Four days since Louis had met Harry, the man was still giving him rides to and from work. Louis had slowly gotten comfortable and made conversation with the man. He ignored the way Harry hesitated when answering simple questions when Louis didn't have problem answering Harry's questions. Or the way Louis had become prone to accidents, but always got out of them without a scratch. Louis thought he was just lucky, and that for once things were going his way.

He would always talk to him longer than necessary when he was serving him breakfast, something that resulted in him getting humiliated by Chris and Bryan. Harry would always move to get up and defend him, but Louis always stopped him, not wanting him to get hurt and cause a scene.

"Are you doing okay? More coffee?" Louis stopped by his table, a half empty pot of still hot coffee in his hand.

"I would appreciate it." Harry smiled. "Thank you."

Louis served him the coffee and with one last smile started walking away, heading for the kitchen to make more coffee. He stopped and turned around when he felt a hand grabbing him. He turned around and gave Harry a questioning look, his brow furrowing when Harry looked towards the kitchen door then back at him as he swallowed thickly. Harry could feel him around, he hadn't seen him since he had arrived that rainy day. He had come to collect, something that worried him and had his curiosity peaking. He wasn't one to collect and it wasn't his job. He only collected when he wanted the soul for himself.

"Need something?" Louis asked him.

Harry wasn't able to answer when Louis started walking backwards and away from him. He couldn't change the patterns unless it was a direct order, he couldn't mess with fate and disobey. Altering someone's destiny without an order was an act of disobedience. But for the last four days he had gotten to know Louis in a way that would have been impossible before. He had learned one just couldn't take away someone's life and everything they had just like that.

He thought about Louis' mother and those girls, thought of the belief that God had plans for you. He had only seen Jay a couple times and it was more than enough to see the pain in her eyes. And it was a joy to see happiness clashing with it whenever she would see Louis. Years ago Louis had been her biggest blessing and now it felt wrong to take that away from her.

Without thinking, he spilled his coffee all over the table and some even got on his lap, making him hiss at the pain he felt when it went through the fabric of his clothes and burned his skin. Louis' eyes widened as he rushed to try and clean him up using the napkins that were on the table.

"Let me go get a towel!" Louis started walking to the kitchen, but abruptly stopped when the loud sound of glass shattering startled him.

He stood frozen a foot away from the door, staring at the glass lamp that used to be on the ceiling and was now on the floor in pieces. If that had fallen on him, he would have been killed when it was a heavy lamp.

It was all chaos from then on, when Zayn ran out of his office to make sure Louis was okay. Liam was following behind him while Harry stared at the dark figure that was watching him. He heard him tsk, seeing his smirk before he was gone.

"I swear I'm okay." Louis kept telling them, even though he was shaking.

"It doesn't matter." Zayn grabbed the sides of his face, "You're gonna go home and rest. You're shaking and look at you, you're as pale as a sheet."

"I'll take him home." Harry finally spoke up.

Zayn nodded and let them go as soon as he had made sure Louis had his things with him. He felt Liam's hands on his shoulders, both of them sharing a worried look. It seemed like Louis was accident prone and that worried them. They couldn't do much to protect the young man.

The drive to Louis' house was short, and when they got there, Harry helped Louis inside. He had never been inside of it and couldn't help but look around. The place was old but it was kept organized and clean. He helped Louis to the couch even though the blue eyed boy kept insisting that he was fine, and that he needed to change. Harry had only grabbed an extra pair of jeans from the trunk and had showed them to Louis. When they were inside, Louis showed Harry the bathroom so he could change.

"Thank you for bringing me home." Louis told him as soon as Harry was out of the bathroom, then motioned for Harry to sit next to him..They were completely alone, that's why Harry accepted when Louis offered him to sit down next to him.

Harry nodded, suddenly focusing on the way Louis' thick eyelashes fanned against his pale cheekbones. The way Louis' cherry red lips moved and stretched into a smile as he talked. He furrowed his brow, remembering his kind talking about the creatures like Louis. Some were beautiful but rotten on the inside, but others were good on the inside. Louis was one of them, that Harry was sure of. He had three days left, then he would be able to go home.

"–but do you want something?" Louis asked.

"I'm sorry. What?"

"You weren't listening." Louis stifled a giggle. "I was asking you if you want something to drink. We have lemonade and water, it's not much." He blushed.

"Lemonade sounds great." Harry smiled, "I love lemonade."

"Great! I made it." Louis got up, "I'll be right back."

Louis quickly got up and made his way to the small kitchen, leaving Harry alone in the living room. Harry looked around with curious eyes, noticing a picture of a young Louis holding two babies. He got up and made his way to the side table to get a better look, then picked it up after looking around to make sure he was alone. He stared at it for too long, the act dulling his senses when he never heard the front door opening then closing.

"What are you doing here? Where's my son?"

Harry looked up to see Jay standing in front of him, her gaze flickering between him and the picture frame he was holding. He slowly put it down, getting ready to talk when Louis walked in with a glass full of lemonade in his hand. He smiled at his mother, and Harry couldn't help but sense Jay's whole demeanor changing, even for a fraction of a second as soon as she saw her son.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Louis asked her, and that's when Jay looked down and walked past them and upstairs. Louis flinched when he heard her bedroom door slamming shut.

"Sorry about that." Louis looked down, but soon looked up and offered the glass to Harry.

"Don't worry about it. I'm a stranger to her after all." Harry shrugged, drinking the lemonade soon after. It was too sweet to him, but his senses were heightened so he was sure it was perfect.

"It still wasn't nice of her to do that. I'll talk to her later." Louis said.

They both looked towards the door when they heard a loud knock. Louis went to open it, only to find a piece of paper taped to the door. He read it and Harry watched the way his eyes widened before he put it away and tried to act like he was okay. Like nothing was wrong. It was a good thing that Harry could feel someone's emotions. It was a gift, but sometimes it felt like a curse.

"Yeah, everything's okay." Louis swallowed thickly.

"It doesn't fee– look like that." Harry put the glass down on a coaster, then took a step closer to Louis extending his arm out. "Can I see?" He asked.

"It's just a notice from the city. We haven't mowed the front and backyard and they're going to fine us a lot of money that we don't have if its not done by tomorrow morning." Louis told him.

"Don't you have a lawn mower?" Harry asked.

"An old one, but it's been broken for weeks."

"I have one! I can go and get it." Harry blurted out, surprising Louis and himself at his eagerness.

Well, surprising Louis when no one had ever offered something like that. Louis nodded without really paying attention and soon Harry was out the door. Louis made his way upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes, passing by his mother's bedroom. He stopped on his tracks when he heard her crying, making his eyes sting because he knew something bad had happened. His mother only cried when she couldn't do it anymore.

"Mom?" Louis knocked on the door, hearing her dropping something. "Mom, are you okay?"

"Y– Yeah baby. Mom's okay." Jay's voice trembled. "Who was it at the door?" She asked.

Louis chewed on his bottom lip. He never lied, he didn't like to lie but this time he had to for his mother's sake.

"No one important, ma. Please open the door." Louis begged.

He sighed in relief when his mother opened the door, but her red eyes broke his heart. He opened his arms and she was quick to let him hold her.

"What happened?" Louis started rubbing her back.

"They fired me. I only had one sick day and they fired me." Jay started crying. "We won't be able to pay the bills. I– I can't have my children living in a house without any electricity or water. I can't let them starve."

"That won't happen, ma. I– I have a job now, and we'll be fine." Louis tried to make her feel better, but flinched when she pushed him away.

"Don't give me false hope, Louis." She wiped her tears away, an angry and tired look on her face. "God's forgotten about us, His children. We're all alone now...He's abandoned us, baby. I– I need to rest." she turned around to face the door, stopping when she heard Louis' words.

"The girls will be home soon." Louis tried to stop her.

"You're here, son. They don't need me, you're all they need." She kissed Louis' forehead, then walked back into her room, shutting and locking the door.

Louis held back his tears, held back the memories. He didn't want to be that same scared little boy. He didn't want to feel alone, he didn't want to feel helpless anymore. He didn't want four pairs of eyes looking at him again. He didn't want to hear four starving little girls asking when they were going to have dinner. The answer was always soon, but soon never came fast enough.

The hot tears rolled down his cheeks without his consent, leaving an itchy trail behind. He wiped it all away, took a deep breath and made his way to the bathroom. What he saw wasn't at all what he used to be, but that had been years ago. Now he was nothing but a broken boy with many dreams. Unbreakable and unreachable. A boy that had to grow up too fast. A boy that had to support his family all on his own when their mother had let the darkness consume her.

She always used to tell him he was her lighthouse. Whenever things got hard, Louis was always her light to guide her out of the darkness. Now he couldn't even do that, not when his light was slowly dying out. He took in the dark circles under his eyes, how pale he was. His lips were chapped and he was exhausted. Louis wanted to sleep and wake up to a world with no problems. To a world where his dad was still home and his mother was happy. To a world where he was happy.

The doorbell startled him and he wiped away his tears. He quickly washed his face then ran downstairs to open the door. Harry was standing in front of him now wearing an old pair of jeans and shoes. Louis looked behind him to see a lawn mower that looked brand new, like it had never been used before.

"Where do I start?" Harry asked.

"You don't have to." Louis blushed. "I don't want to bother you or anything."

"I would love to help. I'm sure there's a lot of things to do." Harry said, then stepped back to move the lawn mower to the grass. "We can start here!" He shouted.

Louis could only nod before he went back inside to change into old clothes. He heard the lawn mower starting in the backyard making him hurry up. When he walked out he knew they needed to pick up many things before, but to his surprise they were on one side of the backyard in a pile. All Louis could do was pick them up throw them away until they were done. They were just starting the front yard when Louis' sisters were just getting home and Jay was still locked up in her bedroom.

"What's going on?" Fizzy asked.

"Harry is helping us out." Louis told them, seeing Lottie and Fizzy's eyes widening when they saw Harry mowing the lawn.

"The Harry that always gives you a ride?" Lottie asked.

"The same." Louis said, then looked at Louis with a smile on his face.

"Lou, are we planting pretty flowers too?" Phoebe asked.

"Not this year, love." Louis gave her an apologetic look, hating to see her looking down at the ground.

"But why not?" Daisy asked. "Everybody has flowers and we don't." She looked around.

"We don't have money." Lottie snapped. "We barely have money to buy food and you want flowers! That would be a waste of money we don't even have."

"Shut up!" Fizzy pushed her. "Don't tell them we're poor!"

"Maybe it's time they know we have nothing!" Lottie spat, then made her way inside, slamming the front door shut.

Louis wanted to cry, and the fact that they hadn't even noticed the lawn mower turning off and that Harry had heard everything, made it worse. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole when Harry walked up to them.

"I heard someone likes flowers." He said, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"We do!" Phoebe stood in front of him, having to look up. She gave him a big smile, showing him her missing tooth.

"But we don't have money." Daisy told him, making Louis blush.

"I know a place where we can get them for a good price. If your mom and Louis don't mind, of course." Harry said, giving Louis a look full of hope.

"We can't." Louis said.

"Come on, it will be fun. And I know these little ladies will take good care of them." Harry tried to convince him.

"Come on, Lou." Fizzy spoke up.

Louis furrowed his brow when she sounded almost desperate and one look at her had him nodding. That's how they found themselves piling up in Harry's car, including Lottie when the twins had insisted that hey wanted her to go too.

It took them almost an hour to get there and when they did, Louis was left speechless when he had never seen that place before. There was a small cabin and behind it were fields full of flowers. Harry guided them to the back, grabbed a shopping cart with three shelves then let the girls go wild.

"I want to thank you." Louis walked next to Harry. "You didn't have to do this, but here you are. No one had ever been nice to us, we– the people around here tend to look at us like we're scum. But you're different and I'm thankful I met you." Louis blushed.

"My pleasure." Louis gave him the biggest smile and Louis' stomach fluttered.

He had never found a smile so beautiful, had never thought a dimple could be so beautiful. Louis loved Harry's smile.

"I like seeing them happy...they deserve a little bit of happiness. You do too." Harry told him. "And your mother does too."

"She'll get better soon." Louis looked down, stopping when Harry did.

He blushed harder when Harry gently grabbed his chin and made him look up. Louis was sure his face looked like a tomato when Harry looked like he was looking right into his soul. Louis' mother would always tell him people at one point got what they deserved. Louis wondered if he deserved good things. That's why he started leaning in, and he figured out they did when Harry let go of him and took a step back as if Louis had burned him.

He furrowed his brow when Harry looked like he was about to have a panic attack, like there was a war going on deep inside of him. He had on a wild look on his face, looking almost pained.

"Harry, can we get tulips?!" Lottie shouted, pulling Harry out of that trance.

"Come on, Louis. There's lots of flowers we need to choose." He forced a smile.

Louis followed, trying not to feel hurt. Harry led the way, fighting that new feeling. Louis was untouchable when it came to him. Harry was sent on a mission, not to be tempted. Harry knew he was stronger than that, at least he hoped he was.

A few feet away from there, hidden by the many rose bushes, Michael watched him with a blank expression. He was described as stoic and stubborn, and he knew what he wanted. He grabbed a rose, the thorns piercing his skin before he let it fall down on the ground. Perhaps his Father was right, perhaps it was time for Harry to go. Perhaps it was time to step in and finish what Harry has started. Patterns had already been messed with way too many times. But when would the right time be? Michael wondered as he walked away.

Thoughts? :)