Chapter Sixty One – Zayn
Zayn frowns as he watches Liam carry a still very much awake Bella into the apartment, it's late, way later than Bella should be awake. They're just getting home from dinner with everyone celebrating Zayn being done school and all Zayn wants to do is fall into bed and sleep, but Arabella apparently has other plans for him and Liam as she refuses to settle down. Zayn blames Louis, and his insistence that three bowls of ice cream for dessert would be an alright thing, but Louis got to go home with just Harry and, if Zayn knows him as well as he thinks he does, is already asleep back in his bed. "Bella no the couch is not for jumping on" Liam calls, as Zayn rounds the corner into the living room to see the two year old jumping up and down on the couch, and dodging Liam's hands as he tries to stop her and get her to settle. Zayn watches for a minute, before deciding to let Liam continue to handle it and disappears into the kitchen to make coffee, because it's going to be a long night, and he and Liam are going to need it. "Baba, help" Bella squeals running into the kitchen and ducking behind his legs, followed closely by Liam, who is limping slightly. Zayn arches an eyebrow at his fiancé who gestures to Bella, "she kicked me" Liam mumbles, and Zayn groans, turning around and catching Bella before she can run off again. "Arabella Trisha Malik we do not kick people, you know better. That's not okay, what do you think you should say to Daddy?" Zayn asks, voice stern. Bella pouts, "accident Baba" she whines and Zayn sighs shaking his head, "accident or not, it's not okay, what do you say to Daddy?" he tries again. Bella pouts, but turns to Liam, "sorry Daddy, not mean to" she murmurs. Liam smiles gently, "it's okay, lovely, but it's time to get ready for bed, it's past your bedtime" he says slowly.
Bella resists, and Zayn knows it's coming before it actually happens, she's overtired and overstimulated, so when she throws herself away from Zayn with tears pouring down her cheeks he's not surprised. Liam arches an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything as Zayn crouches down to be eye level with the hysterical girl, "Bella, my Love, look at Baba please?" Zayn murmurs, and Bella peeks up at him through her eyelashes. "There's my girl" Zayn murmurs, brushing a few tears off her cheeks, "you need to come and get your jammies on okay, it's very late" he adds. Bella pouts but nods and reaches for Zayn, who scoops her up as he stands, "I'll finish the coffee and meet you in our room?" Liam asks, Zayn grins, leaning over to kiss him quickly, "that sounds good, thank you" he mumbles before heading from the kitchen towards Bella's room.
Zayn sets Bella down on her bed as he turns to pull out some pyjamas, "Baba, I not tired" Bella whines and Zayn shakes his head, "I know baby, but you need to get ready for bed" he reasons. Zayn hears the thump as Bella kicks her bed but chooses to ignore it, turning around with Bella's favourite Frozen pyjamas and a new pull up in his hands. "Alright, hands up" Zayn coos, as he grabs the bottom of Bella's dress, pulling upwards, she's barely cooperating, but she's not fighting him, so he'll take it, Zayn's quick to get her into a new pull up and the pyjamas after the dress is off. "There you're all done, ready for bed" Zayn hums, pulling Bella into his lap, "Baba, no. No bed" Bella insists, and Zayn groans inwardly, "why no bed?" he asks curiously, "don't wanna, not tired" she answers, pouting. Zayn sighs nodding, "what if you come and watch a movie with Baba and Daddy?" Zayn asks, in an attempt to keep her calm enough she'll start to get tired, Bella thinks for a second, biting her bottom lip gently, "okay Baba" she mumbles quietly and Zayn grins scooping her into his arms to carry her towards his and Liam's room. Once they're both settled on the bed Zayn starts flipping through Netflix, trying to find something to watch, Liam comes in carrying two mugs and a sippy cup, "for you" he murmurs, passing Zayn one of the mugs. "And for the apparently wide awake princess" Liam hums handing Bella the cup, "what is it?" Bella asks and Liam grins, "warm milk, my mum always made it for me, when I couldn't sleep" he answers, winking at Zayn, who laughs taking a sip of his coffee.
Twenty minutes later, Zayn is trying to keep Bella from jumping on the bed as all three of them cuddle to watch a movie, Zayn's not even sure what it is, just knows it has talking dogs, and Bella wanted to watch it. "Okay, jumping bean, why are you so energetic at ten thirty at night?" Liam hums, reaching over to rest a hand on top of Zayn's on Bella to keep her still. Bella shrugs, attempting to squirm away from both of them, she doesn't stand a chance, she's not going to be able to get both men off her "don't know Daddy, wanna jump" she whines, pulling at Liam's fingers. "Daddy and Baba's bed is not a trampoline, though Love" Zayn murmurs, bringing his other hand over to wrap around her. Bella pouts at him, batting her eyelashes, but Zayn shakes his head "that doesn't work on me Bells, and you know it" Zayn chuckles, before yawning. Bella narrows her eyes at him "Baba tired?" she asks and Zayn nods, "yes, Baba is very tired, which is why you need to go to sleep" he answers, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Can't sleep" Bella whines and Zayn groans slightly, "why not?" he asks, knowing there's more to this than just a sugar high, "monsters" Bella squeaks in response. Zayn locks eyes with Liam over the toddler's head, "what monsters?" Liam asks slowly, running a hand up and down Bella's arm soothingly, "in room. James told me they there. Bella not sleep" she answers, adamantly shaking her head for emphasis. "There's no monsters, my love. I promise" Zayn murmurs, pulling her into his lap and kissing Bella's temple, "yeah Princess, don't listen to your cousins" Liam adds, leaning over to press his own kiss to her cheek.
Bella yawns then, snuggling into Zayn more, and he knows she's coming down from the sugar but still fighting sleep because of apparent monsters, "what if you sleep in here, just for tonight?" Zayn asks, brushing some of her hair away from her face. "With Baba?" Bella asks quietly, and Zayn nods, "yeah with Baba, and Daddy" he answers just as quietly, "and tomorrow I'll make sure that there's absolutely nothing that doesn't belong, in your room, okay?" Liam asks. Zayn smiles gratefully at him, mouthing "thank you" over Bella's head, Liam just nods in response. Bella's thinking it over and Zayn really hopes she takes the deal, because he's tired and he knows Bella is too, and the longer she stays up tonight the crankier she's going to be in the morning. "Okay" Bella mumbles quietly, clinging onto Zayn's shirt a little, "alright, lay down, Daddy and I will be right here" Zayn murmurs before starting to sing quietly as he plays with Bella's hair gently. Zayn feels Liam's arms wrap around them both as his eyes flutter slightly, he can hear Bella's breathing evening out as she falls asleep and he's glad for it, because he's not sure how much later he could stay up himself.
When Zayn wakes up the next morning, he's alone in his bed, rubbing at his eyes he glances to the clock to see it's an hour later than he normally gets up. Zayn also notes he can't hear Liam or Bella, and wonders for a moment what they're doing, he sees both mugs from last night are gone, and assumes Liam took them to the kitchen. Sliding out of bed Zayn makes his way towards the bathroom, quickly brushing his teeth, before he makes his way into the rest of the apartment, still unable to hear Liam or Bella, which is strange. As he gets closer to the living room Zayn can hear the TV playing quietly, so he heads in the room, when his eyes land on his fiancé and daughter he coos quietly. Liam is laid out on the couch with Bella resting on his chest, both his arms are around her keeping Bella from falling. Bella's asleep her fingers curled into Liam's t-shirt, while Liam is watching the TV that's quietly playing some home renovation show. Zayn clears his throat to make his presence known, and Liam tips his head backwards to see him, "morning" Liam murmurs, one hand rubbing Bella's back gently. "When did you come out here?" Zayn asks quietly and Liam shrugs, carefully moving to get his phone, and checking the screen, "around four, I think. Bella woke up and I didn't want her to wake you up, so we came out here. She managed to go back to sleep, but I didn't have the same luck" he explains. Zayn nods, moving into the room, lifting Liam's feet gently, to sit down before allowing the man's legs to drop back into his lap. "You could have woken me up" Zayn mumbles and Liam shakes his head, "nah, I had it covered, and you needed your sleep" Liam murmurs, brushing some of Bella's hair back and pressing a kiss to her head, Zayn coos, biting his lip as he watches the interaction.
They stay like that for another thirty minutes before Bella starts to stir, wiggling around on Liam, before her eyes blink open, "Daddy?" she asks tiredly, "yes, Princess?" Liam hums in response. Zayn watches as Bella notices him for the first time, "Baba, up" she exclaims, pushing away from Liam's chest and scrambling towards him. Zayn catches her and hugs her tightly, "did you have a good sleep?" Zayn asks, and Bella nods while yawning. "Why'd you wake Daddy up so early, huh?" Zayn murmurs and Bella shrugs "monsters" she mumbles and Zayn frowns, wondering where and when the sudden fixation with monsters started, and how he can put a stop to it. "But we looked everywhere, and there's no monsters in the flat, right Bella?" Liam murmurs leaning over to kiss her cheek. Bella nods slowly, "I think they hiding Baba" she muses and Zayn sighs. "Boo, there's no monsters, you're safe" he explains. Bella just sighs snuggling into his chest, "what do you want for breakfast?" Liam asks, changing the subject and Zayn's grateful for it, but he just shrugs in response. "Helpful" Liam chuckles, pushing himself up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen, Zayn watches him go, biting his lip and wondering how he got so lucky.
Once Liam's out of sight and Zayn can hear him banging around in the kitchen, he turns his attention back to his daughter, "I love you Bella-Bug" he murmurs, and Bella giggles, "love Baba" she says. "What doing today?" Bella asks, cocking her head, and poking at Zayn's tattoos, Zayn shrugs, "what do you want to do today?" he asks, and she cocks her head as she thinks. "Go park!" Bella exclaims, after a minute and Zayn laughs nodding his head "alright, after breakfast we can get dressed and go to the park for a bit okay?" he says and Bella claps her hands excitedly. Before Zayn can react Bella is climbing off his lap and heading to the kitchen where he can hear her telling Liam about their plans and Liam's perfectly excited reaction.
After they've eaten breakfast, Liam disappears while Zayn gets Bella dressed in some warm clothes, given it's February it is cold outside, but he knows he's lucky his child likes to play outside so much. Liam reappears as Zayn's slipping Bella's feet into her boots, "so Ruth and the kids are going to meet us" Liam says pulling his coat on. Zayn furrows his eyebrows, nodding his head, Liam chuckles leaning down to kiss him, "I think she's looking for stuff to do Ben's away on business again, and won't be back for a couple more weeks" he explains. Zayn laughs nodding his head, "what does your brother in law even do? He's hardly ever home" he asks, Liam shrugs, "honestly? None of us really know, not even Ruth, he's kind of like Chandler from Friends that way" he answers. Zayn just laughs loudly at that response, nodding his head, "Baba, go now?" Bella asks, tugging on his sleeve, Zayn looks down to her, "yeah, we can go now, you ready?" he asks, the toddler nodding and reaching towards Liam to be picked up, Zayn watches as Liam complies, easily pulling her into his arms, and exiting out into the hallway, leaving Zayn to close and lock the door before following after them. Zayn catches up just as Bella slams her fist against the elevator button, giggling madly as she does and he can't help but laugh, shaking his head at her.