Closer

one year later…
“Hey, babe!” Laurel called into the house. She dropped her keys into the bowl of junk by the door and went in search of her husband.

“In here!” Louis called from the living room. Laurel entered the room and rolled her eyes at the sight. Louis was holding on to Harry for dear life and Niall was jumping around like a maniac. Louis always had the guys over to watch a football match.

Laurel didn’t personally care for football, but she loved to watch it with them because they always got a little wild. There were always disagreements and after nearly every match, the boys vowed the band was breaking up. It was hysterical more often than not.

“Good game?” Laurel said with a laugh, Niall hooted in response. Louis jokingly glared at her and moved away from Harry, opening his arms for her.

Laurel gladly obliged and snuggled up to his side, stealing a small kiss as Harry tackled Niall into the couch. She laughed at their antics and filched when they kicked a bag of crisps across the room, sending crumbs everywhere.

“Admit it, Styles! Derby’s takin’ it!” Niall grunted from underneath Harry. This caused even more unset and they tumbled to the floor.

“Why do you guys even try? It always ends in a fight and a broken piece of furniture.” Laurel asked as she cautiously watched the boys, who were rolling around, causing one of the lamps to wobble.

“Its good for them!” Louis laughed, his eyes moving back to the game. Laurel sighed and let them be. She curled up into Louis and enjoyed his scent. She didn’t like football, but she liked Louis a lot.

Eventually Niall and Harry came to a draw, much to Laurel’s relief. Nothing had been broken, aside from Niall’s heat when he realized that his crisps were unsalvageable.

“You deserved it, ya filthy Derby fan.” Harry snarled from his place on the couch. That earned him a punch in the stomach. Harry grunted but ignored it. He didn’t want to miss the last few minutes of the match.

In the end, Derby won, which Niall let everyone in the room know very, very loudly. Harry and Louis booed and cussed him out. Harry seemed to do so with more sincerity than Louis. After some closing arguments, Louis pushed them out of the house. He was desperate for some alone time with Laurel.

He heard the vacuum start up and laughed when he saw Laurel cleaning up the crumbs from the exploding bag of crisps. She shook her head at Louis, but she had an understanding smile. They got excited about football, at least they didn’t break something this time.

“Come here.” Louis demanded once she shut the vacuum off. She stepped into his embrace and they were silent for a few blissful moments.

“I feel like I’ve taken up my babysitting job all over again.” She commented, moving her arms so that they wrapped around his neck. Louis laughed and wrapped his hands around her lower back, keeping them close together.

“How was therapy?” He asked her as he traced patterns into her shirt absentmindedly.

“Fine. We talked about a lot of things that were on my mind. I feel a lot better.” Laurel replied, resting her forehead on his. Louis nodded, accepting her answer.

He never asked about what she talked about in therapy. It wasn’t his business. But Laurel talked to him about the things that mattered. Ever since they had gotten back together, Laurel had been seeing a therapist regularly. She had gotten over he grief and was working on carrying on. She was a lot happier in the past year than she had been in a long time.

On a personal level, things were going great. On a marriage level, things were even better. Laurel had never felt closer to Louis. They had gotten over the awkwardness of discussing their problems and were learning how to do it in a constructive way. Not only were they enjoying the good stuff together, but also they learned how to take on the bad stuff as a team.

Which was what they had both wanted all along. Of course, things weren’t perfect. They still fought about small things and they got on each other’s nerves. But it made things even better. Even in the midst of an argument, Laurel was overwhelmed with gratitude at the way her life had turned out.

She was grateful for her home, her friends, her health, and even more, she was grateful for her husband. He was the only person, other than her mother, who had stuck by her through her ups and downs. He was strong when he needed to be, sensitive when it was necessary and understanding when the time came. She couldn’t have imagined a better partner to spend her life with.

As they days passed, it became clearer and clearer that Louis was in fact the love of her life. She knew it was the right choice to come home. Even though he still traveled all the time, and they were apart more than they cared for, they were stronger than ever.

“Hey, Lou?” Laurel asked him as she climbed into bed that night. He looked up from the book he was reading, letting her know that she had his attention. “I um…I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” Louis asked, closing the book and setting it on the bedside table. Laurel looked nervous as she got up on her knees to face him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked at him seriously. Louis raised an eyebrow at her.

“So I’ve been talking with Dr. Green about this for a while. She said that she thinks it’s a brilliant idea.” Laurel began. Her explanation gave him no indication of where she was going with this.

“Talking about what?” Louis prodded.

“And I’ve met with Dr. Harrison a couple times. You remember Dr. Harrison, right? He was the gynecologist we went to when…” She trailed off and looked away. Louis frowned at the memory of that fateful doctors appointment.

“Yeah? What about him?” Louis asked, covering her hands with his. She tightened her grip on his shoulders and smiled sheepishly.

“I’m sorry I’ve been keeping this a secret for so long. I don’t want you to feel like I’m keeping anything from you. I just wanted to make sure that it was a definite possibility. You aren’t mad right?” She asked worriedly.

“I don’t know what to be mad about, Lo. You haven’t exactly gotten to the point.” He chuckled.

“Okay. I know it’s a sensitive topic, for me especially. But I can’t shake the feeling that maybe I need to do this, you know? I really want to start a family with you, Louis.” She said quietly, looking up into his eyes. They were still swimming with confusion.

“Do you want-“ He started with wide eyes, but Laurel cut him off.

“I’ve looked into it. And of course you can think about it too. Obviously I’m not doing anything without you. But Dr. Harrison said that surrogacy is a practical option for us. I still can make an egg, even if I can’t get pregnant. And I mean, as far as we know you’re good to go.” Laurel blurted out. Louis laughed and she turned bright red.

“Laurel. How long have you been thinking about this?” Louis asked her, a small smile playing on his lips.

“A while.” She squeaked.

“And you’re positive you want to? Absolutely and one hundred percent?” He went on. Laurel nodded her head furiously. Louis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’s always known they had the option of having kids, but he never really thought of bringing it up with her.

“One hundred percent. I hate that I can’t do it myself, but we can still have a baby that’s ours. And I want that so much, Lou.” She said, pulling herself over so she was straddling him. He put his hands on her hips to hold her still.

“I want what you want. We’re going your pace, remember?” Louis reminded her, kissing her nose. “I want a baby when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.” She whispered. She grinned at him softly. “Louis, will you be my baby daddy?”