𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

5. BLACK AND WHITE

[ONE YEAR LATER]

I used to think I was unloveable.

Before the boys, before everything, I figured I was the problem. I mean, how could I not? I was abused and passed around like I was worthless. That was all I knew for years, ever since I was a child. I believed I was unloveable because I was unloved.

And getting a family was one thing. One Direction took me in, gave me a home, gave me safe haven from the storm that was my life. But Louis falling in love with me, all of me, even though I had been though hell and back?

It was something else completely.

He proved over and over again that he was in for the long haul, regardless of what happened. Through everything, Louis loved me. Through the rough patch when I first moved in with the boys, while we were both in stunt relationships, while I was being abused by Donte. He loved me in secret during the second tour, and he loved me in the four year gap when we couldn't legally talk or see each other.

Louis Tomlinson and I were as close to soulmates as two people could get. I knew it, he knew it, and everyone who had ever been around us for any period of time knew it too.

It struck me sometimes, how in love we were. Today, it was striking me as we filled out the paperwork to become foster parents.

"Hey, love?" Louis asked. I looked up from my stack of papers, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?" I smiled softly, waiting for his question.

"This paperwork says that we need to be married," Louis said.

"Does it?" I asked. Louis pointed out where, exactly, in the contract he was talking about.

Sign here to state that you and your partner have been legally married under California law.

"That's..." I trailed off, looking back up at Louis, "kind of an issue considering that we aren't married?"

"Sarah never mentioned this," Louis laughed.

The Sarah in question was a social worker that dealed primarily with placing foster children. She had been working with Louis and I for a few months.

I couldn't have kids. I was told that when I was nineteen, after I accidentally got pregnant and then miscarried. And then I was told again about four months ago, when Louis and I decided that we wanted to try having a child of our own.

After countless tests, medications, and weird diets, the truth became obvious. I was infertile.

Louis and I would never have a child that was biologically ours. And obviously, we were crushed by the news. It took some time for us to wrap our heads around it.

Being foster parents, however, was a much simpler decision. After being passed around in the foster care system for fifteen years, I knew that Louis and I making a contribution could only be a good thing. We were good people, and we were celebrities that would bring light to the issue.

We would take in a child, and keep them safe. That was the main thing. Opening peoples eyes so they saw how broken the foster care system is was a follow up problem.

Anyways, Sarah had failed to mention that Louis and I needed to be married to be eligible foster parents.

"Hold on," Louis said.

"Where are you-?"

"Just one moment, please," Louis said. He slid off of his stool in our kitchen and jogged out of the room. I laughed softly and shook my head.