Chapter One Hundred Twenty – Liam
Liam laughs as he watches Zayn bouncing his leg up and down in the passenger seat. They're in the car driving home from the airport and both men are more than ready to be home and see the kids. "Can't you go faster Li" Zayn groans and Liam chuckles, shaking his head, "not without potentially killing us both" he teases, laughing as Zayn rolls his eyes. Soon enough, but not quite soon enough, Liam's pulling into their familiar neighbourhood, and minutes later pulling the car back into it's space in the garage, he turns off the engine and turns to look at Zayn, he knows his husband is still upset about everything that happened, and he doesn't blame him, he just hopes that now that they're home, Zayn will be able to do what he needs to do to move past it. "You ready for this?" Liam asks, reaching over to link their fingers together, pulling Zayn's hand up to kiss his bruised knuckles. Zayn nods, smiling and he looks relaxed, and well rested, "I can't wait, c'mon" he urges pulling his hand away and climbing from the car. Liam watches him for a moment before getting out of the car himself and following the younger towards the door. Before Zayn can open it and they reenter the chaos of their daily lives, Liam reaches out and stops him, smirking at his husband's confused face. "I love you" Liam breathes, before he presses a loving kiss to his lips, Zayn turning to putty under his touch, "I love you" Zayn says against his lips. Liam reaches around Zayn and pushes open the door into the house.
It's quiet when they step inside and both men share a confused look, before stepping further into the house, and toeing off their shoes. "Mum?" Zayn calls out, and they hear the clicking of Aurora's feet as she comes to greet them, Liam reaches down to pet the dog, "where is everyone, huh girl?" he coos, the dog leaning against him and wagging her tail. Trisha is suddenly walking into sight a mug of, probably tea in her hands, "hello, Loves. How was the trip home?" she asks, pulling first Zayn, then Liam into a one armed hug. "it was good. Where are the kids?" Liam asks and Trisha laughs, "The twins are upstairs taking a nap, and Louis has Bella. Something about measurements for her flower girl dress. They should be back any minute now though" she explains. Zayn pouts at Liam, and Liam chuckles pulling him into his arms, "this is not the welcome I was expecting" Zayn mumbles against his chest. "I know Babe, but the twins will be awake soon enough, and Bells will be back" Liam coos, kissing Zayn's head. "The kettle's still hot, I'll make you boys a cuppa, and then we can talk while we wait for everyone to wake up and come home" Trisha suggests, Zayn smiles and follows his mum towards the kitchen, "I'm going to get the bags" Liam calls out and slips back out to his car. Once he has the bags he takes the stairs two at a time, until he tosses them into the master bedroom, and crosses the hall.
Liam pushes open the nursery door to look at his two youngest babies, Zack's head pops up as he does, and Liam winces before the six month old pushes himself so he's sitting, just blinking at Liam for a moment. Then Zack starts babbling quickly and reaching for Liam, attempting to pull himself to standing, unsuccessfully. Liam coos, and scoops him into his arms, "yeah, is that right? Did you miss me?" Liam hums as he lays Zack down to change him quickly, Zack babbling away as he does. "I missed you too Bubba" Liam hums kissing his cheek as he cuddles Zack back into his arms, and heads out of the room, Chloe still completely asleep in her crib. "Do you know who else missed you?" Liam asks, Zack's response a happy squeal, before he fists Liam's shirt in his tiny hand, "Baba missed you" Liam coos, as he descends the stairs to find his husband and mother in law, in the kitchen. "Liam James if you woke that boy up I swear" Zayn scolds, cutting off when Zack giggles and reaches towards him. "I didn't wake him up. I peeked in on them and he was already awake" Liam defends himself as he passes Zack over to Zayn. "he has been asleep for just over an hour" Trisha points out, before she shakes her head, "that's really all this boy likes to nap for" she adds. Zayn laughs, nodding as Zack grabs his bottom lip, Liam watches as Zayn pretends to nibble on his fingers, making Zack squeal loudly and pull his hand away quickly.
The front door opens and closes a minute later, before there's loud thumping footsteps "Grandma, are they home yet?" Bella calls up the stairs. Liam grins at Zayn who's still happily bouncing Zack on his lap, the younger gesturing to be quiet, as Trisha gets up to go help Bella. Liam can hear her thanking Louis, before he hears the man leave, "why don't you come get a snack" Trisha hums, before she leads Bella into the kitchen. It takes a moment, but Bella's eyes land on first Liam, then Zayn and she squeals as she runs full speed to crash into Liam. Chuckling he pulls her into his arms and up onto his lap as she buries her face in his neck. "I missed you" Bella mumbles against his skin and Liam smiles, pulling her away to press kisses to her cheeks, and forehead, "I missed you too" he hums, as she snuggles in again. Bella only stays like that for a minute before she's bouncing towards Zayn, "Baba I missed you" she whimpers and Liam watches as Zayn frowns as their oldest starts to cry. Zack is suddenly being passed over to Trisha, and Zayn is dropping from his chair to pull Bella securely against his chest. "Hey, hey, hey. Shh, why are you crying? I'm home now" Zayn murmurs, voice low and soothing. Bella sniffles and wipes her nose on Zayn's shirt, but Liam can tell his husband doesn't mind in the slightest, "don't leave me again" Bella whimpers and Zayn frowns up at Liam, before he shakes his head and cuddles Bella close again, "I'm not going anywhere" Zayn coos.
Liam drops down beside them to join in on the cuddle, before a loud cry sounds throughout the house, signalling Chloe has woken up as well. "Do you want me to go get her?" Trisha asks and Liam sees she's set Zack down on the floor to play with a few scattered toys. "No, I'll go get her" Liam hums, pulling away from Zayn and Bella and climbing to his feet. He looks back before the stairs to see Zayn rocking Bella in his lap as he mumbles something to her over and over again, and Bella clinging to Zayn's shirt like her life depends on it. Smiling lightly, Liam turns around, running up the stairs and sliding into the nursery, where he sees Chloe, sitting up holding the bars of her crib tightly, as she cries. "Oh sweetheart. It's okay" Liam soothes as he pulls the distraught infant into his arms cuddling her to his chest. "Daddy missed you" Liam coos, as he rocks her, the girl starting to calm immensely at his words and actions. "Let's get you changed and then we can go downstairs and see Baba, okay" Liam hums, laying her down to change her quickly, which Chloe makes difficult by squirming relentlessly. Once she's back in his arms, Chloe, grabs a hold of the chain Liam has around his neck and pulls, but he quickly dissentangles her fingers, "not a good idea Love" he coos, kissing her fingers, as he leaves the nursery.
Liam arrives back in the kitchen to find it empty, but he follows his instinct and finds everyone in the living room, where Bella is still clinging to Zayn as they watch a movie, and Zack is playing with toys on the floor at their feet. Trisha is nowhere to be seen, but she reappears a moment later, carrying her bags, "I'm going to head home, you can all come visit for dinner one day and tell me all about your trip, but I think you need some family time right now" she explains. Liam frowns, and Zayn pouts from his spot under Bella on the couch, "thank you Mum" Zayn calls reaching for her with his one free arm, Trisha smiles and embraces Zayn, kissing his cheek and Bella's head before she pulls away. "I'll walk you out" Liam says, leading the way to the entrance, "thank you so much, for everything, we couldn't have done this without you" he murmurs. Trisha laughs and pulls him into a hug, careful of Chloe, still in his arms, "anytime, dear. Anytime" she laughs, kissing Chloe's head before she leaves the house. Liam watches her until she's backing out of the driveway, and then he turns and heads back up the stairs into the house. "Let's go see Baba" Liam murmurs to Chloe, who giggles and claps her hands together happily.
Zayn reaches out for them as soon as Liam's back in the room, and he's happy to oblige dropping to sit next to Zayn on the couch, while his husband coos at their youngest daughter. "Oh I missed you Chloe" Zayn sighs, leaning down to kiss her cheek, where she's still cuddled into Liam's arms. Zack lets out a squeal as he crawls towards the couch and Liam chuckles, reaching down to scoop Zack up into his arms as well, "family cuddle it is then" he laughs, snuggling the twins as Zayn leans into him and cuddles Bella close. "Daddy?" Bella asks after a moment and Liam turns his focus to her, "yeah Princess?" he asks and she smiles at him, reaching over to hold his finger, "I missed you" she mumbles, and Liam smiles, "I missed you too, all three of you" he hums. They stay like that, all five of them cuddled together watching Big Hero 6, because it's Bella's current favourite movie, which surprised both Zayn and Liam but they definitely weren't complaining. Zayn nudges Liam gently, and he looks to see Bella has fallen asleep, her eyelashes framing her cheeks, and her hair wild on her head, as her one hand grips at Zayn, the other still holding Liam's fingers gently. "Poor thing" Liam coos and Zayn smiles, "I'm gonna go put her in her bed, I bet she hasn't been getting a ton of sleep with us both gone" Zayn explains and Liam nods, as he watches the love of his life, carefully stand up carrying their daughter and disappear from the room. Zack makes a confused sound and Liam chuckles, leaning down to place both of the now squirming babies onto the floor to play, "Baba will be back, promise" he coos, before Zack crawls away to grab at a toy.
Liam watches fondly as Zack and Chloe play near each other, they aren't exactly playing with each other yet, but it's a start. Zayn hasn't come back down from upstairs yet, but Liam isn't really concerned he figures Bella woke up and hasn't let Zayn leave yet. Chloe makes a grab for Liam's toes which makes him laugh as he wiggles them away from her fingers, making her squeal, giggle and reach for his toes again. Liam watches her laughing every time she manages to catch his toes, before he moves them away. Zack seems content to chew on the edge of the large block he's playing with and Liam chuckles, sliding off the couch to sit on the floor, Chloe can still chase his toes, but he can play with Zack too. "No Zack Attack, you don't eat them, you build with them, see" Liam coos, picking up two other blocks and stacking them on top of each other. Zack watches him closely, his tiny eyebrows furrowed as he does, Liam gets the tower to be six blocks high, before Zack squeals and clumsily knocks them all over with the block he was chewing on. Zack blinks, before grinning up at Liam, and Liam chuckles "is that right?" Liam asks, Zack's only response is to clap his hands as Liam starts building a new tower, for him to knock over.
Zayn is suddenly sitting beside him after the fifth time that the tower has been built and knocked over,Chloe crawling up into his lap, and Liam turns to smile at him, "everything okay?" he hums. Zayn nods, cuddling Chloe close to him, "yeah, Bella woke up and wanted me to stay, I think we're going to have company in bed tonight too" he murmurs. Liam chuckles nodding, "I'm alright with that" he agrees and Zayn smiles, before making faces down at Chloe, where she's playing with his fingers. Liam quickly builds back up the tower for Zack who squeals as he knocks it down once again, before he turns to Zayn, "are we okay?" he whispers. Zayn makes a face before he nods, "yeah Li, we're okay. I know you wouldn't do that to me" he hums. Liam smiles nodding "Are you sure?" he asks and Zayn chuckles nodding his head, "yeah. I know I said I needed time, and I meant it then, but coming home to these guys kind of put everything in perspective for me" he explains. Liam smiles widely nodding his head as Zack claps knocking the tower over again, "I love you" he hums, and Zayn leans into his side slightly, "I love you" he echos, before both turn their attention back to the babies.
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A/N: There you go...
Everything is worked out and everyone is (mostly) happy
Hope you enjoyed, and hope everyone is having a good day
Until next time
xoxo