Motel 6 // n.h

[31] Doctor

  "It's the middle of the night, baby." Avery chuckled.

  "But you going swimming!" Aimee argued. I had almost forgotten- Avery and I were in our swimsuits, and our hair was wet. We were caught in the act, and now we couldn't lie to Aimee. I didn't want to, anyways, I'd never want to be a bad example for her.

  "Okay, Aimee, we'll take you up swimming for a bit. But you gotta be good okay?" I looked her in the eye so that she knew I was being serious. She squealed and jumped up and down on the bed. "Where's her bathing suit?"

  "In her back, stuffed somewhere." Avery admitted. "I cannot believe we're taking her swimming in the middle of the night. Such great parenting." She joked.

  "We're fun parents, though! All of Aimee's friends are gonna love us when she's older." I reminded her, grabbing a yellow polka-dot bikini from Aimee's backpack. I had to admit- it was the most adorable thing that I'd ever seen. I was turning into a softie.

  Avery quickly changed Aimee into her bathing suit while I grabbed her a towel for when she need to dry off. I just hoped that the others were still up there, because I knew Harry wanted to teach Aimee how to swim.

  "Come on, lets go swimming!" I announced, trying to get Aimee to forget about the little episode that we had just had. And I know what Avery was thinking the same thing, and that was the only reason she agreed to take Aimee swimming. We just wanted her to feel better.

  "I'm gonna be a fishy." Aimee told me as I held her tightly. We were climbing up the stairs to the top deck and out into the hot air. I could see some of the boys waving us over and I grabbed Avery's hand with one arm and secured my grip on Aimee with the other.

  "There she is!" Louis exclaimed, hopping out of the pool to meet up with us. He quickly tried to take Aimee from me, but I didn't want him to. It made me nervous with her around the pool- she couldn't touch or swim. "Come on, mate." He chuckled.

  "I'm gonna hold onto her for now." I said, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck. "She just had one of her attacks and I want her to be careful around the pool."

  "I second that." Avery said, standing beside me. "I think we're going to stay in the shallow end for now." She giggled. Aimee reached over for her mum and I let Avery take her as Louis frowned at us, not really understanding. You can't understand the things parents worry about until you actually become one yourself.

  "Look who's up!" Harry said from the deep end. His hair was wet, which meant that his curls weren't as loose and they bunched up around his face. I always liked his hair like that, it reminded me of the X Factor days from years ago. 

  "Momma, I wanna swim!" Aimee complained. I watched closely as Avery took Aimee to the shallow end and they stepped down into the heated pool. Avery was careful with her, holding her hand the entire way and then finally scooping her up when the water reached her chin. I knew that she would watch her closely.

  "You're whipped. Not just by your girlfriend, but you're daddy whipped by that little girl." Louis chuckled, still standing beside me. He grinned and put his hands on his hips as we watched the two girls join Darcy in the shallow end.

  "Parenting has corrupted me, mate." I laughed, shaking my head.

  "I think you're a wonderful dad." Louis mused. "I see how you take care of Aimee. Almost as well as Avery, actually. And Avery does so much for that little girl, so that's a lot." I chuckled.

  "I wanna make up for everything, ya know? All those years of being hurt by Jake, I feel like it's my job to make that up to 'em. And I'm going to do that." I promised him. "We're gonna try and get the papers together for Aimee's last name to change."

  "Really?" Louis asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you think the fans will think? They don't even know Avery, let alone Aimee."

  "I reckon a few will be mad, but I hope they understand." I smiled. "I've never had a serious relationship before and I just hope they're nice to 'em." Just thinking about this was stressing me out, I had never really given this subject much thought.

  "So," Louis sighed. "What happened down there?"

  "She had another panic attack." I said, sitting on the side of the pool. Louis sat down beside me and put his feet in the water. "This is the second one, so we got a doctor and he got her some medicine, or something." It was all a bit confused to me. "And she's gonna go into counseling."

  "Seems rough." Louis admitted. "It's a good thing she has you and Avery." He leaned back on his elbows and I watched as Harry was trying to instruct Aimee on how to swim. So far, though, she just clung to Avery's arm.

  "It'll all work in the end." I said at last.

  "I believe you, man." He nodded.

  "Daddy, look at me!" Aimee squealed, kicking her legs in the water. I laughed and both Louis and I clapped for her as she held onto Harry's tattooed arm. I had only known these two for around three months, and they already felt like close family to me. Heck, they were close family to me now.

  "Just watch out for those paps." Louis said, interrupting my thoughts. "They can be brutal when you're in a relationship, and if they find out there's a kid involved they'll go mad." He shook his head. I hadn't thought about that, either. I really had to protect their identity wherever we went.

  "Thanks, Lou." I smiled, slapping his knee. "Don't know what I'd do without ya."

  "Probably die." Louis said bluntly, causing us both to erupt in laughter. I felt like I could always come to Louis for anything- whether it be to have a laugh or get some serious advice. And now since talking to him, I felt a bit better about the whole panic attack situation. I just hoped now that everything would go as planned.

  Suddenly, I saw Sam run up to the rooftop. He was wearing shorts and a wife beater, and his face was a bit alarmed. What had gone wrong now? I just prayed that nothing was going to happen now, right when things were starting to simmer down.

  "Everyone, they're talking about Kate Winters on the news!"

  a/n:

 

  yay for aimee getting better!

  comment, vote, fan, ily :*

 - x Delilah