After The End: Book 2

31. Electrifying

Naomis POV

The past several weeks had been a time of peace between Louis and I. I was going to therapy and working on things and finding myself under all of the mess of the months prior. Louis was allowing me to be a more present mum and that meant my own mum got to see Oliver for the first time in weeks.

Louis and I had also found some peace. Our bickering simmered down to almost non existent. He hung out with me more, which meant that Oliver got to have both his parents harmoniously in the same room again. He seemed to calm down more in that arrangement.

I had no idea what the future held. I was living at my mums but the majority of my belongings still lived strewn throughout Louis flat. I didn't have an idea of how to change that or if it even should change. My mum was content to allow me to stay and I had filled out the paper to enroll in the fall term at a university in London but I didn't even have a job. I didn't know what I would be doing next. So far, it seemed my mum was just silently assuming I wouldn't leave.

Did it make sense to assume that eventually Oliver would be staying with me sometimes? I thought so, but I had no grounds to even begin to suggest that to Louis and I definitely understood his perspective. Oliver lived at Louis. That was his home and the only place he had ever known. I was the one driving a wedge through the perfect little family Louis had wanted and so it made sense that I needed to leave but how could I deprive Louis of his baby? Louis the super dad had not done anything wrong except for loving me. That was his only mistake in any of this.

Louis was a better parent than me and everyone knew that. It came natural to him. He knew what Oliver needed when even Oliver didn't know. He heard the baby whimper from miles away. He could probably hear the baby roll over in his crib from across the house.

Regardless of all this, Louis was letting me have this weekend and I was determined to show him and myself that I wasn't completely incompetent. I hadn't stayed the night with him in so long. I couldn't mess this up.

"What happens if he starts crawling without Louis here?" I inquired to Lux. She sat on the sofa watching me and Oliver with interest. Oliver was trying to crawl again but he was much more interested in the rocking motion than he was in crawling. I sat in front of him just a few feet away hoping to stimulate some forward effort.

"You've got to push him over," Lux said without looking up from her computer. "It's either that or you lie about it. Louis will never leave again if he finds out he missed the crawling."

I rolled my eyes, scooping him off the ground. He was getting his sleepy baby face, which was good. I wanted to put him down early to try and settle with Lux to watch the livestream of the boys.

"Have you heard from Louis or Harry? How are things going?" I inquired.

Lux turned the laptop around to show me the waiting screen for the livestream. "Still waiting. I don't think Harry has his phone. He sent me a text when they arrived and then went silent. Louis told me sound check went well and that the minder we got for him is helping keep him on task."

I tried not to laugh at the prospect of his minder. It totally made sense. Louis had told me about the idea pretty excitedly, although it had been Lux's idea originally following Harry's request that she stay behind. Louis was very proud of being able to acquire an assistant for the entire weekend. It was something he said he'd been working with Melvin on for the week leading up to the event.

"I'm glad," I said. "That will make things easier on the both of them."

Louis didn't want to spend his entire weekend off mothering Harry. He deserved the break. He hadn't said a word to me, but I assumed Harry wasn't keen on the idea of making Louis drag him around all weekend either. It was a good set up. They'd enjoy this. It was about having something they could enjoy together.