Little Misunderstandings [Sequel to Little Steps]

The events from the night before haunted me as I woke up the next morning. The dead bird lying on the grass. The threatening note. When Maura had found me on the kitchen floor and asked what happened, I simply told her it was dehydration. She had forced me to drink five cups of water that night.

I shook it all away. Today was a new day. Today was the day I gave birth to my two beautiful children. It was around eight in the morning, which meant that Maura had probably taken the kids out in order to distract them so I could get set up. Corryn was going to be here soon as well.

I got out of bed and felt the need to throw up. Oh, how I loved being pregnant. After doing the messy work, I splashed water on my face and brushed my teeth before deciding I would just shower.

After a nice and refreshing shower, I changed into simple jeans and a shirt, then turned on my phone to check for any missed messages. Sure enough, there were three from Niall and one missed call from him as well.

Niall: I called you but I guess you were asleep. Tell the kids that I wish them a happy birthday!

Niall: Oh yeah, and also tell them I love them!

Niall: Oh, and I love you too :)

I couldn’t help but smile at his cuteness. What else was there to do? I prepared a breakfast of cut fruit, yogurt and cereal for myself, and ate until the doorbell rang.

“Aria, open the door!” Corryn yelled so loud, I could hear her from the kitchen. “It’s freezing out here!”

I dumped my bowl in the sink and went to unlock to front door. Corryn stepped into the house and had her little moment of warming up before taking her coat off. She held of a box on her hand full of decorations.

“The food and stuff is in the car.” she explained, just as I wondered where the food was. “So is the cake.” I nodded and pulled her in for a grateful hug.

“Thank you so much, Cory.” I said. “You don’t know how much I appreciate all of this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she grinned, handing me the box. She grabbed her coat again and went outside to her car to get the food.

I carried the box into the kitchen and set it on the counter, pulling the decorations out. The decor consisted of a banner, streamers, plates, cutlery,napkins, bowls, table ornaments, and balloons, all of which were monkey themed. Towards the bottom of the box were about five face painting kits and artsy party favors.

I had underestimated Corryn’s capabilities.

I grabbed some masking tape and glue from the drawer and set them out, deciding what to start out with. Corryn came into the kitchen yelling for my help. She carried large plate of appetizers, along with a cake. The cake looked absolutely adorable, with little monkeys hanging around the corners, and a huge “Happy Birthday” iced in the middle.

Corryn called blowing up the balloons, so I went ahead and hung up the banner on the wall, struggling a little to get the tape on the ends. Right when the banner looked centered and I was about to firmly press on the tape, the doorbell rang.

“Damn it!” I yelled, dropping the banner altogether. God, I was giving up already. I jumped down from the couch and started walking to the door when I realized that no one was even supposed to be coming at this time. I had only asked for Corryn to help out. I bit my lip as the memory of the dead bird flashed over my mind. I pressed my face to the door, looking through the peephole.

I nearly screamed in joy at who I saw on the other side of the door. I slapped a hand over my mouth and fumbled with the doorknob, my hands shaking with happiness.

“Oh my god,” I whispered, because I couldn't get any other breath out to speak in my normal voice. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“I wasn’t going to let you handle a birthday party all by yourself,” Niall chuckled, wrapping his arms around my waist as I threw my arms around around him. “Plus, I would have missed out on appetizers.”

“I hate you for not telling me.” I mumbled into his shoulder.

“Nah,” he chuckled, his warm body vibrating as he did. “You love me.”

“How did you even manage to get here?” I asked, pulling him inside. “I thought management would like, kill you if you tried.”

“Erm,” Niall cleared his throat. “I told them that there were family issues going on.”

“Well,” I snorted. “That’s my incredibly original husband.”

“Well, thats my incredibly sarcastic wife.” Niall shot back in a girly voice, sticking his tongue out at me. I stuck his tongue back out at him. Niall grabbed me by the waist and pulled me towards his body. Thats when he saw my finger wrapped in the white bandaged cloth he frowned and carefully took my hand.

“What happened here?” he asked, gesturing to my finger.

“I cut it while chopping veggies for a salad last night.”

“Ah,” he nodded, kissing my finger softly before setting my hand back on his shoulder.

“Did you miss me?” I asked softly, almost seductively. Not like anyone was trying.

He nodded. “Turns out I did.”

“Did you miss me?”

“Weirdly enough…,” I answered, my breathing suddenly shakier than I’d wanted it to be.

“Maybe we should go… check on something… in the bedroom.”

“I’m supposed to decorate,” I smirked, though silently I was pleading for him to grab my hand and drag me upstairs.

Niall took a step closer, whispering hoarsely in my ear, “Anyone else home?”

“Corryn’s in the kitchen.” I whispered back, my lips brushing against his jawline.

“Then I guess the bedroom will do.” Niall kicked off his shoes and started upstairs. He stopped on the first step, waiting for me to follow. I gave in and went ahead of him, eager to get to the bedroom. His hands were on my waist before we even reached the halfway point of the stairs. Niall pinned me against the wall of the stairs and pressed his mouth to mine, engaging in a need kiss. I nearly gasped at the feeling of delight I had missed so much, just in two weeks. We kissed for a minute, then we stopped, looked at each other, and kissed a few little kisses, then another big deep kiss again, his arms holding me tight and my arms on his back, too.

“I thought we decided on the bedroom,” I managed to say as I pulled away for air. Niall shrugged and bit down on my bottom lip, pulling my lips back towards his. We made out until come cleared their throat from the bottom of the stairs. I pushed Niall away from me to see who it was.

“Hi Niall!” Corryn waved, then looked dead serious at me. “Woman, there is no way I’m decorating all by myself. Stop making out with your man and get your butt downstairs now.”

She left the stairs to go back into the kitchen. Niall laughed a one-exhale laugh and kissed me again. Our lips were soft together and it reminded of everything beautiful in the world.

“Okay, seriously,” I backed away, stepping onto the step below him. “You’re here to help right? So help.”

I grabbed his hand and led him into the living room where I had failed to put up the banner. However with Niall to hold it it and me to tape the edges, life was much better. Niall helped me down from the couch, even though I really didn’t need him to. It was obviously just as excuse to touch me.

Niall pretty much chose to do all the stuff that would require him touching me. He hoisted me up by my waist as I taped the streamers to the ceiling. Corryn sat in the kitchen blowing balloons up, complaining about how cute were and that she needed Harry. Niall kept teasing me, running his hand up and down my thigh as I attempted to stick the streamers to the ceiling. I smacked his head in return.

“Stop it,” I growled, looking down at him.

“Stop what?” he questioned innocently, giving me that sweet little look and all. So I smacked his head again. Once we had finished putting the streamers up, Niall was disappointed in having to put me down. However in the process of setting me safely on the ground, his hands ran over my butt.

“I swear to God Niall,” I hissed, turning around. He knew I was kidding, and that I actually kind of liked it. Not that I would ever admit it to his annoying face.

“What’s next?” Niall asked Corryn, walking into the kitchen. He poked at the blown up balloons and waited for Corryn to answer.

“Niall, you can go put the balloons around the house.” Corryn smiled, starting to unwrap the table ornaments.

“Okay,” Niall grinned, reaching for my hand. “Come on, Ari.”

Corryn stepped in between us before I could get to Niall’s hand.

“Nuh uh,” Corryn shook her head. “Ari is going to stay here and help me set up the appetizers.”

“You would split us up.” I rolled my eyes at her. NIall just laughed and winked at me before grabbing the bundle of balloons and some balloon weights to hold them down and headed upstairs.

“You’re evil.” I said once Niall was out of earshot.

“What?” Corryn shrugged. “I’m jealous.”

Leave it to Corryn to be straightforward.

“Why?” I teased. “Don’t tell me you’re getting a crush on my husband.”

“No,” she shook her head. “More like I’m missing my fiancee.”

“Aww,” I cooed, giving her an obnoxious hug. If hugs could even be obnoxious. “Poor Cory.”

“I know,” she sighed, agreeing with me.

We paired up the spoons, forks and knives together in silence, but it wasn't at all uncomfortable. You know that someone is your bestfriend when you can sit next to each other without talking at all, and still enjoy each other’s company.

Corryn started cutting up the mini sausage franks and mixed them in with ketchup. She poured the mix into a nice elegant bowl while I set out a bowl full of potato chips beside the other appetizers. I started making the lasagna, which would be the main dish for the adults, while Corryn called and ordered the pizza for the kids. Niall came back downstairs, balloon free and set up the table where we would do the face painting.

The three of us worked quietly, with the occasional laugh or two.

“So,” Corryn cleared her throat. “Does Harry ever talk about me when you guys are away?”

I watched Niall as a huge smirk appeared on his face. “I’m pretty sure the only words in his vocabulary are ‘I’, ‘miss’, and ‘Corryn’.”

“Aww,” Corryn cooed, looking all happy. Her being happy made me happy. “I really miss him, too. Especially being pregnant, I need him more than ever.”

I looked down when Corryn said this, understanding her completely. Suddenly, a flood of questions bombarded my brain. How long was Niall even staying? How much longer would he be gone? What if I woke up tomorrow and the other side of the bed was empty?

“Well, you’re a strong person, Corryn.” Niall commented with a smile that was both sincere yet serious. Then his gaze flickered over to me. “And so are you, princess.”

“It’s harder than it seems, you know.” Corryn snorted back at him, making the conversation lighter according to mood. I kept silent and put the two platters of lasagna into the oven. Corryn went on, “Most people think that being pregnant is just throwing up all the time, gaining weight, having to buy new clothes to fit your body, but it’s a lot more than that. I realize that now. You grow sort of dependent on the people around you, especially when you have these breakdowns where you think you won’t be able to handle it. It’s a lot tougher of a time than men think.”

I couldn’t have said it better.

I gulped, wiping one daring tear from the corner of my eye. When I looked up, Niall was staring at me. His expression looked sad, almost guilty even. His eyebrows were drawn together in concern, his teeth biting down on his bottom lip. I’d never really told him any of the things that Corryn had just said, but hearing how she felt made me realize that that was exactly how I felt. Sure, I was only about a month and a half into pregnancy, and I had dealt with twins. It was still a lot of pressure for me, though. I felt like Niall still hadn't quite realized that.

I dropped the gaze between Niall and I, closing the oven.

“Well,” Corryn looked around the house. “Everything looks about ready. I’m going to go home and get changed.”

“Okay,” I nodded, walking towards her. “Thank you so much for helping. I really appreciate it.” We shared a quick hug before she waved goodbye and walked out the door. I felt Niall’s presence behind me and so I turned around, almost running into his chest.

“Is what she said…” he exhaled a shaky breath. “Is that all true?”

I didn’t reply, which answered his question enough.

“I didn’t realize…,” Niall shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to it. It’s her first time though. She’s a bit more fragile when it comes to being alone. “

“But you have two children to take care of as well.” he whispered, tracing along my jawline with his finger. “I should just quit.”

“What?” I backed away, shaking my head. “Quit what? The band?”

“I can’t let you go through this much,” he shook his head. It was clear Niall wasn’t talking to me anymore. He was trying to convince himself to make an incredibly stupid decision. “It’s too much for you to handle.”

“No,” I took his hands, shaking them to get him to look at me. “No, Ni. I’m fine. I’ve got this. I’m capable of doing this even when you’re gone.”

“But look at you.” he sighed. I shot him a confused look. “I doubt you’ve noticed, but you look so stressed. Your eyes aren’t bright anymore. They aren’t lively. And you have these wrinkles under your eyes that you never used to have. It’s stressing you out. It’s all my fault.”

“No.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s not, Niall.” Should I just tell him?

“God, stop denying it, Aria. You can’t deny it when there’s proof.”

“What?” My temper got the better of me as my arms flew up in the air. “Where’s the proof? My face? God Niall. It’s not the baby. I can handle a baby. It’s the goddamn children that I’ve already given birth to.”

“What?” Niall cringed. “You don’t like our children?”

“Oh my god, no,” I whimpered. “No that’s not it.”

“What is it, then?” Niall nearly yelled, causing me to back away further. Not now. We couldn’t start arguing now. I wanted to yell at him for accusing me of not loving our children. I loved them more than I could explain. I couldn’t yell though.

“Please,” I begged. “Can we just sit and talk? I have to show you some things.”

Niall must have sensed the desperation I was feeling because his threw his hands up in surrender and plopped down in a seat at the breakfast table.

“I’m waiting.” he bluntly said, his eyes burning holes into my body.

“Give me a second.”

I ran upstairs and grabbed the note that had been in the dead birds mouth, the note that I had found in Nicolette’s room that night her window broke, the message in the secret page of the scrapbook, and my phone which I switched over to the messages from “Mom”.

I brought them all down to Niall, sitting in the chair next to him. First, I showed him the note and picture I had found in Nicolette’s room.

“I found this on the window sill after you went with Nicolette to the hospital when someone broke her window.” I explained, sliding the small paper towards him. He picked it up and read it, his eyes scanning across the paper.

“You told me about this, didn’t you?” he questioned. “I remember you said something about a note you found that said to look for a secret page.”

“Yeah, I did.” I nodded. “But you sort of just shrugged it off, so I did, too.”

Niall turned the paper over and his expression became sour.

“What the hell is this?”

It was the picture of me holding a knife with my tongue sticking out. I had a ridiculous amount of makeup on.

“It’s photoshopped.” I promised as Niall’s expression stayed sour. “I have no clue who it’s from. That leads to the next event.”

“Oh fuck,” Niall groaned. “There’s more.”

I handed him the note I found in the scrapbook. It read,

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

“Damn,” Niall cursed. “What’s up next?”

“Well,” I took a deep breath. “Remember when I called you about someone shooting Chrissy?”

“Yes.” Niall sat up straighter. His face started to flush of color. He knew things were getting serious.

“Right before I looked out the window and saw someone holding a gun at her, I got a call from some unknown number. I answered it, but then they hung up. When I looked down at the caller I.D., it said ‘Mom’ on it. Then, only seconds later, I got this text message from the same person.”

I showed him the screen.

Looking at your stomach there will be a plus one, but soon you’ll see blood and things won’t be much fun.

Niall grabbed his hair. “Fucking shit.”

“Yeah,” I huffed. “And the next thing you know, there’s blood gushing out from Chrissy’s leg.”

Niall shook his head in disbelief.

“And that’s not all.” I pressed on. “I went to go see Chrissy in the hospital and she told me the person who had shot her had asked her where the kids were. Our kids. Whoever shot her wanted our children, Niall, and if the cops hadn't come at that moment, then the kids…” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. I gulped and Niall stayed silent. His hands were shaking as he tried to contain himself.

“But the most recent thing was last night.” I stuttered. “When something hit the kitchen window.”

“What the hell…” Niall whispered.

“I was cutting vegetables, you know, for a salad. Everything was perfectly peaceful and quiet until something literally slammed into the window. It scared me to the point where the knife slipped and cut my finger,” I held my hand up. “I went outside and there was a fucking dead bird on the ground with a note in between it’s beak.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Niall laughed dryly. “This is mad shit.”

I sighed and handed him the paper. Once he read it, he was officially pale.

“This fucker is talking about the kids, isn’t he?” Niall growled. “Someone is trying to kill our children and I wasn’t even around to keep them safe.”

He stood up and starting cursing and yelling and pacing, and it was freaking me out. He stopped yelling after a while but by then, I was crying. I was crying so hard that I couldn’t stop. My forehead rested on the edge of the table as my tears dripped to the floor.

His shouts became louder and my breathing became faster and soon he was clenching his hair, going crazy. And I just sat there crying because I didn't know what else to do. I was hopeless. There was a knot it my throat, that made me want to choke. It probably would if I hadn't gulped it away. Soon, Niall's cursing became distant, because all I could think about were my children. The ones I had put so much time into raising. The ones with blue eyes and loving smiles. The ones with personalities so different, yet minds so alike.

I began wailing when I imagined a house without them.

An quiet lonely house too big for Niall and I. No one to beg me for crayons, no daughter to scold for cracking eggs in the garage. No one to pig out on cupcakes with. No one.

And then, Niall sort of...well, punched the wall.

Thank god it didn’t break, but it definitely hurt him. He didn’t even show any pain, though, because I think the information I had just given him was far more painful.

It hurt me too, to know that our kids were in danger. It hurt me more than I had ever been hurt in my life.

I stood up at walked over to Niall whose forehead was pressed against the wall. He was shaking, just as much as I was. I slipped my hand under his chin to his cheek and made him look at me. His face was wet from crying, his eyes slightly red. We stared at each other, an eerie silence echoing through the room.

“What are we going to do?” I wheezed nearly inaudibly, trying to hold myself up. Niall shuddered, holding my face in his hands. My arms wrapped around his waist and we tried to cope with the circumstances.

“We’ll figure something out.” he assured, though the doubt in his voice ruined the confident words.

“I was so s-scared y-yesterday.” I stammered, looking into my eyes as I spoke. “I passed out on the k-kitchen floor.”

Niall just blinked, trying to stop crying. His lips quivered, and so did mine. The mood had changed so quickly, from happiness of seeing Niall again, to this. Whoever wanted my children also wanted to see me like this. Stressed, depressed, fearful. And whoever wanted my children, wanted sweet revenge.

“Whatever happens, I will make sure we remain a family. No one will be lost.” Niall said sternly. “No one. I went through that once. I watched Harry sob for Amber, I went through seeing you in blood, in that dark cold room. That won’t happen again. Especially not to our children. No one will harm to people I love.”

At the sound of his words, I thought about Chrissy’s leg, and Nicolette’s arm. And though what I was about to tell him was hurtful, it was the truth.

“It’s a little too late for that, Niall.”

And then I began to weep all over again.

Notes

Dangg. Things are getting intense. What do you all think? Comment below!!! I think this was my favorite chpater to write so far... so emotional.