Forever, Ever

For Ana's safety and to make sure she was comfortable, the boys placed her side stage for the concert. Ana grinned from ear to ear during the entire thing. Harry would occasionally walk closer towards her and wink at her before jumping back into the music and singing to the crowd. Ana hadn't heard much of any of their songs, only an occasional one here and there on the radio, but she enjoyed them nonetheless.

At the end of their performance, she watched as all the boys huddled together and bowed before walking off the stage towards where she was standing. Harry immediately enveloped her in his long arms pulling her into a sweaty hug. He was buzzing from the rush of being on stage and performing and seeing Ana enjoying herself lifted him even more. He squeezed her tight as she wound her arms around his waist while she gushed about how great it all was. Soon Ana felt herself being pulled away from Harry and into the arms of the other four sweaty boys.

The group made their way backstage to return to the dressing room. The halls were much quieter than the arena and all of them heard the distinct faint ringing in their ears from the loudness of the music and fans. Harry held onto Ana's hand tightly the entire way back to the room, not wanting to let go of her on their last night together.

"We're going to get changed and chill out in the back here for a while until the crowd outside calms down, alright?" Harry told Ana as they walked into the dressing room.

She nodded and pulled away from him to set on the couch and let the boys get dressed. As she sat, Ana bounced her legs up and down and tapped her fingers on her thigh to the memory of the songs she had heard them play. She felt so alive and so happy, it was one of the best nights she'd had in a long time. When Harry was finished dressing he hopped over the back of the couch and landed right next to Ana, causing her to bounce off the couch slightly while she giggled.

"Is your hair in a pony tail?" Ana asked him, noticing how his hair was pulled back from his face.

"Is your hair in a pony tail?" he reiterated.

"Ahh yes, Harry, Queen of Comebacks. I dare say, you are magnificent," Louis' sarcastic words came from behind the pair on the couch.

"Oh, sod off," Harry retorted. "And yes, my hair is back in a pony tail because it's sweaty and gross," he said, turning back to Ana to answer her question. "Problem?" he teased her.

"Nope," Ana replied, popping the 'p', "just looked a bit silly is all," she grinned causing Harry to roll his eyes.

* * *

It was several hours before the crowd outside had died down enough for the boys to safely get out of the venue with Ana in tow. They all chatted away backstage and had a dinner of an odd assortment of food and enjoyed the first night of their tour. During the groups small festivities, Ana grew tired and moved to lay down with her head in Harry's lap, closing her eyes and listening to the hum of all their voices. All the excitement from today caught up with Ana, along with the comfortable couch and the body heat from Harry, and lulled her sleep.

Ana didn't realise she had fallen asleep until Harry was shaking her shoulder gently.

"Ana," he said quietly, "Ana, come on, we're going to go home now."

"I'm sleepy," she mumbled into his leg, barely awake.

"I know you are, love, that's why I'm going to take you home," he said, gently pulling her into a sitting position.

"Come on, up we go," he said, putting Ana's arm around his waist and pulling her tired form up off the couch.

They slowly made their way outside where the temperature had gotten considerably colder than it was during the day. The change made Ana shiver, trying to snuggle deeper into Harry's side as he led her to his car. Harry made quick work of lifting Ana up into the seat and buckling her in and carefully closing the door so he didn't hit her before he climbed in on the driver's side and started the engine.

Ana fell back asleep as he pulled out of the parking lot and made his way home. It was silent the entire ride except for quiet sighs from Ana every once in a while, but Harry didn't mind one bit. He just hummed to himself and enjoyed the peace. It wasn't long before Ana felt herself being shaken again but this time wasn't pulled to her feet, instead Harry lifted her into his arms and carried her up to her flat. The sudden thought that this was their last night together for over a month hit Ana and she desperately tried to wake herself up more.

Harry carried Ana to her bed and laid her down before moving to take off her shoes and socks.

"Do you want your pants off?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded a 'yes' and he moved to unbutton her jeans, carefully removing them from her long legs. Once they were off he quickly pulled the covers up over her body so she wouldn't be cold. He made his way to the other side of the bed and slid off his pants, leaving him in his t-shirt and boxer shorts, and climbed into bed next to Ana. She rolled over and faced him, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Go to sleep, love," he whispered.

"Noooo, I want to stay awake, you're leaving in the morning," she mumbled.

"Yes, I am, but you're exhausted, it's alright. Go to sleep."

"Fine, wake me up in the morning before you leave, ok?"

"I will. Now go to bed."

Ana groaned, not saying anything else and snuggled deeper into the blankets. Harry let out a quiet laugh as he watched her and pulled the covers up over himself and closing his eyes, letting Ana's quiet breathing lull him to sleep.

* * *

Harry did not wake Ana up when he left. He had a long internal battle with himself about whether or not to wake the sleeping girl next to him before he finally decided that it would be better for him to slip out quietly. He knew it probably wasn't the best thing to do, and he felt guilty about it the whole ride to the hotel where the rest of the boys had stayed, but it was what he decided. And he was long gone before she woke up to find out he was gone.

And when Ana did wake, she wasn't surprised to find that Harry had not woken her when he left. She was a bit sad that he hadn't, but she knew that if he had woken her, she would have broke down and cried. It baffled her how close she had gotten to him in such a short amount of time. Being with James, she was never really allowed to go out with friends, or even to really have friends. Ana wasn't even sure how to go about being friends anymore, but somehow Harry didn't mind that.

Harry didn't mind that sometimes Ana didn't know what to say, or how to say something; he didn't mind that she stumbled over her words and sometimes talked too quietly for him to hear. Harry didn't mind that the smallest things scared her or how shy she was around everyone she met. And it honestly baffled Ana how Harry didn't mind being around someone who could barely act human most days. But she was never more glad of it in her entire life.

James had taken everything from Ana, he had broken her into a million tiny pieces. He had torn her apart so deeply that Ana thought she might never recover. Then along comes Harry, who is slowly but surely picking up every little piece of Ana and putting it back together again.