the lonely hearts club || n.h au

epilogue

Niall's heart is seconds away from bursting. And when Alexandra looks up and meets his gaze, he's ruined. His heart does this tight, twisting maneuver at the way she's looking at him — it does that more and more often lately, begging to be seen and heard. Right now his heart is begging him to acknowledge the fact that: fuck, Alexandra looks amazing with a baby in her arms.

His mind starts drifting into the dangerous territory — the one that features him, her and a family of their own. It's crazy because they've only been dating for over a year and yet, his mind has been presenting all these thoughts to him and it's hard not to entertain them.

It's even harder to push those thoughts away when his best friends, Fionn and Cara, have just welcomed their baby boy to the world. The cutest baby boy he's ever seen and briefly held, and is now sleeping soundly in Alexandra's arms.

The hospital has never been Niall's favourite place — it's his least favourite, if he's honest, because it houses painful memories — but today, he can't imagine himself elsewhere. He's glad that he's here with the love of his life and his best friends. His heart has never been fuller than it is right now.

"Please tell me someone got a picture of Fionn crying," Connor says.

Fionn opens his mouth as though to say 'fuck you', but decides against it when his eyes land on his baby boy all bundled up in Alexandra's arms — Niall wonders how long he'll able to hold himself back from cursing in front of his baby. Instead, Fionn makes do with giving Connor his middle finger.

"I have a few," Cara answers. Fionn turns to his wife, a look of betrayal evident on his face. Cara laughs, patting his arm. "Don't worry, you still look good."

The betrayed look immediately disappears from his face, replaced by a look of adoration. A look of pure love. Niall suddenly feels like he's intruding on an intimate moment. "Not as good as you do," Fionn tells his wife as he leans forward and presses a kiss on her forehead.

"I still can't believe you two are parents," Amy says as she leans further into Connor.

"I know," Cara replies. "I can't believe that," she points at her baby, "came out of me."

Connor makes a face at that. "Too much information, Cara."

Cara rolls her eyes at him.

"So have you decided on a name?" Fiona asks.

Fionn and Cara share a look and then they both shake their heads. "We have a few options," Cara tells them. "But we haven't decided on one."

"How about Connor?" Connor offers, grinning.

"No fu— way," Fionn corrects himself at the last minute. "We'll let you know once we've decided on a name."

"Well your loss," Connor replies. "Connor's a great name."

"It is, babe," Amy consoles him, rubbing his arm up and down, up and down, "But I don't think they'd want to name their baby the same name as their best mate."

Cara and Fionn nod in agreement.

"I think someone wants her mummy," Alexandra announces as the baby in her arm starts to make soft noises, his little hands escaping from the blanket wrapped around him.

Fionn gets up from the bed and takes his baby from Alexandra, smiling when the little boy is back in his arms. Like that's where he belongs.

An unfamiliar wave of longing pricks at Niall as he looks at the family of three, and he swallows the lump in his throat.