Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Twenty-Five

Niall

"Daddy. Dad. Dad? Daddeeeeee."

"Chlo. Chloeeee. Chloe. It's the holidays. It's still dark outside. What are you doing awake so early?" Forcing himself to open his eyes, Niall raised an eyebrow at the seven-year-old, yawning and wincing as his shoulder cracked before he shifted over, allowing Chloe to sit next to him on the bed. Looking over at the little girl, he shook his head at her, smiling as she grinned at him, clearly unbothered by the early hour or the sigh he gave her.

Dropping her stuffed bear, Niall's old childhood toy, onto the bed next to her, Chloe stuck her tongue out at Niall as he yawned again, pushing her pyjama sleeves up and narrowing her eyes at him as she said, "You don't have to work anymore this week, and it's the holidays. You said we were gonna go out and do stuff."

"I did?" Shaking his head again as Chloe nodded, Niall glanced over at the old alarm clock on his bedside table and bit back a swear word as he saw just how early it was, running a hand over his face and yawning again before he recalled the conversation they'd had as they'd walked home from Jessica's. "I did. But I didn't say we'd do stuff like the cinema or going ice skating or the park at half past six in the morning. It's the holidays, Chlo, it's time for sleeping."

"Or we can watch the new film Jessica bought me and make pancakes." Picking the bear back up, Chloe gave Niall her most winning smile and tried not to seem too pleased as he groaned, grabbing a t-shirt from the stack near the end of his bed and pulling it on as he got up, let her pull him out of his room before he stopped, sighing as he noticed the trail of toys already spilling out of her room into the rest of the flat.

Joining Chloe on the sofa, Niall ignored whichever Disney princess it was singing on their TV and watched his daughter for a moment, reaching out and tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear before he took a sip of the mug of coffee he set on the floor, feeling slightly more awake as he leaned back against the sofa cushions. "So... Chlo, what are we going to do today? You don't have swimming, the film you want to see isn't actually out yet, Jessica is going home for the week so it's just me and you."

Shrugging, the seven-year-old shushed Niall as what he guessed was her favourite part of the film came on, leaving him wondering for a second what he'd actually manage to fill the next few days with before he thought back to the conversation he'd had with Liam during his lunch break the day before, the two of them having made tentative plans to try the introduction thing again, depending on what Chloe wanted. Liam apparently had a few days before he was back doing promo, leaving them with enough time to try again, if that was still what he wanted and what Chloe wanted.

"Chlo?" Trying again once the scene had changed, no longer a winter forest with some half frozen princess occupying the screen but a castle, Niall gently elbowed Chloe, prompting her to finally answer him. "Huh?"

"What do you wanna do today? After the DVD and pancakes." The seven-year-old giving him a confused look, clearly not having thought ahead further than the next hour or so, Niall sighed, biting his lip and swallowing a mouthful of his coffee before he decided to broach the subject with her. "Do you maybe want to see Liam again? I'm sure he'd love to see you."

Shrugging, Chloe ignored him as other song began to play, this time, the girl on the screen dancing about with a tiara and singing something Niall tried to block out, the two of them falling into silence for a moment before Niall took the remote from her and paused the TV. "Chloe? If you don't want to, then fine. But if you'd like to try again with Liam, then we can."

Drawing her knees up to her chest, Chloe began to frown up at Niall, shrugging at him before she asked, "Does he want to see me? After I said-"

"After you were rude to him? Chlo, we talked about this, whilst you were really mean to him, he doesn't hold that against you. But it has to stop if you do see him, yeah?" Sighing, Niall pulled her in for a hug, rubbing circles into her back, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before he said, "He'd love to try again, Chloe. If you want to. But he's gonna be busy for a few days, so it's sooner rather than later."

"Okay. Yeah. I'll be nice this time, though." Her frown fading, Chloe took the remote back from Niall, leaning against him and using him as a cushion as the film began to play again, mouthing along to the songs, oblivious to the smile on Niall's face as he watched her, paying her more attention than the actual DVD. Looking up at Niall once the film finished, Chloe yawned, ignoring the smirk on his face and poking him as she asked, "Can we make pancakes now? Please?"

********

"Yeah, I'm sure, Liam. Chloe wants to see you. She agreed when I asked and if you're free, we could try again." Shaking his head, Niall clutched his phone tighter, rolling his eyes at Liam, half-tempted to hang up and leave the conversation there as Liam continued to question him. "Liam, Chloe wants to see you. What I want doesn't really matter here, she wants to see you, so please just stop."

"Great. Yeah, today works. We can meet you somewhere, go to a museum or something. In London, yes. Christ, Liam." Sighing as Chloe looked up at him, mouthing something at him and pointing in the direction of the swear jar, Niall held the phone between his shoulder and his ear, scrabbling for a pound coin before dropping it into the jar as he said, "We'll meet you there then, yeah?"

Giving Chloe a small smile once he'd hung up the phone, Niall leaned against the worktop, watching her for a second as she leant over the back of the sofa before he joined her, sitting cross-legged and clutching one of the cushions and running his thumb over the material, only stopping when the seven-year-old poked him impatiently. "Well?"

"Well what, Chlo?"

"You know what." Sticking her tongue out at Niall, Chloe rolled her eyes at his smirk, reaching out and taking the cushion from him and dropping it on the floor before she asked, "What did he say? Am I going to see him again?"

Reaching down and picking the cushion up, Niall threw it gently at Chloe, ducking as she retaliated, throwing her bear at him, picking the stuffed toy up and holding it close, just out of her reach before he caved and gave it back to her as she began to pout at him. "Yeah, you are, poppet. If you still want to, we can meet him and we'll do something. Take the bus in, yeah?"

"Okay. Yeah. That sounds... Good. Ish." Letting Niall pick her up, Chloe giggled as he spun her around as best he could within the confines of their apartment, only setting her down when she squealed, almost falling over into the sofa once she was upright.

_______________________________

And here's chapter twenty-five.

Next chapter will (probably) be Liam and Chloe meeting again and, I almost always and up writing this but again, Count On Me is going to be a lot longer than I originally planned.

I'm almost better, but school and work take priority over updating, unfortunately, so another update may take me a few days. Hopefully not too long, though.

I'd love to see what you guys thought of the chapter...