"This was easier two kids ago, Niall" she yelled up to her husband. Hiking was no joke, and while they used to do it all the time while they were dating and the early part of their marriage, now that they were both wearing children on their backs and the LA summer heat was bearing down on the pair of them, it was much harder. "Babe, its alright, we're almost done. Its only a mile or two back to the car and then you can relax in the pool when we get home."
The child currently sleeping in the Ergo baby carrier on Niall's back had just turned four and was much heavier than the two year old his wife was wearing in hers. Both little girls asleep with their blonde locks plastered to their foreheads. "I'm just a little out of shape since the girls were born, that's all. I appreciate you carrying her though because I'm pretty sore just from this little one."
"We'll get you back in shape and in no time the girls will be running along side of us and it will be easier than carrying them this long." Twenty minutes later they were still pretty far from the car when both little girls wanted their mother. "I'll just carry both till they calm down, Ni and you can take one back. Ill consider it my weight training for the day." "If you're sure, love. Ill run ahead and get the car and see if I can bring it any closer to you." With one girl in the carrier on her back and the other with her arms wrapped around her mothers neck to her front, she does her best to soothe both girls while getting them closer to the end of their journey.
Leaving his three girls walking down the path, a few minutes later it starts to rain, and not just a light sprinkle that will cool them off enough, but downpour. It was not supposed to rain!, she thinks to herself, now trying to walk faster carrying both girls. By the time she gets to the car Niall hasn't been able to make it much farther ahead of them, but he sees his struggling wife and takes one of his crying daughters and loads her up into the Range Rover. Y/n loads the other one in and collapses into the front seat.
"My chest hurts. Why did I think I could do that? I might be having a heart attack, Ni. Which arm hurts when you're having a heart attack? Its definitely this one." He hands her a bottle of water and she takes it, hoping it will help her calm down. "Feel better?" "I just gotta lay down when we get home." Its a short trip home, but its long enough that the patter of the rain on the roof of the car lulls the girls back to sleep, so when Niall pulls into the garage of their home, he tells his wife to wait for him there and then carries one daughter inside and lays her down before coming back for the youngest. "You need help to get out of the car, y/n?" "I'm good, just waiting for you to come back." and as she goes to stand, her legs shake a little and so she waits for her husband to finish laying both daughters down and he puts his arm under her around her shoulder and helps her into the house.
"So, the pool is out, do you want me to draw you a bath?"
"I just want to lay down, can you help me shower instead so I can get all this sweat off?"
Niall had a pretty big shower. In fact the first time Y/N saw it she swore he could throw a small dinner party in the shower, let alone the rest of the enormous bathroom.
He carefully helps her to the bathroom and gently removes her shorts and workout top. Sitting her on the counter top so she doesn't fall, he lights some of her aromatherapy candles and then helps her take the rest of her sweaty clothing off before turning on the shower to the proper temperature. Quickly removing his own clothes, he lifts her back up and they step into the stream of warm water. She immediately rests her head in his neck and mumbles to him something about shampoo that he barely makes out, but takes a guess and grabs the bottle from the corner shelf and starts lathering her hair and rinsing it, letting the soap slide down her body. "don forget the conditioner, my hair gets all grumpy without it" she mumbles again.
He lightly laughs at her sleepyness and how cute she is, and grabs the conditioner before massaging it into her hair. He sets her down on the tiled bench in the shower before grabbing the loofa and pouring entirely too much body wash into it, but shes too tired and sore to say anything, and lathers the rose smelling soap all over her sweaty body. He quickly washes his own hair and body before rinsing them and turning the faucet off. He opens the door and wraps a towel around himself before wrapping a matching one around her.
Scooping her up in his arms, he carries her to the adjoining bedroom and lays his sleepy wife on the bed.
"Is it alright if i put some lotion on for you?" she sort of mumbles a 'mmhmm' into the pillow and after slipping on some boxers he sits on the bed next to her and rubs some lotion into her aching back before moving to her arms and shoulders. "Don't fall asleep on me yet, I want you to take some aspirin too."
But before he can return to her with the aspirin from the bathroom and a bottle of water from the kitchen she is fast asleep.
When she wakes up, she sees the pills and water hes set out for her and takes them. Hes also set out one of his old shirts, and some clean undies and sleep shorts for her to put on. Its starting to get dark, but she puts the clean clothes on and starts walking down the hall and hears giggles coming from their daughters room.
Leaning on the door frame, she looks in and there are two freshly bathed little girls in pajamas and a very tired Daddy sat between them on the older girls bed reading to them from their favorite book.
Not wanting to interrupt such a cute moment of daddy and daughter time, she wanders downstairs to see Niall's friend Louis at their kitchen counter. "What are you doing here, Lou?"
He looks up from his phone, "Niall called when he was walking to the car saying he might need help entertaining the girls for a while. Something about how you weren't feeling well and you're his top priority. Wanted someone to be here in case the girls woke up before he wanted them to, but all I've really done is sit here and watched them play while he made them dinner. I wanted to stay to make sure you're alright"
"Thank you for helping him. He can get a little stressed when its just him and the girls. He likes to have a second set of hands. Are there any leftovers?"
"Sure, have a seat, let me" and he gets up and moves so she can sit at the counter while he goes to the fridge to gather the items.
After a while, Louis leaves and Y/N cleans up the kitchen and then heads back upstairs wondering where her husband got to, knowing the girls should be in bed already.
And when she reaches the door frame of the room shared by her little girls, she sees something that warms her heart more than Niall tending to her every need, despite how tired he must have been. There on the tiny twin bed are three of the people she loves the most, snuggled up together in their PJ's, all asleep with the book thrown to the floor. The littles trying their best to cuddle their daddy with their tiny arms draped over his broad shoulders and chest and his arms reaching around holding both of them to him.
Pulling out her phone and snapping a picture captioning it,
#bestdaddyever
