Love Don't Live Here Anymore

Niall put the last pillow on the bed smiling at his handy work. It had taken him a whole weekend and some help from his friends but he had successfully transformed his guest room into Olly's room. He had given away the old full sized bed for a toddler bed and asked Zayn to paint a safari mural on the wall; and even buying enough toys to fill up a whole toy chest. A net hung above the bed with stuffed animals, Niall had bought every animal they had at the store. He wanted Olly to feel at home in his hous. The few times Sam had brought him over he didn't have much to do. Now Niall hoped that would change.

"Niall, we're here!"

Niall left the room shutting the door behind him. "I have something to show you."

Olly had his tiger with him as always and his face lit up when Niall walked into the room. Sam had been conflicted about how much she wanted Niall around Olly but Niall loved having him around. And if she was being honest with herself she loved having a father figure for Olly, there was always Jase but it wasn't the same.

"You look excited." Sam smiled as Niall picked Olly up. "What is it?"

"Follow me."

Niall brought them to the door across the hall from his room. Sam looked at it confused in green lettering Oliver was spelled out.

"Niall what is this?"

"This is Olly's new room." Niall opened the door flipping the light switch to illuminate the room.

"Wow." Olly smiled as he struggled to get out of Niall's arms.

Niall set him down so that Olly could look around the room. He went to the wall with mural touching the tiger with his fingers. Then he opened the toy chest digging around into it excitedly.

"I think he likes it." Niall smiled proudly.

Sam couldn't bring either of them down so instead of saying what she really thought of the room she just smiled. "It's great."



The last time I was in Tokyo I couldn't believe that One Direction had made it this far. We were going to countries we never thought we'd have a chance of seeing. It was still a weird feeling to walk the crowded streets even now on our second trip to the country. I wanted to be as excited as I had been the last time we were here but there was something weighing me down.

The entire plane ride from London to Tokyo was spent attempting to sleep while Louis talked too loudly next to me. I hadn't been sleeping much as it was making me feel on edge and not myself. I just wanted a nice hotel bed and some quiet for a few hours. Of course as soon as the plane landed we were ushered off to do promo and the rehearsals. By the end of the night while we sat in a restaurant, paparazzi waiting by the front door, I was a dead man walking. I had been receiving looks from the lads because of how off I was feeling. I didn't answer their questions though just letting my exhaustion be my scapegoat.

I had too much on my mind between Lena's silence and Sam's attitude to deal with being social at this point.

"Ya know I think this might be the longest you've ever gone without mentioning Sam or Olly." Liam was smiling at me not knowing that the subject of my son and girlfriend was a sore spot.

"Nothin' new to talk about." I shrugged hoping that would satisfy him. It didn't of course.

"Didn't Olly start nursery?"

"Yeah. He hates it." Olly had come home everyday from nursery declaring his hatred for the place and vowing to never return. I thought it was amusing even if Sam didn't. "Refuses to go most mornings."

"Lux loves it." Lux and Olly had been friends for longer then I had even known him. Starting off at Ellen's, she ran a daycare out of her flat, and now going to the same nursery. Lou looked past the heads of the people sitting between us. "Won't shut up about it."

"I've tried asking him if he plays with her but he won't talk about it." I shrugged again. He was three there wasn't much we could do about it.

"Are you still teaching him guitar chords?"

"No. It's too hard for him to remember them right now. Maybe in a couple of years." I didn't mention that Sam had told me he was too young to learn when I had tried to continue teaching him.

I was saved from answering anymore questions when Gemma spoke up about needing to call Sam. This seemed to remind the table that Gemma had a new boyfriend, one of the guys from our opening band, therefore they had to all tease her mercilessly.



"Well lads, shall we continue this night with a few drinks?" Louis grinned wickedly at us. "You three can try to pull a girl while Niall and I laugh as you fail."

I listened to them go back and forth about who was the best at picking up girls while I silently formulated my out. "I think I'm going to head back."

"What?" Louis frowned. "You have to come with! I can't be the only taken man!"

"Come on Niall you need to have some fun!"

Did I need to have fun? No. Was I going to go out with them. Yes. I shrugged following them out of the restaurant and quickly into the car waiting for us.



The shrill ring of my phone the next morning was a cruel reminder that we should not have gone out the night before. With another full day of rehearsals and promo and then a show that night having a hangover was going to be a pain in the arse.

Waking up by myself, while it was something I did often, always felt weird not having Olly and Sam there. When I was home they were always with me. Even if Sam liked to believe we lived separate lives the truth was we really didn't.

I jumped in the shower hoping to wash away the nauseous feeling in my stomach from the alcohol. It only helped marginally. If Sam was with me she would be yelling at me about how I shouldn't have gone out when I had work the next day.

"I'm never drinking again!" Was Louis' greeting when I met everyone in the lobby of the hotel.

"You always say that." Harry hid his hangover behind his glasses but I could feel the scowl.

"We should stop scheduling things before noon."

"I agree!" Louis, even with a hangover was always loud.

"Come on boys, got a long day ahead of us." Paul ushered us out the doors into the waiting crowd of people.

Later when we had finished with our promo for the day we had two hours of free time before soundcheck. I turned my phone on having kept it off during our interviews. I was surprised to see three missed calls from Sam. Instantly my mind went to Olly. I walked away from everyone finding a secluded spot call her back.

"He won't go to bed." Sam answered the phone sounding frustrated. Olly was crying the background his wails making my heart hurt.

"Why?"

"You're not here."

She said it in a whisper almost as if she didn't want me to hear. "Let me talk to him."

It took a moment but Olly calmed down enough to take the phone. "Daddy?"

"Hey buddy, what's going on?"

"I miss you."

"I miss you too." I sighed being so far away made things so much harder. If I had been in London I could have been with him in a heart beat. "Want me to sing to you?"

"Uh huh."

"Ok give me one second." I looked behind me where the everyone was still milling about the hall discussing what they wanted to do with their few hours of alone time. "Hey lads, mind giving me a hand with something?"

The ambled over looking slightly confused. "What's up?"

"Olly can't sleep. He wants me to sing him to sleep but I thought we could all just sing to him."

"Alright." Harry shrugged. "What song?"

"Story?" Zayn suggested.

I nodded hitting the button for the speaker phone. "Are you ready Olly? I'm going to have some help with this, is that ok?"

"Yeah." He still sounded sad but he had at least stopped crying. "Harry there?"

"Hey kiddo." Harry answered his usually sullen face splitting in a smile. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Yeah." He sniffled. "But I miss daddy."

"I'm sure kiddo." Harry looked at me then some of the softness leaving his eyes. "Shall we?"

"On three." Liam snapped his fingers. "One. Two. Three."

"The story of my life." Harry started off. "I take her home."

"I drive all night to keep her warm." We harmonized with him. "And time is frozen."

"The story of, the story of, the story of my life I give her hope. I spend her love until she's broke an time, the story of my life."

"Written in these walls are the colors that I can't change. I leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage."

"I know in the morning you'll see us in the light upon the hill. Although I am broken my heart is untamed still."

"Do we need to keep going?" I didn't want to make the lads sing anymore then they needed to.

"No, he's out."

The lads smiled saying a goodbye to Sam before they left me alone. As they left there was a discussion about performing the song acapela for that nights show.

"Thanks."

"It's fine." I would have done anything for Olly, singing him to sleep really wasn't a big deal. "How was your day?"

We made small talk for another ten minutes before she let a yawn slip. I told her to get some rest then even if I wanted to spend the whole two spare hours I had talking to her. We said our goodbyes promising to talk the next day but the way she said it had me wondering how much she really wanted to talk to me.

"Hey man, you alright?"

I rejoined the guys in the dressing room of the arena, well Harry wasn't there he was probably running around the city. "I'm fine."

"Come on, mate." Zayn rolled his eyes.

"It's nothin'."

I felt the silent conversation being had around me. They were all worries I had caught the same bug Zayn and Harry had. The one that makes a girl consume every part of your soul and then when she's gone your so fucking depressed you can't do anything for yourself. You turn into a monster that no one wants to be around. Well I wasn't going to let that happen; that would not be how Sam and I ended. I was going to fight for this.