Avery Holmes
The ride home was silent and weird. We all had received good news, but if we were going to try to get Jake put into jail for hurting my daughter and I, there was the risk of her getting taken away from me.
I was torn, to say the least.
"We'll talk to everyone else, get their input." Niall said, breaking the silence as we rolled into the long drive of the hotel. I nodded silently.
When we finally managed to get up to the hotel room after sneaking in through the back door and having to climb and impossibly long flight of stairs, everyone was sitting around the living room anxiously.
"How did it go?" Louis demanded.
"Uh, Sam, can you take Aimee out of the room please?" I asked politely. He managed to coax Aimee out of the room rather quickly, bribing her with Netflix, her secret obsession. She was already three and turned into more of a white girl than I was.
I sighed and held onto Niall's hand tightly as we sat down at an empty space on one of the bigger couches, everyone's eyes fixed on us. It was intimidating, to be honest.
"The good news is that we spoke to a detective who says that Jake will get at least twenty years in prison." I smiled, hopeful. "But the bad news..." My voice wavered. "Since Aimee was hurt by him and she belongs to me as well, there would be a possibility of her being taken into foster care."
"What!?" Harry said, standing up. I could see his jaw muscles tense and his fist clench. He was furious, nonetheless.
"Yeah," I sighed, swiping my eyes. "I honestly don't know what to do."
"This is ridiculous." Liam chimed in.
"I know," Niall said. "But if we take this to court, there's a lot of things that can go wrong."
"What happens if you don't go to court?" Liam asked.
"Then he won't get any jail time for what he's done to us." I admitted sadly. "He's still going to get time for being with Kate and attempted murder, but not for what he's put us through." My shoulders slumped and I prayed I wouldn't start to cry.
All of a sudden, Zayn stood up and sat next to me on the couch, wrapping his arms around me, patting me on the back. He was never good with words, so this was like he was of showing that he cared. It was sweet, although I was sure Niall was glaring at him.
"You're going to get the justice you deserve." Liam promised. "I don't know how we're going to do it, but we will. Maybe, we could use our power with One Direction to get everyone on your side." He suggested.
"That's a terrible idea." Niall shot down. "She's going to get hate from the fans."
"No, Niall, hold on a sec," Harry interrupted him. "If we really show the fans how much this means to us, they'll care and they won't do that. We can talk to Sam, see what he says." He shrugged.
"The least he could say is no." Louis said.
I still didn't know exactly how I felt about this, but since I had no better idea, I went along with it, anyway. Instead of joining in on the discussion, I played with loose strands of my hair and got rid of some knots that had been bothering me, doing all I could just to forget about this for a bit, but knowing in the back of my mind that I couldn't.
I saw Harry and Liam both stand up from where they were and walk off to the kitchen, where Sam and Aimee were. Biting my lip, I waited for any sort of response from either of them. It didn't take long, because in the next few moments I heard Sam's answer loud and clear.
"Absolutely not!" Sam protested. I knew that if Sam said no, there was no way.
A few seconds later, Liam, Sam, and Harry, who was carrying Aimee, burst through the door. Both Harry and Liam were trying to reason with him, but Sam wouldn't have it.
"Look, guys, I appreciate that you want to help, but we can't let the public know all of this yet. Maybe once they've caught Jake and Kate, but for now we have to wait and see what happens." He grunted. "Now, I told you all earlier we'd have a team of bodyguards arriving soon, and they're supposed to be coming within a half an hour."
"I thought they were coming tomorrow." Louis said.
"Change of plans. Marcus and Oliver will be arriving tonight, and then two more will arrive tomorrow. Marcus and Oliver will be staying with us at all times, the other two are more of my assistants. I assume you'll all be on your best behavior." Sam eyed Louis.
"Have we met them before?" Niall asked. Aimee ran up to him and he snatched her in his arms, cradling her gently.
"Oliver has done security at Madison Square Garden and has been in the business for a while, so possibly, but Marcus is young and just starting out, so you probably haven't met him." Sam explained.
"Momma, I peed!" Aimee whispered rather loudly to me. I sighed, a bit annoyed that she still wasn't fully potty trained, but nodded and checked her diaper quick. Sure enough, she wasn't lying.
"I'll be back." I said. "She needs a bath, anyways, so we'll only be fifteen minutes or so." Aimee reached up for my arms and I took her, taking her through our bedroom and into the bath.
"No!" Aimee screamed, kicking me right in the crotch. I sucked in and tried my hardest not to blow up at her as I started to run her bath water.
"This wouldn't happen if we used the potty like big girls do." I reminded her.
"But I didn't wanna get up." Aimme crossed her arms over each other. "I was watching Netflix!" The only sad part about that sentence was that, if I wore diapers, I'd probably have done the same thing.
"Next time let me know when you have to potty." I scolded. "Do you want bubbles?"
"Yes please!" Aimee said, suddenly excited about getting a bath. She didn't hesitate to strip off her clothes, diaper included, and then jump up and down as she watched the water fill. Sometimes I wondered who she got all of this energy from, to be honest.
As her water ran, I contemplated telling Aimee about what was happening. But, then again, I didn't want to worry her. She was only three and she had so much to deal with as it is.
"You ready?" I asked. She squealed and I lifted her up and into the tub, where all but her head and her chest were covered in foamy bubbles. She laughed and grabbed a handful, plopping it on her head as if it were hair. I giggled and shook my head at her.
"Momma," Aimee said, frowning up at me. "Why did my old daddy hurt me and my new daddy not?" Her words saddened me, because even now she didn't understand that what Jake did was wrong. It made me want to kill him, and I probably would if given the chance.
"Well," I began, sitting beside the bathtub. "Sometimes, bad people do bad things. And your old daddy was a bad person. But your new daddy, Niall, he's going to take care of us and he'll never hurt us. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because he's a good daddy and he loves you very much." I smiled. "You don't have to worry about Jake anymore, baby. Don't worry." She nodded, but was still frowning.
"Why was he a bad guy?" She asked.
"Because bad guys like to hurt people." I tried to not go into so much detail and keep this as plain and simple as possible. "And what he did was wrong, Aimee. I want you to know that will never happen again."
"Okay." Aimee said. "I have too many daddies." She decided. "Because Ni, and Hally, and Zaynie, and..." She trailed off, trying to think of all the boys' names.
I heard a deep chuckle from behind me, which would have startled me, but I instantly recognized who it was. I turned around and smiled as Niall sat down beside me, facing the tub.
"You only have one, Aims." He told her, grabbing one of Aimee's tub toys and setting it on top of the water. "Ave, Sam said that the new bodyguards are comin' any minute."
"Okay." I nodded. "It seems weird having our own bodyguard team. I'm not used to everyone doing all of these things for me." I admitted. He shrugged.
"You'll get used to it, babe." He kissed me on the cheek, and Aimee made a noise. I blushed and reached over for the shampoo, scrubbing it into Aimee's hair. She started whining about not being able to play, like usual, but I ignored it.
"Alright, we've gotta dunk ya." Niall said. She gasped and shut her eyes tight as I dunked the top of, rinsing all the suds out of her hair.
"Again!" Aimee shouted, splashing the water at us.
"As long as ya don't splash us anymore." Niall said. She squeezed her eyes tight and I dunked her hair under the water, making her squeal again. I grabbed a wash cloth and started to bathe her body as she chattered and rambled about things that neither Niall nor I really understood, but we laughed along anyways.
"Hey Aims," Niall said, interrupting her. "Do you like being with your mummy?" I knew what he was talking about, and I just hoped that he didn't bring up the fact that if we wen't through with this case there was a chance of her being taken away. Not that she would fully understand, anyway.
"Uh-huh." Aimee nodded absentmindedly, not giving it much thought. He just simply nodded and turned to me, a smug look on his face.
"I like being with her, too." He said, leaning in and kissing me on the lips. It was short-lived but sweet, and also enough to make Aimee splash us with water again. I glared at her for a moment and she gave me the cheekiest grin in the world.
Suddenly, I heard a loud knock coming from the main room.
"Must be the new bodyguards." Niall said, standing up.
"Time to get out of there, Aimee." I said as she whined. "We're going to get your pj's on and then we need to put you to bed soon, okay?" She started to fuss, but I ignored it as Niall handed me a diaper and a shirt for her to wear to bed.
"Niall, this is your shirt." I chuckled, looking at the plain white tee that said '5SOS'.
"Yeah, but if she's gonna be my daughter she needs to wear her 5 Seconds of Summer t-shirt ads like I do." He grinned. "Don't worry, I've got one for ya too." I rolled my eyes, but still dressed Aimee in the diaper and t-shirt.
"It's like a dress." She said, wrinkling her nose as she inspected herself.
"You look like a princess." Niall assured her. "Someday, I'll take ya to see 'em in concert. It'll be sick." He glanced over at me with a smirk on his face. I had a feeling that Niall would slowly try and turn my daughter into a fangirl.
Once I had Aimee dressed, she ran out of the bathroom and toward the living room. I was about to follow, but I felt someone grab my waist at the last second. I glanced behind me to see Niall, whose cheeks were red but there was still that prominent smirk etched onto his face.
"You look too amazing right now, I don't wanna miss the opportunity to kiss ya." He admitted, pulling me close to him and locking lips with mine. We didn't move for the first few seconds, just taking it all in.
"I heard ya talking to Aimee about Jake." He whispered against me lips.
"What did you hear?" I asked, my arms wrapped around his neck.
"Everything," He admitted. "You always know the right thing to say to her, it's amazing. You're amazing." He leaned back in and crashed his lips to mine, swaying a bit on his feet. I giggled and he quickly spun around, facing the tub.
"What are you doing?" I asked him, trying to get a look. He turned back around with a handful of soap suds and I gasped. "Don't you dare!" I warned, starting to back away, but he plopped the whole thing on the top of my head. I squealed, diving for the tub and throwing suds at him.
"You got it down my shirt!" He whined, laughing so hard that he was cackling, again. I shrugged and leaned in to him again, kissing him as if it were life or death. I was afraid that we were going to slip, because there were soap suds on the floor, but Niall held onto me tightly, hands firmly secured on my waist.
"I know what we'll name our twins, if we have 'em." Niall said, pulling away from me only for a brief moment. I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, what?" I teased.
"Football and Derby." He grinned, proud of himself. I burst out laughing, but it was only a few seconds later that I realized he wasn't even joking and it made me question his sanity. "What? Famous people have kids like Blue Ivy, or North West, or Apple... so it fits, right?"
"We'll talk about this later." I giggled, pressing my lips to his. He chuckled and nodded, grabbing my hand and bringing me along with him. We walked through the bedroom and to the living room, the soap suds that were on our bodies already dissolved.
In the living room stood an older man with a golden, shiny badge. He had what looked like a sticker sheet in his hand and I saw that he was talking to Aimee, who had at least five stickers on her face.
"Niall, Avery, this is Oliver." Sam introduced. I smiled and shook the old man's hand as Niall said hello for the both of us.
Then, I noticed someone over at the other side of the room. He was young and extremely muscular, with slightly wavy hair. As soon as I looked at him, my stomach started churning, like an immediate alarm going off inside of me.
"And this is Marcus." Sam introduce.
I glanced back over at him to see that he was looking straight into my eyes, a charming yet intimidating smirk on his face.
a/n:
two new characters woop woop
vote/comment/fan
WE'RE AT NUMBER TWO AGAIN LET'S TRY TO GET TO THE FIRST SPOT WE CAN DO THIS GUYS I HAVE FAITH IN YOU
- x Delilah