𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 ; 𝐝𝐬

5.7

[E L A I N A  H O P E]

as i ended the call with eben, i felt accomplished with myself. eben and i had assembled a plan to surprise daniel with the babies. they had one last las vegas show today, so eben was going to interrupt them in the middle of them singing 'trust fund baby', and he would warn the crowd to be quiet. all the boys would probably be extremely confused, but then i would come out on stage with the babies. eben suggested the going on stage part. i didn't agree to it at first, but somehow he convinced me.

as i kept on driving, i saw the sign that said, 'welcome to las vegas' and i smiled to myself. i kept driving where siri told me to, and i finally arrived at the venue. i took a deep breath before unbuckling my seatbelt and going to the backseat and getting the babies' carriers and putting them in it. i texted eben and told him that we were here, so he went out to the front and showed me towards the back door. 

"are you excited?" he asked, showing me towards the green room, and sitting down on one of the couches.

"oh yeah. i'm really excited for daniel to meet the babies. i already love them more than anything in the world, and i think he will too as soon as he meets them," i told him, smiling widely.

we continued talking for a while, until i heard the background music to 'trust fund baby' start playing, and i immediately felt nervous. i took the babies out of their carriers and followed eben towards the stage. when corbyn started the second verse, eben ran on stage and said, "hold on guys, we have a surprise for one of the boys. i'm not saying who yet, but he'll know as soon as he sees it."

"uh, what are you doing, eben?" zach questioned, eyeing eben, confused.

"you'll see," eben smiled, "but you guys have to be quiet. no matter how much you want to scream, or cheer, or clap, you can't. you'll understand in a second, just make sure to be quiet." 

i took a deep breath, and eben said, "come on." i closed my eyes for a moment, before walking on stage with the babies. danie's jaw dropped and he handed his microphone to jonah, running over to me as fast as he could.

"oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," he said, "can i hold one?"

i giggled at his eagerness, and i handed him eliza. he held her close to his chest, and i saw a happy tear fall from his eye. i looked backstage, and saw david smiling at us.

"can i leave?" daniel asked david.

"of course, go ahead," david said, so daniel and i left the stage and went into the green room.

"what? when? how?" he questioned, still holding eliza as close to him as he possibly could. he was slightly swaying back and forth and stroking the back of her head.

"the nurse at the hospital told me it was safe to drive with them, so i drove them here after i was released from the hospital this morning," i explained to him, smiling.

"she's so beautiful," daniel whispered, kissing the top of eliza's head.

we sat on the couches in the green room for about forty-five more minutes, until the boys came back from the meet and greet. ellery was with them, too. they all smiled at us, and ellery came and sat down next to me.

"how's being a mom, bestie?" she asked, giggling.

"i've only been a mom for two days, but so far, it's been... well, i don't know. this is my first day out of the hospital," i told her, and i lifted up my shirt, revealing my stitched up stomach in the place where the c-section was.

"can i hold him?" she asked me, and i nodded, handing zachary to ellery.

she smiled while holding him, softly caressing his face and cooing. zach came and sat down next to ellery, looking at the baby with curious eyes.

"gosh, baby zachary sure is cute," he smiled, "but not as cute as big zachary."

"heck no, zach. baby zachary is wayyyy cuter than you," ellery said, exaggerating the word 'way'. zach looked at her, fake offended.

"i'll have you know that i was voted the cutest out of all of the boys by the fans," zach informed us, sticking his tongue out.

"whatever," ellery scoffed, "zach, we need to get ourselves one of these," ellery told him, and his eyes went wide.

"uh, we can wait on that," zach said nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

ellery laughed, and carefully handed the baby back to me. i noticed he had fallen asleep, and i smiled to myself, lightly caressing his face and kissing his forehead.

david walked into the room and smiled at us before saying, "they're closing up the venue, so we have to get going. are you going to go back to los angeles with elaina, daniel?"

"are we going back?" he asked me.

"i guess so. i didn't bring anything with me," i said, realizing that i drove here with absolutely nothing. 

"okay, well you guys can go pick up daniel's stuff from the hotel then drive back home," david informed us, so we got up and put the babies in their carriers, walking out to the car. i saw a couple of fans behind a gate, and we smiled at them, before putting the babies in the car and getting in. daniel got in the driver's seat and me in the passenger's.

"i'm so happy you're here," daniel gushed, smiling like an absolute idiot and starting the car.

"i don't think i could wait a week to see you, especially now that i have the babies," i replied, looking into the backseat at the two sleeping babies in their car seats.

"you have no idea how sad i was when the lady at the airport said i couldn't get out of here," he sighed, sending me a weary look.

"i know, eben sent me a picture of you crying in the hotel room," i told him, and he shook his head, lightly laughing to himself.

"i wanted to be there with you so badly. i knew how much pain you were in and all i wanted to do was comfort you and be there with you through your pain," he told me, smiling, "i'm happy that christina was there with you, though. if anyone else had to be there with you, i'm happy it was her."

"yeah, christina is a pretty good friend," i replied, grinning.

as we pulled into the hotel, he told me just to stay in the car with the babies and that he'd be back in less than ten minutes to go up to the hotel room and grab all of his things. while i was waiting, i pulled out my phone and took a picture of the babies sleeping in the back seat of the car. i posted it on instagram, captioning it, 'welcome home :)'. 

daniel came back a few minutes later with his bags and he smiled at me, before starting the drive back home.

♡