The Night That Changed It All

Eight Years Later

"Daddy, wake up!" Lily Ann yelled as she ran into our room to wake Liam, who we'd let sleep in a bit longer today since it was his birthday. "Happy Birthday, Daddy!"

"Alright; I'm awake. Thanks, Little bear." Liam groaned, smiling warmly at me where I stood in the doorway when he'd sat up, before looking up at Lily Ann, who was jumping around on our bed, still yelling at Liam to get up.

"Come on, Daddy. We made breakfast." Lily Ann exclaimed, shrieking happily when Liam pulled her down and started tickling her, which got Quentin excited as he jumped around too. He may be eight years old and well past his prime, but that didn't stop him.

"Come one, you two: breakfast will be getting cold." I commanded softly, pulling Liam with me when Lily Ann took my hand to drag me down to the kitchen. Quentin was also hot on our heels and seemed just as excited as Lily Ann was.

After eating breakfast together, Lily Ann went to go get the card she made for Liam, who got up to help me with the washing up while Quentin sniffed around the table for food we may have dropped. We'd all given him a bit from our own plates while we ate but that didn't stop him.

"Hey! You're not meant to be helping; it's your birthday." I scolded playfully, taking the tea towel from his hands and laughing when he pouted at me.

"Fine. If you won't let me help, I'll distract." He laughed, standing behind me and watching what I was doing with his arms around my waist and his chin on my shoulder. After a few seconds, he started kissing the side of my neck and my shoulders softly; splaying his hands out across my stomach, which reminded me of the news I had for him.

"Happy birthday, Daddy!" Lily Ann yelled happily for what must have been the tenth time since we'd woken him up. As she said this, she help out a card, which was blue and covered in little pictures and quotes.

Lily Ann had taken a big interest in drawing from a very young age and she always loved to go see Zayn as they could sit and talk for hours about it; sketching together and sharing techniques. The quotes were mainly things that Liam himself had said and some were even from one or the other of our songs, going as far back as our X-Factor days.

"Thank you, little bear. It's amazing." Liam praised after reading the little message that Lily Ann had carefully written on the inside of the card in green ink.

"Uncle Zayn helped me with some of the drawings. I made him promise he wouldn't tell you." Lily Ann explained humbly, grinning happily at the praise. She was always so proud of her art and loved it more than anything when people told her they liked it.

"Speaking of Uncle Zayn; are the lads coming?" Liam asked, standing up from where he'd been crouching in front of Lily Ann and looking at me. Before I could answer, the doorbell rang and Lily Ann ran to get it, coming back a few seconds later with Harry, Louis and Zayn in tow.

"Happy Birthday, Liam!" They all exclaimed together, piling in for a group hug that I somehow got bundled into, along with Lily Ann, who Zayn was carrying. He really babied her and it wasn't a wonder she'd taken up art: she was almost as close to Zayn as she was to Quentin, who slept in her room and almost never left her side.

"Thanks guys. It's great to see you." Liam grinned once we'd all pulled out of the hug. One Direction had been disbanded when Lily Ann was five years old, a year after Liam and I got married, so we didn't see each other nearly as much as we used to. We were still as close as ever, of course: you can't be in a band for nine years and not stay close but it could never be like it was when we were still a band. Seeing each other every day, never needing to call for updates since we'd just see each other the next day at work.

"It's great to see you, too." Louis crowed and I was immediately grateful that we'd moved out of our apartment in London in favour of a small cottage just outside Hemel Hempstead, which was a town not too far from London. Our neighbours in London wouldn't have taken kindly to the noise but out here our neighbours were far enough away that we didn't have to worry about that and close enough to actually count as neighbours.