What Is Love?

The Wait

*Niall's POV*

I'm sitting next to Maddie as she lays on the hospital bed. It's been 6 hours and yet we seem to be getting nowhere. She twists and turns in the bed, groaning in frustration.

"Babe. I'm tired." She complains as she opens her eyes to look at me. I sigh and grab her hand. "I know Maddie. I'm sorry." I tell her trying to stay calm.

I feel so bad. She can't get comfortable and she can't sleep. What can I do to help?

Oh that's right. NOTHING.

"Hey." I hear someone say and I look up to see Maddie's Mom. "Hey" I say and give her a hug. "I'll sit with her. You've got people in the waiting room who want to see you" She says and I nod.

I go out to the waiting room and I see the boys of course, as well as my parents.

"How is she?" Liam asked. I shrug and brush my hand through my hair.

"She's doing okay. But she can't sleep and the contractions seemed to have slowed down. I just don't know how much more she can take of this. She's
strong but this is really difficult for her." I say and sit down.

"You should've seen the look on her face when her water broke. She was so scared. I was half asleep and didn't really take time to think about it. Now it's hitting me that this is actually happening. And why does labor take so long? I thought I would've met my daughter already." I say honestly, holding back tears.

"It takes a while sometimes" My mom said and I sigh. "Yeah but I just can't stand seeing her in pain. And the worst thing is, I can't help her. I have to just wait and watch her cry in pain! I feel helpless! I hate it!" I cry and my mom imitiately wraps her arms around me.

"It's going to be okay. Maddie and the baby will both be okay. And so will you, Niall. Don't focus on all the negatives. Focus on the positives. You're gonna be a father soon. You and Maddie are
going to have your own little family. Just focus on that." My mom says and I know she is right.

Moms are always right.

***

I walk into Maddie's room followed by the boys. I notice her belly was exposed and there is straps wrapped around her stomach and machines hooked up to her.

"Hey" I whisper. She smiles but then I see her hand squeeze the side of the bed. "Awee babe" I say and run over to her. "Breath. Just breath." I say and look up at the boys. I can tell that they don't like seeing her in pain either.

"Hey Maddie. We just wanted to say that we are here for you. We love you" Liam said. "Thanks. Love u guys too" Maddie says quietly and reaches for my hand. The boys each kiss Maddie on the head and leave as I sit down next to her bed.

Her beautiful eyes look tired as she sat up a little bit. "Niall" She said. "I'm scared." her voice was soft and I could see tears in her eyes. "Awe. It's okay. it's going to be okay babe." I say and cry along with her.

I bend over and wrap my arms around her. I kiss her head about 5 times and pull away. She squeezes my hand when another contraction comes and when it's over, I smile. "You're so beautiful" I say and she giggles. "Shut up" She says which makes me laugh.

"No really. You're gorgeous, even when you're having a baby." I tell her and she smiles.

The door opened and the nurse came in. She checked all the machines before looking over at us.

"You guys are so cute. How are you dad? Are you excited?" She asks me. "Yeah. I can't wait until the labor is over." I say, looking at Maddie and all 3 of us laugh.

"Ow. Ow. Ow!" Maddie cries and closes her eyes. "You're doing great Madison. You're almost there." The nurse says and my eyes light up. "Really?!" I ask excitedly and she laughs.

"She is about 5 centimeters. Looks like the contractions picked back up again. So would you like the epidural, Madison?" The nurse asks. "Yes. Oh God please" She says in pain and my heart just aches for her. But I'm looking forward for her getting the epidural because then hopefully she will be able to get some sleep.

***

I left the room to give Maddie some time with her parents while she wasn't in pain.

The boys left a few hours ago. It's 5pm and Maddie has been in labor for 13 hours now.

I sigh and pull out my phone. I texted the boys to update them on what's going on and they all reply with a "Good Luck" and "See you soon" I smile and realize I haven't been on twitter since I
tweeted that Maddie was in labor. I wonder what the fans reactions are?

Of course our fans are super excited. I scroll down and find a lot of pictures and tweets.

@NiallOfficial
#BabyHoran is on the way!!!
13hours ago

I tweeted when we first got to the hospital. I scrolled through the #BabyHoran and read some tweets.

@1DFan101
MADDIE IS HAVING THE BABY!
I REPEAT! #BABYHORAN IS COMING!!!
13hours ago

I love at how the fans freak out everytime something happens. I favorited some tweets and decided to tweet again.

@NiallOfficial
Many of you have seen my last tweet about #BabyHoran YES ITS TRUE!!!
I WILL BE MEETING MY BABY GIRL VERY SOON!!!!

@NiallOfficial
Update: Maddie is doing well. She is such an amazing and strong women. #BabyHoran will be here soon! p.s. im excited

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up. Maddie's mom stood there and she smiled. "She's asleep" She whispered and suddenly I felt a calm feeling come over me. I could feel myself relax a bit knowing that Maddie is finally able to sleep. "I'm going home but you call me when the baby is born okay?" She says and I nod. I stand up and hug her. "You're going to be a great father." She says with a smile. "Thank you" I tell her before saying goodbye.

***

I sit in the chair next to Maddie and watch as her chest goes up and down. Her breathing is slow and I look over at the baby's heart monitor.

My eyes tear up just thinking about how close we are to meeting our baby girl.
I lean my head back and stretch out my legs, trying to get comfortable. My eyes soon close as I listen to the beeping of the machine.