Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Twenty-Six

Niall/Liam

Central London on a Thursday was always going to be busy.

Central London on a Thursday during half term week was so busy, busy didn't even begin to describe it. The streets were packed and the buses were so busy, Niall had stood all the way from Brixton to Kensington, keeping a firm grip on Chloe's hand at all times. Once they'd finally managed to arrive outside The Science Museum, a meeting point suggested by Liam, Niall was ready to call it quits and head home, instead wrangling Chloe into the queue to enter and praying that he had enough money for tickets or a 'donation' as he tried to keep a look out for Liam.

They'd been saved from the hour and a half long queue after a while by an anxious looking Paddy, Liam's bodyguard meeting them and after an awkward explanation, he escorted Niall and Chloe inside, past the queue and the crowds, to where Liam was waiting for them, a sheepish smile on his face as one of the museum's volunteers let them in without hassling them for tickets, Paddy's explanation that the museum was always happy to take donations from visitors making more sense to Niall as he noticed the more than thrilled look on the volunteer's face.

"Hey..." Giving Liam an awkward smile once they were face to face, Niall brushed aside Liam's muttered thank you's and turned to Chloe, letting go of her hand and raising an eyebrow at her as she tried to hide behind him. "Chloe, say hi to Liam... Your dad. Please."

Scowling at Niall, the cooperative, eager to try again Chloe from earlier disappeared completely, the seven-year-old instead shifting awkwardly on the spot before looking up at Liam and shrugging. "Hello."

"Chlo... We talked about this. Isn't there something else you want to say?" Aware of Paddy hovering behind them, Niall gave Liam another, slightly less awkward smile, propelling Chloe forward from her spot behind him and prompting her to say, "I'm sorry. For what I said to you... Before. It wasn't fair or nice and I'm sorry."

Nodding, Liam glanced over at Niall to see him shrug before he looked back at Chloe, giving her a brief smile. "It's fine, Chloe. You had a point but let's put that behind us. It's great that you wanted to see me today, so I figured we could do something slightly different than the park. Have you ever been here before?"

"No. School took us to the V and A, though, but I missed that trip." Shaking her head, Chloe looked up at Niall and slipped her hand back into his before she looked around the museum, taking the guidebook Liam offered her and biting her lip, looking back at guide he'd given her before asking, "Can we visit the space section? 'Cause it looks cool. It says they've got a space toilet you can see."

"Sure, if that's what you want. It's on this floor, so I suppose it's a good place to start." Letting Chloe give him the guide back, Liam followed her and Niall as she pulled him in the direction of the Exploring Space exhibit, giving Niall a smile as he looked back at him before gesturing for Paddy to give them a little bit of space. Having Paddy hovering around him twenty-four/seven was beginning to remind him of touring and never being allowed to go anywhere by himself, and, despite the fact that his presence was mandatory in the run up to tour dates being announced and other PR related events, Liam was kind of wishing that Paddy would leave him alone for just one day.

*******

Looking over at Chloe as she lead Niall through the next exhibit she'd wanted to see, Liam bit his lip. Despite Niall's best attempts to get her to talk to him, Chloe had avoided directly interacting with Liam, instead brushing off his questions and clinging to Niall, only really bothering with Liam when Niall left them alone for two minutes to answer a phone call from his boss. It was starting to grate on Liam, if he was honest. Their last meeting hadn't gone as he'd wanted it to, and, now, it was beginning to feel like her grudge against him was never going to end.