4 years later
“You’re…you’re leaving?” Zayn asked, his eyes wide in confusion. Louis nodded, running his hands through his hair and looking over Richard, who was now ten years old, becoming rebellious.
“Harry and I think it’s best for Richard to have a change of scene. He’s…getting out of control,” Louis explained. Charlie and Niall came into the room then, walking over to Harry and Richard who were building a tower out of Lego’s.
Now, Zayn didn’t want to be selfish about this, but they couldn’t leave. They needed Richard to stay here and protect Charlie. They needed him to. “But, Louis, what about…what about the rest of your family? They all live here,”
“We’ll come back to visit and stuff,” Louis sighed, “But we need to do this for Richard’s benefit, not ours, okay? And I’m sure that Charlie will be okay. He’s a good kid, he can fend for himself,”
Zayn wanted to scream, because everything had been going so well, and Louis and Harry were about to ruin this for everyone.
~
“Richard is leaving?” Charlie asked, pulling on the hem of Niall’s shirt as they stood on the Tomlinson’s back patio.
“Yes,” Zayn said, “They are going to another city,”
“Why?” Charlie asked, his bottom lip quivering.
“They…they want to…try another place,”
“They don’t like it here?” Charlie said, letting tears stream down his face.
“Baby, they just…they need time,” Zayn tried to explain this to Charlie so many times, but each time ended with his son running away in tears. This time was no different.
Charlie ran across the green grass of the Tomlinson’s backyeard, over to the bushes. Zayn was about to follow him, when young Richard stepped out of nowhere. Richard looked sad too, but he gave Zayn a small smile.
“Can I talk to Charlie?”
Zayn nodded, and watched as Richard ran after Charlie into the bushes.
“Charlie?” Richard asked, ducking into the bushes.
“Go away,” Charlie sobbed.
“No,” Richard sighed, sitting down in the dirt by his best friend, “I won’t leave you until I have to,”
“Why?” Charlie asked, falling into Richard’s body, “Why are you leaving?”
Richard shrugged, “My dad’s say that it is for the best,”
“But why?” Charlie screamed, snot leaking from his nose as he yelled and protested angrily.
“I…I don’t know,” Richard mumbled.
The two boys remained in the bushes for the rest of the good-bye party. Charlie didn’t understand why they were having a party in the first place. His best friend was leaving, and they were having a party? Richard kept his arm wrapped around the smaller autistic boy, keeping him warm and safe, until voices called for them.
“You come back and visit?” Charlie asked, wiping his face with his small pale hands. Richard nodded.
“Course, Charlie,”
~
“Niall, get Charlie, please,”
Niall chased after their son, who was now big and strong enough to outrun his daddies if he really wanted to.
“Baby,” Niall giggled, grabbing his son and pulling him in for a hug.
“I don’t wanna go to school without Richard,” Charlie pouted.
“It’s okay,” Niall smiled, kissing his son on the nose. Zayn watched from the end of the hall where he packed Charlie’s lunch, smiling at the scene, hoping that this morning they could actually get Charlie to school the morning.
To Zayn’s relief, he dropped his son off at school and headed into work—but Charlie and Niall never left his mind.
Charlie walked into the classroom alone. He hated school now, without Richard. It was boring, and scary. Lots of kids were mean to him. Really mean.
“Charlie, please come up to the board and answer the problem,” The teacher smiled at the young autistic boy. She knew that Charlie was smart, and knew what he was doing. The blonde boy nodded and stood up, wiping his large eyes and wobbling towards the board. But before he could arrive, a boy stuck his foot out, tripping him and making him fall to the ground with a sickening crack. The class began to laugh—that is, until they noticed Charlie’s shaking. It was just like Niall. He was having a seizure.
Zayn left work early again when he got the call, picking up Niall and speeding over to the school. This was all too normal for the tan lad and he wanted to scream. If only Richard was still here, if only Louis and Harry hadn’t just picked up and…left them.
“What happened?” Zayn whispered, picking up his son and holding him close—even though Charlie was growing, he was still small.
“He had a seizure,” The teacher said sadly, “He seems to be okay, though,”
“What triggered it?” Zayn snapped, setting his son down and letting Niall hug him.
“Uh…”
“Tell me,” Zayn insisted.
“Another student tripped him,” The teacher said.
“And was the kid given punishment?”
“…No, we couldn’t, because there was a group of students, and we aren’t sure who did it,” The teachers blushed, obviously feeling guilty about the whole situation, even though it wasn’t her fault.
“Then suspend all of them!” Zayn yelled, “I’m tired of this happening. Ever since Richard left, no one watches over him,”
“Then perhaps he should be moved back into the retard class,” A kid chided form the corner.
Zayn was fuming, so ready to just kill one of these dweebs. So he grabbed Niall and Charlie and ushered them from the room before he could do anything stupid.
“Maybe we should visit with Louis and Harry,” Zayn said, “Maybe they need to see how much we need them here,”
“No,” Niall shook his head, grabbing his husbands arm and leaning in, kissing him on the cheeks. “You say that we can’t,”
Zayn bit his lip. He knew that they couldn’t go and ask Louis and Harry to return. But he wish he could. He wish more than anything that they would come back and fix things. But if Louis and Harry were going to move back home, it was going to a few years in the future, when Richard needed another ‘change of scenery’.
They returned home, immediately putting Charlie down for a nap, leaving Niall and Zayn to fall into each other’s arms.
“Are you okay, Zaynie?” Niall asked, nipping gently at Zayn’s neck. Zayn moaned and nodded, threading his hands into Niall’s hair.
“I just wish that Louis and Harry were still here, and Richard was still looking over Charlie,” Zayn sighed. Niall nodded, his eyes wide in understanding, and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to Zayn’s hungrily.
They had only kissed for a moment or two when the door rang.
Zayn had a strange feeling in his gut as he stood, and walking towards the door.
____________________________________________________________
Written by: Anonymous43
I am so tired. You are all so lucky I am writing this. Haha. ^_^
The only reason I wrote it tonight was because Panda asked me to...and i can't deny my beautiful girlfriend anything. haha. I'm such a sucker for her.
Anyway, WHO IS AT THE DOOR?
*gasp*
VOTE!
COMMENT!
FAN!
xx
*Smirks, evil laughing* I wonder who could be at the door. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAH -PandaBear<3