Chapter Twenty Two – Liam
Liam growls at the text message he's just received from Niall, telling him he might want to get online and check out a few articles that have recently been published. Liam's sure they aren't important, they never are, they're barely ever based in this realm of possibility, but he also knows if Niall felt it was important enough to wake him up early on a Sunday morning, he should probably check it out. So Liam's sat on his balcony with a cup of coffee and his laptop, waiting for the website Niall sent him to load, he'd rather be getting ready to go get Zayn and Bella and go to his parents' for lunch, but he also knows his boyfriend might kill him if he wakes him up too early on his day off. The website finally finishes loading, and Liam doesn't have to wonder long about what Niall was talking about, because there, splashed across the homepage, is himself, with Zayn and Bella in the parking lot after lunch with his mum the other day. And okay, Liam knew this would happen eventually, but he hasn't had a chance to discuss it all with Zayn, and unfortunately for him Bella's face is the clearest one of them all in this particular picture. "Shit" Liam curses, grabbing at his phone, he doesn't even bother to read the headline, or click through the other pictures, he just needs some advice.
The phone rings three times before being answered "hello...?" Niall asks around a yawn, "Ni, I'm sorry, but what do I do?" Liam panics glaring at nothing when Niall laughs. "First, you calm down" Niall grumbles, and Liam sighs, "I can't calm down, some idiot paps have published pictures of my boyfriend's daughter, he's going to kill me" he mutters. Liam can hear Jace talking in the background of Niall's phone, but not what he's saying, before he hears shuffling, and a door closing, signalling Niall has left the room. "I know it looks bad Li, but you need to just talk to Zayn about this. Did you even read them?" Niall asks. Liam sighs, rubbing his temples "no, I just saw Bella and panicked a little" he admits. Niall laughs again, "that explains why that's your only concern. The second article is worse, makes it seem like you're dating Zayn and someone else too" he explains. Liam's eyes widen and he turns back to his computer, "what?" he squawks, clicking furiously, and sure enough there's a second article linked to the first, wondering which one he's more serious about. The worst part about the second article is it's a complete lie, it's a picture of him being hugged by a woman, who they were trying to get to work with Payne Industries on some deal, but she couldn't keep her hands to herself, so Liam called it all off.
"I'm so dead" Liam mutters, and Niall sighs, "just talk to him, mate. Zayn seems like a reasonable guy, talk to him before he finds these himself" he warns. Liam sighs and nods his head, even though Niall can't see him, glancing at the time to see it's just after eight in the morning, but Bella doesn't share Zayn's love of seeping in, so chances are high he's awake. "I'll get dressed and go see him now, thanks Ni" Liam mumbles, "good idea, Li. And just call if ya need me, Jace and I are staying in today. Good luck" Niall answers before hanging up on Liam. Liam doesn't waste any time, just tosses his laptop onto his couch and rushes towards his bathroom to shower. He's out, dressed and headed to his car in record time, speeding towards Zayn's apartment hoping he gets to Zayn before the younger jumps to conclusions of his own. Liam stops quickly to grab, Zayn, (and Louis) a coffee, along with some muffins and juice for Bella, before continuing his drive to his boyfriend's apartment. Liam jogs towards the building, once he's parked, only stopping to catch his breath once he's on the elevator and it's taking him towards Zayn's floor.
Liam knocks impatiently on the door, laughing lightly at the muttered curses he can hear coming from the other side, "this better be bloody important" Zayn grumbles,before the door is pulled open. Liam feels himself relaxing at the sleepy looking man in front of him, "Liam?" Zayn asks confused,"I'm sorry, I just I need to talk to you" Liam rushes, biting his lip, nervously. Zayn makes a face but steps aside, letting Liam walk past him into the apartment, shutting the door carefully behind him."Is everything okay? You're scaring me" Zayn mumbles, taking the coffee Liam holds out towards him, Liam shakes his head, "yeah no. I don't know" he mutters. Zayn furrows his eyebrows gesturing for Liam to sit down, just as Bella comes barrelling into the room "Daddy!" she exclaims, climbing into Liam's lap, Louis chasing after her, "when did you get so fast?" Louis pants, "oh hey Liam" he adds. Liam smiles and offers Louis the cup of coffee he brought him "you sir, are amazing. Zayn, keep him" Louis smirks, before looking curiously at Liam, who tries (but he knows he fails) to not look nervous.
Liam watches as Zayn and Louis share a look, before Louis is attempting to take Bella from Liam's lap, "Bella, why don't we go and watch some cartoons, I think Baba and Daddy need to talk" Louis asks. The two year old looks at them all before shrugging and reaching for Louis, after pressing a kiss to Liam's cheek, "no leave" she instructs, as Louis carries her towards the other room. Liam waits until he hears the Dora theme song, as Zayn sips his coffee and watches him carefully, "okay, Li. What's going on?" Zayn asks carefully, and Liam can see the uncertainty in his eyes, "you have to promise not to freak out okay?" Liam asks. Zayn rolls his eyes, but nods his head slowly,"right so you know about the paps yeah?" Liam starts, Zayn makes a face and nods his head. "Right, so they kind of like to follow me and Niall around, taking pictures and publishing nonsense" Liam continues and that's when Zayn starts laughing.
At first Liam's confused he hasn't even really said anything yet, "is this about those trashy articles that got posted last night?" Zayn laughs, and okay, Liam was not expecting this reaction. He's not sure what he was expecting but Zayn laughing at him wasn't it. Liam nods slowly, "probably, the same ones, yeah" he mumbles. Zayn gets up and moves so he's now sitting on Liam's lap, "do you have a secret life, Liam?" Zayn asks teasingly, "one where you're married to whoever that woman was, but she can't give you what you truly want so you see me and Arabella on the side?" he adds. Liam bites his lip, letting his head fall forward to rest on Zayn's shoulder, "no" he mumbles, "didn't think so" Zayn smirks. "You're okay with all this?" Liam asks slowly, because apparently he was panicking for no reason. Zayn shrugs, "I mean I'm not thrilled, I wish they would leave Bella out of this all. But I kind of expected it sooner to be honest" he explains, slowly. Liam nods, because he wishes both Bella and Zayn could be left out of it, but he knows that for whatever reason everyone is super interested in his personal life. "I'm going to talk to my lawyer and see if there's anything we can do about keeping them away from Bella...and you" Liam murmurs. Zayn grins and nods his head, "if they can, but if there's nothing we can do we'll figure it out, as long as my baby doesn't get hurt" he warns. Liam nods because if anything happens to Bella then Zayn will probably be the least of whoever is responsible's concern.
They sit quietly for a minute after that before Zayn kisses Liam's cheek, "so who was she?" he asks,"I mean I don't think she's your type" he teases. Liam groans,shaking his head "her name is Michelle, and we were going to try and work with her. But she had a problem understanding boundaries and that I'm a taken man. So I called the deal off" he explains. Zayn's eyes widen and Liam can tell he wants to say something, probably something sarcastic but Bella jumping into his lap cuts him off, "yes?" Zayn asks, arching an eyebrow at the toddler, "Baba need juice" Bella insists and Zayn chuckles, "why couldn't Uncle Louis get you juice?" he asks and she shrugs, "on da phone" she mumbles. Zayn nods chuckling, "okay, let's get you some juice" he murmurs, standing up, Liam following suit, "I brought her some actually" Liam offers, pulling out the bottle he bought with the coffees. Zayn grins as Bella cheers, "what do you say?" Zayn asks, Arabella rolls her eyes and grins "thank you" she cheers."It's no problem, Lovely" Liam responds as he watches Zayn reach for a sippy cup with his free hand.
Once Bella has a cup of juice in her hand she disappears again, and Liam watches her go confused, "where is she going?" he asks, but Zayn just shrugs, "Dora is very important, Liam" he teases. Liam shakes his head, laughing "more important than me?" he asks pouting, Zayn chuckles, nodding his head, "she's more important than pretty much anybody it seems" he teases. Liam pouts, stepping closer to Zayn, wrapping his arms around the younger man, "you sure you're okay with all this?" he asks slowly. Zayn pulls back to look at Liam carefully, "I trust you, so yes, this particular instance is fine. But they lay one hand on Bella, I will personally rip them apart" he warns. Liam grins, leaning in to kiss him fiercely, pulling back after a few moments,"I'd help" he mumbles, leaning back in to kiss Zayn again. They pull apart a few minutes later, both out of breath and panting, Liam rests his forehead on Zayn's "I love you" he mumbles, Zayn grins pecking his lips, "I love you too" he murmurs.
"We should probably go make sure Bella and Louis aren't destroying the other room" Zayn says after a few minutes and Liam chuckles, shaking his head, "you go shower, and get dressed. I'll go see what they're up to, alright?" he asks, wanting Zayn to take a few minutes to just be Zayn. Zayn looks conflicted and Liam isn't entirely sure why but his boyfriend finally nods his head, and leans in to kiss his cheek before disappearing. Liam watches him walk away for a moment before he shakes his head and goes towards where he can still hear the sounds of Dora the Explorer playing quietly. But what he sees when he gets there catches him off guard, Louis is still sitting on his couch, but like Bella told them before he's on his phone, while Bella is sitting on the floor colouring while she watches the TV. But the problem lies in what Bella's colouring, and Liam groans, running a hand down his face, because the two year old has pushed all her papers aside and is creating a very colourful scribble across the hardwood floor. "Seriously?" Liam asks, and Arabella and Louis look up at him in unison, Louis groaning, before he curses under his breath, "Bella, don't you remember what Baba told you last time you coloured on the floor?" Louis asks carefully. Bella ignores Louis to grin up at Liam "pretty colours, Daddy" she says reaching for a purple crayon.
Liam's eyes widen and he snaps into action, crouching down to stop Bella's hand as she moves to add more colour to the floor, "Arabella, we do not colour on the floor" he starts, gently pulling the crayon from her fingers. Liam then gathers all the other crayons that are scattered around the coloured spot on the floor, Bella crosses her arms and pouts at him, "no, Daddy, my colours" she whines reaching towards him. Liam shakes his head and moves to place the crayons on the top of the bookshelf, Louis sends him a meaningful look before he disappears from the room and Liam can hear him rattling around, and assumes he's looking for something to clean the floor. Liam looks around the room before making another decision, he doesn't know what Zayn would do in this situation and he knows he needs to wait and let his younger boyfriend deal with it completely, but he doesn't think it's alright to just let the toddler get off until Zayn shows up. So Liam sighs and reaches for the remotes, flipping off the TV and turning to face Bella who glares at him, "Dora" she exclaims, pointing at the TV, "mean, Daddy. Turn on" she hisses. Liam frowns shaking his head, and points towards the couch, "I think you need to come sit here until Baba, comes down" he says, as Louis comes into the room again, carrying a bucket of water, some cloths and a few spray bottles. Bella crosses her arms and shakes her head stubbornly, "I not, Daddy sit. Bella play" she states, moving to go around Liam to her toys. Liam looks at Louis pleadingly and the other man nods, "I don't think so Bella, you need to do as your asked, you know we don't colour on the floor. Baba warned you when you did it last week. Listen to Liam and come sit to wait for Baba" Louis scolds, gently reaching out a hand to stop Bella.
Liam doesn't know how long it's been but he does know he hopes Zayn comes back downstairs soon, he and Louis managed to get a very grumpy Arabella to sit on the couch like Liam asked, but she's making it known that she's not happy about it. Bella keeps screaming and kicking out at the pair whenever they get close to the couch, she managed to nail Liam in the shin once, and although she's tiny it hurt, so he's keeping his distance now. Another minute passes before Zayn walks into the living room, arching an eyebrow at the scene before his eyes narrow on the spot on the floor that's surrounded by the cleaning products, before his eyes flit to Bella, who reaches out towards him pitifully, in what Liam knows is an effort to get out of the trouble she knows she's in now that Zayn's here. "I'm sorry, I came in after you went to shower and she was colouring on the floor. I took away the crayons and made her sit to wait for you, otherwise I didn't really do much" Liam says quickly, Zayn nods slowly, "thank you" he murmurs, before turning towards the toddler on the couch with a stern look, that makes Liam feel bad.
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A/N: Heyyy! So I don;t even know how this took so long, and I'm sorry!
But you get some cute fluffy Ziam with Bella...I hope you enjoyed these as always let me know what you thought
Until next time xoxo