Single Father (Ziall Horlik) AU

Chapter 15

Niall's POV

The project on expanding the shelter lasted about a week of all of us working day and night with the contractors. The shelter had received a huge donation from Liam's church knowing that hundreds of families would need a place to stay. The actual hard work begin the day after me and Zayn's first date. As I worked, I relived the date over and over again because of how wonderful it was. It was the only thing that kept me from feeling my arm muscles ache and the cold winter air hitting me as I worked to build the add on sleeping area. Unfortunately, the week that I spent just thinking about Zayn was all I got.
I hadn't seen him or Laila in a full week and I was almost in physical pain from missing them. I had called Zayn every night when we all got our longest break for dinner. He told me how much he missed me and also that Laila was missing me too. Zayn said she was fussing and there was nothing she needed. That alone made me feel like a horrible person.

"Niall, can you go make sure everyone is in the new area comfortably?" Anne asked me. I nodded and left mopping the dinning room floor to go to the new sleeping quarters we literally just finished today at lunch. I has to stop in the hall to lean against the wall because my head spun for a minute before I continued on.

There were hundreds of people laying on the very cheep cots we had in there, but all of them looked beyond grateful to have that. I smiled and went through each row of beds telling everyone it was going to be lights out soon. The new building was nice because it had better lighting than the other one so we could have a little nightlight on the wall for the kids that were afraid of the dark. It was also exciting that we finished it now because Christmas is in three days.

"Niall!" One of the little kids yelled and came running to me. I picked him up the second he was at my feet and looked at him. I could tell he was freshly washed and had some new clothes on. That alone made me smile because I knew I helped that be possible for him.

"Are you ready to go to bed?" I asked him. He nodded and rest his head on my shoulder. He was about three years old, but I knew he was more mature for his age because of all he's been through in those short years. With kids like him, it's nice when they openly trust me to hold them or play with them because that's what being a child is. It's not about feeling hungry and begin worried if you'll have to sleep in the cold. I took him back to his mum who was trying to get together some nice work clothes for tomorrow.

"I have a job interview tomorrow. Jackson, get in your bed darling." His mum told me. I set Jackson in his bed and ruffled up his hair. I tickled him and covered him up with the blankets before giving him a kiss on the forehead. I sat on the cot next to him and soothingly ran my fingers up and down his back to get him to sleep then looked over at his mum who was watching me with a smile.

"Do you have any children of your own? Or younger siblings?" His mum asked me. I looked at her son and felt my heart break because as much as I wanted to say I have a cute two month old daughter named Laila, I couldn't. Zayn made it clear to me that I was only his boyfriend and not any type of parental figure when we were at the shop and he didn't want to me buy Laila clothes. No one understands how much I love her and how much I wished I could be her dad too. That's not how things work in the real world. You can't just say kids are yours just because you love them and would cut off your right arm if they needed it.

"No, I don't have kids. I just really love them all though." I told the woman. She smiled at me and sat on her cot to get me to look at her. Her deep brown eyes looked at me like there was so much she wanted to say but no words.

"Jackson really loves coming here to see you. When his father died, he always asked me where he was. He never trusted another male enough to just run over and let himself get picked up. Thank you for being there for my family. All of you here are amazing, but it's you that pushed me to getting the job interview I have tomorrow and that helped Jackson be happy again. You're an angel and will make a wonderful husband and father someday soon." She told me. I pulled her in for a hug because there was nothing I could say back to her. As much as I wanted to tell her thank you for those words, I knew I didn't deserve them. This was my job to be here and to work. It was a job I loved because I could help these families. This shelter is about telling people they are able to move on and pick up the pieces of their lives, it's not about having them all feel sorry for themselves because of this.