Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Six

Niall

"Dad? It's not working. Daddy?"

Chloe's voice rang out through the apartment, disturbing Niall and forcing him to open his eyes, slowly getting up from his bed and abandoning his hopeful plan of having a nap as he wandered out to the living room, finding Chloe sat on the floor, waving the remote at the TV and frowning as nothing happened. "The TV won't work."

Niall took the remote from her and half-heartedly tried pressing a few buttons, taking the batteries out as there was no response, finding a new set of batteries and pressing them into the remote before trying again. He held his breath as he tried turning the TV on, praying that it would work, not wanting to even think about the cost of replacing the TV and swearing as the screen remained blank. Checking behind the TV and trying the socket, Niall shook his head as Chloe watched hopefully, her curls still slightly damp from swimming and hanging over her face as she stared at him. "It's broken Chlo, you'll have to find something else to do."

"When will it be fixed? I wanted to watch the film Jessica gave me." It took everything Niall had in him not to roll his eyes and snap at Chloe as she frowned up at him, her arms folded and looking at him as though she expected him to miraculously love the problem that instant. Instead of yelling, he gave her the look he'd mastered over the years, a silent warning for her to change her attitude that she reluctantly heeded, dropping onto the sofa and huffing as Niall shrugged. "It'll be fixed when and if I can get us a replacement. We've gone without a TV before, you'll have to watch it with Jessica after school."

His response earned another huff and from Chloe, who began pouting, and Niall rolled his eyes at her again as she shifted on the sofa, pulling a book out from under the cushions and flicking through it lazily, letting him return to the other, smaller bedroom their flat had and making a mental note to ask about the chances of more double shifts at work to pay for the new appliance as he dropped down onto his bed, laying there for a while. After a moment, he got up and found the box he'd hidden away, having a brief staring contest with the box before he won and prised the lid off.

Tipping the contents onto his duvet, he ignored the layer of dust it gave off, looking through the various photos and keepsakes he'd tried to forget about but mostly ignored when forgetting seemed ineffective, with certain images and items standing out to him more than others. One, in particular, was a photo of him and an ex of his, someone he didn't like to think about but had been forced to after quite literally running into him. The photo was one of many copies, and was taken after the ex in question had returned from boot camp for a fleeting visit but before Niall's world had been turned upside down by Chloe.

The memories surrounding the photo made it impossible for Niall to believe that he'd run into the exact same person just hours earlier, but, at the same time, seeing him in person made it impossible to forget who Liam Payne actually was to him. After all, he hadn't appeared to have changed that from the person Niall had fallen in love with aged only fifteen, not really. Despite the years, nearly eight of them having passed, he'd recognise Liam anywhere, despite the fact that he'd tried to avoid keeping up with Liam the way the rest of the world had.

In the photo, the two of them were standing so close together that it would have been impossible for them to get any closer, with Niall resting his head against Liam's shoulder, both of them waiting through the welcome home party Liam's family had thrown for him so that they could finally have been alone.

Dropping the photo, and shoving the memory back into a dusty corner of his mind he'd originally locked it away in, Niall was distracted by an item that reminded him why he didn't go through the box very often—the first sonogram image he'd received of Chloe—the crumpled edges reminding him off the way he'd clutched at it for what had felt like hours as he'd tried to work up the courage to call Liam, only to have him cut him off almost instantly, feeding him a story of being 'super busy' whilst promising to call him back, something he'd only managed to do almost a week after Niall first called him.

There were more photos in the box, each reminding him why he tended to leave it shoved on top of his wardrobe, only to be opened in the rare moments when he had the time to torture himself, and Niall pushed the box away from him, closing his eyes for a moment, opening them to find his daughter, practically a carbon copy of Liam, standing in the doorway, clutching a board game in her hands as she stared questioningly at him. "Dad? I was thinking, 'cause my book's boring, we could play a game."

Niall needed a moment to catch his breath and regain his composure, staring at the Scrabble box in Chloe's hands and nodding before he said, "Sounds like good idea, poppet. You know how to set it up, right?"

Waiting for Chloe to nod, Niall smiled at her, his smile feeling less forced and more genuine then, making it easier for him to temporarily forget about earlier and running into Liam, more focused on Chloe as he continued. "You set it up, I'll make us some hot chocolate as a treat, yeah?"

He followed Chloe through to their living room after putting the box back away, shoving it on top of his wardrobe to be left to the dust once more, clearing a spot on the kitchen table and taking the box from her to set it up before he turned to the kitchen, boiling the kettle and grabbing two mugs, making sure to get Chloe's Little Miss Sunshine mug down for her and finding a packet of miniature marshmallows to have as a treat. He made two mugs of hot chocolate before joining her at the table, sneakily glancing over Chloe's shoulder to see what tiles she had before looking at his own, playing a simple word to let her take the advantage as he always did.

Watching Chloe as she deliberated over which tiles to use and which word to play was always amusing for Niall, as he got to see her frown and chew her lip, taking the game far too seriously, only today Niall compared her to the photos he'd seen of Liam at her age, with Chloe's eyes more innocent versions of his brown ones, her unruly, wayward curls having come from Liam as well, along with the way she'd bite her lip when thinking. It hurt to think of Chloe in terms of Liam, though, and he reached over to ruffle her hair, laughing as she protested and tried to swat his hand away, believing Niall as he pretended to be outraged as she finally played her chosen word, outscoring him.

Despite the fact that he knew it was probably bad parenting to let her win this easily, Niall played another fairly simple word, mock-frowning as Chloe outscored him yet again, not bothering to correct her spelling of 'guitar' as he said, "Since when were you smarter than me? I must be getting old, Chlo."

Giggling at the look on Niall's face when she didn't answer, Chloe busied herself with her hot chocolate, enjoying the treat of marshmallows and not caring that her drink was was too hot and she burned her tongue. Her silence and refusal to answer made Niall gasp, waiting for her to set her mug down before he tickled her, persisting as she laughed louder, only stopping when she begged him to, and when she accidentally kicked the table, knocking their tiles.

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And that's chapter six.

Just a warning to you guys, this book is looking to be long as fuck and I'm already re-writing my plans. 

In case you guys missed it, both Liam and Niall were looking at the same photo, and this chapter, along with four and five, all take place on the same day.