End Up Here (Ziam AU)

Chapter Eighty

Chapter Eighty – Liam

Liam's in his office going over some paperwork for an upcoming meeting when there's a knock on the door. "Come in" he calls and it opens slowly to reveal Carson one of the lawyers for the company, the best one in Liam's opinion. "Sorry to bother you, do you have a minute?" Carson asks and Liam nods, motioning for him to close the door behind him, "what's up?" he asks once Carson is sitting across from him, "I wanted to talk to you about the adoption stuff you talked to me about" Carson starts and Liam sets down the pen in his hand to focus on him completely, "what about it?" he asks slowly, "nothing really, Miss Collins signed away all rights to Arabella in the hospital the night she was born, so it's pretty straightforward I just need you and Mr. Malik to sign the papers and then we get them processed and Arabella is your daughter" Carson explains. Liam nods, "what about when Zayn's sister has the baby, what do we do then?" he asks. Carson smiles "same thing really, except we need to get Ms. Malik to sign as well, giving away her legal rights as the parent" he answers, Liam nods again. "You need to be there when we all sign?" he asks slowly and Carson nods, "yeah to prove it's all legitimate and no one was forced, I can come by your apartment one night if you can't get Mr. Malik into the office" he explains. Liam smiles "please call him Zayn and that may be best, for me to adopt Bella, but I'm sure once Doniya has the baby we can find a way to all come to you" he says. Carson nods grinning, "sure, want to pick a night?" he asks Liam just nods, flipping through the calendar he keeps on his desk to find a date and time that will work for everyone.

The door to his office opens again not even five minutes after Carson left, this time to reveal Niall, "hey, you want to come get some lunch?" he asks. Liam looks up from the contracts he was going over and nods gratefully at his best friend, "sure, just give me like two minutes?" he asks, Niall nods and steps back out of the office leaving Liam alone again. Liam grabs his phone and dials quickly, hoping Zayn will pick up, it rings three times before he does, "hello?" Zayn answers, "hey Babe" Liam coos and hears Zayn relax, "oh hey, what's up Li. I don't have long to talk" Zayn murmurs. Liam chuckles "I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you know that Carson, our lawyer is coming over on Wednesday so we can sign all the papers for me to adopt Bells" he explains. Zayn's quiet for a minute "sounds good Li, I'll see you tonight. I've gotta go one of my students is here looking for help. I love you" he answers finally. Liam laughs "I love you too. See you after work" he murmurs before they both hang up and Liam gets up shoving his phone into his pocket and leaving his office to go get lunch with Niall.

Liam manages to get home before Zayn and Bella, he decided to call it a day early, because it's Monday and he just really didn't want to be at work anymore, he's hoping they can get finished dinner early and he and Zayn can take Bella to the park to play for a little before bed. She's been begging to go for days now but Liam's never been home early enough for it to happen. He drops his keys into the bowl by the door and goes quickly to his and Zayn's room to change. Once he's comfortable he goes into the kitchen, pulling some meat out of the fridge and starting to make tacos, one of the few things he's great at making. He's not even finished browning the meat when he hears the door opening and quick footsteps that indicate Bella's on her way to find him. She slides into the kitchen, coming to a stop directly in front of him and throwing herself at his legs, "Daddy! You're home" she cheers, nuzzling her face against his leg. Liam chuckles stepping back from the stove and scooping Bella into his arms, just as Zayn comes into the kitchen as well "you're home early" Zayn murmurs, leaning over Bella to kiss Liam's lips. Liam nods, nuzzling his nose into Bella's hair, "yeah, I didn't want to start anything else and figured we could eat and then take this one to the P-A-R-K" he murmurs bouncing Bella lightly and spelling the last word. Zayn hums, nodding his head, "yeah I don't have much grading to do, I can get it done after she goes to bed" he mumbles and Liam grins, setting Bella back on her feet, so he can get back to making dinner. "Go get changed Zee. Dinner will be ready in five minutes" Liam says and Zayn rolls his eyes playfully before he disappears from the room.