Clarity « Niam

Chapter 14

Niall didn't want to stay in Ireland much longer, seeing as their first few days there had been completely ruined and only ended in one bad conversation after another.

So he and Aybrum left four days sooner than planned, but he made sure Aybrum had more than enough time to get to know his nana. Seeing as up until this point, Aybrum had only seen her over Skype and FaceTime - Maura just couldn't afford to fly over as often as she'd like to see her son and grandson.

When they got back home, Niall was still excused from work because he'd taken a full two and a half weeks off. Which he was going to use to spend every last second he could with Aybrum, the toddler surprisingly adjusted well to Liam's sudden absence.

He'd been distracted by nana and spending time with her, that he didn't even realize he wasn't seeing Liam anymore and Niall made sure not to mention anything that would pertain to him. Even when they got back to London, Aybrum didn't ask if they could call or visit Liam and Niall was beyond thankful.

"You ready, peanut. I'll count to three and then you can jump, yeah." Niall instructed as he stood in front of the toddler in the lake, holding his arms up to catch him as soon as he jumped.

Aybrum was stood on a wood dock, crouching down some with his life jacket on and impatiently waited for daddy to give him the go ahead to jump.

"One.." Niall started slowly, smiling when Aybrum bounced his bum around to make him talk faster because he knew he's been wanting to jump in the lake all afternoon and Niall told him he could before they left to get lunch somewhere in town.

"Two.."

Aybrum giggled, getting anxious because it was almost time to jump.

"Th - are you sure you want to jump, peanut?"

He squealed, "Bubba!"

Niall laughed loudly, "Three! Jump, Aybrum - jump!"

The toddler visibly took a big breath, covering his little nose and mouth before he squeezed his eyes closed and lunged his body into the water.

He frantically and instinctively flapped around for a couple seconds, but relaxed when he felt daddies hands on him and giggled hysterically as soon as Niall pulled him above water.

"You good? Talk Aybrum." Niall slightly panicked, he didn't intend for the toddler to slip through his seemingly firm grip and let him go underwater.

But daddy mode kicked in and he had Aybrum pressed against his hip as he wiped his face off, putting a hand on his chin and tilted his face up towards him to look him over properly.

"More bubba, more!" Aybrum choked out, swallowing the tiny bit of water that had managed to get past his pursed pink lips.

Niall let out a massive breath of relief, kissing Aybrum's forehead more times than he could ever count and started walking towards the shore. "I think we should go eat now, one heart attack is enough for me. We can go swimming another day, yeah."

"Off, me." Aybrum mumbled as he fumbled with the buckle on his life jacket, wanting to take it off since they weren't in the water anymore and it sticks uncomfortably to his body.

Lately Aybrum's been using actual words, ever since Maura sat down with him and practiced basic needs words for three afternoons, the toddlers been progressing quickly with his vocabulary.

Granted most of Aybrum words are his version of the actual word, when he says "okay", it sounds like "otay". But Niall doesn't bother correcting him because he's only a few weeks shy of a year and a half, and he's still learning.

"Wait till we grab our things and then I can get you out of it, yeah. Just stop fiddling or you'll break the buckles." He brushed his tiny hands away, holding them with his own and obnoxiously kissed them.

Aybrum squealed loudly and giggled, trying to pull his hands back. "No bubba, mine!"

"Well keep them to yourself or I might just nibble them off." He teased, blowing a raspberry on his neck and laughed when the toddler giggled hysterically.

These little moments with Aybrum are the ones he wishes he could freeze and save forever, only to unfreeze them years later and just jump back into the moment with him because he knows they won't last forever. Because sadly, Aybrum won't be a toddler forever.
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Niall had just laid Aybrum down for bed when his phone started going off, he took off running to the kitchen where his phone was on the charger - not wanting to wake he toddler up, especially since he had to read him the same story four times before Aybrum's eyes were even drooping.

"Hello!" He slightly shouted into the phone, taking a second to pull the phone from his ear so he could cough and catch his breath.

"It's Liam, please don't hang up. I'm outside your flat and I need you to let me in." He hurriedly said his words, sounding like he was climbing out of his vehicle because Niall could hear rustling sounds coming from the other end of the phone.

He furrowed his brow, leaning against the countertop and crossed one arm over his chest as he propped his other one on his forearm and held the phone in place. "What, why would you even be here? I'm done with you until you grow a pair and stand up to Zayn, you have two children. And he needs to accept that, because my son won't be neglected anymore."

As soon as the doorbell was pushed, Niall heard Aybrum crying in his bedroom.

"Just please come open the door." He prompted again as he rang the doorbell again as well.

Niall huffed out a breath, "Alright. Stop ringing that bloody bell, now Aybrum's awake." He tossed his phone towards the couch and quickly went to grab Aybrum, cooing at him to calm him down as he went to open the door before Liam decided to ring the bell again.

The door bell he planned on unhooking after tonight.

"Surprise." Liam halfheartedly mumbled when Niall opened the door and saw that he was also holding a toddler in his arms.
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(authors note: some of you predicated that Liam was going to take Brooklyn and go see Niall, regardless to Zayn's intense manipulation skills.

What do you think made Liam come all that way and bring Brooklyn with, like what's the purpose or reason for this surprise visit?

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!

Comment, comment, comment!!!)