Mind Over Matter ~ Lilo Family

0. An Open Mind

"Niall can you come out here, we've got something important to discuss!"

Niall groaned, rolling his eyes at his father's shrill voice as he looked up from his laptop screen in annoyance. What could they possibly have to discuss with him at ten o'clock at night? 

Niall slid his computer off his lap, and climbed out of bed. His room was fairly big, his father's had allowed him the biggest room in the house. It contained his double bed, his desk, and his chest of drawers. There was a lot of empty floor space that used to be taken up by toys, but as Niall got older the toys got fewer and fewer, and so now he had a big empty room. He didn't mind the emptiness, it was usually taken up with dirty washing anyway.

Niall walked down the hallway and into the living room, they weren't the richest of families, and their house was only small: two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, a small dining room, a living room and a nice sized back yard. Perfect for when Niall was a small child.

Niall had lived in this house since he was born with his parents Liam and Louis Tomlinson-Payne, a respectable couple who had proven themselves to be excellent parents. Liam worked as an administrator for a series of preschools, and Louis worked as a drama teacher at a High School. Though thankfully not Niall's High School.

"What?" He asked, stepping into the living room, Louis and Liam (Dad and Pa) were sat on the two seater couch, they'd repositioned the single seater so that it was facing them with the coffee table in between. They'd even made him a hot chocolate. This conversation was going to be a serious one.

"What's going on?" He asked again as he slowly sat down in his designated seat.

Louis glanced at Liam who looked rather shaken up, his hands wrapped around his mug of tea and his expression somewhat sullen. Louis placed a comforting hand on his husband's knee before sucking in a deep breath and speaking, "Roughly sixteen years and nine months ago, me and your father were in our early twenties, we'd been married a couple of years, and we decided that we wanted to have a baby-"

"No, I really don't want to hear the story of my creation!" Niall interrupted, recoiling further into the chair in horror.

Both men let out a small, almost nervous laugh at the comment, "Don't worry, it's not going to be very graphic." Liam smiled.

"Anyway," Louis continued, "We got in contact with the closest surrogacy agency and applied. It took a few months but finally we were accepted, and they'd found a woman willing to carry our baby. We both gave a... Ah, a sample- if you know what I'm saying."

"I know what you're saying." Niall said, slightly disgusted.

"Yes, well we did that so that there would be fifty/fifty chance that the biological father would be either Pa or I, and no one would ever know who it really was. It didn't work out that way when this woman with dark brown eyes gave birth to a bright blue eyed baby. It didn't bother us, we both loved- love you equally. Are you following?"

Niall nodded, not sure what to say, he'd obviously known that he wasn't the product of both of his fathers. That wasn't possible. But he'd always just assumed he'd been adopted as a baby, he'd not considered the option of surrogacy properly before. "I'm following... I'm just confused as to why you're telling me all this."

Liam smiled softly, placing his hand over the one Louis' rested on his thigh. "We'd always talked about having two children," he started. "And a year later when we reapplied, the surrogate mother was a lovely young lady from Cheshire, we agreed that only I would provide a sample this time around. All went well, and she gave birth to a beautifully healthy baby boy." Liam paused, and Niall thought he had a fairly good idea of where this story was headed.

"She wanted to keep him. She was the mother after all, and it was her legal right, as she hadn't yet signed him away." Louis took charge again, obviously thinking Liam couldn't handle it. "We were refunded our money and that was that."

Niall picked his mug up off the coffee table, his eyes narrowed, "So you're telling me that I would have had a younger brother?"

Liam and Louis nodded in unison.

"And you thought it'd be relevant to tell me this why?" Niall was slightly annoyed at them, why would they tell him that he almost had a little brother? What did they want to gain from this conversation?

"We're telling you, Niall," Liam spoke softly, placing his mug on the coffee table, "Because there was a car accident, and the mother of this baby -Harry, his name is Harry- she passed away, and seeing as I am the biological father and he has no other reliable relatives to stay with, he's coming to live with us."

Niall's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, he didn't quite know what to say, what was there to say? He'd just found out, not only that he had a long lost brother, but also that this long lost brother was going to be living in his house. "Where?" Was the first question that popped into Niall's head, "There's not enough room here?"

"Well he'll have to bunk with you until we find someplace bigger." Louis shrugged with a small smile, his hand laced with Liam's. They were seeking his approval.

Niall nodded wordlessly, his brain having trouble processing everything. He had a brother. An actual little brother, and he didn't know how to feel about it.

Louis stood from his seat and made his way over to Niall, pulling him to his feet and wrapping him in a tight hug that Liam very quickly joined in on.

"I know it's a lot to take in." Louis whispered into the sixteen year old's mop of dyed blonde hair, "But you've got a week until he arrives to wrap your head around it."

"I promise everything will turn out okay." Liam mumbled, "I've spoken briefly to Harry on the phone, he knows what he's coming home to."

"What if he doesn't like me?" Niall found himself asking, melting into the massive hug.

"I'm sure he'll absolutely adore you. Who wouldn't?"

<><><><><><><><><>

Hey what's up hello, I've started a new family story!!! It's going to be a little different from my others and I'm rather excited about it! :D