Forever My Father

Chapter Thirteen

After Zayn's encounter with his father, the boy hits the ice with as much adrenaline his body can fuss up which is why he ended the night with three goals and two assists giving their team the district championship with a score of 5-1. And as the time comes to an end Zayn finds himself skating to the edge of the rink and straight over to Harry and Liam where he hugs the two men with every ounce of love he can give.

After a celebratory dinner with the team, and even a couple interviews with some reporters, the Payne family find themselves all cuddled up on the couches trying to stay awake for a few more minutes, however, the youngest one just isn't able to do it.

"Alright, up to bed for you, baby," Harry coos as he lifts the half asleep child up from the couch and begins to make his way up the stairs. As Harry enters the boy's room, he gently lays him down, but as he goes to leave he's called back.

"Uncla Hazza?" Zayn mumbles out through half opened eyes.

"Yeah, baby?" Harry says as he crouches down to the boy's eye level.

"I talked to my dad today." Rather than reacting, though, Harry just nods for the boy to continue. "I don't think I'm gonna be seeing him anymore."

"What makes you say that, love?"

"I could just feel it. I don't know if it was the words he said or the way he said it, but I just know that today was the last time he would ever reach out to me. And- and I know it sounds horrible but I'm okay with it. I'm okay that I never have to see him again. Does that make me a bad person?" Zayn mumbles out and Harry can't help but sympathize the boy.

"Nothing would ever make you a bad person. I love you, Zee, now get some sleep," Harry states as he presses a kiss to the boy's forehead before walking out of the room.

+

As the weekend finally approaches, Zayn has never felt more exhausted. And no it's not from staying up to ungodly hours of the night wondering about his father. This time around it's hockey's fault. With regionals on Sunday, the coach has been calling for two-a-day practices the remaining days left, even having one three-a-day. But, thankfully, as Saturday made an appearance the coach decided to bless everyone without a morning practice as a reward for their hard work, as well as so they can have a bit more energy for the big game the next day.

With no morning practice that Saturday, 12:30 PM quickly came around the corner and, finally, Harry decided he couldn't let the boy sleep any longer which is why the curly headed man was now climbing up the stairs two at a time to get to the boy's room quickly. Upon entering the room, Harry almost feels as if he should let Zayn sleep a bit more because honestly the boy looks dead, however, Harry simply tightens his heart for the moment and makes his way over to the side of Zayn's bed.

"Zee, it's time to wake up, baby," Harry coos as he begins to comb his fingers through the boy's hair.

"Just five more minutes," Zayn mumbles as he stuffs his face into the side of the pillow.

"It's almost one o'clock, ZeeBub. You've got to get up and eat."

"Everything hurts, Baba." Harry hears Zayn mumble which causes him to freeze ever so slightly before continuing on with the task at hand.

"Let's get you up then we'll get some food in you followed by an ice bath and maybe we can even convince Uncle Liam to give you a foot massage," Harry coaxes. As Zayn begins to wake a bit more he quickly comes to the realization that he just called Harry, Baba, but rather than dreading on it he decides he's going to ignore it as well since that's what Harry was doing at the moment.

"I'm up, I'm going," Zayn says as he climbs out of bed quickly walking past Harry to avoid any encounter he may try to bring up. With the boy now out of the room and walking down the stairs, Harry can't help but sigh as he sits himself down on Zayn's bed. Ever since the young lad was little he would occasionally call Harry, Baba or Daddy by mistake and everytime he did he would end up shutting Harry out for any period lasting from hours to weeks depending how long it took Harry to solve it.