End Up Here (Ziam AU)

Chapter One Hundred Seven

Chapter One Hundred Seven – Zayn

"Bye Niall! Bye Josh!" Zayn calls from where he's currently trapped on the couch underneath of both the twins, as Liam shows their friends out. The rest of the visit with Niall, Josh, and Theo had been pretty uneventful and Zayn's eyes flick towards where Bella is sprawled across the floor colouring. Liam is suddenly back in the room sighing as he flops down onto the couch beside Zayn and carefully takes Chloe from his arms, careful not to remove the bottle she's furiously sucking on from her mouth as he does. Zayn grins at him as Zack spits his bottle out, apparently done eating, "so how screwed is your computer?" Zayn asks carefully and Liam groans, "it needs a new screen, so I'm just going to buy a whole new laptop, but I think all the files will be transferable" he mutters. Zayn nods, as Bella hops up and comes running across the room towards them, "Daddy, I has a surprise for you" she cheers thrusting the paper she's been colouring into his hand. Zayn peeks over at the paper to see a picture of what he assumes is Bella and Liam, holding hands and smiling happily, on the bottom she's scribbled a few random letters, followed by a rough version of her name, which she's been working so hard on learning to write.

Liam passes Chloe back to Zayn, it much easier now that both babies have finished eating, "what's this Princess?" Liam hums reaching down and scooping Bella into his lap. Zayn watches as Bella bites her lip, "I sorry Daddy" she mumbles and Liam pouts, "is this your apology for playing in my office earlier?" he asks slowly. Bella just nods and Zayn can see her eyes shining with tears, "and knocking computer" she mutters, just as a few tears fall down her cheeks. It's obvious to Zayn how bad she feels about what happened, and playing in Liam' soffice is so unlike her. Liam smiles slowly, "thank you Princess. I love it. I'm going to hang it in my office later" he coos, and Zayn sees Bella grin, just slightly. "Daddy?" Bella asks quietly, Liam humming to indicate he's heard her, "do I still have to go to time out?" she mumbles and Zayn grins, getting up to move out of the way and settle the twins in their swings, he can still hear his husband and daughter though. "I'll tell you what" Liam starts, "you don't have to go to timeout, because I do think you already feel sorry for what happened. But there's no shows for tonight, and I want to know why you were even in there in the first place" he finishes. Zayn returns to the couch, just as Bella throws herself at Liam in a hug, "Theo told me to, said it would be fun" she mumbles, her voice muffled by Liam's shirt, but both men still heard her. Liam frowns and pulls Bella out of his chest to look at her, Zayn watches as he wipes some tears off her cheeks, "I love you Arabella" Liam murmurs and Bella grins, "love you Daddy" she mumbles, snuggling back into him.

Zayn smiles at his husband and daughter where they are now sleeping curled up together on the couch, he then moves his gaze to the swings where Chloe is sleeping but Zack is wide awake reaching out for the toy dangling above his head. Zayn chuckles moving to sit beside him on the floor, "you can do it Bubba, come on" he coos, Zack gurgles slightly and manages to hit the toy with the tips of his fingers, the tiny boy growling slightly before dropping his arm down to his side again in defeat. Zayn chuckles and quickly unstraps the baby, pulling him close to his chest, "let's let Daddy and your sisters nap" he murmurs, carrying Zack out of the room and towards the kitchen. Zayn grimaces when he realizes Zack's sucking on part of his shirt, but he's really not that bothered by it, Bella used to do the same thing. Zayn's just trying to decide what they should have for dinner when his phone rings, making him frown and adjust his hold on Zack, who's snuggled right into him, as he pulls it from his pocket. The caller ID says it's Ruth's house calling and he's confused because when he spoke to Ruth earlier, she and Ben were leaving the kids with a sitter and going out for a much needed date.

"Hello?" Zayn asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly, "Uncle Zayn?" Ethan's voice asks, sounding relieved. "Yeah, buddy. What's wrong?" Zayn asks, detecting something in the boy's voice, "can you come to the house, please?" Ethan begs and Zayn furrows his eyebrows, settling Zack into his bouncy chair in the kitchen quickly. "Ethan, what's going on?" Zayn asks worriedly, hearing the ten (almost eleven) year old sniffle slightly, "and where are the other two?" he adds. Ethan sniffles again, "Mason's right here, but I couldn't get Kenzi to come. Please you need to come get us" he insists. "Okay, okay. I'm on my way, but can you tell me what's going on,please?" Zayn asks, keeping his voice calm, as he scribbles a quick note for Liam and scoops Zack out of his chair again to bring the awake baby with him. "Mum hired a different babysitter and she's horrible Uncle Zayn, she..." Ethan trails off and Zayn furrows his eyebrows, "she what Ethan?" he murmurs as he pushes his shoes on his feet. "She slapped me, and tried to hit Mason too, but I blocked her. Please just come Uncle Zayn. Mum's not answering her phone, neither is Dad" Ethan pleads and Zayn feels his heart break for the boy, as rage for the babysitter fills him. "Where are you guys now?" Zayn asks, as he straps Zack into the carseat and climbs into the driver's seat, starting the car. "Um in Mum's closet, but Kenzi's with her" Ethan answers quietly. Zayn bites his lip as he starts driving towards Ruth's, thankful they aren't that far away anymore. "Okay. I'm coming Bud. Just stay where you are. I'll be there in five minutes" Zayn instructs and hears a rustling but Ethan doesn't verbally answer him.