Baby Steps [l.t]

Five

(Louis' POV)

"Daddy!" The little boy yelled. Dan wrapped his arms around him, while Melanie had tears staining her cheeks. Dan and Melanie? Together? Had she ran back to him?

Millions of thoughts swirled in my head, questions building up. And there all five of us stood, frozen, eye to eye, unfazed by the swarm of paparazzi bombarding us with questions.

Before I could process my actions, I grabbed Melanie's arm and ran away from the paps, El and Dan close behind us.

We ran across many streets and cut many corners, my heart thumping wildly, as I could feel it in my throat. I called a taxi and all of us piled in, and before I knew it, we were all sitting around the coffee table in my living room.

"So, um," Melanie started, her eyes finding Dan's, "Meet our son, William." The little boy, my little boy's head shot up at the mention of his name.

"El, could you take the boy to the kitchen?" I asked, "And take Dan with you." I spit his name out as though it was venom. He seemed to take no notice, carrying my son out of the room.

We were silent for the first few moments, which seemed like hours. Finally, I had to ask, "Were you ever going to tell me?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but shut it again, biting her lip as she contemplated the answer. She finally decided, whispering, "No."

"You weren't? Why not? He's mine too, you know," I said, hoarsely, as though my mouth and throat became drier than the Sahara Desert.

"I didn't want our drunken mistake to ruin your future," she said, still softer than newly fallen snow.

"Our mistake created a son! You thought you were just gonna breeze on through life not telling me? He was going to live his whole life without a father?" I was yelling now, and it was obvious that it frightened her, but I couldn't stop. "Is this why you cut me off? Just dropped off the face of the earth? I spent the first two years wondering and worrying about what I did wrong!"

"What was I supposed to do? I didn't want to raise a child in the limelight! If you knew, you threatened not only your career, but our chances at normal lives! I'm sorry, but I cared about you too much for that! I regret what I did every single day of my life! I see you everywhere. Everywhere! In the tabloids, on the news, in the face of our son! I cry myself to sleep, and its not fair. To me, to Dan, and certainly not to William," She screamed, throwing her hands up in defeat, before banging her small fists against my chest. The prior streams of tears were nothing compared to the tears that were free falling now. I had never forgotten how passionate she would get.

I sat down and buried my hands in my head, "You could've told me," I whispered. When I looked up, however, she was gone, and a three year old boy stood in her place.

"Mommy says we have five minutes," William said, nervously. He walked over and sat next to me.

He offered me his hand and I took it, and he said, "My name is William, I am three and a quarter, and I love my mommy's chocolate chip pancakes."

I chuckled and said, "I'm Louis, I'm 21, and I am in a band."

He laughed and said, "I know, I fall asleep to you every night and mommy takes me to your concerts when your here." I was shocked at this news, she did go through this every day.

The five minutes passed and I already loved this kid with all my heart. I learned everything from how he loved my music, to how many grapes he could fit in his mouth at a time. However, Melanie wouldn't give us anymore time. But it was too late.

I knew. _____________________________________________________________________________