Neighbors (Liam Payne AU)

Part 1

"Harry! Harry!" Eva called, shaking the man next to her and bouncing on the bed they shared. "Wake up! Wake up! There are people moving in next door finally. Come look out the window with me!"

Harry rolled away. "Go away, Evangeline." he mumbled, burring his face in his pillow. "I don't care."

Eva picked up her own pillow and playfully hit her husband. "Come on! There might be kids Arden's age! I'm going to make a pie."

"Again, I don't care. And you have no interest in kids. You miss Dawn. You want a new friend to gossip with in the summer. Now, this is my only day to sleep in and you know it. Leave me alone. Get out. Go bake a damn pie." Harry pulled the covers over his brown curls, determined to sleep until noon.

Eva sighed. "It's not just that. Arden needs friends. He's lonely. He needs..."

"I'm NOT talking about this. OUT!"

Eva flounced out of bed and threw her pillow at Harry. "You don't have to yell." she said. Harry didn't even flinch when the pillow hit him. She sighed again and walked out of the room.

Down the hall, she heard her 5 years old son leap out of bed and come running. "Morning, Momma!" he said, throwing himself at her. "School today?"

She smiled down at him. "Nope. Sunday. You and me and daddy day. Pancakes?"

Arden nodded, eagerly, and pulled her to the stairs. Once in the spacious kitchen, she pulled out her electric griddle and set in on the kitchen island. She made Harry buy this house because of this room. The kitchen, eating area and a family room were all in the same space. The entire room, except the wall attached to the house, was windows and doors, leading to a two tiered deck. On the top deck, she had placed a table and chairs, to eat outside. One level down was the pool. It was surrounded by more decking and cement. There were also lounge chairs and tables. The basement of the house opened right out onto the pool. That was the Harry's domain. He had a bar, huge TV, fireplace, huge leather sectional. When they had people over, this were where they entertained. Harry had even added a poker table to the mix. Beyond the deck and the pool was the river, a wide, lazy bend in the Black River, that was amazing to watch, winter, spring, summer or fall. Right now, it was Spring and Harry's boat was bobbing at the dock, waiting for it's first real outing.

She started the pancakes, watching Arden sitting on the floor in the family room, playing with his trains while he watched Nick cartoons. She smiled and flipped the first batch. She heard the paper boy hit the door with this morning's edition and hurried to get it. The front room was behind her, a huge double story room with furniture nobody was aloud in sit in. She went to the fancy double doors and opened it, grabbing the paper.

"Can I have it, Momma? Can I? I'll take it to Daddy." Arden snatched it out of her hand and turned, bolting up the front set of steps that led to the bedrooms.

"Don't wake him!" Eva called, chasing him. Harry would be angry if Arden jumped on him. She dashed up the stairs, grabbing him just before he got to the door. "Arden! You know better!"

Arden frowned. "I forgot. I just wanna hang out."

"I know, baby. Let him sleep a bit longer." she said, wrapping him in a hug. "He'll be up later." Suddenly, a loud BEEP BEEP BEEP came from the kitchen. Arden screamed, scared. Eva's head whipped around. "Pancakes!" She let go of Arden and dashed down the stairs for the second time this morning, into the kitchen and scooped up the burned mess, waving at the smoke detector, trying to make it stop.

From the stairs, she heard "GOD DAMMIT!" as Harry yelled and starting stomping down the stairs. "I just wanted to SLEEP IN! Is that too much to ask?" He reached into a closet, grabbed Eva's broom and starting to jab at the machine on the ceiling. After a few bangs, it stopped making noise and fell to the floor. Harry smashed it one more time, threw down the broom and stomped away, going back upstairs.

Arden waddled into the room, slowly. "Sorry, Momma. Sorry. It's my fault. It's mine. Don't be mad at Daddy, okay? No fighting. Okay?"

Eva wiped away tears she didn't realize she'd shed. "It's fine, Arden. It's fine. It's not your fault." She hugged him and told him that she wouldn't fight with daddy. Sending him off to the TV and she turned back to the pancakes, fixing a stack for her son.

When she had several ready, she called Arden to the table and they sat together, laughing and eating the sticky mess. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement in the backyard next door. The neighbors! She thought. She turned and looked, seeing a tall, dark haired man, twirling in a circle, holding a little girl. He stopped and then fell down, clutching the girl to him, laughing as she giggled. She sighed, remembering when her life had been more like that and less tense. When Harry wasn't the manager of the plant. When they didn't live in a big house. Before Harry's medical issue made him feel less than manly. Back when she was happy. Back when she had something to make her smile.