Chapter Fifty word count: 8064 words
It's Grayson's cries that wake me. He's crying for me which isn't necessarily unusual. I yawn, sitting up and stretching a bit before looking over at G's monitor. He's standing in his crib, luckily not trying to climb out. He's definitely old enough to have a toddler bed, but we just haven't figured out how to keep his monitors on him if he can move around the house on his own. He's never tried to take them off before, but he might if the corded monitor is the only thing keeping him from playing with his toys.
I swing my legs to the floor, about to go get Grayson when I remember that I can't. I can't hold him. I turn around and crawl back into bed, calling Niall's name. I rub at him arm softly, trying to get him up slowly.
"Hey. You gotta get G." I say once Niall's got his eyes open. He looks confused for a moment, then nods, sitting up slowly with a slight groan as his back pops. Niall shuffles out of the room tiredly, rubbing his hands over his face. I watch the baby monitor and see Niall reaching in to get G from his crib, hushing him softly.
"Mommy." Grayson cries pitifully, and Niall continues to hum comfortingly.
"We're gonna go to Mammy, don't you worry." Niall replies, voice scruffy as he takes off G's oxygen saturation monitor and eventually leaves the frame of the video.
Niall comes in the master with Grayson, his tiny face red from his cries and tears still in his eyes as he sniffles. Grayson still gets fairly scared when he wakes up without us there. He rarely sleeps in his crib. Grayson reaches for me immediately when he sees me, whining and making grabby hands as Niall places him on the bed. I let Grayson crawl up into my arms, holding him close to me as he relaxes against my chest, hiccuping a bit from his tears.
Niall lays down in bed again, silently pulling the covers back over himself and looking up at me. His eyes look incredibly heavy, though, like he's exhausted. Now that I think of it, it was a little weird that Grayson's cries didn't wake Niall up. He's got to be in an incredibly deep sleep for that to happen.
"When did you fall asleep, Ni? You look really tired." I ask. Niall just shrugs, staying silent.
"Why don't you go back to sleep for a little while?" I suggest, and Niall shakes his head.
"G's up. You can't hold him." Niall tells me. He looks incredibly exhausted, though.
"It's a good thing he can walk, then." I say, and Niall frowns. He didn't think that was funny.
"What about the stairs?" Niall asks.
"I can hold his hand or he can go down backwards on his knees. He does know how to do that." I say.
"You're not supposed to use the stairs." Niall whispers.
"I can use the stairs a couple times a day and I'm perfectly fine being stuck downstairs for a while. No problem. If I need anything I'll call your phone and wake you up, alright? Is that a compromise?" I ask. Niall seems incredibly hesitant, but nods. I don't know why he's being so quiet and protective. I don't want to bother him too much if he's having an off day, but I also want him to know that I'm here for him too. Being on modified bed rest doesn't suddenly mean I'm not going to take care of Niall. We've still got to take care of each other, and he wouldn't be this worried about me if it were a low-symptom day.
"If you're having a bad day, you can tell me, yeah?" I say, and Niall frowns a bit more.
"How do you always know?" Niall asks quietly. He seems genuinely perplexed by this. I don't think he realizes how different he acts depending on how bad his symptoms are on a given day.
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Without a Clue {Diall}
Fanfiction"It never leaves. It never goes away. Why won't it go away?" Niall's secretive, always has been, but no one could've ever guessed that he would hide something this big. It turns out trying to cope with your past is a lot harder when you're hiding fr...
