End Up Here (Ziam AU)

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight– Liam

Liam's eyes widen as he and Zayn step around the baby gate and into the living room to see the mess, created in their absence. Zayn snickers beside him and Liam furrows his eyebrows confused, "what?" he asks and Zayn just points towards the couches and chair, where Harry, Louis, Niall and Josh are all sprawled out asleep. But when Liam looks closer he sees that Bella is sleeping across Louis and Harry, while Josh is cuddling Zack protectively against his chest as they both sleep, his left hand around the one year old's back and his new engagement ring in full view. Niall is cuddling Chloe to him with both arms, on the chair, it's adorable really, but the room looks like the scene of a crime at the same time. "What the hell happened while we were gone?" Liam asks, turning to Zayn who smirks as he shrugs. "I'd say our little troublemakers were hard on their uncles" he chuckles and Liam frowns "Zayn this isn't funny" he insists, as his husband keeps laughing. "It kind of is though Li" Zayn points out, "it is so obvious none of these guys have kids, and let's be honest Zack may only be one but he's kind of a handful. Add in the girls and these boys never stood a chance" Zayn finishes. Liam nods, Zayn does have a point, and now that he thinks about it, it is kind of funny, but he's really not looking forward to cleaning up the mess. Liam surveys the room again and sees Zayn snapping a few pictures of each of the kids' sleeping arrangements.

"Should we wake them up?" Liam asks looking around the room and checking the time to see it's a little before midnight, him and Zayn having walked through the park for a couple hours after they finished dinner. Zayn nods, "we should at least take the monsters up to their beds" he murmurs, and Liam agrees, his only concern is Zack. Their son isn't nearly as heavy a sleeper as Bella and Chloe, so moving him when asleep usually results in the boy waking up and staying that way for another hour or more. As if reading his thoughts Zayn motions to Chloe and Bella, "let's start with the girls, and worry about Zack after" he mumbles, Liam nods stepping towards Niall to attempt to get Chloe out of his protective embrace, while Zayn scoops Bella off of Louis and Harry. Liam carefully pulls the blonde's arms away, exhaling in relief when Niall doesn't really react, beyond a huff of breath. Liam then gently scoops the sleeping Chloe into his arms and cuddles her to his chest, following Zayn out of the room and towards the stairs. Zayn heads into Bella's room, so Liam heads into the nursery, settling Chloe down in her crib, where she just rolls over, but stays asleep. Liam creeps out of the room and meets Zayn back down in the living room.

The pair are just standing in front of where Josh is sprawled out, eyeing not only his hold on their son, but his ring as well. "So how do we do this?" Liam asks as Zayn shrugs, biting on his bottom lip. "I don't think we can avoid waking him up" Zayn mumbles and Liam nods, "what if we wake up Josh and he carries him up? Less transitions, less chance of Zack waking up" Liam suggests. Zayn nods so Liam gently pokes the sleeping man's shoulder, "Josh" he hisses, chuckling when his eyes snap open, "wha...?" Josh asks sleepily. Liam chuckles "can you carry Zack upstairs, we're trying to avoid waking him up, and the less times he's moved the better" he explains. Josh yawns before he nods, standing up carefully with Zack in his arms. Liam watches, holding his breath as he watches his son stay asleep in Josh's arms, he follows behind as Josh carries Zack up to the nursery, and holds his breath again as Josh lays the boy down in his crib, him thankfully staying asleep the whole time. Liam leads Josh out of the room before he thanks him, "what happened tonight?" Liam asks as they make their way back to the living room to find Zayn has woken the others up, and Louis seems the most disgruntled about it.

"What happened is your children are going to be criminal masterminds when they're older" Niall offers, and Liam snorts, "why?" he asks as Josh cuddles into Niall's side. "They refused to go to bed, which is why all of us were sleeping here, plus look at the mess they created" Niall answers gesturing around the room. "So what I'm hearing is you lot were outsmarted by a four year old and a pair of one year olds?" Zayn asks. Louis yawns, nodding his head, "pretty much" he answers before tugging on Harry's hand, "we're going to bed, I expect payment in the form of waffles tomorrow morning" Louis mumbles before he and Harry disappear towards one of the guest rooms. "we should get to bed too" Niall hums, pulling on Josh's hand, "I agree with Louis, waffles would be good" he adds before they too disappear. "Are our children really that bad?" Liam asks and Zayn chuckles, shaking his head as he tugs Liam towards the stairs, "no our children are not that bad, these idiots just don't know how to handle kids, that's all" he murmurs, kissing Liam's neck as they enter their room, which makes him shiver.