Chapter Forty Five – Zayn
Zayn groans, as Liam and Bella walk ahead of him into the car dealership, wondering how he let Liam talk him into this in the first place. He and Bella have been living with Liam for a week now and somehow Liam has managed to talk Zayn into letting him buy him a car. Liam pauses at the door, Bella stopping beside him as they seemingly wait for Zayn to catch up, "quit pouting, you need a car" Liam murmurs, kissing him gently. Zayn sighs because as much as he hates to admit it, Liam is right, the past week has been a nightmare of trying to get Bella to his mum's and get to school, both he and Louis ended up late for class, four out of the five days. "I know, but why does it have to be brand new?" Zayn mumbles gesturing across the road to where a used car place is and where Zayn would feel far more comfortable shopping. Liam chuckles, shaking his head, "because I want you to have a reliable vehicle, you're driving Bella everywhere. I need to know it's not going to die and leave you stranded somewhere" he explains. Zayn rolls his eyes, crossing his arms, "whatever" he mutters "come on" Bella urges, tugging on both Liam and Zayn's hands to get them to move inside the building again. Liam chuckles and allows himself to be pulled into the showroom, Zayn following slowly behind, still trying to find a way to change Liam's mind.
Zayn's sulking, he knows he's sulking, as Liam drives back towards their apartment, they've just finished ordering Zayn a brand new SUV, and Zayn thinks Liam spent too much money. Bella's playing happily in the backseat, oblivious to Zayn's distress over the whole car situation, and he's a little jealous of her and the fact that at two she really has no worries. "Zee, talk to me, please?" Liam asks and Zayn rolls his head along the seat to look at him, "you needed a car, and I know you like the one I got you, so please, don't be upset with me" Liam pouts. Zayn sighs, "I'm not upset with you, I just, I've made it this far without a car, and I just feel like, I don't know, I'm taking advantage of you" he mumbles. Liam is suddenly pulling over into a random parking lot, turning his whole body so he can face Zayn once he's parked the car, "Zayn look at me" he says. Reaching out to lift Zayn's chin so their eyes meet, "Daddy why stop?" Bella asks from the back. Liam chuckles, "just need to talk to Baba for a minute, Princess" he murmurs, turning to smile at the toddler who grins and nods her head at him in response. "You are not taking advantage of me, and yes you've lasted this long without your own car, but you were also living with someone who goes exactly the same places as you, so it worked. I work in the opposite direction of your school. You need that car" he insists. Zayn huffs before nodding slowly, because Liam is right and he knows he's right, he still can't help how he's feeling, "yeah, okay" he mumbles finally. Liam nods, leaning over the centre console to press a kiss to Zayn's lips, before he's pulling away and starting to drive again.
It's not long after their conversation in the car that they arrive back at the apartment, Zayn chuckles when he sees Bella has fallen asleep in the backseat, she really can fall asleep at anytime, anywhere. "Wasn't she awake five minutes ago?" Liam asks and Zayn shrugs, laughing lightly "yeah, but that's Bella for you" he chuckles. Liam nods, climbing out of the car, as Zayn makes his way to the back to carefully pull Bella into his arms. She lets out a whine as he does but doesn't actually wake up, and Zayn is thankful for it, as he falls into step beside Liam. Zayn allows Liam to hold the door for him, leaning into his side when they get onto the elevator. Liam leans down to kiss Zayn's hair, which makes Zayn grin, before Liam bends a little further and presses a light kiss to Bella's hair as well, "I love you" Liam mumbles, just as the elevator doors open onto their floor, "I love you too" Zayn murmurs, as Liam unlocks the apartment, and they step inside. Zayn carefully takes Bella into her room, tucking her carefully into her bed, "sleep tight" he murmurs, kissing her cheek, before pulling the blankets up over her, "I love you" he murmurs, to the sleeping girl, before quietly leaving the room and partially closing her door.
Zayn makes his way back towards where he can hear Liam in the other room,and he finds his older boyfriend sitting on the couch staring blankly at the wall, his phone discarded beside him on the couch. "Li?" Zayn asks carefully, coming to sit beside him, "you okay?" he asks. Zayn pats Liam's thigh, making the older jump, "yeah, I'm fine" he mumbles, Zayn furrows his eyebrows unconvinced, "No you're not, what is it Li?" Zayn murmurs. Liam sighs and passes Zayn his discarded phone, confused Zayn looks down at the screen, to see another article like the ones a few weeks ago, except this one is questioning the fact that the couple have moved in together. Zayn narrows his eyes as he scans over the utter nonsense in the article, only reading about half of it, before he tosses Liam's phone to the side and moves so he's kneeling in front of the gorgeous man he gets to call his boyfriend. "Hey" he says softly, and Liam half smiles, his lips barely twitching up before the frown returns, "why do you read this garbage?" Zayn murmurs. Liam shrugs and Zayn sighs, "do you think it was a bad idea, to move in together?" he presses. Zayn watches as Liam's face twists, before he's shaking his head quickly, "exactly, neither do I, so who cares what some random reporter thinks, about it" he affirms. Liam is suddenly pulling Zayn up and into his lap, "thank you" he mumbles as he hugs Zayn tightly, "I don't know why I read those things, when Elise sends them to me, they're always garbage" he sighs. Zayn chuckles and pulls away a little to nod at Liam, "exactly, so stop it" he laughs as Liam rolls his eyes, and reaches for the TV remote.
Zayn frowns pulling away from where he's snuggled into Liam's chest, watching some mindless show on TV, "what is it?" Liam asks, concerned, Zayn sighs, "I have a huge paper I need to work on" he pouts. Liam chuckles "why don't you go work in my office for a bit?" he asks, and Zayn sighs, nodding, "you sure?" he asks quietly. Liam chuckles nodding his head, "yeah. Bells is sleeping, and I can send some emails from my phone, you go do your paper" he assures him, Zayn sighs again before standing up, "thank you" he mumbles, leaning down to press a kiss to Liam's lips, before leaving the living room, heading towards their bedroom to grab his bag and laptop, before heading down the hall to Liam's home office. Zayn glances around the slightly messy room, before settling into the desk chair and turning on his computer, he smiles when he sees three pictures of Bella sitting in frames on the desk, along with one he remembers Liam making Louis take of the three of them. Once his computer is ready he opens the document pulling his notes from his bag and getting to work.
Three hours later, Zayn clicks save and smiles happily as his assignment is now finished, before frowning when he realizes Bella still isn't awake, or he would have heard her moving around. Stretching, Zayn closes his laptop and heads out of the office, peeking into Bella's room, frowning when he sees the toddler isn't there, and wondering how he never heard her wake up. Zayn hears giggling, and follows the sound to find Liam and Bella in the kitchen making something for dinner. When he gets closer he can see that it's homemade pizza and Bella's giggling because somehow she's managed to flick flour all over Liam. "What's going on here?" Zayn asks, making his presence known, Bella turns to him grinning "Baba" she cheers, jumping down from her stool to charge at him, wrapping herself around his legs. "Did you get your work done?" Liam asks, wiping the flour off his cheeks, Zayn chuckles, nodding as he scoops Bella into his arms, "yeah, I'm finished, thank you" he murmurs. "How long have you been up?" he asks Bella, who shrugs, snuggling into him, Zayn chuckles shaking his head at her response, not that he really expected anything different. "Did you cover Daddy in flour?" Zayn asks, looking around the messy room, Bella bites her lip as she giggles, before nodding slowly. Zayn chuckles "you aren't in trouble, but why?" he asks. Bella just shrugs, "she thinks she's funny, that's why" Liam teases, sprinkling a little flour over Bella's head.
Bella gasps and looks up at Zayn "Baba, look" she whines pointing to herself and then Liam pouting at the older man slightly, "oh so it's hilarious when you do it, but not when I do?" Liam asks. Zayn chuckles as Bella scrunches her nose up at him as she thinks, before nodding slowly and snuggling into Zayn a little, "Baba, tell Daddy no. No flour Bella" she huffs and Zayn laughs, kissing her head. "Why don't you say sorry for doing it to Daddy, and then Daddy will say sorry to you" Zayn reasons, sending both Bella and Liam a stern look. Bella sighs shaking her head, but looks up to Liam, "sorry Daddy" she mumbles, cuddling even closer to Zayn as she does, which worries him a little, because even though she's always been a cuddler, it's not usually this much. Liam steps closer wiping his flour covered hands on his pants, "I'm sorry Princess" he murmurs smoothing back her hair, and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Zayn looks around the now messy kitchen, and frowns "alright why don't we go get you cleaned up, while Daddy finishes making dinner" he asks. Bella sighs, nodding her head, "just cheese, Daddy" she reminds Liam who laughs, "I remember baby, you go with Baba" he grins, and Bella nods gesturing for Zayn to carry her out of the room.
Zayn and Bella return just over twenty minutes later, both of them in new clothes, because Zayn's got just as wet while Bella was having a bath as Bella did, and Bella with freshly washed hair. They find Liam in the kitchen wiping down the counters as the pizza cooks in the oven, "all clean?" he asks with a grin, and Zayn smiles as Bella reaches out towards him. Liam steps closer to pull the toddler into his arms, "Daddy?" she asks and he hums to indicate he heard her, "watch movie?" she asks and Liam chuckles "I don't see why not" he agrees, Zayn catches his eye and shrugs, because he doesn't see it as a problem either, really. Zayn notices Liam frowning as he kisses Bella's forehead, "what?" Zayn asks slowly Liam shrugs, "might be nothing, but she feels warm" he mumbles. Zayn frowns and steps closer pressing the inside of his wrist against Arabella's forehead, and frowning, she does feel warmer than normal, but not so hot he needs to worry too much. Zayn pouts and looks into Bella's eyes, "you not feeling good?" he asks and she shrugs, cuddling in to Liam a little more, and Zayn sighs, because now how cuddly she is makes sense, she always wants extra cuddles when she's sick. Liam passes the toddler back to Zayn, "why don't you and Baba go get settled and pick out a movie, and I'll bring the pizzas out" he asks, and Bella nods, "okay Daddy" she mumbles snuggling into Zayn who frowns. He really hates it when his baby girl is sick in any way.