~Walking in the wind~

AUGUST 16TH

As usual, Louis was driving. For the past two weeks, Lottie had been the third party picking up Fin from Eleanor, and he had to keep coming up with really bad excuses that ultimately ended up in another argument between the parents. Eleanor thought that he didn't care about Fin enough to come get her, but always treated his sister like she was the Queen when the two interacted.

But this time, Louis was going to pick up Gemma. This was an Simon-approved vacation from house arrest. And of course, he took Liam with him. The other two were dead asleep, and there was no one else he wanted by his side if something went wrong on this outing. Taking his friend meant relaying everything that Simon had told him - it was a long rant just about an hour ago, and he wasn't entirely sure that Liam had been coherent enough to absorb the information that he was trying to tell him.

The plan that Simon and Gemma has made up was that she was going to be dropped off by someone at the bus station. They thought that she was going to the hospital for an overnight stay, which she had actually had to do a couple of times in the time period that she'd been in England. She couldn't wait to be back in New York when this was all over. There were a lot of things that were going to happen then.

Louis pulled the car over to the curb and made a hand gesture to the woman standing on the sidewalk, indicating that it was him and that she could get in the car now. Gemma popped over to the right-side of the car and slid into the backseat. She put her seatbelt on and quickly registered the tension that was undeniably about her. But neither of the boys said anything about her. Liam sipped his snickerdoodle latte with one arm crossed under the other. Louis was focused on driving, and she could tell that it wasn't in the directions of Simon's house.

"Where are we going?" She questioned, feeling like she had just been kidnapped. The car swung into a petrol station. "Need petrol or something?"

"We're picking up his kid, Auntie Gemma," Liam said with extreme disdain. She should have expected this kind of treatment.

Gemma tried to calm the anxiety that was rising up within her. "Is it ok if I go inside for a bathroom break then? Forgot to go before I left."

"No. We don't trust you." Hearing that Liam and Louis didn't trust her hurt. It hurt a lot, actually.

Because they were already leaving the house, and because if the psycho twins decided to attack them, they would probably back off once they saw that Gemma was in the car, Simon decided that it would be ok for Louis to plan to pick up Infinity at the same time. Eleanor was nonplussed about the sudden change of plans, but agreed.

Gemma mused on the thought that the reason that Louis hadn't been speaking was because he was preparing for the mentally draining moments he would be in the presence of Eleanor. She didn't really understand why the two of them could not get along, especially when it came to their daughter. "Please?"

The car stopped next to Eleanor's SUV. She promptly began unbuckling the car seat, and Liam replied negatively to her question. Louis got out of the driver's seat to open the door so that Eleanor could deposit Fin in the backseat. She looked up in surprise as she saw Gemma. "Oh, you're Harry's sister, right?"

"That's me," Gemma managed a smile, not exactly in the mood for small talk.

"Nice to meet you," Eleanor smiled back, and clicked the final button into place. Then she leaned out to lecture Louis. "Get her out in the sun a bit. Vitamin D and all that. Don't let Harry keep her in that room all day."

"You do realize that I have a braincell or two, right?" Louis countered.

"And they're usually up to no good." She shut the car door and walked away, prompting Louis to get back into the driver's seat. He turned around to look at Gemma, who curled her finger around Fin's darling face. The sweet baby was looking up in wonder at the toys dangling from the handle of her carseat, and she did a small smile at Gemma.

"She's doing well with you," Louis admitted. "Usually doesn't like new people." The car started, and he seemed to be a little more open to talking now. "You'll break his heart, you know that right?"

Gemma scoffed, knowing that that was exactly what would happen. She'd been panicking about this day for many years - the day she'd tell her brother everything about who she really was. "He'll get over it. He's not a baby, like you seem to think he is."

Louis was speeding, and his hands were clenched at 10 and 2. "He's acting like a baby! Staying in that room for weeks! Weeks, Gemma!"

She didn't have a counter to a situation that she didn't really understand. Bella and Gigi had reported back that Declan had died, but she had come to the conclusion that Harry was the one to do so, given the fact that he hadn't contacted her since that day. There had never been a time when she'd been angrier as when she heard that Harry was put into danger, intentionally, by the twins. Gemma had gone to Nicholas about the situation, and because he always did what she wanted, he'd told her that he'd stop attacking the other side. Of course, she knew that he still had a watch on the house for an alert that anyone had left. She knew everything about this man, and that was why she was going to help ruin him.

Some time passed as they drove. Gemma cooed at Fin to keep her occupied, but eventually, the baby began to fall asleep. She turned to the window and coughed, desperate for some water.

Liam raised his voice. "Are you really sick? Or is that fake?"

"Not as bad as I make it out to be. But I'm not as healthy as a horse or anything. Still got lupus and the worst kidneys." Which weren't hurting badly at the moment, thank the heavens. She'd need strength to deal with Harry's temper-tantrum when he found out that she'd been working for Nicholas since he was a teenager.

There was a moment of silence as the pair digested the information. Then a ringtone filled the car. Liam's hand slapped his thigh, where his own phone was, but he quickly realized that it wasn't his. "Oh great," Gemma's voice came through nasally as she looked down at the caller ID on her phone. "I have to take it. Nicholas figured out where I am." After taking a deep breath, she swiped to answer. "Nicholas."

"Why are you with them?" The other two couldn't hear the conversation, but her anxiety was through the roof. Her boss had been known to kill a person or two to get what he wanted. And despite relying on Gemma for everything, if she wasn't on his side, she was dead too. "You're supposed to be on the way to the hospital, Gemma."

"I can't talk now. In the car." There was no way that the two of them could have an argument when not everyone was supposed to know everything.

He sighed angrily, and she could imagine him scraping his nails against his desk. "Speak in tongues or something. Are you crossing me?"

"I'm visiting my brother," She stated, which wasn't a lie. "He's depressed and needs me, his sister. Just staying for the night, and I'll be New York me." That was their code word for her sickly counterpart that existed in Harry's mind, and would soon be erased. "Bye."

Once she hung up, Gemma did not say another word for the rest of the drive. Once it was clear that she was going silent, Liam turned the music up a little bit, to which Louis turned it down since his daughter was in the car. The drive to the house was another twenty minutes, and the guards swiftly let them back inside.

Louis took Fin's carrier out of the backseat and Liam opened the door for Gemma, seeming to be polite. Instead of speaking to him, she spoke to Louis. "What's the plan here? Am I going into his room to see him?"

"You're going into the conference room. Because we don't trust you," Louis pointed with his free hand.

Gemma frowned. "Harry's the type to dramatically run away when he receives information he doesn't like. You should know that. He has no incentive to hear me out."

The pair looked at each other as they walked up to the front door. "We'll shove a chair under the door." Liam nodded, and entered the house. "We're back!"

Zayn was making tea in the kitchen, and his mouth dropped open when he saw Gemma. Niall smiled uncomfortably from his position on the couch, headed turned towards the door. Luke, Perrie, and Palmer collectively had no idea who Gemma was, shrugged, and went back to their game. UNO as usual. "She's the double agent, isn't she?" Zayn asked.

"Shush. Harry doesn't know yet." Louis' eyes flicked up the stairs, towards the room. Zayn shut his mouth immediately, but he held that distrust that the other two did. Louis was likely to drop those feelings once he found out Harry's feelings regarding the situation.

Niall got up and came towards them, taking the carrier from Louis and setting her on the couch, far away from the discussion in the entryway. "How do we get Harry out of the room?" Liam questioned. "Down the stairs, and into the conference room."

"Well, we know he keeps the door locked," Zayn came towards them. "Except for when we give him food, and when Louis gives him Fin. And since Fin just arrived..."

"So, we're using my daughter as bait," Louis nodded. "Got it. Liam, you're going to grab him and haul him down the stairs. He'll fight you, but you're the strongest. Niall, you're going to put a chair under the door on our side. Zayn, you're going to hold Fin, and I'm repeatedly going to say that I'm sorry until he can't hear me any more."

"Gemma, let me escort you to the conference room," Zayn smiled. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, thank you," She said, following him into the kitchen.

Louis walked into the living room and watched over his sleeping child. He was about to wake her up - which you should never do to a baby. Never. "Do you think she'll remember this?" He asked. Niall was standing besides him, while Liam warmed up in the hallway.

"No. She's three months old." He stated. "You're an idiot."

"And this name calling is exactly the reason I didn't get you an iced coffee when I was out." Louis narrowed his eyes.

Niall frowned and made a puppy-dog face. "You went to Starbucks? Without me?"

"We can argue later, ok?" He said, and then pulled out his phone. Louis turned the volume up to the max and found the most rap song that he could. "I'm so sorry, baby."

The music played, and the infant opened her eyes and wailed instantly. He immediately paused it and unbuckled her to comfort her instantly. As he expected, his phone beeped with a text from, "Hazza :) 💕🥰💚". It said, "Bring her up, plsssss".

He handed the phone to Niall. "Text back, 'Come get her yourself, you coward.' We'll see if it works, but it won't." His friend typed out the response, and there was no reply back.

Zayn began to lead Gemma down the hallway into his office, otherwise known as the "conference room". He returned a minute later with his laptop and threw it onto the couch. "She's got tea and will be okay for a while. Give me Fin."

The still-crying baby was handed to him, and Liam gave the thumbs up. The group silently moved up the stairs, and Zayn was the one to knock on the door. "Hey, I have Fin!"

The door opened a crack, and they could hear the screech of the chair being moved downstairs by Niall. Harry's long arms came through the door to reach towards Fin, and Zayn stepped back for a moment. The curly-one frowned and stepped forward to grab her.

"Now!" Louis yelled, pulling Zayn backwards. Liam jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Harry's waisted. Stunned, he was lifted into the air and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"What's going on?" Simon yelled from downstairs, coming out of his office and appearing at the bottom of the stairs.

"It's therapy day!" Zayn yelled. "Now get out of the way!"

Harry wasn't going without a fight. Fists collided with ribs and noses and necks. "I'm sorry, Hazza!" Louis said, over and over again, following close behind. "I'm so sorry! You'll understand everything in like ten minutes!"

As Liam finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, Louis went over to Simon. "We're letting Gemma talk to him for a while. Alone."

"So, we can have the meeting with her when that's all over," That was Simon, always seeing the plan above the people. Nicholas saw the money, and never the people involved. "I'm going back to my office. Let me know if we need to report a murder or anything."

While the two of them chatted, Niall thew open the door to the conference room and Liam roughly threw Harry onto the floor like he was a prisoner. "What's going on?" He roughly screamed, standing up to face Liam.

"Harry," Gemma called to him, and he turned to face her.

Then Niall shut the door and threw the chair under it. "Let's hope no one dies in there," He smiled.

No one laughed.