Chapter One Hundred Fifteen – Zayn
Zayn's finishing packing the last few things, he and Liam are leaving early the next morning to catch their flight to Barcelona, he's excited of course, but Zayn's also apprehensive to leave all three of his babies behind. His mum is coming this afternoon to stay the night, so she's there when they leave and can just take over from there, and Zayn is once again grateful that both his parents have always supported him. Bella bounds into the bedroom just as he's closing his suitcase, and she pouts up at him as she climbs up onto the bed, "what's up Bells?" Zayn asks and she sighs, reaching out for him. Zayn scoops her into his arms and falls back onto the bed, cuddling her close to his chest, Bella's fingers absently start tracing over his tattoos, a habit she's always had. "Do you and Daddy have to go?" Bella asks quietly and Zayn frowns, "we do, but you'll have so much fun with Grandma, that you won't even really notice we're gone" he explains gently. Bella gives him a look that is clearly unconvinced and Zayn sighs, he knows that he and Liam need this trip for them as much as anything, but every time he and Bella have this conversation he has second thoughts.
Liam comes into the bedroom then, carrying a clearly just woken up Zack in his arms, Chloe must still be sleeping, she seems to take longer naps than her brother does, "there you two are" he hums. Zayn smiles at him from the bed and Bella giggles, "Bubba doesn't want to sleep anymore" Liam coos, passing the happy baby down to Zayn, as Bella shifts over to make room for him on Zayn's lap. "I don't think he ever wants to sleep" Zayn chuckles, as Zack starts trying to pull Zayn's fingers towards his mouth, Bella laughing and still tracing over the tattoos on Zayn's arm, "Baba?" she asks. Zayn hums, turning from Zack to see her, "yeah?" he asks, "are you gonna get tattoos for Zack and Chloe?" she asks head tilting to the side. Zayn chuckles and sits Zack beside him on the bed, knowing that Liam will stop him if he moves to crawl off like he had done the other morning, "I probably will, yes. I just don't know what yet, but I have a few months, I didn't get yours until you were one" he explains. When Zayn looks up Liam is chewing on his lip, "what?" he asks and Liam shrugs, "I like your tattoos" he mumbles and Zayn rolls his eyes, knowing exactly what his husband is thinking. Zack lets out a loud squeal as he pulls his sock off his own foot, tipping himself backwards in the process, and Zayn chuckles, leaning down to blow a raspberry on the boys tummy, where his shirt rode up. Zack giggles loudly, his small hands pushing on Zayn's head, before he wraps his fingers into the hair and pulls. "Ow. No Zack, don't pull hair" Zayn scolds attempting to pull away, but he has no luck as Zack won't let go, "Li, a little help please?" Zayn whines. Zayn hears his husband chuckle before he feels him gently removing their son's fingers from his hair, "don't hurt Baba" Liam scolds gently, Zack's only response is a little smile and quiet gurgle.
The doorbell rings a few minutes later causing the dog to bark and Chloe to wake up, "I'll get the door, you get Chloe?" Liam asks and Zayn nods, laughing as Bella bolts out of the room. Liam scoops Zack back into his arms, and leans over to kiss Zayn's lips gently, he's gone far to soon, but Zayn knows soon they'll have an entire week to themselves to kiss all they want. Zack leaves a sloppy, open mouthed 'kiss' on Zayn's cheek before Liam carries him down towards the door, and Zayn heads from their bedroom into the twins' nursery. As soon as he enters the room Chloe's cries quiet a little and she reaches for him, making grabby hands, Zayn coos, scooping Chloe into his arms and cuddling her close, "did the big, bad dog, scare you?" he hums. Chloe sniffles and rubs her face against his shirt, "do you need a change, Love?" Zayn murmurs, laying her gently down and quickly changing her, scooping her back into his arms and cuddling her close again. Zayn sits down in the rocking chair, rocking gently as he cuddles Chloe close, it reminds him so much of the time he spent doing this with Bella, that he feels a little sad, at how quickly he knows his two youngest babies are going to grow. Chloe, stuffs her fist into her mouth and blinks up at Zayn with wide chocolate eyes, framed by lengthy eyelashes, her eyes are an exact match to Liam's, the rest of her appearance though is all Zayn.
There's a light tapping on the door before it opens and Trisha steps into the nursery, "there you two are" she hums and Zayn smiles up at his mum. "Someone just wanted a cuddle from her Baba" Zayn coos, and Trisha nods, "just like her big sister always liked" she says and Zayn nods. "Thanks for being here Mum" Zayn murmurs, but Trisha waves him away, reaching down to take Chloe from him, the six month old protests slightly, before snuggling into her grandma's neck contently. "Your husband and other two children are waiting for you downstairs, c'mon Baby Boy" Trisha insists, and Zayn groans, he was quite enjoying the alone time with Chloe, but gets to his feet to follow his mum out of the nursery and back down into the kitchen. As soon as he's in the room Liam passes him a plate, "you made lunch?" Zayn asks, and Liam nods, kissing his cheek, "Bella helped, didn't you Princess?" he asks and Bella nods excitedly from where she's sitting already eating. Zack squeals from his highchair, Chloe echoing him, as Trisha lowers her into her own highchair. Zayn smiles and moves to sit at the table beside Bella, but he can't help thinking about how much he's going to miss this.
Zayn jumps when Liam drops to sit beside him on the couch where he's been sitting watching as the twins crawl around, and over, each other as they play on the carpet at his feet. "You're sure we have to leave tomorrow?" Zayn mumbles eyes never leaving the twins as Aurora crosses in front of them, a little too close, as Zack catches a handful of her fur in his fist. The dog for her part just lays down beside the infant with her head on her paws, and Zack lets go as he lets out a happy squeal. Liam chuckles and nods his head, "Zee, you're gonna love it. Plus you need a break, you work so hard for our family, a week away will do you good" he murmurs, leaning close enough Zayn can feel his warm breath fanning across his cheek. Zayn sighs turning to look at Liam, and he finds him close enough that Zayn wouldn't even have to try to connect their lips, so he does, molding his own around Liam's in a heated kiss, that doesn't last long enough in his opinion before Liam pulls away. "I'm gonna miss them" he mumbles eyes moving back to the twins, letting out a laugh and pulling out his phone to snap a picture as he sees Zack has lay down using Aurora as a pillow. "Where's Arabella?" Zayn asks suddenly and Liam laughs, "she's downstairs with your mum, we're not allowed down there until they say we can, some kind of surprise I think" he explains. Zayn smiles at that and nods, happy that the whole family has finally worked out a balance where Bella gets just as much undivided, individual attention as the babies do.
Zayn leans into Liam's side as Chloe crawls over to them and grips at Liam's jeans. Zayn's eyes widen as he watches his youngest, as she attempts to pull herself to her feet with the fabric of Liam's jeans to support her, "no, slow down" Zayn groans. Liam chuckles kissing his temple, before turning to cheering on their baby, "that's my girl. C'mon you gonna stand for Daddy?" Liam coos, and Chloe just manages to pull herself up to a stand before she loses balance and falls back onto her bum, Liam's jeans still tight in her fist. "Yay you did it" Zayn cheers, as Liam scoops her into his arms, pulling her to sit on his lap, with a kiss pressed to her cheek "you're getting so big, and so strong, you're gonna make Baba cry again" Liam coos. Zayn pouts and swats at his arm playfully, "not gonna cry, until tomorrow at least" he mutters. Liam chuckles and passes a happy Chloe into Zayn's arms, and he's happy to cuddle her close to his chest, breathing in her baby scent, and trying to commit every feature to memory. Zack let's out a squeal as he crawls towards them and Zayn laughs, "we didn't forget you Bubba, c'mon" Liam hums, reaching down to scoop him up and cuddle him close as well.
A thumping on the stairs alerts Zayn to Bella coming back upstairs, lighter footsteps indicating his mum isn't far behind. "Baba, Daddy, come see" Bella calls from the top of the stairs, still on the other side of the baby gate. Zayn gets to his feet, shifting Chloe to his hip as he walks towards his oldest baby, "what are we coming to see?" Zayn asks as he opens the gate for Liam to follow him through, his husband won't admit it, but the gates still cause him trouble. "It a surprise Baba" Bella giggles, ducking out of the way as Zayn reaches out his free hand to ruffle her hair. Chloe giggles loudly around her fist which is stuffed in her mouth before reaching towards her sister, who makes a face, "yuck! Baby drool" she mutters, dodging the drooly hand as well. Zayn chuckles shaking his head as he follows Bella and his mum down the stairs, they pass Zayn's rarely used anymore office, then Liam's office before they arrive at the playroom door. "Close your eyes" Bella demands, and Zayn complies as he hears the door open and a gentle hand he recognizes as his mum's guides him into the room. He can feel Liam standing next to him, and can hear the little sucking sound Chloe makes as she sucks on her fist again, a habit he and Liam are trying (unsuccessfully) to break her of. "And open" Bella cheers and Zayn's eyes snap open to look around the room, there are large drawings taped up on every wall of the room, with a banner that says "we'll miss you Baba and Daddy" obviously written by his mum, but Bella had coloured around it and traced over a few of the words.
"You okay?" Liam murmurs and Zayn nods, as he feels tears building in his eyes as he takes in all the work Bella did for this little goodbye party she wanted to have with them. "Are you?" Zayn asks, turning to look at Liam when he sniffles and Liam nods, "yeah, it's just, she's so sweet, Zayn" he mumbles looking to where Bella is sitting on the floor where the twins are now playing, rolling a ball towards them, making them both squeal and clap, before she retrieves it herself, and repeats the whole process. Zayn nods in agreement, looking around the room, as he keeps reminding himself that Barcelona is a dream he's always had, and experiencing it with Liam, will only make it better. But he can't help thinking that he doesn't want to leave, doesn't want to miss anything with his babies while they're gone.