Room 317

Epilogue

Liam nodded, looking down at his jeans and tugging at a loose thread. “Yeah, I took Jamie down this morning. We sat and talked about him for a while.” Liam swallowed thickly, “Seven years Lou. I lost Niall seven years ago today.”

“I know,” said Louis softly.

“I miss him so much, even after all this time.” Liam sniffed and licked his lips. “Is that normal?”

“I think so,” Louis nodded, “because I miss him too. Very much. Then again, I’ve been accused of not being normal.”

Liam smiled weakly, “That’s true. So have you and Harry had a chance to go yet?”

Louis nodded sadly, “We went last night. Mum looked after the kids for us. Zayn said he’d be stopping off on his way here.”

“Louis? Liam?” Harry called out from the hallway.

“In here!” Louis shouted back. A few seconds later Harry walked through the door with Ryan in his arms.

“Hey,” he greeted softly, walking over and kissing Liam’s cheek.

“Hi,” Liam smiled and then reached up to ruffle the one-and-a-half-year-old’s mop of curly hair, “Hey little man, nice to see you. You going to come and say hi to your Uncle Liam?”

Ryan blinked at him and then started bouncing happily in Harry’s arms. Harry held him out and Liam took the toddler gently, cooing as he settled the kid on his lap.

“That reminds me,” said Louis suddenly, “Liam, I think we need to have a serious talk about Jamie’s growing interest in our daughter.”

Liam’s mouth twitched in amusement, “What can I say?” he replied, “my son has good taste.”

“Nice try Payne,” Louis retorted, “I want to know what your son’s intentions are.”

Liam laughed, “His intentions? He’s ten Louis. She’s eight. He probably wants to hold her hand and talk to her about the latest Modern Heroes book. Or discuss their latest projects at school over a romantic cup of orange juice.”

Harry raised an eyebrow in interest. “Jamie likes Dana?” he asked thinking it was possibly the sweetest thing ever if it was true. Dana had an interesting relationship with all the other boys belonging to the group. Jaden was like her big brother who completely doted on her. Micah was her little brother who she doted on (as much as she now did Ryan) and Caleb was her rival – Harry had lost count the number of times one of them had had to separate the two from a punch up – they seemed to live to rile each other up. Jamie though, Jamie was the odd one. He was ‘like’ her best friend but they was something tentative about it that Harry could never put his finger on. Now he knew what!

“Stop thinking about it right now Harry Tomlinson,” Louis ordered. “I know what you’re like, you’ll have their wedding all planned out within the hour.”

Harry laughed and dropped himself onto his husband’s lap, wrapping his arms lazily around his neck and teasing, “Just because you can’t deal with the idea your eldest is growing up.”

Louis wrinkled his nose and his hands automatically settled on Harry’s hips, “You mock me now but we’ll see who’s freaking out when she starts wearing mini-skirts and wanting to hang out in the park all night with her chavvy friends. Or worse… dragging us into the city so that she can spend three hours in a huge queue of screaming girls to get her book signed by some teenage band of pretty boys, who’ve only just learned what their dicks are for.”

Harry smiled sweetly, “There are some amazing all girl Catholic boarding schools in London. Maybe we should get some brochures?”

“Really? I love you,” Louis declared, pulling Harry in for a theatrical kiss. Liam laughed at the pair of them.

“GET OFF ME!” Dana suddenly yelled, “DAAAAAAAAAAAD!”

“CALEB! Leave her alone!” Myra shouted, “for once, can you just control yourself!”

Harry and Louis drew apart and rolled their eyes, “Zayn’s arrived,” Harry chuckled.

“You going or me?” Louis asked, resting his forehead against Harry’s.

“You,” Harry replied, pressing a quick kiss to Louis’s lips – just because he could, “the last time I got involved, I accidentally made Caleb cry.”

“You mean bastard,” Louis murmured back, “fine. Make sure Liam remembers to bring his dress shoes this time.”

“I will. Can you take Ryan with you?”

Louis nodded and they shared another kiss before Harry slid off Louis’s lap and let him stand up.

Louis walked over to Liam and held out his hands, “Come to Daddy then, Curly Jr, and let’s go and find out what’s happening with your big sister.”

“Bubba!” Ryan told him.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll find some carrots too,” Louis agreed, tickling his side.

Harry watched them go with a fond smile before turning back to Liam, “You sure you’re ready for this?”

Liam nodded determinedly, “It’s been long enough.”

Yahoo! News:

One Direction took to the stage at The X Factor, last night, to perform their first new single in over seven years. The song, entitled ‘Everlasting’, is a tribute to their band mate who died seven years ago, from prostate cancer.

The lads wore black armbands as a mark of respect to their friend and although their performance was solemn, it was very powerful and moving. The single, although not yet officially released, is currently topping the iTunes downloads chart.

Over 24 million viewers tuned in to hear the band perform – the largest audience ITV has had in almost a decade. Surely there has not been such a successful band since the Beatles. Simon Cowell must be feeling so smug right now.

The End