When I Think About You

"Mummy! Mummy! Mum! Mum!" I groaned and opened my eyes to look up at the two darling monsters that I called my children as they bounced up and down on the bed, effectively waking me and my husband of 8 years up.

"Whoah there, children! Vas happenin!?" Zayn asked happily even though he was, clearly, still sleepy.

"We're going to see uncle Lou and aunt Eleanor today!" Euan piped up excitedly.

Lou and El have been married for almost 2 years now. They still don't have any children, but they want to have one in the near future. If you're curious as to what happened to One Direction, they're still going strong, still selling out stadiums and arenas, and still performing and receiving awards at prestigious awards shows both here in the UK and abroad. Harry still hasn't settled down with a girl, but he is getting cosy with Marge, one of my close friends. Niall and Cam are engaged. And Liam and Danielle have been happily tied to each other for 5 years now; still no children, though. As for my other close friends, Brad is working as the royal advisor for Duchess Catherine while managing his own business. Grace is managing one of the most prestigious hotels in Hong Kong, The Langham Hotel. Evelyn has been happily married to Jerome for 3 years now. Pandora is one of the stock holders of Harrods London. And, as I've said before... Marge is getting cosy with Harry.

As for Zayn and I, we've been married for 8 years now. We have two kids, a 7 year-old son, Euan, and a 4 year-old daughter, Layne. Duchess still lives with my mum since I can't handle taking care of her right now because of my job as the proud owner of one of the most locally-famous reataurants in all of Surrey; The London Rose.

Yes, that's right. I've managed to go through university even with a baby boy to take care of. It wasn't a walk through the park. My mum volunteered to move into the house up until I graduated so that she could take care of Euan while I went to my classes. It was hard always leaving Euan in the morning so that I could pursue my dream of becoming a chef, but what was even harder was that Zayn was halfway across the world most of the time and he couldn't keep a very close eye on Euan while he was growing up.

What was good about having a husband that travelled the workd, though, was the perk of getting to fly out of the country to see him in concert with his four best friends, one of which is my older brother.

As I've mentioned earlier, Zayn and I had another child; a daughter. When Layne came into this world... everything felt like it was at a standstill. It was, honestly, smoother and less fussy than Euan's birth but, we had to stay at the hospital until December 24th since she was born on the 23; a day before Lou's birthday.

Layne has her dad's eyes and dark brown hair which is the same shade as Lou's hair, she also has Zayn's nose which looks good on her while Euan had the trademark Tomlinson eyes and nose which made him pretty famous with lots if young ladies in his and Layne's school. Yes, they go to the same school.

Euan's very protective of Layne, and Layne's a bit too cheeky for her own good. They kind of remind me of Lou and I. Oh, and speaking of Lou, we're going to visit him and El in London today.

"Hurry up, mummy! Daddy! Hurry!" Layne said and forcibly grabbed Zayn's left hand and tried to yank him out of bed; to no avail.

The kids just loved their uncle Lou so much. Don't get me wrong, they love all their 'aunts and uncles', but their favorite is Lou since he still hasn't changed from being a child at heart. He's still protective of me, though. Bit I wouldn't have it any other way.

"I wanna see uncle Lou right now!" Layne whined in her overly cute 4 year-old voice.

"But you saw him last week." Zayn countered which made me giggle and the kids to let out a loud wail of protest. And then, the pouting began.

"No, no. Not the pout. Not the pout." I stated and exaggeratedly threw my hands over my face after closing my eyes.

The kids pouted even more and Layne pressed herself closer to me as Euan touched his Daddy's hair. Even though Zayn loved the kids to death, he still didn't like them touching his hair... especially when they just came from the kitchen with peanut butter in their hands, literally.

"Mummy! I want to see uncle Lou! Pleeeease!?" Euan whined as he clutched a lock of Zayn's hair between his fingers. Zayn glared at me and then pouted which made me laugh.

"Can we just go and visit Loueh?" My husband asked; more like pleaded.

I nodded, "Get up, you lot. I'll make breakfast and then we're all gonna change out of out jammies before we go to Uncle Lou and Aunt Eleanor's."

"Yaaaaaay!" Layne shouted with glee before wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing my cheek; effectively making my heart swell with so many emotions; mainly love.

***

"Daddy! Your part's coming up!" Layne said giddily as the four of us sat in the family car on our way to London to visit Lou and El.

So c-c'mon
you've got it wrong
To prove I'm right
I put it in a so-o-ong
I don't know why
You're being shy
And turn away
When I look into your e-e-eyes

Zayn sang along with his verse as he drove with his eyes darting over to me every so often. It's been kind of like an unspoken tradition to play the Up All Night album whenever we go up to visit Lou in London. It helps the kids know that their dad and uncles had to work hard before they got famous and had their own album. It lets them know that if you work hard for something, you might just receive it... and more.

"Mummy, daddy told us that you two met because of uncle Lou," Euan trailed off. I looked over my shoulder at both him and Layne, and found that they had cheeky grins on their faces.

They have been pestering me to tell them my side of the story of how Zayn and I met. But I have yet to give in to their whim. I didn't want them knowing how much of a huge crush I had for their dad back then... until now, really. I am still very much in love with Zayn... and I'm sure that he's still very smitten with me.

"How's school, Euan? Layne?" I asked; hoping to change the subject.

"It's fine, mummy. I made a new friend!" Layne stated happily which made me smile at her.

"What's his or her name?" I asked her.

"Her name's Amity and she's really nice! Can we have a sleepover?" My daughter pleaded. I shrugged and turned to look at Zayn who was still driving.

"Sure, baby. You can have a sleepover as long as you don't talk about boys." Zayn bargained seriously which made me roll my eyes. Him and his overprotectiveness.

"Daddy, boys are gross." Layne stated which made me laugh aloud, causing all of them to look at me weirdly.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Don't mind me." I mumbled and waved them off. Boys will only be gross until Layne turned 12.

I can't wait until she gets her first boyfriend. Zayn will flip out.

"What about you, Euan? Anything new with school?" Zayn piped up.

"I got an A+ in Math." He said nonchalantly which made me smile.

"That's really brilliant, Eu! Keep that up and your daddy and I might just get you that guitar you wanted." I bribed him and a grin crossed his features before he settled on telling us all about the A's he got in school. I think someone deserved a guitar.

"But, daddy! I got a star yesterday. My teacher says that I'm the smartest in class." Layne half-whined which made me giggle. She was such a daddy's girl.

"Well, what do you want, Layne?" Zayn asked and I playfully rolled my eyes at him.

"A pony!"

***

"Lil!" Louis greeted enthusiastically after he swung the door open. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. Just like old times.

"Uncle Louuuuuu!" Layne and Euan screeched in a happy manner before hurling themselves at Louis.

"Layyyynneee! Euuuuuuaaaaan!" Louis hugged them tightly and spun around with them in his arms which made them laugh. 

"Where's Eleanor?" I asked Lou as he and Zayn sat on the couch and looked after the kids.

"In the kitchen!" El hollered and I went to the kitchen where she was preparing something that looked like cookies.

"Nooooo! Mummy did that!?" Euan asked aloud which made three voices shush him; making me laugh quietly along with Eleanor.

"They're polluting my children's brains." I muttered as I mixed some more cookie batter.

"You know how they get." El answered which made me nod.

Suddenly, I stopped whisking and looked at my sister-in-law, causing her to cease her own motions and look at me.

"What's wrong?" She whispered worriedly.

I shook my head, "Nothing's wrong. I just realized that I'm so lucky to have been married to Zayn. And we're still married even after all this time."

Eleanor smiled and reached out to hug me which served as mild comfort.

That evening after dinner, I went up to the kids' room in Lou and El's house to tuck my children in since their dad was busy talking with Lou about their next album... and probably putting One Direction on a short hiatus to focus on the kids.

"Mum, why won't you tell us your side of the story?" Euan asked quietly as I tucked the duvet under his chin.

"Yes, mummy. Why won't you tell us?" Layne pressed, getting out of her own bed and climbing into Euan's double bed.

I sighed and then looked at them. They were staring very intently at me, "Alright. I'll tell you. It all started when your uncle Lou joined the X-Factor..."

Then and there, I told them all about mine and Zayn's story. Purposely leaving out the parts where I was cyber-bullied by 'fans' as well as all the fights that Zayn and I had. I would tell them when they were more mature.

"And then he brought me to the Philippines; the place we went to a few months ago..."

I finished up the story with Layne's birth and saw that Layne was already asleep on the right side of Euan's bed. I moved to pick her up and place her on her own bed but Euan stopped me.

"No, mum. She can sleep there." Euan said quietly so as not to wake his sister.

I smiled at him and kissed his forehead before tucking both him and Layne under the duvet.

"Mum?" He asked softly.

"Yes?" I inquired.

"I want to be like dad when I grow up." He admitted quietly.

"Why?" Now I was curious.

"Because he still loved you even when he was away. One of my friends dads moved to America because he didn't love them anymore. Dad didn't leave us even if he was away all the time."

Tears pricked my eyes and I nodded silently, moving back to my son and hugging him tightly before kissing his forehead. "You are so much like your dad."

"I love you, mum." He said against my chest as he hugged me tightly.

"I love you, too, Eu. You, Layne, uncle Lou, your dad... everyone."

I unlatched myself from Euan and kissed his forehead as well as Layne's forehead before walking out of the room with one last glance at my babies.

I walked over to mine and Zayn's room and smiled as I entered and shut the door behind me.

"What's got you so happy?" Zayn asked from his sitting position on top of the bed.

"Your son wants to be like you when he grows up." I answered and moved to sit down in front of him. But Zayn pulled me onto his lap and kissed my neck which made me shudder in pleasure.

"Really? How so?"

I explained to him what Euan had said to me and he couldn't fight the huge grin off his face.

"Zayn?" I whispered after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"Yes, love?" He asked softly, trailing his hand up my thigh, my waist, tony arm, and down to my right hand which laid limply on my lap.

"I just realized something. I had my whole life planned out, down to the very last detail. And now, here I am. 26, married to you, mother of two, owner of my own restaurant... very lucky to still be very in love with my husband. Nothing went as planned."

Zayn opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off before he could utter a word, "But, you didn't let me finish... Nothing went as planned but, in the end, everything fell into place. I still got the future that I planned... and more. I wouldn't have it any other way."

He smiled and pressed a kiss to my lips which made the familiar butterflies in my stomach flutter wildly.

"And to think, all of this started because I always thought about you." I mumbled and giggled into his chest.

"We have Louis to thank for all of this. If he didn't tease you in the first place, we never could've gone this far." Zayn admitted and pressed butterfly kisses to my neck, effectively making my insides turn to mush. "Lil,"

"Yeah?" I whispered breathlessly.

"I love you and will always love you. Forever and ever..."

"... and ever." I whispered and smiled before looking into Zayn's beautiful hazel/brown eyes and pressing my lips to his in a searing kiss that was filled with all the passion and love that I felt for him.

And they lived happily ever after.