Little Misunderstandings [Sequel to Little Steps]

I sat on my bed, staring at the scrapbook. Niall was bringing Nicolette home and would be here soon. The only thing that the picture and the threat made me think about was almost six years ago, when I received countless text messages and notes from an anonymous person. Niall and I still hadn’t found out who had sent those messages. I wondered if it was the same person helping Scarlett. Then again, she was the only person who ever called me Ri.

The note on the picture had told me to look for a secret page. I had literally been sitting here for two hours, trying to find a hidden page. How could Scarlett have even made a hidden page in the first place? I groaned and lifted the heavy scrapbook onto my lap.

Think, Aria. Think. Where would Scar hide a secret page? It had to be something different from the rest of the scrapbook. I had already checked front and back covers. Everything on the inside was just pictures of Scarlett, our mom and I. Nothing in the scrapbook was different other than that. I buried my head in my hands, trying to think. What was something that was not like the others? What was a unique part of the scrapbook that could be a hiding place for a secret page?

And then it hit me.

Cliché, but suddenly, I remembered the one picture of us as a whole family. One picture that contained my father. I rapidly flipped through the many pages, trying to find the page with the picture.

When I reached the page, I began searching. I looked for a seal, or anything that looked like a double edge. I couldn’t find anything. I groaned loudly and searched deeper, trying to find a damn secret page. Finally, I went with my last choice to take the picture out altogether.

Jackpot.

There it was. An opening to the secret page was hidden under the “real page”. I carefully ripped open the page from the side and there it was. The hidden page. Clever hiding place, but not clever enough for me.

On the page was a single line that nearly made me throw the entire scrapbook to the ground.

Stupid little Ri. There’s nothing here for you to see, but once the damage is done, I know you’ll hate me.


What other kind of fucking damage could Scarlett possibly do? She could have killed my daughter, and did hurt her. Nicolette’s bedroom window was covered with a freaking plastic table cover for god’s sake. In all my anger, I slammed the scrapbook shut and shoved in back into the bottom drawer of the night table.

“Aria, we’re home!” I heard Niall yell suddenly. I was so deep into finding the stupid secret page that I hadn’t realized Niall and Nicolette had come home. Nate had gone to Chrissy’s house again, and now that Niall was home, I would need to go get him as well.

I hurried downstairs to see my daughter. She looked a bit tired but that little mischievous smile of hers was back on her face. Her arm was wrapped tightly with a white bandage and it held her arm out stiff.

“Look mum,” Nicolette grinned. “I’m a zombie.”

I shot her a sympathetic smile and took her into my arms, hugging her carefully. She kissed my cheek and wrapped her good arm around my neck.

“Ni, can you go get Nate from Chrissy’s?” I asked, more of an instruction. He nodded and pecked my lips before walking out the front door.

Nicolette jumped down from my arms and pulled me into the living room with her good arm. She sat me down of the sofa and began telling me about her time at the hospital.

“I was in the ambulance and it went ‘wee-woo, wee-woo.’” Nicolette explained. She seemed so happy about such a terrible concept. Nicolette commanded me to sit down so she could tell me all of hospital tales. I was just glad that she was loud and spontaneous again.

“Where’s Colette?” I heard Nate’s voice enter the house. The front door slammed shut and in came Niall, carrying Nate. Nate grinned when he spotted Colette on my lap he wiggled out of Niall’s grip, running to his sister.

“What was the hospital like?” Niall jumped up and down by Colette’s feet.

“Come on,” she grinned, sliding off my lap. “I’ll tell you all about it.” She grabbed Nate’s hand and pulled him up the stairs.

“Don’t you think we should make her rest?” I asked, turning to Niall.

“I think we both know she wouldn’t really rest.” Niall laughed. He looked incredibly exhausted. I imagined staying at the hospital for two nights in a row would be quite exhausting. I shot him a sympathetic smile and pushed him towards the stairs.

“Maybe you’re the one who needs to rest.” I said. “You look terrible.”

“Thanks,” Niall snorted. “Way to boost my self-esteem.”

“The truth hurts, Ni.”

I laid with my feet stretched out on the bed while Niall took a shower. The sound of the shower running could be heard as I thought about the scrapbook and the broken window. Whoever had broken that window had access to the scrapbook a long time ago. I couldn’t think of anyone, though. Scarlett hadn’t really mentioned her friends to me. For god’s sake, I hadn’t known Amber Knight was her friend until the night the Amber was killed.

The whole thing sent a wave of nausea flying through my stomach.

Wait. Maybe it wasn’t the scrapbook shit.

I made a beeline for the bathroom, only to see that it was locked. Niall was singing loudly in the shower, so even if I banged on the door, he wouldn’t hear. I covered my mouth with my hands and rushed to the guest room bathroom, shutting the door. I bent over the toilet and let out the vomit. It was never pretty to explain.

After flushing the toilet, and took a few deep breaths and let my motherly side kick in, disinfecting the area with some sort of cleaning liquid. When I got back to the bedroom, Niall was out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, searching for an outfit in the drawers. I walked past him to the night table and searched for the pills the doctor had given me to ease the vomiting. I found the correct bottle and twisted the cap off. Niall turned around and looked curiously at the bottle of pills.

“May I ask what those are for?”

“They stop the vomiting,” I explained, more of a mumble. Niall frowned instantly.

“Why? Did you just throw up?”

I shrugged and took two pills out of the bottle. I felt Niall’s eyes on me as I closed the bottle and set it down. I ignored it and went downstairs to fill myself a glass of water for the pills. After swallowing the pills, I chugged the rest of the water and made my way back upstairs. When I entered the bedroom again, Niall was still standing by the drawers with a towel around his waist, staring at the floor.

I cleared my throat, startling him.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked, approaching him. Niall frowned deeper and turned his back on me before I could put my arms around him. I felt a sense of sudden rejection, and I didn’t know why.

“Nothing,” he mumbled, picking out a shirt, shorts and boxers.

I felt a sudden rush of nervousness, as if a rock had just been chucked into my guts.

“You’re not second guessing another child, are you?” I questioned quietly. Niall turned around, shaking his head. I felt a wave of relief take over me.

“Of course not.” He exclaimed, giving me an encouraging look. “I was just thinking about something else. Nothing to do with your pregnancy, I swear.”

I nodded, a bit unconvinced, but backed away and headed to the bed. Niall unwrapped the towel from his waist and slipped on his clothes while I stared at a random place, zoning out. It seemed the all I could think about was the scrapbook. I don’t know what the hell Scarlett was thinking, putting a pointless note in a secret page, or when she had done it. I didn’t even know if it was really her, but I was going to assume so.

“Do you think Jace was the one who broke the window?” Niall asked, interrupting my thoughts. I shot him a look which questioned his insanity.

“You can’t be serious.” I glared at him. “He is like my brother. He would never do that to me or my family.”

“What if he’s jealous though?” Niall questioned. Piss meter, activated. “He said it himself he wanted a family like ours.”

“Come on, Niall,” I snapped more than compromised. “You can’t just accuse Jace because he’s linked to Scarlett.”

“It’s a possibility, Aria.” Niall argued, staying persistent. “Just because he was like a brother to you twelve years ago, doesn’t mean that he’ll be a brother to you now.” Niall looked so sure about his accusation, and it was driving me nuts. How dare he put Jace on the spot like that? He didn’t even know Jace. Niall didn’t know everything Jace had done for me when I was little.
He had acted almost like a father figure, only younger. Fucking shit, was I pissed or what? The fact that Niall hadn’t even taken the time to ask me more about Jace pissed me off further.

“Niall, can you just leave?” I mumbled, trying not to completely lose it.

“Dammit, Aria. You’re not the one paying for the window.” Niall snapped. “At least I care about whoever did this?”

“The window?” I growled. “What about our daughter? I’m pretty sure humans are more valuable than a window. And don’t you think I care that there’s a fucking hole in our house? You don’t know that I haven’t gotten even four hours straight of sleep because I’ve been waking up to every single damn sound in the house.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Niall groaned. “Why are you taking this so seriously? I was just asking you if you thought that Jace could have done this.”

“Don’t fucking accuse Jace of anything,” I hissed, sitting on the edge of the bed. I felt like punching a wall, or punching anything. Instead, I just gripped the bed sheet and tried to calm down. I felt very frustrated all of a sudden.

“Geez, calm down babe.” Niall held up his hands, but I swear he was entertained by my angry state.

“Shut up.” I shot back.

“I don’t get it.” Niall continued, staring at me with a semi-cocky look. “How come you’ve never mentioned Jace to me before you found the scrapbook? If he’s so important wouldn’t he have crossed your mind earlier?”

“I don’t like to talk and Jace because he reminds me of my fucking dead sister.” I spat, raising my voice. “Maybe if someone that important to you were dead, you would know how I feel. But no. You’ve got the perfect life. Your mom and dad are still alive and breathing. You have a supportive brother and a job that gives you a million dollars a damn month. What have I got? My entire family is dead. The only thing I have left of anything close to family is Jace and you’re trying to take that away from me, too.”

Niall went silent. I could tell he was searching for some sort of smartass comeback, but he couldn’t generate one.

“That’s right,” I told him. “You know I’m telling the truth. You should really think about others before you speak. It might help.”

“Are you just acting like this cause’ you’re pregnant?” Niall asked out of the blue. Oh fuck no, he did not just ask me that.

“You’re really bad at this,” I nearly snarled, walking towards him. “I hope you know that.”

“Bad at what?”

“I don’t remember you being so difficult when I was pregnant with Nicolette and Nathan. Let alone the fact that you never asked me if I was moody because I was pregnant. Right now, I’m seriously just pissed off because of you.”

Niall sighed, trying to take my hands. “I’m sor-“

“No,” I cut him off. “I’m sleeping downstairs tonight.”

I turned my back to him and grabbed a pillow from the bed, storming out of the room and downstairs to the other guestroom. God, I was pissed. I was so pissed and I wanted to scream. I fell onto the bed and shoved the pillow over my face, screaming as loud as I could.
Thank god the pillow blocked the sound because that scream killed my throat.

I skipped dinner but I assumed that Niall had cooked something for the kids because the smell of food entered the room. I didn’t even have an appetite. I could hear Nicolette and Nate laughing at the dinner table, having a conversation with Niall. Niall laughed too, but I only felt a sense of hatred towards him at the moment.

AN hour must have passed at now the guest room was pitch black, as the light of day had disappeared. There was a knock on the door, and from the firmness of the knock, I knew it was Niall. I shut my eyes tightly and refused to answer. I didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t want to talk to anyone.

I tried to look as normally asleep as possible when I heard the door open.

“Aria?” Niall whispered. His footsteps grew louder as he came closer. The smell of food filled my nose, but it didn’t reach my stomach. I heard him place the plate on the small table beside the bed. His familiar touch was applied to my face as he pushed some stray hair out of my face.

“I always do this, don’t I?” he spoke quietly, his fingers tracing my lips. “I piss you off and then I expect you to forgive me.”

Yes, yes you do.

“I don’t think I’d ever have the guts to tell you this if you were awake, but I know that what I said made me sound like a douche. The things I said gave you the right to be pissed at me. I’m so sorry that I questioned Jace. I didn’t realize that he meant that much to you because I’ve never felt the strong feelings that you have for Jace for anyone but you.”

It’s almost as if he’s chosen the exact combination of words to make my heart melt because he knows I’m awake and that I’m listening to him. But nah.

“I also want to tell you just how excited I am about having another baby but I feel like I’d just be making a fool of myself in front of you. Believe it or not, I’m seriously insecure around you. I’m sorry that I ever questioned your mood when I know that I’m the one who caused you to get so mad. I love you and I swear to love this baby to death, just as much as I love Nicolette and Nathan. I know that you’ve lost your family but our kids and I will always be there by your side.” Niall took a shaky breath and continued.

“I just love you to the point that it hurts sometimes, especially after what happened to Nicolette. What if that had been you? What if the conditions were worse? When I thought about it in the hospital I started crying, and I kept telling myself I was crying because of Nicolette but I was really crying because of you. I swore to myself the day we escaped your father that I would protect you, and the fact that I let our child get hurt breaks my heart because I feel like a failure.”

I wanted to kiss him and tell him that he wasn’t a failure, and that I was sorry for coming off too hard on him as well. Two warm tears landed on my cheek and I cursed mentally until I realized that they were Niall’s tears, not mine. He pressed his thumb to my cheek gently, wiping the tears off my skin.

“By the way, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to hold your hair up when you threw up earlier today.”

I wanted to laugh and grab him and hug him to death when he said that, because let’s admit it, my husband was one adorable person. I was still mad at him though, even though he had apologized in a huge rant just now.

“You are my princess,” he whispered, pressing his lips to mine. “Forever and ever, and I love you.”

His presence was drawn away and I heard him stand up. I’m pretty sure he took the plate of food with him and left the room, closing the door quietly. I gulped and opened my eyes, feeling like an utter bitch for getting so pissed off at Niall. He was such a sweet person, and he never meant to do wrong to me. Sometimes, stuff just slipped out of his mouth unintentionally.

I let out a shaky breath and felt my fingers run over my lips. I loved Niall, and I always would, and maybe if things were different, maybe if I wasn’t pregnant and moody and bipolar, I would be sleeping beside him tonight. Then again, too much of anything isn’t good, and I felt like this short break from him would give a sense of refreshment in the morning.

The fact that what happened to Nicolette made him feel like a failure was utterly heart-breaking. He couldn’t have done anything about. Worst come worst, we all could have been in Nicolette’s room when that window shattered. Niall was more of a lifesaver than he knew, not just to his fans, but also to me. He really was insecure.

I don’t know why Niall’s words had gotten me into such a bad mood so quickly. Maybe it was what I told him, the fact that Niall was accusing the only person that I could call family.

Or maybe it was the feeling of dread that he might be right.

Notes

Sorry for such a long wait. This chapter is the definition of a filler chapter, except for the beginning. I hope it isn't too bad. :P It's entertaining to write the scenes where they argue though, because that means theres going to be a scene where Naria make's up. ;)