How Long?

2009

“I just got home” Louise said over the phone.

“I will be there in an hour, then” Harry said on the other side.

“Harry! I. JUST.GOT.HOME from a 12 hour long flight. I am totally knackered. Can we please do this tomorrow morning” Louise said exasperated.

Harry groaned on the other end “Alright, I will be there at eight”

“That’s too early. I will ring ya once I am up”

“First thing in the morning” He said firmly.

“Oh god! Why are you acting all crazy?” Louise said getting totally irritated by his behavior.

“Because I haven’t seen you in months”

“But we talk almost every day!”

He could imagine her rolling her eyes “It’s not the same. Plus you know I am going to Africa for a couple of weeks while you will be vacationing with your family”

“You are not going for another week and I’ll be here when you come back so could you, for the love of god please stop harassing me”

Harry let out a long sigh “Alright tomorrow morning then. I will pick you up for breakfast”

After making plans with Harry Louise plopped on her bed. She was so fucking tiered. Every part of her body ached. All she needed at the moment was a good long sleep. She didn’t even have any strength to take a long hot shower which her body wanted so badly. She let out an annoyed sighed when her phone beeped again. She slammed the phone down seeing Harry’s text. He had gone totally mental.

Granted it had been months since they last met. She didn’t come home for the holidays last winter. Luke had plans of spending Christmas with Emma’s family and Mark was spending it in the Caribbean with his friends. Her father was had some sudden business to attend in Argentina which he refuse to discuss with Louise but all this made her decision to spend Christmas with Max in Chicago all that easy. Harry had been upset, god knows why because Christmas was the only time of the year that they had never spent together. He had always gone to Sandringham with his family for Christmas and he was not even in town for New Year’s as he and Chelsy went to Mauritius for a vacation. But still he had thrown a massive fit when he heard that she was not coming and was rather spending Christmas with Max. He had incessantly taunted her about abandoning her friends and family, which she had simply shrugged off.

The truth was things with Harry had been getting weird, not bad weird but still kind of weird. He was acting odd, again not bad odd but it was still different. They talked whenever they could. He made sure to talk to her at least thrice a week even with his military training and other commitments. Their relationship was once again as strong as it was when they were younger. They talked about everything, well almost everything. Harry hated talking about Max. He would get massively annoyed even if she mentioned Max in passé. And then there was Chelsy, who he never brought up on his own. Even when Louise asked about her, he would just mumble something and then quickly change the subject. Louise knew something was going on with them but she very conveniently choose to ignore it. She didn’t want to duel on it. She had gone down that path before and she had no plans of going that road ever again.

Louise was half asleep when she heard the door creak.

“Lou” She heard her dad say.

“Hmmm” She mumbled in response.

“Honey, if you are up can we have a little chat?” He said. Louise could sense hesitation in his voice but she was too drained to read anything into it at the moment.

“Daddy I am really sleepy can we please do it tomorrow” She said.

Simon let out a long breath which awfully sounded like relief.

“Ok sweetheart. You get some sleep, we will talk tomorrow” He said kissing the top of her head. He lingered a little long than usual.

“I love you Lou” He whispered.

“Love you too dad” Was the last thing she said before she fell asleep.

---

Louise rushed downstairs in the morning. She felt better after getting a good seven hour sleep. She was ready for breakfast with Harry and was just about to text him when she saw her aunt Lily in the living room with her father talking in hushed voices.

“Aunt Lily!” Louise said and hugged the little lady she adored so much.

Lily was her mother’s younger sister, who Louise looked up to ever since she was a child. She was a fantastic woman and the only kind of mother figure Louise and her siblings had ever known. Luke and Mark loved and admired Aunt Lily equally. Lily was a widow, her husband passed away some six odd years ago due to a heart attack. She never had any children and always treated the three Tomlinson siblings as her own.

Lily hugged her back but something was off. Aunt Lily who was always happy and cheerful seemed a little tense. Louise looked around and she observed that even her father was looking a bit serious.

“What’s going on?” Louise asked. “Are you alright dad? Is this about the doctor’s appointment you had last week?” Louise asked as every possible bad scenarios popped into her head.

“No, no it has nothing to do with that. Lou, we need to talk to you about something. It’s rather important” Simon said.

“O-kay” Louise said stretching out the O a little bit.

“I will make you lot some tea” Aunt Lily said

“No Lil, come here” Simon said patting the seat next to him on the couch. Once Lily was there he took her hand.

“What’s going on?” Louise asked darting her eyes from one to another.

Simon cleared his throat. “The thing is Louise, I…. well there is something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about but there just never seem to be the right time”

“Okay” Louise said with a sinking feeling that something bad is going to happen.

“After your mother passed away I have always kept myself busy with either you children or work. You see, Luke is pretty much taking care of the clubs with Mark’s help and when you went to America I just felt a little lost and honestly a lot lonely” Simon said. “We still had our family Sunday brunches but there were times when it was just me and Lily. Then Sunday brunches became a daily thing. Lily and I started spending more and more time together. We never meant for it to happen…”

“How long?” Louise asked as tears threatened to come out.

“Louise I know it will come as a shock to you because I never really dated after your mother…”

“How long dad?” Louise asked again.

“It’s been more than a year” Simon said not meeting her eyes.

“You’ve been lying to us for an entire year!” Louise said. She felt like someone has just punched her in the gut.

“We didn’t want to tell you before we knew things were serious between us” Simon said.

“And are they?” She asked a little too curtly.

“Yes, it’s quite serious. Lily moved in a few weeks ago” Simon said.

“What?” Louise asked as the dam finally broke.

“Sweetheart, we wanted to tell you before, trust me but then Mark said…”

“Hold on a second, Mark and Luke know?... Of course they know. I am the only fool here aren’t I?” Louise said putting her head in her hands.

“Sweetie..” Lily said putting her hand on Louise’s but Louise jerked it away.

“How could you? He is your sister’s husband. Don’t you have any respect for her or you don’t even care because you’re so desperate for a man” Louise said in a bitter tone.

“Louise!” Simon said. “Apologize”

“No!” Louise said. “I am not going to apologize and I am certainly not going to live here with her. Oh
god! Was she here last night dad?”

“I think I should leave while you lot talk” Lily said getting up.

“And while you’re at it please pack up your bags and leave our house too. I always treated to like my
mother that doesn’t mean you can ever take her place”

“Louise Tomlinson!” Simon bellowed. “Are you aware of what you are saying? What has gotten into you?”

“What has gotten into me? What has gotten into you, dad?” Louise cried. “She is mum’s sister” She said
as tears continued to fall from her eyes.

Simon sighed trying to calm himself down. He knew telling Louise was going to be the hardest. She had always been too protective of him. Even when she was younger she had never liked him going out on dates and always made sure he knew it. “I know it’s difficult for you to understand but honey if you give it sometime you will…”

“No, it’s simple dad. Either she goes or I go” Louise said.

---

William cursed under his breath as he put dishes in the dishwasher. There were many perks of living with Harry but this certainly was not one of them. Harry was a fucking slob, who rarely ever did any household chores.

They had temporary moved out from the Clearance House to an apartment in Kensington Palace as it was convenient for the both of them with their pilot training. They had made a conscious decision to try living on their own without much help from the staff which initially went well; with both brothers pitching in the work but after awhile it was William who ended up doing all the work. Now looking around the messy kitchen William made a decision to hire help as soon as possible. He could hear Harry singing to himself in the other room which annoyed William to no end.

William was in the middle on putting the dishes away when the door bell rang. Knowing very well Harry would not bother with such things William made his way to the door.

What he saw totally threw him off, on the other side stood Louise with puffy red eyes and a running nose. There were luggage bags at her feet. He stood there looking at her with total loss of word. He had never seen her like this before. She looked totally devastated.

“William, can I crash here for a few days?” Louise asked. Her voice came out raw from all the crying.

He stood there dumbfounded for a second trying to register her words. “Absolutely, come on in” He said once he understood what she just said.

“Thanks” She said dragging her bags in.

“I will take these” William said taking the luggage from her hands.

She didn’t say anything as they walked towards the living room. It looked like she was trying very hard not to cry.

“Is everything alright, Lou?” William asked once they got to the living room.

She couldn’t hold the tears anymore and a little tear slipped down her cheeks.

Harry was just about done getting ready when he heard voices coming from the living room. First he thought maybe the telly was on but when heard soft crying followed by a female voice which sounded like Louise he went out of his room to get a look. What he saw made his stomach turn. Louise was crying in William arms as he pathetically tried to console her.

William saw Harry standing at the door frame looking at him with utter confusion. He could see Harry was as clueless as him about Louise’s outburst. William pleaded Harry with his eyes to come and take over.

Harry could see panic and confusion in his brother’s eyes. He made his way towards them when Louise turned her face and saw him.

“Harry!” She said forgetting William for a moment and burying her face in Harry’s chest while the tears kept on falling. Harry wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head. He had absolutely no idea what was going on but he hated seeing tears in her eyes.

“What's wrong, Lou?” He asked.

“I left…didn’t…stop” She said in between hiccups.

Harry let her cry for sometime once she stopped sobbing he cupped her face and made her look at him. He ran his thumbs on her tear stained cheeks and wiping away the remainder of her tears.

“Stop, please” He said caressing her cheek.

Not breaking the eye contact she nodded.

“Here take some water” William said giving Louise a glass of water.

Louise took it and gulped down the water in one go.

“My head throbbing, can I lie in for a bit” Louise asked suddenly feeling incredibly shy for losing her shit in front of both Harry and William.

“Sure, I will show her the guest room” Harry said.

Louise made herself comfortable on the bed. She didn’t say anything to explain herself. She didn’t know where to start. Harry stood at the door looking at her with worry in his eyes.

“I am okay. I will just rest my eyes for a bit” She said.

“Alright, if you need anything we will be right here. Okay?”

“Okay”

When Louise woke up it was late afternoon already. She came out of the room to find Harry and William sitting in front of the wide screen television watching the movie ‘Iron Man’ with a bottle of beer cradling in their hands. Harry gave her a smile. She sat next to him resting her feet on the table in front of her. No one said anything. Louise didn’t want to discuss what had happened in the morning. Harry and William didn’t bring anything up because Simon had called looking for Louise not long after she went to bed.

“You want one?” Harry asked as he took a sip of his beer.

She shook her head.

The house phone rang and William picked it up. “Hello, yes she is right here” He said on the phone. He turned around and offered her the phone “It’s your dad” He said.

She shook her head again. “I don’t want to talk to him”

Putting a hand on the receiver William said “He is worried sick about you. He has already called for you a dozen times. Just tell him you’re okay. You don’t have to say anything else”

“No!”

“Louise…”

“Wills, drop it” Harry said sternly.

Sighing William left. Louise could still hear William talking in the other room. She felt incredibly stupid for bringing her problems here.

“Have you seen this one before” Harry said pointing at the screen. “I missed it last summer. It’s quite brilliant”

Louise didn’t say anything at first. She knew Harry was trying to change the subject but her mind was still playing the conversation she had with her father. “I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t want to go to Mark’s or Luke’…” She starting saying.

“Lou” Harry stopped her by placing a hand on her hand. “You don’t have to explain” He said squeezing her hand.

She nodded.

“Let’s just watch the movie” Harry said turning his attention back at the screen.

William left the apartment to attend some work while Louise and Harry spent the afternoon watching the movie and ate popcorn. Harry didn’t press her to talk nor did Louise felt like talking. She
desperately wanted to forget what had happened.

Louise was putting another movie into the DVD player when the door bell rang.

“Must be Wills” Harry said.

She heard Harry opened the door followed by muffled voices. A pair of footsteps followed Harry into the living room.

“I hope you don’t mind but I am in the mood to watch ‘Mamma Mia’” She said smiling imaging Harry’s reaction to her choice.

“I am glad you’re having such a wicked good time” Louise heart dropped when she heard Mark’s voice.

“Get your bags we are going home” Mark said bitterly.

“I am not going” Louise said.

“Don’t test my patience Louise. Do you even have any idea what kind of havoc you have caused at
home? Lily hasn’t stopped crying since morning and dad is going out of his mind. Get your bags”

“No! I am not going back there and I am definitely not coming with you. You people hid things from me and lied to me for over a year, Mark. I am not going anywhere with you”

“This was the exact reason we didn’t wanted to tell you. You are behaving like a fucking prat. Dad is happy and we all love Lily. What the fuck is your problem?”

“She is mum’s sister!”

“For fuck sakes they are adults, Lou. Just because you always get your way doesn’t mean dad was going to ask your permission to date someone”

“I know that…”

“This is the happiest he has been ages. Don’t you want him to happy? Or are ya that fucking selfish”

“Mum would have never been okay with this” She said folding her arms across her chest.

“Mum would have wanted dad to be happy. That’s all she ever wanted even when she was sick. And how the fuck do you know what mum what haven been okay with? You don’t even remember her”

Tears started pouring from Louise’s eyes now. She knew somewhere deep down that she might be overreacting about the whole situation but all of them hurt her too. They hid things and lied to her and now Mark was just being awful to her.

“Lou” Mark said softly. He took her in his arms even when she tried to push him away. “He is happy
Lou and its Aunt Lily. The same Lily you loved till yesterday”

“I won’t go and you can’t make me” She said.

Harry stood watching the sibling fight. He left the room when they stopped screaming at each other. There was time or two when he wanted Mark to shut up because he could see how his words were affecting Louise.

It was a little over an hour when Harry heard the front door close. He came out to see Louise sitting near the window looking out. Tears were still running down her cheeks and she just looked incredibly sad.

“It might not make sense to anyone but I can’t go there. If it’s too much trouble for you and William I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning” Louise said.

“Don’t be daft. You can stay here as long as you want” Harry said.

“You also want to tell me I am being a fucking prat?” Louise said still looking out the window.

“I don’t think I am in a position to say that with my past record” He said nudging her shoulder gently.

She looked up at him “But you’re thinking about it. Aren’t ya?”

“I am thinking about a lot of things at the moment. One of them being food, I am famished. Come on let’s see what we can find in the kitchen” He said.

“Hey Lou” Harry said wrapping his arms around her shoulder as they walked to the kitchen. Louise leaned into him “No more crying. Okay?” Harry said smoothing her hair.

----

Louise was holed up in the guest room for two days. Things were just getting from bad to worse. Like what happened with her family wasn’t enough to bring her down, she also got into a huge fight with Max where he called her immature and childish.

Their relationship had been rocky for months now. Even though they spent the Christmas together there was something missing. There time together was short and she didn’t want any fights or arguments between them but that didn’t stop it from happening. He had accused her of pulling away from him which had flared into an argument which later turned into a full blown fight. If truth be told she had been pulling away from him lately. Why? She wasn’t sure herself. Before she left they had patched up like always. Then things were okay for a few months and he called sometimes just to tell her he loved her. He had been saying it a lot more than usual, like he had something to prove to her.

The door creaked and the harsh light hit her face. Squinting her eyes she groaned burying her face in the pillow.

“Come on get up” Harry said yanking her covers off.

“Sod off” She said while struggling to get hold of the covers.

“Get your lazy ass out of bed. We have a game to catch” Harry said.

“Fuck off” She said as the struggle for the covers continued.

“If you don’t get out of the bed I swear to god I will throw you in the shower”

“You wouldn’t dare”

“Try me” He said with a cheeky grin.

Letting go of the sheets she sighed getting up from the bed.

“I hate you” She muttered as she made her way into the bathroom.

---

Zara had invited Harry ages ago to England versus France rugby match. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to get Louise out of her funk. It took him awhile but Harry had ultimately succeeded in bringing Louise to the game. It took some convincing and a lot of threats to drag her ass out of the house. He was obviously worried about her. She was never the one to wallow in self pity. On their way to the game she was quiet and didn’t say much. When they picked Tom she smiled and said nothing which was a first as both of them had a habit of running their mouths off. When they met Zara outside the stadium she was pleasant but anyone could see she was unenthusiastic about being there. The first half of the game she seemed totally out of it but now she was behaving like a maniac.

“Come on! Crush him!” Louise screamed as she bounced out of the seat.

“Calm down before someone kicks you out of the stadium” Harry said dragging her back to the seat for the fourth time.

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back into her seat. “Nobody has the balls to kick me out. I am sitting with fucking royalty plus she right there” She said pointing Zara “Is shagging Mike over there” She said pointing to the game.

Zara went red, Tom snorted and Harry chuckled.

“Relax and I’ll buy you a pint of beer” He said, absentmindedly caressing the small of her back while she thought it over.

“I don’t want beer” She said sullenly.

“Then what do you want?” He asked, fighting back the urge to kiss her cheek. She looked so damn
adorable.

“I want chips” She said.

“You sure you don’t beer” Harry asked as his eyes dropped to her pouty little lips. What the hell? He pulled his gaze away in time to catch Tom smirk.

“I have this” She said and stole his beer and took a sip. She returned it to with making a face. “That’s warm”

“Well, it did take me some time to drag you back to your seat before you could jump the wall” He pointed out.

“Whatever” She said and stood up.

He didn’t stop her though but he was ready to pounce and drag her back if needed. Judging by the looks of Bertie and Richard were giving they seemed ready as well.

“Where are you going?” He asked, wanting her to sit back down.

Louise rolled her eyes. “Just going to use the loo and I want to get a cold drink”

“Oh” He said, going to stand up the same time Zara did.

“I’ll join ya” Zara said.

“Where you going?” Louise asked Harry, raising her brow.

“I am coming with you”

“You see them” Louise said pointing to the cameras. “Don’t want that following me to the loo. Sit back
down we’ll be fine”

Harry reluctantly sat down and signaled Bertie who gave him a nod and followed Louise and Zara.

Harry and Tom watched Louise and Zara walked away. Tom gave Harry a smug look. They sat there silently for a few minutes before Harry spoke.

“Don’t say anything” Harry hissed to Tom.

“Only if she was single” He said with a sigh.

“Even if she was single she would have never gone for someone like you. You sleep around, don’t care
about any of the women you shag. She deserves a nice guy”

“Like Max?” Tom said and Harry’s jaw clenched. “Or you mean like you?”

Harry barely held back his temper. “No, not me. I am not interested in her like that. She is my mate”

“Yeah, okay. Keep telling yourself that, mate. Anyone with two working eyes can tell you’re all
over her”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. If something was to happen between us it would have happened a
long long time ago. We practically grew up together”

“Don’t I know that” Tom mumbled.

“Shut up!” Harry said a little louder than he intended.

“Woah! Are you girls going to fight?” Louise asked as she squeezed into the small aisle, juggling beer and a plate of chips.

“No, Tom was just being Tom” Harry said.

“I love Tom being Tom” Louise said giving Tom a goofy smile.

“Thank you, Lou” Tom said dramatically throwing her arms in the air which made her giggle.

She sat down next to Harry. Harry put his warm beer on the floor and took hers while she settled the plate of chips on her lap. He took a sip of the cold beer while she took a bite of one greasy chip. She closed her eyes and savored the treat.

“This is bloody brilliant” She nearly groaned in delight.

“Give me a bite” He said.

She nodded and absentmindedly held out a chip for him. He took a bite. While he chewed he could feel
Tom eyes on him. He chose to ignore it. For the rest of the game he held beer for her while she fed him
chips.

Harry wasn’t even sure she realized what they were doing. Her focus was totally on the game even though he knew very well she didn’t know anything about rugby and probably haven’t seen a single game live in her lifetime but she seemed to be enjoying it and that’s all that mattered to him. When England won she literally jumped out of her seat and danced around hugging Zara. Her smile was intoxicating when she looked up at him and yelled ‘we won’. He spun her around as she hugged his neck tightly. Damn straight, this right here left like home to him.