Hold Me Close (Sequel To Take Me Home and Keep Me Safe)

Chapter One

"Come on, I'm gonna be late," Louis moaned from the open doorway of the house, arms folded over his chest, all kitted out in his football kit, gym bag dumped by his feet.

Liam rolled his eyes at the teenager - at thirteen years old, he was still as inpatient and whiny as he had always been; so eager to be a grown up and vocal about his opinions of just about anything. Liam wouldn't change the kid for the world...he wouldn't change any of the boys.

Whilst Louis looked prepared to throw a teenaged tantrum on the front doorstep, Niall simply sat quietly on the edge of his bed in their room, tying up his shoelaces with precision with Cooper lazing beside him on the mattress.

Liam couldn't help but think that the blond twin was purposely slowing his actions just to wind up his brother that little bit more. The man stopped in the doorway as he shrugged on his jacket and watched the smallest son for a moment - Niall was still barely up to Harry's shoulder, and just less than an inch shorter than Lou. He hadn't changed very much over the past year either. Since everything that had happened with Richard, he had remained quite quiet and never really initiated conversation much. He had days where he still struggled to speak at all and couldn't be touched, but he was getting better with the help of Cal.

He went to school like he used to with Cooper's support if he felt he needed it, and most days were good days. The twins were still close, and Harry was close with them too - though he was off at uni in his first year of his Fine Arts degree and wasn't around very much lately.

He was still with Ash and they shared an apartment together just outside their campus; the twins would catch a bus there some days after school just to catch up with their older brother, and at least once a week, the curly haired eighteen year old and his boyfriend came around for dinner. It killed Liam to know that his baby was growing up, but he held onto the thought that, for the moment, he still had the twins to baby.

Harry wasn't the only one who seemed to be absent more often than not lately. For the past six months or so, Zayn had been picking up extra shifts at work to make up some extra cash. There were bills that needed to be paid, plus Louis' new football club cost a fortune and Niall's guitar and piano lessons weren't exactly cheap either. On top of all that, Liam had to lower his hours to be there for the twins more, particularly as Niall's bad days were often spontaneous and couldn't exactly be planned around, and so there were many ways in which money was being lost.

Still, Zayn was around as much as he could be and the family made the most of their time together when they could because honestly, it was few and far between these days.

But they got by. And Liam still loved his family every bit as much as he always had, no matter how much things had changed or stayed the same.

He chuckled when Niall untied one of his shoes just to start winding the laces together again. The blond boy looked up with startled blue eyes and Liam shook his head.

"Didn't mean to make you jump, Bug. You gonna stop winding your brother up before you give him an aneurism? Or am I gonna have to make you walk barefooted to the car?" he asked, trying to keep his voice stern but the amusement still managing to slip in.

Niall's expression change into a softer one, a small grin as he quickly looped the final loop in his lace and stood up, Cooper hopping down from the bed beside him. "Sorry Dad...it is kinda funny though, you have to admit," he said with a small shrug.

Liam smiled, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair. "Yeah, and I'm sure it'll still be funny when the two of you are bickering in the car for the next twenty minutes," he replied, at which Niall let out a small sigh and started down the stairs.