Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Fourteen

Liam/Niall

"You're a dad."

Gripping the phone tighter in his hand as Niall answered, Liam didn't give him a chance to speak before he said, "You're a dad... You have a kid. A daughter. How the fuck are you someone's dad?"

"We took PSHE together in school, Liam. It isn't that hard to understand the basics." Niall's response making him clutch the phone harder, Liam shook his head, leaning against the back of his desk chair and ignoring the headache beginning to pound against his temple.

He'd spent the rest of the day staring at the photo Niall had left, something about the picture of the girl reminding him of how his sisters had looked in old family photos. He'd then forgotten that by spending the evening reacquainting himself with his old friend Jack.

He'd had to put the bottle of whiskey away, eventually, though and had forced himself to pick up the phone. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say to Niall exactly, there had just been some kind of need to talk to him, a nagging voice in the back of his head, unreachable and unsilenceable until he found himself calling Niall.

"That's not what I meant. You have a kid. You have a little girl, Niall. How-" Trailing off, Liam looked down at the crumpled photo in front of him and smoothed it out as he waited for Niall to respond, wincing as Niall's tone hardened, sounding more venomous than Liam ever remembered him sounding. "How am I a dad? How are you engaged? You have a fiancé. Why were you so curious about me when you have a fiancé waiting for you?"

Struggling to keep up with the change of conversation, Liam was starting to regret the all nighter he'd pulled and his decision to spend the evening inside a bottle of whiskey as his headache intensified, and, sifting through somewhat foggy memories of their conversation at the cafe from the day before, he was sure he'd mentioned and half explained his relationship with Sophia, sounding more and more confused as he asked, "What does Sophia have to do with this? I mean, why would she stop me from being curious about you?"

"You're engaged. You shouldn't have been hung up on me." Grateful for the temporary change in topic, Niall was tempted to hang up the phone on Liam, the little part of him that couldn't help but notice the butterflies returning as he saw Liam's caller ID growing bigger and overruling the part of him itching to press the end call button as Liam said, "Sophia and I... We, we aren't like that. Niall..."

Not daring to enquire further, Niall paused as his boss passed by, raising an eyebrow but not saying anything to him, running a hand over his face as he asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were engaged? When you first asked me to coffee."

"I figured you already knew. The whole world knows everything I do before I do it, I didn't think that there was anybody who didn't. Why didn't you know?" Shrugging as he answered, Liam's shoulders stiffened as Niall took a moment to reply. "Why didn't you say?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were a dad?" The pounding in his head fading to a dull ache, Liam managed to circle back to his original question, looking back at the photo in front of him and frowning, the same resemblance between the girl in the photo to his sisters standing out at him once more.

Ignoring Liam's question, Niall bit his lip, hesitating before he answered, the frustrations he usually managed to swallow down making themselves known as he said, "I didn't know. I don't have the time or even a way to keep track of everything you do. I'm at risk of not making rent every month and I have to work double shifts more often than I used to just make sure I can afford a shitty, cramped two bedroom flat in an ex-council estate in Brixton. I know the big things, like your new albums and the fact you guys were on a break for eighteen months or so a while back. I used to know a lot more but now I have a shitty Nokia that doesn't have internet access, and apart from the crappy TV I bought thirdhand off a neighbour, it's the highest tech thing I own anymore."

"You didn't know..." His headache returning with full force, Liam closed his eyes for a moment, trying to digest what Niall had said, both him and Niall remaining silent until he managed to speak again. "How are you a dad?"

"As I said, we took PSHE together, you should know how... I want that picture back. Please." Biting his lip again, Niall tried not to think about the consequences the conversation might have if it continued and instead tried to think of a way to properly broach the subject of Chloe, almost dropping the phone as Liam said, "She's beautiful, your little girl. How old is she again? Didn't you say that she's seven?"

"Seven and a half, almost." Struggling to keep a grip on his mobile as his hands began shaking, Niall tried to swallow down his nausea and continued. "Her birthday's mid-April."

"Who's her other parent?" His voice taking on a more thoughtful edge, Liam gripped the phone between his shoulder and his ear, glancing down at the photo in front of him as he counted back seven and a half years, using his fingers to count off however many months, frowning as he said, "You can't have waited very long after we broke up. Actually, we weren't really over until the January or February... Did you cheat on me?"

"What? No. How dare you, Liam? How fucking dare you?" Stifling an outraged sob, Niall forced himself to keep his voice down, not really wanting his boss or the shops first customer of the day to hear him as he hissed, "I. Never. Would.Have. I can't believe you."

Waiting for Liam to speak, Niall was considering simply hanging up the phone and blocking Liam's number, finding Chloe a new swimming class and cutting off any way fro Liam to contact him. Whenever he'd thought about finally, eventually finding a way to tell Liam about his... their daughter, he'd never thought Liam would accuse him of anything like that. It was the one scenario he'd never pictured.

Picking the picture up, Liam stared at the little girl in the photo, her brown eyes standing out at him despite her face being half covered by a mess of curls. A sinking feeling rapidly taking over him, Liam stumbled over an apology, sinking forward in his chair and wincing as whatever temporary reprieve he'd been granted ended and the pounding behind his temple returned. "Who, then? You have a daughter, Niall. We were still together... When. She can't be mine. You'd have said. You'd have told me."

Biting his lip as Niall remained silent, Liam ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Niall? Who's her... You'd have told me, right? You would have told me if-?"

"Does it matter?" Leaving the shop and making his way to the back room that the staff were meant to take phone calls in, Niall leant against the wall, taking a deep breath and trying to restrain the part of him that wanted to blurt out the truth there and than. Letting out a sigh, Niall closed his eyes and let out a whole string of swear words, grateful that there wasn't a seven year old around to chastise him, swearing again as Liam said, "It matters. You have a kid. You're a dad. You... You'd have told me if she was mine."

"As I said, Chloe's seven and a half. Her birthday's in April. You can count back seven and a half years and then another nine months. That'll take you to the party your parents threw for you when you came back for that weekend after bootcamp." Only getting silence from Liam, Niall shook his head, letting out another string of swear words as he realised what the hell he'd just said. Something spurring him on, Niall bit his lip and clutched his mobile tighter. "Do the maths, Liam, if you really need to."

Throwing his phone down as the other end of the line went dead, Liam dropped the picture onto the floor, staring at it for a long time before shaking his head, standing up and moving towards his kitchen, not caring about the time or that it was way too early in the day to start drinking, ignoring the pounding in his head as he searched through his cupboards, eventually sinking to the floor and cursing as his search came up empty.

_____________________________________

So... I lied. Again. Kind of.

I did intend to update this slightly earlier but Christmassy things got in the way.

I hope you guys had a good Christmas/holiday if you celebrate. I ended up teaching my grandmother how to use an iPad and, honestly, I never want to relieve those five hours of my life.

But, finally, a chapter about Liam's reaction and there'll be more on that next chapter as well. Liam turned to drinking (twice, kinda) and the truth about Chloe's other dad is pretty much out.

I'd love to see what you guys think of the chapter...