Fixing Mistakes (Baby Niall)

Interviews and Rehearsals

Liam was started awake by an ear-piercing scream. Immediately he was out of his bunk and lowering the bars of the cot. Niall was lying there thrashing about and tears were running down his face. Liam didn’t hesitate to lift the boy out and hold him close. “Ni, baby, wake up bud” he tried.

“Come on NiNi wake up for me” Zayn begged as he started rubbing Niall’s back.

“What’s wrong with him?” Harry asked joining the group; he and Louis had fallen asleep downstairs on the couch.

“He’s having a nightmare” Zayn informed them as Liam kept trying to wake the baby up. Eventually Zayn got Harry and Louis to go back downstairs and let he and Liam handle things. Zayn wasn’t trying to be mean but he knew that Niall was uncomfortable around the other boys and he just wanted his baby to calm down.

It took five very stressful minutes before Niall was finally awake and by then Zayn and Liam felt as though they’d been punched in the gut. Niall had been begging and screaming while he was still asleep. As far as Liam and Zayn could tell Niall was dreaming of his mother, his father and them. Their baby was literally begging not to be forgotten again and it tore them up. They had done this to Niall, they had caused this fear and dread, they had screwed things up and it was their baby boy who was paying the price.

“Hey baby” Zayn cooed when Niall finally opened his eyes.

Niall was nervous, confused and scared. His dream had petrified him, he knew that the boys would forget him once the tour started up again; he knows it still. The thing is that he had never been bothered by people forgetting him before he’d been become apart of this band. Why was it so hard for him now? Why did it bother him so much that he’d soon have to go back to hiding away in the corner of the storage room again, although this time he would take himself out of the age play no matter what any of the older boys said. He’d do it now if he weren’t being hovered over so much.

Liam and Zayn were worried and heartbroken. They were trying to calm Niall down but the boy was still crying and clinging to Liam as though his life depended on it.

“I thought he was beginning to trust us” Zayn said sadly.

Liam sighed, “He is”

“Then why is he worried?”

“Zayn, we’ve ignored him for over a month that can’t be fixed in four days. Niall has been abandoned and ignored all his life and all we did was repeat the cycle”

“I know but I just wish he would trust us”

“We’ll get there” Liam promised as he turned his attention to the baby in his arms who was finally calming down.

Niall had tired himself out and he was finding himself very confortable pressed up against a warm chest and being rocked slowly. He sighed in slight content as he leaned further into Liam and closed his eyes, just for a second.

Zayn watched as his little one started to fall asleep again. “And he says he doesn’t need a dummy” he commented as he watched Niall’s thumb creep closer to his mouth.

“I put an extra one by his cot in case he needed it” Liam said as he started to stop Niall’s thumb from making it into his mouth, wouldn’t want to undo the work the braces did.

“Got it” Zayn said happily coming over and popping it into Niall’s mouth, “I don’t see why he fights it”

“He’s trying to prove that he isn’t a baby” Liam said as he laid Niall back down in his cot and tucked him back in.

Zayn scoffed, “He’ll always be our baby”

“Agreed. Now get some sleep we have an early start in the morning”