Remember When ↠ l.p.

A plan of action

Liam's ab selfie from his insta yesterday...how gorgeous is he?!?!? LIKE BEYOND

The girls aren't told what happened, whenever they brought up the visitor that made Papa shout bad words we made sure to distract them. We helped them make our first batch of Christmas cookies (with pre-made dough) and decorate the Christmas trees with both regular baubles Disney themed decorations. Now they're in bed and the adults are sitting in the living room as we were this afternoon, but in a much more somber mood. Liam paces behind the couch where I'm sitting between my parents. He participated in all the cooking and decorating tonight, but even the girls could tell that he wasn't completely focusing on sprinkling the cookies or making sure the angel was on the tree correctly. "So if he was in Australia," Liam starts speaking as he walks around to the middle of the living room so he can see everyone. No doubt he's been thinking over the situation all night. "and Sophia was flying over to Australia because she thought she could find something to help you, Isabella, shouldn't we look into what he was doing in Australia?"

"It makes sense." my dad nods along with Liam.

Liam smiles grimly at his approval. "Exactly. Sophia didn't tell me what she had found, but if it was enough for her to fly out to Australia..." he trails off with a shrug. He takes a deep breath and I frown. This is probably as hard for him to talk about as it is for me to think about Hector and his threats right now. I literally have to force myself to think of anything other than him. Whenever I begin to drift back to the thought of him I get tingles up and down my legs and my stomach feels like it's turning over on itself and that I'll be sick. "So, what I'm thinking is that we need to find out why Sophia went and go from there. Isabella, you need to find everything that you can in physical or digital proof that he was abusing you. You have several witnesses on your side, but any photos you can find would no doubt help."

Liam pivots slightly to where Harry and Louis are sitting. "Have you contacted the lawyer as I asked you to Louis?"

"I did, I left a voicemail and a text message. I haven't heard back from him yet," he winces at the huff Liam makes when he hears that news. "but I'm sure he'll call me back as soon as he sees the messages I left. He was always very reliable when I hired him earlier."

"I liked him." I comment. "And he was a great help."

"With me you mean?" Liam smiles down at me and comes to lean against my knees, bending over a to wrap his arms around me as best he can with me squeezed between my parents. Dad gives me a stern look as he steps back. Liam has been very present all through tonight. He has been helping me keep calm with a hand about my waist or standing behind me so closely that when I shift just the slightest I bump into him. While I don't feel the tension and sparks that I used to with him, it almost feels more special because I'm getting used to his gentle touches and the firm, safe feeling of his arms around me. The more he does it and the more comfortable I am with stepping into his arms and expecting a hug the more it feels like a reality, the two of us. He kissed me twice in the kitchen earlier, stole me away from everyone's view. It's the best distraction I could ask for and with so many other things for me to be worried about, I've given in to him. I'm leaning in for hugs and stealing pecks. I've been reaching out first to grab his hand. In a way it seems silly to have been so worried about all the possibilities, but I just wanted to keep everything safe. I wanted to stay on the road we were on, I could look ahead and see the road stretching on, on into the future. Having a relationship with Liam put so many curves to the road that I was sure we couldn't' safely navigate through them. At least, not without a price.

"Yes, with you." I smile back at him, glad to have a safe place, a little shelter in the storm I've been thrown into again. "We got you good, huh?"

"That you did." We just smile at each other until Dad coughs. Mother laughs and smacks the arm he's laid across my shoulders. "Let her have some happiness!" She turns to me and actually giggles. "you two are so cute! I'm glad things have finally worked out for you."

"How is this" I gesture vaguely around us "worked out?"

"Maybe not everything is how you would wish it to be, but you two are in a good place. I can see that and so can everyone else." She smiles happily at me and I flash back to when she just heard that I had gotten a job as a nanny, or was considering it and mentioned wanting me to snag the father for romantic reasons. She didn't even know who it was at the time and didn't care that he was married. I wonder, momentarily, if she remembers that and is feeling smug about it now. I wonder if she's laughing to herself about how this is what she wanted all along. I stop wondering pretty quickly however because there are more important things at hand.

"How," Harry asks, drawing everyone's attention to where he sits with Louis. "or where are we to start looking?"

"What-?" Louis starts but Liam cuts him off before he can finish.

"I'm glad you asked, right." He claps his hands much louder than he probably intended, making him wince and glance towards the closed door to the room. "I've thought it over all evening, about who might have known what Sophia found and I've thought of several ways we might find some clues. I have her computer still at the house and then there's Paddy..."

"Right!" Louis catches on quickly. "Her computer might have a search history on it that might give a hint as to what she might have found. And Paddy might have known where she was going after she landed in Sydney."

"Yes, and I thought we might also want to try simply googling Hector's name and seeing what comes up. That might be how Sophia started her search." Liam adds.

"Makes sense." I inhale and exhale slowly, feeling a little better now that we have a plan of action. "So who will do what?"

"Well, Louis and I have a bit of experience finding things online and using different programs and so on...we even know so people who do, uh, hacking sort of things." Harry smirks at Louis.

"Rainbow bear." Louis says as an explanation and smirks back at Harry. I snort a laugh as Liam rolls his eyes and my parents glance at each other over my head in confusion.

"What is a rainbow bear?" Dad asks.

"You don't even want to know dad, long story." I tell him as I pat his hand.

"So you two will look online for anything," Liam ticks off what's to be done on his fingers. "Isabella you should text or call Paddy as I'm not sure if he would answer if I called, the last time we talked-er-when I fired him, it didn't end well. I'll drive over tonight to look for Sophia's laptop and come over we'll go over it. And..." he trails off with a glance at my parents.

"We'll be here for moral support." Mother finishes for him. "Also we'll be available to pick up the slack if any other jobs come up."

"Great!" I say, genuinely feeling better. "Thank you all so much, I don't know what I would do if you weren't all here...probably give in and let him see Cailyn or something," I am surprised to feel a tear slip down my cheek. "I don't think I could ever be so strong without you all here." I pat Mother's knee as Dad tightens his arm around my shoulders.

"Awh group hug!" Louis shouts with no regard to the girls sleeping just down the hall. Harry, who is actually concerned about the children, gasps and smacks Louis on the head and shushes him. Louis ignores this and jumps up to run over, grabbing Liam along the way. They bend over for a hug as Mother and Dad wrap an arm around a boy each, Harry pushing in between the Lilo sandwich and we're on the brink of collapsing just as someone pulls back a little and the hug dissolves.

"Let's get to it then," Mother says brightly. "We haven't got all night. I want all this suing nonsense to be over by Christmas!"

I'm still hoping to finish this before New Years but I don't think it's going to happen >.< I do finally know how I want it to end though, so yayyyyy hehe

Happy New Years Eve Eve ;)