One Shots

Madison&Liam

"Miss Mady?" a small voice asks as a hand tugs at my pant leg. I look down to see Thomas, one of the young boys at the daycare center, trying to get my attention.

"Yes Thomas?" I ask squatting down in front of him with a smile.

"Guess what" he says excitedly.

"What?" I ask playing along.

"My cousin is picking me up today" he says his face lighting up.

"Really?" I ask with mock surprise. He'd been telling everyone all day. Apparently it was a big deal. His cousin had been gone for months or something. He nods his head enthusiastically. "Well I can't wait to meet him,” I say with a smile. "If he's anywhere as cute as you we'll get along great,” I say ruffling his hair as I stand up. He smiles up at me before running back off to the other kids. I head back to my desk to finish up a few things before the end of the day ritual. I rest my forehead on my hand as I bend over the desk my eyes skimming the papers. A stray piece of hair falls in my eyes and I tuck it behind me ear when I hear a knock on the door. I look up in surprise, casting a quick glance at the clock to make sure I hadn't lost track of time. No, it was to early for parents to come. Through the door window, I see a boy about my age looking in. I walk over and open the door.

"Can I help you?" I ask.

"Yea, erm, I'm Thomas's cousin. I was supposed to pick him up,” he says glancing in the room. Thomas looks over having heard his name and his face brightens seeing the guy beside me.

"LiLi!" he cries running over jumping on the guy.

"Hey TomTom" the boy says scooping him up into a hug.

"LiLi?" I ask with a grin raising my eyebrow at this boy. He blushes slightly.

"TomTom here" he says poking Thomas in the stomach causing him to giggle and squirm "couldn't pronounce my name when he was younger so he called me LiLi" he explains.

"Of course" I say nodding my head trying to keep a straight face. "Well it's nice to meet you LiLi,” I say biting back the smile threatening to break out on my face. He chuckles before shifting Thomas to his hip and extending his hand.

"You can call me Liam,” he says with smile. I grip his hand shaking it.

"The kids call me Miss Mady but you can call me Madison" I say with a smile. I drop his hand and I look between him and Thomas who was gazing at his cousin adoringly.

"So you're a little early, there's still our music circle left but if you want to check Thomas out and leave now that's fine" I say. Liam looks at Thomas who is looking at him with a hopeful expression.

"We can stay" he says with a shrug earning a cheer from Thomas. Thomas starts squirming trying to get out of Liam's grasp and Liam lets him down. Thomas runs off to his friends to tell them, leaving Liam and I there. "So do you need help setting anything up?" he asks rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Sure" I reply, surprised he'd volunteered to help. "If you want to set up the circle mats then I'll go get the snack. He nods his head and I direct him towards where the mats are stored before heading into the back to grab the snack. I'd made some cookies the night before as a special treat for the kids. I set them out on a plate and thing a carton of juice boxes for the kids before walking out to see Liam putting the last of the mats in a circle. I set the plate and juice down on the table and clap my hands to get the kids attention.

"Circle time,” I announce "Everyone take a seat on a mat." The kids all scramble to find a mat and I watch with amusement as Liam follows suit. I let out a laugh seeing him sitting cross-legged on a mat. "The grownups get chairs,” I say biting my lip to hide the growing smile. His face turns pink and he scrambles up, pulling over two chairs as I walk over with the cookies and juice, handing the kids one of each. "Would you like a cookie to LiLi?" I ask teasingly as I get to him, offering him the plate.

"I'd love one Miss Mady" he replies jokingly taking a cookie. He takes a bite before looking up at me in surprise. "This is really good" he says through a mouthful of cookie, taking another bite. I laugh, nodding my head before handing a cookie to the next kid. After everyone gets a cookie, I set the plate down and grab my guitar from the corner, sitting in the chair beside Liam.

"LiLi are you going to sing?" Thomas pipes up and I look over at Liam raising an eyebrow offering him the guitar. Lets see if this boy could sing. Liam shakes his head no though.

"It's Miss Mady's turn,” he explains to a pouting Thomas. "Besides, you've hear me all the time." he adds with a grin.

"But they haven't" Thomas whines. Liam glances over at me and I shrug my shoulders.

"Maybe at the end" he concedes reluctantly and Thomas smiles, content with this. We sing through a couple of sing-a-long songs like Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa Black sheep before I start taking suggestions for songs. Normally I play a couple of oldies to expose the kids to good music instead of all the junk that's on the radio now a days so I play. I play Yellow Submarine and Blackbird before finally conceding to play a current song that they'd know.

"Does anyone have any suggestions?" I ask. Thomas's hand shoots up. "Yes Thomas?" I ask

"What makes you beautiful" he says looking at Liam with what I can only assume is a smirk.

"Uh, I don't think I know that song" I say confused looking between Thomas and Liam who seemed to be having a stare down.

"LiLi does,” he says triumphantly and I look at Liam who was now staring at me in shock.

"What?" I ask confused.

"I thought you had just been playing it cool when I walked in, you seriously don't know the song?" he asks.

"No..." I say slowly. Why was he so shocked?

"Ok, I'll play then" he says and I hand him the guitar as a cheer erupts from the kids. I sit back in my seat as he strums the intro before launching into the song. I swear my mouth must have dropped to the ground when he began singing. He had the voice of an angel. What was he doing singing in some daycare center? He should be on stage touring the world or something. The song itself was a little to poppy for my taste but with a voice like that it really didn't matter.

"You can shut your mouth you know" he says I snap out of my shock to see him smirking at me. I quickly close my mouth as he hands me back the guitar.

"Well I don't think I'm going to top that so that's it for today" I say to the kids with a laugh, glancing up at the door to see some parents had arrived. I nod at the parents looking in the door, acknowledging them out there so they can come in.

I start signing the kids out to their parents, chatting a few minutes with the parents that ask how their kids were. Soon the kids are gone and I glance around, my eyes falling on Liam who was cleaning up the toys in the back while Thomas flipped through a book at a table. "You know you didn't have to stay and clean up" I say walking back over to him. He shrugs, throwing the last of the toys in the cabinet and turns to look at me.

"I didn't want you to have to do it all" he says with a smile.

"You know, anytime you want to come and play for the kids, you're more than welcome to" I say jokingly. He laughs, nodding his head slightly.

"It depends. Will there be cookies?" he asks with a grin making me laugh.

"I'm sure that can be arranged,” I say with a smile.

"Then I'll be back again tomorrow" he says with a grin "And maybe after, we could drop Thomas off at home, then go get dinner or something?" he asks. My eyes widen in surprise but I manager to nod my head.

"Yea sure" I agree, a small smile forming on my face.

"Well it was nice meeting you then Miss Mady,” he says with a grin extending his hand.

"And nice to meet you Mister Carter” I respond shaking his hand, using Thomas's last name figuring since they were cousins...

"Actually it's Payne,” he says with a smile. "Liam Payne"