Aria's P.O.V.

When I awoke the next morning, Niall's side of the bed was empty. It was still dark outside, so the light in the hallway stuck out rather easily. I sat up and decided that the morning sickness wouldn't attack me today considering how good I felt.

I tugged my tank top down over my large belly and made my way out of the room, into the lit hallway. I noticed that Nicolette's bedroom light was on as well, so naturally I walked towards her room.

Niall sat on her bed, holding her in his arms. She whimpered into his chest, clutching his shirt for dear life. Niall rubbed her back in a back and forth motion, whispering quietly into her ear.

"You're okay, princess." I heard him say. "It was just a dream."

I felt my heart break when Nicolette looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot, wide with fear. Whatever her dream was about had really spooked her. She didn't respond to Niall, instead clutched him tighter.

"Don't leave, daddy." she begged quietly. "I want you to stay."

"Okay, babe." he agreed, kissing her forehead softly. "I'll stay with you."

He must have felt my stare then, because he turned sharply, his gaze locking with mine. Niall looked troubled, the worry lines present on his forehead.

I came forward and carefully took Nicolette from his arms, sitting down beside him with her wrapped around me.

"Mum," Colette whimpered. "I'm scared."

I bit my lip and pressed her head lightly to my chest, cradling her in my arms. The fabric covering my shoulder soon became damp with my daughter's tears. Only then did I look at the clock to see that it was only two in the morning.

Once Nicolette knocked out in my arms, I set her down on her pillows and covered her body with her blankets, pressing my lips gently to her cheek. She slept with a frown, but atleast she was no longer in tears.

"She woke me up with her screaming," Niall informed quietly as we made our way out of Colette's room.

"I was dead asleep," I frowned. "I'm so sorry. If I had known, I would have-"

"Don't," Niall cut me off, placing his hands on my shoulders. "You're nearly seven months pregnant. I know I would be exhausted if I were you."

"I'm sorry." I repeated anyways. Niall rolled his eyes at my stubborness, probably wondering why he even tried. Frankly, I wondered the same thing.

"So," Niall began, switching the lights off. He got into bed and pulled me into his side. "I got an email back from Grant."

Really?" I asked, placing my hand on his chest. "And what did it say?"

"Said that Andrea was dating a head agent. Grant asked some other agents and they told him that Andrea and this head agent spend a massive amount of time in his office."

"Who knows what they could be doing." I muttered, widening my eyes when I realized how Niall would take that.

He snickered to himself, earning a slap on the head from me. "You are so immature."

"You love me." He scoffed cockily.

I sighed in defeat, knowing there was no need to agree with Niall. He already knew the amount of love I had towards him.

"You're so pretty," Niall yawned softly, squeezing me tighter. "I love you."

"I love you more."

Niall shook his head slowly, half-asleep already. "Nope."

"Do too."

"I'd die for you." he promised as he slipped into his slumber. "I'd do anything for you."

"Niall?"

"Mhmm?"

"Don't die for me."

"I would."

I sighed, watching Niall's eyes close with one hand resting on my belly. I moved closer to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead, hoping that if one day, he had the choice to die for me or let me suffer, he'd do the right thing.

Save himself.

---

"Why is it black, mum?" Nate whined, trying to pick off the barely charred edges of his bacon. I rolled my eyes and decided not to answer.

"I like black," Nicolette shrugged. "If you don't want it then I'll eat it."

Nate narrowed his eyes at Colette. "I'm not giving you my bacon, Colette."

Nicolette shrugged, successfully shoving a forkful of scrambled eggs in her mouth.

I glanced at the clock on the oven screen, feeling slightly anxcious when I saw that Niall was ten minutes late from grocery shopping. I needed him to come home so that I could go see Corryn at the hospital. I set down the magazine that I had been skimming through and left the kitchen to call Niall.

He picked up on the third ring, panting roughly into the phone.

"Ari."

"Hi," I frowned a bit. "Where are you?"

"Stuck in the line at the checkout," Niall answered quickly. Too quickly.

"But Tesco's is never that crowded," I protested, leaning against the wall. "And today is Sunday. Most people are still sleeping."

"What can I say?" Niall chuckled nervously. "I can't exactly control who wants to do groceries on a Sunday morning."

"I'm not stupid."

"Now who said that?"

"Niall, where are you really?"

"Tesco's."

"Niall," I warned. "I am a seven month pregnant women and I do not appreciate my husband lying to me. Nor am I, in this stage, hard to piss off. Where. Are. You."

Niall panted into the speaker again. "It's a surprise."

"Why...why are you out of breath?"

No answer.

"I swear to god Niall, I'm assuming the worst right now."

"I'll be home soon, prince-" Niall was cut off by feminine shrill screams, followed by the call ending abruptly.

"What the hell?" I muttered, toying with the phone in my hand.

"Mum!" Nicolette hollered from the kitchen. I hurried into the kitchen to see her struggling to reach the sink in order to wash her dishes. A smile broke on my face as she attempted to reach the water tap, but failed miserably due to her height.

"Help me!" She demanded, desperate to wash her own dish.

"Here, hon,"I began, trying to take the plate from her. Nicolette pulled the plate back and glared at me.

"No," she narrowed her eyes, "I want to do it. By myself."

My eyebrows raised, slightly shocked by Nicolette's attitude. Sure, she could be sassy, but never had she narrowed her eyes at me that way, as if she was sure I was the devil.

"Okay." I said slowly. "I'll pick you up and you can was your plate. How's that sound?"

Colette nodded eagerly.

I slipped my hands under her arm pits and raised her up like Simba, allowig her the height to happily turn the water tap on and wash her plate clean. When she was done, she gave me a small forced smile and skipped off to her bedroom. I squinted in the direction she'd taken.
Something was wrong.

It was not too long later that my incredibly annoying husband walked through the doors, carrying absolutely nothing in his hands.

"Where have you been?" I demanded. "I was supposed to be at the hospital twenty minutes ago. And where are the groceries from Tesco's?"

"I'm sorry, Aria."

"Sorry doesn't cut it." I growled, my pregnancy mood swings kicking in. "Where the fuck were you?"

Niall looked taken aback by my harsh questioning. "Babe, are alright?" He dare question, taking a step towards me. I took a step back.

"No," I hissed. "I'm not okay. You left without leaving me a note or anything. Then when I call you, you refuse to tell me where the hell you ran off to."

"Seems a bit like when you-" Niall bit back his retort, knowing I was already pissed.

"What?" I challenged, sending him a glare. I didn't think I could ever be that intimidating.

"I'm not going to fight with you," Niall raised his hands in surrender with a hard look. "Fighting won't do any good for us. Just please, trust me on this one."

"And why should I trust you?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Because good relationships build on trust, and I swear you'll find out later," he promised, his expression begging for me to just go along with it.

"Tell me why you were panting so hard over the phone." I demanded. I wasn't done with him quite yet.

Niall sighed. "I didn't want to worry you. I got severely mobbed by fans today."

So if he was mobbed by fans, he must have gone some place public. That lowered my suspicions just slightly.

"Well are you okay?" I asked softly, reaching out to touch his arm. Niall's smile warmed up at the contact.

"I'm fine, baby."

"That's good." I whispered, wrapping my arms around Niall's neck. He stared at me as if I were some alienated creature from Mars.

"What?" I tilted my head to the side, frowning softly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing," Niall quickly shook his head. "You're beautiful."

I laughed to myself, unwrapping my as from his neck. I was not beautiful. I was a bipolar, moody, fat pregnant woman.

"You have a beautiful body," Niall reminded me, taking both my hands into his grasp. "Pregnant or not."

"Thank you," I nodded, forcing a smile onto my lips. I didn't believe a word he said. I also had yet to figure out why Nicolette's attitude was so off.

Suddenly, I felt my legs lifted from the ground, my full body in the arms of Niall. "What are you doing, you idiot?"

"I'm carrying you." He grinned. "Don't you just love me?"

"I just love that I don't have to walk now." I smirked. "And now you can see what it feels like to be pregnant. All the extra weight sucks."

"But the baby that gives you the extra weight is beautiful." He whispered, carrying me upstairs. Colette's room door was shut along with Nate's, both of them busy with whatever they pleased to do. I didn't want to bother either of them and I didn't want to let go of Niall.

He carried me into our bedroom and shut the door, locking it shut. I watched the soft, sweet smile on Niall's lips as he lay me down on the bed. I studied his face as his eyes scanned over my fully clothed body, still managing to make me squirm insecurely.

"Damn," Niall muttered. "I should get you pregnant more if it gives you curves like this."

I smiled shyly. I had no curves. All I had was fat.

"May I?" Niall asked for my permission. I nodded shortly, my eyes glued to his as he climbed onto the bed, over my body. He ran his hands over my skin, leaving goosebumps on every inch.

"God you're beautiful." He growled.

I almost smirked at how amazed he sounded. I married the biggest drama queen in the universe.

He leaned down and captured my lips in his, gripping my hips roughly. His abs pressed over my large tummy as he kissed me passionately. The familar taste of his sweet lips pressed against mine had been greatly missed with so much going on. I just wanted to be with him in the moment, take in each and every part of him.

Niall's tongue grazed my bottom lip hungrily, begging for permission to enter. My mouth fell open just enough for his to slip through, carressing gently and roughly at the same time. His front teeth made slightly contact with my teeth. I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer.

"As much as I want to take you right here on this bed," he gasped, pulling away from my lips. "The kids are awake and I need to pee."

"You're kidding." I muttered under my breath as Niall hopped off the bed and ran into the bathroom. I stared at the closed bathroom door and then squeezed my eyes shut, wondering how it was possible to love such a....weird guy.

But it was possible, and I loved Niall more than anything.

After finishing his business, Niall came to the bed with a loving smile on his lips. He sat at the edge of the bed and lifted my shirt up to blow a raspberry to my stomach.

"Hey baby girl," he whispered, putting his hands flat out on my stomach. I watched him with a grin. "Daddy's here and he loves you very, very much."

I felt a stab to my stomach causing me to wince, while Niall just grinned proudly. "She likes you," I muttered to Niall who was oblivious of my pain.

"Well duh," Niall shot me a look. "She's a Horan. Horans love Horans."

"I was a Lubianco," I raised an eyebrow, "but I loved you."

The smile on Niall's face faded. He pulled away from my stomach and locked eyes with me. "Loved? A-as in past tense?"

"Past tense, present tense, and future tense, forever tense." I promised, kissing his hand. Niall smiled and slipped into bed beside me, craddling me in his arms.

"Grant called me while I was out today." Niall whispered into my hair, taking a second to smell my vanilla strawberry shampoo. "He found something very interesting about Candace."

They sure communicated alot these days.

"Other than the fact the she goes by Andrea and is dating a top agent on the facility?"

"Yes, actually." Niall squeezed my waist. "Grant hacked into the tracking history on Daniel's computer, the guy who's dating Candace."

"No way." I propped myself up on my elbows and stared eagerly at Niall. "What did he find?"

"The dumbass must have forgotten to delete his search history because the trackings from yesterday showed up." Niall inhaled slowly. "Most of the trackings were on our house address and around London."

"My god." I muttered, "So Candace's boyfriend is helping her stalk us?"

"Basically," he shrugged. "It makes sense. People in the agency know they're a couple so they wouldn't find it suspicious if Candace and her boyfriend were taking time off longer than they should. The other agents would just assume their doing funny business."

I smirked. "Or maybe they really are doing funny business."

"Could be," Niall laughed, "but I doubt this is all just a coincidence."

"Well, has Grant a picture of Candace to compare 'Andrea' to?"

"Yep, sent him one already." Niall answered, closing his fingers over mine. "I think he's still trying to figure out more on what's really going on. He said he was staying undercover until he could acually prove 'Andrea' and her boyfriend to be criminals."

"We probably just made Grant's job a whole lot more interesting." I grinned, raising our intertwined hands to my cheek as a pillow. Niall smiled and pressed his warm lips to my forehead, keeping them there until I fell asleep.

---

I woke up at the feeling of something stabbing my tummy. I sat up in bed, taking a large gasp for air at the pain of the baby kick. I took a deep breath once the kicking stopped and clutched the bed sheets, the back of my neck covered with sweat droplets.

And then the baby jammed her foot against me again. I screamed, covering my mouth when I realized how loud I was. I whimpered softly and lifted my shirt up, rubbing my tummy to try and calm the baby down.

Niall bolted into the room, his eyes wide and frantic. "Princess?" His eyes fell to my hands on my stomach and he grew worried.

"I'm fine," I muttered. "Just leave."

I regretted the words, but the mood swings were kicking in and I felt like being a bitch to all the angels in the world, including Niall. Niall's shoulders dropped in disappointment. He nodded and turned to leave.

No, come back! I wanted to shout. I sighed, wincing as the baby kicked again. Unexpectedly, Niall's head popped back into the room.

"Can I sing to her?" He asked shyly, preking into the room.

"If it helps her stop murdering me." I agreed. Niall happily made his way back into the room and kneeled down on the floor in front of me, eye level with my stomach.

Niall began to sing, the soothing sound of his angelic voice dragging me into a peaceful place. The baby kicked softer and softer with each second, until slowly, she stopped kicking completely. Niall rubbed his hand over my stomach and kept on singing, until it was just he and I in the silent room.

"She stopped?" Niall hoped, pressing his lips to my tummy.

"Yeah," I said softly. "Thank you."

"Daddy magic just works that way."

---

Niall's P.O.V.

As the days passed by, Grant continued to send me information on his findings. He had been keeping a close eye on Andrea for me, updating me whenever he saw Andrea and her boyfriend in his office alone. Something was missing, though. Why would Andrea/Candace's boyfriend be helping her? Didn't he understand that he was putting his job, let alone his entire dignity at risk?
A small notification sigal sounded on my computer. I clicked on the alert and was brought to my email inbox, completed with a new message from Grant. I opened the email, eager to see what Grant had to say.

Niall,
I have found out some very important informatiom about our case. The content is too risky to share over any source of communication. It would be most convenient for you to drop by Los Angeles this weekend.
Thank you,
Grant

I astared at the email, looked away, then stared at it again. New information that he couldn't tell me over email when we had been conversing about Candace/Andrea freely for the last three weeks?

Must be important. And so I opened an email and began to type my response.

Grant,
I appreciate that you've continued to help us with our case. As much as I'd like to travel to California to talk about this case, I have a seventh month pregnant wife that I'd rather not have flying overseas. Maybe we can arrnage another way to transfer the information?
Thank you,
Niall

Satisfied with my email, I sent it and surfed the internet with the small amount of freetime I had.
I sat back and thought about the lads, our band. I hated to admit, but we were falling apart. With the problems Aria and I were having, and Harry and Corryn's recent tragedy, and the responbilities each of us had as fathers and husbands, the point of breaking up was approaching us faster than we could have ever imagined.

I missed the everyday tweets, the screaming fans, the pure euphoria of being on stage and singing my heart out. But it was time for someone else to take the spotlight. It was time to call the quits.

That frustrated me.

If only these assholes hadn't messed with Aria and I, maybe One Direction would be going stronger than it was now. Candace and her boyfriend made me quit the possibly last tour, for god's sake. How was I supposed to be okay with that?

Simple. I couldn't.

I exhaled heavily and rubbed my eyes stressfully, just as the front door opened, sounding the short alert from the alarm system.

Wanting to see my beautiful angel's face again, I turned back to my cumpter to put it to sleep and noticed an email notification.

Grant had emailed me back. I opened the email and read the words carefully.

Hey Niall,
I understand that you're having trouble with your family traveling. If you'd like, I could come to London. I have a meeting coming up next week at the London headquarters, so I could stop by a few days earlier and talk to you. Would that work?
Grant

Perfect. I could get some information from Grant and stay home. I sent him a message back, confirming his suggestion.

I shut off my computer and headed downstairs to find Aria sitting at the breakfast table. Her elbows were on the table with her hands cupping her face.

"Ari?"

She ignored me, staring at a single spot in the room. As I stepped closer, I could see tears pooling in her big blue eyes.

"Aria," I breathed out, stepping directly in front of her. I pulled her lifeless hands away from her face with ease, surprised that she didn't try and fight me. "Baby."

Aria refused to look at me, staring at my shirt instead. The tears in her eyes lost their hold and slipped down the beautiful complextion of her cheeks. She made a small strangled sound in her throat, as if she had hurt herself trying to gulp down tears.

I squatted down in front of her, looking at her intensely. It broke my heart to see her this way. I just wanted her to be truly happy for once.

"It hurts." She suddenly cried. The tears began to fall at a faster pace down her face. "Everything just hurts."

"What?" I frowned, one of my hands instinctivdly pressing to her stomach. "Is it the baby?"

"No," she sniffled. "It's the guilt."

"Come on, Aria." I sighed. "How many times have I-"

"Don't care what you have to say." She cut me off dryly. "God, just leave me alone."

She pushed her chair back with her heels and stood up, looking down so her hair would cover her face as she walked away. I continued to squat and stare at the now empty seat, wondering why she kept pushing me away.

It hurt more than her guilt.

Oh, and I hadn't exactly been at Tesco's the other day...

Notes

HEY GUYS
LONG WAIT I KNOW AND IT ISNT EVEN THAT GOOD BUT I HAD MAJOR WRITERS BLOCK AND YEAH. ALSO HAVE THIS THING CALLED SCHOOL SO.
anyways, hope you enjoy ♥♥♥

p.s. thanks amber for forcing me to update otherwise i probably wouldn't have. lul. i just get lazier everyday man. MUA. now leave me alone ;)