The Affair (Zarry/Zouis)

chapter 36

Louis looks through his driveway as he watches Zayn's car drive in. His heart skips a beat in excitement despite the fact that Zayn hasn't even come out yet. He's missed Freddie, a lot, he never thought he would be this paternal till he had him.

Freddie has been his rock ever since his divorce with Zayn got finalized. He's been incredibly lonely, and without Freddie he honestly believes he would have taken his life or done something to harm himself.

Anytime he feels like that, all he needs to do is look at he bubbly smile of his son and he feels better because he realizes that life is worth it.

It's one of the reasons why he didn't want Zayn to take him away. He's not going to deny that jealousy didn't have anything to do with it, but he felt like Zayn had Harry and he had no one.

He was just scared that he would lose the only person that mattered to him, Freddie. And it didn't help that Zayn was never considerate of his feelings. He would say things to purposely hurt him, and it made Louis think that Zayn could take Freddie away from him if he meant to hurt him.

It took a great deal of courage for him to let his ex husband have his son for the weekend. He barely slept during the span of the weekend, he was worried, lonely and scared.

The front door opens and Zayn walks into the house with Freddie in a baby carrier strapped to his chest. Louis feels a pang in his chest at the sight. They look so good together, it fills him with dread remembering that they're no longer a complete family anymore. They don't belong to each other.

It hurts because Zayn is the only person he's ever loved, and the only person he'd ever love. But he ruined everything due to his selfishness and need to control everything.

"Aren't you going to welcome us?" Zayn asks, closing the door behind him. He drops the bag of Freddie's things on the couch and sits down too, sighing.

Louis plasters on a welcoming smile on his face, sitting next to his ex husband. Zayn brings Freddie out from the baby carrier, he's wide awake.

"My baby," Louis says, wasting no time in taking him from Zayn. "Daddy missed you so much."

Freddie makes some cooing sounds, recognizing him. Louis pinches at his chubby cheeks.

"Did you miss Daddy? You did, didn't you?" Louis says.

"He did," Zayn adds, in awe of the scene before him. It always makes him happy seeing Louis interact with their son. He's never seen this side of Louis prior to him having a child.

"Tell me everything," Louis says.

"He was an angel. And you wouldn't believe it, he stood up all by himself yesterday," Zayn says.

Louis looks surprised. "What? No way. He just started learning how to crawl."

"Told you you wouldn't believe it. He did stand up, for like three seconds before he realized. I wanted to get it on video but I was too late," Zayn explains. "He hasn't done it since then so Harry thinks it was just a fluke."

"Harry saw it too?" Louis asks, a surge of jealousy passing through him. He can't believe Harry got to see Freddie standing before him.

"Yeah," Zayn says, not realizing that Louis is upset. "He adores Harry too."

Louis hands Freddie over to Zayn and walks to the kitchen, trying not to show that he's bothered by Zayn mentioning his boyfriend.

"Would you want something to drink?" Louis asks, trying to be a good host despite the fact that he used to live in this same house with Zayn.