The Boy From Firehouse 81

1.0

As the first couple of weeks passed by Zayn remained to be very quiet and reserved within the household. The little one hardly uttered a word to his siblings, and when he did it was typically to ask for a toy or on the rare occasion some help. Within those weeks, though, the parents were able to enroll Zayn into the daycare program in their kids' school, so at least they knew the boy was becoming adjusted to the idea of socializing.

Honestly, though, for a while the parents were concerned if they made the right choice by bringing Zayn home because the boy just wasn't talking, and they were starting to get impatient. But that's exactly when Zayn surprised them all. It was just like every other Thursday. The kids all had school. Laura and James each had work to attend. And Zayn was in daycare. There was nothing really out of the normal for the day which is exactly why Laura was extremely surprised come time to pick up the kids.

Seeing as Laura was a working mum she tended to get to the school just as the day was ending or even a bit after the bell, but all the kids had grown accustomed to that. In order to avoid having to send her kids to the after school program, though, Laura would always choose to pick up Mason and Nola first because the older kids always got sent there before the younger ones. Once she had them, though, she would then go to pick up Lana before finally walking over to the side of the school where the daycare kids were.

Usually by the time Laura got to Zayn's classroom the boy was one of the last left if not the last, so he tended to be on his own coloring or something. But today was a bit different. Today when Laura entered the classroom Zayn was the last one in the room, however, instead of sitting quietly by himself he was animatedly talking to his teacher while holding a drawing. The sight definitely had Laura slightly surprised, however, instead of saying anything she just further entered the room with the rest of her kids in tote.

"Hi Zaynie, are you ready to go home?" Laura cooed as she crouched to be beside the boy.

Instead of nodding like he normally does, though, Zayn looks between the paper in his hand and his teacher. Laura noticed his conflicted expression but before she could say anything the boy was shyly offering the drawing forward. The older woman gently took the drawing from him with a smile, but even that smile didn't compare to the one that she expressed after finally looking at the picture.

On the paper was a drawing of the whole family together, smiling, with a giant heart surrounding them. Detail wise it was far from a masterpiece (but then again the boy's only three) however it was the message behind it that just made tears come to Laura's eyes. Up until this point she had thought Zayn hated them. She thought the boy wanted nothing to do with them, and that hurt. But with this picture she knew that that was far from being the case of things.

"Oh, baby, I love it. This is my favorite picture in the whole wide world," Laura says with the most sincere voice she could offer. "Can I have a hug, lovey?"

And immediately Zayn walked into her arms to embrace the woman.

"Love you, mummy," Zayn mumbled, and yeah now Laura's heart really was swelling with joy.

From there the family made their way home where once they got there Laura refused to put Zayn down. She continued to carry him throughout making the lot of them snacks and even as she hung up the childish drawing. It wasn't until James got home that early evening did she finally put the boy on the floor.

When the father figure arrived home he was greeted by the usual squealing of Nola, Lana, and Mason, however, after kissing each child's forehead he also was surprised. Stood in front of him was a bashful Zayn looking at his feet as if he didn't know how to express what he wanted to do.

"Hello, Zee, do you feel like sharing a hug with me today?" James asks softly only for Zayn to nod as he walks forward into the man's embrace.

As Zayn hugged the man, James then stood up with Zayn still in his arms before walking into the kitchen with a shocked expression. Of course the man was expecting his wife to look shocked as well, however, upon entering he's surprised to see her looking almost expectant.