Chapter Sixty Four – Liam
It's all Liam can do not to speed excessively on the drive back from picking Bella up at Louis', as she started crying pitifully as soon as he strapped her into her seat in the back of the car and hasn't stopped, reaching towards him as he drives, even with Zayn sitting in the back beside her. Liam has never wanted to hurt a person as much as he wants to hurt Sadie right now, whatever she said to Bella has caused her to react this way and it's breaking his heart in every way possible, he can only imagine what it's doing to Zayn. Liam parks the car, back at their building and Zayn has Bella out of her seat and into his arms as soon as the car stops moving. Liam meets the pair at the front of his car and they make their way back up to the apartment, Liam pulling Zayn and Bella into his arms as soon as they step onto the elevator, "it's okay, you're home now" Liam coos, and Bella sniffles but she seems to calm down just a little. Once they get inside the apartment, Liam pulls Bella's shoes off her feet, while she stays wrapped around Zayn, and presses a kiss to her forehead, "why don't you two go get snuggled on the couch, and I'll go make some hot chocolate" he murmurs. Zayn nods but Arabella doesn't really respond as Zayn carries her into the living room and Liam goes into the kitchen.
When Liam walks into the living room a few minutes later balancing a tray with three mugs of hot chocolate, complete with marshmallows, and a plate of cookies, he smiles slightly at the sight. Zayn is sprawled on the floor with Bella laying on his chest, his one hand rubbing rhythmically up and down her back, while the other twirls a piece of her hair around one finger. Liam smiles and moves to sit on the floor by Zayn's head, setting the tray down on the coffee table, before he does. He carefully lifts Zayn's head up and places it back down on his lap, Zayn smiling lightly at him as he does so. "You get anything out of her?" Liam asks quietly, Zayn shakes his head, as best he can the way he's lying. Liam sighs and gently taps at Bella's hand, "hey, Princess, can you tell us what happened?" he murmurs. Bella peeks up at him from where she's laying on Zayn, looking up through her eyelashes at Liam. She blinks slowly before shaking her head, "mean lady" she mumbles. Liam pouts and runs a hand through Zayn's hair, "yeah, she was mean, but can you tell Baba and Daddy what she said to you to make you so sad?" Liam presses. Bella bites her lip and buries her face into Zayn's chest, Liam coos slightly at the sight, because she does look adorable even if she is sad right now. "Baba, Daddy no want Bella?" a tiny voice asks suddenly, and Liam can hear his heart crack, as Zayn's face twists into a pained expression. "What? Is that what she told you?" Zayn squawks and Bella bites her lip as she nods against Zayn's chest, "oh, Love. That's not true, I love you so much, and I always want you with me" Zayn murmurs, as Liam nods, "of course we want you" Liam adds. Bella blinks up at them, "promise?" she asks quietly, "I swear" Zayn answers "promise" Liam echos, and Bella smiles at them for the first time since they got to Louis' to pick her up.
The three stay cuddled up together that way, Zayn laying on the floor with his head in Liam's lap, and Bella laying against Zayn's chest, until Bella starts to squirm around on him, "Baba?" she asks. "Yeah, Boo?" Zayn answers and Bella grins at the two men, "watch Frozen?" she asks, pouting and batting her eyelashes at both men. Liam's a goner and agreeing before she even finishes the word, he can't stand up to the puppy dog eyes, he has gotten a little better at resisting, but he still caves ninety percent of the time. Zayn chuckles, nodding his head as he pushes himself into a sitting position, Arabella scrambling into Liam's lap as Zayn moves to get up. "Hello Princess" Liam coos, wrapping his arms tightly around her as she cuddles into his chest and they wait for Zayn to start the movie. "Daddy?" Bella asks, pouting and Liam pouts back, "yes?" he asks, "love Bella?" she asks quietly, and Liam's pout becomes real, "yes I love you Bella, forever and always times infinity and two" he answers seriously. Liam can tell by the way Bella cocks her head to the side she doesn't really understand everything he said, but she nods and snuggles in closer to him. "Why don't we sit on the couch?" Zayn asks, coming back over and standing over the pair on the floor, Liam groans, because standing up is hard, but nods, allowing Zayn to scoop Bella up before climbing to his feet and moving to sit on the couch, Bella and Zayn snuggling into him as soon as he sits.
The movie is ending and Liam smiles as he sees Bella curled up asleep against Zayn's chest, her thumb in her mouth, her other hand gripping Zayn's shirt tightly. "I have to go make a couple phone calls, do you want me to take her to her bed?" Liam asks quietly. Zayn shakes his head, "no, leave her be. I miss her napping like this. I'll just watch some TV while she sleeps" he murmurs. Liam nods, leaning over to press a kiss to Bella's forehead, before pressing his lips lightly to Zayn's, pulling away before either of them can try to deepen the kiss at all. "I'll be in my office if you need me" Liam murmurs, before leaving the room and heading towards his home office.
Liam shuts the door behind himself, once he gets to his office before grabbing his phone, he needs to call a few people. The first call he makes is to Louis, because he needs to ask the man a few questions. The phone rings three times before a breathless Louis picks up "hello?" he pants and Liam chuckles, "did I catch you at a bad time Lou?" he teases. Louis coughs "no, I wasn't in the same room as my phone, had to run to answer it, how's Bella, please tell me she's okay" he pleads. Liam smiles he can hear the genuine concern in Louis' voice and he's glad for Louis, knows he was there for Zayn and Arabella, when there was no one else to be. "Bella's fine. She finally calmed down enough to tell us everything, then we watched Frozen and now she's napping on Zayn" Liam explains, hearing Louis' sigh of relief "good, I hate when she's upset like that, I really am sorry Liam. I never meant for anything like that to happen" Louis murmurs. Liam frowns "hey Lou, none of that was your fault, I know what you mean though it's heart breaking when she's so miserably upset" Liam soothes. Louis laughs but there's no humour in it "yeah, what did she say?" he wonders and Liam frowns "apparently Sadie told Bella, that no one wanted her. Poor thing thought that Zayn and I didn't want her around anymore" he explains. Louis sucks in a breath, "what a bitch" he mumbles and Liam laughs, "yeah,that's putting it lightly. But Louis I actually called cause I need to ask you something" he answers. "Ask away" Louis murmurs, "I need Sadie's last name so I can get my lawyers and everyone working on a restraining order, she's crossed a line messing with my little girl" Liam says fiercely. Louis chuckles darkly, "you're telling me about crossing lines I wanted to beat her ass then and there. And her last name is Collins" Louis answers. Liam can't help but laugh at that "please don't do anything where you're going to need to be bailed out of jail, you might upset Zayn, and thanks Lou. But I gotta go I'll have Zayn call you later" he says. "I make no promises Payne, and alright later" Louis answers before the line disconnects.
Liam frowns, setting his phone down beside him, before starting up his laptop, once it's on he opens up his email and pulls up a new one, sending a message to his main lawyer, outlining the whole situation with Sadie and providing him with as many details as he can. He's just hitting send, when there's the sound of running footsteps coming towards him. "Daddy!" Bella screams, as she slides around the door into his office, "hey, I thought you were napping with Baba" Liam coos, catching her in his arms and tossing her into the air. Bella giggles and the sound makes Liam's heart swell, "I woke up" Bella exclaims throwing her arms out to the sides, just as Zayn comes into the office, "sorry, I had to pee, and when I got up, so did she" he explains. Liam chuckles shaking his head at Zayn "it's fine Zee, I don't mind" he answers as Zayn nods, leaning against a wall. Bella tapping at Liam's cheek draws his attention back to the toddler in his arms, "yes, Princess?"he asks her and she giggles again, the sound making both him and Zayn chuckle a little. "Can we go swimming?" Bella asks and Liam arches an eyebrow at her, "swimming? It's too cold to go swimming" he teases, Bella pouts, crossing her arms, and Liam laughs lightly. "What do you think Baba, should we take her to the pool?" Liam asks, directing his attention to Zayn, Bella gives Zayn puppy dog eyes as she nods her head quickly. Zayn laughs, moving closer to the pair, "I think that would be a good idea" he murmurs poking Bella's nose making her scrunch it up, and bat his hand away. "Why don't you go with Baba, to get ready and I'll meet you both by the door okay?" Liam asks, kissing Bella's forehead and passing her over to Zayn, watching fondly as the pair leave the room talking quietly.
Liam quickly finishes up in his office before stuffing his phone and keys into his pocket and leaving to his and Zayn's bedroom, where he grabs his swimsuit and a towel, stuffing them into his gym bag before moving towards the front door, where he can hear Zayn and Bella talking. "Are we ready to go?" Liam asks as he moves to put his shoes on, "yes Daddy" Bella cheers as Zayn nods, "we're ready, are you?" he asks, leaning up to kiss Liam, who responds instantly. "Ew, Baba, Daddy. No. Swimming" Bella groans pushing on both of their knees, Liam pulls away from Zayn, laughing,"yes, you're right. Let's go" he cheers, scooping Bella into his arms and heading out of the apartment, he can hear Zayn following behind them and knows his fiancé is following with the bags. Zayn catches up to them as Liam's letting Bella press the button for the elevator, "did you get your phone calls made?" Zayn asks as they wait and Liam nods, "yeah, I did. Hopefully soon Sadie will be a thing of our past" he answers, Zayn opens his mouth to say something but closes it again as the elevator arrives and the door opens, Liam furrows his eyebrows wondering what Zayn was going to say, but decides to let it go in favour of a fun afternoon spent swimming with his small, but perfect family.
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A/N: So here you go...another update.
I hope you enjoyed these chapters, flippen Sadie I want to beat her ass and I created the character. Anyways let me know what you thought. I love reading your comments and they keep me inspired.
I also wanted to apologize, things have been spectacularly shitty recently, so I'm sorry updates haven't been more frequent. But I need to thank you all again, you really are the most sweet and supportive group of people and your comments and messages have been keeping me going. Things at work didn't get better at all, and escalated to where I no longer am working there, and I wanted to thank all of you for all the support. I'm going to continue to need it and I promise to do my best to keep updates as frequent as possible. I love you all
Until next time xoxo