Keep Me Safe (Sequel to Take Me Home)

Chapter Forty-Nine

Instead, his eyes were glued to the picture within the frame. It was one from the start of summer, only a month or so before everything had fallen apart.

He remembered the day like it was yesterday. They had woken up to find that the sun was high in the sky, it was hot but with a gentle breeze, and the whole world had just felt right. They had wound up going to the beach, completely unplanned. Just chucked a couple of blankets in the boot, bought a bucket and spade or two from a shop on the way, and they had driven for nearly three hours to the seaside.

The boys had actually gotten along for the entire journey there for once, no bickering about who was sitting where or what song was staying on. Instead, they'd had the windows open so that their hair was blown away from their faces and colour was painting their cheeks, laughing and joking about some video they had seen, playing I-Spy, all leaning in to take photos with funny faces on Louis phone in the middle.

They had stayed at the beach all day. Running around, wading into the sea, building sand castles and searching through the rock pools for the most interesting things they could find. Harry had been pinched by a crab and been about as dramatic about it as he could possibly be. Louis had had his chips stolen by a seagull, Niall had been knocked over by a particularly harsh wave and ended up bundled up in blankets beside his parents whilst his brothers wrote their names in the sand around him.

They'd had icecream and laughed and teased and talked about everything.

The picture in the frame had been taken in the evening, as the sun was preparing to sink beneath the horizon. It's final rays were bright and golden, reflecting off the green of the ocean and giving the sand a hazy sort of glow.

They had stopped a passerby and asked her to take a photo for them.

Zayn was on one end, striking a pose with his arms flexed, pretending to kiss his biceps. Liam was beside him, looking across at his husband with a mixture of love and amusement, one eyebrow raised, lips pulled into a smirk, eyes looking ready to roll and tell the other man to behave himself with his sunglasses pushed up on top of his head.

Their three boys were on the other side of them. Harry at the back, curly hair glowing golden brown in the sun, icecream cone in one hand, the other folded up into bunny ears behind Louis' head, face scrunched up in a laugh.

Louis was completely unaware; he and Niall had their arms slung over each others shoulders. He was sticking out his tongue, eyes squeezed shut, ball tucked beneath his other arm and one leg sticking out, barefoot covered in sand.

Niall was grinning too, looking down slightly at Cooper. With his one arm wrapped over his brother's shoulders, sun-kissed blond hair all scuffed up and usually pale cheeks all red and sunburned. His eyes were so happy, crinkled by his smile, one hand reaching down to stroke dog at his feet.

Cooper was a brown smudge in the photo. He had sat still until the very last second, when a wasp had flown by and he'd decided to jump up to try and catch it in his mouth.

Just seconds after the photo had been taken, Niall had taken off running after the dog and accidentally dragged Louis along with him, the two of them landing on a pile in the sand with Harry laughing so hard that he had ended up on the ground right beside them, the two men laughing at the scene as they thanked the lady who had taken the photograph for them.

She had offered to take another, but they had assured her that the first picture was perfect. It was perfect. It had been a perfect day...

They had driven home late, once it was dark. The car had been silent on the way back, and when Liam had looked over his shoulder, he had found all three boys fast asleep, curled into each other with a blanket thrown over their legs. Even Cooper, in the very back, was nowhere to be seen, stretched out across the back seats, clearly just as exhausted by the perfect day as his owners were.