Niall Horan
One year later
"I like that, I like that! Sing it again," Harry told Liam. We're writing again and I couldn't be more excited. We've been back at it for about a month and we're about to break for the holidays but we're hoping to come back and have another album within a year if we stick to releasing in November.
"I don't know, this feels off."
"I agree. Let me try something with the base beat," Julian said.
"What are you guys doing tonight?" Louis asked. "Want to go grab a beer after?"
"I'm down," Liam said.
"No can do," I said.
"Why not? Come on!" Louis encouraged.
"He's a married man now," Julian said with a shrug.
"What do you have to do that's better than hanging out with us?" Louis asked.
"Honestly? I plan on having sex with my wife," I said through a laugh. "You don't remember what today is?" They all stared at me with blank faces. "It's our anniversary! It's the fifteenth."
"Oh right! One year ago today."
"Yep. Best year yet."
"Well have a good night. What plans do you guys have? Other than what you just said," Liam added awkwardly.
"She's cooking dinner and we're staying in."
Writing finished up great. We made nice progress today and then I sped home. We're still living in my flat I had before we met but Liv has done some decorating that was honestly pretty necessary. Right now she has all these Christmas decorations up and the place has never looked so good.
"Honey, I'm home!" I like to say it all over the top sarcastically but I do it every time I walk in the door from work.
"Hi!" She came over and kissed me and I wrapped my arms around her.
"You look great," I told her. She had put on a dress that's tight in all the right places. "Do I need to change?" I'm underdressed compared to her.
"No, I don't plan on wearing it much longer," she said with a grin. "Please sit. I made your favorite."
...
Olivia Horan
One year later
"Niall?"
"Hm?" He rolled towards me in bed and draped an arm over me.
"I was thinking..."
"Yeah?"
"Well maybe we should start thinking about having kids," I said cautiously.
"Really? You think so?"
"I mean, yeah. Kind of. We've had a fun couple years just hanging out but maybe we should start talking about it. Are you good excited or bad excited?"
"Are you joking? Good excited! Hell, I'm great excited! Let's do it! What are we waiting on?" He pinned my shoulders to the mattress, laid on top of me, and started kissing me.
"I didn't mean right this second," I said, laughing at my husband's eagerness.
"I don't see a problem with it." He kissed me again.
We truly didn't waste much time before starting to try. I called my doctor the next morning to make an appointment. She put me on all sorts of prenatal vitamins as well as folic acid.
Niall was working and couldn't join me at the appointment, but he was excited to see me when he got home that evening.
"Well, how did it go? Are we pulling the goalie?" He had an excited grin on his face.
"Niall, are you sure about this? I think I'm ready if you are. But is anyone ever really ready?"
Instead of answering me, he threw his jacket over a chair and headed for our bedroom. I watched him for a second, a bit confused, then went after him.
He opened the drawer of my nightstand and dug around for a minute before coming up with my birth control pills. Then he chucked them in the nearby trash can and they landed with a definitive thud. "Babe, we're ready."
His hands were on me in no time, pulling me to the bed.
The months that followed were some of our best yet. We had never had so much sex. It was like the newlywed months and then some.
I loved everything about it. I loved the way one of us was always trying to start something no matter the time of day. We were giddy with excitement for weeks on end.
"Do you think I'll know once it's happened?" I asked Niall one night. We were under the covers and still coming down from our last go.
"Yeah, when your period doesn't come, right?"
"Well yeah that will tell me. But do you think I'll know before then? Like I'll just have a sense or a gut feeling?"
"Maybe. That would literally be a gut feeling," he said with a laugh.
"It seems like if we've conceived a baby I should just feel it in my heart. I don't know, I guess that's not logical. But women always act like it's the most magical thing."
"Yeah, I don't know. What's your gut telling you now? Think we need to give it one more go tonight?" Niall spoke suggestively against my skin then his lips connected with my neck. His fingers were already teasing me again.
One evening Niall came home with a grocery sack full of pregnancy tests.
"I think you should take one," he told me, handing me a pink and white box.
"Really? My period isn't due for another week so it'll be over a week before I even know if I'm late."
"Liv, I've been giving you my absolute best these last few weeks." He couldn't help but join me in laughing once I started. "I have a good feeling."
"Okay! Yeah let's do it."
We rushed through the instructions, barely glancing, all too excited to get to it. But really, it's idiot-proof. You pee on a stick. What more could the instructions say?
The more keyed up Niall got, the more convinced I was that we were going to see two pink lines. We've barely missed an opportunity to jump into bed in weeks.
As we waiting those three minutes, Niall's hands found my shoulders. He was rubbing my shoulders and arms, I think almost more to calm himself down than me.
"Even if it doesn't happen today, it will happen. We're meant for this. I just know it," Niall said.
His confidence was comforting. When the timer went off we only jumped a little.
"Here goes," I said. I picked up the test and turned it over in my hands, but then my eyes looked away avoiding the results window. It was like when you can tell a book is about to say something big and shocking so you cover the next paragraph with your hand because you don't trust your eyes to not jump ahead.
But then Niall leaned over my shoulder for the results. "Oh," he said. I could hear it in his voice right away. "One line is negative, right?"
"Yeah." I finally looked and saw the single line myself. "That's a bummer."
Niall kissed the side of my head. "Maybe next time."
"Yeah, I guess the first time would have been too good to be true."
We were both a little disappointed, but it wasn't a huge blow. It's only been a couple months since I quit the pill anyway. We've got so much time!
Niall's arms wrapped around me. His voice was low and sexy near my ear. "Hey, I won't complain about some more time carrying on the way we have been."
"The trying is fun," I agreed.
...
Niall Horan
"I'm nervous," Liv told me.
"Don't be."
"The head editor wants to meet with me! That's got to be bad news."
"Or good news." I shrugged. "Probably good news."
"He's kind of a hard ass."
A few times a year Liv has to fly to New York, where the Wall Street Journal is headquartered. Other than that, she is able to write from home on her own time. Although she usually gets out of the house to work if I'm home. Apparently I'm distracting.
So she's leaving soon. Usually I go with her and we make a trip out of it but right now the boys and I are promoting a new album, the second one since the break. So Liv and I have been married a month shy of three years now.
"I took another pregnancy test," she told me. I could tell by her sad tone it was negative.
"Why didn't you tell me you were going to?"
"Because I'm sick of getting your hopes up. After so many months of negatives it's not so fun anymore."
"Hey," I tried to comfort her as I pulled her into my arms. "It's going to happen, sweetheart. Don't worry. It will happen." I scratched her back as she sighed against my chest.
"Okay." She pulled away and smiled at me. "Bye. I love you." She kissed me.
"I love you too. Don't be nervous about the meeting." I kissed her again and she went out to her cab.
...
Olivia Horan
"Mrs. Horan, welcome! Have a seat please." My boss sat down behind his desk across from me. Well he's kind of my boss but I report directly to someone who works under him.
"Hello."
"Great piece on gun laws. That was seriously good journalism. Not biased and presented more facts to let the reader form their own opinion. I like that."
"Thank you. I'm glad to hear it."
"You're a wonderful writer but most importantly you pay attention to detail. That doesn't go unnoticed."
"Thank you, sir."
"I'm going to just get down to it. I'm retiring in a couple years. Most likely, Peter will be my replacement. Which means his job will be open."
"Oh."
"Yeah. I think you would be perfect for it and I would love to recommend you when the time comes."
"Wow, thank you so much!"
"The thing is, I can't exactly recommend someone who doesn't have their masters yet. So you go get your MBA and in two years, the job is most likely yours. How does that sound?"
"Amazing! Thank you!"
That went a thousand times better than expected. I thought I was due for a lecture but he wants me to be an editor! A lower level editor but still, that's stepping up.
...
"Have a good first day of school," Niall said before kissing me on the cheek. "I packed you a snack."
"You're so cute."
"Study hard!"
I'm doing it. I'm going back for my masters. My boss told me there's a possibility I could be an editor soon so of course I jumped on that opportunity and Niall was very supportive. We were trying to get pregnant but nothing happened for months. I was taking pregnancy tests every couple weeks, always getting my hopes up just to see a negative sign. So we took it as a sign from the universe that we need to wait awhile longer and going back to school is what's meant to be right now.
When Niall tells me to have a good first day of school, it's not exactly a normal first day of school. They're night classes and then some online classes. It should ideally take about two years.
I found a seat in the lecture hall and I was having serious flashbacks to college.
"You are all here because you want more out of your life," the professor started. It was your typical first day of classes pep talk. I've heard a thousand of these but I tried to listen. "You want to climb that ladder. You are all bright people and you want a brighter future by way of more education. I know it may seem hard now. You're trying to work a job, maybe two, all while taking these classes and trying to relearn MLA and APA and Chicago Style. It won't necessarily be easy. But I'm telling you right now, your sacrifices are worth it for a better future. One day you will be sitting in an office that is all yours with a hundred people working under you because they didn't have what it takes to make the sacrifices you did. And it will all be worth it."
I ran out and puked in the trashcan in the hallway.
...
Twenty minutes later, I was at home locked in the bathroom.
"Liv, honey, are you okay?" Niall knocked and I nodded, not thinking clearly enough to realize he couldn't see my response.
My phone dinged, pulling me from my daze.
I came out of the bathroom slowly, not yet meeting Niall's eyes.
"Are you okay? Was it not what you expected? Because you totally don't have to do it and no one is forcing you to get your masters but I thought you would at least make it through the first day," he said.
"No, it was exactly what I expected," I told him. "But then there was something completely unrelated that I didn't expect."
"Huh?"
A smile spread across my face. "I'm pregnant!" I brought the test from behind my back and waved it at him. "Look!"
"What?"
"I know!"
He wrapped his arms around me, picked me up by the waist, lifting me off the ground, and spun me around. We were laughing and crying and kissing and hugging.
"No way! This is the best news ever," he mumbled against my lips.
"I'm so excited," I cried.
"I love you so much. You're going to be the best mum." He hugged me tight.
"I love you too."
Later that night we cuddled up in bed together and Niall traced his fingers lightly across my stomach, even though obviously you won't be able to see a bump for weeks.
"How did you know?" Niall asked me.
"So I was in class and the professor started off by talking about how we'll be successful basically because we're the power hungry ones and we'll be in charge of shit one day because of this sacrifice and blah blah blah. And I was thinking, will this even be worth it once we have kids? Because once we do I'll want to stay home with them. I'm putting off having kids for this stupid job even though it's just that: a stupid job. Then I puked. At first I thought I was just overwhelmed. But then it hit me that I might be pregnant. So I went and bought a test on my way home and here we are."
"That's crazy." Niall ran his hand through his hair. "It's funny that we thought we could plan this shit. But nope."
"It happens when it's meant to I guess," I said. I can't believe we had been failing to get pregnant for months and then right when I start my masters it happens. Little did we know good news was on its way.
"But we really tried hard," Niall said with a chuckle. "Then it happens when we quit trying. Explain that."
"Tried hard? Tell me, what did you really do?" I laughed at him.
"You made me come home from writing sessions to have sex with you over my lunch when your...eggs were...or whatever."
"When I was ovulating." I laughed at his discomfort. "You're saying I made you do that? Because you certainly didn't seem to mind at the time. Plus, I'm the one who tracked all that. Literally all you had to do was sleep with me when I told you to."
"Olivia, I'm a man, not a machine. You can't just turn me on and off," he joked.
"Previous experience would say otherwise," I noted.
He rested his hand on my stomach. "So crazy. That's our little baby right there."
"I know. It's incredible."
He kissed the side of my face and cuddled me closer, still protectively laying a hand over the baby.
"Goodnight, Mummy."
...
"Welcome! Great to have you back!"
"Hi, sweetie." Mom hugged me and then moved on to Niall. My parents and Grace are visiting for Easter and we're having Niall's family over tonight as well because we want to tell them about the baby. Except we can disguise it as just getting together for Easter so I think they'll be surprised.
"Same room as last time. Do you remember which one it is?" Niall asked.
"I think," my dad responded as he set his and my mom's bags down and hugged us as well. "Do you still have that exercise room?" I turned a spare room into a mini gym.
"We do and you're welcome to it. But probably by the next time you're here you won't be able to use it," I said to see if they'd take the bait. I had told them a couple years ago that it would eventually be a nursery. We'll have to do that pretty soon because I'm about ten weeks along.
I just had to drop the hint. I'm so excited about our secret I'm about to burst.
It went right over Dad's head and he immediately reacted. "And why the hell not?"
"Oh Joe, you big dummy." Mom understood. Her eyes were already watery. There's no question of where I got my quick emotions from. Grace laughed at him too.
Mom looked at me to confirm and I nodded. "I'm pregnant." A grin spread across my face as I said the words. It felt so good to tell them.
"Oh my goodness!" She basically shrieked and hugged me.
"I thought we were waiting till dinner," Niall said. "Don't tell my parents."
"Oh we won't." My mom pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key. What a dork.
"Congratulations," Dad told us.
"Congrats to you too, grandpa." Niall laughed and my dad looked uneasy for a split second. He doesn't like getting older.
"I'm going to be an aunt!" Grace said.
We got everyone all settled in and tried to hold off from talking about the pregnancy until the Horans arrived. We didn't want them to miss out. We were all hanging out in the living room when the doorbell rang.
"Maura! So good to see you!" The whole Ireland crew arrived at once. They flew in together. Thankfully most of them are actually staying at a hotel because we couldn't fit everyone here. But still, we will all squeeze in to eat over here. I'm kind of proud of myself because nothing is burned.
Harry arrived a little later. We invited all the boys but the others had already gone home for the weekend.
Mom came over to me and sternly whispered, "Olivia Jane, are you drinking?" I had a wine glass in my hand.
"Of course not! It's a decoy," I joked. "I'm just holding it because it's too obvious I'm pregnant if I don't." That's the problem with always drinking — it's really noticeable when you stop.
"Oh," she mumbled as she understood.
"I'm new to this but I know the basics," I said.
We sat down to eat and Niall stood up with his drink. "It's been awhile since we've all been together so I just want to say thanks for making the trip everyone, especially Joe, Lori, and Grace for coming so far. Good to have everyone here. I wanted to make a little toast. It was five years ago this weekend, whenever Easter happened to fall that year, that I brought Liv to Mullingar to meet the family and I was almost certain even then that I wanted to marry her. We've come pretty far since then. So I'll get on with it. Stand up, Liv. It doesn't seem like there's a better time than now to tell you all that Olivia is pregnant."
Maura practically squealed as Chris and Bobby congratulated us.
"That's so exciting!" Denise said. She and Greg shared a little look.
"Wait," I spoke before I thought.
"Huh?"
"You're not...are you?"
Denise went pink. "We didn't want to steal your thunder. But I never was good with secrets. Yeah, Greg and I are having a baby too."
"Oh my god!" I went over and gave her a huge hug. "They can grow up together! Oh it'll be perfect!"
"You asked for a boy too, right?" Niall said. "We asked for a boy."
"I'm only ten weeks in and I'm already tired of that joke," I said.
"Kidding," he said. But I know he's kind of not.
"I'm about twelve weeks. We're close!" Denise said.
"This is so perfect!"
"Hey, me too! Twelve weeks," Grace chimed in.
"Not funny, young lady." Dad wasn't laughing but everyone else was. Actually I think Harry was choking on his drink but trying to pretend he was laughing.
Those two are a mystery to me. It never blossomed into a big romance but I know they loved each other and maybe they still do. Grace has confided in me and she kind of cut off whatever they had become because she felt like it wasn't a real enough relationship. She said that was fine in college but now it's time to be more serious than just hooking up and he didn't seem to want anything more serious yet. That being said, I'm pretty sure they still hookup sometimes. His nerves at her joking comment kind of confirmed that.
Niall asked Denise, "Do you have the app? Liv, tell them about your app!"
"Huh?" Denise asked what he was talking about.
"Our baby is the size of a kumquat this week," Niall said like it was perfectly normal.
"I have this app that tells you what size the baby is week by week by comparing him or her to different fruits. Niall is really fascinated by it," I explained.
"Yeah, this week it's a kumquat and last week it was a cherry," he said.
"Interesting." She laughed at him. He has no idea he's being made fun of a little. I'm so in love with his excitement though. I'm pretty lucky to have such an incredible husband.