Twenty-One
It's been a few days since we've met up with Zayn and had our little discussion together. I could say that both Niall and I were trying to take in his advice the best that we could. Staying positive and keeping up with our regular routine with Grace was an all right distraction from the big day. It's only all right because once we put Grace down for naps or to sleep for the night, Niall and I get together and have our own chats.
She was as wild as ever. Grace was getting quite masterful at walking around the house. I'd be doing one thing with Grace beside me and I'd look down to where she was and she'd be gone. She also likes hiding from me, thinking that it's funny when she gives herself away by talking loudly to herself, not knowing yet that sound travels and I could hear her. Whenever I did find her a big happy squeal would come out of her mouth and dimples would appear on her cheeks.
It's been a little more difficult for Niall about Grace since he was away at work and I was the one with her. He didn't get to spend days with her like I did and I could tell that he really wanted to whenever he came home from a long day at his office. His tired eyes lightened up whenever Grace crawled into the front room to greet him, sort of like she was a dog greeting her master when he came into the house. Niall would set his working bag down and replace it by holding Grace into his arms, talking to her in the tone that I could tell that Niall really missed her.
Niall let out a long breath as he sat down at the table as I began to do the washing from our latest meal. I chewed at my lip as I took a glance over to him from over my shoulder.
"She was good today." Niall commented after he had rubbed at his eyes and let our a yawn.
I couldn't help but shake my head and chuckle at him. "She was good for me today until you came home. I think she's trying to show off to you." I raised my hand from the soapy water in the sink and pointed over to where Grace's highchair was, messy from her grand idea to dump out her pasta from her Minnie Mouse bowl and rub her hands throughout the sauce. Her face was stained orange along with her clothes.
Niall couldn't help but chuckle back to me, innocently shrugging his shoulders as if he had no part in what had happened. "We don't know if it had anything to do with me." He pointed himself before he stood up and walked over to stand behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. "Besides, I'm the one who promised to give her a bath tonight."
From the corner of my eye, I could see the amused smile on Niall's face. I flicked the water and soap from my fingers to splash him, making him step back from me.
"That's the 'thanks' I get?" He asked, still chuckling.
"Looks like it." I said back to him, my own smile of victory wide across my lips.
Niall rolled his eyes at me before he walked over to where the television was. Grace was on the couch with her nighttime bottle, probably in that same lost trance as she watched whatever was even on the television.
I turned the water off in the sink and dried off my hands with a towel before I went in after Niall. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall as I saw Niall sitting down next to her, his own blue eyes boring into the television screen. "It's like you two are twins, I swear it."
Niall uncrossed one arm from his chest and waved to me. "Bye." He thought he was being so comical with using Grace's words to get their way. Then he picked up Grace and had her standing up on his lap, facing him.
"Get up the stairs, the both of you." I jokingly scolded as I pointed off to the direction of the staircase.
Niall let out a dramatic sigh. "Well, Little Miss, I guess we have to do what Harry says, huh?." He asked her, smiling. I think he was waiting to hear her infamous 'no'. He wasn't going to play coy with me by using her adorable innocence.
"You're teaching her some bad habits, you know? I'm not gonna cover for you if Louis ever asks me where Grace learned all these behaviours from."
"Relax, babe." Niall told me with a more calming voice. "I'm taking her up now." He picked the remote up from the table, which Grace was happily trying to grab at and then started whining when Niall didn't let her have it. "Grace," he told her, "we're done with the telly for now. You gotta go upstairs now and have a wash up before bed. Harry wasn't a fan of your spaghetti sauce painting like I was."
He stood up, with Grace now secure in his arms, and then turned around to pick her bottle off from the couch, handing it to her in replacement of the remote she really wanted to have. Then Niall walked over to me, leaning Grace over so I could give her a quick kiss.
I kissed her on her soft orange cheek before I told her to have a good time and night. Niall leaned over next so I could kiss him too. For a moment, I acted like I didn't really want to kiss him because he thought he was being so sly with me. I made him wait for a few seconds before I shook my head at him and pecked him on his cheek.
"I'll be up in a few minutes to check up on the two of you." I told them, remembering the last bath that Niall gave Grace. I didn't know if Louis allowed splashing at home but Niall certainly didn't have a problem with it. I think he let Grace move her hands into his hair to act like she was washing his. I wished I had been there to see that instead of the aftermath with puddles all on the tile flooring.
"Yes, sir." Niall gave me a mocking nod before he gave Grace a tiny bounce and going off towards the bathroom.
I continued on to walking to the couch where they had just been, wanting to sit down and rest my aching back before I want to check up on them. It felt good to sit down after a long day of caring for Grace. As much as I love each moment with her I'm really glad that Niall comes in and takes over things, even when he's the one who is exhausted from being at work all day. As I've said, Grace brings something out in him. I'd say that Niall loved being a father already.
I wasn't really paying attention to what I had on. My eyes were actually closed so I could take a second and just sit. I lightly scratched at my forehead as I leaned back into the couch more.
I did my best not to let my mind drift off to all the things I was able to push aside during the daytime. My mum had rang up that afternoon and asked me how Niall and I were doing with Grace. She hadn't met her and she still cared enough to know how the temporary addition to the family was getting along. I told her that Grace's surgery would be during the next week and that's when I told my mum that I was pretty worried and nervous over it. She told me that I was doing an amazing thing, constantly letting me know how proud she was of both Niall and myself. I liked being able to hear that from her and one day she'd get to meet her own grandchildren, and hopefully continue saying those things about their parents.
This week was already going to be over. If I thought I was having trouble during this one, then this next one coming up wasn't going to be any better. We had so much to get through and barely anytime to complete it. I was going to be a wreck. We had to wait for a call from the hospital about what we should be doing the day before surgery for at-home preparations, or it could even be a rescheduling. I had no idea yet but my stomach was uneasy about it. We also had to make sure that Zayn and Louis were notified about things, as well as having a webcam with Louis and Grace so they could see each other before her surgery. I didn't have anytime to take care of Niall or myself so that was another reason we usually stayed up talking after putting Grace down for the night. It was our only time we really had together right now.
"All right, let's see how those two are doing." I told myself as I stood up from the couch. As I walked over to the staircase I tried my best to listen in to see if I could hear anything from the bathroom, hoping I could catch them in the act of something they probably shouldn't be doing.
As I turned to go up the staircase I could see the lights that were all on upstairs. Niall had a tendency to leave lights on in the rooms that he's been in and plans to go back into. Sometimes he forgets all of that.
I walked over to the bathroom and peeked inside to see how far along they've gotten. Niall was kneeling beside the tub and Grace was still inside of it, her little hands slapping down on the water as she let out a loud laugh. For some reason she thought what she was doing was hysterical.
After glancing at me from over his shoulder, Niall snickered and shook his head while wrapping Grace up in her towel. "Can you believe that, Grace? That guy is always sneaking up on us." He joked before he got up from kneeling next to the tub. He began rubbing the soft towel up and down Grace's back.
I smiled at Grace and began to gently rub the other end of the large towel onto her hair. Her wrinkled hands were pressed against Niall.
"Have a good bath?" I asked Grace.
"We were perfect angels, if that's what you're trying to get at." Niall told me teasingly as he walked out of the bathroom, again leaving the lights on.
I went in to drain the tub of the water and then turned the lights off, then following Niall across the hallway into Grace's bedroom.
Niall had set Grace down on the floor right next to his feet while he got out a new diaper for Grace. I couldn't help but chuckle as Grace crawled away from him, the towel slipping off as she moved. Niall looked down and laughed at her. "Oh, no you don't." Niall playfully scolded her, tossing the diaper down onto the change table and picking up Grace before she could complete her great escape. "We have a 'no naked little lady falling down the stairs' policy in this house, miss." Niall carried her over to the table so he could put her diaper on and as he did that I went over to pick out a fresh pair of pajamas for her to wear to help out, even though I could just sit down on the rocking chair and watch Niall tend to Grace for the rest of my life.
"Thanks, babe." Niall told me when I set down the small light pink pile of clothes down next to him.
I sent him a quick smile and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I'll be waiting for you downstairs, all right?" I asked him, wanting to talk to him a little bit again before going to bed.
"Yeah, no problem." Niall told me before kissing my forehead and getting started on Grace's pajamas.
When I was walking back down the stairs I could faintly hear Niall asking Grace about which bedtime story she wanted to hear tonight. He offered to tell her a new story about when he was a child growing up in Mullingar. I wondered if she picked that one and Niall would then show her on the large map. Niall's dream of parenthood could be coming true.
I was now sat at the computer desk, looking through Grace's medical file. The first paper that I had was a copy of her birth certificate and to be respectful to Louis and Grace I didn't read past: 'Name: Grace Elisabeth Tomlinson '. All of her scans since she was a baby were the next papers present. I couldn't believe all that she was going through at such a young age. She'd never remember it but she'd hear stories about it. I could picture her looking down at her chest where Louis would point and then she'd trace over it, one day wondering why she had a scar. I never wanted Grace to think that she was ugly because of it. Grace Tomlinson was a beautiful and special girl.
My eyes felt heavy and my throat felt like it was squeezing shut because I wanted to cry already. I didn't understand how I could let myself think about the future Grace. Would I ever have the chance to see her again? I was being selfish right now but it was probably better than being sad.
I was able to put everything away, shutting out that part that scared me again. I wrapped my arms around myself as I waited for Niall. A hug from him would be so much better than the one I was giving myself.
He must have been whispering to Grace because I couldn't hear a thing from upstairs. I moved back over to the other room and laid out on the couch, watching some film Niall and I recorded a few weeks ago that we really wanted to watch together. We still hadn't gotten that chance. I didn't know if we'd ever.
Apparently, I had fallen asleep for a good amount of time. When I looked at the time on the stove it said it was past 1AM. There wasn't any sign of Niall so I had no clue if he ever came down to chat with me. Maybe he saw me asleep so he decided not to disturb me. No, that couldn't be right because one time I had fallen asleep on the couch on a Friday night and Niall woke me up to come upstairs. He always came around for me.
With a yawn I sat up again, turning off the television before making sure that I had all the lights off downstairs and all the doors were locked. Then I tiredly began walking up the stairs and when I got to the top I noticed that the light from Grace's room was still shining into the hallway. I curiously tip-toed into the room and stopped at the sight before me.
I couldn't help but feel breathless in that moment as I saw Niall asleep in the rocking chair, holding Grace to his chest. Niall was having a long week at work so I guessed he even managed to rock himself to sleep as well. As much as I didn't want to ruin the moment, I knew it'd be best to lay Grace down in her crib and get Niall into our bed for the few hours he had left to sleep.
I carefully untucked Grace from Niall's strong but gently arms. Her blonde hair curled up at its ends from her bath. Luckily, I hadn't woken her up because she'd probably cry if I had done that. I pulled her blanket over her body and then went on to my next task.
"Niall." I whispered to him. "Babe, let's get you to bed, yeah?" I kept my voice hushed as I rubbed Niall's shoulder and then his arm to get him to respond to me. I didn't need him to be a heavy sleeper right now. He wouldn't be a very great morning person if he slept all night in this rocking chair. I couldn't argue that he looked so peaceful so I just left him in it.
"Grace." He mumbled, his eyes still closed as I helped him get out of his rocker.
"She's all right, love." I promised him in a whisper. "She's all tucked up in bed. It's your turn now." I bit at my lip, mostly in admiration at how Niall was being.
"She's smart." He said next as I helped him stand up. I looked to his face to see that his eyes weren't opened so he must be talking in his sleep. Now I was going to have to turn off the light and not smack Niall into the wall or anything else.
"She is." I agreed, keeping a hold onto Niall as I walked us closer to the door, flipping the switch and then pulling Grace's door behind me, all while Niall leaned against me.
"Pointed out where Mullingar was. I grew up there, you know." He kept on mumbling as I walked us through the hall and over to our room. Niall pretty much managed to get himself into bed after that.
"Yeah, I know." I told him as I walked around to my side as I removed the shirt I was wearing and then my trousers. I decided on going to sleep in my briefs so I didn't disturb Niall.
"Gotta go back there. We can take her with us, Harry. Show her everything. She'd love it."
That bit broke my heart a little bit and I was glad that Niall's voice was replaced by his snoring because I didn't want to tell him that we couldn't do that.
I pulled the covers over me as I rested my head against my pillow, scooting over until I was comfortably next to Niall's warm body. "I'd love to see where you grew up." I told him, staring at him in the dark until I managed to drift off to sleep again.
I was really in the mood to write again for this story. Plus, it's light and super adorable I think :)