Adopted by One Direction

Niall's POV: Ch. 34

➡Niall's POV:

We all group hug and all of us have tears running down our faces. That was close, and I'm so glad Ellie didn't want to take Lily. I would have been lost without her.

Lily, who's in the center of our group hug, looks up at us all. Her face is wet with tears and she tries to wipe them away, but they just smear. I take my thumb and swipe it across her face, getting rid of the tears for her.

Tears gather in her eyes and she starts to cry. Hard. I think she just fully understood what just happens. I gather her up in my arms, still staying in the group hug, as she sobs into my shoulder, soaking my t-shirt quickly.

I rub her back soothingly as I try to calm her down. "Princess, I love you," I whisper.

"I love you too NiNi," she sniffs. "But my old mummy just left." Ellie's already Lily's "old mummy" like her father is her "old daddy."

"I know princess. But you didn't know her that much, and sometimes that's easier when you lose them than if you knew them forever," I say.

"But she left Ni!" Her hands clasp tighter around my neck as she cries even harder. "She l-left m-me w-with m-my old d-daddy!"

Oh, she wasn't talking about now. She was talking about the past.

"Lily, that isn't her fault," Zayn pipes up.

"Yeah. She had no idea that your old dad would harm you," Liam adds.

Lily's legs wrap around my upper stomach with me holding up her bum. She probably looks super cute like this, but the mood is so sad, I don't think anyone notices.

"I-I know," Lily stutters. She falls silent and for a while, I think she fell asleep. But then she starts to speak in a real sad voice. "Will she ever come back?"

We all glance at each other. I think we all picked up on the tone. It's like she knows the answer, she just needs to be told different. She needs to believe something else for a while. Until she can handle the truth.

"Baby, I know you know the answer," Louis says, deciding not to lie to our daughter.

She nods her head and I can almost see the tears rolling down her cheeks. I can hear her heart shatter as she realizes that she probably won't ever see her old mum again. I can feel her pain, the aching in her chest.

And I think it's best if we don't keep tabs on Ellie. She is in the Army, there's a high risk of dying. And I don't know if Lily will ever be able to handle that.

We sorta just stay in our crying group hug until Lily calms down. She leans away from me and wipes the tears off my face like I did to hers. I laugh softly because she is just so cute.

I let her go and she sits on the ground. Then, with big doe eyes, she looks up at us and asks, "Can we plant Tiger Lilies at home?"

I bend down and kiss her forehead, extremely happy that she wants to remember her old mum and not push her away and erase her from memory. "Of course, princess."

**TWO HOURS LATER**

"Ready?" Liam calls.

Various yes's and yup's were heard from everyone's room as we all meet Liam in the kitchen area. I'm giving Lily a piggy-back ride and she hasn't stopped laughing since she got on.

"LEGGO!" Louis screams and we all head towards the elevator.

On our way there, I make myself walk different directions and bounce so Lily will feel it. She squeals every time I jump because she goes flying up, due to her very little weight.