The Night That Changed It All

Today's The Day

"Ni, wake up. Today's the day Lou and El get to bring George home." Liam whispered, so close to my face that I could feel his breath on the side of my face. George was the child Louis and Eleanor were going to adopt and, almost two months after they first met him, they were finally going to get to bring him home for good.

He was four years old and had stayed with them a few times to let him get used to them and to make sure he was OK with them, but the longest he'd been allowed to stay with them until now was over a weekend. We hadn't met him yet, but Louis and Eleanor both said they'd loved him from the minute they met him, so that was good enough for us. He was the first and last child they met before they decided he was the one they hoped to take home and call their son.

After dragging myself out of bed and stumbling down the stairs in a sleepy stupor, I met Liam in the kitchen, practically falling into his arms, which made Lily Ann, who was sitting at the table eating cereal, giggle at us. 

"What time is it?" I yawned, hanging my arms loosely around Liam's waist and resting my forehead on his shoulder as he laughed at me and draped his arms over my shoulders: pulling me slightly closer and pushing his nose into the side of my face.

"It's just gone half eleven, so go eat and then we can go meet George." Liam murmured, resting his hand on my slight bump and grinning at me when I pulled away just enough to see his face.

"We'll get to know the gender soon." I sighed happily, kissing Liam lightly before resting my forehead against his as we grinned at each other.

"Yeah...... You excited?" He asked, guiding me over to the table and sitting with me across from Lily Ann, who listened with interest. She was probably the most excited about her little brother or sister and was constantly talking with us about it, or drawing things for the baby. She even insisted on coming with us to the last ultrasound and was going to come to the next one too.

"Of course!" I giggled, before turning to Lily Ann with a smile. "We're gonna find out if the baby is a boy or a girl at the next ultrasound, little bear."

"Really? That's so cool! Can I help pick a name when we find out?" She asked excitedly, practically bouncing in her seat as we laughed lightly at her and she grinned back at us.

"Of course you can, little bear. We'd love your help." Liam assured with a smile, before getting up and going to give Lily Ann a hug, tickling her as he pulled away and laughing when she slapped his arm playfully. She was really ticklish and didn't appreciate it when we tickled her.

After eating a quick breakfast and getting dressed, we all piled into the car and headed off to London, where we would all be convening so we could meet George and catch up. We hadn't all been together since Louis and Eleanor called an intervention so they could tell us their news. That had been two months ago and although we'd seen each other a few times, we liked to all come together every once in a while so we could catch up all at once.

When we arrived, Harry and Chloe were already there and talking to Louis and Eleanor. George was sitting on Louis' lap with his face hidden against his chest and his little arms rapped around his neck while Louis rubbed his back comfortingly and whispered in his ear whenever there was a break in conversation.

George himself was small with a mop of thick brown hair that fell into his eyes and curled around his ears slightly. He was incredibly skinny and I could just make out the bright green of his eyes when he pecked at us from under his hair, before he pushed further into Louis' embrace with a little squeak.

"He's a bit shy." Eleanor explained when we followed her into the sitting room. She sat next to Louis and kissed George's head before jumping back up again and asking if we wanted anything to drink. We'd barely told her no, that we'd just had breakfast, when there was a knock at the door, which revealed Zayn and Perrie, who was very happy to announce that she had just started to show.