Chapter One Hundred Thirty One – Zayn
"And you're sure you don't want me to walk you into your classroom?" Zayn asks as Bella is gathering her stuff from the backseat. Bella rolls her eyes "Baba no. I'm a big girl now" she huffs and Zayn wants to cry at that. She's still his baby, always will be despite how big she gets, "alright, I'll wait here then" Zayn sighs, climbing out of the car to help Bella out and give her a kiss goodbye. He knows this is normal and he can see the door from the car, but he's still not happy that his four year old wants to walk herself to the school, not have him do it with her. "I love you Baba" Bella grins, wrapping her arms around his waist. Zayn smiles hugging her tightly and bending down to kiss her cheek, "I love you too. Have a great day and I'll be here after school to pick you up, okay?" Zayn asks, kissing her again. Bella giggles and nods her head, "you have good day too, Baba" she giggles, before she skips away and towards her classroom door, where Zayn can see her teacher waiting to greet all the kids back.
Once Zayn's sure Bella is safely in her classroom with her teacher, he climbs back into the still running car and turns in his seat to look at the twins behind him, "alright, let's go and get you two settled" Zayn hums, Chloe giggling while Zack shakes his head "no" he giggles and Zayn rolls his eyes as he moves from the current parking lot to the one for his school and also the twins' daycare. "Alright you two let's go inside" Zayn murmurs, swinging their backpack onto his back, and putting his own bag over his shoulder, before unbuckling first Chloe and then Zack, scooping one into each arm and makes his way towards the building. "Well you certainly have your hands full now" a familiar voice calls out and Zayn grins turning to look at Jessie who's also carrying her bag into the building. "Tell me about it" Zayn laughs, "can you get the door please?" he adds and Jessie laughs, stepping closer to open the main door for him. "I missed you around here, I'll meet you in your classroom for lunch and we can catch up" Jessie says. Zayn just nods, "sounds good, and thanks, for the door" he answers. Jessie nods before she moves up the hall towards her classroom and Zayn goes the opposite way to get to the daycare.
Zayn takes a deep breath, before he sets Chloe down, she's less likely to run away from him, to open the door to the happily decorated daycare. "Good morning" a cheerful voice calls out as soon as the door opens and Zack hides his face in Zayn's neck while Chloe clutches on to Zayn's pant leg. "You two are okay" Zayn hums, scooping Chloe back up to carry them both into the room. "Zack, Chloe. Welcome back" the same cheerful voice calls out and now that he's in the room Zayn can see it's Heather, the main teacher for the twins' room. Chloe waves slightly but Zack stays hidden, it's a side of him Zayn hasn't really seen before, the fourteen month old not normally being shy. "No" Zack mutters and Zayn chuckles "no what Bubba?" he murmurs and Zack just stuffs his face further into Zayn's neck.
"Hello again, Zayn. Let me show you to Zack and Chloe's cubbies" Heather offers and Zayn smiles politely at her. "Thank you. I don't know what's gotten into this one" Zayn chuckles gesturing with his head to Zack as Chloe waves happily to Heather. "It's alright, and actually quite common, especially with little ones this age, even the most outgoing children can become shy when they realize they're going to be away from their parents all day" Heather explains, waving back at Chloe who giggles. Heather gestures to the two labelled cubbies and Zayn smiles, as there's a large train sticker beside Zack's name, and a pink princess beside Chloe's. "Look Zack Attack, there's a train" Zayn exclaims, smiling happily when Zack pulls his face out of Zayn's neck to look. "Choo,choo" Zack mumbles and Zayn nods, "yeah Bub, all for you" he coos. Zack smiles at that as Chloe claps her hands excitedly for no real reason. "Baba, no" Chloe whines squirming in his arms and Zayn turns his focus to her, "no what, Tiny Dancer?" Zayn asks, furrowing his eyebrows. But Chloe just starts wriggling in his arm, wanting to be put down. Zayn chuckles, "okay I get it, you want to go and play" Zayn laughs, crouching to put Chloe down on the floor, Zack clinging tighter to his neck. Once Chloe's down she grins and moves quickly away to go and play with some loose blocks on the floor.
Zack is still clinging on to Zayn, and he's glad that he doesn't have a class first period so he doesn't have to rush through this. "Zack you remember Heather and Trina, they're going to play with you while Baba and Daddy work" Zayn hums, rubbing the boy's back. Zack shakes his head at him in response "no" he mumbles. Zayn smiles and sways slightly, "Chloe will be with you all day, and remember all the trains you played with when we visited, you can play with those" he murmurs. "Mine choo choo" Zack mumbles. Zayn smiles, "not yours Bub, but you can use them" he coos. Zayn glances up to see Heather smiling as she watches him and Zack from a slight distance away. "And after you and Chloe have a little rest Baba will be back to pick you up, and we'll go and get Bella from school. Then go home and see Daddy, okay?" Zayn hums. Zack pouts but nods at Zayn, still clinging onto him tightly.
"You're welcome to stay for awhile Zayn if that will help ease him in" Heather offers and Zayn smiles at her "thank you" he nods, still rubbing Zack's back. "Let's go and see the trains, Bubba" Zayn hums carrying Zack further into the room to find the large train set. "Baba too?" Zack asks and Zayn nods, "Baba too, for a little" he answers. Zack lets Zayn set his feet on the floor by the train table, but keeps one hand tightly wrapped into Zayn's coat sleeve, to keep him from leaving. Glancing at the clock Zayn sees he has about thirty minutes until his first class starts, and doesn't worry about pulling away, knowing that once Zack gets playing he'll want to use both hands and probably forget about Zayn. When he looks for Chloe Zayn finds her happily building blocks with Trina and a couple other little girls, around the twins' age. There aren't many kids here yet, but it is still early, and Heather had explained a lot of the children don't arrive before ten.
It's not even five minutes later that Zack loosens his grip on Zayn and reaches out with that hand to grab onto another train. Zayn smiles and moves just slightly away so he's still there with Zack, but not close enough Zack can grip onto him again. A couple minutes later Zayn stands up and Heather comes in closer to Zack, asking him about what he's doing and Zayn smiles happily when his son waves the train around happily, seemingly having forgotten Zayn is even there, or that he was nervous in the first place. Stepping closer Zayn presses a kiss to the top of Zack's head, "I love you Zack. I'll see you later" Zayn hums. Zack grins up at him "bye-bye Baba" he says waving with a train and Zayn chuckles moving to say goodbye to Chloe. "Bye Tiny Dancer, I love you" Zayn coos, bending down to kiss Chloe, who turns her head and presses a sloppy kiss to his cheek, "lub Baba" she mumbles turning back to her blocks.
Heather meets Zayn by the door, "I'll call you or Liam if there's any problems, but I'm sure they'll be fine. Also you're welcome to call us any time just to check in, and I know you work here at the school, so even feel free to pop by" Heather explains. "Thank you" Zayn smiles gratefully. "I'm not sure what he'll do it today, but Zack is usually hell on wheels, just so you know, he can make trouble anywhere" Zayn explains. Heather laughs waving him away, "nothing we can't handle. Have a great day Zayn" she chuckles. "Thanks, you too" Zayn repeats before he scoops up his bag again and heads out the door.
Zayn arrives in his classroom with ten minutes until his first class, and drops his bag on the floor beside him as he falls into his desk chair. Reaching for his phone as it beeps, Zayn sees he has a text from both his mum and Liam. His mum is wishing him a great first day and wants to have them all over for lunch on the weekend, Zayn decides he'll answer her later and exits her message to read Liam's. Liam's is asking how drop off went, complete with a crying emoji and several hearts. Zayn chuckles and sends him a few emojis back letting him know drop off of everyone was fine. Almost as soon as he sets his phone back down the first few students start arriving for his class, "Hey guys, welcome grab a seat anywhere" Zayn calls out, having decided against seating charts.
Zayn's just waiting for the last of his students to arrive, knowing they still have five minutes until class actually starts, he's not worried. "Mr. Malik?" a girl Zayn recognizes from when he was here before asks, "yeah, Alison?" he asks. The girl smiles at him "I just wanted to say welcome back" she giggles, a bright blush coating her cheeks and Zayn wants to groan, and roll his eyes, but he resists. "Thank you. It's very good to be back" Zayn answers instead, shifting his position so his left hand and wedding ring are very visible to the class.
"Uncle Zayn?" A confused voice asks and Zayn turns to see Ethan in the doorway his hand wrapped around another boy's fingers, which as soon as Ethan sees him looking Ethan drops the boy's hand with a blush. "Hey, Ethan, didn't we tell you I was coming back to work here?" Zayn asks which is becoming obvious that his nephew either didn't know, or completely forgot. "Don't think so" Ethan mumbles, before he moves to an available seat at the back of the classroom, the boy he came in with, who Zayn recognizes as one of Ethan's best friends Elliot, follows behind him with a quiet wave at Zayn.
Zayn clears his throat because it looks like everyone is here now and grabs his attendance list to take a quick look. Once he's got everyone checked off he drops the paper onto his desk and moves around to lean on the front of it. Everyone in the room has their eyes trained on him except for Ethan and Elliot, which makes Zayn frown, the twelve year old has never been bothered by Zayn before. "Alright let's get started. I hope you all had a great holiday, and are now back and ready to work" Zayn starts, clapping his hands together. "How was everyone's first class today?" Zayn asks, receiving mumbled responses of good from everyone as a whole, that makes him chuckle. "Okay, we'll keep it simple in here today, how about you write me two pages on something you did this holiday? I don't care what it's about as long as it's properly written, and I'll give you all this period to get it done, and then you won't have homework from me" Zayn explains, arching an eyebrow when no one moves to start. "Okay, go?" Zayn asks and laughs when everyone is grabbing their notebooks to get started writing.
"Do you want it typed?" Marcus asks from the back of the room, Zayn shakes his head, "as long as I can read it, I don't care how it's written" he answers. Everyone grins at that, and Zayn understands why, if they don't have to type and print it out for him they really won't have homework. "I'll be at my desk if you have any questions or need any help" Zayn says before moving back to his chair and dropping to sit, while everyone scribbles away at their desks.
"Uncle Zayn?" Ethan asks suddenly from right beside him, making Zayn jump and his nephew laugh lightly. "What's up Ethan?" Zayn asks, looking to him. "I just, about what you saw when I got here" Ethan starts, playing with his fingers, "can you not tell Uncle Liam, or Mum, or anybody?" he asks quickly. Zayn furrows his eyebrows confused, "is this about you and Elliot holding hands?" he asks quietly. Ethan just nods, looking away and Zayn smiles gently, "Ethan, I won't say anything if you don't want me to, that's not my job to tell people. But I am always here if you need or want to talk" Zayn murmurs. Ethan smiles actually looking at Zayn for the first time all class, "thanks Uncle Zayn. I'm gonna go get my work done" he mumbles, before he disappears to sit back beside Elliot at his desk. Zayn watches him go and smiles before looking around his classroom, it does feel good to be back, even if he is missing his babies.