Aria’s P.O.V.

I stepped into the hospital room and closed the door gently behind me. Chrissy was in bed, reading a book. When she saw me, she set her book down, a small smile approaching her lips.

“How are you?” I asked, making my way towards her.

“Getting better,” she managed, sitting up straighter in bed. Her leg was bandaged , hidden under the thin covers. I sat down in the seat and took her hand.

“Who did this to you?” I whispered, shaking my head slowly. “I don’t understand.”

“I really don’t know,” Chrissy replied, squeezing my hand. “Some person rang my doorbell and demanded to know where your children were. When I didn’t tell the person, they just pointed a gun at me and shot me in the leg.”

“So they were looking for my kids?” I asked, setting my purse down. I had a feeling this was the case, so I wasn’t exactly all surprised.

“Yeah,” Chrissy continued. “It was so weird. I couldn’t tell if the person was a guy or girl cause’ they had this weird voice changing machine or something that prevented anyone from knowing what the real voice sounded like.”

“Man,” I breathed. “I can’t believe someone is out for my children.”

“Look,” Chrissy’s voice became softer. She set her hand on my arm and took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry for getting your kids into so much danger. If I had known someone would come to my house that day, I never would have agreed to babysit them. I’m so sorry, Aria.”

“It’s not your fault,” I assured, shaking my head. “That same person could have come to my house instead. I’m really grateful that you didn’t give up my childrens’ location. For that, I don’t know how I could ever thank you.”

“I’d never do that,” Chrissy responded, her gaze serious. “Your kids are so special to me, almost as much as they are to you. I-I don’t know. We’ve just grown so close, it’s hard to ever think of letting them go, you know?”

I laughed gently. “Trust me, I do know.”

“So how’s Niall doing?” Chrissy asked, changing the subject.

“He’s alright,” I smiled, thinking about my husband. “He’s been as alot of meetings and stuff lately. I haven’t gotten as much time as I wanted to talk to him, but life’s too short to notice the downsides, right?”

“True,” Chrissy smiled, combing her fingers through her hair. “There’s always the good things in life to keep you going.” Her smile seemed distant, as if she had been reminded of something else. I studied her fazed expression with a smirk on my face. Chrissy turned back to me, a new excited expression replacing her previous distant one.

“What should I get for Nate and Colette?” she asked seriously, her chocolate brown eyes wide. They kind of reminded me of Liam’s eyes. Sweet, brown and true.

I just laughed. “The fact that it’ll be from you will be enough to make them happy.”

“Aww,” Chrissy gushed, sinking into the plush on her pillow. She let out a small giggle. “That’s so sweet.”

Chrissy and I continued our discussion on birthday presents for Nate and Nicolette. We did not touch the topic of what had happened that day again. About an hour later, I walked out of the hospital building and headed towards my car. I half expected there to be some sort of note from a stalker, but thank the lord, there wasn’t.

When I arrived home, the whole house smelled absolutely fantastic. I knew instantly that Maura and the kids had made her famous chocolate cupcakes. Those badboys sounded incredibly plain, but once the sweet taste hit your mouth, the cupcakes were addicting. I dropped my purse on table and literally ran into the kitchen to see the kids and Maura sitting at the table eating cupcakes.

Without me.

“Hey!” I pouted, grabbing a fresh, warm cupcake off the small plate. “You can’t just leave me out!”

Maura chuckled and pulled me down to sit in the chair beside her.

“Mum, is Chrissy okay?” Nicolette asked, chocolate frosting smeared across her face. Nate on the other hand, took small bits of his cupcake, using the manners I had taken too long to teach both of them.

“She’s fine,” I answered, truly relieved that she was okay. “She really misses you guys.”

“I miss her too,” Nate looked up with a small pout. I laughed when I saw small spot of frosting on the tip of his nose. I reached over and was about to wipe it off when instead, I decided on a better idea.

“Picture time!” Muara hollered, clearly reading my mind. I gave her a grin and wipe some of the frosting from my cupcake, smearing it on her cheek. Normal mother in laws would instantly wonder why the hell their child got married to me. Instead, Maura just smeared frosting all over my forehead.

“Now we’re even.” Maura cheered happily as I took out my phone. The four of us got together and took pictures with our cupcakes, making poses that would surely make Niall jealous. I sent the near twenty pictures to Niall through text message and then set my phone down, as it began to feel a bit warm on the bottom.

We spent a hell of a lot of our time stuffing our faces with cupcakes after that, the Nicolette way.

---

Later that day, Corryn came over. I still couldn’t get over how pretty she looked, even with brown hair. I had always known her as the blonde beauty, so it was a rather interesting transition. We were seated on my bed, currently discussing Corryn’s problems.

“My dress if going to have to be humongous if I’m going to get married while I’m pregnant,” Corryn complained, sticking out her bottom lip. “And what if I have to baby early? Then we’re going to have to change the dress size all together.”

Honestly, if it weren’t for me sitting beside her, Corryn would have given up on marriage in a second.

“Why don’t you just wait until after you have the baby?”

Corryn shrugged, sighing as she tried to come up with ideas. She had arrived at my place with a notebook in hand, ready to plan out her wedding with me. I guess she hadn’t quite realized that there were these people called wedding planners, of which did not include me.

Now, Corryn scribbled little doodles all over the notebook page, rubbing her chin every once in a while. She look up and gasped suddenly, her eyes wide.

“What if I make our child the flower girl?” she suggested excitedly. I blinked at her a few times just to make sure she wasn’t kidding. Oh, she wasn’t.

“Corryn, your child will be less than a year old if you get married after giving birth.”

“True,” Corryn nodded, falling onto the bed. She set the small notebook aside and emphasized a loud sigh. “There’s just so much going on right now. The marriage, the wedding, my pregnancy, the baby. It’s a little too much for my brain.”

“What brain?” I snorted, a smirk playing on my lips. Corryn flipped me off but a small smile took over her lips.

“Aren’t you funny,” she shot back, sticking her tongue out at me.

Corryn and I began searching up bridal stores near London so we could pick out a dress for her. She kept complaining that she shouldn’t even be planning right now if she wasn’t going to get married until about a year from now. I told her to shut up because she would just procrastinate and come running to me anyways. She shut up because she knew I was right.

The bedroom door creaked open and Nate stepped in, the door almost three times as tall as him.

“Mum, can I have more bubbles?” Nate asked, almost hiding completely behind the door. I guess he was shy of Corryn or something. Corryn was on the bed making soft whale noises of a sort, so she really didn’t notice him.

“Turn around,” I commanded as I stood up from the bed. He turned around, back facing me. I had to hide the bottles of bubbles from the kids or else they finished the bubbles in a matter of days. At one point, I was sure they were eating the soap mixture instead of blowing bubbles with it. I grabbed a bottle of bubbles form the lower cabinet below the bathroom sink, then handed it over to Nate. He cheered and ran off with the new bottle of bubbles.

After I had settled back down, Corryn shot up from bed and nearly fell off of it, trying to stand up to put her shows on.

“I forgot,” she explained in a rush. “I have to get home so I can Skype Harry. It’s probably midnight over there. Oh, darn.”

Corryn gave me a quick hug and then ran down stairs, hurrying out the door. It was absolutely adorable how concerned she was when it came to her relationship with Harry. They were just about the sweetest couple I had ever come across, and I was sure it would stay that way.

I figured it would be a good time to FaceTime Niall, so I went back to my bedroom and closed the door, plunging under my warm covers.

I began a FaceTime call with Niall, waiting for him to answer. He picked up not five seconds later, his face appearing on the screen of my phone.

I frowned when I saw his tear stained face. “What happened?”

Niall must have set his phone down because all I could see way the ceiling. I hear him muttering things to himself before he picked up his phone a bit later.

“Hi, princess.” he smiled, rubbing his eyes.

“Niall, why are you crying?” I asked, ignoring his greeting. He rarely ever cried. He quickly wiped his tears away and simply shook his head. I groaned. He wasn’t seriously going to give me this bullshit.

“Wait,” Niall held up a hand just as I opened my mouth to interrogate him. “The truth is, I’ve been crying because of you.”

“What?” I frowned. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Niall sighed quietly. “I just miss you alot. And can I make a confession?”

“Sure,” I nodded, smiling as he went on.

“It’s not the first time I’ve cried because I missed you. I’m good at hiding it, cause’ I always make sure I look normal before I videochat with you. I dont...I just didn’t care today. I really needed to see your face.”

My heart broke at his words. If only I could reach into the screen hug him.

“I miss you just as much,” I sighed softly, biting my lip to yield any tears. “But atleast I’ve got the kids and Maura.”

“The party is the day after tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Corryn is going to help me set up while Maura takes the kids out.”

“And how is the baby?”

“Fine,” I smiled. “I don’t have another ultrasound until next month, though.”

A small smile grew on Niall’s face. “And do you still have that weird obsession with pickles?”

“Yep,” I giggled, adjusting my phone on my lap. “It’s dying down, though. I’m a bit scared of what my next craving might be.”

“What if it’s chocolate covered spiders?”

“I was thinking more of apples dipped in tartar sauce, but hey, anything can happen.”

“Damn,” Niall breathed. “I miss you so much, it hurts. Like my heart is physically caving in
because I miss you that much. I don’t think this is healthy.”

“It probably isn’t,” I smirked. “But then again, who couldn’t miss someone as amazing as me?”

“An idiot, that’s who.”

“Aww,” I cooed sarcastically. “You always know exactly what to say to me.”

Our video call was interrupted with an incoming text message. I ignored it until I read the sender’s name. Jace Walters. I was about to tell Niall I had to go when I realized that I was being selfish and crazy. I couldn’t just ditch a video call to my husband to answer a text from someone who had left me for eighteen years.

So, Niall and I talked. He seemed tired, and I knew it was partly because it was past midnight in America. Still, he forced himself to stay up so he could talk to me. And I loved him for that. He managed to make me laugh, telling me about a fan who had given him a stalker list, with everything she knew about him. Niall sent me a picture of it, and I myself was freaked out by such a paper.

He also confronted me about the pictures I had sent him of the kids, Maura and I stuffing our faces with cupcakes. He gave me a long and serious lecture about sending him those pictures while he was at a meeting and later on, blamed it on me that his stomach growled in the middle of an important conversation about their next album. I just laughed at his face.

After a while, we just stared at each other in silence. Both of us had smiles on our faces, but Niall’s slowly died away.

“Why are you so pretty?” he groaned softly, hitting his face with a small pillow from the hotel room bed. “It’s not fair. I need my pretty girl right here next to me.”

Funny how Niall could make me feel beautiful on my ugliest days.

“Well, why are you so hot?” I groaned back, hitting my face with a pillow to mimick his actions. “I don’t think I’ll be able to last another month without you.”

“It’ll fly by.” he assured. “But theres this strand of hair in your face right now and for some odd reason it makes you look extremely sexy so please, tuck it behind your ear before I quit this trip to come home and kiss you.”

“I wouldn’t be complaining if you did.” I smirked, but I still tucked my hair behind my ear.
“Trust me,” Niall snorted. “I’m seriously considering it right now.”

“It’ll fly by for you, too.” I reciprocated the assurance. “Being with your four best friends should make it a little better, right?”

“You have a point there.” Niall nodded. “But nothing compares to the times that I spend with you. Nothing ever will.”

I bit the inside of my cheeks, wanting so badly to end the call so I wouldn’t start crying in front of him. Suddenly, my screen froze and random fuzzy lines appeared.

“Niall?” I questioned. “I think the connection-”
I never got to finish my sentence to him because my phone blacked out. God, stupid technology these days were so damn retarded. If the Apple company was going to make phones, they might atleast try making ones that didn’t crash every other day. I sighed and wiated a few seconds before pressing the power button of my phone. Of course, it turned back on just fine. However, Niall’s face was no longer present on the screen.

I scrolled through my messages and pressed on the most recent one from Jace.

Jace: word around the area that your blonde dude and his band are in California.

It then occurred to me that I had never gotten around to asking Niall exactly where he was going. But the fact that he was in California, my home state, without even telling me, made me a little mad. But then I realized there was nothing to be mad about. It’s not like I would have gone with him anyways. I had a birthday party to manage, along with two little rascals. I went ahead and texted Jace back.

Me: well, if you run into him, I’d be a bit careful. He’s sort of EXTREMELY protective of me and he knows who you are.

Jace: oh wow. Thanks for the confidence boost. I’m feeling stronger already.

Me: he gives a good punch or two when he feels like it ;)

Jace: thats for filling me in. I will now and forever avoid him.

I laughed at Jace’s sarcasm and typed a responding message.

Me: as long as you don’t plan to hurt me or anything, I think you two would get along well.

Jace: I’d never think of hurting you. I already lost one Lubianco sister. I don’t want another one lost.

Me: actually, I’m a Horan as of five years ago :)

Jace: shut up :P you know what I mean.

Me: I do, I do. It’s fun to mess with your puny mind.

Jace: Thats not even a funny joke. My expression is completely blank

Me: wasn’t supposed to be funny, smartass. Plus, I know you’re smiling. I’m at your window.

Jace: the window of… my bathroom? I’m doing the number two right now. Mm, smells amazing.

Me: OH GOD. TMI Jace. T.M.I. You are so disgusting.

And so our messaging went on for a good two hours. I was smiling so widely the entire time. It was almost as if Jace were right beside me, talking and laughing and insulting me while actually caring about me all at the same time. I could almost imagine his eyes twinkling lightly, and how the blue in his eyes seemed to swirl in hypnotizing circles. I realized how much I wanted to see him again. How much I missed him.

I bit my lip and looked at the time. Seven pm. Might as well go down and make dinner. I put my phone on charge before heading downstairs.

I grabbed some lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and other necessities in order to make a salad and began to clean the vegetables in the sink. I hummed a random song and smiled when I heard Nate’s giggle coming from upstairs. Maura was probably entertaining them with her bright cheery self. I started chopping up the tomatoes followed by the lettuce when something slammed against the kitchen window.

The knife I was holding slid in the wrong direction, cutting my finger sharply. I cursed loudly and backed away, cursing multiple times. Shit, that stung. Blood started to gush out from the cut. I winced and ran my finger under the sink until the blood stopped rushing out from my skin and wrapped a bandage that I had gotten from the cupboard around my finger.

Now exactly what the hell just slammed against the window?

My heart started to beat faster as I thought of the night Nicolette’s window got broken into. I gulped and grabbed the knife that I had been cutting the lettuce with. I slipped on my house slippers and unlocked the back door. It was freezing outside, not to mention extremely dark. I went around the corner of the house to where the kitchen window was. I almost screamed when I saw what was lying there.

A dead bird lay on the grass where the brick of the house met the ground. I whimpered and bent down, feeling sorry for the poor creature. That was when I noticed a small paper stuck between the birds beak. I used my fingernails to pull out the paper from the bird’s beak. I winced when my finger touched the bird’s face.

I gulped as I unfolded the piece of paper, which appeared to have writing on it. I couldn’t tell what it said because it was too dark, so I went back inside the house, unable to get the image of the dead bird out of my head. I stretched the paper out and read what it had to say.

Their ages go up, their life span goes down.

That was all.

I thought for a moment when it hit me. The kids were turning four tomorrow. Their ages would go up.

And their lifespans would go down.

Someone was targetting my kids.

I passed out before I could reach for the phone to call Niall.

Notes

Oh my god.

Nate and Colette are goign to die.

What is life even. Oh my god.

Do you all hate me for doing this? Too bad. Sucks. Live with it. Or should I say...die with it?

..........................................