I know I was told to keep on my hospital gown, but I feel weird with being completely naked under this thin gown. I mean, I at least have to put on some pants. So I get up slowly and put on a pink matching set of sweatpants and a sports bra. Then I put the gown on over the loose outfit.

As I gently settle back into the bed, I find myself nervously pulling at my fingers. I know what I'm going to do, it's just hard because it feels like I'm the villain, but I feel completely justified in what I'm about to do.

Liam went down a few minutes ago to guide everyone up to my room. He was ecstatic to see Adira and stayed there for half an hour. He came back to my room briefly to gush about my sweet baby, then he went to the lower level of the hospital.

Everyone landed half an hour ago and are just now getting here. As I wait, I take the gun out of the briefcase, and tightly twist the silencer onto the end of the gun.

I make sure that the safety is on before I place it under the blanket, next to my leg. I must steel my nerves for what is to come.

No regrets.

I wait for another ten minutes in silence, and then there's a knock on my door.

"Come in."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Earlier the same day

𝑶𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚,

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑬𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 "𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏" 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕. 𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒎𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒙𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍, 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒓. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕.

𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍. 𝑴𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝑬𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑹𝒐𝒙𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒔,

𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂

I close my journal with a sigh and put it back in my bookbag. It's a dumb place to put a diary, but I have my own room at Simone's house, so I have plenty of privacy to hide it.

Currently, it's nine am and everyone is still asleep. So, right now, I'm just getting ready for the day. I pull my soft, straightened hair up into a bun and put on a short sleeved crop top with high waisted light blue jeans. Deciding to be a bit extra today, I put on my black platform boots that make me 3 inches taller.

Taking my time, I carefully do black winged eyeliner and mascara. Then I put on a bit of blush and slightly red lip balm to give my lips a bit of color.

When I'm done, I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself so I just turn on Bob's Burgers. Some background noise is much needed these days. I hate to be alone with my thoughts unless I'm writing.

As I'm mindlessly watching the show, my phone pings. Getting a slightly bad feeling in my stomach, I slowly pick it up and unlock it.

1 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆

𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎: 𝑳𝒊

𝑻𝒐: 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂

𝑯𝒆𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒓, 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆? 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕.

What? Meet me at the house? Wait, why is Liam in Canada? My eyes get big as I realize that something serious has happened. Since Liam is suddenly here, that's the only conclusion I can draw. I have a million and one questions, but I'll save them for when I see him.

𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎: 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂

𝑻𝒐: 𝑳𝒊

𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆?

It doesn't take long for him to respond.

𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎: 𝑳𝒊

𝑻𝒐: 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂

𝑨𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒐𝒏. 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

Cocking an eyebrow I study the text. I'm not surprised that Liam will be at the house, but why now? What the hell is going on?

I hate being out of the loop.

Replying "okay", I begin to pack up my clothes and toiletries. I didn't think I'd be staying here so long, and I had to go back to the house to get a few more outfits. Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan wanted to buy me a new wardrobe, but I had to steadily decline. Simone thought it was hilarious, but I'm uncomfortable accepting such lavish gifts.

Anyway, the point is, is that I have an extra duffel bag with me and it's heavy as hell. As I pack up my things, I think about Liam and I's brief conversation.

A part of me wants to rebel and ignore Liam's request to meet. Like, I know that it's about Ellie, so why can't Ellie pick up the phone and call me herself? But my worry/anxiety outweighs my anger, so that's why I immediately agreed to meet. I want to know what the hell is going on, and I don't care if I have to get it from Liam instead of the source.

It doesn't take me long to pack up my stuff and when I'm done, it's 10am. I still haven't heard any signs of life in the house, so I tiptoe across the hall to Simone's room.

I don't bother knocking, in case it wakes her parents up, so I just open the door and go in.

I giggle to myself as I see Simone stretched out on her bed with her mouth wide open. This is the reason why we're not sharing a room. Even when we had that sleepover with Winona, we put Simone in a bed by herself because she sleeps wildly.

I came in here to tell her that I'll be leaving in 3 hours, but I don't want to disturb her sleep. So I quietly exit and go downstairs to the kitchen.

As a departing present for their kindness , I'm going to make an epic breakfast for the Buchanans.

I search the well stocked refrigerator and find all the ingredients that I need. I'm making strawberry french toast, scrambled eggs with all the fixings, and maple sausage links with freshly juiced orange juice.

I picked cooking up as a hobby, but I'm really starting to enjoy it. I find myself wanting to try new recipes and experiment with my own twists on things.

Now I'm no Gordon Ramsay, but I think my food tastes pretty good.

I've just finished the french toast and have started on the scrambled eggs, when I finally hear movement from upstairs.

I speed up a little because I want the food to be nearly done by the time everyone comes downstairs.

Mrs. Buchanan shows up first, wearing a black silk robe with her straight black hair tied back in a ponytail. Her eyes survey over the mostly cooked food before she zeroes in on me.

"Good morning dear. What's all this? You know you don't have to cook for us. Taylor comes in later."

Taylor is the Buchanan's personal chef. She's here every other day for half of the day. She's sweet and we got along pretty quickly.

I smile at Mrs. Buchanan as she takes a seat at the kitchen island. "It's okay, I wanted to. Plus, this is my way of saying thank you for letting me stay here, since I'm leaving today."

I cringe as Mrs. Buchanan lets out the most dramatic sounding gasp I've ever heard. "You're leaving? Are you sure? I haven't received this information from your sister."

As I stir the seasoned eggs in the pan, I try to keep the annoyance out of my tone. I mean it's not as if I'm a little kid. Ellie doesn't dictate everything in my life.

"Yeah, she doesn't know about it because I wanted to surprise her. See, she comes back from vacation tomorrow and I want to cook her a big welcome home dinner."

I mentally give myself a giant pat on the back for the well constructed lie. I turn around to put the eggs in a bowl, and by the look on Mrs. Buchanan's face, she has bought my lie.

As soon as I put the hot frying pan down, she has descended on me and is hugging me tightly. "Oh, Daria what a sweet child you are! I am so glad that you and Money (MOAN-EE) are friends!"

I hug back a bit awkwardly. "T-thank you Mrs. Buchanan."

"Oh child you know to call me Lena."

"What's going on around here, somebody died?" Mrs. Buchanan pulls away from me at the sound of the new voice. She frowns at Mr. Buchanan who is standing in the doorway with an amused look on his face.

"Oh hush up Quincy! Daria is leaving today, so no attitude from you." Now Mr. Buchanan frowns, but before he can say something, a voice pipes up from behind him.

"SHE'S WHAT?!"

Oh boy.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Over breakfast, after I eventually managed to cook it, I explained to everyone why I was leaving. I didn't think they'd be so disheartened to see me go, but they were.

It made me feel happy to know that they genuinely cared about me so much.

Simone and Mr. Buchanan have helped me put my belongings in my car and now we're about to say goodbye.

I know that I'll still see Simone in school, but Mr. Buchanan kinda reminds me of my dad and Mrs. Buchanan has been the mom I've always wanted.

"Well, I'll see you in school, okay?" Simone says as she hugs me tightly. I find myself getting choked up, and all I can do is nod.

Mrs. Buchanan pulls me into a hug next while Mr. Buchanan gives me a side hug at the same time.

"You are welcome here anytime, honey, okay? Come over whenever you want, and we can make that ticky tok video you and Money were talking about."

I laugh at the thought of Simone's parents trying to do a tik tok, but I appreciate the thought. "Okay. Thank you."

After a few more teary goodbyes, I'm in my car on my way back to our house. I just hope that this is worth it.

I get to the house fairly quickly, as I don't live extremely far from Simone. Seeing Liam's car in the driveway, I park next to him and let out a tired sigh. I'll leave my stuff in the car just in case what Liam has to say changes my mind on staying.

Although deep down, I doubt that.

I get out of my beautiful car and go up to the house. I don't bother knocking, I just take my key out and unlock the door.

The house is strangely quiet, so I walk to the kitchen to get a drink whilst I wait for Liam to make his presence known.

"SURPRISE!"

"AHHHH!"

I nearly choke on my own spit as I'm screaming when I see my family from New Jersey standing in the kitchen.

Josie, the twins, Zayn, Liam, Niall, Louis, Dr. Alverich, and Ava. Standing in our kitchen.

"Ohmygod!" I'm totally speechless and don't know what to say. Josie rushes forward and hugs me with Mateo in her arms. To my delight Mateo giggles as Josie spins us around, and I can't remember when I last felt happiness like this.

Josie pulls back and cups my face with one hand. "We've missed you so much Dar!"

I grin, "I've missed you guys too!"

Josie and I call and facetime each other all the time, plus I facetime the twins to read them a bedtime story. I do all of that, but seeing them in person is so much better than through a screen.

Mateo starts to make grabby hands for me, but the guys come over to greet me, so I don't pick him up yet. Once I've briefly chatted with everyone, I take Mateo from Josie before he has a fit.

As soon as the chunky baby is in my arms, he squeals and wraps his chubby arms around my neck and gives me a baby hug. I giggle at his cuteness and hug him back.

"Aww, I've missed you too Mateo."

I suddenly hear another squeal and look over to see Javadd wiggling in Zayn's arms, reaching out to me.

Shaking my head in amusement, I balance Mateo on my left hip while I take Javadd from Zayn and balance him on my right hip. Once the twins have finished hugging me, and randomly grabbing my hair, I turn my attention back to the group.

"Wait a minute guys, I only saw Liam's car in the driveway?" Louis grins. "Well we parked the van around the back because we wanted to surprise you. It worked, didn't it?"

I want to mush Louis in his head for his cheshire grin, but I just settle for rolling my eyes.

"Yeah it worked, but what exactly is going on? Where's Ellie?"

The small side conversations suddenly stop and the room goes quiet. Everyone is looking at each other nervously and I know that bad feeling I felt earlier was right.

I'm about to shout at them to just tell me, but Liam beats me to the punch. "Well, Ellie experienced something bad. So bad that she went into premature labor and had one of the babies."

I stare at Liam blankly as I become hyperware of Mateo and Javadd in my arms. That word, premature, alone sends me back to the day that they were born.

I force myself to take a breath, and I bounce the boys in my arms to remind myself that they survived and are just fine.

I realize that everyone is staring at me, waiting for my reaction, so I move on. "Can we go see her?"

Liam nods and grabs his keys from the kitchen table. "Yes, we're actually going right now. Let's go everyone."

The next 15 minutes is a blur of putting the twins in their car seats and briefly arguing with Liam about if I'm going to drive or ride with him. He ends up winning and I find myself in the passenger seat of his car. Everyone else is in the big van that Zayn rented, and will follow us to the hospital.

The ride is fairly quiet. I want to ask so many questions, but I just don't know where to start. I'm not sure how I even feel about all of this. Like, I knew that something was going on but I didn't think it'd be this bad.

"How have you been, D? I texted you a couple of times but you didn't really respond."

"I've been... alright. I was worried sick about Ellie, and it looks like my gut feeling was right. Why didn't she tell me, Liam?"

"She didn't tell anyone, D. I don't think it was intentionally her trying to keep it a secret. She's been through a lot, and some things I can't even tell you. She'll probably tell everyone the whole story when we get there, but I'm not sure. Ever since the baby was born, Ellie has not been herself. She loves that baby, but it's been pretty traumatic for her. When she called me, it wasn't even her, it was her nurse. So don't be too hard on her."

Well that just makes me feel worse. Now I feel bad for ridiculing her, and I didn't-and still don't- know the full story.

I don't know how to respond to that, so we just sit in silence for the rest of the ride.

It takes a while to get to the hospital, and when we do I start to get horrible flashbacks.

After Ellie and Harry's wedding, relatives of the deceased had to go and identify the bodies. Ellie was a mess, so Louis volunteered to identify Harry and offered to identify Roxy for me, but I forced myself to do it.

It was the third worse day of my life.

Now, hospitals freak me out but I'll have to suck it up.

Liam parks near the front and gets out. I give myself a brief moment before getting out after him.

The van is parked a couple of spaces over from us, and I make a beeline towards them. Josie is just getting Mateo out of his carseat and I immediately snatch him from her.

She gives me a look and I give her a sheepish look back. "Sorry, Jo. I need a support baby."

Josie laughs at that and waves me off. "It's okay, Daria. He would've just cried for you anyway." She goes to take out a sleeping Javadd, while Mateo and I walk over to Liam and the others.

Once we're all ready to go, Liam leads us into the hospital.

The smell of antiseptic, and Clorox triggers unpleasant memories, but I just push them away. We get on the elevator, and I play with Mateo's chubby hands to distract myself. When we get off of the elevator, it feels as if I'm walking in slow motion. I see Liam zeroing in on the room Ellie's in and my heart starts to beat a bit faster.

Then, we're right in front of her door. Liam knocks once and after a brief pause, I hear, "Come in.".

My heart drops as we walk into the room.

There is Ellie, lying in the bed with an IV in her arm and a heart monitor hooked up to her. Her eyes have dark bags under them and her dark brown hair is pulled up into a messy bun. Overall, she looks exhausted and there's also a certain look in her eyes that makes me feel uncomfortable.

I try to shake it off though, because that can't be right. I shouldn't be feeling that way because Ellie is fine.

As soon as Mateo lays his eyes on Ellie, he starts to clap and wriggles in my arms to get down.

This softens the look in Ellie's eyes a bit, and she smiles and reaches her arms out for him. I'm a bit hesitant to give him to her, because of her condition. She must see the look on my face, because she starts talking. "It's okay, I can hold him." I'm still not reassured, but I cautiously hand him over to her.

Once Mateo is in her arms, he giggles and wraps his arms around her neck like he did with me. Ellie smiles, full on this time, and hugs the baby back. She gently squeezes him a bit before turning her attention onto all of us.

"Thank you guys for coming. So, I did have one of my babies and her name is Adira, and-"

"OHMYGOD, YOU HAD A GIRL?!" Josie screams, startling everyone and even Javadd wakes up in Zayn's arms. She completely ignores that though, and runs to Ellie and hugs her tightly.

"I'm so happy for you, Ellie! Not happy that you had one twin before their due date, but happy that you had a girl! I also love her name!"

Ellie weakly pats Josie's back, while barley keeping ahold of Mateo. "Thanks Jo, but you're kind of crushing me."

"Oops, my bad!"