Luke's PoV

With a lacklustre amount of sleep and a constant fear living in our guts, none of us were really very happy - or functional for that matter - as we met for breakfast and lots of coffee. As per usual, Poppy and Calum were late, never managing to keep their hands off each other enough to make it anywhere on time. We didn't hate them for it, but we wished they'd just try to be more punctual. The rest of us managed.
Half an hour passed before the two of them sidled up to our table with grins on their faces, as if nothing bad had even happened. We all stared up at them bewildered as Poppy walked up to the table with some paperwork in her hands.

"Good morning everyone." Poppy smiled, receiving a few half smiles in return. I watched her deflate as she took in the table and the miserable mood that suffocated us all.

"Is it?" Crystal snapped, her hands stroking her bump. She had really taken to pregnancy well and looked great, her skin glowing and her body still slim other than the bump. She was lucky. The rest of us snapped our heads over to crystal, surprised at her outburst. "What? We're all just gonna pretend that we didn't nearly die and that your security guard isn't in hospital after emergency surgery?" Michael smiled an awkward apology at Calum and Poppy, who then just quietly sat down, Poppy tucking the papers in her lap discreetly.

"You should still tell them." Calum whispered to the downtrodden Poppy but she merely shook her head, grabbing a slice of toast and biting into it. Within a second, the toast was back on the plate and Poppy shook her head, looking over to Calum once again.

"I'm not feeling hungry." She said, sighing inwardly as she picked the stuff up from her lap and excused herself from the table. For a moment, it was all silent.

"Yeah, nice one Crystal. Just shit all over everyone's mood." Bex tutted, shaking her head. Crystal's mouth fell open in shock at Bex's outburst.

"Excuse me?" She snapped back harshly.

"What? You couldn't see that her and Calum were actually happy? Hell they're the only happy ones around this table!" She barked back, giving a disgusted look in crystals direction.

"Was she holding the test results?" I piped up, hoping to end the argument and start on what the couple were possibly going to tell us. Calum shrugged disinterestedly.

"Doesn't matter now, does it? Poppy's not here and you're all miserable." He said sullenly. Michael was quick to jump in.

"Hey, that's not fair. We were literally held at gunpoint. It'd be weird to be happy straight afterwards." It was clear he wanted to stick up for Crystal but also not offend Calum. Sometimes it was hard to know what side to go to in these fights between my brothers and their girlfriends but I always just looked at the whole picture and took the side that seemed to be more inclusive of how I felt.

"And we weren't?" Calum argued. "Remember Naomi was my fucking ex. And they pointed a gun at my-" he cut off his sentence before he said anything. We all exchanged glances. What was he going to say?

"Look guys, this doesn't need to be an argument. Alright? Yes, we were all held at gun point and we're all sensitive, not sleeping properly, jumpy and nervous. Hell, some may even be having nightmares. But if these two had some half decent news to give us and cheer us up, why should we dampen it?" Once again, and as always, Ashton was there with his words of wisdom trying to piece it all back together again. He was always the middle man who was trying to fix the issue, never taking a side unless desperately necessary. We all took a moment to calm down, Sierra offering me a small smile as she rolled her eyes, letting me know she hated the fighting too.

"Thanks Ash. I appreciate it, but there's no point. Without Poppy here, there's no news." Calum shrugged as he finished his mouthful of coffee.

"Oh come on Cal, is it about her cancer? Did the scan go well?" Sierra presses, lacing her fingers together as she lay her hands on the table. Calum shook his head.

"Sorry Si." He apologised for not wanting to answer. He shrugged his shoulders. Crystal tutted once more. Clearly, she wasn't having a good day today.

"Fine. He doesn't want to say, so let's stop badgering him as if we have nothing else to talk about. If it were that important, she wouldn't have stormed off. It's not the right time for news anyway - we just had to deal with something awful." She snapped, rolling her eyes as she popped a grape into her mouth. I could see Calum tense up in the chair, his fingers tightening around the fork in his hand. Something in his head had clearly snapped as he looked up to me, meeting my gaze with his hardened expression. It was almost apologetic though, as if he wanted to say sorry in advance for his actions.

"You know what, Crystal?" He bit back, surprising the whole table. She looked like she was lost for words. "It was you, out of everyone, that Poppy thought would like the news the most... it a shame that what happened with Naomi Is more of a priority in your mind than your friend." Crystal was taken aback by his words, the rest of us just in sheer shock .

"How dare you." Michael argued back, his eyebrows furrowing at Calum. "That's not fair."

"Isn't it? Crystal is here acting like the world has ended because a gun was pointed at her. Poppy had one pointed at her too. And then she saved two people from dying, she was covered in blood from head to toe. She had to endure Naomi's verbal abuse, she had to watch every one of her friends pick Naomi over her because they thought it was the safe option. Now, go on, tell me how your life is worse off or that you are hard done by?" The whole table was so silent, I could hear a pin drop. I picked up the noise of the coffee machine churning out a latte, a small kid scraping their spoon against the bottom of the bowl. The whole table was stunned.

"Yes but it wasn't just me. My baby could have been hurt too!" Crystal said, trying to prove her point. Michael nodded in agreement. There wasn't even a pause as Calum responded, clearly speaking before he thought.

"And ours could have been hurt too, Crystal. Yet we're still trying to carry on." Calum snapped, his eyes suddenly widening as he realised what he'd said. He slapped a hand over his mouth as he muttered 'oh shit'. Once again our mouths all hung open as he digested what had said.

"Poppy's pregnant?" Sierra squealed excitedly.

"Oh my goddddddd!!" Bex cried out, hugging Sierra tightly. I broke into a stupefied smile.

"Hey man, that's great news. Congrats!" Calum nodded his head to acknowledge.

"Yeah, it wasn't supposed to quite come out like that... you know?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "She's gonna kill me."

"But what- what about the cancer? Is the pregnancy okay?" Ashton asked, worry filling his voice.

"She'll be fine. The cancer has gone too." Calum beamed, despite knowing he'd just told us all their news without Poppy being there.

"That's... really great news." Michael said, wanting to be supportive but also still seething at how Calum had spoken to crystal.

"Oh I'm sorry Cal. I didn't realise. That's amazing news." Crystal said too, trying to offer a smile. "I'm so happy!" Suddenly a voice came from behind us all, one that was meek and quiet, yet full of heavy emotion.

"Cal, did you tell them without me?"