The Night That Changed It All

One Year Over

"Happy birthday, little bear." Liam cooed sweetly to Lily Ann, who was balanced on my hip, immediately upon entering our apartment. It was her first birthday and although she wouldn't remember any of it, we decided to bring everyone together to celebrate.

"Light!" Lily Ann replied enthusiastically, clapping her hands together and giggling when Louis laughed at her. 'Light' was the only word she knew how to say and she'd been using it for just about everything since three days ago, which was when she first said it.

"Exactly right, little bear, exactly right." Liam agreed gravely, as if she'd just told him something very serious, before she tilted her head to the side quizzically and blinked in response. 

"Guys! Lou's here." I called out as we walked into the sitting room, which was where Zayn, Harry and Liam were sitting with Liam's family and my mother, who'd come to London for Christmas and would be staying just long enough to celebrate Lily Ann's birthday.

"Boo bear!" Harry exclaimed, jumping up from his seat between Ruth and Zayn to rap Louis in a bear hug. None of the five of us, besides me and Liam of course, had seen each other since before Christmas and we'd all missed each other; Louis and Harry especially. They were almost always attached at the hip and didn't like to be apart for too long. More so than the rest of us.

"Hey Hazza." Louis laughed, returning Harry's tight hug immediately before following him to the settee when they'd finally released each other, only to sit on his knee and snuggle up to him like an overly affectionate cat. Harry seemed more than happy to cuddle Louis closer with an arm around his waist and I couldn't help but laugh as they both turned to Ruth to discuss how Christmas with their families had been.

I've said it once and I'll say it again; those two may not actually be a couple but they sure as hell acted like it sometimes. No wonder everyone thought they were together; if I didn't know any better, I'd believe it myself.

"Light!" Lily Ann exclaimed happily, bringing everyone's attention to her for a second as she grinned broadly and tried to jump in my arms. Setting her down on her feet, I took her hands in mine and helped her walk over to Liam, who scooped her up and bounced her up and down on his knee. She wasn't able to walk on her own yet, but she could if someone was holding her or she had something to steady herself with.

"I can't believe she's a year old already." Liam sighed, laughing when Lily Ann pulled herself up, with her little hands on his shoulder, so that she was standing on his thigh. She only just managed to stay upright for as long as it took Liam to gently take hold of her waist; something she found hilarious if her continuous giggles were anything to go by.

"Yeah; it's crazy, it's it?" I asked, settling myself on the arm of the settee next to Ruth, who was laughing at some story of Louis' that involved a lot of hand gestures and pantomiming. All of which he pulled off without slipping from Harry's lap, much to my amazement. 

"What's been the hardest thing for ye so far? You know; with parenting?" Harry asked after Louis had finished his story and a calm, nostalgic hush fell over everyone. Lily Ann had since wriggled out of Liam's arms and crawled away, so she was now leaning into Zayn from where she sat on his knee and had started looking around curiously.

She was absolutely fasinated by the balloons and colourful 'Happy Birthday' sign that we'd decorated the room with this morning and she couldn't seem to tear her gaze away from them for too long before they captured her attention once more. This morning, after acquiring one of the balloons, she'd spent almost an hour just watching it and crawling around the room after it everytime she dropped it.

"When she started crawling." Liam laughed immediately, making me sit up from where I'd been sitting between his legs to slap the back of his head lightly.