Happy Thanksgiving, lovelies!

Chapter 38:

~ One Day Later ~ 

"Put it down," I demanded, refusing to let myself show that I was afraid. A chuckle came out of the offender's lips. I continued to glare at him, not letting my eyes wander to the tip of the gun.

"You think a simple 'put it down' is going to make me drop it? You wish," the voice laughed gleefully, the gun getting closer to me.

"You're going to regret this. You really don't want to do this," I tried to discuss it with the guy standing in front of me. 

"You bet I do. I need to get revenge on all of the things you've done to me," he laughed. His finger pressed farther down the trigger and I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact. 

A little nerf pellet pelted against my stomach. My eyes flew open as I stared straight into cobalt blue eyes. "This means war, Niall James Horan."

A familiar flash of brown hair ran past me, grabbing my hand and dragging me away. 

"That's no fair!" Niall yelled after Josh and I. "Fine! Liam, Zayn and I are going to beat your arses!"

"So what? I got Harry and Louis!" I called out with a laugh. Josh didn't let go of me as we searched for a nice hiding spot.

"Okay, here's the plan. Zayn is hiding behind the drums and Liam is under the stage." Josh said once we were crouched down, hiding behind a door.

"How is he under the stage?" I whispered with interest.

"It's hallow underneath. So.. Since Niall is openly running around, he'll be easiest to take out."

"Harry said he'd take care of Liam. Louis said he'd get Zayn, but I don't really trust him on that. So we'll get Niall and then give reinforcement, since Zayn will be tricky." I gave him the rundown.

"Sounds perfect. Niall won't know what hit him," He grinned as I clicked my nerf gun. "Shh, I hear him.." 

Josh put a finger to his lips to signal silence.

"Brook, Josh. I'm going to find you!" Niall called out, his voice right outside the door. 

Josh counted down on his fingers, 3. 2. 1.

"ARGHHH!" We all yelled war crys as our nerf gun fight went all out.

Niall dodged the bullets, "You're never going to catch me alive!"

"Dead or alive, doesn't matter to me!" Josh yelled as he shot continuously towards the blonde.

"Wait! Stop!" Niall screamed, holding out a hand. Josh and I immediately froze, looking at him with our guns poised. He waved his hands wildly in front of us. "These are not the droids you are looking for!" 

I shared a look with Josh and when we looked back, Niall was bolting down the hall, cackling with laughter. 

"You got distracted! How could you let him go!" Josh complained as he started after Niall. I trotted along beside him.

"I'm not the only one who got distracted! But he just looked so adorable, he was so serious. Plus his little right eyebrow does the cutest things," I breathed out as we tried to catch up with Niall.

"Of course, I get the girl on my team. The one who is easily distracted by the cuteness of her opponents. Get your head in the game," Josh teased. I stuck out my tongue but continued to chase down Niall. Eventually we found him. Being held hostage by Harry.

"Way to let him go," Harry rolled his eyes as Niall pouted, leaning against the wall.

"Where'd you find him?" Josh asked.

"Where do you think? The food table. Okay, Brook you stay here with him. Josh and I'll get Zayn and Liam," Harry stated, cocking his gun and getting ready to set off.

"Do you think that's a good idea? You do realize they're dating, right?" Josh had a look of amusement across his face, lips threatening to break out into a smile.

"Oh, c'mon!" I whined. "I'm not going to let him run off. I know better than that. Sure, I got distracted by his adorableness once. It's not going to happen again. Go get Liam and Zayn. The longer you wait, the more likely one of them is going to attack you."

Harry and Josh shared a look before taking off down the hall. 

"Do we always take this so seriously?" I leaned against the wall right beside Niall, making sure my gun was ready to hit him if he tried to escape.

"Yes. Last time, losers had to buy the winners a pizza. We won, probably because we were teamed up." Niall chuckled as he moved so he was standing right in front of me. I shouldn't have done it. But I looked straight into those horribly gorgeous blue eyes. He leaned closer, his breath ghosting across my lips. His hands planted themselves on my hips, making sure there was no space between us. "We're better as a team, don't you think?"

The words were whispered and my heartbeat increased by about a million beats per second. Hesitantly, I nodded. His lips were tantalizingly closer. I let my eyes flicker shut, waiting for our lips to touch. Yeah, that didn't happen. Well, sort of. His lips pecked against mine before he took off down the hall, laughing loudly. "I love you, I really do!"

~ A Few Hours Later ~

"Hey, you okay?" Niall asked, coming onto the tour bus I shared with the fashion ladies. His eyes literally sparkled as he collapsed beside me on the couch. The Lion King flickered across the screen. 

"Yeah," I replied as I scooted more towards him, my own eyes glued to the screen. 

His arms wrapped around me, literally pulling me into his chest. A smile subconsciously made it's way to my face as I let my head rest right over his heart. I could hear the rhythmic beat that was pressed up against my ear. My hand rested on his stomach, his hand on my hip.

Something about this just felt so right, like a torn picture finally getting taped back together. There was an evident tear in the picture, but it was fixed. It wouldn't be the exact same, as long as I couldn't remember, but it was getting there.

It was a new normal.

"Can you feel the love tonight?" Niall hummed along to the movie.

His words clicked something in my brain.

~ Flashback ~

"But can you feel the love tonight? In the evening breeze.." 

"Shuttup, you two." I swatted a free hand blindlessly towards Harry and Louis. They ignored me, continue to serenade Niall and I with The Lion King lyrics while circling us. I closed my eyes and groaned in annoyance, cuddling deeper into Niall's chest.

Niall's chest shook with his laughter. "Brook's gonna behead you soon."

"We're not leaving you two alone," Louis replied adamantly. 

"Lou, I'm already pregnant." I motioned down to my starting-to-get-bigger stomach. "Not much else can happen."

"Twins!" Harry said quickly with faked shock.

"Don't think that's how it works," Niall replied, his right eyebrow quirking high up into his forehead, as it often did.

"I'm going to go get pizza, no funny business you two!" Louis stated firmly, his pointer finger waggling dangerously while he looked down at us.

"Could say the same to you two," Niall muttered under his breath as Louis and Harry started out the door. I burst out laughing. Louis and Harry immediately turned around to look at us with confusion. 

"What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that we're lucky to have you," Niall said quite normally, face basically stone.

"I'm watching you, Horan!" Louis called out, his back to us as the two started to shove each other out of the room. Once they were completely gone, I smiled contently up at Niall. We had hardly got any time alone together, since we were constantly surrounded by the band.

"What do you wanna do?" Niall asked, eyes boring into mine.

"Cuddle while you feed me popcorn and we watch the worst TV show that's on," I stated with a grin. Niall agreed, telling me to sit on the couch and find a TV show while he made the popcorn. I laid on the quite large sofa, my fingers sliding across the buttons on the remote. My eyes landed on the perfect show. A few minutes later Niall walked in while the TV was flashing commercial. He placed the bowl in my lap, before lifting up my head and sitting down. He let my head fall back onto his lap, my eyes never leaving the TV.

"What'd you decide on?" Niall inquired. 

I smirked to myself. "Just wait." A few moments passed before the commercials ended.

"Toddlers and Tiaras? Really? You're so weird," Niall chuckled. His fingers threaded through my hair automatically and I glanced directly above me, seeing his eyes focused on the dancing colors across the screen. He seemed to become aware of my stares and looked down at me and made a face. I laughed before adjusting myself a bit, bringing my lips to his. I pressed baby kisses across the corners of his lips, smiling against his mouth. Finally, I pushed my lips to his in a proper kiss before sinking back into his lap. He groaned. "You're a tease."

"And you're Irish," I responded, my focus back on the little girls prancing across the TV.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Niall asked in confusion.

"Sorry, I thought we were stating obvious facts. Were we not?"

"Why do I even date you?" Niall sighed, although a grin was spread across his features.

"Because I make delicious tacos," I replied before letting my hand rest across my stomach. "Plus I'm pregnant with your baby."

"And because I love you," Niall added, his fingers trailing across my cheek, looking down at me. I stared straight into the little yellow speckles in his blue eyes, pure adoration in both of our eyes.

~ Present Time ~

I gazed blankly at the wall for at least a minute after I remembered. I could feel Niall's questioning glances towards me. I felt my eyes well up with tears, the memory pulling at certain strings in my heart. 

Niall had given up so much when I had my accident. I had never really thought about it, but when I lost my memory.. He lost the girl who knew everything about him, the girl he knew everything about. It had all changed drastically in one moment. It'd been months since the accident, and I was still slightly hesitant towards Niall. From what I knew, we had been dating over a year when I lost everything. That was enough time for Niall and I knew to be completely comfortable together. Nothing had been off-limits.

Sure, I know I love Niall now. But it's not on the level that it had been. I'm positive that back then if he had asked me to marry him, I would have done it without a second's hesitance. But now? Now the answer would be 'wait.' 

I had been so focused on losing my memory.. I knew it took a toll on everyone else, but Niall could very well possibly never get his girlfriend back. I was on my way to being completely comfortable with him, but I wasn't there yet. And I knew it would be a while before I was if I didn't get my memory back.

"You're going to give yourself a panic attack if you keep thinking like you are right now," Niall's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. The blonde still hand his arm around me, his eyes on me. Worry flashed through his emotions, although he tried to conceal it.

"Sorry," I replied thoughtfully. "Hey, Niall?"

"Hm?" His eyes clouded over with an unknown emotion, almost like he was expecting me to stand up and leave.

"I'm really sorry. I'm sorry I'm not quite the girlfriend you used to have. I'm sorry I'm different and I'm not one hundred percent comfortable yet. I'm really sorry."

Niall pulled me tightly into his chest. "What even possessed you to think about that?"

"I remembered.. Just.. I just remembered when we were watching TV and I.. I kind of just thought that we were so open with each other and now.. I'm guarded now and I know I am. I wish I wasn't, I want to just trust everyone and not have to worry about anything.. But.. I just can't.. Yet. But I'm sorry that you lost the closeness you use to have with me."

"Brooklyn. You're worth any fight, you're worth any type of pain, you're worth so much to me. The accident, your memory.. I think it was all just a reminder that you don't know what you have until it's gone. We weren't exactly peachy keen before the accident." Niall's voice got distant, as if remembering the past.

"Explain?" I asked quietly, turning my head so I could see him full on. Confusion tugged at my sleeve.

"About two weeks before your accident.. We had an argument," Niall started reluctantly. "It was about something stupid.. I think one of the fans created a crazy rumor of how I was cheating on you. There was a lot of friction after that, until we managed to smooth it over for the most part.. But after that.. There was just something off about the both of us. I didn't really realize truly how much youmeant to me, until the accident."

I nodded to show that I was listening.

"Before the pregnancy, during the pregnancy, and for a while after the miscarriage.. I knew. I knew I loved you more than anything. But after a while, it just became so common. I was so used to coming home to you every day and just to you in general. I think we were both starting to take our love for granted.. Like it was so second-hand to us," he continued.

My heart literally felt like it had been torn out of my heart. I hadn't known this.

"For a while, I honestly thought.. Well.. I kind of thought maybe we were falling out of love. But after the accident.. The thing I wanted you most to remember? How much I loved you, how much I needed you." 

Both our eyes were welled up with tears, Niall staring intently at his hands. He was playing with them, as if afraid to make eye contact. I reached over and placed one of my hands over his.

"Thank you for telling me. It's so much nicer to hear about it from you first," I tried my best to suppress the tears that were threatening to spill over my cheeks.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just.. I didn't know how," Niall said, as if afraid I was disappointed in him.

"What matters is you did tell me. And hey, my accident actually was the band-aid for our relationship. Something good came out of it!" I joked through the tears. 

Niall shook his head, a laugh bubbling out of his lips. "God, I love you."

Oooh, it's long! :D Happy Turkey Day! I just ate a tonnn of food.. I think I'm going to take a nap now. Woo. 

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Thank you and I love you :D