Liam's POV
Things got remarkably more busy ever since Louis had started combining work and studying, and if we didn't pay enough attention to it, there would be weeks that we'd hardly see each other apart from bedtime and breakfast. It took us a while to adjust to the fact that we all had to do our part in cleaning and cooking again, since we'd been superspoiled by Louis before.
Exams were on their way, and we tried hard to convince our parents that we prefered staying in London for the Holidays, but they insisted we'd stop by for at least one family get together. So that's why we were on the train to Doncaster on Christmas Eve, to celebrate Lou's birthday as well as Christmas with the Tomlinsons. We'd been there a couple of times now, and the entire family had come to London to visit us as well, so if there had been any awkwardness before, it was long gone by now.
We'd both brought some books and notepads to make good use of our time on the train, but I couldn't focus with all the people around us being all elated and in Christmas spirits, so I had put them aside and was looking out the window while the new Ed Sheeran album played on my iPod. It had snowed last week, and the snow was already long gone in London since it wasn't that cold and snow just never lasted long in the city, but out here the fields and hills were still covered in a layer of white. I just loved the snow. It reminded me how lucky we were that I had found Louis that day, over a year ago now, and of our first date when we'd played in the snow.
I turned to look at my boyfriend and smiled at how he was chewing on his pencil. Apparently he did that when he was nervous or concentrating, or both, which was why he never bought any pencils with erasers at the back. Somehow he did succeed in concentrating on his school work, and managed to finish half of his book by the time we arrived in Doncaster. He looked happy, but tired, which was no wonder if you looked at the hours he had spend working and studying lately. I just wished there was a way for him to work less, but he needed the money badly.
Jay was already waiting for us outside the station, in her cute little red car. I always wondered how she managed to squeeze all the girls inside, but somehow she managed. Fizz was waving at us from the passenger seat when we walked up to the car, a moving, singing and lighting santa hat on top of her long hair. I soon learned that Christmas was a very big deal at the Tomlinsons, the entire front yard was filled with Christmas decorations, and right next to the front door was a giant fake snowman with a santa hat on his head, similar to the one that Fizz was wearing. The entire house smelled of cookies, and judging from the twins' faces, there were some with chocolate in them.
All three of the remaining sisters came running up to us and engulfed us in a massive hug, after which I was pretty sure that my face was smeared with chocolate as well. We'd agreed on not buying any Christmas gifts because it would become too expensive otherwise, but Louis hadn't been able to resist buying something small for every one of his sisters and his mum. They were all happy with it and Jay and Lottie put their newly received earrings in immediately, while Fizz ran towards the stereo to put on her new CD. Louis got a new wintercoat and a beautiful scarf for his birthday. I had hinted to Jay that he needed one since the one from last year was completely worn off, and he was too greedy to spend money on a new one. Lottie and Fizz gave him a book and a game for our Playstation and Phoebe and Daisy had made him a small book with drawings and messages for him. They were really the cutest. The last present was one from Jay for the both of us, and it turned out to be a traincard with 10 rides to anywhere in the country, but the message she had included said that she hoped we'd spend it on travels to our families. That was pretty much the only thing we ever took the train for anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem to honour her wish.
Dinner was absolutely delicious, it wasn't hard to see where Louis got his talent for cooking, I don't think Jay ever made something that wasn't great. We could hardly move when it was time to go back to the station, and however four girls with the most adorable puppy faces tried to convince us to stay the night, we did go back home, as we both needed to get up early to study the next morning, before my mum and Ruth would arrive as well as Niall's parents who were flying in from Ireland. Fizz and Lottie both wanted to come to the station, but one of them had to stay with the twins, so in the end Jay decided Lottie could come since Fizz had come with her to pick us up. It appeared to be pretty hard to get out of the house, three girls clinging to our waist and refusing to let us go. Finally we got into the car to arrive at the train station twenty minutes later. Lottie and Jay both got out of the car to wait for our train to arrive, and Lottie's eyes were glistening with tears as she burried her face into Louis' shoulder. He smiled down at her head of blond hair and pressed a kiss on it before he said we would come back soon. She nodded and wiped her eyes, a tear escaping to roll down her cheek as she came over to me to hug me as well. Saying goodbye had been emotional every time we visited, as they all seemed afraid it would somehow turn out to be a dream or something and they wouldn't see each other again for years. Today was worse than ever before though, probably the added value of the Christmas spirit. I could hardly breathe because of Lottie's tight hug but told her we would see her as soon as our exams ended, since both she and Fizz would come to London to spend the weekend with us. It had taken quite a lot of sweet talking to Jay, but finally she had agreed to it. Our train was announced so I pried Lottie's hands away from my coat before I hugged Jay and told her once again I'd take care of her son, getting on the train with him right before the doors closed.
Louis was quiet on our way back, his eyes glazy as he looked outside at the darkness surrounding us. The small smile never left his face though, so I knew he was happy, just processing the day. It still felt surreal sometimes. Six months ago he didn't even spoke with his mum and now we had celebrated his birthday and Christmas together. Niall and Harry arrived at the flat ten minutes after we got inside, they had gone to Harry's family today and tomorrow at noon Niall's parents would arrive at the airport. I knew Niall missed them and hated the fact that he couldn't go and see them whenever he wanted since they had moved back to Ireland, so it meant a lot for him that they came over for Christmas this year. We all talked a bit over a cup of tea, or rather, the three of us talked while Louis was still unusually quiet, before we went to bed to get at least a few hours of sleep before morning came, way too soon without a doubt.
We had ignored our alarm clock for several hours and decided to sleep in instead, but finally had to get up at eleven to be ready for when our guests would arrive. Louis had prepared some appetizers for the afternoon, but we all went out to dinner at six. My mum and Niall's greeted each other as the old friends they were, and apparently Harry and Niall's dad got along very well together. Louis and I were mostly talking to Niall, Greg, Niall's brother and Ruth throughout dinner. Louis still wasn't back to his old self, or so it seemed, but he had claimed to be perfectly fine when I had asked him about it earlier, so I let it slide. He excused himself at eleven though, saying he was really tired and had a lot of work to do tomorrow. I asked him if he wanted me to come home with him, but he insisted that he would be fine, and that I should stay to catch up with Greg and Niall's parents. I gave him a worried look, but he shrugged it off and left the restaurant after saying his goodbyes.
I left an hour later, together with my mum and Ruth who had to drive back to Wolverhampton, while Niall and Harry went to the pub with Niall's family before they would go to their hotel. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and threw my clothes in the hamper before I joined Louis in our bed. I didn't sleep much at all, since Louis kept on tossing and turning all through the night, and by the time morning came, he was damp with sweat. He woke up when I had given up on trying to sleep any longer and got out of bed to take a shower. He looked terribly pale and judging from the groans leaving his mouth he felt equally bad. I sat back down on top of the covers and brushed his damp hair out of his face, noticing that he was in fact burning up.
It took me a lot of convincing but in the end he agreed to come with me to the doctors in the afternoon. Apparently there was flu around, and he had been unfortunate enough to catch it. So had Phoebe, we were told when Jay called us.
"Oh babe I just hope I'll be better on New year's. I want to celebrate one year of Lilo with you! Well, and go out with the rest of them for the fireworks as well, of course, but mostly celebrate our anniversary." he groaned as he laid curled up in our bed, cuddling the blankets. I rolled my eyes as I walked over to him with a cup of hot soup.
"Now don't you worry about that. I'm sure you'll feel better, and even if you don't, we'll find a way to celebrate it, or we'll just postpone it."
"But I wanted to celebrate it this week!" he whined before he took the mug from my hand and emptied it in a couple of minutes while we discussed what we would do for our one year anniversary. I tucked him in again and pressed a kiss on his forehead as he was already drifting back to sleep, walking back into the kitchen to get the cupcakes I had been making out of the oven. I let them cool while I studied for a couple more hours, went to check on Louis who was still out cold and started to decorate the cupcakes before Niall prepared us dinner. He trudged into the kitchen and looked over my shoulder to see what I was doing.
"Are those the cupcakes for your anniversary? Will they still be fresh in two days?"
"Libby borrowed me some special boxes to keep them fresh. And yes they are. How do they look?" I asked, turning my head so I faced Niall.
"Gay." he smirked. "No kidding, they look cute. But who or what is Lilo?" he scrunched his nose like he always did when he was confused.
"That's the nickname Lou came up with for the two of us. But I can make you a Narry-one for your new years celebration if you want me to." I replied cheekily. "Oh come on!" I exclaimed as he looked at me as if I had grown three heads. "Don't look at me like that Ni! Your name is Narry and ours is Lilo. You should know by now that Louis has a thing for nicknames!" He scoffed and shook his head as he walked over to the fridge, taking out the ingredients for our dinner. "You should be happy, at least YOU don't have two nicknames named after Disney characters." I muttered as I finished my last cupcake, glaring back as Niall laughed hard at my last remark and got up to put the cupcakes away and help Niall with dinner.
Louis already felt a lot better the next day, and it looked good for our celebration the day after, until I started to feel hot and cold at the same time around dinner. I decided not to mention it to Louis and just went to bed early, hoping against all odds that I could just sleep it off.
Louis' POV
I woke up early the next morning, finally feeling fresh again after days of feeling like utter crap and burning up. I quietly slipped out of bed and went in to the spare bedroom to catch up on my studying, putting on a pair of sweat pants and an old T-shirt without bothering to shower as I would have to prepare for our night out later anyway. I got hungry around noon and went to check on Liam, as I hadn't seen him yet. To my surprise, he was still in bed, the covers thrown off him but he was still sweating profusely, the sheet underneath him torn loose and a pillow in his arms. I walked over to him and sat down on the bed before I laid my hand on his forehead. Crap, just as I suspected, he had a fever. I quickly went into the kitchen, heated a cup of soup for him and grabbed him some pills before I went back into the room to wake him up.
He smiled halfheartedly as he took his pills and drank his soup. "I'm sure I'll feel better if I sleep for a couple of hours, so we can celebrate tonight." he croaked.
"Don't you worry about tonight baby, just go to sleep, and we'll see what we'll do tonight, okay? Call me if you need me, I'm studying next doors." He nodded and smiled tiredly as I ruffled his hair. No way that he would be feeling better tonight.
Niall and Harry were already fooling around in the bathroom, pretending to shower and get ready for tonight when I finally decided to call it a day and put my books aside for now. As expected, Liam was still asleep and he still felt hotter than he should be. In a bad way for once. I lifted the covers and slipped in next to him, wrapping my arms around him. I must've slept for a bit myself, cause the next thing I knew he was awake and was studying my face.
"I feel better." he said, but it was easy to tell that he was lying between his teeth.
"No you don't. So we're staying in tonight. Do you want anyhing to eat or drink?" I replied firmly.
He sighed in defeat, knowing I was right. "No, thanks. But really Lou, you should go with the others, you wanted to celebrate and you don't have to stay in with me because I'm sick."
I put my finger on his lips and kissed them softly before I shook my head. "It's our anniversary, so I'm staying with you baby." I replied. "And no buts." I added, quirking an eyebrow as I saw him opening his mouth in protest.
"Fine." he sighed, but then smiled. "Thank you. It's really sweet."
"You're welcome. I'm going to get me a glass of lemonade and let Harry and Niall know that they shouldn't wait for us tonight. Sure you don't want anything?"
"A glass of water, maybe. And ask Niall to get your surprise, he knows where I put it. And don't peek before you're back, I'll know if you did." he added, trying to sound stern but in fact he sounded like a wounded bird. Or a wounded deer, if you took his nickname into consideration.
Niall and Harry were in the living room, watching some TV show as they waited for the time of their dinner reservations to come around. I told him we would stay in and asked Niall about the surprise. He jumped up and went to the hallway cupboard to take it out while I got our drinks from the kitchen. Niall handed me a grey metal box right as I got back into our bedroom, and shouted a get well to Liam before I closed the door behind me.
I shooed him out of bed as I put the things in my arms on the desk, and changed the damp sheets before I got in beside Liam, our arms around each other. We talked for a bit and I had almost forgotten about the surprise when he finally said I could open the box. I grinned when I noticed the cupcakes, covered in bright coloured icing with our names and nicknames written on it. In the middle was a larger one, and it said "Lilo 1!!!" I chuckled as I kissed his lips, taking out a bright pink cupcake that read "Bambi&Boo" before I took a bite and offered Liam one as well.
"Hmmm, it's delicious!" I moaned as the taste invaded my mouth. Best vanilla cupcakes ever.
Liam insisted later in the evening that we would go into the living room so we could at least watch the fireworks on TV, so at eleven we were on the couch, huddled in blankets while we watched a funny countdown show. His head rested on my shoulder and I could tell he was tired, but he wouldn't admit it so I didn't bother with asking him. We counted down cheerily as soon as the numbers appeared on the screen, and kissed each other a happy new year when the fireworks sounded outside as well as on the TV. I smiled brightly as I looked down on him.
"I really don't know why you are smiling Boo. You wanted to go out and celebrate, and now we're stuck on the couch, watching the fireworks on TV because I chose this wonderful evening to be ill." his bottom lip was sticking out a bit as he pouted.
"Stop blaming yourself Li, you can't help it that you caught my germs, although I told you you shouldn't have kissed me." I stroked his damp hair as I rested my cheek on his head.
"I still see no reason to smile about this." he huffed.
"No matter where we are or however important a day might seem baby, in the end it doesn't matter. I'm with you Bambi, that's a good enough reason to be smiling."