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Y/N smiled as she slipped the last picture into its slot before closing the cover of the album in her lap. The book, with its gray leather exterior and cream pages, had been something she had been working on for several years. The pictures, which filled up every space available, covered nearly seven years of time and had been taken in several different places around not only England, but also the rest of the world. They told stories that only Y/N, her husband, and a few close friends and family knew, and as Y/N placed the album in the gift bag on the table she hoped that the gift would mean as much to the recipient as it did to her.
Y/N had just finished concealing the gift within the bag with brightly colored tissue paper when a couple of small voices startled her from her work.
“Mommy when is daddy gonna get here?”
“Yeah, Auntie, when will my daddy and papa show up? And Uncle Ni and Li Li and Zaynie?”
Y/N turned and regarded the two three year olds standing and staring up at her expectantly. Lucas, with his mess of shaggy [Your Hair Color] hair and blue eyes, was the perfect mixture of his father and Y/N. He was loud, funny, loved to eat, and was very protective of his 1 year old sister, Sophia, who was asleep in the nursery. Darcy, who had been staying in the care of Y/N for the past month while the boys were gone on tour, was looking more and more like Harry with each and every passing day. When she smiled, her dimples would appear deep in her pale cheeks and her forest green eyes would light up instantly. Her dark mass of hair fell in messy curls all around her shoulders. However, while she looked exactly like her daddy, she definitely got her attitude from Papa Lou as was evident in the way she was standing with her hip cocked to the side and a tiny hand resting there.
“Mommy, they will be home tonight, right?” Lucas asked and reached out to grab onto Y/N’s pant leg.
Y/N chuckled before she reached down and pulled her son into her arms. Once she had him balanced on her hip, she reached down and grabbed Darcy’s little hand before heading into the living room.
“Yes Baby,” She planted a small kiss on Lucas’ head as she lowered him on to her lap. “They will be home tonight.”
“How much longer do we have to wait?” Darcy whined as she pulled herself up on to the cushion beside Y/N.
Y/N smiled and wrapped her free arm around Darcy’s shoulder before looking up at the clock above the fireplace. It was 9:00pm exactly. She had made the decision to allow the kids to stay up and wait for the boys to get home, but as she looked at their tired faces she wasn’t sure if they were going to make it. Whining was usually a tell-tale sign that bed time had long since passed and either the kids would fall asleep quickly and quietly or they would have a meltdown. She remembered Niall saying that they would probably make it back into town around 9:00 and then it would be about 30 more minutes before they made it to the house. Y/N was hoping that if the kids couldn’t make it 30 more minutes that they would simply fall asleep. The past month had been littered with meltdowns and Y/N wasn’t sure if she had it in her to deal with another alone, not when she was so close to having her husband and partner in parenting back.
“You see the clock?” She asked and both kids nodded and leaned up against her, Lucas gripping the fabric of her sweater and Darcy playing with her fingers. “When the big hand is pointing down, that is when they will come through the door. That is in about 30 minutes.”
“That’s a long time.” Lucas yawned and buried his face in Y/N’s sweater.
“Tell us a story, Auntie. That will make the time go faster.” Darcy stated and continued to play with Y/N’s fingers, occasionally twisting the wedding band with Michael Buble lyrics engraved in the silver.
“What story do you want to hear, Sweetie?” Y/N asked although she was almost certain that she knew what the answer was going to be.
“The one about how you met Daddy, Papa, Uncle Ni, Li Li, and Zaynie.” Darcy smiled
Y/N chuckled and pulled the little girl closer.
“Are you sure? You have heard this story about a hundred times before.”
Darcy just stuck out her bottom lip and stared at Y/N.
“Please?”
Y/N rolled her eyes but began the story anyway.
“I was 21, in college, and still living in Washington, which is very far away from here. Your daddy and papa as well as Lucas’ dad and the other two boys had only been in a band for a few years, but they were coming to play a show in Seattle. Now, I didn’t live in Seattle and, because it was summer and I was home from college, Seattle was very far away. You see, I lived on the other side of the state.”
Darcy nodded and lowered her head onto Y/N’s lap, careful not to bump Lucas.
“Anyway, for the whole first month of the summer I worked and worked and saved up all of my money to buy a ticket so I could see them perform. I also had to buy a bus ticket because my car didn’t work, but I managed to save up enough money and when the end of July rolled around I was able to take the trip. I went up 2 days before the concert and stayed with my aunt and uncle. The whole first day I was there all I did was sight see with my cousins, but on the second day I met Niall.
“Yeah,” Lucas breathed into Y/N’s shoulder. “Daddy was being attacked by fans!”
“That’s right, baby.” Y/N planted another small kiss on his head. “You see, he had gotten separated from the rest of the group and, while he was trying to find them again, a huge group of fans cornered him and demanded to get pictures and his autograph.”
“Were they scary?” Darcy interrupted.
“Even if they were, my daddy is the bravest person ever!” Lucas stated proudly.
Y/N chuckled and pulled both of the kids a bit closer.
“They weren’t scary. There were just a lot of them and Niall was all alone. I was walking with my cousin when we noticed the scene and I didn’t even think before I approached the group and tried to pull them away. When that didn’t work, I yelled at the top of my lungs that Niall would take pictures with all of them but they had to get into a line first. I don’t really know why they listened to me, but they did and several minutes later after they had all gotten a picture I was the only one left standing with Niall, well other than my cousin of course. Anyway, he asked me who I was and why I had done that and after I reassured him that I was just a helpful person who had been worried about him he thanked me and let me walk with him until he found the rest of the band. After my cousin and I got our picture taken with the whole band, they left and I was pretty sure that I would never get the chance to talk to any of them ever again.”
“But you did talk to them again!” Darcy’s voice was filled with excitement. “You got to talk to them at the concert!”
“Well, that is true, but I didn’t know that when they left me that day. I was happy that I got to help Niall but I was also incredibly sad that I didn’t get to know any of them. So, the next night when I got to the concert, I was really hoping that I would at least be able to say hello to them.”
“Oh, this is the best part!” Lucas chimed.
“As it turned out, the ticket that I had bought got me pretty close to the stage. I was so close, in fact, that I could even see the color of the boys’ shoelaces. It was so much fun. I sang and danced along to all of the songs and they had just finished the second to the last song when Niall started talking to the crowd. He thanked all of us for coming and then he said that he wasn’t sure if I was there, but he said that he really wanted to thank the girl who had saved him the day before and that if she was in the audience he wanted her to know that he was really thankful. I was so happy that he had said that and by the end of their last song I was smiling bigger than ever. My smile grew even bigger when they started to walk off the side of the stage close to where I was standing and Niall happened to look down and spotted me. He instantly had a security guard stop me from leaving the concert hall and, once everyone else had left, the security guard took me backstage. At first I didn’t know what to expect but once I was backstage I was surprised to see all of the boys sitting there looking towards me. They offered me a seat and something to drink and we spent the next 2 hours just talking with each other. I learned during that time, that although they were famous, the boys were a whole lot like me and by the end of the night I had made 5 new friends. It was amazing.”
“Were Daddy and Papa in love when you first met them?” Darcy asked as Lucas clapped like he always did after hearing a story.
Y/N smiled and went to shake her head no, even though Darcy already knew that answer, but was interrupted by the sound of the front door swinging open.
“We’re back!!” A familiar Irish accent filled the house as Y/N glanced once again at the clock. Sure enough, it was just past 9:30pm.
“Daddy!!” Lucas shrieked and jumped off of his mother’s lap and headed for the entryway. Darcy followed quickly and Y/N made it just in time to see Niall grab his son and lift him into his arms. To his right, Harry and Louis had fallen to their knees to envelope their daughter. Zayn watched the scene with bright eyes from the doorway and Liam quickly stepped through the crowd to give Y/N a hug.
“It is so good to see a familiar face again!” Liam stated quietly as he pulled back to allow Harry, who had left Darcy in Louis’ arms, his chance to give Y/N a hug.
“Thank you for taking care of Darcy!” Harry gripped Y/N tight. “She always loves to spend time with her Auntie.”
Y/N smiled and glanced to where Louis was cradling Darcy. When Darcy had first been born, just a few months after Lucas, Y/N had been overjoyed to receive the news. She had been even more ecstatic when Harry and Louis had entrusted her with watching their daughter when they went away for tours. Sure, they allowed their mothers and sisters the chance to take care of her too, but both boys liked the idea of Darcy being in an environment where there was another child her own age to play with. It made Y/N feel good to know that she had become close enough with the other members of the band to be trusted with their children. Even Zayn and Liam had said that if they ever had children they wanted Y/N to be as involved as possible.
“It wasn’t a problem!” Y/N turned back to Harry who had since let her go and grabbed Darcy’s bag from the hall tree. “I loved having her, even if I had to tell “The First Meeting Story” to her and Lucas about a billion times.”
Louis chuckled and leaned in to give Y/N a kiss on the cheek turning his body ever so slightly to avoid jostling the now sleeping girl in his arms.
“You only have to tell it so much because you tell it the best.” He winked and then started for the door. “We had better get going. We left the car running and we have to run Liam and Zayn home before we can enjoy our own bed again.”
Y/N nodded and watched as the boys began to exit the warm house to brave the cooling September air.
“Drive safe and I am sure that we will all be meeting for lunch sometime in the next few days! Goodnight boys!” She called and then shut and locked the door.
When she turned around she noticed that Niall was nowhere to be seen. Only 5 minutes home and he had already managed to disappear and all without even giving his own wife a hug. Y/N sighed and started down the hallway to where she thought he might have gone to. Sure enough, when she reached Lucas’ bedroom, Niall was tucking their little boy in. He pressed a quick kiss to the sleeping boy’s cheek before he switched off the light and shut the door. It was only after making sure that he had left the door open a bit that Niall looked over to Y/N, who had backed up to allow him back out into the hall.
Y/N barely had time to take in the dark circles under her husband’s eyes before he had her wrapped up against him and was pressing a warm kiss to her lips. He held his lips against hers for a few minutes before he pulled back and allowed her to rest her head in the crook of his neck.
“I missed you and the kids so much.” He breathed into her hair.
Y/N smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist even tighter.
“I missed you too, Honey. I thought of you every day and I wanted nothing more than to be able to hold you, and Lucas told me every day how much he wanted you to be home to play with him. Oh, and you should see Sophie, she has grown so much. Even in just a month she has grown so big. I know that you love your job but it is just so hard when you are away.”
Niall pulled back and rested his forehead against Y/N’s.
“I know that it is hard on you,” he smiled and stared at her. “But I don’t have to go on another tour for quite some time and the only trip that we will be taking is when we go see your family for Thanksgiving.”
Y/N smiled back and held onto Niall for several more minutes before she suddenly remembered the gift she had abandoned to entertain the kids.
“Speaking of giving,” Y/N started pulling Niall back towards to dining room. “I have a gift for you.”
“You got me something?” Niall questioned but continued to follow Y/N down the hall, gripping her hand tightly.
“Well yeah,” Y/N dropped Niall’s hand when they entered the dining room and blushed as she handed him the bag. “We didn’t get to celebrate your birthday because you were away. This is my late birthday gift to you, but I didn’t buy it. I made it.”
Niall regarded Y/N for a moment before taking a seat at the table and pulling the leather bound album from the tissue paper. He smiled as he opened it and saw Y/N’s familiar handwriting across the inside front cover.
Niall,
I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to get you for your birthday this year. I mean, what do you get someone who has everything they could ever want? However, after much thinking and going through a bunch of old pictures I decided on this album. All of our memories are stored here and will be for all the years to come. You can take this with you when you go away and then you will always have your family with you. Also, as we continue to make more memories, we can make more albums. I love you and want nothing more than to continue to document our lives together in this way.
You’re every line, you’re every word, you’re everything!
With love,
Y/N
Niall smiled at the last line of the inscription. It was the same line that he had had engraved on Y/N’s wedding band so many years before. He then began to flip through the pages and recognized every picture on every page. As he continued to flip the pages and Y/N took a seat beside him, every memory captured there came back. The day Y/N had saved him from the crazy mob of fans, their first date, the first time he had met her family and she his, , their 1 month anniversary, their 6th month anniversary, the first time Y/N had visited England and then Ireland, the day that Niall had proposed, their wedding, Y/N’s pregnancy, Lucas’ birthday, Sophia’s birthday, all of it just as vivid as before. By the time he reached the end he was in near tears and Y/N was clutching his hand so tightly that he was certain that he was going to lose the feeling in his fingers.
“Do you like it?” Y/N asked biting her lip out of nervousness.
Niall nodded and planted a quick, chaste kiss to his wife’s lips.
“I love it and I love you too. Now come on!” He stood and pulled Y/N to her feet. “There is one more thing I want from you.”
Y/N scrunched her eyebrows together.
“And what would that be?”
“I want,” Niall smiled and started pulling Y/N down the hall towards their bedroom. “I want to sleep in my own bed with my wife curled up in my arms.”
Y/N chuckled and wrapped her arm around Niall’s waist.
“Are you suggesting that we cuddle, Mr. Horan?”
Niall gave Y/N a quick smirk before pushing open the door to their room and giving her a kiss on the tip of her nose
“That is precisely what I am suggesting, Mrs. Horan. Right on the nose!”