Kelsey was back on Niall's couch, her body sinking into the plush grey cushion. Being back at Niall's place felt different this time. Bittersweet nostalgia mixed with memories she'd rather stay hidden.
Niall was in the kitchen cooking dinner, the scent of roasting chicken and sautéed garlic drifting into the living room. He'd went all out for their first official date since getting back together, decorating his dinner room table with a black tablecloth and lighting a single romantic candle in the center of the table. He wanted the night to be perfect. He needed the night to be perfect- because he wasn't sure if their fragile relationship could handle any more obstacles.
"Smells good," Kelsey mused, as Niall emerged from the kitchen with two wine glasses in hand, handing one to Kelsey before taking a seat beside her.
"Hope it tastes as good as it smells," Niall laughed, taking a sip of his wine. He set a hand on Kelsey's knee, his fingers tracing circles on her skin. "Missed having you here," he murmured.
"Missed being here," Kelsey replied, smiling as Niall planted a kiss on her forehead. They stayed there for a minute, Kelsey's head tucked into the crook of Niall's shoulder. Niall's arm wrapped around Kelsey. Both reveling in the ability to be near each other once again. But the moment is temporary, as the timer goes off in the kitchen signaling the chicken needs to be taken out of the oven, and Niall reluctantly rose from his seat to make his way back to the kitchen.
The evening still felt a bit like a dream to him. He couldn't believe Kelsey was actually here, back in his house, back in his arms. He also couldn't believe that he was nearly ready to start his own record label and break his contact with the record label he had dreamed of working with for years.
When dinner was ready, Niall pulled out Kelsey's chair for her at the table before she took a seat. Kelsey filled her plate. Niall poured them each another glass of wine. There's the low hum of music in the background. In the dimming evening light, Niall couldn't help but notice the way Kelsey's face glowed under the candlelight.
Kelsey watched Niall from across the table, his face concentrated on gracefully slicing his chicken. She wondered how she had went without him for all these months. Because this moment, sharing a candlelight dinner with the man she loved was more perfect than she ever could have imagined.
Perfection was short-lived, however, as Niall's phone began to vibrate on the tabletop next to him, bringing them both out of their thoughts. He ignored it at first, tapping the button to silence it without even bothering to see who was calling. Niall looked up at Kelsey and muttered a quiet "Sorry", before bringing his attention back to dinner.
The vibration stopped momentarily, then began to vibrate again. Niall let out an exasperated sigh, flipping the phone over to see Krystal's name on the screen. He hesitates slightly before picking up the phone and bringing towards his ear.
"Hello?"
"Niall?" Krystal's voice was frantic on the other line, and Niall felt his pulse begin to quicken. "I think something's wrong."
"What do you mean?" Niall stood from his place at the table abruptly, his feet beginning to pace. Kelsey tried to read Niall's face to see just exactly what was going on, the furrow in his brow signally something concerning.
"I've just started getting some cramps. I think it might be something with the baby," Niall could tell that Krystal was crying now, her voice audibly shaking.
"Hold on, hold on. Where are you? Are you at home?" he tried his best to keep his voice calm and steady, but even he could hear an element of panic in his words.
"Yes," Krystal said quickly. "I don't know if I should go in? To the hospital?"
"Well of course you should," Niall replied quickly as if there was even a question. "I'll come get you. I'm on my way."
Niall hung up the phone abruptly, and began rushing around the kitchen trying to find his keys. He nearly forgot Kelsey was sitting at the table in him until she came up beside him and grabbed his arm.
"Is everything okay?" she asked, her own voice displaying some panic.
Niall nodded quickly. "I don't know..." he hesitated for a moment, trying to think of what exactly he should say. A voice in the back of his head telling him that Kelsey wasn't going to take kindly to being ditched at dinner for Niall's other woman. "I'm sorry, Kels, something's going on with the baby. I've got to go to the hospital with Krystal. Finish dinner without me, I'll be back soon."
And with that Niall rushed out the door, leaving Kelsey standing in the kitchen, trying to process what exactly just happened. She walked back over to the kitchen table, her chicken now looking a lot less delicious and the candlelight dinner seeming a lot less romantic. She took a seat, before putting her head into her hands.
How quickly she'd forgotten that Niall was not hers alone anymore. And he wouldn't be hers alone ever again. The reality of the situation began to set in. Niall having a baby with Krystal wasn't some simple complication to their relationship, it was a whole other relationship in its self, one that required time and effort, and unfortunately for Kelsey, would always take the precedent.
He hadn't even hesitated. He hadn't even asked if she wanted to come with. In fact, Kelsey was almost positive he'd forgotten that she was even there the moment he realized something was going on. Kelsey felt her stomach turn.
Suddenly, she'd lost her appetite for dinner. She brings her plate over the the large stainless steel sink, setting it inside with a clink. Then she slowly climbed the stairs to Niall's bedroom. Kelsey made her way to the wooden dresser in the corner of Niall's room, opening the drawer to find one of Niall's grey t-shirts. She slides out of the black dress she'd purchased for the evening, not bothering to pick it up from its pile on the floor and pulled on the shirt. Then she slid under Niall's covers, hoping that if she closed her eyes for long enough, this night when feel like a dream again instead of the beginning of a nightmare.
*******************
It's 11:13pm when Kelsey heard Niall's car pull in to the drive again.
She listened as the door from the garage opened. Niall's voice echoed into the house as he entered, followed by another higher-pitched voice. Krystal.
Kelsey's mind raced with any reasoning as to why Niall would bring her back her. Had he already forgotten that Kelsey was here? Had he so quickly forgotten about their romantic evening in, the one that had so quickly been ruined?
Kelsey began to grow irritated. Maybe this had been part of Krystal's plan all along. Maybe she knew that Kelsey was here and didn't want Niall to spend time with her.
"Kelsey?" Niall called out from downstairs, but Kelsey doesn't feel like responding. Instead, she continued to lay in bed, her body facing away from the bedroom door. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep, she wouldn't give her frustrations the opportunity to make themselves known. That would be better for both of them wouldn't it? To forget this night had even happened.
As they entered the house, Niall directed Krystal to the guest bedroom on the first level. He hadn't wanted to bring her here, but after the ER visit she was still very anxious, and he knew that being alone tonight wouldn't be good for her or the baby.
Everything was fine with the baby- thankfully. Just some cramping, the doctor had told them, normal as the baby grows and the uterus begins to stretch. They had gotten an extra ultrasound out of the visit though, and Niall couldn't believe how much the baby had grown since the last time they'd gotten to see him. Him. It was a boy, the ultrasound tech had told him today.
Niall thought he would feel relieved, that everything would be okay. Instead, his worries had shifted back to Kelsey, who he had abruptly left on their evening in. He hoped she would understand why he needed to be there, and why he had brought Krystal back here.
When Niall got to his bedroom door, he saw Kelsey's body, curled onto one side facing away from him, her chocolate hair sprawled across the pillow. He climbed onto the bed, setting a hand on her shoulder gently. "Are you awake?" he asked, his voice just louder than a whisper.
Kelsey hesitated for a moment, before responding. "Yes."
"Are you upset with me?" Niall asked, but he already knew the answer.
"You tell me," Kelsey stated rolling over to face him and folding her arms in front of her chest. Her lips closed in a firm line.
"I'm sorry I missed dinner," Niall said softly. "But it was an emergency. I wouldn't have left if it wasn't. You know that."
Kelsey stayed quiet, her face blank. For a moment, she considered simply biting her tongue and keeping all her concerns locked up inside her head. If she stayed quiet they could go to bed and keep the night from being totally ruined.
But the night was already ruined. And this wasn't something that would happen once. This was something that would happen again and again over the course of Niall's future child's life. She sat up in the bed abruptly and Niall can tell by the look on her face that she's not about to say "it's okay."
"Are you sure about that? Because you seemed really quick to answer her phone call. You didn't even hesitate. You didn't even say, 'hey, I'm having dinner with Kelsey, you know the girl that I'm supposedly in love with," Kelsey's words were sharp.
"That's not fair Kelsey," Niall sighed. "You know I love you, it's just..." Niall scratched his head. "We are having a baby you know. Things like this are going to happen. Emergencies are going to come up. Krystal's never done this before, neither do I. We are still learning."
"I get an emergency, Niall. But why in hell would you bring her back here?" Kelsey's voice raised in volume. "Did you think to yourself, you know what I've already ruined my girlfriend's dinner, might as well ruin the whole night while we're at it huh?" Kelsey spat.
Niall felt a pang in his chest. He hadn't intended to make Kelsey upset. He was just trying to balance things. He was trying his best. "I..." he paused, knowing that no reason he gives for bringing back Krystal was going to please Kelsey. "I was just trying to be there for her. I'm really sorry that I ruined our night. It won't happen again. I promise." He tried holding Kelsey's hands, his eyes pleading with her that this wasn't something he planned on repeating.
"Can you promise that? Can you really promise me that you aren't going to drop everything for her when she calls?"
"I'll try to be better. We have to set boundaries. The time that we spend together is important to me. You are important to me. I don't want you to ever feel like you are second choice, because you aren't. Not at all. You are my girlfriend Kelsey, you always come first."
"And what about when the baby comes? Who do I become then? The evil stepmother? The weird aunt?" Kelsey was yelling now, and Niall worried that Krystal would hear them from downstairs.
Niall began to see that this conversation hadn't only been triggered by Krystal's call, but had been brewing for a while. It was Kelsey's worst fears being brought to light. Her coming to terms with exactly what this relationship would look like once another person entered it.
"Of course not Kels," Niall replied. "I just...I don't want you to feel like the outsider." Niall was at a loss for words. Because what could he really say? He couldn't expect her to jump into this role of parenting if she didn't want to.
"Are you even sure it's yours?" Kelsey asked, finally speaking what had been on her mind since she first found out about the baby.
"'Course it is," Niall didn't hesitate.
"Do you have the paternity tests to prove it?" Kelsey challenged.
Niall stared at her blankly. There'd never even been a question that it was his. He shook his head.
"You've got to be kidding me Niall, that's the first thing you fucking get!" Kelsey shook her head in her hands.
"Krystal wouldn't lie about that. If there was a question about who the father was she would have said." Niall's irritated now too. Kelsey always jumped to conclusions when Krystal was uninvolved. It was like she was unable to see Krystal as anything but a villain.
Kelsey sighed, knowing that this was going nowhere. Niall was too trusting- and that's probably what had gotten him into this whole situation in the first place, back to the very first contract. She looked at him, his blue eyes filled with concern. She could tell he's remorseful. She wanted more than anything to lean over and kiss him and tell him that everything was going to be okay, that this was just a minor disagreement. She wanted them to go downstairs and have those brownies she'd baked last night for dessert and come upstairs and snuggle up on his chest to watch The Office on Netflix.
But she couldn't do it. And Krystal and the baby weren't a contract that could get waived or a record label that could be left. This couldn't just be ignored if they wanted their relationship to work. And Kelsey wanted it to work, she wanted it so badly to work. Maybe that's why she'd failed to see how much Niall being a baby daddy would impact her own relationship with him.
She sighed, lowering her voice back to a normal tone. "Niall, I love you. This doesn't change that. And I know you are trying to do the right thing. I know you are trying to figure things out too. I really thought I could do this. I really thought I could handle it, but after tonight... I just need some time to figure out my place in all this." She stood up, grabbing a pair of sweatpants out of Niall's drawer and sliding them onto her bare legs.
"Where are you going?" Niall questioned.
"To Becca's. I need to think," she moved towards the door.
"But this was supposed to be our night. This was.."
"Niall, this hasn't been our night since you chose to pick up that phone," Kelsey snipped. She didn't wait for Niall's response before opening the door and making her way down the stairs.
"Kelsey wait!" Niall exclaimed, but he's too late, Kelsey's slammed the door shut with a wall-moving bang.
Niall climbed down the stairs towards the kitchen, trying to comprehend just how his perfect night had ended so badly. Instead of being met by Kelsey, it's Krystal that stood at the bottom of the stairs. Her face was pale, scared almost, and Niall instantly regretted bringing her back here to get involved in this mess.
"Sorry, I was just getting a drink," she muttered, averting her eyes before Niall could say anything else. And as she walked away Niall wondered just how much she had heard.