Eight days later

I woke up feeling well slept. But what I quickly realized gave me a heart attack. My kids were missing. I sat up too quick and a rush of pain hit my head. I groaned and fell back. Cursing, I sat up again and threw my legs over the edge of the bed, sitting at the edge. Niall was absent as well. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and reached for my phone, sending a message to me.

Me: Where are you? The kids are gone and I’m sorta freaking out…

Thankfully he responded quickly, lowering my risk of a heart attack.

Niall: I took them down for breakfast. I didn’t want to wake you because you looked so tired….

I rolled my eyes though he couldn’t see and texted him back.

Me: You could’ve left me a note or something.

Niall: Sorry. Are you going to come down for breakfast or shall I bring some food up for you?

Me: Can you bring it up?

Niall: What am I? Your slave?

Me: You just offered to do it…

Niall: Haha I know. I was kidding. I’ll bring you food. Gotta eat. Love you

Me: Love you too



Now that I had my breakfast coming up to me, I could relax. Knowing my kids were safe and sound was a relief. I stood up and made my way to the bathroom. After finishing my morning routine, I dressed myself in a random white graphic shirt and jean shorts, then plunged back into bed. What? It was comfy.

Niall, the kids and I had had much fun over the past two weeks. We had visited the Universal Studios and SeaWorld in San Diego. SeaWorld was a bit of a disaster though. I ended up vomiting after seeing the dolphins. Nothing was disgusting about the dolphins, but after vomiting, I felt incredibly weird and sick. Just yesterday we had gone to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It was such a beautiful piece of architecture. I has about a million pictures of it on my phone and about two million pictures of the bridge on my camera. Too bad I had had a wave of nausea come over me, causing myself to remain reserved the entire trip.

Not long after, the two troublemakers and the king of all troublemakers came marching back into the room singing “99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall”.

“Eighty six bottles of beer on the wall, eighty six bottle of beer, take one down and pass it around, eighty five bottle of beer on the wall,” Colette sang, climbing onto the bed. She began jumping up and down, making my head throb even more.

“Eighty five bottle of beer on the wall, eighty five bottle of beer, take one down and pass it around, eighty four bottle of beer on the wall.” Nate continued. Okay, they were driving me insane. Niall added in the next verse and I glared at him, but grinned when I saw a plate of food in his hand.

And Nicolette and Nate sat on the floor of the room singing the incredibly annoying song in the background; Niall came forward and placed the plate of food in my lap.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, pressing his lips to my forehead.

“My head hurts and they’re kind of making it worse,” I admitted, picking up the fork. I stabbed it into the sausage patty and cut some off.

“Alright you two,” Niall yelled, turning to them. “It’s time to stop. Mum isn’t feeling well and she’d like it if you two were quiet.”

Nicolette stopped singing instantly and pulled herself up, running to my side. Nate followed her and they both climbed onto the bed.

“Are you okay, mum?” Colette asked, grabbed my face in her tiny hands. Nate poked my nose and pulled on it. Niall backed away and clapped a hand over his mouth to cover a laugh. I giggled and shooed they’re hands away from my face.

“I’m fine,” I laughed lightly, kissing each of their cheeks before playfully pushing them away. They got off the bed and settled on the floor to watch a random kid show.

Niall climbed into the bed like a ninja and settled under the covers beside me as I ate my breakfast. He kept staring at me and I decided to ignore him until he began picking food off my plate.

“Can you not?” I smirked, holding the plate away from him.

“What?” he shrugged. “I need attention.” He laughed and managed to kiss my cheek before his turned his attention to the show that Nate and Colette were watching.

After finishing my breakfast, I stood up to go throw the plate away, just as my phone vibrated with a text. I picked it up as I walked to the trashcan. I looked down to see who had sent to message and couldn’t help but feel my heart race.

Jace: hey! Hope you don’t mind that I’m texting you. How are you?

I hesitated to answer back but decided on it anyway.

Me: Great. Just had a nice breakfast. What about you?

Jace: Just got to the café. Another long day for me I guess.

Me: sounds fun?

Jace: Anything but! Do you think we could hang out later today? Of course, if you’re busy, it’s definitely okay.

I answered before second guessing myself. It’s not like we had anything planned today anyways.

Me: I’d love to hang out. Where should me meet and when?

Jace: There’s this little cafe that I love to go to. It’s by my place. Do you remember where I live.. It’s around there. I’ll send you the address. Meet me there at one pm?

Seconds later he sent me an address to a place called Calla’s Corner.

Me: Okay! Thanks. I’ll see you there.

Jace: Yeah see ya! Gotta get to work. Bye!



I sat back down on the bed and placed my phone on the night table. I glanced over at Niall to see him string back at me. He looked away when our eyes met.

I sensed that he was wondering who I was texting but didn’t want to ask. I debated on telling him that I was in touch with Jace but decided against it. Who knows what Niall might do? He could be very protective when he wanted to, and when he got protective, things could get ugly.

I snuggled against Niall and his arm wrapped around my shoulder instinctively. He looked over at me and smiled before he pressed his lips to mine. Our lips moved together in sync and if Nicolette hadn’t laughed loudly at the television, I would’ve forgotten the kids were in the same room as us. I kissed Niall’s lips quickly and gave him a warning look, gesturing to the children.
He chuckled lightly and pulled away.

“I love you,” he whispered, wrapping both arms around me.

“I love you, too.” I replied, resting my head on his shoulder.

An hour later, all four of us were engaged in The Cat in the Hat Knows A lot About That. Niall looked so deep into the show and Colette and Nate were laughing at some joke the Cat had just said. I was having fun until My face started to feel warm and I felt as if a storm was building up in my stomach. A wave of nausea came over me and I sat up and took deep breaths, trying to calm my body down. When I realized that it wasn’t working, I rushed into the bathroom and shut the door just as the vomit made its way out of my mouth, straight into the toilet. I leaned into the toilet bowl and hurled everything I had just eaten. I couldn’t stop myself from throwing up. The vomit kept coming and coming and my stomach ached.

I heard loud knocking on the door and Niall calling my name, but I was too busy throwing up to answer him. Before I knew it, he had walked in, closing the door.

“Oh my god.” He gasped, rushing to my side. My head hung over the toilet as I vomited more rapidly than before. Niall cursed beside me, gathering my hair and pulling it back while rubbing my back with the other hand. I must have sat there for five more minutes or so, just throwing up. I tried to tell Niall to leave but he resisted, continuing to whisper soothing things to me in attempt to make me stop throwing up. When my body finally calmed down, My whole head hurt even more than before, so much that I started crying.

Niall left me for a bit and came back into the bathroom with a bottle of water.

“Here you go,” he said softly, uncapping to bottle and putting it to my lips. I took the bottle from him and chugged down the water, trying to get the nasty taste of vomit out of my mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry you had to see me that way.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he smiled, pushing my hair back. “It’s okay. Maybe that hotel food didn’t go too well for you?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, leaning my head against the wall. “Did the kids hear?”
Niall shook his head. “They were too busy watching T.V.”

“Thank god.” I sighed, running my hands up and down my cheeks.

“Are you okay now?” Niall asked, lifting my chin up so I was looking at him. I nodded, though I still felt a bit a nausea.

“I know you’re lying.” He said, caressing my hair. “You’re face is really pale.”

“I still feel sick.” I sighed, taking a sip of water.

“Want to go lay down?” Niall asked, standing up. I nodded and grabbed his extended hand following him back into the bedroom. Nate and Nicolette were still facing the television, oblivious to what had just happened. I was glad. I knew that if they had seen me, they would be freaking out.

“Are you feeling cold? Do you think you have a fever?” Niall asked, pressing the back of his hand to my forehead once I was in bed.

“No,” I shook my head. “I feel normal. It was probably just the breakfast.”

“Okay.” Niall nodded, pressing his lips to my forehead. He left his lips there for a while before pulling away. “This is the second time you’ve vomited since we came to California. And yesterday you were feeling a lot of nausea. Are you sure you’re not sick or something?”

“Trust me,” I smiled. “I’m okay.”

Niall gave me an uncertain nod and headed back into the bathroom, probably to disinfect the area. I rested my head on the pillow and grabbed for the water bottle again, chugging down more water. Niall came out of the bathroom about ten minutes later and sat on the bed with me. He mindlessly played with my hair the way he always did and began humming softly.

When The Cat in the Hat show was finished, Nate and Nicolette complained of boredom so Niall decided to take them down to the game room.

“You sure you’ll be alright?” Niall asked as he slipped on his shoes.

“For the thousandth time, yes, I’ll be okay.” I laughed, pushing him away. He smiled and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

“Hey, by the way, our flight is tomorrow night, right?” I asked, looking up at him. He nodded.

“Yes. Why?”

“I was just thinking I should start packing.”

“No,” Niall protested with a frown. “You need to rest.”

I rolled my eyes.”Niall I’m perfectly fine.”

“I know,” he sighed. “But I’m worried about you, even if you say you’re fine. I just don’t want you to throw up again and me not be here.”

“I’ll be okay.” I assured, getting up and pushing him out the door with Nate and Colette. He blew me a kiss from down the hall and I blew one back, shutting the door afterward.

Being the disobedient person that I am, I began to take the clothes that had been worn by my children and husband, and folded them neatly into a stack of clothes. I unzipped one of the empty suitcases and put the clothes in, when I spotted something in the corner of the suitcase. It was a box of tampons. At first, it didn’t strike me as anything important. I placed the clothes inside the suitcase and started humming a random tune when I realized something. Those tampons were meant to be used the day I came to California. I was supposed to get my period the day that we came here. Which meant I was late by two weeks.

Crap.

That would explain the vomiting, and the headaches, and the fatigue. As I connected the pieces together, there was only one possible conclusion that I had in mind. One that was a bit frightening, yet not too much, since I had already had experience.

I was pregnant.

I picked up the box of tampons and stared at them. I was pregnant. I was pregnant. Pregnant.

Pregnant.

A third child. A family of five. Another baby to care for. Another Horan added to the family.
I sat put the box of tampons neatly into the suitcase and zipped to suitcase shut, leaning back against the wall. I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to steady my breathing. I just couldn’t grasp the concept. I hadn’t been pregnant in almost four years. It had been so long, yet I was so sure I was pregnant.

I wonder what Niall would say.

I walked into the bathroom and subconsciously raised my shirt up in front of the mirror, staring at my stomach. Was there a human growing inside there? Was it possible that my stomach could be ten times as big nine months from now?

A good hour must have passed as I stood there, thinking and thinking about being pregnant. I didn’t know how I felt. Happy, or excited, or scared. Or maybe I felt all of those things.

Wait, what was I thinking?

I couldn’t even be sure I was pregnant. I could take a pregnancy test, but it wasn’t like I had one here with me. Plus, those things weren’t even reliable. I was jumping to conclusions too quickly.

“We’re back!” Niall called from the doorway. I pulled my shirt back down in a rush and hurried outside to greet them. When Niall saw me coming out of the bathroom his expression became worried.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Fine.” I smiled. “I promise nothing happened.”

“Hi mum.” Nate grinned, running up to me. He gave me a hug around my legs and smiled up at me. I grinned and picked him up.

“Hi, babe.” I kissed his hair and set him back down. Nicolette had Niall’s phone in her hand so I assumed she was playing Fruit Ninja. She was obsessed with that game.

Nate went to her side and watched as she sliced fruit while Niall walked up to me.

“You’re acting weird.” He stated, resting his hands on my hips. “Do you have something you want to tell me? Is everything alright?”

Did he know I was pregnant? I was internally freaking out.

“Um, y-yeah,” I stammered, gulping several times. Niall looked at me, waiting for me to go on. “Y-You see, I-I k-kinda might…I might… well… I thought you would be mad…”

“Ari,” Niall said softly, holding my face in his hands. “Calm down. Just tell me. I won’t be mad at you.”

“I…I,” I stammered, unable to get the words out. “I-I….”

“Ari,” Niall grabbed my hands and squeezed them gently. “Take a deep breath.”

I did what he said and took a million deep breaths.

I was ready. I was going to tell him I was probably pregnant. See his reaction. I exhaled.

“I’m seeing Jace for lunch.” I blurted.

Wait, what the hell?

Niall coughed and dropped my hands, clearly surprised. Hell we were both surprised. That was not what I was planning on telling him.

Niall blinked at me.

“Come again?”



Niall’s P.O.V.

I was so sure she was going to tell me she was pregnant. It seemed wrong at the time, but it made sense. She had been a little crabby over the past week, snapping at Colette and Nate and even me at random times. She had been a little fatigue and not to mention, she had thrown up twice. Though she claimed she was fine, I knew by looking at those blue eyes of hers, something was different.

Something that had happened four years ago.

I was so sure she was pregnant, but she hadn’t brought it up. And now, telling me she was in touch with Jace was a whole other story to worry about.

“I’m going to see Jace for lunch today.” She repeated.

“Since when were you talking to him?” I demanded as calmly as possible. The idea of my princess hanging out with someone who had ditched her for eighteen years of her life made me feel iffy.

“At the restaurant in Disneyland.” She admitted, blushing a little. “We exchanged numbers. He did know who I was, but I think he was just trying to get a moment alone to talk to me.”

“I don’t trust him,” I told her, to the point. “I don’t want you going to see him.”

“Come on Niall,” Aria sighed, taking my hand. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Oh, I do,” I nodded. “It’s Jace I don’t trust.”

“Why not?” she argued. “He’s pretty much like my brother.”

“Yeah, eighteen years ago he was. You haven’t talked to him in so long. Who knows what kind of person he’s become?”

Aria frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s not fair. You can’t just insult him when you don’t know him. Jace is a really nice guy. You would be really good friends with him if you actually took the time to get to know him.”

“You’re talking like you’ve spent a lot of time with him before.”

“Uh duh,” Aria snorted. “Of course I have. Listen Niall, you’re pissing me off so I’m just going to go call a cab myself.”

Symptom number five for being pregnant: she gets pissed easily. Normally she can keep her cool. Trust me, I know my wife.

“Fine,” I sighed. “Just please stay safe and don’t hesitate to kick him in the crotch if he so much as touches you.”

Aria laughed and pressed a long kiss to my lips. “You’re hilarious.”

“You know it.” I grinned, kissing her lips back. She giggled with that beautiful smile of hers and went off to get dressed.

Symptom number six for being pregnant: mood swings. One minute she’s pissed, the next minute, she’s giggling and smiling like a child.

It might have just been me over analyzing everything, but I was quite as sure as hell that Aria was pregnant again. I didn’t know why she’s hiding it, why she wasn’t telling me. But then again, I couldn’t be too sure. Sure, she might be acting a little different than usual, but maybe it’s because she’s sick or something. Maybe she’s not pregnant and we’ll just continue having our family of four.

Screw it.

My wife is pregnant.

Notes

So..... Aria might be pregnant? What do you think? Another Horan added to the family? What do you think will happen when Aria and Jace meet up in the next chapter? Do you think Aria is really pregnant??? A CHAPTER OR A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!