Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was complete turmoil.

Earlier in the day, the house had been all set up for their eldest’s birthday party, but now the whole place was in disarray – streamers had been torn from the ceiling and trampled on, balloons had been popped and their remnants were scattered across the floor in all areas of the house, and yet Liam had had no chance to clean up as he was too busy taking care of the other five younger children while Rashida and her rambunctious party attendees created chaos in their wake.

There were still three hours until the kids’ parents came to pick them up and it was another five before Liam would be able to relax.

“Dada, no!” Leila cried, her tiny hands fisting into Liam’s shirt as he carried her up the stairs to her room. The two year old had just celebrated her own birthday a mere week ago, yet she had wanted to join in the festivities despite having her own, albeit small, party.

“Honey, I’m sorry,” Liam said sadly, feeling genuinely bad for her. Rashida had said that Leila was only getting in the way and while Zayn had chastised her for saying that, Liam had finally relented after one of Rashida’s friends had tripped over Leila and fallen face-first onto the wooden floor, a sickening crack resounding throughout the household.

Thankfully the boy had laughed it off after he had lain there for an alarming amount of time, touching his nose tenderly as some blood ran out of his nostrils. Liam had offered to take him to the hospital to check to see if his nose had broken, but the boy said he was fine and he had gone on as if nothing had happened, dabbing at his nose occasionally with a tissue until the bleeding stopped.

After gently prying Leila’s stone grip from his shirt, he put her in her crib and kissed her on the forehead, wiping away the tears that had fallen from her eyes onto her cheeks.

“No,” she repeated, this time with a tremble of her bottom lip. Liam sighed and stroked her hair, looking back every so often to make sure that no child was running through the hall or screaming bloody murder.

“Patricia,” he called out and a few seconds later a head with long brown hair appeared from the side of the doorframe.

“Yeah, Dad?”

“I need you to watch Leila while I take care of things downstairs,” he said, giving Leila one last pat on top of her head.

“Doesn’t Baba have everything under control? Besides, you told me to watch the other three so they don’t get into trouble.” Patricia was surprisingly mature for her ten years of age – Rashida, on the other hand, was an extremely mischievous girl, just as any 12 year old was.

“I’ll just tell them to come in here; I really don’t want to leave your father alone with ten other kids,” Liam replied and Patricia groaned in exasperation. He knew he was putting a lot on her, but he also knew that she was more than capable of handling it.

Liam smiled at her and gave her a quick hug before walking out of the room, calling out the names of the three middle children. “Cara! Stella! Aaliyah!” Liam continued walking down the hall, clicking his tongue as his eyes skimmed over each of the bedrooms.

He knew that Stella and Aaliyah were both in their shared room, wanting to stay away from the ruckus that was going on downstairs. He knocked twice on the closed door and waited.

“Come in!”

Liam opened the door and saw all three of his girls in a circle with Aaliyah reading aloud to the younger two. Cara was sucking her thumb and her eyes were wide as saucers while Stella was watching intently, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Aaliyah looked up from her book, grinning widely at Liam with a gap-toothed smile. “Hi! I was just reading to these two ‘cause Stella wanted me to, but then Cara was whining about no one paying attention to her, so then I said ‘you’re being an attention hog’, and she started sniffling, so then-”

She abruptly stopped her chattering at the concerned frown on Liam’s face. “Why are you frowning? You always get those wrinkles that go from your nose to your mouth.” She got up and tried to smooth them out with her index finger. “There, all gone!”

Liam shook his head, amused. “Aaliyah, Cara is only four. Don’t you be calling her names, now,” he scolded, though half-heartedly.

Aaliyah pouted, though her expression immediately brightened. “What did you want anyway, by the way?”

“I’m going to need you, Cara, and Stella to make your way to Leila’s room. Patricia will watch over you three and yes,” Liam continued even as Aaliyah opened her mouth to argue, “you may help as well.”

Aaliyah paused, looking as if she was going to say something else, but she thought better of it as she gave a shrug and got up from the floor. “Come on, you lot,” she said, gesturing for Stella and Cara to follow her out the door.

Liam held out both hands for the girls still on the floor to take, lifting up both at the same time, Stella giggling as she fell against Liam’s thigh with a soft oomph escaping from her lips.

She and Cara stumbled out after Aaliyah, taking a right down to Leila’s room, leaving Liam alone for a moment to collect his thoughts. That was, until he heard a crash that sounded suspiciously like a lamp shattering into a million pieces.
“Honestly!”

He raced out of the bedroom, down the hall, and descended the stairs, promptly coming face-to-face with Rashida, an expression of guilt across her features. All noises had ceased except for the rhythmic sound of Zayn’s foot tapping against the ground as he tutted at the mess.

The silence went on for another minute until Rashida exclaimed, her voice pitched high, “I didn’t do it!”

Two familiar wrinkles appeared in between Zayn’s eyes at Rashida’s statement. “Well, who did it then?”

No one spoke as the children looked at one another, their mouths tightly sealed shut.

“It’s a good thing it’s your birthday, young lady,” Liam sighed, giving up. Zayn made a disgruntled noise and Liam looked up from Rashida to find Zayn glaring at him.

Liam shrugged one shoulder, looking up at Zayn from underneath his eyelashes with his best puppy-dog eyes. Zayn’s expression softened and he shook his head, mouthing “you’re in trouble” to Liam. He only smirked – it worked every time.

“Liam, I’ll sweep up the mess while you make sure that nothing else gets broken, yeah?” Zayn walked to the closet that was a few feet away, gathering the dustpan and broom from within. Liam nodded and he ushered Rashida and her friends to a different room, nearly tripping over one of the kids as he suddenly rushed past Liam.

Liam stumbled and grabbed ahold of the railing to the stairs, biting his tongue to keep from cursing loudly as his ankle rolled. He sat down heavily on one of the steps, massaging his tender ankle with his fingertips.

Come on, Liam. Not much longer, he thought, envisioning himself and Zayn in their big bed, mouths wide open, and limbs tangled together. He exhaled, hoping that luck was on his side and that his ankle wouldn’t swell up in the coming hours – there was a birthday party to be supervised.

--Six hours later--

Rashida’s friends had finally be picked up, she herself having fallen asleep on the couch even before the last guest had left, and the rest of the children had been tucked into bed with a kiss bestowed upon each of their foreheads. After he and Zayn had finally cleaned up the house, forgoing the streamers that were still pinned up on the high ceiling, he and Zayn had flopped into bed, utterly exhausted.

Liam checked the clock: 1:35 am. He groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face, willing himself to fall asleep. He heard Zayn shift from beside him and then warm breath was blowing on his neck, making him shudder despite himself. Even after 13 years of marriage, Zayn still had that effect on him, and Zayn knew it.

“Did you at least have fun today?” Zayn asked, his voice a whisper. His hand, from where it was lying on Liam’s chest, trailed up to caress Liam’s face. Liam’s eyes fluttered closed as Zayn stroked his jaw, his thumb swiping across Liam’s lower lip.

“If you keep doing that, we’re never going to get to sleep,” Liam rasped and Zayn chuckled, taking his hand away and letting it rest on Liam’s chest once more, fingertips grazing his skin every so often.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

Liam couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he opened them again. “Always straight to the point, aren’t you? Yes, I did have fun, despite it being so crazy. Happy?”

Zayn snorted and Liam felt the wave of air ghost across his face. “Yes, dear,” Zayn laughed, but then he suddenly fell silent, his fingers stilling on Liam’s chest. “Do you-” Even in the dark, Liam knew that Zayn had bitten his lip.

“Do you want to have another?”

Liam’s eyes widened, though the idea wasn’t at all repulsive to him. “We already have six daughters and we are getting a bit old.”

“We’re 34 and 35, Liam. Hardly old,” Zayn retorted and Liam could picture his nose scrunching. “You could just say no instead of skirting around the subject.”

“I would love to, Zayn,” Liam murmured, fingers searching for Zayn’s hair. They hit their target and he tangled them in Zayn’s locks. “Maybe we could even have a son this time.”

Zayn cuddled closer, pressing the length of his body against Liam’s, his head nudging up underneath Liam’s chin. “Yeah, but I like the idea of a seventh daughter more than a first son, wouldn’t you agree?”

Liam pressed a kiss to Zayn’s hair. “Whatever you want, babe. Whatever you want.”