Single Father (Ziall Horlik) AU

Chapter 9

Zayn's POV

I woke up startled when I felt this sudden burst of a reminder I had actually fallen into a deep sleep and hadn't tended to my daughter in who knows how long. My arms were also empty and I knew that I had Niall in them when I fell asleep. I honestly don't know how that happened that I wanted to hold him, but I'm not going to try and figure it out.

My eyes looked over to the baby play pen to see if Laila was in there, but it was empty. That's what made me jump out of bed and run to the door. My heart was pounding in my chest and the only thought going through my head was somehow the lawyer from the hospital made a mistake with the papers I signed and now he took my daughter. He probably took Niall too just because he was taking cute things.

I ran into the kitchen where I had just heard a cabinet being shut. I was met with Niall working at the stove cooking something with Laila in her carrier right by his feet. She had a pacifier in her mouth and she was just looking up at Niall like he was the greatest thing she's ever seen. I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. That got Niall's attention on me, but his happy smile fell when he looked at me. He turned off the stove and came over to get my trembling hands in his.

"You look like you're going to be sick. Are you not feeling well?" He asked me. He reached up and rest his hand on my forehead and cheek, but looked puzzled when he didn't feel anything. I shook my head and leaned against the wall to take a few deep breaths.

"I didn't know where Laila was. I thought he came and took her from me. I also didn't know how long I slept and I thought she starved to death because I slept through her crying and didn't feed her." I told Niall. My throat closed up a little like I wanted to cry over this, but Niall's thumbs running across my knuckles softly comforted me. His blue eyes were looking at me with allot of concern and also allot of care.

"Who would take Laila from you?" He asked me seriously. I looked over at my daughter then back to the caring man in front of me. He pulled me over to sit down at the kitchen table and got Laila in his arms before sitting in the chair next to me.

"I just have this irrational fear that something is going to go wrong with legal things and child services will take her from me. I'm scared I'm not doing a good enough job with her and she'll be taken from me. Even now I gave every reason for her to be taken because I slept and left her alone with someone I really don't know." I said. Hearing it out loud made me kind of sound crazy, but it still felt like something to be afraid of. I love my daughter more than air, I can't imagine if someone took her from me just because I'm still slowly figuring out how to be a father.

"Do you see her, Zayn? She's well fed, clean, she has fresh clothes and she has blankets. There's no reason for child services to step in and take her. As for the legal side of things, everything is finalized and she's yours. I wasn't there when you signed the papers and I didn't know what they looked like, but know that even for a second if something went wrong and you had to fight for custody, I'd be there to vouch for the fact you're the best father in this world." Niall said in the strongest tone he's ever spoken in. In a way, I felt my uneasiness go away because of his words.

"Thank you, Niall." I whispered. He gave me a look like it wasn't a big deal, when really he just put my greatest fears to rest. He gave me Laila and went back to whatever he was cooking. He also reached over to the small television on his counter to turn on the morning news.

Soon both of us were sitting at the table eating omelets that Niall had prepared while watching the news report on the weather. The storm that hit was supposed to pass through one more time then it would be up to the sun to melt the snow. Occasionally under the table, Niall would playfully kick my foot and give me a smile that I couldn't help but return. Then I would kick him back and pretend like I didn't do anything. In other words, we were acting like children and Laila was just happily in her carrier watching us.