Cheryl & Liam: Devotion

Part Twenty

December 2017

It had been a very long few months within the Payne household. A lot of things happened, a lot of things changed...

The love remained.

Following his August birthday, Liam went back to work with some other promotional activities and performances throughout parts of Europe and America as well. Cheryl remained at home looking after baby Bear, though her mother had come down to stay in the guest house for a while, which allowed Cheryl to spend some time in the studio while her mother remained at the house and looked after baby Bear for her. She was glad to get back to work on her music again, as music was her love after all and she had such a passion for it, a passion that would never go away. Her son obviously came first now, and she did miss him terribly while she was working, but still, her music was something she wanted to hold on to for a while long.

September came and went, October flew by in a flash with the release of Liam's song, Bedroom Floor – which was a favorite in the Payne household. He had even gone as far as to go back to his X-Factor roots – performing the smash single on the show, with Cheryl in attendance of course as there had been no way she would miss that performance of his. Also during the month of October, Cheryl had gone back to work with some photoshoots for L'Oréal as well as a stint on the catwalk in Paris as well, also for L'Oréal. Between their work, Liam and Cheryl still found family time – even if they were apart as a lot of FaceTiming was done and when Liam was at home, it was even more magical as he was physically there and involved; a family man, that's what he was – a family man.

October turned to November; and November too went by in a flash. Towards the end of November, Liam embarked on the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour; something that would take him away from home only for him to not return until a few days before Christmas. He and Cheryl had, had a lengthy discussion about it before he had even agreed to do it. Liam had been a bit weary about leaving for that long, but Cheryl was nothing but supportive about the matter as she wanted Liam to do so well and follow all of his dreams. On the day he left, they shared a lengthy hug at the airport and he showered their son with a million and one kisses. There were tears of course, but he knew it wouldn't be long before he would be back home again with his beautiful family.

Cheryl did what she did best; she held down the home front. With each passing day, with each text exchanged and each FaceTime call – everything was okay; she was the best girlfriend and mother she could be as she took care of their home like the superwoman she was. Of course, she found time to go work in the studio again in between as she was eager to get the music going, but she was still the superwoman at home. She took care of her family like she always promised to do. She had even decorated the house for Christmas – with the help of her brother of course when he had come over to visit – so everything was all sorted out.

Now, today was the day.

Friday, 22 December.

She practically bounced around downstairs on the early morning; baby Bear was in his high chair – the nine-month-old tot simply looking at his mother with a curious expression as he drank his bottle of milk. It was only nine-thirty, but Liam would be home any minute. He had text her nearly an hour before to say that his plane had landed, and he was on his way; something that she was extremely excited about. She had seen him over a week earlier when he'd come home for a day due to having to be in the country for the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball in London, but that hadn't been enough, and the couple were forced apart yet again on the Sunday when he had to go perform before he then left straight after the performance to go to America.

She giggled as Bear let out a squeal as Watson, the family's Great Dane, came over to see Cheryl as he had only just woken up. She gave him a scratch behind the ears, smirking as he leaned against her for a bit before going over to where Bear was sat; though the dog was so big that he actually came to eye level with Bear as he was as tall as his high chair. Cheryl watched as Bear simply watched the dog before clapping his hands excitedly while Watson rested his head on the little table part that was on Bear's chair; something that was clearly amusing the little boy as he was giggling his head off whilst resting his podgy hand on Bear's fur.