She's Not Afraid

Adrienne's POV

"Put that back up!"
"Alex get your lips off of Harry and help us!"
"Who has the guest list?!"

Perrie and I have been dashing around the hall we were able to rent for the baby shower. Alex and Harry have been all snuggling up together and Louis' been trying to keep Anna calm during this entire debacle.

The boys had just got back two days ago and all we've been doing is working.
"Adri, can we take a break now?" Niall asks as Alex and I try to put up streamers. "We got 6 hours til da shower and ya haven't stopped stressin' since we got here."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
"Ni, baby, I love you-I really do-but so many things have gone wrong within the last week alone, so we're trying to keep everything under control for a bit." I say running my hand through my now deep purple hair.

"Okay, how 'bout you, Perrie, and Alex join Anna t' sit down and relax?" Niall suggests. "And me and da lads continue decoratin' fer a bit?" He smiles at the end and then I give in.

I smile then give Niall a quick peck on the cheek.
"Okay, thanks, Ni."

"Alright, listen here!" Niall shouts. He stands on a chair and point at me and the girls. "Da girls are on break. Us men are gonna step up and make dis place sexy!"

Harry bursts out laughing while the other lads tilt their heads. I shake my head and take a seat next to a giggling Anna.
"So how's Annabelle junior?" I ask as Alex and Perrie make their way to the table.

Anna raises a brow at me.
"Annabelle junior?"

"Well you haven't decided a name yet." I shrug.

"Ooh, name her something with a combination of yours and Louis' name!" Perrie exclaims.

"Oh! Um Anna-Louise!!" Alex pitches.

I laugh and Perrie seems to be muddling it over.
"Or you could name her after that state in the US that sounds like a good combo."

"Louisiana?" I ask.

"Yea, that one!" Perrie jumps. "Name her Louisiana!"

Anna laughs, but shakes her head.
"Yea, I'll add those to the list." Anna says still laughing.

After a bit, Louis comes back to Anna's side and informs us about Niall's dictating "skills" so the girls and I go back to decorating.

~~~~

"We finally finished!" Alex exclaims. She puts down her clip board as we look around at the hall. The colours were purple, pink, and blue, the placements were set, an the caterer had just arrived not too long ago.

"Yea...and with three hours to spare." I sigh happily.

"Ya'know what we can do wit' these three hours?" Niall asks suggestively.

"Not what you want her to do." Perrie interjects. "We have to get ourselves ready."

Niall groans then leans towards me ear.
"But I haven't gotten any welcome home lovin'!"

"Later, Ni." I say.

"So we're gonna stay here and get ourselves together in the very nice back room here." Alex says then points to the boys. "You five go to Lou's and get ready and bring the balloons."

"What time should we come back?"Zayn pipes up.

"You should be back by 4 so that we still have an hour of emergency prep time." I say looking at my watch.

We agree then split up. Alex, Perrie, and I take Anna to the back and start dolling her up first. Perrie was on make-up, I was on hair, and Alex was pressing her dress.

"Do I really need to be all dolled up like this?" Anna asks.

"Don't worry, love, it's only a bit of eyeliner, mascara, and blush. Nothing too grand." Perrie assures.

"Yea, your hair is going in a ponytail bun. We don't want it to get in the way of your gorgeous face." I nod.

"And your dress is long, but formal. So you can spread your legs and no one will see your knickers!" Alex laughs.

Anna laughs.
"I love you girls."

"Aww, we love you too, Anna!" Perrie says backing away to look over Anna's make up and hair. We help her out of her chair and hug her.

"Oooof! I think Anna junior is kicking me!" I laugh.

"She's kicking both of us." Anna laughs again.

We all burst out into a laughing fit and then start getting ourselves ready, allowing Anna time to relax.
~~~~

It was 4:45 and everyone was dressed and neat. Us girls have ponytails, but not buns. We have on knee length skirts and button up blouses that match our boys jumpers and trousers. Everyone had on flat shoes for possible running purposes.

Anna was sitting in her specially requested chair with cushions at the front of the hall. Louis has taken his seat beside her and is gonna keep her calm for the rest of the day. The rest of us were standing in a circle going over some last minute check list criteria.

"Okay, so we have Paul and a few other guys on security watch, just in case some fans heard of this gathering and keep anyone on the list out." Liam informs us.

"And Lou got a call from Quinn--Anna's brother-- that her mother got wind of the baby shower a few days ago from Reilly and may come in. So we all need to be on watch for her too." Harry drills.

"Shit," I mutter. "Does security have her picture?"

"We can send 'em one." Niall shrugs.

"Somebody get Louis to ask Quinn to send a picture to us and then we'll send it to security's phones." Alex dictates. The lads nod and separate just as the first guests start to arrive.

~~~~

"So far so good?" I say into the walkie talkie app we downloaded.

"Clear!" I hear from various voices. It was now time to officially start the festivities. Everyone has talked and congratulated Anna and Louis and most of the food has been eaten.

Perrie, Alex, and I step up onto the stage, grab a mic, and get everyone's attention.
"Hello and welcome to this very joyous occasion. I'm Perrie."

"I'm Adrienne."

"And I'm Alex."

"And we'll be your hostesses for Anna and Lou's baby shower." The crowd claps and we clap with them.

"Firstly, we would like to thank you for coming and taking time out of your schedules to come celebrate with us here this evening." I speak.

"Now, without further adieu, we would like to ask Anna and Louis to come up on stage." Alex says smiling and pointing to the expecting couple.

Niall and Liam grab their chairs and follow them up to the stage and place them in front of us. Zayn and Harry then bring up a table with gift bags on them.

"Okay, so our first game of the evening is very simple." Alex starts out. "Now everyone should have a clothing pin in front of them."

Everyone starts moving and picking up their pins.
"You must go the entire evening without saying the word, 'baby'." I say. "Now place the pin visible on your shirt."

"If you catch anyone at anytime say baby before the celebration is over, you take one of their pins." Perrie smiles wide. "And we start...Now!"

The next few games go on and everyone is having a good time. People won gift bags, took clothing pins from each other, and were just chatting like old friends.

It was now 6:30 and we now had the hall for another hour and a half.
"Okay, everyone, now we're gonna do the gifts!" Alex announces.

We make room for the boys to bring up the tables with gifts on them. As soon as everything on the stage was set we hear a crash and screaming come from the front entrance.

We all turn and see security restraining a woman.
"You can't go back here, ma'am! You're name's not on the list!"

"That's my daughter in there! How dare you say I am not on yer bloody list?!"

My stomach drops and I gulp. Alex also freezes up next to me.

"Boys, go block the door and make sure she can't get in. Alex, Adri, we gotta keep going with this." Perrie whispers low enough for only us to hear.

The boys dart off and close the doors of the hall and barricade it.

"Sorry about that, everyone. Anna do you wanna open the first gift?" Alex asks shaking, but smiles.

Anna was now red and we could see tears brimming her eyes. She shook her head no.
"Could I...can I have a minute?" She sniffs. We nod and let Lou take Anna to the back room.