Stand By Me ~Zouis Family

Epilogue

 Louis loosened himself from Zayn's firm, protective grasp just enough to roll over and open his his eyes to the early morning sun. He groaned, not wanting to yet be awake, but he had to be, today was special.

Today was Liam's forth birthday.

Like every parent, Louis was feeling mixed emotions towards the occasion. It was Liam's first birthday since coming to join the Tomlinson-Malik family and Louis just didn't want him to grow up because one day Harry would be leaving home, one day innocent little Niall would be a bratty teenager, and one day Liam was going to go off to school, he was going to make friends and have sleepovers and he'd experience negativity. Louis wanted to take all three of his children and keep them safe from harms way, he wanted to ban them from leaving the house so that he could make sure that they were safe, happy, and well cared for every second of every day. He just wanted to keep them happy.

He lay awake for a few minutes just thinking about how he wished he could have kept Harry innocent and how he could have shown Niall more attention, but he was so stressed, so lost in his own thoughts to really see what was going on around him until it was thrust in his face and he had no choice but to acknowledge it all. 

Louis rolled back over to face his sleeping husband, smiling softly to himself as he watched the younger man sleep, his heavy breathing even and calm. Louis pressed a soft kiss to Zayn's nose, watching as it twitched ever so slightly before latching his lips onto Zayn's neck, kissing and sucking softly until he felt Zayn's hands on his waist, pulling him forward to straddle his hips as he rolled onto his back.

"Mmm, good morning to you too." Zayn moaned in his raspy morning voice.

Louis stopped what he was doing to smile innocently down at his husband before leaning down to press a soft kiss to his lips. "Get showered and ready for the day."

Louis then climbed off of Zayn and eased his body off the bed and pulled on his dressing gown, he made his way to the wardrobe and pulled out the smallest of the five wrapped presents hidden under a few coats and made his way down the hall to Liam's room where he placed the small gift at the end of the toddler's small bed and retreated backwards to Harry's room.

"Wake up." Louis pushed the door to Harry's bedroom open and strode right over to the curtains and yanked them open allowing the early morning sun to brighten the dark room. Harry made no move to respond to Louis' gesture so Louis crouched down next to Harry's bed and began to gently shake him. "Wake up cupcake, we've got a busy day ahead of us." 

Harry let out an obviously agitated groan and swatted his father's persistent hands away from him, "I don't care... It's the middle of the night."

"Seven-Thirty in the morning actually so hurry hurry." Louis pulled the duvet off Harry's curled up body and dumped it on the floor as he stood up and made his way out of the room, "Be down stairs before eight or there will be trouble." He threatened, leaving the door open behind him.

The next stop was Niall's bedroom, and Louis felt like he was repeating his morning week day routine. In a way he was, except this morning the family of five would all leave the house at the same time and have a fun day out together.

Niall was fairly easy to wake up really, Louis sat down on the edge of the single bed and gently shook the small boy awake. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey." He said in a sing-song voice, smiling triumphantly at the small grin that spread across the seven year old's face as his eyes slowly blinked open.

 "Mornin'" Niall mumbled, rubbing his small fists against his eyes and slowly sitting up in his bed.

"How would you like to help me cook breakfast this morning?" Louis asked running a hand through Niall's tangled, in desperate need of a trim, hair.