he sighs and turns to me. And because I have nothing else to give, I give him a smile.

I'm expecting him to smile back. To try and make a joke so we can both pretend keeping a sense of humour in a situation like this one is making us feel better. What I don't expect is for him to blink at me, his eyes wide as if he is seeing me for the first time. There's something in that look, in those green eyes that sets my heart pounding, makes my palms feel sweaty and gives me a rush of adrenaline like stealing cars and being held at gunpoint. That addictive kind of adrenaline that chasing ended up ruining my life.

And then he takes my face in his other hand, his skin against mine, warm and silk soft.

"Shit Tish...your teeth."

Oh. Suddenly feeling very self conscious about the fact I lost my front two teeth in the crash, I snap away from him and try to cover my mouth with my hand. "So it's pretty noticeable then?" I mumble. "How bad is it...hillbilly or pirate?"

"Pirate probably," and he grins a little.

"It's not funny," I snap. But I suppose it is. Look at the two of us- me missing teeth, him bald and beaten up. Neither of us are about to win any beauty contests any time soon I suppose. "I know I wasn't exactly a super model before...whatever...but still. I'd rather not look like I belong in a seventeenth century brothel."

"I was going to make a dirty joke about a girl with no teeth. But I'm going to keep it in."

"How big of you," I sniff. Because I can sort of guess what he's driving at. I keep my hand firmly covering my mouth, breathing heavily because I can feel tears pricking my eyes and there's absolutley no way I'm going to let myself get upset about something like missing teeth. Look at where we are, look at Niall's face. 

 But  Harry's seen me struggling not to crumple. He reaches over and gently takes my wrist.

"It's not that bad..." he says softly. Eyes flickering over my face so intensely that I feel naked and exposed underneath his gaze. Slowly he pulls my hand away from my mouth. 

"Not that bad? Stop, before you make me blush with all the flatter-"

But I don't get to finish. He draws in close to me before I have time to even take a breath. 

Our lips do not meet. 

Our lips do not meet because that would suggest something casual, like two old friends getting together and going for coffee or something. What this is is far more intense. Mouth, tongue, teeth, tasting and touching desperatley as we get onto our knees and his arms wrap around me.

Holding tight and afraid. Kissing messily with the force of two people who know what it feels like to look death right in the face, who aren't out of the woods yet and who don't know what's going to happen to them tomorrow.

I'm breathless and dizzy; his hands roam my body and seem to burn through my clothes, I cup his face and tug and twist at him pulling closer and closer. He tastes bittersweet, and I wish I could have run my hands through his curls, I wish things were different, I wish that we weren't here.

But I would never wish he wasn't kissing me.

Up until the point where Joey snuffles and I remember him. I tear myself away from Harry, chest full of splinters.

"I can't..." I say quietly. "Harry...I..." I touch his face, press my finger tips to his lips and can immediately recall the weight and the feel of them against mine. "I think that Joey and I have to go. As soon as it's safe to move him...."

And some sadistic part of me wants to see him upset. Wants to see him fight for me and try to convince me otherwise- because I have to stay. Because he'll just die without me.

But he doesn't. Just looks at the floor, a hand going to his head as if he wants to run it through his hair but has forgotten that we cut it all off.  It was his idea to leave in the first place afterall, didn't have a problem leaving when he left us with nothing but a note at Trick's house but I went after him....I couldn't let him go. And then he's looking me dead in the eye. "Tish... I-"

He doesn't finish. 

"Now, now Letiticia...." From behind us I turn around and see that we aren't alone. That someone had been watching us kiss. Wolfenden leans in the door frame, twirling his gun around his fingers and grinning at me. Before he the smile vanishes, the gun stops spinning and he points it directly at me. 

"Do you really think we'd let you get away that easily?" 

A/N: What did you think of the kiss scene? And do you think Tish should trust Niall, Olivia and the rest? Please keep voting and commenting!