End Up Here (Ziam AU)

Chapter One Hundred Thirteen

"At least stay for dinner, as a thank you" Liam insists again, and Zayn laughs Liam's been trying to pay his mum back for the teething help for about half an hour now, and she's been adamantly refusing, which is making his husband increasingly more frustrated. Zayn sends his mum a pleading look, catching her slight nod in return as she bounces a much happier Zack on her lap, "alright fine" she agrees and Liam cheers as Zayn shakes his head at him. Zayn moves his gaze to Bella where she's laying on the floor in front of where Chloe is sprawled out, offering her baby sister toys and giggling wildly when Chloe grabs them from her hands and stuffs them into her mouth. The atmosphere is so much calmer than it was just over an hour ago and Zayn feels like he can breathe and think again. "Okay I'm ordering Chinese, any requests?" Liam asks suddenly, standing up, when he doesn't get any kind of response he nods, grabbing Zayn's wrist to tug him along behind him to the kitchen.

Zayn furrows his eyebrows confused at his husband as soon as Liam let's go of his wrist, "what's up?" Zayn asks and Liam shrugs, "just wanted a few minutes with you, to make sure you're alright" he answers. Zayn can't help but smile at that and lets himself fall into Liam's arms, hugging the older man tightly, "thank you" he murmurs. Liam presses a kiss to his head and removes one hand from around Zayn to dial his phone, keeping Zayn's body pressed to his as he places the order for their dinner, ordering way more food than they need, as always. Once he hangs up Zayn arches an eyebrow at his husband who smiles widely before he leans down, and Zayn is all too happy to kiss him back, but Liam pulls away way too soon, making Zayn pout. 

"Remember I wanted to talk to you earlier?" Liam asks and Zayn swallows thickly as he nods, remembering the conversation before Liam had taken Bella out, which seemed like days ago, not just a few hours. "Well I was thinking, that we never got to go on a honeymoon, because of the babies' sudden and slightly early appearance, and I found all the information I had about it. I want to take you to Barcelona Zee" Liam murmurs. Zayn furrows his eyebrows in confusion, because they can't go away right now, can they? "Liam, I don't know, the babies, and-" he starts, but Liam cuts him off, "I know, but we can leave the kids with your mum, or mine, and we'll just go for a week. We need some time to ourselves Zayn" Liam insists. Zayn looks into Liam's eyes and he looks so sincere and so loving that Zayn bites his lip as he thinks. "When?" he asks and Liam shrugs "we can wait a couple more months, but I want to start planning it all" he answers. Zayn sighs and nods his head, he's always dreamed of going to Barcelona, but he never thought it would happen, and Liam's right they do need this. "Okay" he mumbles and Liam scoops him into a bone crushing hug, "okay?" Liam asks and Zayn nods, "yeah. Get planning it" he answers, before Liam is pressing a firm, but loving kiss to his lips.

Zayn leads Liam back into the living room to see Zack whimpering in Trisha's arms, "oh Bubba, what's wrong?" Zayn coos, stepping around the two girls on the floor to get closer. Zack's head swivels, looking for the source of the familiar voice, and Zayn scoops him into his arms cuddling him close, "I think his teeth are bothering him again" Trisha offers and Zayn pouts, kissing the boy's forehead. "Let's get you something for that, hmm?" Zayn hums, moving towards the kitchen, to retrieve one of the cold toys from the freezer, he passes it down to Zack , waiting until he's sure the four month old has his fingers wrapped securely around it before he lets go. It's only a second later that Zack stuffs the toy into his mouth, sucking and chewing on it happily, the whimpers stopping as abruptly as they started and Zayn sighs in relief. "He alright?" Liam asks, as soon as Zayn's back in the room and Zayn nods, "yup. That seems to be helping" he answers, gesturing to the teething ring in Zack's chubby hand. Liam smiles and Zayn takes a moment to take everything in, from his mum, where she has now moved so she's sitting on the floor with Bella and Chloe, to Liam's concerned face as he watches his babies. Smiling to himself Zayn moves to set Zack on the carpet with his sisters, sitting down and setting the four month old in front of his legs, sitting on his bum, this way when he falls backwards, Zayn will be able to catch him and keep him from thumping his head on the floor.

Zack doesn't tip over though, he stays sitting exactly the way Zayn put him down and Zayn's eyes widen in shock, Bella had sat relatively early as well, she was just a little over five months when she had done the same thing Zack is doing now to Zayn. "Liam" Zayn calls reaching backwards to hit his husband's shins lightly, making Liam turn to him, "wait, is he?" Liam asks cutting off as he drops to sit beside Zayn, and Zayn nods, "look" he points to the space, between Zack's back and his own legs, the boy isn't leaning on him at all. "Oh my big boy" Liam coos, and Zack grins at him around the toy still shoved in his mouth. Zayn can feel tears prickling in his eyes, he's not ready for this. Trisha is suddenly rubbing his back "they're still your babies Zayn. Teeth and sitting up are just things that they need to become a little more independent, and that's okay" she murmurs. Zayn just sniffles nodding his head, "but they're so little,Mum" he whines and feels Liam's soothing touch in his hair, "and they still need us Zee, they always will. I mean look at us, we definitely still need our parents" Liam mumbles. Zayn chuckles lightly, nodding his head and wiping at his eyes, "you're gonna give Baba a hard time aren't you Bubba?" Zayn asks, "two milestones in one day, slow down a little Bubs" Zayn murmurs. Zack babbles nonsense at him in return, which makes all three adults laugh lightly, just as there's a knock on the door, which makes the dog bark and startles Zack so he tips backwards into Zayn's lap.

It's not until all three kids are asleep and Zayn and Liam are alone in their bed that he brings up the trip to Barcelona again, "when we go, can whoever stays with the kids stay here? So they have their stuff and surroundings, when we're not here" Zayn asks hearing Liam chuckle and feeling it vibrate through his chest, which he's snuggled up on. "Of course Zee. I already figured that, because otherwise we need to come up with cribs for the twins" Liam hums, pressing a kiss to Zayn's forehead. Zayn nods, snuggling back into Liam "can we please just stop time? I don't want my babies growing up anymore" he pouts and Liam starts rubbing a hand up and down his back. "We can't stop time, Zee and I know you know that from Bella, but we can enjoy every minute" Liam assures him and Zayn nods, remembering Zack had sat on his own several more times that evening, as if to prove it wasn't just a one time thing, and Zayn just hopes he doesn't miss too much of what's to come when they go away.