Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Seventy-Two

Liam

They were supposed to be keeping a low profile. No unnecessary outings, no trips out without being accompanied by Paddy and a whole fleet of guards, no visits to places that would be too busy. That's what they should be doing, what anyone smart would be doing, but when was Liam ever smart? Why would he take the sensible and necessary precautions when doing so would bring his world crashing down around him.

Those interactions, they were the rules he'd been emailed by his press manager, suggested as preventative measures so that there was little to no risk of anyone else finding out anything that would support the article the journalist was intent on publishing. Liam was having a very hard time not calling her out on social media, but that to was something it was suggested he not do.

His press manager had tried to talk her out of it, pleaded for her to respect privacy, had tried outright denying anything, though the journalist was insistent. Not only was the Constitution and second amendment on her side, but she was relatively new to her field and outing the last of the skeletons in Liam Payne's closet was more of a scoop than the article she was initially planning on writing would ever be. She hadn't published yet so they were still following a more optimistic line of reasoning, meaning that Liam wasn't yet on lockdown, that they weren't yet at the point of sneaking out of their hotel in the middle of the night, and Liam hadn't yet had to tell Niall.

He should have, the minute he'd been told that the journalist would publish, spilling whatever secrets Chloe had told her, but he hadn't quite known how. Chloe had kept quiet, like he'd asked, though that in itself was something he was already regretting, and Liam hadn't wanted to worry Niall, to cause him to stress about what the fuck they were going to do.

He'd dropped Chloe off back at their suite to find Niall still asleep, sitting Chloe on the sofa with the TV remote and a snack and going straight back out after he'd made her swear she wouldn't move from the sofa unless she needed the toilet. After soundcheck, he'd stuck with the boys for once, all of them hanging out like they used, waiting for someone to usher them towards the stage and get them ready to go.

The sudden switch back to the daily routine of touring without Niall and Chloe jarred Liam a little and the realisation that Niall wouldn't be watching made him feel oddly anxious, though he was quick to shake the feeling off, grinning determinedly when Harry shot him a questioning look. It didn't fool Harry, though, and he nudged Liam's arm, watching him a little more closely as he noticed the way Liam glanced behind him, as though he expected to see Niall and Chloe stood there.

Liam hadn't let him pursue the matter, though, and headed out on stage, living and breathing the performance like he always did. He'd gone back to his hotel room hours after the show had ended, having let Louis drag him round a few clubs, crawling into bed next to Niall, who was now awake, the TV on low, a book and the remains of room service on the floor by the bed. Niall, still unaware of Chloe's escapades and the threat now hanging over them, pulled Liam in for a kiss in lieu of an actual greeting and Liam, too drunk to remember to tell Niall, was more than happy to let Niall push him backwards onto the bed and keep quiet when he was reminded about Chloe, who was sleeping less than ten feet away from them down the hallway.

From then on, whenever he had a chance to tell Niall about the journalist, he didn't. He couldn't. And despite the warnings from his publicist, management and everyone who had been around for the debacle, he let the next day pass, and the day after, in a haze of tourist attractions that they should not have gone to, shows and an ever-increasing amount of guilt.

His only saving grace was Paddy, who'd been adamant about keeping them away from larger crowds and stopping anyone who looked like they might at all have known who One Direction were from getting too close. It was worth it, though. Risking everything. It was the best time he'd ever had on tour, the four tours before the break and the earlier legs of this tour included. They'd taken Chloe to a water park, leaving stupidly early to get there before actual people did, and Liam had spent the better part of the day chasing after her, keeping her from throwing herself down slides headfirst. It had been fun, the best kind of fun, throwing himself down slides with his daughter, his laughing little girl, on his lap and clinging to Niall as they braved rapids.

They'd gone to a nearby museum as well, though Liam had actually been almost as reluctant as Chloe to go, given that the last time he'd actually been to a museum had been years ago. It had been better than he'd thought it would be and the trip had left him with countless photos of Chloe playing in the interactive children's exhibition, dressed up as historical figures and playing with other children in the fake mine/trench/hospital settings.

And the shows. They'd...been great. Almost the same as usual, only Chloe had been slightly better behaved. Not clamouring to be allowed to run around with Lux, not skipping around, under everyone's feet, but stood with Niall. Where she was supposed to be, when she was supposed to be. Her sudden obedience had jokingly puzzled Niall, who'd laughingly asked what had happened, but it seemed like a relief to the rest of his team, and it left Liam feeling nigglingly guilty.

He pointedly kept Niall away from his publicist and anyone who might tell Niall about Chloe's antics, and he kept rationalising his omission, because that's what it was, an omission, not really a lie, with the fact that nothing had yet come of all the threats hanging over them. And it hadn't. There was no article exposing Chloe and her existence to the whole world, hell, the journalist hadn't even published her article about the stadium that was supposed to be an online piece out yesterday. At least, that's what Liam had been told.

The logical, press-dealing-with part of him figured that that was a bad thing and meant that the journalist was busy refining the article about Liam and Chloe, but that part of him was being idiotically ignored.

It was being ignored in favour of holding Niall's hand and watching him watch Chloe, watching the proud smile that only Chloe could evoke stretch across his features, in favour of spending their last few days together not worrying or cooped up in the hotel. It was being ignored in favour of him getting to know his daughter, better than he'd ever known her before, for seeing her unabashedly charm people into doing her bidding, even melting those who were still pissed at her for the trouble she'd inadvertently caused.

Of course, he really shouldn't have ignored that part of him, he really should have told Niall, the second it happened, and he really should have started to prepare for the very worst. He really should have done all of that, because it all became a reality.

Leaving soundcheck, day three post-incident, he, very literally, ran into an intern who was cowering outside the cupboard his publicist had been using as a temporary office, stopping to help her up only to stop in his tracks, closing his eyes and praying he was mistaken as he heard a very angry, very Irish and very familiar voice shouting from inside the office. 

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And here we are again with another chapter of what is rapidly becoming the longest thing I've ever written. 

I mean, seriously, I'm not seeing an end in sight. If there is one, it's so far away that it's further than the horizon. But there should be a bit of time jump soon. Probably. Hopefully.

Continuing with the new thing I'm trying:

What do you guys think is going to happen in the ongoing drama of Liam and Niall's issues?

And as always...

Thoughts on the chapter?