Little Misunderstandings [Sequel to Little Steps]

Pregnancy already put a significant amount of stress on me, but that abrupt phone call, and driving on a freeway in the middle of a rain storm was enough stress to make me explode into millions of pieces.
I slammed my foot on the brake and jammed on the car horn as a crazy driver cut in front of me and onto the next lane, without any turning signals or notice. Stupid fucker.
I had my phone in my left hand, trying to decide whether or not I should call back. I had no clue what was going on and I was basically freaking out without any idea why.
The sound of blaring horns and eindshield wipers screeching back and foryh over the glass became distant as tears brimmed my eyes. I quickly wiped them away and kept my eyes on the road. I needed to go home. I needed to see what was wrong.
I applied more pressure to the gas pedal, acceleratig my car. I came upon the exit off the freeway and exhaled. Almost home.
Once I got into the neighborhood, it was empty. The rain was still pattering hard against my car, but there wasn't a single soul in sight. I approached my cal de sac and pulled into the driveway of my house.
I grabbed my keys and purse and opened the car door, cursing myself for not bringing a hooded jacket. Holding my purse over my head, I ran as fast as an eight month pregnant woman could run to the front door, sticking the key into the keyhole.
The door pushed open, and upon entering, something seemed off. The house was silent.
It was never silent. There was alwyas a TV turned on or one of the kids humming a song. Either that, or Niall was belting out tunes to add to their albums. It was never ever silent.
I stepped back out of the house in fear, gripping onto my purse. My hair and clothing were soaking wet from the rain, but I couldn't bring myself to step back inside the house. I began to shiver from the added cold that the rain brought, the water mixing in with my frightened tears.
I took a deep breath and stepped back into the house, shutting the door behind me. Chills covered my skin as I walked through the house.
"Niall?" I hissed, grabbing an umbrella off the rack as I passed by it. I held it in front of me as a shield and kept walking.
I made my way upstairs after silently declaring the downstairs empty. The first thing I saw was Niall's office room door shut. That was odd, since he normally didn't shut his door.
Holding the umbrella higher, I set my hand on the doorknob, taking a deep breath. God, if you exist, pease don't let there be a murderer behind this door.
I pushed it open.
Niall was seated at his desk, and his cellphone was on speaker. I frowned in confusion. Niall looked up, quickly pressing a finger to his lips. An amused smile spread across his lips when he saw the umbrella in my hand.
He motioned for me to come closer. I set the umbrella down, blushing furiously, as went to sit down in the chair beside him.
"It's Candace and her boyfriend, Daniel." He whispered so softly, I was lucky I even heard him. "They must have accidentally buttdialed, but I've got everything on record."
My heart rate picked up. I grabbed one of Niall's hands and pressed my lips in a firm line, listening to the phone conversation playing before us.
"Yeah, sure babe." A male voice who I assumed was Daniel, rang through the speakers. "Because they totally won't notice us creeping into their house with a ton of security cameras everywhere."
"Gosh, Danny." Candace snorted. It startled me just how much she and Scarlett sounded alike. "Haven't you forgotten when I got into their house as scared the shit out of Aria? Plus, we've got all their cameras tapped."
Tell me something I don't know.
"They've probably got some sort of secret security now that they know we're onto them." Daniel argued. He didn't seem very keen on going through with this planned attack. "Candy, please listen to me."
"You're such a pussy." Candace groaned. "With Aria's baby on the way, they probably forgot about us."
Niall glanced at me with a smug grin.
"How could they forget about us?" Daniel continued to turn down Candace. "We nearly killed all of them except Niall."
"So then Niall will be our next target." Candy giggled wildly, an insane edge to it. I shivered, grabbing Niall's hand. From my preriperhal vision, I could see his blue eys wide and alarmed.
"Fine." Daniel sighed. "Let's do it. You're lucky I'm in love with you."
As Candace was about to answer, I heard a knock in the call. Both the criminals stopped talking immidiately, probably fearful that someone had heard them.
"Who is it?" Candy snapped.
"Grant." The voice at the door answered. We could hear Candace opening the door, allowing a new, familiar voice in.
Grant. Our Grant, it had to be him. What the hell was he doing talking to Candace and Daniel? Niall squeezed my hand, breathing into my shoulder.
"So, I found out that the Horan's are taking a trip." Grant's voice spilled through the speakers. "Here, this is where they booked their room."
The sound of papers shuffling became clear. No, there was no way. How could Grant possibly betray us like this?
"Excellent." Candace cooed after some silence. "We can ransack their house while they're gone."
"Actually Candace, it'd be much more effective if you just met them at their destination and gave them a surprise attack before they could even enjoy themselves." Grant suggested.
"Hey." Candace hissed at Grant. "I make the plans here, not you."
"No, Candy, he's onto something." Daniel interrupted, making Candace go silent. "If we can find them where they land, we can get rid of them once and for all. They won't even be close to home, so the news won't get to their friends as fast. This is our best chance."
Candace sighed. "I suppose you're right."
"If you need anything, just let me know." Grant said, followed by the sound of a door opening and closing.
"Well," Daniel cleared his throat, "I never thought that dick could be of some help."
Candace snorted. "I know, right?"
"Okay, sit." Daniel said. "We need to come up with a way to get around our obstacles." A sound of heels clicking against the floor was followed with the call being cut.
Niall and I remained silent for a few minutes after, just in case the call restarted, however, nothing happened. Niall ended the call and stopped recording, exhaling heavily.
"Fucking traitor."
"Why would he do that?" I whispered, biting my lip. "We've never done anything to him. What could we possibly have done?"
Niall grunted, gripping the edge of the desk. "I don't know, but I'm fucking pissed off."
I got the idea and stood up, allowing him to shoot out of his seat and storm over the the black sofa, punching a pillow as if it were Grant's head. The more I watched him, the more amusing it was to see him punch a pillow.
"Why are you laughing?" He snapped his head to me. I slapped a hand over my mouth. He glared at me, before his expression softened and he collapsed on the sofa. He shoved his face into a pillow.
I giggled softly at his silliness, watchig him try to soffucate himself with a pillow. Then, I noticed his shoulders were shaking. He was crying. Keeping my hand on my stomach, I walked towards him, feeling tired and worn out just from a simple step. Pregnancy was such a fun time.
"Niall?" I sat down beside him, pulling the pillow off of his face. He grabbed it back from me and covered his face again. I rolled my eyes; Niall hated crying in front of me. He thought it made his less manly. Pft, he was never manly in the first place.
Just kidding.
"Niall, stop it." I pouted, trying to rip the pillow out of his grip. He held on tight, not allowing the pillow to escape his grip. Fine, then."
"O-oh my god!" I shrieked loudly. "Niall, my water broke!"
The pillow flew off his face in an instant.
"What?" His expression was flustered. "Oh, god! Shit, shit! Let me..."
I burst into laughter. Niall's worried expression faded away, replacing with one of anger.
"That wasn't funny." He said flatly.
"Yes...it...was!" I gasped it between laughter. I even started slapping my knee. Suddenly, Niall's fingers were at my sides, attacking my skin with a whole different kind of devillish hell, also known as "Tickling". He tickled me until I could no longer breath, and was begging for him to stop. I'm pretty sure I slapped his neck in the process of entreat.
"You are so mean." He shook his head at me, feigning a look of dispapproval. I gave him the finger and attempted to stand up from the couch, which proved much harder when an eight month old baby was chilling in my stomach.
Being the gentleman he was and always had been, Niall got up and stood in front of me, pulling me up. After he laughed at me, of course. And after he helped me, I gave him a good old five-star slap of the back. Pregnant woman style.
As Niall suffered from the pain of my stellar five star slap, and went to check on the kids. I found them both in Nicolette's room, running around throwing foam blocks at each other.
"What are you two doing?"
Both of them froze as if deers caught in headlights, dropping the blocks in their hands.
"Hi, mum." Nicolette was the first to speak. "We were playing."
"That's not the right way to use foam blocks." I chided her, as well as Nate, who had cowered into the corner of the room in fright.
"Sorry, mum." Nate looked up at me through his deep blonde lashes, earning my forgiveness in a second. Damn, just wait until they were asking me for expensive clothes and I gave into that look.
I was so screwed.
"Play nice." I ordered, waddling out of the room. I stopped just outside their door, and I coupld of second later, I heard them ahouting and throwing things again. I shook my head and smiled.
"Hey," Niall came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. "Don't slap me like that again.It fucking hurt."
"I know that." I spun around, grinning at him. "Let's make a deal. You help me up, I don't slap."
"Deal." Niall chuckled, taking my hand and shaking professionally. He brought it up to his lips and kissed my hand, then pressed it to his warm chest. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I nodded slowly.
"No, about the call." Niall corrected, intertwining our fingers together. "How does it make you feel?"
"Oh," I bit my lip. "Well, it makes me feel betrayed. And stupid. It also makes me feel like punching Grant in the balls and sending him to hell along with Candace and her stupid boyfriend. And I'd also like to sue the FBI for not keepig better watch of their agents. Maybe I could cut the manager's head -"
"Woah." Niall laughed loudly. "That's a bit brutal."
"Well everyone is stupid." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. Niall smirked, amused with my sudden moodiness. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Come on." Niall grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the stairs. "Let's go get some fresh air."
"I don't want fresh air." I grumbled, but still followed me. I imagined Niall was rollig his eyes, declaring me stubborn and difficult.
"You're so stubborn." He snorted as we reached the kitchen. Niall tossed me the keys to the back door and smiled. "Go on. I'll get us some drinks."
I stuck my tongue out at him and turned towards the door, unlocking it with the key. A cool breeze hit my skin as son as the door opened, making the hairs on my skin stand straight. I felt something wet hit my skin, and rolled my eyes. "Niall, it's raini-"
And then I screamed.
The liquid on my skin was not clear as water, but red like blood. I looked down and saw that I was standing in a puddle of the same red liquid. I turned to look up, and screamed even louder.
Niall caught me just as my knees gave in.
Setting me down on the ground while I stggled to regain my breath, he quickly steppedoutside and cursed loudly at the gory sight above him.
"Fucking hell." He hissed, stepping backward into the house to avoid being under the dead body of my father.
I began to shake at the sight of him, memories, terrible, frightening memories bombarding my brain. I remembered the screaming, I screamed so much. I remembered the bruises, marks, scars he had inflicted on me, and how he had violated me.
"Babe," Niall exhaled, rushing towards me. He knelt at my side and I cried into his chest, terrified of that... thing hanging from our roof.
"He's supposed to be buried." I gritted my teeth as I cried. "Get him away! Get him away!"
"Ari-"
"Get him away from this house!" I screamed, pushing Niall off of me. My vision blurred as I felt overcome with rage and a wanting for revenge for all the terrible things that thing had done to me. I stood up and tried to jump, to reach the body of my father so I could slam his dead body onto the ground until his lifeless skin tore.
Two hands attached to my shoulders pulled me back, so that my back hit a chest.
"Aria, shh." Niall whispered, holding me while I screamed. "Shh, you're okay. You're okay, baby. Don't cry, princess."
"He's supposed to be gone!" I shouted, sobbing loudly. "Get him away!"
Niall spun me around quickly and enveloped me in a tight hug, sheilding me from my backyard door. "Princess, shouting isn't good for you or the baby."
I bit my lip to keep from screaming when I spotted more blood drip onto the floor of the deck.
"We'll call the police for this one." Niall told me, rubbing my arm in a soothing fashion. "Everything will be alright."
"Get him away from me." I mumbled weakly. "Don't let him hurt me."
"He is dead." Niall snapped sternly, angered by my plead. "And he will never hurt you again. No one is going to hurt you."
"Candace will." I nodded into his chest, feeling his muscles tense around my body as he held me. "Candace is going to find me. She's going to hurt me."
"She will not!" Niall shouted suddenly, frowning seeply as he backed away from me. "No one is going to hurt you! No one is going to touch you!"
Niall growled and stepped forward, throwing a punch at the wall behind me. He continued the punch it until I screamed and pulled him away, pushig him towards the kitchen. I slammed the backyard door shut with my foot and guided Niall to the kitchen counter, glancing at his bloody fist.
Niall was breathing heavily with rage, but then I saw tears creep out, and fall down his cheeks. I cried silently with him, while leading him to the sink so he could run his hand under the cool water.
He sat down on the kitchen island while I quietly bandaged up his damaged knuckles, his warm tears every once in a while, hitting my hand.
"When we got married," Niall croaked, "I promised the preist something, in front of a crowd of people. I told them that I would protect you. I told them I would keep you out of harms way." Then he look up, blue eyes wide and glued to mine. "But I've lied."
"No," I shook my head, putting down the ice to put my hands on his face. "No, Niall you've done everything that you can. You have-"
"I have not!" He cut me off, his lip quivering. "Look at all the pain you've had to endure these past months! I haven't given you the protection you deserve and now you're broken. I'm not good enough for you. You deserve so much better."
I stared at him, fearing the worst. "A-are you saying you want to leave me?"
"No." Niall gulped. "Because as pathetic as I am, I love you too much to ever turn my back on you."
I nodded, pressing my lips to his cheek. He let out a shaky breath and wrapped his arms around me. "I love you." I reminded him. "And you are most definitely not pathetic."
Niall snorted.

Notes

Not edited.

Apologies for the close spacing