Soft Spot

18

Louis's POV:

"Baby, you need to get some sleep. I'm not going anywhere." Harry says gently,

It's just us now in the room. Edward had headed out a few hours ago so he could get some rest at home, and he had promised he would be back in the morning.

Liam was working a night shift in a different wing of the hospital because he doesn't typically work in the ICU but was just here on a special exception for me.

But Harry refused to leave, even after some nurse tried to force him out, saying it was against the policy for him to stay after visiting hours.

But now it's nearly two AM and the idea of going to sleep and losing control of my body is terrifying me.

"I can't Harry. I'm scared." I break honestly, not even attempting to lie any longer.

He has been begging me to get some rest for nearly an hour now. He says he's worried about my body not having the energy to heal if I don't.

"Why are you scared blue eyes? You are safe here. I'm not going anywhere, I'm going to take care of you. And so is Liam. You are safe." He says, still not having let go of my hand in hours.

Liam has me drugged up on painkillers so luckily I'm not in pain but I just want to get out of here.

"I don't want something to happen. Every time I fell asleep when I was t-there, I would wake up in more pain." I say, shuttering away at my own words.

He looks at me with a sense of deep sadness and part of me regrets telling him at all, I didn't want to make him sad.

"I'm sorry darling, I really am. But I want you to know you are safe now, I know that just sounds like a load of shit, or me trying to make you feel better but it's not. I swear on my life that I will never ever let anything or anyone do a thing to you. I know I told you that before but I mean it, Louis. And I'm sorry I let you down before, I know I should have protected you better but I am not going to make the same mistake twice. That I can assure you." Harry says, sounding more than serious, his green orbs staring into mine.

With that, I try to pull him closer to me, wanting to just curl up into his arms but being barely able to move isn't allowing me.

"What are you doing sweetheart?" He asks confused as I continue to tug at his hand.

"I want you to hold me," I say and it just comes out like a pathetic whimper.

He looks at me with a deep look of endearment and empathy before responding.

"You don't know how much I want that too, but I can't, I can't hurt you worse." He shakes his head sadly as he rubs his large thumb against the back of my hand.

"You won't I promise. Please." I say, subconsciously pouting a bit.

"Louis you are in a fragile state. I know Liam hasn't told you about all the injuries yet but it's not safe for you to move your body as much as you would need to for me to hold you." Harry says softly.

Before I told Liam I didn't even want to know what was wrong with me but now I want to know, I feel like I need to know what is holding me back from being in Harry's arms.

"Tell me then. Please." I beg.

He nips his lip a bit as he thinks.

"Just remember that all of what happened is temporary. And you are already doing so well in your recovery so do not let this set you back." He says then waits for me to nod before continuing.

"You have a little infection on your leg that spread just a bit so that needs to be handled, and you had 7 ribs broken, some internal bleeding, a concussion, and a torn ACL. You got surgery on your knee while you were asleep, which went well. The surgeon was able to fix the tearing." He starts to inform me.