Keep Me Safe (Sequel to Take Me Home)

Chapter Forty-Nine

Christmas music was playing in the background. Liam and Zayn were curled up on the couch, both with a mug of coffee in their hands and legs curled up beneath them as they watched their boys sitting on the floor around the tree, opening the last of their gifts.

Louis was already stuffing his face full of the chocolates that he had been given, Harry was wearing the new hoodie he had been given with the hood tugged up over his curls, and Niall was trying to get Cooper to sit still so that he could put his new collar on him.

The morning thus far had gone well. Granted, it had been a little quieter - everyone had been more tired than usual after the late night disturbance, and Niall was clearly anxious about Nana and Gramps coming over as he hadn't said a lot other than 'thank you' for the gifts, eyes constantly glancing at the clock hung above the mantle piece.

Liam set his empty cup down on the coffee table, sitting up with a stretch. "Right, I'm gonna make a start on breakfast before I start the dinner," he said, stretching.

Before he could stand up though, Harry quickly shook his head.

"Wait, Dad!" he called, reaching beneath the tree and pulling out a medium sized box, wrapped up with plain paper that had been coloured in with felt tips.

He held it out for the two men to take, and Liam sat back down with a confused look as their three sons moved a little closer to the couch.

"Sorry about the paper, we couldn't afford any wrapping paper so we had to make our own," their oldest son explained with a shy smile.

Liam smiled back and shook his head as Zayn let out a soft laugh.

"I love it...I take it Lou drew the Christmas tree over here," he said, pointing at the green and red scribble on the side.

Louis pouted at that, folding his arms over his chest. "Hey!" he huffed. "That's meant to be an elf, we can't all be good artists," he added with a grumble, which made everyone laugh.

Liam looked over the paper for a while longer, the carefully drawn lines of a reindeer that Harry had clearly added, the precisely coloured details that Niall must have filled in, the giant 'MERRY CHRISTMAS DADS' written in Lou's handwriting. It made his chest feel all warm.

"You know you boys didn't have to get us anything," he said softly. They had never received a Christmas gift from the boys personally before. When they were younger, Zayn and Liam would buy presents for each other and sign them from the boys. This was new, and it meant a lot to him, regardless of what was inside. He didn't care about the present, he cared about the thought that had clearly gone into it.

"It's not much," Harry said softly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We didn't have much. We sorta had to put all our change together and do what we could with it...and we got Cal to help a little," he explained.

Carefully, the two men peeled back the paper, neither of them wanting to rip through the artwork of their sons. After a few moments, Louis let out a huff.

"Jesus, it's like watching a couple of pensioners trying to open a packet of crisps. Just rip it!" he sassed, and Liam almost snorted at the exasperated tone of the brunet boy's voice because that was the sound of the old Louis coming back - the one who was sassy and loud and funny, not angry and miserable all the time.

"Alright, alright," Zayn said with a chuckle, holding up his hands as if in surrender as Liam peeled away the last of the paper and set it aside gently.

Inside was a photo frame, white and delicately crafted. There were gentle patterns in the wood, swirls and crevises that made it look like it cost a little more than 'all their change put together'. That wasn't what drew Liam's attention though.