Beginning. // z.m. au [discontinued]

Chapter 7

Avalanche | WALK THE MOON

Crying. There was a lot of crying, lots of squealing and squirming and hot, red faces and tears—lots and lots of tears. It seemed as if baby Oliver happened to be in a particularly sour mood today, cranky and restless and, to be quite frank, a pain in the ass. I loved him, he was probably one of the sweetest babies alive, but right now he was the complete opposite and I was pretty sure if he kept it up if probably go insane.

"I'm sorry," Kat apologized, taking her squirming son out of my arms and holding him up by resting him on her hip. He seemed to calm down a little bit, but he was still very much loud. Still kicking and trying to wriggle his chubby little body out of his mum's arms, and if he wasn't so heated right now, I'd probably be cooing at how cute he was. "He's not usually like this especially this early."

In that moment, Kat started to kiss Oliver's cheeks, rosy and stained with hot tears, started to bounce him a little where he was perched on her side to try and get him to calm down. "He went to bed a little later that usual last night, maybe he's just a little sleepy."

That was the thing about kids, though. You could never tell what it was that they wanted since they weren't able to hold actual conversations yet. Which was probably a fully frustrating for a lot of parents out there, but children were learning experiences. Experiences that I'd soon face.

I made a face, admiring how great Kat was with her son, how well she handled the situation, how calm she remained throughout. From what I'd seen, Kat was an amazing mother and I knew that Louis was too.

"Or maybe he just misses his dad," Kat added softly, smoothing Oliver's hair back with a light hand. "You miss your daddy, don't you?"

He'd stop crying so harshly now, sounded less like he was being tortured and started to make more of a soft whining sound. I wondered if this was the hardest part, the whole crying thing. Wondered just how hard parenthood was in general.

"I can't believe I'm going to be in this same position one day." I thought out loud, my hand subconsciously rising to rest against my belly. I thought back to this morning, how I'd woken up with Zayn's left hand resting against my stomach in his sleep and smiled to myself without even realizing I was doing so at all.

"Oh, you're going to do so well," Kat smiled brightly at me, making me a little jealous at how effortlessly beautiful she was without even trying to be. "You and Zayn. You already so calm about everything, that's a really good thing."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows curiously. I wasn't even aware of that at all. "Should I be reacting in a different way?"

"No," Kat chuckled, switching baby Oliver onto her opposite hip. "Everyone's different, I guess. Me, I was terrified. Completely out of it, had no clue what I was doing. But, s'like, once it happens, like once I first held him in my arms, it's like everything kicks in. I wasn't as nervous then."

"I feel like I'll probably be the complete opposite." I snorted. "I'll probably freak the fuck out in the delivery room." My eyes got wide once I realized what I just said, Kat and Louis' rules about swear words flooding my mind all at once. "Sorry," I sent her a sheepish smile, only to have her wave me off with a loud laugh.

And once Oliver heard the bubbly noise, his cheeks started to rise, too, giggles flying out of his tiny mouth like he just couldn't stop. He was officially the most adorable baby I'd ever laid eyes on without a doubt.