Daddy Dearest - Chapter Three
Previously
Rory folded her hands on the desk over the files and lookedLouis in the eyes. "Now, Mr. Tomlinson, you don't have to do this. Are you sure you want to take in four children?"
"I am," Louis said surely. "I'm ready. What do I need to sign?"
Niall was sitting with the other boys, anxiously awaiting Louis' return. He had no idea how long paperwork would take, though, so he tried to be patient. He looked around at his brothers, who were all playing quietly around him, except for Liam. The toddler was curled up in Niall's lap, his thumb in his mouth and his blanket wrapped around his small body. It was close to the boy's naptime, but he was ready to go to a new home soon and he didn't want to miss that!
Louis was still signing papers and getting information almost two hours later, and when he finally finished, he sat back with a sigh. "Wow, that's a lot of paperwork."
"It is," Rory sighed. "I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever done paperwork for four children in one day. But are you ready to go get them and let them know?" she smiled before standing. "And then we'll let some of the volunteers pack up their stuff."
"That sounds like a great plan," Louis smiled. They headed back to the building where they'd been awhile back, and Louis opened the door. What he saw melted his heart. All the boys were positioned around the room, but Niall sat with a very sleepy Liam in his lap in front of a pile of suitcases and backpacks. "What is this?" Louis chuckled.
"I overheard you talking to Rory and got excited," Niall said sheepishly. He ducked his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten excited," he said softly. It was Liam that looked up then, standing and toddling over to Louis, leaning against the man's leg tiredly.
"We go home now?" Liam asked with a sleepy look, craning his neck to look up at Louis. The older man let out a quiet 'aww' and bent down to pick the boy up, nestling the toddler against his side so Liam could rest his head on the older man's shoulder.
"Yeah, we're going home now," Louis whispered, rubbing Liam's back and looking to the others. "You guys want to come home with me?"
"Yeah!" the others cheered, and suddenly Louis was surrounded by boys hugging his legs and chattering excitedly. Louis laughed and reached out his free hand to pat the others on the heads before he turned to Rory.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" he asked, and Rory shook her head before leaning down to say goodbye to the boys. Then she helped herd all of them toward Louis' car, where Louis buckled Liam into the car seat he'd brought along, just in case. "I'll get the rest later, but I wasn't quite expecting three more," he chuckled lightly.
"We've actually got some you can borrow if you'd like," Rory smiled. So there was one more detour, and then Louis had Liam in a car seat and Zayn and Harry in boosters before he climbed into the driver's seat. Rory waved at the car until it disappeared, the boys all waving back excitedly. Then it grew quiet, and Liam finally gave way to the sleepiness that had he'd been fighting for so long.
The other three watched out the window excitedly as they drove away. Aside from a couple of field trips places, the boys hadn't been off the site of the foster home. With the large amount of kids in the home, protective services just sent tutors out to them instead of trying to bus all the children into the city.
It didn't take long for Louis to drive to his house, and then he turned to the kids. "Here we are," he smiled. He got out of his car and carefully pulled a sleeping Liam from the car seat as Niall helped Zayn and Harry from their booster seats. Harry came running up to Louis and took his hand as Louis made his way to the door, and Louis smiled down at him. "We can get your luggage from the car later. I want to show you the house first." So Louis took them around the house, pointing out the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms on the first floor. Then he took the stairs, heading to one of the three bedrooms upstairs. One was his, one was an office, and the other was for his kid...kids. Louis gasped in realization and turned around.
In his planning, he'd bought enough stuff for one child. An older child. So he turned to look at the group of kids that were following him, much like ducklings following their mother around. "Okay, so there's two rooms for you guys to share, you guys can choose who stays with who."
Harry and Zayn both just looked at Niall, who smiled. "I'll stay with Liam and Harry and Zayn can share a room. Thank you," Niall stated, smiling up at Louis.
"Not a problem. But I'm going to be honest with you guys, I don't have everything I need yet. So I'm going to call my mom, because she's excited to meet you and you guys can sit with her while I go pick up the last of the things I need," Louis suggested. "What do you guys think? You guys want to meet your grandma?"
"We have a grandma?" Harry gasped excitedly. He'd heard stories of grandmas! They made cookies and loved to cuddle and never said no to their grandbabies. Grandmas were awesome!
"You do!" Louis laughed. "Why don't you guys play with the toys in here while I talk to her?" he asked, entering what was now Niall and Liam's room, laying the baby on the bed before turning to see Harry already diving into the box of Legos and Zayn following close behind.
Louis stepped down the hall and called his mother. He had told her about his plan to adopt, and Johannah was just anxiously awaiting the news that she had a new grandson or granddaughter. "Hi, Mum," Louis smiled into the phone. "I have someone who wants to meet you. Are you free?"
"Louis William Tomlinson! Already?" Johannah gasped. "You've already got one?"
"Funny story," Louis chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've got four." The line went silent on the other side for a worryingly long time. "Mum?"
"Four?" she asked softly. "Louis, how'd you end up with four?" Louis couldn't quite figure out how his mom was feeling about the situation, so he tried to tread carefully.
"Mum, why don't you come over and meet them? I can explain it all once you're here," he said slowly.
"I have four grandbabies," Johannah muttered to herself before grinning. "Louis! I have four grandbabies!" she squealed.
"You do!" Louis laughed, feeling relief flood his chest. "And I was not prepared for that and need to go buy three more beds and clothes and toys and oh my god I'm about to worry the bank so much. Would you like to come babysit?" he asked.
"Louis William Tomlinson! You have to ask me that?" Johannah gasped, using his full name for the second time in just a few minutes. "Of course I want to babysit! I'll be right over!" And then she hung up, leaving Louis to go check on the babies.
He stood in the doorway to survey the scene, feeling as if this wasn't real life. He had four little boys in this room. Four little boys that three hours ago didn't have a home and didn't know if they ever would. "Louis! Come play!" Harry giggled, holding up a car.
"I'm coming, Harry," Louis smiled, his heart swelling as he came to sit beside him. "Your Grandma will be here soon."
"I'm so excited to have a family," Harry said absentmindedly as the group continued playing.
"Yeah, I've heard families are great," Niall added, looking up at Louis. "Are they?"
"They're the greatest thing ever," Louis replied, swallowing back a lump in his throat. He'd definitely made the right decision.