Nova squinted her eyes as she slowly sat up in her crib. She had to rub her eyes to help them adjust in the darkness of the room, considering it was still in the middle of the night.
The past hours of the night have been horrible for her, she kept waking up multiple times from anxiety and couldn't calm down.
She felt the need to always keep her eyes out for something to harm her.
Nova's tired eyes took a glance at the pink, digital clock on the night stand beside the bed.
3:52 am
The seventeen year old whimpered, realizing it still wasn't time for her to get 'out of bed', and there was still many hours until the boys would come get her out.
She just wanted the morning to get here.
Nova sighed, trying to lay back down but stopped as a sharp pain hit her lower abdomen and she already knew why it hurt. Her bladder has been needing to go badly and her body was giving a consequence for not doing so. She tried not to think about peeing whenever she kept waking up but that didn't help. She had to go.
Although, no matter how bad it was going to get, she promised herself she wouldn't go to the bathroom until she was met with a toilet, not this dumb diaper.
The material crinkled beneath her bottom as she made twists and turns in the crib, and she hated the feeling.
Nova huffed, starting to stand up on all the pink blankets surrounding in the crib. She balanced herself out, holding on to the bars in front of her. Nova couldn't take the isolation and had to get out. She didn't know where she would go but hopefully be able to venture out and find a bathroom secretly.
Nova carefully reached one of her legs over the bar and continued to do the same with the other leg. When the teenager tried to step on the floor beneath her, she accidentally banged her knee against the bar, creating a loud noise.
She squeezed her eyes shut at the pain, and sucked in a breathe. Nova was sure that would leave bruise.
"Ouch"! Nova groaned, feeling the stinging sensation.
She slowly sat on the ground to make sure to check her knee was okay and not bleeding. However, while she focused in the darkness, she began to hear footsteps running towards her room.
Busted.
Liam stirred in his sleep, finding another position on his comforter, he stuffed his face in his pillow getting comfortable while sleeping.
When a sudden noise went through the walls in his room, it surprised him by waking himself up. He quickly sat up, leaning against his headboard. He was confused where the noise came from until he started hearing muffled whimpers through the baby monitor.
Liam snatched it from his nightstand and clicked a few buttons before he was met with a view of Nova in black and white. Once he registered that her body was on the floor and she was holding her knee, he jumped out of bed.
"Oh no, please don't tell me she fell out" Liam mumbled, pulling sweatpants over his boxers.
Liam jogged towards her room, bursting through her door while flicking on the light switch. When he saw Nova on the floor, with a red knee, he quickly went over to her.
"Nova what happened, baby? Did you fall out of your crib? Oh my god, is your knee okay? Let me see it" Liam rambled, bringing Nova into his lap on the floor.
"Uh, I just hit it on the bar but I'm fine now, I promise" Nova answered, embarrassed.
"Okay, thank god it's not bleeding, it's probably just red from irritation, you must of hit it hard, baby" Liam observed, gently touching it.
Nova sat staring at him while he inspected her knee.
"Sweetheart, how did you fall out of your bed"? Liam asked, giving her concerning eyes.
Now that he was thinking, he knew there was no way she could of fell out "accidentally", the bars were high enough to avoid that and they made sure of that when they bought it. Unless she was trying to climb out of it.
"Nova were you purposely trying to get out? Just tell me the truth, I'm not mad about it"
"Well y-yes, but only cause I have to go to the bathroom really bad and I need to use a toilet. Please, d-diapers don't work for me, and it hurts" Nova explained, motioning to her lower abdomen.
"I'm sorry but you can't use the toilet, hun. We want to get you into the routine of using your nappy, and that won't work if we have you using both. I know it's hard but you might have to push yourself a bit"
"I can't though" Nova mumbled, getting emotional. She couldn't understand why Liam didn't get it.
"Okay, angel. Come here" Liam sighed, standing up before slowing picking up Nova. The teenager nervously looked around in his arms, worried about what he was going to do.
"Everything's alright, sweetheart. Daddy's just going to take you downstairs to get something" Liam assured, before grabbing one of Nova's swaddle blankets and walking into the dark hallway.
"Hey, I heard some noises through my baby monitor. Is everything alright"? Zayn asked, coming out of his room, surprising the two. Zayn rubbed his eyes before coming over to Nova and caressing her cheek.
"Yeah, Novie's just having some trouble going in her diaper and she's starting to have bladder pain so I'm going to make her a baba and rub her tummy" Liam said, kissing Nova's cheek multiple times.
A 'baba? What's a 'baba? Nova thought. She never heard of that word before.
Was it baby language?
"Aw flower, if you need to go potty just let go. We don't want you to get an infection if you hold it in for so long. I Do you want me to go downstairs with you, Li"? Zayn offered.
"No that's alright, I think I've got it. Our little one just needs some comfort right now" Liam cooed, glancing down at their baby.
Nova played with the ends of her blanket while watching Liam take out the almond, vanilla milk. He set the carton next to where Nova was sitting on the counter and started to uncap a bottle.
She was upset knowing they were giving her another drink considering her bladder was about to explode.
She wasn't even that keen on milk and didn't want a full bottle at the moment but she was just thankful it wasn't actual formula.
Although, Nova had a feeling they would still try that.
"I could tell you were a little confused, babe. But just so you know your baba is your milk" Liam chuckled.
"Do you like milk"? Liam asked, carefully pouring the milk into her bottle.
"Uh, I usually don't drink it by itself anymore so I don't know" Nova shrugged, lightly swinging her legs.
"That's okay, You'll probably like this because it's not a regular milk, it's a sweeter one. So you get to have a sweet baba's, isn't that nice baby"? Liam smiled, putting stuff back and grabbing her bottle.
Nova nodded, not replying and keeping her eyes down.
"Do you like it warm or cold, angel"? Liam asked, raising his eyebrows
"I guess cold" Nova responded, shyly.
"Okay, good to know" Liam smiled.
"Now we're just going to go to the couch and lay down for a bit. Once you're better, we'll go back upstairs" Liam informed, picking up Nova from the counter and also holding her bottle with his other hand.
Nova couldn't believe he was that strong to hold a seventeen year old girl with one arm.
Liam slowly sat down on the white sofa keeping a hold on Nova, he adjusted her to where she was cuddled against to him and her head on his naked chest.
Liam did that purposely knowing skin to skin contact was comforting to babies. He spread her baby blanket on top of her and started to rest into the couch himself.
"Here we go, baby girl. You're all snuggled up against daddy. Let's get you started on your baba's now" Liam grinned, starting to tilt her bottle to her mouth.
Nova suddenly closed her mouth quick, not even realizing she did, it's like her brain didn't even want to drink out of that.
"Novie please, it's not bad" Liam frowned.
A few seconds later of them staring at each other, Nova finally opened her mouth wide enough for him to feed her.
"Thank you" Liam whispered, bending to peck her forehead. Once the bottle was in her mouth, she then started to sip the milk.
It was exactly how she thought it would taste from when she read the carton, the vanilla flavor was getting sweeter as she kept drinking it.
She could admit the milk was good, but probably better with a dessert and not as food for a teenager.
"Nova I just want you to know that climbing out of your crib can be dangerous and we won't allow that. I don't want you hurt yourself again from trying to figure it out by yourself. We're the ones that are supposed to take you out so I want you to wait for us" Liam lectured, making sure she understood.
Nova nodded, with sad eyes. She was just trying to help herself.
Liam then put his other hand on her lower stomach and started to rub it. Although he was trying to dismiss her pain, he was also applying pressure to help her go.
Nova whined with the bottle in her mouth, she already knew what he was trying to do and she didn't like it.
"Shhh princess" Liam whispered, to get her to go to sleep.
The dim lighting in the living room with the sound of Liam humming, immediately brought Nova into a tired daze. Her eyes were droopy as she kept drinking her milk but was also getting into the sleep she needed.