Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Forty-Two

Liam

He was still curled up in his spot on Niall's sofa when he woke the next morning, momentarily forgetting about the night before and wondering where the hell he was before he remembered, sitting up and stretching, wincing and rubbing his neck as he sat up. At some point in the night, someone, Niall, he presumed, had draped a blanket over him, the blanket falling to the floor before he realised, picking it up and draping it over the arm of the sofa before he stood up and yawned, swearing as he stumbled into the edge of the sofa.

It took a moment for the pain to subside and for Liam to be able to stumble around blearily, searching for his phone to check the time before he went in search of coffee, hoping Niall wouldn't mind, or at the very least would understand, as he opened up random cupboards, struggling to remember where Niall kept his coffee and mugs.

Eventually, once he'd made coffee and had managed to wake up a bit, he quietly went into Chloe's room to check on her, finding her sleeping in a completely different position to how she'd gone to sleep the night before, no longer curled up on her side but having rotated so she her feet hung over the side, her pillow at such an angle that she was at risk of falling out of bed. He went and gently lifted her feet back on to the bed and moved her so she wasn't about to fall before leaving the room, smiling at the sight of the seven-year-old as he shut the door behind himself.

He finished his coffee and wandered back into the kitchen, flicking the kettle on and grabbing another mug whilst he waited, making two mugs of coffee before he went and gently knocked on the door to Niall's room, struggling with both of the mugs and hissing as coffee sloshed over the sides, knocking again before he gently pushed the door open, hesitating for a second as he saw that Niall was still asleep before he entered, setting the second mug of coffee down on Niall's bedside table before he left, wondering whether he should simply call it quits and go, or if, maybe, just maybe, he should stay and wait for Niall to wake up and then talk it through with him.

Last night, he'd wanted to go after Niall, wanted to fix things and tell him—Well, he'd wanted to tell him how he felt, why he hadn't wanted to tell him or even think about leaving, he just hadn't been able to find the words. But that had been his plan, why he'd gone after Niall and why he'd stayed over, sleeping on what had to be the world's most uncomfortable sofa. It was also why he chose to stay just then, taking his own mug of coffee and retreating back to the kitchen, turning on the radio and trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do next.

Chloe was the next one to wake up, padding through to the living room in he pyjama's, giving Liam a tired smile as she dropped onto the sofa, grabbing the TV remote and pulling the blanket he'd woken up with over herself before she even spoke to him. "Where's Daddy?"

"He's still asleep, Chlo. I think he might've been awake earlier, but I can't say I'm too sure...did you sleep alright, poppet?" The pet name slipped out without Liam meaning for it to, and he bit his lip, hiding behind his mug of coffee for a moment, worrying whether Chloe would care that he'd called her using the nickname Niall tended to call her before he wondered if Chloe would actually be okay with it, pushing both thought's to one side as Chloe didn't answer, prompting him to repeat himself. "Chlo? Did you sleep alright? Is everything okay?"

Chloe shrugged, staring at the TV for a moment and playing with the edge of the blanket before she looked over at Liam, frowning almost imperceptibly at him before she said, "I thought....I thought I heard Daddy at some point in the night, heard him when he was upset. You told me everything was okay, that it would be alright, but Daddy's still upset."

Muttering something that sounded like it could have been a swear word, Chloe wasn't really sure if it had been or not, Liam took another sip of his drink, making a mental note to give Chloe more credit as he looked over at her, trying to think of a suitable reply and struggling, especially since fobbing the seven-year-old off with a lie probably wouldn't work, it wasn't working for him now, after last night, and the truth might...not be entirely appropriate or easy to explain, thinking for a moment before he answered her. "I know what I said, Chlo. Everything will be alright. I promise you I will fix things and I mean it. It's just...a little tricky."