That's When I Saw You {Neth Fanfic}

36. Kids Again

Beth's POV

"Where are we going?" Josie asked, stepping over roots and branches that stuck up from the ground as we trekked through the forest.

Louis had been leading us around for a couple of minutes, and it seemed even Niall didn't know where we were going. PJ was sniffing around in the undergrowth, occasionally running to catch up with Louis, before stopping and sniffing something again.

"Places." Louis grinned, "Fun places."

"You don't realise how creepy that sounds." Tamsin laughed, making Harry chuckle as well.

"Yeah, Lou, you better not be planning anything, weird." Niall joked.

Louis just laughed in reply, before stepping out into a clearer part of the wood. Even though the sky was still covered by branches that stretched out from the surrounding trees, the ground was relatively empty. Directly in front of us was a thicker, taller tree, which Louis stopped to look up at.

"What's so important about this tree?" I asked, whilst the others assembled around me and Niall, both looking questioningly at Louis.

"I'll tell you if you're worthy." He said, grinning.

"Are we worthy?" I asked, putting air quotes around 'worthy'.

"Mhm." He nodded, before going around the back and climbing up the sturdy branches on the lower half of the trunk, before disappearing into the leaves at the top.

I walked towards the base of the tree to try to see him, but before I got there, a ladder dropped down and lay against the trunk. Louis' head popped down from the leaves, completely upside down, making PJ bark and jump up at him, scratching at the bark.

"Come on up!" He smiled, before going back up into the tree again.

Niall looked to me and gestured at the ladder in that kind of 'ladies first' way, to which I nodded and began climbing the ladder.

At the top was a trapdoor, which opened, revealing Lou who was smiling happily like a child.

"Here ya go." He said, holding out his hand to help me up, which I took with a quiet 'thanks'. The tree house that I was sitting in was actually reasonably big, with a few windows dotted around. I sat in the corner with my legs crossed, watching as Lou pulled the others up. I was surprised how it could support 8 people, but then I noticed that this wasn't the only tree it was built on. There was a rope walkway that connected this part to another part on the neighbouring tree.

"Who built this?" Niall asked, sitting down next to me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"God knows." Louis chuckled, "I just found it was I walked PJ."

At the mention of his name, he began whining a barking from outside, the sound of his claws scraping up against the tree faintly sounded from outside.

"You just decided to climb a tree?" Tamsin laughed,

"Yeah, well kind of." He shrugged, "The ladder was hanging down and I wanted to see what it was for."

The others carried on talking, but Niall whispered to me,

"Wanna go and check out the other room?"

I nodded, getting up and walking over to the bridge that hung between the two parts.

"Where are you going?" Josie asked, raising her head from Zayn's lap.

"Just having a look around."

She nodded, before laying back down again, closing her eyes as Zayn carried on playing with her hair as he talked to the others.

I walked across the rope bridge, which swung back and forth gently as I moved. Niall followed behind me, jumping up and down, making the bridge swing more violently.

"Niall!" I laughed, "Stop it!"

"What?" He asked innocently, though his expression was anything but innocent. "This?"

He jumped again, making me hand on as the bridge shook.

"Yes, that!" 

"Yes, that, do it. Ok." He grinned evilly, shaking the rope as much as he could.

I ran as fast as I could to the other side, jumping over to the other room, and turning around to see Niall hysterically laughing.

"Hurry yourself up then." I chuckled, sitting down by one of the windows.

Niall stopped shaking the bridge and crossed over, sitting down next to me and pulling me onto his lap, resting his chin on my shoulder. I leant my head on his, closing my eyes and sighed deeply.

"I'm falling asleep." Niall laughed tiredly, sighing and hanging on to me by my waist.

I put my hands on top on his, playing with a silver ring on one of his fingers. He smiled at the action. He moved his hands and took mine instead; looking over the ring he had given me on my birthday, moving it around so that rays of light bounced off it in different directions.

"I don't regret anything we've done, y'know?" Niall said, turning his head slightly towards me.

"No, me neither." I smiled, "It's been great."

"I wanted to tell you that wherever I am, whatever happens, I’ll always think of you, and the time we spent together, as my happiest time. I’d do it all over again, if I had the choice. I will always love you. I swear it." He said seriously, rubbing over the back of my hand with his thumb.

"Niall..." I said warningly, "Don't. You'll make me cry."

"I'm serious." The grip he had on my waist tightened as he flipped me around and looked into my eyes,

"They say love hurts, but I'm ready to take the risk, if it means I can be with you."

~*~