Hopeless

Chapter 1

Kate and Liam Payne sat down for their Sunday dinner. However, it wasn't their usual roast surrounded by their four kids, it was just the two of them and plain pasta.

Kate and their youngest two, 8 year old twins Harry and Niall, had fallen ill with a stomach bug on Wednesday and Thursday. Kate was a teacher at the boy's school and this sickness bug had been around for a couple of weeks already, she was surprised they had avoided it for so long. She was feeling much better and while the boys were fatigued they hadn't thrown up that day.

Unfortunately the pairs eldest, Abi aged 16 had been sick at school on Friday and still wasn't feeling good and then their middle son, Louis aged 14 had thrown up on his way to football Saturday morning. He too wasn't feeling good, it had hit him the worse and unfortunately he wasn't only throwing up but found himself with bad diarrhoea. While the couple were eating the twins we're watching TV, Abi was in bed resting and Louis had set up camp on the bathroom floor.

"Are you going to go into work tomorrow?" Liam asked his wife when she pushed her half eaten dinner away, she still hadn't regained her appetite. She sighed with a shrug, "I need to, I have parents evening this week but I don't want to leave you with all four of them, especially if you have meetings and interviews". Liam was a singer, songwriter and was in the process of releasing an album. "We will be fine" he reassured her, "I've only got a phone interview tomorrow and a couple of meetings, I can postpone everything else" he said as he finished his pasta. Kate smiled and was about to thank him but was interrupted by the sound of someone throwing up. "I will go" Liam said kissing his wife's head, he knew her stomach was still a bit 'off'.

Upstairs Louis had managed to get himself up off of the floor and throw up into the bin next to him. Before he had a chance to regain any form of composure he felt his stomach let out a gurgling groan and got himself sat on the toilet. Liam knocked on the door "go away Abi" Louis growled, they had been fighting over the main bathroom all day, in the end their mum had instructed Abi to use her parent's en-suite as currently Louis was in need of it more regularly. "It's dad" Liam said softly before walking in and seeing his sons head hanging over a bucket as he used the toilet. He grabbed a damp wash cloth and placed it on his sons neck before stepping back to let him finish. After about 10 minutes Louis stomach settled giving him time to clean up before washing his hands and laying back down on the makeshift bed next to the toilet. Liam crouched down next to his son and tried to comfort him. "Why don't you try and get into bed? It would be more comfortable" he suggested. Louis shook his head, "m'stomach won't stop cramping, need to be close" he said tiredly.

Downstairs Kate had cleaned up and decided to get the twins ready for bed. She smiled as she walked in to the living room seeing them snuggled up close to each other. She had brought the thermometer in to check their temperatures. They were both still slightly high but were much lower then they had been at the beginning of the weekend. "All better now?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Almost" she reassured her curly haired son.
He smiled tiredly, "that's good" he said to which Niall agreed with a yawn, "my tummy doesn't hurt now" he said.
She nodded, "good".
"Is yours all better?" Niall added.
"Yes thank you Ni" she said.
"And Abi and LouLou?" Harry asked anxiously, he hated hearing everyone being sick and wanted it to stop. "Not just yet, but they will be" she reassured them, "but for now it's your bedtimes" she said, she could tell they still weren't 100% because they didn't protest.

Once the boys were asleep Kate checked on Abi who was playing on her phone. "Hey" she greeted her daughter once she had knocked. "Hi" Abi replied.
"How are you feeling?"
"Not great, I want to go to bed but need my toothbrush" she said grumpily, "and Lou is still in there". She didn't mean to come across rude but she was exhausted and also worried about him which didn't help the situation. "I know" Kate said, stroking her daughters long, dark hair. "Let me get it for you, then you can get yourself ready for bed" she said.

Kate knocked on the bathroom door before opening it, she sighed sadly as she saw her middle child's head was resting on the toilet seat. "Just getting Abi's toothbrush" she explained as her husband looked up at her. He nodded before turning his attention back to Louis as the boy gagged.

Kate tucked Abi in and checked on the twins before getting herself ready for bed. When she went back to their main bathroom Louis was yet again on the toilet with his arms wrapped around his stomach. "Oh baby" she said softly before placing the thermometer in his ear, "still pretty high" she commented. Liam looked over his wife's shoulder and the numbers. He ran a hand through his hair, "you go to bed babe, I'm going to stay here with Lou for a bit".
"That's a good idea" she agreed, "thank you, I love you both" she said, kissing Liam and pushing Louis's sweaty hair off his forehead to kiss him.