Liam
"Chloe, poppet, I am so sorry I din't say anything. really, really sorry, but you have to understand, it's not...I'm not...it's not forever."
Pacing around his office, Liam glanced down at Loki, who was flopped down in his basket, stopping talking and dropping down into his desk chair, and staring at his dog as though he was waiting for Loki to answer. Running a hand over his face, Liam didn't look away from Loki as he said, "That's not right. I cannot say that to her. I shouldn't even be having to think about what to say. And this is crazy."
Dissatisfied with Loki's apparent indifference, the dog burying his nose in the lining of his basket and whining a little before turning his back on Liam. Watching his dog, Liam sighed, leaning back in his chair before muttering, "I'm losing it. I'm two days away from leaving for eight months, and my daughter isn't talking to me, and I'm talking to my dog. I am officially losing it."
Loki chose that moment to get up, padding softly out of the room, leaving Liam sat in his study by himself. Which was great.
Just great.
Really.
If Liam was the same person he'd been back in September, he'd have spent the last three days, the three days spent without seeing Chloe or really seeing Niall, inside a whiskey bottle, only emerging from a perfectly good, mind-fogging, judgement-clouding, drunken stupor when Paddy was either sent or came round by his own volition and forced him to sober up, however, with tour approaching in less than twenty-six hours, everyone was counting on him not doing that. He also liked to think that he'd grown out of that phase. Except for when Louis would inevitably drag him out for nights out on tour. Then, spending a day in a drunken stupor was more acceptable.
The last day before tour was always given to them to have off, and Liam had envisaged spending it with Niall and Chloe, yet he was sat in his apartment, rehearsing his apology speech on his dog. And he had no one else to call, either to find something to do with, or practise his apology on. Niall was working. And, tempting as it was to go, visit him, and sneak him away for lunch, it would mean he'd simply be at work for longer. Louis and Harry always spent the last day before tour by themselves, with strict orders for no one to disturb them, and everyone had to learnt to obey that rule the hard way. Zayn liked to spend the day painting, alone in his studio. Which left Liam by himself.
Practising apologies on his dog.
His next apology did go slightly better, though, or so he thought.
He tracked Loki down to the kitchen, sitting next to the dog on the floor and offering him the occasional biscuit as he spoke. "Chlo, I want to apologise. I should have told you. You deserved to know that I was going ages ago, and I am so sorry I didn't tell you. I know I'm going away, really really soon, but I still want to see you. I still want to be around. Of course I do. Please, please, please understand, poppet. I'm not going forever. I'll be back, I swear, and I'm sorry you had to find out so soon before I go..."
Loki nudged into Liam's side, snuffling a little as Liam fed him another biscuit, letting Liam's fingers sink into his fur and scratch the back of his neck. Liam stayed there for a while, trying not focus on how much he was going to miss Loki while he was away, his sister having volunteered to watch Loki as she always did, volunteering after Liam had confessed the lack of a chance he'd had to arrange anything else.
He only moved when his phone rang, alarming Loki and causing the dog to run away, hiding somewhere. Liam took a moment to answer the phone, staring after Loki and sighing a little before he answered the phone, sitting up straighter and frowning at the unknown number. "Hello?"
"Is this Liam...Mr Payne? Chloe Horan's other, other emergency contact?" The voice on the ended sounded more shellshocked than authoritative, talking sort of breathlessly and not waiting for Liam to answer. "Chloe needs to be picked up from school...now, sort of. She's not injured or anything, she's just upset, crying, and she won't stop. Her dad, he's unable to get here, we can't even contact him, and her emergency contact, Miss Moore, Jessica, I believe cannot make it either. You are listed, though, so can you come and collect her. This is Mr Payne, right?"
"Yes, this is...I am Mr Payne. This is about Chloe? I can be there in about twenty minutes, if that's okay. You are aware of the agreement Chloe's father and I have with the school? Where no one says anything that comprises anything?" Liam was already halfway out the door, holding one of his shoes in his hand and fumbling with his keys as he struggled with the lift.
He almost felt bad for bringing up the agreement he and Niall had with Chloe's school, and had had ever since Niall and he had met with a solicitor and had everything sorted out officially, he almost felt bad for bringing it up since whomever he was talking to probably already knew that, but the excited tone in her voice made him slightly wary. The press about him and Niall had died down enough for Paddy to no longer need to offer to watch Niall like a hawk, focusing more on the tour than Liam's impending exit from the closet, but he was still wary about Chloe and people finding out about her. She definitely didn't need any more of his crap affecting her.
Liam was distracted by that thought as he drove over to Chloe's school, turning the radio off when the news began to air and the chief headline was about One Direction's first gig in less than a day, making it to Chloe's school in what he counted as record time, ditching his car and legging it into the building.
Being let in by one of the reception staff, Liam gave her a tense smile, shoving his hands in his pockets and following her along to the reception area, stopping in his tracks when he saw Chloe. Chloe, the usually perky, bright, bouncy little girl, was sat next to the woman Liam recognised as her teacher, the old bag both Niall and Chloe always complained about, still snivelling and wiping her nose on her sleeve, tears rolling down her face.
She didn't cheer up when she saw Liam, looking down at her shoes and avoiding making eye contact with him, staying firmly rooted to her chair even as her teacher got up, the look on her teacher's face making Liam's heart sink. She reached across to shake his hand, the smile on her face not quite reaching her eyes as she greeted him. "Mr Payne, I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting. I'm Mrs Evans, your...daughter's teacher. You are aware of why you were called in, yes?"
"I was told that she was upset, which she obviously is." Liam tried to pay attention and not to look past the teacher but failed miserably, shuffling from foot to foot as he was told, "It's a bit more than that. We were reviewing family trees and a class discussion about our families began, and Chloe became very upset. It's not normal behaviour for her, and we are worried by it. It's obvious that things aren't okay at home for her and, being who you are, we're aware that things might not be for a while."
Visibly bristling at that, Liam nodded, waiting for her to be finished before he made to push past, ducking down so he was Chloe's height and going her a tentative smile before he took her bags and coat from her, holding her hand and giving her teacher a grim look as he said, "Things will be perfectly fine for her at home, really. I'm okay to take her home, yeah?"
The teacher simply nodded, looking from Chloe to Liam before she made to escort the to the door, giving Chloe an almost fond look as she said, "I'll see you Monday then, Chloe."
Chloe didn't answer, simply looking down at her the ground as she followed Liam out, still sniffing and letting go of Liam's hand the minute they were out of the school. Liam simply sighed, nodding a little as he watched Chloe before he headed in the direction of the car, placing one and on Chloe's shoulder and propelling her forward when she didn't move with him. Chloe huffed a little, letting Liam keep her moving, tears still rolling down her face, even as she fought to keep them back, her refusal to move meaning Liam picked her up, sitting her in the front and sorting her seatbelt out before he could start the car.
They drove in silence for a while, Chloe sniffing and wiping her nose on her sleeves, turning her face away from Liam and crying silently, shaking her head as Liam said, "Chlo."
"Chloe. Please look at me."
"Chloe Amelia, would you please, please look at me." Liam almost regretted using her full name as the seven-year-old flinched, regretting using it even more so as he remembered that Chloe was only ever Chloe Amelia when she was in trouble, and as Chloe looked over at him, her lip wobbling as she asked, "Am I in trouble? Is that why you're leaving? Did I do something?"
That made Liam stop in his tracks, pulling into a nearby street and park up at the curb, looking around at Chloe with a stunned expression on his face. "What? Why would you think that? That...that is not the case, poppet. I swear. I am so, so sorry, that I'm leaving, that I didn't tell you, that I let you think that. Chloe, you haven't done anything. You aren't in trouble."
"But you're leaving. And Daddy says it's for work but no one goes away for months for work. You're going." Chloe's protest died out as she finally looked up at Liam, who'd shrugged off his own seatbelt before he reached over and pulled Chloe into as best a hug as he could manage. Chloe pulled away after a moment, but not before she'd dampened the shoulder of his shirt. Liam gave her a fixed stare, reaching out and tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear before he shook his head. "I go away for months at a time, Chlo. It's what I do. You know that. I sing, with Louis, Zayn and Haz, We're going away, on tour for a bit. You know what that means, right?"
Chloe nodded, rolling her eyes ever so slightly at Liam, making him smile just a little. "Of course you do. That's why I'm going. Not because of you, or your dad. You two are the biggest reasons why I want to stay."
"So why don't you? You're leaving, three- Two- One...tomorrow, why don't you just stay? And why didn't you say earlier?" Chloe had managed somewhat to stop crying and was finally looking at Liam, a frown on her face as she waited for him to answer.
"I can't stay, Chlo. I want to, but I can't. I'd disappoint a lot of people, let alone the guys, and it would cost a lot of people a lot of money. I've never been able to stay. I used to do this every year. We've taken a break for a few years, but now it's time to start again, you know?" Liam bit his lip as he looked over at Chloe, the seven-year-old mulling his words over as he tried to figure out an answer to her second question. "I don't have an answer, by the way. Not to why it took me so long to say anything. I think...the answer I gave your dad is still right. I didn't know how, Chlo. I didn't want to think about it, leaving. Me and you, we've only really started to...I didn't want to...well, do this. Upset you, set us back."
"Oh." Chloe seemed surprised by Liam's answer, nestling back in her seat and thinking for a moment before she asked, "Is this why Daddy was upset? Ages ago, when we first met Hazzy and the others?"
Liam had almost forgotten that night. Well, nearly almost. Sort of nearly almost.
So maybe the night was permanently ingrained onto his memory, a night when he very nearly fucked up everything he and Niall were working towards, something he didn't ever want to risk again.
He gave Chloe a tight smile, having the grace to nod as he marvelled at just how insightful she could be, wincing again as Chloe muttered, "That was months ago."
"I know." Liam relaxed a little as Chloe shrugged a little, leaning back in her seat and focusing on the road in front of them, thankfully not pursuing the conversation further as Liam drove off. The silence between them lasted a while, but that wasn't so bad. It was a more comfortable silence, less awkward than it had been before, and it was only broken when Liam asked, "Shall we go see your dad? I know he's working but he's probably a little worried about you."
Chloe simply nodded, looking out of the window as they drove, at some point taking off her elasticated tie and unbuttoning the top button of her shirt, a faint smile ghosting over her face as Liam turned the radio on and hummed along, prompting her to join in. She slipped her hand into Liam's after they'd arrived, following him into the store and looking around for Niall like she usually did, pulling Liam along behind her as she tracked him down to the back of the shop.
Niall seemed taken aback as Chloe ran at him, tackling him into a hug, but he hugged her back nonetheless, giving Liam a confused look before he smoothed back Chloe's hair, taking into account the faint red tinge and puffiness of her eyes before he asked, "What's going on? You, miss, should still be in school."
Chloe shook her head, grinning up at Niall, delighting almost in his confusion and leaving it to Liam to explain. Which he did, biting his lip a little and trying to gauge Niall's reaction as he said, "I got a call from her school, asking if I could collect her, said they couldn't contact you or Jessica, and I went in. She was really, really upset, about everything...you know, and school thought it would be best if she came home."
"My phone's been off all day, and I haven't taken a break yet." Niall tried not to feel guilty about not knowing as he spoke, looking down at Chloe and brushing her fringe back, giving his smiling, giggly daughter a quick smile and shake of his head as he said, "You seem devastated, Chlo. Totally tragic and inconsolable."
"Papa and I...it's okay. More okay than it was," Chloe said by way of an explanation, missing the looks of relief and thrill on Niall and Liam's faces at her calling him that, focusing at the battered old watch on Niall's wrist and taking a few moments to tell the time before she asked, "How long until you finish work?"
"Another few hours, poppet. Papa should take you back to his, though, and maybe you can do something together. Since you're not in school. And that's great, Chlo. That it's more okay." Niall gave her shoulder a squeeze, a fond look overtaking his face as Chloe slipped her hand into Liam's and they headed towards the door, Liam stopping abruptly before he turned back, reaching in and kissing Niall, muttering something Chloe didn't quite hear before they actually left.
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Surprise.