One Night With Zayn & Nine Months With His Baby

Chapter Thirty Eight: Useless

   On the drive home, Zayn sat with me in the back seat, hugging me to his side. I knew now that he'd be watching me a lot more closely than he used to. They all would. But I guess I didn't mind it too much anymore.
   I didn't feel too sick anymore, probably from how happy I felt. I was wanted and loved. I had a son and soon would have another baby.
   "How're we going to tell the guys?" I asked him.
   "I don't know. I guess we just call them together and tell them. Like the first time."
   I smiled. "Okay. But you tell them. The first time my heart was racing enough."
He laughed nervously. "Deal. We should scare them a little first, don't you think?"
A wide grin spread across my face. "Are you a good actor?" I asked him.
"The best."

I smiled at Zayn as we reached the front door. "You ready?"
Zayn's face went from giddy to sad in a second. He rubbed at his eyes for a few seconds so that they were just a little red. There were ready tears in them.
"You're good," I said, preparing myself mentally. I couldn't laugh. I opened my eyes wide for as long as I could until I felt them become wet with tears.
We kissed before he opened the door for me.
We walked solemnly toward the living room where we could hear the boys chattering. I could smell food. And boy was I hungry. But it would have to wait until the prank was over.
Niall noticed us first and smiled. "Hey, guys. How'd it go?"
I looked up at Zayn in the saddest manner that I could. His eyes lifted to the ceiling, as if trying not to cry, and he licked his lips and pressed them tightly together. It would make sense that he would be more broken up about whatever illness I had, seeing my history of not giving a crap about myself.
I grabbed onto Zayn's shirt tightly at the bottom.
"What's wrong?" Liam asked, setting his plate of food aside and standing up.
I heard the sound of plates clattering and then complete silence. I kept my eyes closed and rested my head against Zayn's side. He wrapped a heavy arm around me and held onto me tight.
Louis came around one of the sofa's. "Riley?"
I looked straight at him and saw the fear in his eyes. Right then and there I wanted to hug him to me. I didn't even like hurting him as a joke. It was too sad. But I went along with it anyway.
"Riley's not okay," was all Zayn said. The tension in the room went from a three to a fifty as Zayn broke down in tears.
I pulled him into my arms and pretended to cry with him. I wasn't as good as he was. But it was believable enough.
"What happened?" Louis asked.
I pulled apart from Zayn. He rose his hand to his quivering lips and spoke. "Wthe prftgnat."
All of their eyebrows knit together.
"What?" Harry and Liam asked together.
I began to "sob" into my hands. Zayn pulled me into him tighter. Almost. My heart raced.
"Weihr prftnnt," he said quietly.
"What?" They all asked in unity this time.
I felt the signal, two quick squeezes to my bicep.
"WE'RE PREGNANT!" We yelled out, almost at the top of our lungs, and then laughed and laughed and laughed.
The four of them looked at us for the longest time as we laughed. We must've looked like crazy people.
"You're kidding," Harry said, a smile playing at his lips.
I shook my head and Zayn kissed the top of my head.
Louis' eyes lit up like the Fourth of July. "Really?" He asked. His eyes really brimmed with tears, and then mine were too.
"Yeah," I choked out before he wrapped me in his arms.
I hugged Louis like my life depended on it. I could hear the rest of the guys congratulating Zayn.
"Are you really?"
"Yeah, Lou. We're having a baby."
He kissed just about every inch of my face that wasn't my lips as I laughed. "Oh God, I'm so happy. I can't believe it."
"I love you," was all I could say.
"I love you, sweet pea."

At my three month pregnancy mark was when I stopped having morning sickness. I was so grateful for that. This time around, my "morning" sickness was usually around ten at night. I wasn't so grateful for that.
Once again I was weighed on. For just about anything, the guys would twist themselves into a pretzel just to make sure I didn't do any work. It was sometimes annoying. But I couldn't argue that because of them, I'd hardly felt faint because of over exertion.
I could already see a pretty noticeable baby bump forming. And although it was still strange to have my body change that way, I loved it. I couldn't wait until I could feel my baby kicking inside of me. Or until I found out the gender.
"Baby, have you seen my wallet?" Zayn asked as he walked into the kitchen where I sat with Niall. He was trying to teach me how to play a card game where to basically just lie your way through to win.
I thought for a moment. "Didn't you leave it by the bed?"
Just as I was about to stand to look for it with him, I heard the window just above the kitchen sink shatter. In a matter of seconds, the curtains caught fire and began to consume themselves.
My eyes widened in fear as I saw how quickly the fire began to spread. "Nathan!"
I felt Niall's arms come around me. He hurried me out the front door, strong enough to hold me against all of my protesting.
"Zayn! Nathan! I need to get my son!" I yelled. "I have to get my son! Niall, let me go!"
But he didn't let me go back in. His hold around me was strong.
I felt helpless and I heard the struggle inside the apartment. I assumed they were trying to put out the fire.
When I saw Zayn run out with Nathan in his arms, I burst into tears. Niall finally let go of me and I reached out for my son.
I noticed Zayn turn over and grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt. "You're not going back in there."
"Riley, I have to," he told me, shaking me off. "You stay here with Niall. Do you hear me?"
I felt about three security guards rush in through the door.
"Zayn, please don't go back in there," I cried.
He simply kissed the top of my head and ran back in.
Where were Harry and Liam? Where was Louis? Zayn? What was happening? Did the fire spread too far?
Niall took me by the arm and pulled me away. Away from the windows and the doors. I knew he was trying to keep me safe, but I wasn't being rational at that point. All of those people inside. All of that smoke pouring out from the door.
"What's taking so long?" I asked impatiently.
I knew Niall didn't know how to answer. I was sure he wished he were helping inside instead of standing helplessly outside with me. I wished the same thing.
"Come here," he said. And I did. He pulled me into his arms and held me and my son. It was the strongest sign of affection we'd ever had. "Everything's fine. Just relax, Riley. It will be okay."
And I wanted to believe him. I did. But the time continued passing and the smoke didn't stop. Nobody came out the door.
Finally I heard the sirens on the fire truck. They rushed out as quick as lightning from that great big red vehicle and piled into the house.
One pulled Harry out first, and then Louis. Liam ran out next. And then Zayn.
They're okay.
Zayn jogged over to me and Niall. His skin was dark with ash and his clothes a little singed. He was sweaty and dirty and I didn't care.
Niall took Nathan from me and Zayn and I embraced. I'd never been so afraid for anyone else's life. I cried into his shoulder because that's all that I could do.
"It's okay. Baby, we're okay," he would tell me, his fingers running soothingly through my hair. He kissed my cheek. "I'm okay, sweetheart. We're all okay."
I couldn't get out the words that I wanted to say. My breaths came in short, loud intervals. I was hyperventilating.
Zayn ran circles along my back. "Riley, hey, you have to calm down. We're okay."
I slipped out of Zayn's arms and hugged Louis. He hugged me back gently and then pulled back to hold my face in his hands. "We're okay. Please calm down."
I reached up to wipe at his ash covered face. "You're a mess."
He smiled and took both my hands in his. "Does anything hurt? Do you feel lightheaded?"
I shook my head. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"
"Yes. I told you, we're okay. We were trying to put out the fire."
I nodded. I didn't like that they stayed behind trying to stop the fire from spreading. But I wasn't going to tell them that. They were trying to do something good.
I hugged Harry and then Liam. I was glad that they were okay. I hugged Niall too. I apologized for having yelled at him as well.
When I got back to Zayn, I was able to say that yeah, they were alright. I exhaled and kissed Zayn. "I love you. Don't do anything that stupid again."
He laughed. "Okay. I love you. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm okay."
His hands ran up and down my arms. "Are you sure?"
I nodded. "I'm fine."

The paramedics arrived anyway and checked all of the boys, the guards, Nathan, and me. I was thankful that he were so thorough, but my real preoccupation was what we were going to do. The apartment hadn't been burnt to a crisp but it wasn't exactly habitable for the moment being.
The police arrived little after the paramedics and took statements all around. They went in and took photos of everything as well.
As they were about to leave, Zayn came over to me. He took Nathan from my arms. "We're going to have to stay someplace else for the time being. I'd like you to leave with security and Louis. Take Nathan with you guys as well. The rest of us are going to pack up some stuff."
My eyebrows pulled together. "Where are we going?"
"For right now, a hotel. We picked one a little further from here. There are less chances whoever it is who's doing this will follow us that far."
I didn't love the idea of living at a hotel temporarily, but I knew it was best for the time being. "Okay."
I didn't want to be away from Zayn. I didn't want to be away from any of them. But if he said he needed to get some things done, I wasn't about to argue with him about it.
His fingers brushed my cheekbone tenderly. "Stop worrying, Riley. Please. I don't want you in the hospital."
I felt utterly helpless. I couldn't do anything because I was pregnant and because I was weak and because I was me. I couldn't help. I couldn't even worry about them. Or my baby. Or me. I was useless. Extra baggage.
I just nodded and we kissed goodbye. Louis had some of Nathan's things already, so I just got in the car.