Uncommon Sanction

Chapter 7

Author's Note: So this is the big reveal. I hope nobody is too disappointed by the result. After this there is an epilogue which will be up next Wednesday. Hope you all enjoy xx

Three weeks later…

“Eight or wait?” Niall asked, throwing down the eight of clubs onto the top of the card pile.

Liam sighed and flopped back into his chair in frustration, “Waiting.” This was the second time in a row he couldn’t go.

After a long moment, deliberating whether it was worth putting down the two he had and possibly start off a nasty chain reaction (which would probably end with it coming back to bite him), Harry placed the nine of clubs down on the pile and called out, “Your turn Lou!”

“Coming,” was the answering grunt from the adjoining toilet. There was a flushing sound and a few seconds later Louis waddled back out, wiping his hands on his jogging pants. “You know, it’s a lot easier to piss when you can actually see your dick,” he announced testily to the room at large.

Zayn snorted loudly and clapped his friend gently on the back as he passed by. “It won’t be too long now, mate,” he consoled, “I mean, you surely can’t get much bigger anyway...”

“Oi, watch your mouth,” Louis growled out, pausing to smack the back of Zayn’s head before carrying on towards his chair. Zayn whined and rubbed his head ruefully as Harry and Niall sniggered at him. They both knew better than to wind Louis up at the moment.

“Do you think you’ll make it to the end of August?” Liam asked carefully, as he watched Louis waddle past. “I mean, Zayn’s kind of right – you look pretty ready now, mate.” It was something that had been on all of their minds. They knew Louis couldn’t afford to get to the point of his cervix dilating so they were all growing increasingly nervous the closer Louis got to D Day. Also, the longer Louis’ pregnancy went on, the more strain it was putting on his vital organs so all of them were hoping the birth would be sooner rather than later.

Louis shrugged at him and huffed out a deep breath as he carefully lowered himself down into the chair. Harry couldn’t help but smile into his cards. The bump was so big now that Louis had to keep his chair about half a metre away from the table just to fit.

These last few weeks Louis had just been incredible to watch - he had literally ballooned out to the point that even Harry couldn’t get his arms all the way around him anymore. While Harry found it utterly adorable, Louis found the subject a very touchy business indeed. None of his clothes fitted now and so he was forced to wear pyjamas, very loose jogging pants with extra-large t-shirts or simply borrow a pair of hospital scrubs – size large. Harry had offered to go out and buy him some proper maternity clothes but that suggestion had just earned him a slap to the balls. Just because I have a uterus does not mean I will start wearing women’s clothes had been the sharp reply as Harry had crumpled to the floor in agony.

Zayn, it seemed, wasn’t quite picking up on the hints and had insisted on measuring Louis’ circumference only this morning and had announced, with some awe, that he was now sitting at an impressive 46 inches around! “Wow,” Zayn had then teased, “you’re now bigger than Eamonn Holmes!” If looks could kill, Zayn would have been at least on the seventh level of hell.