You had just exchanged meaningful good-byes with Liam and...Mrs. Payne.  She wasn't as bad as you thought she was going to be, as you think with anyone who gets too close to your boys.  You are happy that they decided not to have children for your sake but you are almost surprised to find yourself saddened, also.  Liam deserves to have childen with the woman he loves, which is Sophia, his wife.  But if Liam is happy, then you are happy too.

Now you are on your way to find Niall.  The last of the boys you need to find before you all are together again, just like old times.  What's a good place to look?  Ireland.  Where else would he be other than there with his Irish roots?  Then you remember that you foolishly forgot to ask Liam for some money to borrow.  Peeking into your purse, you find only a bit of money, but you think it could get you to Ireland.  Niall will obviously have enough money to get both you and him back to London since he is assumingly a retired millionare.

Upon arriving in the beautiful country, you get a willing taxi to take you to Mullingar, Niall's hometown--as long as you give him the exact amount of cash.  Fortunately you had just enough left, leaving you with only a few coins.  You hope that Mullingar isn't a very big city so there would be no need to pay for another taxi.  Getting out of the taxi, you are relieved to find it significantly smaller than London.  Thank goodness.  Walking down the street, you breathe in the Irish air, happy to enjoy it since there aren't too many people around to crowd you.  You have to admit that Mullingar isn't quite as nice as London.  Its roads are a bit messier and the buildings seem to not be taken care of as much.  All the same, it is a beautiful town and think it would be a great place to live. 

Then you remember something.  Back in the hospital room so many years ago, after giving birth to Davis, Niall offered for you to come live with him in this very town.  You reluctantly turned him down  due to homesickness. 

You suddenly shake that thought away and focus on finding Niall's home.  Liam just barely remembered his address and gave it to you, not knowing if it was exactly correct or not.  You decide to take your chances.  Looking at the address, you think that maybe you will need a taxi after all, since it appears to be so far away from your current position.  Then you remember that Mullingar is fortunately small, and it only takes you fifteen minutes to walk to Niall's street.   You nervously begin to walk down it, closely examining each house's number as you go by.  Suddenly, the number on one of them matches with the one Liam wrote.  Taking a deep breath, you walk up to it.  Here we go.  You are going to see that blonde Irishman again after eight long years.  You hold your breathe and knock on the door.  There is no imidiate answer.  You wait for ten, long, tortuous seconds.  Hearing no sign of footsteps inside, you begin to turn around.  Suddenly the door creaks.  Spinning back around, you watch the door open slowly.

"Hello?" someone in the darkness asks in a thick accent.  "Who's there?"

Dissapointed to find it a woman's voice, you sigh and say,  "It's Y/N."

"Who?" she asks, opening the door a bit wider.

"Um...I'm looking for Niall," you say.

Just being able to see the outline of the woman's face, she answers, "Niall?  You don't mean...Niall Horan?"

"Yes," you say.  "Does...does he live here?"

"Oh, no," the woman answers.  "No, no he doesn't.  He used to...a long time ago.  That boy is all grown up and moved on now."

"Do you...know where he is now?"

"Why?  Who are you?  Why do you want to know where he is all of a sudden?"

Sighing, you answer, "I am Y/N.  I...I used to be his girlfriend.  Kind of.  I am actually the mother to his son."

"Impossible!" the woman shouts, stepping out a bit.  "Niall doesn't have a son!"

"He never told you?" you ask.

"No," the woman replies.  "Probably because it's a lie."

"No, it's true!" you tell her.  "Please tell me where he is, I just need to find him!"

It is the woman's turn to sigh as she quickly does.  "I'm afraid I can't help you.  I haven't seen my boy for so long... I don't know where he is, or what he's doing, or...if he's even still alive."

"No...he couldn't be...dead?"

The woman shrugs sadly.  "Don't you think that he would have contacted his mother before five years passed if he was alive?"

Feeling tears coming to your eyes, you look at the ground.

"Oh, it's okay dear..." the woman says, stepping out even farther.  "I believe you now.  You really cared about this boy."

"I still do!" you shout.  "He's not dead!  He's still alive somewhere and I care about him and he cares about me!"

"Shh..." the woman says.  "It's going to be alright.  Everything happens for a reason.  It's what you do after that is what counts."

Sniffling, you give her a weak smile.  "Thank you," you say.  Seeing the woman smile makes you smile bigger.  "I'm going to keep looking for him," you declare.

"Oh, dear...just be careful, okay?  Don't get too determinded to find him...just in case."

Still trying to fight a few tears, you find yourself walking out of Mullingar and toward a nearby town.  What are you going to do now?  You have no money left and Niall is nowhere to be found. If Niall is dead...then there is no reunion.  There's no point to a reunion anymore!  You might as well take Davis back home and live in that crummy house for the rest of your life if Niall's not alive anymore.

Thinking about such thoughts, you don't even realize yourself walking into the town.  A very dangerous part of it, too.  By now the tears are flowing freely and you feel like killing yourself.  You suddenly shake away that thought when you remember Davis and the four other boys who love you.  You also finally realize where you are.  Looking around, you notice old, run-down buildings everywhere.  Old newspapers and stray stones clutter the streets and there doesn't seem to be a soul in sight.  Only once in a while you see someone walk across the street in the distance or walk into or out of a building and go into another.  But the streets themselves hold no more than three people at once.  Beginning to get creeped out, you wonder what the fastest way out of here is.  Suddenly you hear a noise that makes you jump.  Whirling around, you see an alley between what seems like a vacant bar and a large building with its windows boarded-up.  Especially with it being a cloudy day, the alley is very shadowed.  Another similar noise comes from it and you jump again.

"H...hello?" you ask, wondering if perhaps someone is in there.

There is no answer.  Just a louder noise like the ones before.  Then you hear a more distinct noise.  A cough.  Then you hear soft footsteps echoing a little.  You back away as the footsteps get only a bit louder every few seconds.  Suddenly you see a figure in the darkness.  The figure took three more steps before you found it exposed completely.  You gasp.

"Niall!" you shout, rushing at him.

You wrap your arms around his entire body, arms and all, without giving him a chance to hug you back just yet.

"Oh, Niall!" you say.  "I thought you were dead!  I thought you were gone forever and I was never going to see you again!  You're alive!  I just can't believe you're alive!"

When three whole seconds pass without Niall saying anything, you slowly break the hug to look up into his face.  It is completely expressionless.  He isn't even looking at you.  He's looking off into the sky, and you watch as his eyes slowly roll toward the ground and then slowly focus on you.  His face turns to a face of confusion.

"N...Niall?" you whisper.  "What's wrong?  Don't you...remember me?" 

Niall's face becomes even more confused.  Now you notice his hair is completely dark with no blonde in it whatsoever.  He also has scruff everywhere, which you had never seen before.

"Niall?" you say again.

All of a sudden you hear a yell from down the street.  Looking in that direction, you see a middle-aged man running toward you.  A bit frightened, you lean closer to Niall, expecting him to do something.  But it's like he doesn't notice him at all.

"Get away from him!" the man shouts, finally reaching you.

He grabs you and pulls you away several feet and you scream. 

"Let go of me!" you demand.  "Stop!  Let go!  What are you doing?" 

"What are you doing?" the man asks immediately after, releasing your arms.

"What...what do you mean?" you ask him.

"Don't you know this man is dangerous?" he shouts back in an accent.

"What do you mean?" you ask again.

"Why, he only roams around here all day picking fights with everybody!  Anybody!"

"What?  I don't understand..."

"You mean you don't know who he is?  Wait...that accent...are you...English?"

"American," you correct.

"Ah, American.  Well, this man is not one to be fraternizing with.  He's always drunk.  He doesn't know what he's doing and he always has a wine or beer bottle in his hands.  See?  Look!"

You look at Niall again to see a large wine bottle in his right hand.  He has walked down the road a few yards with some difficulty.

"Like I said, he's always picking fights and causing trouble.  If anyone says he's sober, we all alugh.  He's always drunk.  That's just the usual for him now.  It's been that way for years.  As a matter of fact, I think he was drunk when he first walked into this town.  Real troublemaker, he is.  Why would you go and run up to someone like that?" the man wonders.

"I...I don't know, I...I didn't know he was...I mean...I don't even know...I just..."

"Do you know him or something?"

"Well...yes.  I guess I used to.  I used to be his girlfriend.  He's the father to my baby..."

The man's eyes grow wide.  "Him?  That man actually has a son?  Well, I guess there's no surprise since he's always drunk...but I thought he focused more on fighting than lovin'!"

"No, Niall's sweet!  He's such a sweet, little, innocent, Irish boy!"

The man laughs.  "He's anything but innocent.  He may be Irish, but if he's sweet, then I don't know what isn't."

"We were together a long time ago..." you begin to explain, "...before this happened.  I haven't seen him for eight whole years...I had no idea he was like this...I was just so happy to see him again."

"Well, you're pretty lucky," the man says.  "A few more seconds with him, you would have found yourself on the ground with a bloody nose."

"Niall would never do that to me..."

"Don't you get it?  He doesn't know who he's fighting.  He doesn't know any of the names of the men in this town.  He doesn't even know what town he's in.  He's a nobody.  A nothing."

"That's not true!" you shout.  "Niall is everything!  I just...can't believe he's like this."

"Well, believe it.  It's not that hard.  Just look at him."

Looking yet again, you see Niall a few more yards down the street.  He takes another step and suddenly he stumbles and nearly falls face-first onto the ground.  Placing a hand to you mouth, you watch him slowly stand up again, spilling about half his wine before taking another gulp.

"I've got to go," the man says.  "Stay away from him, alright?"

"No, but...I just can't.  He needs to be helped." 

The man nearly laughs.  "Sorry, but we already tried that.  We tried keeping him away from alcohol, but it didn't work.  He just kept buying it and drinking it, then buying more again. He's been doing it ever since.  Apperantly he was rich when he first came to town.  I have no idea where he could have gotten the money, but he had it.  Then he spent a lot of it on alcohol.  A lot of alcohol over the years.  The bank finally decided to lock up his money and only give him a bit per week.  He spends it all on alcohol.  No food at all.  He doesn't have a house so he doesn't need to pay any bills.  If he's hungry, he just fights someone for food, and he usually wins.  When he doesn't, he just goes straight into another fight, despite some conditions he has, and...it's just not a good situation.  Just please don't talk to him anymore."

"I have to," you say.  "I think I can help him."

The man sighs.  "If you think you can, go ahead and try.  But be careful.  And don't come crying if he kills you."

______________________________________________________

Thanks for reading!  COMMENT with your opinion and if you liked it, then please VOTE, ADD, and FOLLOW ME!  How else am I to know about my amazing fans!  You guys literally keep me motivated and it reminds me why I love writing.  Thanks again!