Clarity « Niam

Chapter 11

Niall woke up to the sound of crying, groggily pulling himself out of bed and blindly went over to the crib and picked up Aybrum. As soon as he lifted the toddler, he winced from the aching pain he was feeling in his swollen hand.

"Morning peanut, you're okay. We're at nana's, it's okay." He cooed, putting a hand on the back of his head and let him bury his heated face against his neck as he carried him back to bed.

Aybrum fussed, whining when Niall tried to pry him off his body to place him beside him on the bed. "No bubba." He murmured, wrapping his legs around Niall's waist and clung to him.

He laughed lazily, "Alright, alright - you can stay."

They were silent for a long while, Niall assumed he'd fallen back asleep and was about to himself but Aybrum suddenly popped his head up.

"Li?" He questioned, remembering that daddy said they'd see him once they went home to Ireland.

Niall sighed, replaying last nights events and looked at the hopeful expression on Aybrum's little face. "Later, yeah. Let's cuddle, have breakfast with nana and then I'll give Liam a call."

The toddler dramatically flopped back down against his chest, huffing out a breath and stayed silent, wanting to get their cuddles over with so he could go see Liam.
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Four hours later, Niall was holding up to his end of the bargain and was sat dialing Liam's number as Aybrum sat patently on his lap, waiting to hear the faint sound of Liam's familiar voice on the other end.

"Niall, hey."

He swallowed the lump in his throat, glancing at Aybrum who was staring at him and subtly turned down the volume on his phone. "Hi, what time do you want to see Aybrum? He's wanted to see you from the moment he woke up this morning."

"I've got rehearsal for another half hour and then I'm free for two hours, you guys could come here?" He tried, pausing for a second. "Are we going to talk, about yesterday, because Zayn's face is completely fucked."

"Mum, can you take Aybrum - please!" Niall shouted, ignoring the teary face Aybrum was giving him because he obviously wasn't going to get to talk to Liam on his own. "I'm sorry, peanut. I need to talk to Liam and then I'll take you to see him, promise." He kissed his cheek, wiping his heated tears away before his mum carried him out of the room.

Once Maura had taken the teary toddler into a different room, Niall stood up and started pacing as he spoke. "No, don't even start with me on that. You know he got what he deserved and be lucky it wasn't you, you asshole. Why would you do this again - how long have you been fucking him?" He hissed into the phone, getting worked up over the situation.

"Niall, I -" He started but was cut off almost instantly by Niall's angry voice.

"Don't you dare lie to me, Liam." He seethed, "I won't ever take Aybrum from you, but I will prevent you from seeing him as often. Lie to me again, and I'll guarantee you I'll go and get full custody of him. I've been beyond levelheaded about this whole situation, but I won't continue to be walked on. For once in your life just be a man."

"Ineverstopped." Liam mumbled his words, stringing them all together.

"You what?"

He paused for a couple seconds, taking a breath because he knew Niall was going to blow up. "I never stopped sleeping with him, alright - are you happy? I'm a liar, a cheat - I'm everything you think I am."

Niall closed his eyes, sitting back down on the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "So when we were together, you were cheating on me the whole time? Is he the reason you didn't want a baby, because it would've tied you down to me for at least eighteen years?"

"Yes and no." He mumbled, regretting ever answering his phone in the first place, but it's not like he'd actually ignore him either.

Niall waited, thinking he was going to elaborate. "Okay, which is which - explain, because this is literally the only opportunity I'm giving you to be honest with me and put everything out there."

"The last year we were together, I cheated on you with him the whole time. We'd started touring a lot and you couldn't come with me, I just - it's no excuse though." He sighed, stopping himself before he tried to talk his way out of it because at this point he's learned that trying to talk his way out of things have proven to be a very bad idea. "But he was the reason I didn't want a baby at the time, Zayn -" He paused for the billionth time, all Niall could hear was his sudden heavy breathing. "I got Zayn pregnant a few months before you told me you were pregnant, and he kept his too."

With those last few words, Niall felt like his world was crashing down around him. Slowly, he started piecing things together in his mind and everything made more sense.

Especially the fact that Liam already had countless baby things at his flat the first time he brought Aybrum to see him there. At the time, Liam said he bought them specifically for Aybrum because he wanted to be prepared for him to be able to stay the night or at least feel comfortable at his flat when he'd visit.

"Is this some sort of sick joke?" He croaked, swallowing the dry lump in his throat and tried to process everything.

"No, her names Brooklyn. We told everyone she's our stylists baby. The only people who know she's ours, are family members and our management team. It's why Zayn's never photographed out as much as Harry and I, he's usually at home with her."

Niall shook his head, "You're absolutely disgusting, I can't even -" He cut himself off when he heard Aybrum sobbing in the next room.

"So I guess this means I'm not seeing Aybrum anymore, yeah." He whispered, sounding more heartbroken than anything.

Niall got up and went to the next room, seeing Aybrum screaming and crying on the floor. His mum mouthed to him that he was crying for Liam, which sadly Niall knew was the case before he even asked.

He sighed into the phone, pushing a hand through his disheveled hair. "No, it means you won't be seeing me. If you want to see him, you can come get him yourself. I've put in more than enough effort, now it's your turn."

"Can I take him with me for the day, like can he come to the concert tonight?" He questioned, knowing he was already pushing it but he thought he might as well try anyways.

Niall had picked Aybrum up and calmed him down, letting him listen so he could at least hear Liam's voice. "Sure, but I want to talk to Zayn at some point."

"I don't - um, are you going to hit him again? Otherwise he won't agree to anything if you're going to attack him."

"No, I just want to talk. And I'm sorry, I didn't actually mean to punch him. I was mad at you, then I saw him and I snapped."

"I'll mention it to him, but I doubt it'll happen. You fucked up his face pretty badly, makeup barely covers it."

"Aybrum's listening, so don't cuss and I really don't see why you're even trying to defend him right now." Niall adjusted his hold on Aybrum, moving the toddler around so he could hold the phone and him at the same time without worrying about dropping him.

"Hi, Aybrum. You excited to come see me today? We're going to have lots of fun." Liam cooed, making his voice seem a lot more happier than it was two seconds ago.

Niall rolled his eyes at Liam's bullshit façade, letting the toddler take the phone from his hand so he could babble into the speaker and then press the whole phone to the side of his face to listen.
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(authors note: of course I added more twists and surprises to the story, Liam being a cheater just wasn't enough and now some holes are going to be filled when Niall and Zayn (hopefully) sit down and talk face to face.

Do you still think Niall's reacting properly to the situation, or is he being irrational because he's emotionally hurt more than he's willing to admit?

p.s. please, please take a second to follow me on twitter -> @zmelec <- If you follow me and tweet me saying you're from wattpad, I'll follow you back there!

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