The Night That Changed It All

Back To London

"Hey Ni; you got everything?" Liam asked as he emerged from the kitchen where he'd just finished cleaning up. We were flying back to London tomorrow after our week long break in America upon the ending of our last concert of the American leg of the tour.

I was now heavily pregnant, with only one month before Lily Ann was due to be born and we planned on doing up the nursery when we got back, which was why our families would come visit us in the week leading up to her birth instead of us going to visit them now, like Zayn, Louis and Harry were doing with their families.

Besides, it wasn't long now until I wouldn't be allowed to fly until after the birth, so we didn't want to run the risk of getting stuck in Ireland for God knows how long.

"Yeah. Everything's packed and ready to go." I sighed, sinking down onto the settee as my ankles were starting to swell and it was getting hard to breath again. I was certainly nearly ready to have this kid and she seemed to agree. She'd been moving a lot lately and had situated herself between my hips. 

Even though I couldn't give birth naturally and would be getting a cesarean my body still went through the motions. This included 'dropping', which was when the baby dropped down to your pelvis to prepare for the birth.

The upshot of this was that I could eat more without feeling so uncomfortable and it was easier to breath, though my asthma was kind of flaring up right now, so that didn't really help with the breathing. The worst of it was that I found I needed to pee a lot more than normal, but that wasn't so bad, really. At least I wasn't throwing up again.

"You OK?" Liam worried, scrunching his eyebrows together and plopping down beside me, before messaging circles into my stomach. He'd started doing that a lot; along with rubbing my back and shoulders when I got pains.

"Yeah; I'm fine. My ankles are just swelling. I've got to stop standing for no reason." I explained, turning to Liam with a reassuring smile and giggling when he leaned down to kiss my bump: something else he'd started doing a lot.

"You're sure? If you need anything; just ask." Liam persisted, taking my legs and rapping them around his waist so he could pull me closer, meaning we were stomach to stomach. Chest to chest wasn't happening until after this kid was born.

"Trust me; if I needed something, you'd know." I laughed, resting my hands over Liam's where they lay on my thighs and returning the grin he was giving me.

"Hey guys. You two packed?" Louis asked as he bounded into the room, laughing when Harry chased behind him and squeezed into the armchair with him; curling around each other a bit in that way they had of being very couple-y, yet somehow not.

"Yeah, just finished. What about you guys? Ready to head home?" Liam replied, laughing at the pair and catching my eye to roll his when Louis started to play with Harry's curls absentmindedly. They may not be together, but they sure acted like it sometimes. 

"Yup! Can't wait to see everyone again." Harry giggled, closing his eyes and almost purring as Louis continued to rake his fingers through his hair.

"Hey; where's Zayn?" I asked, turning to Liam with a questioning look. I knew I wouldn't get an answer from the other two, who were now giggling to themselves about something and poking each other as they were nearly rapped up in each other's arms.

"Right here." Zayn answered with a grin as he came in from the other room, before rolling his eyes at Larry and coming over to us to talk about flight times and such.

That night was the first time all week that Lily Ann let me sleep for the whole night without starting a football match with my organs in the wee hours of the morning and I was grateful for it, especially when I started thinking about the eight hour flight I had ahead of me.