Ohana

Chapter Nine

                Paul isn't as scary as he looks, no, not really. He is rather funny actually and he makes school make my tummy hurt less, and he gives me tea, and sometimes when I cry on accident he gives me tissues and tells me it's okay. So yeah, I like Paul.

After the meeting with the teachers Zayn and Liam decided to take Niall out of school early because the poor boy was so emotionally fried they couldn't leave him there. They were shown to a large, single toilet that was designed for kids in wheelchairs, there they helped Niall out of his wet pants (which, according to Josh, had happened when Niall had been told he would be in trouble and was sent to the office but after crying himself sick in the office Josh was called and he had taken him to Mr. Higgins' room) and cleaned up his messy face which helped him calm a bit more. On the drive home Zayn sat in the back with Niall and held his hand while Liam drove. By the time they arrived back at their flat Niall had cried himself to exhaustion, much to the relief of his foster parents. Zayn carried him upstairs and into the master bedroom.
'I think bath and then a lie down is in order.' Liam said, helping Niall out of his school uniform. Zayn agreed but Niall looked apprehensive of the two men and protectively wrapped his arms around his midsection.
'You're alright love.' Liam assured the boy, picking him up and carrying him into the en suite while Zayn turned on the water. 'Go with Zayn for a moment while I get changed okay?'
Niall was passed off to Zayn while Liam changed into sweat pants, the process repeated for Zayn afterwards and by that time the bath was ready. Niall reluctantly pulled off his pants and allowed Liam to lift him into the shallow water. He was praised once he was in and although he liked that and it made him feel a bit better he missed Joey and he was ready to get out the moment he went in. When he was lifted out though he found that Liam had laid his favorite PJ's over the heated towel rack so they were nice and warm when he slipped them on over his Batman undies.
He was carried to the big bed, which he'd long ago decided was the comfiest bed in the world and laid down in between his foster parents.
'Love you Nialler.' Liam said, shutting off the lights.
'Love you babe.' Zayn said to him, lying on his stomach and putting a protective arm around the blonde child.
For the first night since school started Niall slept peacefully and without any frightening dreams.
xXx
Over the next week Niall slowly started to get back to normal; he was eating his lunch again, he was sleeping better, smiling more, crying less and not needing his spare trousers anymore. Needless to say Zayn and Liam were impressed by the turn around Mr. Higgins was causing in their son. Niall also began coming home with small books to read and when someone was sitting on the couch reading he would sit with them and read the book, following the words with his fingers, a little frown on his face and his lips twitching. Though Niall was reading at home they couldn't tell whether or not he was progressing because he wouldn't read aloud and his writing wasn't good enough to be able to write about what he was reading just yet.
What they didn't realize though was that Niall was still really struggling with his reading; it just wasn't making any sense at all. One afternoon when he was in the ABC room with Mr. Higgins he got so frustrated with the moving words that he slammed the book down onto the table and buried his head in his arms, he was just too stupid for school and that was that. Paul looked up from his papers at the boy across from him and raised an eyebrow. Niall moaned in self-pity.
'Yes?' Paul asked calmly. Niall didn't even look up as he shoved the book across the desk to Paul. 'Bored already Niall?'
Niall picked his head up and gave him a dark look; no he was not bored because he couldn't even read the damn thing! Paul flipped through the book and looked between it and the child in front of him.
'Niall do the words look odd to you when you try and read them?' He asked. No shit! Niall thought, giving him a face Louis would've been proud of. Paul frowned in thought and walked over to his desk, pulling out a coloured paper slip and bringing it back to Niall with the book. He opened the book and placed it in front of Niall with the slip over it.
'What do you see now?' He asked. Niall was just about to give him another glare until he really looked at the paper and lo and behold! The words! They didn't look so odd anymore! Paul smiled when he got a little gasp from Niall and he focused on the page in front of him, his eyes pouring over the words.
'Alright, get through two pages of that and then we can have a cuppa and work on your writing.' Paul said, going back to his seat.
For the first time ever Niall understood words on paper.
He didn't even care that Paul had to call his foster dads and have a talk about something called 'Dyslexia' because it didn't matter, because he could read.
As they left that afternoon he suddenly pulled his hand out of Liam's and ran back to Paul, hugging him tightly around the middle before running back to Liam and Zayn, a whole stash of books in his knapsack along with the coloured sheet.
xXx
With reading a whole new world opened itself up to Niall as he learned to read; he started to help Zayn and Liam in the kitchen, reading the recipes and then finding the matching ingredients in the cupboards, finding books for Zayn and looking up pictures. He loved them all because they were new and exciting and they were his, no one could take knowledge away from him! As he learned more and more he began to become interested in Liam and Zayn themselves.
One day he found a book on the shelf called History with pictures of really cool things that looked ancient, so he took it to Liam and pointed to the book with a questioning look. Liam looked it over curiously.
'That's a History book love, not a story book.' He said, reaching out to take it. Niall whined and pulled it away, he wanted to know what it meant!
'Do you want to look at it?' Liam asked, trying to understand. Niall nodded and tugged on Liam's hand to signal that he wanted Liam to help him. Liam smiled and they went to the couch, as they sat down Niall plunked the book into Liam's lap and tapped the title.
'History, to the sixteenth century.' Liam read, about to flip the book open if it wasn't for Niall whining again and tapping the title more pointedly. 'Oh! Do you want to know what that means?'
The child nodded vigorously and looked up at him, ready to soak up the new knowledge. 'Well it's like a background of something see, like from when you're born to yesterday is your history and today is your present and tomorrow is your future. This book is about England's history from the time it was born to a specific time.' He explained. Niall nodded slowly and thought for a long moment before tapping the word History and then Liam's chest.
'I don't understand...' Liam frowned, trying to figure out what Niall meant. Niall huffed and tapped on the book title and then on Liam again.
'History, Liam, Liam, history. Liam's History?' He asked, looking down at the boy. Niall's face broke into a grin and he nodded eagerly. Liam smiled at him fondly and moved the book to pull Niall into his lap. Liam began to tell him about his life, starting with primary school and working his way up, talking about his mum, dad, sisters, being bullied, boxing, meeting Andy, going to high school and then college, the people he met, Harry, Louis, Zayn, their attempt at trying to be the next greatest hit in the music world and how that had crashed and burned.
Niall lapped it all up eagerly, giggling at the funny stories and getting somber on the sad ones. After Liam had finished it was well past Niall's bedtime and he was falling asleep where he sat; no matter how hard he tried to stay awake. Liam kissed his nose and helped him get ready for bed and then tucked him in.
'Goodnight my love.' He murmured, turning on the night light. As he stood in the doorway and watched Niall fall asleep he sighed softly. 'Maybe one day we'll get to hear Niall's history eh?'
xXx
The next morning was Saturday and Niall was awake early and eager to hear Zayn's story now. He patiently held onto the book all throughout breakfast and morning telly and Zayn reading the morning paper but as soon as he set the paper down Niall rushed up and pushed the book into his lap before clamouring up to sit on his knee.
'What on earth...' Zayn muttered, looking from the book to the excited child. 'You want me to read this too you? Bit dry don't you think?'
Niall shook his head and pointed to history and then to Zayn, after multiple times of doing this Niall was frustrated and Zayn was confused. Finally Niall poked Zayn hard in the chest and slowly traced out the word 'histry' across him. Suddenly it clicked for him;
'You want to know my history?' He asked. Niall nodded eagerly and settled in for another story telling. Again he was told about a mother, a father, sisters and such but this time there were words from another language thrown in that Zayn called Urdu. He listened as Zayn told him a story, the story was okay but what Zayn called his father was what Niall found interesting; he called him Baba which was what he explained was father in that language from a faraway place called Pakistan.
Later that day he pulled out his school book and flipped it a blank page. On it he drew three stick figures, two tall and one rather short, the short one was in between the two big ones and had a big smile on its' face. Underneath the first tall one there was Dadywritten, below the small one there was Niall and below the last was Baba. Niall admired his handiwork happily, ripping the page out and putting it underneath his pillow.
This was his family.