The Wolf In sheeps clothing

"Out Of The Bag"

Niall braced himself as he heard the car drive up. Squaring his shoulders and pinning a smile on his face, he opened his front door to welcome his mother.

"Hi , Ma. Did you have a good flight?" he asked as his tiny mother marched up the steps to his door.

"Don't you "Ma" me, Niall James Horan!" Maura said angrily as she grabbed hold of Niall's ear and pulled him towards the kitchen.

"Hey that hurts! Ma!" Niall yelled as she finally let go and pushed him down on on of the kitchen chairs, standing glaring at him with both hands on her hips.He rubbed his abused ear gingerly.

"Hurts, does it? Well, it will be more than your ear hurting, so it will, when I'm done with you young man!" Niall gulped. Maura was definitely off on one and he knew his Ma took no prisoners when one of her children had displeased her. Tiny she may be, a force to be reckoned with, she always was.

"Yes, Ma. No, Ma. Ma, I'm sorry" Niall managed to say at intervals, whenever Maura paused to take breath but his mother was having none of it. On and on, she lectured him until Niall was having to blink back tears. 'You're a grown man' for f.cks sake , he told himself. 'Man up.'. Niall took a deep breath. "MA!" he suddenly shouted as he stood up and Maura instantly stopped talking, her expression shocked at Niall's sudden outburst. "Ma" Niall's voice was quiet now, gentle , as he looked at his mother. "Look, I get it that you care about me but I'm a man now, big enough to take care of myself.

"Take care of yourself? A grown man, is it? Well you're not doing so fine at that." Maura huffed as she turned away. Niall watched as his mother furtively dried her eyes. He sighed quietly and went to hug his mother, pulling her gently against him until he could rest his chin on her hair. breathing in the smell  of her perfume, the one she'd wore all her life and was so familiar and comforting to him. The one that spelt home and  safety to him.

"Ma, don't be mad at me. I'm sorry I didn't keep you in the loop, but I wanted to handle it my way. Deal with it myself" Niall admitted.

"And how's that going for you?" Maura's tone was still slightly sharp. She stepped back to look at her son's face and he shrugged slightly, shaking his head. "Well, and it'll be better before you're married" she said making Niall hoot with laughter at the familiar Irish saying.

"Oh, Ma...I love you, I really do" Niall smiled.

"And you're my precious baby. I don't care how old you are, you'll always be my baby." Maura's eyes brimmed over again and a few more tears escaped. Niall brushed them away gently.

"Enough to make me Irish Stew?" he asked jokingly.

"Get away with you. Out from under my feet then." And Maura immediately pushed him from the kitchen.

Niall was again sat in the kitchen, a steaming bowl of Irish stew before him. He picked up his spoon and hummed appreciatively as the savoury taste assaulted his tastebuds. It tasted of home and Niall felt himself transported back to his childhood. "Thanks, Ma. This is fantastic"

"Niall" Maura put down her own spoon and looked at her son, her expression serious. "Just what's going on, tell me, please." Niall took a few more spoonfuls as he tried to gather his thoughts.

"Ma, I have Lupus. It's a...."

"I know what it is, Niall. I went to Doctor O'Brian to ask him to explain the illness to me" Maura interrupted her son. "What I need to know is why you hid it from me. And why the media is publishing those terrible stories."

"You know they put out lies, Ma. Anything for a story, especially if they can make you look bad" Niall pushed his bowl away and leant back in his chair. He then began to tell his mother everything, how he felt, the Facility he'd been in, the gossip against him. As he spoke, he felt like the heavy weight that had been on his shoulders, finally lifted off completely.

"So, what happens next?" Maura asked, pushing the bowl of stew back in front of Niall .He smiled and began to eat again.

"James, my Manager, wants me to release a statement, do an interview or something, to let people know the truth." Niall said between mouthfuls. "He's actually got me one lined up with "Spotlight on the Stars..they're the ones fuelling the rumors but I think I'd like to do one with James Corden first. I mean, he's a mate and all, so..."

"I think you should" Maura said, frowning slightly. " I hate people thinking bad things about my boy. And James is a good boy, he'll support you."

"OK, Mammy" Niall dropped into using his childhood name for his mother as he gave her a smile. "James Cordon, it is. I'll get Jimjam to set it up." He looked down at his bowl "Any stew left?"

"James, go ahead. I'll do that  interview. Actually I was wondering if you could  also get me on the Late,Late show?" Niall  paced up and down as he spoke, suddenly nervous that things would soon be out in the open. He hated having to parade his private life like this but knew it was the only way. Every time he went out, the paps were hounding him and the added stress was a possible trigger to a flareup , something he wanted to avoid.

"No problem, Ni. He loves you. Would you be up to doing a sketch with him if he asks? I don't want to push you into something that will overtire you but I think it would be good if you're up for it?"

"Yeah, no probs. Ben is in charge of that. He's a good mate so I can talk to him, back sure it's not too taxing." Niall agreed, thinking rapidly. "Go for it."

"Will do" James responded. "I'll be in touch." He ended the call. Niall rolled his shoulders to ease the tension that was building up. The cat..or in this case, the "wolf" ,was about to be let out of the bag. He could only hope it ended well.