Alright, Gray was ready to throw in the towel. Her mom and Liam were right, Gray did push herself too hard. She definitely wasn't going to tell them though. That would only make them baby her more. As soon as she got home she spent the first week mostly sleeping and lounging in their den downstairs. Once her body stopped moving she could really tell she was tired. She did needed rest, a lot of it. Since there her belly seemed to blow up in size. Instead of a large bunch of lemons she was moving onto a full force honeydew. Her feet couldn't even be seen anymore. Twenty nine weeks down, eleven to go. Thankfully it just was a week left until she could see Liam. It was only for two days, well not even, but she would take every part she could get.

"Hello," Gray said, answering her phone. Of course it was Liam, he called at least three times a day checking up on her. It was like clockwork.

"Hey baby cakes," Gray smiled.

"You seem to be in a good mood," he purred. Gray smiled bigger and blushed. Damn him and his effects on her.

"I am. Other than watching way too much Dr. Phil and having your child continue to beat my uterus, I'm pretty good." Gray's hand rubbed her round belly, feeling Little One underneath. Lately she felt each kick more and more.

"It's my future football player in there."

"American football there jailbait, only American." She heard him laugh through the line, gosh she missed him.

"You sure you haven't been drinking," Liam asked.

"Hardy Hardy. I get to break out of this joint today, that's probably why." She bit her lip waiting to hear his response. Overprotective Liam wouldn't like her leaving the house one bit.

"Are you sure that is a good idea love?" Bingo, she was right on the money. Sometimes he could be so easy to read.

"Yes your master. The doctor even approved it last week. I have to get out of here and shop. Mom said I can take over the basement so time to build a room for baby," Gray gleamed. She was beyond excited for it. Her whole morning was googling bedding sets and room ideas.

"You sit if you need to though, you hear me? Now what are you planning to decorate." Gray rolled her eyes again, choosing to ignore his first comment. She didn't feel the need to sour mood.

"Bumble bees." As soon as she saw it online, the whole thing clicked. It was original and better than any other unisex patterns.

"Bees, eh? Very busy of you," he chuckled. Gray laughed and groaned at his haphazard attempt at a joke.

"Don't quit your day job Liam," she laughed.

"Never. Got to go love, see you in a week," he sighed.

"Love you, bye baby."

----

Gray was a good girl, so of course she loved shopping but going shopping for your own baby took it to a whole another level. Gloria and her had walked into Babies’ R Us and Gray's eyes lit up. God she missed shopping. She immediately grabbed a cart going aisle through aisle to purchase anything that looked good.

"Mom," she yelled. Gloria came around the corner carrying two boxes of diapers.

"Never too soon for diapers." Gloria threw them in the cart before looking at what Gray had.

"This is in Mom, my bedding." She held up the set. It was a faint yellow and cream color with calm little bumblebee's all over the fabric. It was unbelievably perfect.

"Very calm on the tones, I expected it to be brighter,” Gloria commented.

“Better for the baby. They said too much color confuses their eyes,” Gray told her, not look away from the bedding set. Gloria immediately hugged her tightly.

“My baby has been reading,” she gushed. Gray rolled her eyes. Yes, it was true. Ever since she got home the books were in here hands. TV could only take you so far when you can’t move.

“Alright, alright. Leave your pregnant daughter alone and go buy something,” Gray grumbled. She was on a mission to get that room done before Liam got back, come hell or high water.

----

“Thank you for being a friend, traveling down the road and back again,” Gray sang as she painted the room downstairs. Liam was home tomorrow and she had been working like a mad woman trying to get it all done. All she had left was to finish painting, hang the curtains and wait to sweet talk him into building the crib. Gloria unfortunately nixed the idea of Gray building it real quick. After an hour of fighting about it, Gray gave in. The boys could do it, hopefully.

Gray knew what she was doing, but kept it to herself. She was staying extremely buys just so she didn’t have to think about Liam. It had been far too hard without being around him, but she had to keep it to herself so her whole family wouldn’t worry about her more. Most nights she cried herself to sleep from the hormones and just not seeing his beautiful face every day, thankfully her bedroom was now downstairs so no one caught her in the act. Only a couple more months until they could be together full time and not have to play catch up. Her phone went off across the room making her snap out of her thoughts.

“Hello Liam,” she smiled.

“Love, what are you doing?” He always sounded so concern every time they spoke. Made it sound like she was shooting guns or riding a bull every day.

“Painting, smoking and drinking. You know, the normal stuff.” She walked back over, continued to paint the last wall left.

“Not funny Gray,” he mumbled before changing his tone,” we leave after the show tonight, I’ll be there tomorrow.” Gray felt giddy inside, finally he was coming.

“Well me and this child will be ready and waiting.” She rubbed her belly affectionately. Even though he or she wasn’t even born yet there was definitely a connection between them.

“Good. I may go positively nuts before I get there even,” he laughed into the phone.

“No hurry, we will be here waiting. Love you.” She finished the last tip of the wall and stood back to take a look. The most perfect shade of yellow.

“Gray, are you trying to push me off the phone,” he hummed to her playfully.

“Yes, for a matter of a fact I am. I have some place to be.”

“Where are you going?” Gray rolled her eyes, he should just put a GPS tracker on her at this point.

“Can’t say my friend. I have to finish your birthday present.” Liam would be leaving three days before his actual birthday so she had to move fast. You only turn 22 once.

“I don’t need anything for my birthday, just you,” he told her.

“Too bad friend, you don’t get a choice. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow, bye.” Gray hung up without giving him a chance to respond. IF she didn’t she would never get off the phone. Errands had to be done before anything, than it was relaxing and smooth sailing from there.

----

Gray felt like she woke up pacing. The boys were coming today at some point, but none of them gave her a timeframe. Ever since her phone went off that morning telling her that today was ‘Liam Day’ she couldn’t get herself to settle down. After cleaning the downstairs bathroom, vacuuming, and doing every load of the laundry her body finally felt normal again. Nice and exhausted just the way every other day was.

“Hey Mom,” she announced walking up to the main floor. Gloria was in the kitchen making food. Man she knew them all so well.

“Hey darling. You done making yourself exhausted?” Gray blushed.

“I tried to be quiet,” Gray explained. She really did. After being up at a quarter to five, the last thing she wanted was to wake all the girls. Gloria laughed and waved her off turning back to her baking.

“I bet you are exhausted now.” She looked up from the counter to see Gray in mid yawn. Gray blushed again.

“You are ridiculous mom,” she laughed grabbing a fresh made cookie off the counter. It looked like her mom tons, a bit much for just five boys.

“Have you thought about what we talked about last night,” Gloria asked. She had cornered Gray last night when she got home for her shopping trip. Gloria had been talking more with Mila since the whole incident. She knew Gray needed to work it out with one of her closest friends. They had gone back and forth about it, to the point of yelling but got nowhere. Gray told her she would sleep on it, so of course Gloria was going to bring it up.

“I don’t know mom, really. Can I get through the next couple of days and let you know?” Gray knew it was a copout, but she hoped it would at least get her mom off her for a bit.

“That’s fine, but I invited her to your baby shower.” The cookie Gray was about to eat fell out of her hand and on to the ground. What baby shower and why Mila? She didn’t know whether to cry or yell.

“Baby shower,” she whispered out.

“Yes. Your first baby, you need a shower no matter how rich your fiancé is,” Gloria told her. Gray was about to speak when Gloria cut her off again.

“You cannot talk yourself out of it so don’t even try. It’s happening. Listen sweetie, why don’t you quick get a nap in before they all show up, it would be good for the baby.” Gray knew her mother was doing it on purpose. She always knew how to drop down a bombshell then play it off like nothing happened. Throughout her whole life she did it with Gray, especially when she was pregnant with the girls. Such a motherly cop out.

“We will be talking about this later mom, right now I’m pretty pissed at you,” Gray barked. She stole two more cookies from the counter before heading back downstairs. It was practically her own apartment down there now, minus the kitchen. It was nice to have her own space where she couldn’t be bothered. Gray sat herself slowly down on the couch and flipped through the TV channels hoping to find something to watch and clear her head. For once she just wished Gloria would mind her own business and let Gray do what she needs to do. She huffed knowing that would never happen, Gloria could be ninety six and in her deathbed and still be ordering her around. She sighed and laid down into the couch, snuggling deep. A nap is what she needed though. It would be nice to clear her head and get some rest before they all showed. An hour cat nap never killed anymore. Gray quickly grabbed her phone and sent him a message.

Me: Hurry up fool : ) Taking a cat nap, see you soon. Love you

She tossed her phone on the coffee table and closed her eyes. Once she woke up it would only be a matter of time until he was here.

----

The doorbell rang an hour later making Gloria smile. Finally those rowdy boys were here to drive her insane and eat all her food. They should be thanking their lucky stars that she loved them so much. Gloria hurried to the door, opening it up to see all five boys smiling brightly back at her.

“My boys,” she cheered as they circled her pulling her in for a group hug.

“We have missed our Momma Gloria,” Louis told her. Niall and Harry were the first to break away heading for the food she had sitting out.

“We have missed you all too. Enjoy it now, you have a quiet household.” She ushered them all in giving Liam and extra hug as he came in last.

“Where are the girls,” Zayn piped up.

“Grace and Gillian are at dance for another hour. Gray is probably still sleeping downstairs.” Liam didn’t even take another second to hear what she had to say before opening the basement door and quickly walking down. His hands were sweaty just like the first time they met. She always had that effect on him after all this time. Liam never told her, but he was still nervous to speak or even be near her after they had been away for so long.

Only the glare of the TV was lighting up the room, everything else was dark. He slowly walked over to the couch in the middle of the room to see Gray and curled up, her body sleeping away. It crushed his heart to see her, she was so beyond beautiful. Every part about her was breathtaking. Liam walked around, sitting by head very carefully not wanting to wake her up just yet. He knew he should since they were on limited time but it was hard not to. It took all his might not to lie down next to her and fall asleep too. He shook off those feelings, too late for that Liam wanted to speak to hear her beautiful voice. His fingers brushed lightly down her cheek a few times before she stirred. Gray’s eyes popped open staring at him. It only took a few seconds before her face erupted in a smile.

“Hi baby,” he whispered to her. Gray stayed in place, not quite sure if he was real or a dream. Liam could tell she was tense, he dipped down placing a single kiss on her cheek.

“Hi,” her voice cracked, full of sleep. She realized it was him, he was real. Her eyes immediately filled with tears that overfilled on to her cheeks.

“Oh love, please don’t cry,” he told her, washing away the tears with his thumbs.

“Sorry, I’m just really happy to see you.” She grabbed his hands, tightly interlocking their fingers together. His warm skin felt amazing against hers. Gray couldn’t stop looking at his face. It looked like he got some rest too. The bags under his eyes were gone and he had more color in his cheeks.

“I’m happy to see you too love. Gosh I have missed you.” He leaned forward, resting his head on hers. It was a completely awkward position since she was on her side but Liam didn’t care. He had an overwhelming urge to touch her as much as possible. Gray reached up, running her hand through his hair.

“You got a haircut jailbait.”

“I did, had to look good for my lady.” Gray groaned and rubbed her eyes. He was definitely back in her house.

“Vomit. Where are the boys?” Liam pointed upstairs.

“Help me up, I need to go see them.” Gray tossed back the blanket showing off her large belly. Liam’s eyes went huge just seeing it. She really did grow over these past few weeks. Her poor short frame was taken over their child.

“Yeah, your kid needs to stop growing,” she giggled, rubbing her hand over her belly. Liam reached down, picking her up like she was helpless.

“Liam, whoa. You can put me down, I can walk pretty good right now.” Liam said nothing while he placed her back on the floor. Gray smiled and looked up at him, pressing her belly against his.

“You okay there jailbait,” Gray whispered. He wrapped his arms around her, barely are to reach in the back.

“You look amazing,” he smiled.

“Good call, good call.” She was for sure that he was going to call her big. Gray grabbed his hand and headed to the door ready to go upstairs. She held on to the railing while Liam supported her butt from behind.

“That’s not help Liam.” Gray stopped and winked at him. Liam gave her a squeeze and smiled. She decided to ignore him and trekked up the stairs to the landing. The boys were spread between the kitchen and living room.

“Hey!” They all stopped to look at her making their eyes go just as big as Liam’s was.

“Holy cow Gray,” Niall mumbled out. None of them could take their eyes off her belly. It was making Gray blush and feel quite uncomfortable, she tried to cover her belly with her hands but it didn’t help what so ever.

“Guys, just a stomach filled with a child, that’s it,” Gray nervously laughed trying to get them to lay off. Liam caught the hint and moved in front of her.

“Alright mates, stop being weird and respect the lady.” Gray pinched his butt quickly before walking over and joining Niall at the breakfast bar.

“Your mom makes the best cookies ever,” he sighed. Gray giggled, grabbing one for herself.

“How’s he been?” She lowered her voice so he wouldn’t hear her. Liam was sitting by Zayn on the kitchen table and she could feel his eyes on her body.

“Actually pretty good, I don’t want to be mean but I think the separation was good for you. He is normal again, for a loser, and you look better,” Niall explained.

“Of course I do, I’m not stuck in a sling anymore.” Niall shook his head.

"His kid. Damn thing won't leave me alone," she smiled.

"What did you get him for his birthday," Niall whispered not wanting Liam to hear.

"Can't say, it's a secret." Gray was staying tight lipped on that one. She thought long and hard on his present knowing it was the best thing she could get him.

"I can't get a hint," he begged giving her the biggest puppy dog face her could muster. It made Gray laugh just looking at him like that.

"No one else in the world has it." She could see his brain searching for an answer but there was no way he would ever guess, not ever.

----

Gray finished up in the bathroom and headed to bed. Liam was already there, sitting up and checking his phone. He put it away as soon as she walked in the room. The boys went back to the hotel awhile ago after getting bombarded by Grace and Gillian. It felt just like old times to her, having the whole family back together again. They were able to sit around and relax without having to worry about fans or paparazzi. She could tell that night on how relax everyone was. It made her feel good to know that everyone was still a team together even after all these days.

"What are you thinking about?" Gray snapped out her thought and smiled over at him.

"How much I love my family, all of them." Gray stripped off her shirt and shorts and climbed into bed next to him in just a sports bra and undies. Liam raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you doing there love," he flirtatiously asked. Liam moved down the bed putting his hands on her body. She snuggled into him enjoying his touch.

"I get too hot," Gray simply told him. It was true, her body fried sleeping with clothes on now. Liam's lips found her neck making her squirm some more.

"You could take if all off. I would be more then happy to enjoy you in you birthday suit." His voice tickled her neck. Oh! His present! Gray quickly sat up, well for a pregnant lady, and got out of bed. Liam looked at her with an amused but worried look.

"I have your present," Gray excitedly yelled. She walked over to her dresser and bent down.

"Pregnancy plie. Down, and up." She told him, keeping her back straight and moving down to grab the small wrapped box and then back up. She walked over the bed and sat down.

"Sit up jailbait, this is important." Liam did as he was told, moving up against the backboard.

"I didn't know what to get you since you practically have everything in the world that I can afford so I got you something that no one else has." She handed over the box to him. Liam slowly opened it, keeping his eyes on her.
"You didn't need to buy me anything love," he murmured out.

"I didn't buy squat now hurry up and open it." Liam tore off the rest of the paper but paused before he opened the box.

"Liam, quit stalling and get on it," she shouted. The suspense was killing her. He took off the top only to see a small envelope inside.

"What is this?" Gray took a breath before talking.

"I was thinking about what to get you and I knew of one thing no one else had. In that envelope you hold to power to know the gender of our child." Liam choked in a breath. They made decision when they first found out about Little One to not find out the sex. Now Gray was giving him all the power. That never happened with her. Sure she went along with what he said, but when she could control anything Gray was all for it.

"And you aren't going to look," he asked her.

"Correct, I want to be shocked when Little One comes out." Gray was beyond giddy for him to open it. She secretly hoped his response would give her a clue on the sex, even though part of her still wanted it to be a surprise. Liam carefully open the envelope and pulled out the paper making sure she couldn't see. Gray watched him from the other side. He couldn't of moved any slower right now. Liam read the paper and smiled. His whole face lit up making Gray smile too.

"It is okay? Will it work with our name," she asked frantically. She needed answers! Liam reached up kissing her face with a passion. It was a ploy to make her be quiet and to show her how much he loved her.

"Yes and yes." There was no way he couldn't stop smiling now. Gray took a sigh of relief. She loved the name they picked out, things were perfect with this.

"Good present," she whispered over to him. Gray moved closer sitting next to him so their skin touched from shoulder to their feet.

"Very good." Liam leaned over and kissed her. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder enjoying the moment and the silence. Little One took the moment to start beating this piss of her stomach too. It made her smile realizing it would be Liam's first time feeling it.

"Give me your hand," she told him, keeping her eyes closed. Liam placed his palm in hers. She moved it down to the lower part of her belly just inches down from her belly button. Gray pushed his hand down right in the sweet spot hoping he could feel it.
"Oh my god," he whispered. Liam moved down closer pushing his hand down more. Gray could tell he was absolutely enthralled with it. She forgot how amazing little miracles could be. Gray was so used to Little One beating on her but for Liam it was brand new. She was enjoying the moment until she saw Liam crying.

"Hey baby, you okay," Gray asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He sat up and turned away from her trying to get himself together.

"I should have been here for you Gray. I shouldn't be traveling around while you sit here. This isn't far to either of us." His voice was so low it actually made Gray nervous. They went from being at the top of the world to practically buried six feet under. Gray moved closer to him putting her arm around his shoulder.

"No Liam it's fine. I think it was good for both of us for me to be here instead of with you. I got rest, you got rest, it worked out well."

"We wouldn't even have been in this place if it wasn't for me. I got you pregnant and injured much more then you should have. Think about it Gray, you've been in the hospital twice because of me. That is not okay," he cried out. Gray gripped him tighter letting his head rest on her shoulder.

"Please, you need to stop blaming yourself Liam. We've been going at this for a while now, anything that happens to me is a group thing, not just you. I was there for our fun time in the hallway that got us pregnant. I was on the bus because I wanted to be with you, even if that meant getting thrown in the hospital." Gray explained him, hopefully he was getting it.

"What about the first time Gray? When you got attacked and knocked out by teenagers," he sobbed at her, looking up at her face. Gray waved him off.

"That was an oversight. Freak accident. And it's in the past Liam, you have to move past this," Gray told him. It didn't seem to help though, Liam was still distraught. Gray lightly pushed him off and climbed back up the bed.

"Come on, get up here." She ordered him. Liam crawled up next to her and she covered him up. Their usual position didn't' work very well anymore for cuddling but she didn't care. Gray cuddled into his body letting her belly rest against his hips.

"I love you Liam, no matter what happened to us." She kissed his bare chest hoping he would get the memo through his thick skull.

"I'm sorry Gray," Liam whispered out. Gray sat up staring him down.

"Don't you dare say you are sorry. You have given me a life I would have never imagined and it's been amazing, even through the worst part. I never regret what has happened, it's only made us stronger. I love you, every bit of you. Everything we have gone through, cried through and smiled through. You have given me the world and I can never thank you enough for that." She reached up kissing him.

"You are the best person in this world." He told her and gave her a weak smile. Thank God she was able to break through his mood. Gray cuddled back into him again and sighed.

"I'll tell you now, Mom is throwing me a baby shower in a couple of weeks." She knew he wouldn't be able to come but felt the need to keep him in the loop.

"We will be in Canada," he bleakly said. Gray nodded in acceptance.

"I know, but as the father of this child and the love of my life you deserved to know. Now shut it and go to sleep, you have a concert tomorrow." She reached over switching off the soft glow of the lamp and curled back into him. Both fell asleep holding each other like the always did. Holding on for dear life.

Notes

Title Creds: "With or Without You" by U2.

I apologize now for any grammar mistakes. I'm super sleepy but wanted to get this up tonight. I hate when other stories make you want for DAYS to get an update. Now that football season is on, my Friday nights are spent cheering on my cousin at the football fields. I'll try to get it up more!

With that, time for a poll. YAY OR NAY on a spin off story from this one. Yes, no, maybe so? The idea popped in my head today at work. It would involve and mainly be around another guy in 1D but still have Liam and Gray involved. Too much or a good idea?? Let me know below!

:D