I woke up to sunlight streaming in through the window next to the bed. I had slept so heavily that for a moment I had no memory of where I was. I started to turn my head but felt an intense pain in my jaw, and the entire previous evening came flooding back.

I slowly moved my head. All the interconnecting doors were open, and I could see all the way to Ronan's room, where his white blond hair was visible on his pillow. In the next room, Matty lay curled up on his bed. The next room, which was Teddy's, was empty. This was explained when I heard a sigh next to me, startling me. Teddy was sleeping, curled on the very edge of Gethin's bed. He couldn't have been comfortable. He looked touchingly young, and so defenseless, his hand curled next to his head. I slowly turned my head the other way, and saw Gethin sleeping in my room.

I heard another noise, turned, and saw Teddy sitting up, rubbing his eyes. By the light of day his eye looked terrible. Matty had one hell of a left hook. There was a deep cut under his eye I hadn't noticed the night before that looked pretty painful, too.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked softly, sitting up, smoothing the hair off my forehead and kissing it, an intimate gesture, looking closely at my face. "Do you need anything? Water? You need to go to the toilet ? I can help you..."

I nodded. He came around to my side of the bed as I sat up. I tried to stand, but I was a bit wobbly, so he just picked me up, deposited me in front of the toilet, and left, shutting the door behind him. When he heard the flush, he knocked and came in. He made as if to pick me up again, but I waved him off, and he just put his arm around me and helped me back into bed.

As he was pulling the blanket over me Gethin entered the room, shirtless, red hair sticking up every which way, looking every bit the gorgeous rock star. "What are you doing here?" he asked Teddy, tone carefully neutral.

"Just helping her to the toilet ," Teddy responded, keeping his tone as neutral as Gethin's.

Their voices must have woken the other two, because Ronan and Matty rolled out of bed and appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, again, shirtless and crazy haired. I couldn't believe there was no poster out there of these four in this state. It was way sexier than any posed photo could ever be.

Matty and Ronan saw Teddy at the foot of the bed and glowered. Apparently no one knew Teddy had spent the night in the same bed as me. Ronan immediately put an arm around Matty's shoulder in what looked like a friendly gesture, but anyone could see his fingers digging into Matty's flesh.

"Steady on, Matthew," Ronan soothed.

To Teddy Ronan said, "Maybe you should go back to your room for a bit, mate, just until things get a little more settled."

Teddy looked at Gethin, wordlessly asking his opinion. "I think we should get Tink sorted out first," Gethin said. He looked at Teddy. "You want to be here for that? You think you can handle it?" Teddy looked at the ground and nodded. Matty looked like he was going to object, but Ronan dug his fingers into his shoulder, and Matty held his tongue.

Gethin looked at me, at my nose and cheek. "Tink, do you remember what happened last night?" I nodded. "Do you think you can talk, love?" he asked gently.

"I think so." I winced, but I could. There was pain in the left side of my jaw when I spoke. I reached up to touch my face, but Gethin intercepted my hand and put it back in my lap.

"No, don't do that, little one, not yet."

"I fell, right?" I asked. "Teddy came in, he was drunk, he said—he said some things, you got mad at him—" I looked up at Gethin, "Matty hit him, then I ran over to them and tripped and hit my head on the edge of the table."

"What?" Matty exploded. "Tinker Bell, Theo hit you! He was aiming for me, I mean, I assume he was aiming for me—" this with another glare at Teddy, "but he took a swing as he was going down and he hit you in the face, bloodied your fucking nose!"

"Dammit, Matthew, of course I was aiming for you!" Teddy shouted. "Why would I want to hit her? You'd just clocked me in the face! She just got in between us at the wrong moment, and I was going down at the time, that's why I swung so low! Don't you think I'd cut my own arm off before I'd hit her?"

"Actually, I think he hit me in the jaw," I said, again reaching for my face. "Could you take a look?" Geth leaned in, turning my head gently so he could see.

"Jesus Christ, she has a cut, just under her ear, along her jawline, a pretty deep one, too," he said, horrified. "Guess we didn't notice it with all the blood from her nose, but this looks awful." He turned and looked at Teddy, and his silence was worse than any words he could have spoken.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Ronan tearfully to Teddy. "Why aren't you more careful? It's always you, you twat!" And he gestured toward me in the bed. "Now look at her, lyin' there in pain, pretty little face all bruised because you got pissed..." He swiped his eyes on his sleeve.

"Ronan," I said quietly. "It was an accident, we all know that. Now please stop crying, it really upsets me, it's like the sun going out." And I smiled, as much as I could, anyway. He smiled back, nodding.

Teddy turned to Geth, obviously trying to ignore Ronan's words. "We need to get Paul in here to look at that cut on her jaw. She could need stitches. It might leave a mark. We should call him straight away—"

"You fucking, stupid, self-absorbed, spoiled, little prick!" Matthew hissed, throwing Ronan's arm off his shoulder and advancing on Teddy with his fists clenched at his sides. "'Get Paul in here'? We can't! If Paul comes, he has to file a report, and an insurance claim. He's the official doctor for the tour. What happened will be a matter of public record, and everyone will know we got in a fight because of what you said about her!" Matty gestured toward me. "What do you think will happen to Tink? She'll lose her job! Not to mention the whole fucking world knowing her private business! All because you couldn't see past the end of your own dick. You're pathetic," he spat. "She needs this job to pay to live in New York next year when she gets that scholarship. She's not rolling in money like the rest of us. Which you'd know if you stopped for one bloody second to think about anyone but your own fucking self."

He stopped, breathing deeply, his face inches from Teddy's. He visibly forced himself to calm down. He quieted his breathing, relaxed his shoulders, and continued. "You know they'd look for someone to blame. I mean, who are we? We're the boys who never fight, right? And now what? One week after they throw a girl into our midst, we're fighting over her. Who do you think they're going to blame? You, the one whose fault it actually is? Or her, the blameless one, the one who's done nothing wrong? She'll be on the next plane back to America, mate. Well done. So yeah, let's call Paul."

Teddy looked stricken. "I can pay for her to live in New York," he said. He looked at me. "Birdie, I can pay for you to live in New York, honest."

"I know that. That's not even something we need to be talking about right now." I winced again at the pain in my jaw. "What needs to be discussed right now is damage control. You guys have public appearances tomorrow and a show the next day, and we need to figure out how to explain your face, and, to a lesser degree, my face. That's what we have to do right now."

"As it happens, I kind of agree with Tink," Gethin said, sitting on the bed next to me. "Looking closely at this cut, it looks very deep, but it looks very neat and clean, almost surgical. You must have done it with that ring you wear. I think it can be pulled shut with some medical tape, which I happen to have."

"Oh, and you're a doctor all of a sudden?" Matty asked sarcastically. "I don't want to risk anything happening to her, Geth," he continued in a more reasonable tone. "Look, what if we were to take her to a hospital around here, pay cash? She speaks the language, no one associated with the tour need know..."

"Which one of us would go with her?" Gethin asked. "It's a reasonable question. "None of us exactly blends in, you know. We can't send her on her own, she can barely stand.

"Now just hear me out, okay? I have antibiotics, all kinds. You know me, I'm always hurting myself with all the crazy stuff I do. And I have medical tape. Half the time I just tape myself up when I'm hurt, I don't even bother with the doctor. So let's do it, and if it doesn't look good in a couple of days, we'll think of something and call Paul."

"What about Theo, then?" asked Ronan.

"We can just say Theo ran into a door last night when he came back to his room pissed or something," Gethin said, giving Teddy a look.

I realized that, all reasonable, problem solving talk aside, the other three boys were still furious with Teddy over what he'd said about me last night, and he wasn't going to be forgiven easily.

"Ultimately it's up to you, poppet," said Gethin, stroking my hair. "What would you like to do? We'll do whatever you say." He pulled me close, and I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking. If this got out of this room, the fallout would be terrible for everyone involved, especially for the boys. For their fans to find out they'd gotten into a fight would be an explosion heard all over the world. They were brothers. They loved each other. For Matty's fans to find out he'd hit someone, anyone, would be bad enough, but to find out that it was Teddy would break their hearts. Matthew was known as "the dreamy one", or sometimes "the gentle Scot". And to find out that it was over a girl would cause social media to melt down into a puddle comprised of tears and acidic hatred for said girl, who would be me.

"Please tape me up, Geth," I whispered to him. "And maybe some more pain pills? I've got a hell of a headache." I smiled. He kissed my temple and rose to get everything.

When he returned with the supplies, I accepted the pills, but didn't take them. The boys could see the pain etched in my face, and Ronan said, "Take the pills, Tink, it's hurting me just to look at your wee face."

I shook my head. "Not until I've said what I need to say. So you need to listen. The sooner I get this out, without interruption from you guys, the sooner I take these, so keep quiet, please?" They nodded. "Now, Ronan, this doesn't apply to you, because all you did was try to stop the fighting, but the rest of you, I really need you to listen to me.

"I love you all so much, and I know that you, Matty, and you, Geth, were only motivated by wanting to protect me. But the fact is, for whatever reason, because of me, you three almost hurt each other very badly last night. I can't have that happen, ever again. I'm not a thing to be fought over. I'm not luggage, or a bicycle. I can defend myself from words, I can. If some gigantic person comes in and attacks me, please, please help me, but otherwise, don't ever, ever, try to hurt each other over me. It would break my heart, which I believe is the thing you're trying to protect. Do you understand?" I looked between the two of them. They looked at me somberly, and nodded.

"Obviously Teddy and I have some things we have to discuss. And we will. Privately, if you don't mind. That's what upset me the most about what he did last night, the fact that he came in and threw it out there in front of all of you." I looked at him, but he wouldn't look back at me, he just kept looking at the floor.

"Now come and give me a kiss, all of you." They all stared at me. This was definitely out of character, but Geth, Ro, and Matty obediently came over, hugged and kissed me, and threw in a, "Love you, Tink," for good measure. Teddy wouldn't come, shook his head and looked at the ground. I finally took my pain pills.

Within minutes, I was floating away on my raft of good feelings. I didn't even feel Gethin finish taping up my jaw, and I didn't remember him showing me the finished results in his little shaving mirror.