Neighbors (Liam Payne AU)

Part 5

"Momma? I'm hungry." Arden poked his mother, waking her up.

Eva opened her eyes. She sat up, for a moment confused as to where she was. Then she remembered the fort. Looking around, she saw that Liam was still sleeping. So were his children. She nodded at Arden and crawled out of the tent. The fire was dying, but she noticed that power seemed to be back on. The lights over the bar were on and some of Harry's game systems were flashing. She sighed in relief and headed up the stairs to make something for lunch.

She decided on grilled cheese sandwiches and was in the middle of fixing them when Liam and the kids appeared from the basement. "Hey." Liam said. "Ava used the toilet before..."

"Oh, no! That toilet is broken!" Eva cried. She knew Harry would be livid. He'd told her and Arden more than once not to use that bathroom. She could hear the fight starting in her head.

Liam held up his hand. "It's okay." he said. "I fixed it. The parts were right there on the floor. It was easy."

Eva looked at him, her shock showing on her face. "You did what?" She'd be asking Harry to fix it for months. She had bought the parts. She had put them by the toilet. He just 'never had time' and told he'd do it when he did. He'd thrown a fit when she'd bought the parts and saw her reading the directions. He kept yelling that he'd do it and she need to stop nagging him. He'd do it when he had time.

"I fixed it. It flushes fine now. It's dirty from the standing water, though. Do you have a can of coke? It will clean it."

Eva shook her head, trying to clear it. "Uh, maybe? In the basement? In the bar fridge?" Liam nodded and turned to go back down the stairs. She watched him walked down, still in a bit of a stupor.

"Momma?" Eva looked at Arden. "Can we eat?"

Eva pulled herself together, trying to forget about Harry's reaction and just be happy it was fixed. "Sure. Here." She handed him a plate with three sandwiches on it and watched him walk to the table. Ave and Jamie followed, sitting and grabbing food. Eva placed the last two in the pan, turning to the fridge to grab grapes for the children. She washed them, put them in a bowl and took them to the table.

Liam reappeared. "We will need to flush it in a few hours. The coke cleans all of that scum off the sides."

"Oh, Liam." Eva said. "Thank you so much. It will be so much easier to have a potty down there this summer. It's been broken forever."

He smiled and nodded, walking to the pan and turning the sandwiches. "I like to fix things." he said. "I like to feel useful."

Eva thought fast. What else needed to be done? She looked up. Light bulbs. She couldn't reach them, even on a stool. Harry was too busy to change them. "Could you...maybe?" She looked up at the ceiling. Two of her pot lights were out.

He looked up. "Do you have the bulbs?" he asked. She nodded and opened the pantry door. Reaching in, she pulled out a pack of light bulbs. Liam took them and in less than a minute, all of her kitchen lights were glowing. "You've got a light out in the fixture there." he said, pointing to the lights over the table. He walked over and changed that, too. "Anymore?" he asked.

Eva hated to asked, but she couldn't stop herself. She nodded. "Upstairs? In my bathroom and bedroom? I just can't reach."

Liam turned off the stove and then followed Eva up the stairs. "Jesus." he said. "This house it huge. I thought ours was big, but you've got three full floors! We just have a walk out basement and the first floor."

Eva nodded. "I know. The people who used to live there? We were friends? They were a coast guard family. Moved to Alaska."

Liam nodded. "Explains why you showed up that first day. People don't do that anymore." He laughed.

Eva blushed. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's nice. Having a friend? It's been awhile. I mean, work friends are great, but we weren't living in the best neighborhood before. All of my school friends are still in Ann Arbor. It's been hard, being here. It's a very different life that our life in Ann Arbor. It's been all about our kids here, not us, Sophia and I? It's just..different." He shrugged.

They stepped into the master bedroom. Eva pointed up at the ceiling fan. Two of the bulbs in the light fixture was were out. He had them changed in moments. Then he replaced the burned out bulb in the bathroom. "What happened there?" he asked, pointing to a trash bag covering part of the shower. It was a shelf, built right into the shower. She'd managed to put her foot through it, creating a hole in the plastic. Harry had covered it with a trash bag and duct tape. Eva quickly explained all of this to Liam. He nodded. "I can fix that, but it's not a one day job. Also, you'd be better off to just pull out the liner and tile it. I tiled the shower at our old house. I can teach you? It's nearly summer. It would be a fun project."

Eva nodded. "I'd love that. I shouldn't be able to put my foot though tile, right? I am so clumsy."

"Well, good thing you brought me pie. I'm good a fixing things that clumsy people break."

Feeling better. More soon. - Eva