Baby "Jayn"

"Don't deshtwoy!"

Chapter 74
{Louis}

Zayn had been sulking ever since they'd dropped Gemma and Anne off the airport. The poor lad seemed bored, playing with his toys in silence. Louis almost found it creepy how quiet the house was. Harry was baking brownies in the kitchen with Maria, Niall was out playing golf with some of his mates who came to visit from Ireland and Liam had gone to Sophia's once again.

Louis changed clothes, looking around to see the room looking a lot better. Thankfully Zayn hadn't hurt himself on the glass shards and they'd hidden the bag with all the goods. Louis glanced at a few clothes lying on the ground. He picked them up before Harry could get a chance to complain and stuffed them in his side of the closet. Just then, he noticed something in his closet, under his shirts. Louis frowned, pulling out a black file. He racked his brain to try to remember where he'd seen it before. Oh right, when they adopted Zayn. This was Zayn's file.

Louis wondered why they'd never actually gone through it. Sitting down on the bed, he opened it, going through the various papers. Most were adoption papers, but then as he turned a page, Zayn's birth certificate came into view. Louis stared at it as if it was something alien. Zayn's birth name was actually Zain, he noticed, with an i and not a y. He glanced down at the names of his parents. Yaser Malik & Trisha Malik. Louis couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat. What if this file had all the answers to Zayn's past? He knew Zayn had a sister, but what happened to her was unknown. Only that Zayn hated her as much as he hated his father. Louis glared at the name Yaser as if that would make the man himself feel his anger.

In Zayn's eyes, only his mum earned his respect and she was deceased. Whether she'd been the victim of a sickness or an accident, Louis didn't know. But it must have been recently if Zayn remembered it.

Louis glanced at his date of birth. 12th January. Huh. Got another Aquarius, he mused. He went through the rest of the pages, but they were all about Zayn's father who'd been sentenced to jail. Louis nodded, remembering the day Zayn let that slip when they'd ditched the perfume launch. He was about to close the file, feeling the urge to go play with the kid, show him some love, when he noticed a paper that might've been the most useful. It was about how Zayn behaved at the adoption center. It said all about how he was reserved, not talking to the other kids. He'd lost his diaper early it seemed since he still needed some training when he arrived there. He'd been exposed to abuse from parents and often had dreams about them. He didn't eat much, and was very quiet.

"Hey, what are you reading?"

Louis looked up at Harry. "Zayn's file. The one I got when we adopted him."

"What does it say?" Harry wondered, eyes curious. Louis handed it to him. "Check it out. I'm going to show the little guy some love."

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"Loueh!" Zayn exclaimed, grabbing the lego building before it could fall. "Don't deshtwoy!"

Louis pouted. "But it's cooler when it crashes to the ground."

Zayn shook his head. "No." He grabbed the blue Lego blocks he'd spared, eyeing Louis all the while.

The front door opened and Liam walked inside, plopping down on the couch. Louis turned to him. "Hey, you're pretty late."

Liam blinked, then glanced at his phone. "Oh yeah...sorry about that."

"Leeyum!" Zayn broke into a grin, standing up and running towards him. His foot accidentally hit the yellow base of the building, making it topple over. Zayn froze, turning around to look at their building. "Oopsh."

Louis crossed his arms. "You ruined our building Zayn!"

Zayn crossed his arms back. "Jayn not shay showwy." He then turned around and jumped at Liam.

Liam smiled stiffly, and Louis frowned. The lad looked mentally gone. "Hey."

"Liam, come and play!" Zayn said, tugging his arm. Liam shook his head and stood up. "I have to get going, m'tired. See you two in the morning."

Niall walked down the stairs. "Oh hey mate."

Liam nodded at him, disappearing upstairs. Zayn pouted in disappointment. "Okay," he said quietly.

Harry walked into the living room with a large plate filled with brownies. Louis' mouth watered at the sight. "Finally! I've been smelling these for two hours now."

Zayn hurried forward. "Nam." He reached to touch one, but recoiled. "Ow. Sho hot!"

"Let it cool down a bit," Harry told him. He looked around. "Where's Liam? I thought he just came."

"Liam went," Zayn informed him. "No bwownies fo him."

"I gotta go change," Niall said, looking down at his clothes. "Don't eat em all, I'll be back."

Louis watched him walk up the stairs before he spoke up. "You know, the 13th is coming up."

Harry smiled, nodding. "I was thinking this time, we hold a surprise party together."

Louis nodded, knowing that Niall usually went back to Ireland for his birthday. He smirked as an idea came to him.

Zayn glanced from Harry to back at Louis. "Party?" he asked in confusion. Louis wasn't sure if the kid meant why they'd have a party, or what a party was. You never knew with him.

"Niall's birthday is coming up," Harry said excitedly, waiting like Louis to see Zayn's happy reaction. Instead, the toddler's face turned horrified. "No! No biwthday!" He pushed Harry back with an angry look on his face, only, he carried the strength of a koala bear. "No!"

Louis's heart sank as he stared at the terrified three year old. "Zayn, what's wrong? Birthday is a good thing."

Zayn shook his head firmly, tears forming in his eyes. "No biwthday. Not again."

Louis couldn't help but be confused, wondering what was so wrong with a birthday. He knew it had probably something to do with his past, but what it was was unknown to him.

"Okay, no birthdays," Harry said softly, kneeling down to the child's level. "Can you tell us why you don't like birthdays?"

Zayn wiped the tears before they could fall. Louis sighed, they'd made this child cry more than he could count.

"Jayn going to tell Nawiall!" the lad yelled, running up the stairs. Louis' eyes widened and he hurried forward, grabbing the kid by the waist before he could. "Oh come on, Zayn. Don't tell Niall, it's a surprise."

Zayn kicked his legs. "Let go."

"Zayn," Louis said, pouting. "Don't you want to make Niall happy?"

Zayn grew angry again and Louis yelped as the kid bit the hands that were holding him. "Zayn! What's wrong with you?" Louis clutched his hand tightly, letting go.

"Louis," Harry said quietly. "He's scared."

Louis' shoulders slumped and he watched as Zayn scrambled up the stairs. "What do we do? Maybe we should just let him tell Niall?"

Harry whipped his phone out, writing a message quick as lightning. "Hopefully if Liam steps in, he won't think he's the bad guy."

"What do you think gave him such a traumatic and terrified image of birthdays?" Louis wondered out loud.

Harry shook his head, a thoughtful frown on his face. "Don't know."

Louis sighed, once again reminded of how little they knew of Zayn's past. There was so much more to recover. And so much Zayn had to recover from.

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