Canon

Once I make it to school, Niall is sitting in his car near the main entrance. He briefly looks up from his phone, signaling me to get into the passenger seat. I slip inside to Jack wildly jumping around on screen. He bounces from one side of the screen before disappearing to the other. His blonde hair nearly covering his eyes at this point. Niall opens his arm to me, pulling me closer towards him.

‘Lizette!’ Jack beams frantically waving his tiny hand, ‘Do you want to see what Niall bought me?’

‘Of course.’ I lean that much closer towards Niall to study the screen.

As Jack disappears Niall presses his lips to my temple murmuring a good morning and you look pretty in my ear. Jack grunts as he lifts a huge, plush dinosaur in front of him. He proudly holds it above his head after a solid moment of struggling to grasp it. ‘Do you like it?’ He wonders before flopping down to the ground on top of his brand-new dinosaur.

‘I love it! What are you going to name it?’ I curiously inquire as Niall smiles at our interaction, ‘All good dinosaurs have to have good name to match.’

‘You can help me name him when I come to Niall’s house! My mommy says I get to go for three whole days!’ I could tell just how excited he was to be reunited with Niall – and it wasn’t too hard to see that Niall was equally excited.

‘Listen, Jack.’ Niall speaks glancing at the digital clock in front of him, ‘Lizette and me have to go right now but I’ll talk to you later, okay?’

‘Okay. Bye Lizette, bye Niall!’ Jack waves, he doesn’t wait for our response before ending the call. Niall happily slides his phone down into his tight, black jeans after reaching for his green backpack in the small backseat.

‘I think I’m going to need your help with Jack this weekend,’ Niall confesses once we were in the main hallway after the first bell, ‘You’re great with him and he likes you, please tell me you don’t have plans.’

‘I will be there for you for whatever you need, but I’m pretty sure you’ll do just fine with Jack.’

‘I hope so – I spent hours on the internet last night prepping for this. I just want to show Tara that I can handle one weekend by myself and maybe get her to let me spend some real time with him over summer break. There’s just so much that can go wrong. What if he has the worst time and he doesn’t want to come back?’

‘Baby,’ I laugh grabbing a hold of his toned arm, ‘I think that you need to relax and give yourself some more credit. Jack absolutely adores you, I’m pretty sure you’re his hero.’

…

Before I could blink, it was already Friday. Niall and I left gym immediately after coach finished his usual make good choices, don’t get drunk over the weekend speech. Niall sits down in one of the chairs closest to the terminal exit with his thin leg bouncing up and down nervously. Denise met us at the airport to wait for Greg’s long-awaited arrival. Her long lavender hair was no so blonde that it was nearly white resting directly at her shoulders. The terminal door opens where dozens of people slowly drag out and join the already crowded airport. Niall stands to his feet, hiking himself higher on the tip of his toes for a better view. The first familiar face I spot was Greg and I’m guessing Denise did too. She nearly body slams a small, short woman as she collapses into Greg’s tattooed arms.

‘Greggy!’ Denise exclaims twirling herself in his arms, ‘Don’t you ever stay away from me that long again!’

‘Hiya love, what have you done to your hair?’ Greg pulls away study his girlfriend, ‘cause I love it a lot!’ Denise lets out a sigh of relief burying her face back into Greg’s neck.

Tiny Jack walks in with his almost too large present from Niall in one arm and Tara carefully holding his other hand. His small legs instantly rush over to us as Niall bends over to greet his son. Tara mutters something over to Niall causing him to nod his head before heading towards the long baggage claim line with her mother.

‘Hi Lizette!’ Jack waves up at me walking over with Niall.

‘Hi Jack!’ I smile as he throws his short arms around my legs.

‘I just need to wait for her to get his things and then we can go.’ Niall grabs a hold of my hand to catch up with Jack who was already running through the airport to get his mom.

‘I want you to be a very good boy and listen to everything Niall says to you. Absolutely everything, you like to get your way when I’m not around. I want you call me every single night before you go to bed so I can hear your precious voice. I love you Jack-Jack.’ Tara rocks her son back and forth in her arms, ‘Do not hesitate to call me if he needs anything. I will be on my way in no time.’ She directs her attention to Niall, placing a small backpack in his hands while her mom hands me Jack’s suitcase, which of course was covered in dinosaur stickers. ‘I mean it Niall. I’ll call you tonight to see how he’s adjusting.’

‘Bye mommy! By Granny!’ I watch as the little boy hurries to the older woman allowing her to pick him up, ‘I’ll be good, I promise!’

‘I – we got it. Jack is in perfectly good hands.’ Niall briefly glances over at me before facing Tara once again, ‘but I will make sure he talks to you before he goes to bed.’

‘Niall,’ Tara nudges over to Greg and Denise with a hushed tone, ‘I love your family, and I want them to get to know Jack but do not have my son around Bobby if he’s drinking or Greg if he’s stoned. Or at all, really.’

‘I won’t.’ Niall looks over at his brother, ‘trust me.’

‘We better get going, meet you here Sunday afternoon.’ Tara retrieves her own suitcase, kissing Jack’s head once more before walking off with her mom.

‘Niall,’ Greg giddily stumbles forward as Denise wraps her arms around his torso, ‘I will not be back at the apartment tonight so don’t wait up for me.’

‘I wasn’t planning on it.’ Niall scoffs as his older brother grabs up a black duffle bag to rush out with Denise, ‘Just the three of us then.’

Niall opens the door to his apartment where Jack quickly rushes in to get a feel of the new environment. I sit down on the bed while Niall struggles to keep up with Jack’s quick feet. The two of them chase one another down the hall and through Niall’s small kitchen, their laughs loudly echoing off the walls.

hey i’m having niall drop me off at rose’s tonight.. see you tomorrow

I press send and wait for it to say delivered. I decided to send it to my mom since she was the path with the least questions. I told Niall that I would be here for him seeing how anxious he’s been about Jack coming all week. Niall runs in laughing so hard his shoulders shook. I smile as Jack pounces on him beside me. Niall actually seemed happy – genuinely happy. Even though he’s known Jack for a short amount of time, he’s really changed since finding out.

‘So, Jack, do you want pizza for dinner?’ Niall questions taking a break from his tussling with Jack.

‘Yes!’ Jack shouts with wide eyes, ‘I love pizza!’

‘And what about you?’ His deep blue eyes fall on me, ‘you are staying, right?’

‘Pizza sounds good.’ I agree taking a moment to admire him.

Niall had gone with my suggestion about not dyeing his hair blonde so it was much darker. He hadn’t had it cut in weeks so the tips were slightly curled at the end. He had light spots of dark stubble scattered across his chin evenly. His nose is scrunched cutely as he laughs with Jack.

‘What are you staring at?’ He raises his dark eyebrows over at me with an amused expression on his face.

‘I just love you so much.’ I reply as he rolls out of the bed chasing Jack out of the room once again.

‘I love you too.’ He slides back into the room with the help of his socks to press his lips to mine, ‘so much.’

Someone knocks on the door while the three of us are sitting down watching Cars. Niall digs in his pocket retrieving his wallet while Jack scurries to the door. I pause the movie turning on the couch to watch as Niall unlocks the door twisting it open. In stumbles, Bobby with the help of Greg. I hadn’t seen Niall’s dad since the day he moved out of his apartment.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Niall questions as Jack gasps, slapping his small hand over his mouth.

‘Money in the swear jar!’ Jack recites excitedly, ‘like mommy.’

‘Please, take him in the back.’ Niall mutters giving Jack a slight push towards me, ‘Jack, go with Lizette and I’ll let you know when the pizza’s here.’

Niall’s Point of View

I wait until the two of them are down the hall with the door closed to turn my attention back towards my so-called father, already slumped over on the sofa where the three of us planned to spend our night.

‘You better start talking now or I swear to God-…’ I say stepping closer to Greg who of course was already in the kitchen raiding my shit. ‘What happened to I will not be back at the apartment tonight so don’t wait up for me ?’

‘Look, it’s not my fault! I had my plans with Denise, you know making up for lost time and all when I went by the house to get a couple of things. There I found him passed out on the front steps with glass broken all through the house. When you said that Damon said he knows where dad lives, I panicked. We can’t leave him there all alone, especially like this.’

‘So, you brought his drunk ass over here?!’ I nearly shouting, trying to calm myself down for Jack’s sake. A weekend around me his swear jar will have plenty of money in it. ‘He can’t stay here!’

‘C’mon – you let me crash here for a while and I’m just asking you to do the same. He’s your dad to you know?’

‘He’s done a pretty lousy job of showing it too.’ I fight back, not budging on this. Tara already warned me not to have him around Jack, which I don’t blame her. I definitely don’t want him around Lizette. This was supposed to be our weekend and now I have look after my drunk of a father.

‘Just tonight.’ Greg interrupts my flashbacks of all the times the man on the couch as disappointed me. ‘Denise is downstairs waiting on me. I promise I’ll stay at his place tomorrow with him and help him out a bit. Just for one night Niall.’

‘If you’re not back here tomorrow morning then you can find him slumped over outside.’

‘Thanks bro! You’ve really helped me out for the night!’ Greg nearly trips on his feet as he makes for his escape.

I find Lizette and Jack laying down in my bed watching some animated show with a talking pig on the screen with three other little kids. I didn’t know what it was or what they were talking about but it had Jack’s attention so it was good enough for me. Lizette offers me a smile as she slides over in the bed, making room for me.

‘Everything okay?’ She curiously asks taking her eyes from the screen.

‘He’ll be here for the night.’ I squeeze the bridge of my nose, wondering how or if I should explain this to Tara. If I told her my drunk sperm donor was twenty feet away from Jack she’d rush over here and snatch him up before I could blink. I could forget about spending any time with him this summer or ever again.

There’s another knock on the door and luckily, it actually was the pizza. While I pay the delivery driver Lizette’s in the kitchen with Jack at the table. Thank God, Jack hadn’t paid much attention to the stranger on the sofa just yet.

‘Are you going to offer him some?’ Lizette nudges her head towards my dad, ‘It could help him S-O-B-E-R up with some water.’ I appreciate how she takes the time to spell out sober in front of Jack. I hear kids are like sponges and repeat everything they hear. I didn’t need Tara hearing this from Jack.

‘No.’ I groan already issuing out two slices to her and then two to Jack, planning on devouring the final four slices myself.

‘I will.’ She speaks, quickly grabbing on of the biggest pieces with a paper towel and heading over to the couch, ‘Mr. Horan – are you hungry?’ She kneels beside him to stare in his face.

‘Thanks.’ He mutters slightly sitting up that much further on the sofa. ‘What was your name again?’

‘It’s Lizette. I’ll get you some water.’ Lizette practically waits on him hand and foot most of the night. She throws away his trash. She runs the shower for him and makes up the sofa with fresh blankets. She finds him one of my old shirts with a pair of flannel pants Greg left behind. She throws his soiled clothes into the washer. She grabs him the remote when he asks. I brought her here to help out with Jack not some 50-year old grown ass man.

‘Baby,’ I quietly pull her aside catching her in between her chores for my dad, ‘you’ve done enough for him, come to the back with us.’

‘Okay.’ She nods, before slipping away letting him know that she’d be in the back if he needed anything else.

By the time she finishes with her shower, Jack is already in the middle of the bed sound asleep. She crawls beside him dressed in one of my shirts and a pair of my boxers. I look over at her, dumbfounded on how I got someone like her in my life. She helps with my son and my dad without complaining the slightest. Lizette offers me a nervously smile catching my stare. I carefully lean over Jack to kiss her lips after locking my door.

'What do I have something on my face?' She laughs, causing my stomach to tighten with nerves.

‘I just love you so much.’ I repeat her words from this afternoon settling down beside a snoring Jack.