Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Twenty-Two

Niall

"Daddy? Is he actually coming?"

Shifting closer to Niall, Chloe looked up at him and gave him a questioning frown, sliding along the bench they were sat on and leaning against him as he wrapped his arm around her.

Checking the time on his mobile, Niall bit his lip before he nodded, forcing himself to swallow the first answer that came to him as he gave Chloe what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Of course, he is poppet. He's probably just running late. He'll be here, Chlo."

Giving his mobile to Chloe to keep her occupied, Niall's smile became slightly more genuine as he noticed the seven-year-old swinging her legs, her feet not quite touching the ground. Leaning over Chloe's shoulder, Niall sighed as he saw which of the pre-loaded games she was playing, watching for a few moments as she played Snake, letting her finish her game before he took his phone back, ignoring Chloe's protest and checking his messages, trying to see if he'd accidentally missed a text from Liam.

Swearing under his breath as he saw nothing from Liam, no text or missed call explaining where the hell he was, Niall ignored Chloe's chime of 'Daddy! Swear jar!' and rechecked his phone, his smile fading as he realised Liam was more than a few minutes late and hadn't even tried to call him. Shaking his head when Chloe reached for his phone, Niall pocketed it after checking his messages one last time, reaching out and brushing a strand of Chloe's hair behind her ear before he forced himself to smile. "He'll be here, Chlo. Liam so wanted to meet you."

Looking unconvinced, Chloe nodded at Niall, leaning against him and resting her head against his chest, not wanting him to frown again. Wrapping his arm around his daughter, Niall pressed a kiss to the top of her head, growing more tempted to take her hand and lead her back to the bus stop the longer they waited.

If he hadn't already regretted agreeing to let Liam meet their daughter, he was beginning to.

Growing more and more nervous the longer they waited, Niall was one half paying attention to Chloe as she tried to distract him, telling him about the episode of some Pokémon related cartoon she'd watched at Jessica's, tuning out of the conversation completely at some point until Chloe tugged on his sleeve, looking up at him with her eyes narrowed, frowning. "Daddy? Can we go? He's not coming, is he?"

"Chloe... You, we don't know that." Biting his lip, Niall resisted the urge to check his phone, giving Chloe what he hoped was a 'be reasonable' parent-y type look as he shook his head. "Give him a few more minutes, Chlo."

Huffing, Chloe did as Niall asked, distracting herself by trying to remember what Niall had told her about him, the person she was supposed to meet, if he ever showed up, giving up after a few minutes and thinking about what Niall had promised to treat her to once the meeting was over. After what felt like an eternity to the seven-year-old but really couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes, Chloe tugged on Niall's sleeve again, glancing over at the park entrance before she said, "He's not here. Can we go? You promised that we could go buy the new Disney film, the one that's just out, and get pizza. Can we go home and do that?"

Sighing, Niall looked down at his daughter's hopeful face and nodded, standing up and holding her hand as they began to head over to the exit. The two of them had barely made it through the park gate when Niall heard someone shouting his name, turning around as his name was shouted again. Sighing, Niall held back, ignoring Chloe's impatience as he waited for the person whom he recognised to be Liam to catch up, squeezing Chloe's hand as Liam approached, a dog following him on a leash, accompanied by someone Niall didn't recognise.

Finally catching up to Niall, Liam didn't miss the frown on his face and the way he shielded the little girl stood by him, his-their daughter, from his view. Gesturing for Paddy to hang back slightly, giving him and Loki some space, Liam shot Niall an apologetic smile, already knowing that his lateness hadn't gone unnoticed. "I am so sorry, Niall. Traffic was murder and I was so close to just running over but Paddy wouldn't hear of it."

Nodding sceptically, Niall gave him a tight smile, aware of Chloe fidgeting, trying to pull him away until he let go of her hand. Looking up at Liam, Niall coughed awkwardly, trying to swallow down the idea of leaving, regardless of Liam finally being there as he said, "At least you're here now. Who's Paddy?"

"My bodyguard. With tour and album promo, management made it mandatory that he goes wherever I go." Looking backwards to where Paddy was stood, leaning against the wall as he tried to give him his space, Liam nodded, trying not to wince as he noticed Chloe avoid looking at him, the seven-year-old's gaze anywhere but him. Reaching down, he stroked the top of Loki's head, giving Niall another smile before straightening up and looking suitable apologetic. "I'm really sorry I'm late. I didn't want to be but... Traffic."

"Well, you're here now. Not like you could help it." Slipping his hand into Chloe's, Niall glanced over at Paddy, biting his lip nervously for a moment before he decided to act like the grown-up he was. "Since you're here, Liam, there's someone you need to meet."

Looking down at Chloe, Niall gave her a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand and nodding at her encouragingly, taking a deep breath before he said, "Liam, this is Chloe. Chlo, meet your dad."

Her expression hardening into a frown, Chloe ignored the look on Niall's face and stared at Liam, her frown rapidly becoming more of a scowl as he smiled at her. Pulling her hand are from Niall's, Chloe folded her arms, focusing more on the dog at Liam's feet than on Liam as she muttered, "Hi."

Slightly put off by Chloe's frostiness, Liam glanced up at Niall for a second before he knelt down to her level. "Hey, I'm Liam. Your dad, I guess. It's amazing... It's great to finally meet you."

Meeting the little girls gaze, Liam smiled at her, the photo of Niall's he'd seen of her doing no justice to how beautiful she was and how much she resembled him, running a hand through his hair as he said, "Your dad's told me such a lot about you, you know. He said you agreed to meet me, so thank you."

Shrugging, Chloe fidgeted some more, looking away from Liam and back up at Niall, sighing sightly as she saw the pleading look on his face. "He wanted me to meet you... Daddy's told me about you too. He said you hurt him. And that you left." 

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So... happy Liam-finally-meets-Chloe update.

There'll be more detail about the rest of their meeting next chapter but you can probably already tell that it won't go well. 

But, you know, I feel like Chloe's reaction is kind of accurate. All she knows is that he left, hurt her dad and then *poof* he's back and she's not taking any of his shit.

I feel like I should explain that I haven't slept in almost a day and a half and I'm pretty much living on caffeine. If this chapter makes half as much sense to you guys as it does to me, I'll be happy with it. 

I might actually have to go to sleep at some point, but the mountain of work I have to do hasn't shrunk and I'm still wired. Never ever mix redbull with cola and then follow it with espresso.

Anyway...

Thought's on the chapter?