A/N: I've been listening to Infinity for two days straight so this chapter is manic and like 90% dialogue.

Anyway, I'm amazed I got it done. This week has been crazy.

Enjoy! 

HARRY / PRESENT

Niall's flight was delayed and we were holed up at Liam's flat like a bunch of celebrity refugees. Now that our location was blown online there was a crowd of photogs and fans camped outside.

"They'll leave eventually," said Sophia, wiping some pasta sauce off Cordelia's face. "I saw a couple of them take off earlier."

"They were just on a food run," said Zayn. "See, they're back, and they brought sleeping bags!"

Liam and Sophia's place was almost the exact opposite of ours: A shrine to modern industrial design. There was nary a book or crayon out of place. The platinum records that lined the walls were echoed in the metallic furniture and sculptures. This was Liam all over. I suspected Sophia would have a more relaxed eclectic style but he just couldn't help himself.

The pièce de résistance was the new bar he installed in the living room. Liam fancied himself a mixologist and loved to test out his concoctions on unsuspecting guests. We were all nursing some toxic brew of Jägermeister and apple juice.

Darby was tracking Niall's flight on her phone. There had been a delay on the tarmac at LAX and still an hour to landing. Unhelpfully, Niall had been tweeting coyly about meeting up with "old friends" on the East Coast. So it was no secret that he was coming here.

"He's going to have a hell of a time at JFK," she said, scrutinizing Niall's feed. Bedelia was sitting on her lap, winding her tiny hands around Darby's silvery blonde tresses. "Should one of us go out there and meet him?"

"Well, the lads can't go," said Zayn peeking out the window. "We'll only make it worse."

"I was actually planning on going myself," said Darby.

"I dunno if that's a good idea, love." I took her slender hand in mine. "The crowds can get kind of intense. "We'll call a car service."

She scoffed. "I'm not going to let your friend, and a member of my wedding party, fend for himself out there."

"That's admirable," said Liam from behind the bar. "But they're right. Now's not the time for chivalry."

"Yeah, Darb. Don't be a hero. And where was your concern when I wen' out for burritos?" Zayn sniffed.

Carefully, Darby placed Bedelia in my arms. She jumped up off the floor and tied her hair in a topknot. "I'm doing it."

"Honey—"

Liam shook his head. "No."

"Girl, check yo self," said Zayn.

She suckerpunched him in the gut.

"Right." Zayn waved, doubled over. "Good luck, Darb. Remember to take off your valuables. Them crowds can get handsy."

"I've been with this one for over a year," she said, tousling my curls. "I can handle myself. Trust."

We watched her from the window. "Ugh, I can't look," Liam said peeking from between his fingers. A group of girls pounced on her the second she hit the pavement. Darby wasn't universally worshiped and adored the way Sophia was. Fans regarded her as a peer, which meant some of liked her but a whole lot of them really hated her. Miraculously, most of this crowd was made up of the former. Darby said something that made the girls cheer and high-five her, they then obediently parted to let her through.

"She's quite a woman," said Zayn.

"You don't know that half of it." Darby wasn't only the strongest woman he knew, she was the strongest person he knew, full stop.

It was hard to imagine a fandom more hardcore than ours, but Darby interviewed every kind of musical act from K-pop to death metal, and had to muscle her way through more groupies than most bodyguards. Directioners were tough but I knew if anyone could handle them, she could.

Darby was used to fighting for what she wanted. Her dad lost his job during the recession in 2008. Darby had worked since she was thirteen, first by helping her mom clean houses and later as a hotel maid, eventually moving up to concierge to pay her way through college. Friends told her she could never get a job at magazine without having the means to do at least three unpaid internships—so she interned during the day, worked nights and slept during her lunch hour.

Being plucked from a garage band in the suburbs when I was sixteen and thrust into superstardom didn't seem so tough compared to what she had to go through.

"What are you thinkin' about, baby bro?" Zayn nudged my knee.

"He's daydreaming about his bride," Sophia winked.

"I'm just happy," I said.

Liam smiled. "You deserve it."

Bedelia began to fuss in my lap. "Hey, hey, little lady, don't cry. You want your mum? Oh, okay." Sophia picked the girl up and carried her into the next room to put her down for bed.

Zayn stretched out on the carpet. "Ah, the terrible two's. The only time a lass will actually tell you what she's thinking, innit."

"Ugh, Zayn," I shook my head.

"Yeah," Liam added. "I'd like to shield them from your sexist dogma until they're at least three."

"Did you twats forget who we used to be," he pointed to the girls outside.

"We were never about objectifying women," I said.

"Well, we all know you weren't," Liam corrected.

"I hated that people thought that about me."

"Are you runnin' for office or summat, Hazza?" said Zayn. "Relax."

"He's running to be Darby's dick in chief." They laughed.

"Speaking of which," said Zayn, sidling into my chair with feline grace, "tell us about your sex life?"

Liam motioned with his hand for Zayn to cut it out.

"What? Darby's fit. I want details."

I picked at the threads of my ripped skinnies. "It's nice."

Zayn blinked.

I crossed my legs. It was impossible to sit still in Liam's deathtrap of a chair. This wasn't furniture it was a safety hazard. "I don't feel comfortable getting into the specifics. It's private."

"Private? As I recall we all used to be quite comfortable having sex in front of each other."

Liam poured himself another, much larger drink. "I'm not drunk enough for this trip down memory lane, mates."

I vaguely remembered the other lads snickering outside mine and Louis' bunk when we were together on the bus, or hotel room or backstage... but we were so wrapped up in each other that we hardly noticed or cared that they might be listening or even watching.

I pointed at Liam accusingly, "I remember you bringing not one but two crazed fans back to the bus."

"They weren't crazy, they were just excited... and grateful."

"And I'm the misogynist!" Zayn exclaimed.

"You both disgust me."

"Oi," barked Liam, "that happened once, in Brussels. A lot of crazy things can happen in... Brussels. Harry, are we really going to sit here and pretend that me and Zayn were the ones doing the most fucking on tour?"

"I wasn't that bad."

"Technically, Louis was the one doing the fucking," Zayn quipped.

"Shut up! I'm versatile!"

They were laughing so hard now they were crying. Actual tears.

I knew this would happen. Every time Zayn and Liam got together they ganged up on me. Arseholes, both of 'em. They just couldn't resist havin' a go.

"Remember that charity football match we got to play in Madrid for Unicef? Harry—uh—couldn't run that day."

"Or walk."

"Guys, please."

Zayn circled an arm around my waist and stroked my cheek. "Ol' Lou couldn't leave you alone. Too pretty."

I flushed but couldn't quite tell if I was getting embarrassed or excited.

Liam came out from around the bar and sat across from us his hands steepled beneath his chin. "Like, literally all Harry had to do was walk by Lou and the next thing I knew they were shagging."

"And they didn't stop neither," Zayn added. "I caught them in MY ROOM and Lou told me to take a seat, he wasn't done! Can you believe the cheek of those two!?"

I put my face in my hands and groaned, mortified by my younger self.

"At least they were in a room. I told them to get a room when they were wanking each other off on the beach and do you know what they did? They put a towel over themselves. A towel is not a room, Harry!"

Zayn suddenly got a text. "It's Lou. Imma tell him I'm with you lot talkin' about shaggin'."

"Don't!" I pleaded.

"Too late."

Zayn's phone buzzed quickly with Louis' response. My stomach flipped. The last thing I wanted was for Louis to think I was talking about him or even thinking about him.

Zayn looked at his phone and his expression clouded.

"What, what did he say?" I asked as casually as I could.

"Nothing." Zayn put his phone away.

I just knew that Lou had made some snide, spiteful remark.

"Oh, get on with it Zayn. I know he said something rude. You don't have to spare my feelings."

Zayn's grip on me tightened, his arm still snuggly around my waist. "It's nothing. He's probably pissed, or knackered. It's the middle of the night in London."

He was always making excuses for Louis, even when Louis did the inexcusable. I was sick of it.

"Fine, don't tell me. Protect your best friend."

"Don't be like that, Hazza."

I turned away, ignoring him. I would not look into Zayn's pretty, brown Princess Jasmine eyes and forgive him. Not this time.

Zayn sighed. "He said he misses you."

Just then Darby lumbered through the door with Niall, his giant green suitcase and about a dozen other bags dragging behind them. I immediately sat up straight and with an air of guilt, smoothed my button-down.

"Hiya!" Niall had been living in California for ages but he was still as pale and Irish as ever. We piled on top of him till his spindly legs gave way and he fell to the floor.

Liam mussed his carefully coiffed blonde mane. "Ow, prickly. What are they doin' to you over in LA?"

"What are they doin' to you in Brooklyn?" He yanked Liam's beard. "You look like a fucking lumberjack."

They survived the airport but not without a few battle wounds and war stories. Niall was constantly underestimating his own fame. I thought LA would have changed that but he was still the same round-faced boy from Mullingar who thought he could go to his local without any trouble.

Liam stretched out his arm to help him up off the ground then dropped him and laughed. As Zayn poured Niall Liam's signature cocktail, I lifted him up and gave him a proper hug. "Thanks for being here, mate."

"Thanks for sending the muscle." He pointed to Darby. "It got real out there. I like a bride who's not afraid to get her knuckles bloody."

He took a gulp of the cocktail and made face. He turned to Liam, "Did you piss in this?"

Liam threw his hands in the air like a misunderstood artist.

"I'm sorry about Kasey," I said to Niall, taking his things and fussing over him.

Niall shrugged off his backpack. "Don't be. I'm already seeing someone else."

"That was right quick," said Liam. "Who is she?"

Niall could hardly contain his smugness. "Oh, you might have heard of her... Just a little known actress by the name of KATE BECKINSALE."

Niall's longstanding crush on Kate Beckinsale was a running gag within the band. His declarations of love sounded ridiculous when he was sixteen and they still did.

Zayn wasn't buying it. "Bollocks."

He immediately pulled out his phone and began showing me pictures.

I examined them closely. "You took her to Pinkberry?"

"You really know how to treat a lady," said Darby, falling on a twisted metal chair.

I vaguely remembered meeting Kate Beckinsale at one of our shows a while back. "Isn't her daughter a fan?"

"She is indeed. You know I've always had a way with mums... Speaking of which."

Niall scanned the room. Sophia came out her daughters' bedroom and Niall gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"The girls are in bed," she said.

"Little angels are they. Take after their mum."

"That mum is off limits, Nialler!" yelled Liam.

But that wasn't the only person Niall was looking for.

"So, when does Lou get here?"

The mood in the room dampened. I regretted not telling everyone in advance that Louis wasn't coming. I could have avoided each one of these awkward conversations.

"He's not coming," said Darby. I could hear a tinge of annoyance in her voice. They were here for our wedding after all not a band reunion.

Liam shrugged, "We could facetime him during the ceremony."

The lads looked at each other gloomily. The irony was Louis was the only one who could get us out of a funk—now that he was the cause of our sadness we were like a ship without a compass.

***

Darby, Zayn and I made it back to our flat just after four in the morning. Zayn hardly got through the door before passing out on the couch. I took off his shoes and Darby covered him with a blanket. Arthur nobly stepped up to watch over him.

It was nearly dawn but I wasn't tired. I watched Darby change out of her clothes and into one of my old t-shirts. During the summer she did most of her writing outside in the sun. She stretched her long golden limbs over the covers, her woven anklet shifting, exposing a thin, creamy tan line.

She was lovely and kind and smart. So what if we didn't have passionate, crazy-making sex every minute of the day the way Louis and I did. Passion was overrated. Passion was dangerous. It could be the most powerful vehicle for love, and just as easily a vehicle for hate. It made people do terrible things to one another. I would never recover from what Louis did to me.

I moved to the corner of the room and picked up my guitar.

"Are you going to serenade me?"

"What would you like?" I smirked. "A little 1D? How about 'Loved You First,' or 'Kiss You'."

"Play me one of your songs."

"I'm still fixing them. They're not quite working yet."

She propped her head up on her hand. "I've heard them, they're good."

I began to play one song as Darby tapped her foot.

"You haven't written the lyrics?"

"No," I said. That wasn't entirely true. I had written some lyrics about Louis but they were too painful to sing aloud.

"You know, there's a lot you could write about..."

"Really? I can't quite figure out what to say."

Her gentle smile disappeared and she swallowed back a tear. "Maybe the boys can help you." Darby turned to sleep without so much as a goodnight.

"What? What did I say?"

She wouldn't let me see her face but I could hear her voice cracking. "We're about to get married in two weeks. Think about it."

Darby was so strong it sometimes seemed impossible to hurt her—I took that strength for granted and forgot that there was a heart under there.

"Of course the song is about you," I lied.

A/N: I really hope you liked this chapter! I tried my best to make it funny.

Let me know what you think about Niall's arrival and Liam's horrible bartending skills.

Do you like the "present" chapters better than the "past" ones? 

Vote! Comment! Infinityyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy