Who Says |.l.t.|

~Chapter 30~

Louis’ POV.

“Careful.” I warned gently as I handed Eddie over to Lottie. She did exactly as I’d instructed, holding his head cautiously and cradling him close to her.

Lexi was in the shower, as after being in labour for 9 hours she said she needed to be ‘refreshed’. Harry was still here, and the other boys were leaving now-ish to get here for the night.

They’d all texted and called both Harry and I, asking question after question after question, until their phones had run out of charge. They’d all wanted to talk to Lexi, but once we’d signed the official documents after bathing and weighing Eddie, she’d gone straight to sleep for three hours.

He’s so tiny, smaller than I’d expected him to be, and so, so delicate. I’m still terrified I’m going to drop him, and yet I’ve barely put him down, except to change him and so Lexi could feed him.

Lottie and I were currently the only two in the living room, as mum had gone to bed and Hannah was currently food shopping- she’d graciously offered to host us all for dinner. Also I wasn’t going to let Lottie hold my baby boy unless she was sitting on the sofa. No way.

“Hello! Hey baby nephew.” She cooed at him, as he opened his eyes blearily at her. I smiled, sitting down carefully next to her.

“Hey Eddie.” I said softly, as his eyes shifted from Lottie’s face to mine. His face scrunched slightly, and his little mouth opened in a wail.

Hurriedly, I scooped him back into my arms and rocked him gently. “Sh, sh baby.” I soothed, confused when he didn’t stop this time. For the last four hours, rocking had calmed him almost instantly.

Lottie giggled, as I got more and more panicked as Eddie kept on crying.

“Lexi!” She called, hurrying to the door and yelling up to my girlfriend. “Louis can’t keep Eddie quiet! And he’s kind of panicking!” She added.

I heard a muffled yell of laughter, and footsteps running down the stairs.

“Here.” Lexi said, holding out her arms as she walked into the room. Her tummy was still slightly inflated, but she looked fitter than ever in comfy fat pants and a vest. I handed our son over to her, and she sat down on the couch and checked his nappy.

He’d only been changed once so far, and it’d been done by my mum when Hannah and I had been clearing up after the birth.

Lexi pulled a face, and grimaced at me. “It’s our turn now.” She half laughed, laying little Eddie back down in her arms. I felt my stomach knot- this is probably the part I was dreading the most.

“I’ll go and get the changing stuff then.” I said, moving to kiss her on the forehead before hurrying upstairs to get the gear.

This was going to be interesting…

Lexi’s POV.

“If you don’t mind,” Lottie said, “I think I might miss out on this, see if Hannah needs any help.” She laughed, and I waved her off.

I cradled my tiny baby carefully, making sure his delicate little head was supported, as Louis re-entered the room, dropping about 25 things as he did.

I raised my eyebrows as he put what he’d brought down on the table. “I think I got everything…” He said, uncertainly. I giggled, and looked over the pile of baby stuff.

“Lou, you don’t need 50 nappies to change a baby.” I laughed, using one hand to pull the changing mat from the pile. Louis frowned, before a small smile came to his face. “I know. I was just seeing how many I’d need to bring down to annoy you.” He teased, winking at me as he brought a nappy, some lotion, and talcum powder and baby wipes over to where we were changing him, on the couch.

Harry sidled into the room at that point, and sat down opposite, with his phone out. “I’m so filming this.” He laughed, pointing the phone camera at Louis’ unimpressed face.

“Seriously, Harry?” He said, unable to stop a small smile forming on his face. Harry nodded, and moved closer to us, as I lay Eddie down.

Next to me, Louis gulped, quite loudly. I smiled at him, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “We’ll be fine.” I said, and his eyes sparkled as they looked into mine.

Below us, Eddie gave a little huff and wail of frustration that we weren’t paying attention to his needs. Laughing softly, I removed his nappy.

Ten minutes later, he was clean.

“That was absolutely not what I was expecting.” Louis said, a relieved look on his face as Harry put down his phone and took Eddie from my arms.

The other boys were going to be joining us in about two or three hours- except for Niall, who had managed to bags himself a spot on the next flight over, and would be here at about nine at night.

I still hadn’t had a chance to talk to Louis about where he’d been, or when he’d been- I know everyone (including his sisters now) knew about his time travel, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it in front of them. It was almost like it wasn’t on his mind at all, like he’d forced it to the back of his memory.

But behind his eyes there was something there, almost like a foreboding of what was to come. I wondered if future him had told him what happens to me.