Zoe's POV
"Niall" I said. Niall smiled and relaxed while the others looked disappointed, "don't look like that, it wasn't exactly an easy decision on my part"
They sighed and nodded, still upset that I hadn't picked them.
"We can text and Skype over Christmas though. Plus you guys all have your own sisters you need to spend time with, Niall only has a brother"
"Who won't be there" Niall put in helpfully.
"You don't want Niall to be lonely do you?" I asked, looking at each of them.
"Well, I wouldn't mind if you came with me and Niall was lonely but...it's your decision" Liam said.
"Zo, we need to leave in five minutes, get your stuff and say goodbye yeah?" Niall said.
I nodded and grabbed my suitcase form the bunk area. I wheeled it out of the bus and placed it next to Niall's bag before heading back inside to say goodbye.
"See you later" I said, hugging Harry tightly around the waist, "at least I'm not going to be alone this time right?"
"Right" he chuckled and hugged me back.
I hugged Zayn and Louis goodbye before standing in front of a very upset looking Liam. He picked me up and I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Don't be to upset, I just didn't want Niall to be lonely, you would have been my second choice but don't tell the others that" I whispered, knowing the other boys were all busy saying goodbye to Niall.
"I know, I just want to spend Christmas with you" he said sadly, kissing the side of my head, "look after Niall for me"
"I will, I promise" I said, kissing his cheek.
He placed me down on the floor and Niall and I waved a last goodbye before heading out the bus and towards the car that would take us to the airport. When we got to the huge American airport I walked down the long hallways with a gloomy look on my face, the thought of not spending Christmas with all my brothers made me feel sad. Niall noticed this and put his hand on the side of my head, bringing me next to him.
"I know you want to spend Christmas with all of us, but it's just not possible" he said sadly.
I sighed and nodded.
"Liam just seemed so upset" I stated.
"I know, he's probably the most attached to you out of all of us, however much I hate to admit it" Niall sighed, "That day when we thought you had punched Rhianna and we were ignoring you he was grumpy and upset for the whole concert. And when we got back to the bus he didn't go to bed for ages, he just stayed up, crying over the thought of you hating him. I tried to comfort him but all he needed was you, but of course you were ignoring us at that point. Not that I blame you, you had a perfectly good reason" he said.
"Really, he cried because he thought I hated him?" I asked, shocked that someone like Liam would cry over that.
"Yep" Niall said sadly, patting me on the back, "but don't worry about it, it was far from your fault"
I nodded again and together we walked though the gates and onto the plane. Niall let me have the window seat and I watched as we took off and all of the streets and houses turned into tiny dots below. Within ten minutes Niall had fallen asleep and I was left with nobody to talk to. I decided the best option would be to sleep as well so I curled up as best as I could on the seat and closed my eyes, hoping it wouldn't be to difficult to fall asleep.
It was dark outside the plane window when I woke up and I realised my head was on Niall's lap. His arm was over the top of me which he must have done subconsciously because he was still fast asleep. His eyes opened slowly when and announcement came from the pilot hat we had half and hour until we landed.
"Morning Zo" he said tiredly.
He let me sit up on his lap and I leaned against his chest, sleep still in my eyes.
"It's night time Niall, look outside" I pointed to the window.
"Oh yeah, course" he smiled at his own stupidity.
He talked me through his family in the time we had before we landed. His mum was called Maura and his stepdad was called Chris. He had a brother called Greg but he was spending Christmas with his 'wife to be' was how Niall put it.
When we finally landed it took us ages to get through security but then even longer to get through all of the screaming girls begging from autographs from Niall. We wheeled our suitcases out of the arrivals tunnel to where Niall was suffocated in a hug by a woman who must have been his mother. She was quite a bit shorter than Niall so it looked like a bit of an awkward hug. Not that I blame her, she hasn't seen her son for ages. Niall then shook hands with a man who I guessed was Chris, because when you're in an airport you don't usually just shake hands with a random stranger.
"And this is Zoe" Niall took me by the shoulders and pushed me towards Maura.
She looked at me with a warm smile on her face and hugged me. It was weird being hugged by Maura, not bad weird, just different to the boy hugs, probably because they were so much taller than her.
"It's nice to meet you" I said politely.
"I'm Chris" Chris held out his hand which I shook, I don't think we were on hugging terms just yet.
Chris collected my suitcase for me.
"Straight to bed for you two when we get home, it's two in the morning you know" Maura laughed at Niall and I who were half asleep in the back of the car, leaning on each other for support.
"See, told you it was morning" Niall chuckled tiredly, nudging my arm slightly.
I sighed and snuggled further into his chest, letting him put an arm around me. It was a lot colder in Ireland compared to where we were in America.
Niall's POV
The car ride home didn't take to long but Zoe was pretty much asleep by the time we got there. It was nice to be home, I hadn't seen it for ages. I was so glad that Zoe chose to spend Christmas with me, but I did feel bad for the other boys, we had all talked about it when Zoe wasn't around and said that there would be no hard feelings towards the one that Zoe chose.
Though I did notice when I hugged Liam goodbye he was very stiff, but I guess that was just the affect of having to say goodbye to Zoe. I got out the car first and lifted Zoe out after me, placing her on my hip. Her head dropped onto my shoulder and I kissed the top of her head.
"You're very good with her" mum said warmly, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I smiled at her and then looked down to Zoe, I don't even know where we would be right now if she hadn't come into our lives.
"The spare room is ready and I made your bed up Niall so the two of you can go to bed" mum said.
Chris helped me carry Zoe and I's suitcases upstairs and he placed Zoe's in the spare room. She was already in her onesie so I didn't bother trying to change her into some pyjamas and instead just tucked her underneath the big duvet.
"Night Zo" I whispered, kissing her forehead and stroking her cheek.
I crept back into my room, knowing Chris and mum had gone back to bed as well. I changed into some tracksuit bottoms and a long sleeve shirt and got into my old bed. I looked around my rather untidy room, the posters and items reminding me of what I used to be before the X factor.
With that last thought I fell into a light sleep, being woken up by the occasional car going past outside. After a while I feel a small hand on my shoulder and I turn around to find Zoe.
"Can I sleep with you?" She asked, fear coming into her voice.
Damn! I completely forgot that she got nightmares when she wasn't with one of us.
"Of course sweetheart" I moved over in my double bed and held the cover open for her.
She got in and snuggled up next to me. I put my arm around her and rested my head closer to hers.
"It's Christmas Eve today" I pointed out.
"Oh yeah, that's gone quickly" she said, sounding a bit happier.
"It's also Louis's birthday" I added.
Zoe's POV
"Yeah, I gave Paul my present to him and he posted it so hopefully it will be there. I wish I could see him on his birthday" I said sadly.
Niall squeezed my shoulder and sighed. I sighed as well before closing my eyes and starting the struggle that is trying to get to sleep in a new place.
A few hours later when I woke up Niall wasn't in the bed so I guessed he had gone downstairs. I threw my legs off the bed and got up, walking unsteadily to the door from tiredness. I was about to open it when I heard Niall's voice out in the hallway, he must have been on the phone.
"So the flights booked for Christmas Day right?...And Liam doesn't know...Good neither does she...They're going to love us after this...Okay thanks Karen, yeah see you tomorrow...Okay bye" Niall said.
What flight, and what did this have to do with Liam and his mum? I heard his footsteps come back towards the door so I dived back to the bed and pretended I was still getting up.
"Morning Zo" Niall said cheerily when he came into the room
"Morning" I said in my best tired voice, snooping really did wake you up.
Niall looked at me suspiciously so I smiled at him like everything was normal and stood up from the bed.
"You want some breakfast, mums cooking it now" he said. I nodded eagerly and I followed him downstairs where the smell of sausage and bacon became stronger and stronger.
"Morning you two" Maura said cheerily when she spotted us enter the kitchen.
I smiled at her and sat on a kitchen chair next to Niall. Maura piled our plates with breakfast and I widened my eyes at it.
"I'm sorry dear, I'm used to serving for Chris, Niall and Greg who eat like they have never ending stomachs" she chuckled, "so if you can't eat it all I'm sure Niall won't mind finishing it off for you"
I laughed and looked sideways at Niall who was already halfway through his breakfast. I dug into the breakfast which had to be the best I had ever had. I mean I liked the boys cooking, maybe excluding Louis though.
Flashback
I walked downstairs to the kitchen because I smelt burning. It was the morning so I was wondering who was cooking at this time. I noticed Louis waving a tea towel in front of the of the oven. I stepped further into the kitchen and noticed a cereal bowl on the counter, well it was very burnt and it was quite hard to tell what it was at first.
"Good morning Zoe!" Louis smiled like nothing was wrong.
"You actually burnt cornflakes" I said, lost for words.
"Well, I call it cooked a bit more than it needs to be but some people would call it burnt, yes" he said.
"But...how?" I asked, shaking my head at him.
"Well, I wanted to heat up my cornflakes so I put them in the oven" he said, making me widen my eyes at him, "and then I sort of forgot about them until I smelt a lot of burning, and here we are"
"I didn't even realise it was possible to burn cornflakes Louis so...I congratulate you" I said, patting him on the back.
Louis offered me the cornflakes which I politely refused, stating that I was on a no-burnt-food diet.
End of flashback
"Got anything planned today?" Maura asked, washing up the sausage pan.
"I'm going to visit some friends, I don't know about Zoe" Niall said.
"Oh...just leave me why don't you" I said sniffily, acting like I was offended.
"Ah come on, you wouldn't want to hang around a bunch of teenagers would you?" Niall pointed out.
"I do already"
"Good point"
"In which case, I don't have any plans except calling Louis to wish him a happy birthday" I said to Maura.
"Well, I'll be baking so you could join me if you want" she offered.
I nodded happily. I never did baking with the boys at home, Liam sometimes baked but I had only helped him once and managed to drop the box of eggs on the floor, he didn't let me help him after that. After breakfast Niall went upstairs to change and came back down throwing his house keys between his hands.
"See you later" he said, kissing my forehead, "I'll be back here after lunch"
"Bye, have fun!" I called after him.
I walked upstairs to Niall's room and took out my phone and found a Twitter notification from Louis: yep, my lil sis and band mate have forgotten my birthday, on the floor crying right now!!!!!
I chuckled and clicked on Louis's contact to Skype him. He picked up quickly but I was met with a very grumpy Louis face on the screen.
"What up with you?" I asked, laughing at his expression.
"You forgot me!" He exclaimed.
"No I didn't, I swear the first thing Niall said to me this morning was its Louis's birthday today" I said.
"No text, no Twitter mention, no call" Louis said dramatically.
"I'm calling you now aren't I?" I pointed out.
"Okay I forgive you" Louis said, back to his usual cheery self, "so what you been doing?"
"Well Niall and I only got in this morning so we slept and then ate breakfast" I said.
"Sound exiting" Louis said sarcastically, "I got your present by the way"
"Good, did you like them?" I asked hopefully.
I had got him a big navy blue jumper with the superman symbol on it and some earphones with little superman symbols on the ear pieces.
"Loved them" he smiled.
"LOUIS TOMLINSON GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE AND WASH UP YOUR PLATE" I could hear a woman scream in the background.
"YES MUM!" Louis called back, "I'll speak to you later yeah?"
"Yep, have a good birthday bro and I hope your mum doesn't kill you" I smiled and clicked end call.
I really missed Louis with his character of doing anything crazy at any moment. He didn't even care when people shouted at him, he just shrugged it off and got on with life.
I walked downstairs to where Maura was putting on a cooking apron. She handed me a smaller one and together we started making cookies that I would be able to decorate when they were finished. It took an hour for us to make them, cook them and then wait for them to cool off. We had cut them in the shapes of people and I decorated each one like Niall, Liam, Zayn, Harry, Louis, Maura and Chris. I took a picture and posted it on Twitter, getting replies within seconds.
Liam: Hey, I thought we agreed you weren't allowed to bake after what happened last time! You still haven't paid me back for those eggs :)
Harry: I look even better as a cookie
Zayn: And people say I'm the vain one
Niall: Dibs the Niall one when I get home
Louis: you might even be a better cook than me. Don't bring up the cornflake incident, practise makes perfect!!!!!
I chuckled at the stupid replies that were sent to me from the boys. Fans tweeted wanting to know what happened with the eggs and the cornflakes but I left the boys to answer those. When Niall came home he rushed thought the door and stood in front of me with a hopeful expression.
"Yes, you can have the cookie" I said exasperatedly.
Together we ate all of the One direction biscuits but left Maura's and Chris's for them to have later.
We spoke to all of the boys over the phone that evening but I spent two hours on the phone with Liam, Niall ended up prying the phone out of my hands trying to make me hang up. That evening I went straight to Niall room instead of to the cold guest room and we snuggled up to get warmer. I couldn't wait for my first proper Christmas Day.
A/N- just saying that there will probably only be one more chapter of this story and then one chapter about Zoe when she is 12/13. I'm just not really feeling this story anymore but I am going to write another story about one direction :)