End Up Here (Ziam AU)

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Three

One Hundred Twenty Three – Zayn

Zayn chews on his lip as he checks his email just over a month later, Bella is settled into her daily routine of school, and Zayn is finally able to drop her off in the morning without crying. "Baba" Zack shouts suddenly and Zayn jumps, as he didn't even see the boy come into the room, "hey Zack, what's up?" Zayn asks reaching down to scoop Zack up. "No" Zack whines and Zayn chuckles setting the boy back down, he usually wants to be down and Zayn's sure Zack at least will be walking before the twins turn one in a few weeks. Zack smiles at him as he stands, holding onto Zayn's knee for balance. "Did you need something?" Zayn asks and Zack giggles, "no" he answers and Zayn laughs rolling his eyes, "where's Daddy, and Chloe?" he asks. Zack shakes his head instead of saying anything and bounces in place. Zayn chuckles and nods, "okay Bubba. Baba's going to check his email okay? Then I'll come play" he explains. Zacks just starts babbling nonsense in response and Zayn nods turning his head back to his laptop. When he looks he furrows his eyebrows as there's an email from the principal of the school he covered that maternity leave position at, and it confuses him, because his contract was temporary and ended before the twins were even born. Zayn chews his lip as he clicks on it, his eyes widening as he reads it over.

Zayn closes his laptop and scoops Zack up as he stands, "let's go and find Daddy" Zayn hums, as Zack nods, "Dada" he says seriously and Zayn nods, "yeah Dada" he chuckles as he leaves his office to head towards Liam's. When Zayn peeks into the room he chuckles as he sees Liam attempting to type something on his own computer, all while trying to stop Chloe from chewing on everything on his desk. "Chloe are you driving Daddy crazy?" Zayn asks, making both his husband's and his daughter's heads snap up to look at him. "Zayn, what's up?" Liam asks as Zack struggles to get down and Chloe reaches for Zayn "Baba, Baba, Baba" she chants, until he sets Zack on the floor and scoops Chloe out of Liam's lap. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Zayn asks and Liam nods, pushing away from his desk a little, so Zack can pull himself to stand up with Liam's knees.

Zayn takes a deep breath, as Chloe wraps her arms around his neck resting her head on his shoulder, "how would you feel if I went back to work in January?" Zayn asks quickly. Liam arches an eyebrow at him as Zack bounces holding onto Liam's knees, "work where?" he asks slowly. Zayn sighs, "remember the school I did that maternity leave position for?"Zayn asks and Liam nods. "The principal just emailed me, and apparently that same teacher is moving, and going to work elsewhere, so he wanted to offer me a permanent position as the English teacher" Zayn explains, biting his lip. Liam nods, "do you want to go back to work? 'Cause you know you don't have to. If you want to stay home with these two monsters you can" he asks. Zayn nods, "yeah I kind of do. I mean I didn't work so hard to get my degree to just never use it" he murmurs. Liam nods but Zayn notices his eyes never leave Zayn's face, "if you want to take it, then take it. You don't need my permission" he answers honestly. Zayn smiles as he nods, "I wasn't asking permission, I just wanted to know what you thought. I'd still be able to take Bella to school, and I would finish just before her so I can pick her up. The school is right next door to Bella's, actually I'm pretty sure it's Ethan's school" Zayn rambles. Liam chuckles cutting him off, "go for it Zee" Liam hums and Zayn smiles widely. "There's like a daycare attached to the school, I can take these guys to, so they aren't in your hair all day, or you could even go back to the office everyday" Zayn adds.

Liam smiles nodding his head, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that" he mumbles and Zayn furrows his eyebrows. "Niall and I have a bunch of big meetings coming up in January, so I was going to have to be in the office more anyways, so I was going to start going in three days a week in the new year, as long as you were okay with it" Liam explains. Zayn laughs nodding his head, "so this is just working out for both of us, isn't it?" he asks and Liam chuckles, "yeah it is" he answers. "No Baba" Zack says suddenly and Zayn chuckles, "no what Bubba?" Zayn asks and Zack just shakes his head in response "no" he repeats. Zayn nods, "I understand" he chuckles as Zack let's go of Liam with one hand, then the other, standing completely unsupported for a few seconds before he drops to the ground and crawls to Zayn's feet. "This is really okay?" Zayn asks hesitantly and Liam nods, "yeah Zee. I'm happy for you" he answers honestly and Zayn smiles, nodding "can you keep these two for a few minutes, so I can go email him back?" he asks and Liam nods, standing up to take Chloe from Zayn's arms, before he reaches down to scoop up Zack, "let's go and get a snack you two" Liam cheers before he disappears towards the stairs, leaving Zayn to go back into his office.