Zayn:

I was at my flat with Nora and the kids early in the morning and Nora and I were cuddled in my bed while the kids, were still asleep, at least I was hoping they were. Nora was awake next to me but neither of us had said anything, both of us were too lost in our own thoughts to form any words. But, they weren't needed anyway.

My thoughts were about Nora and I. She had been staying at my flat since we got back from tour a week before, since she was tired of her and her kids invading her sister's place. Which, I completely understood and I had happily welcomed them to my flat. Well she stayed only after I practically begged her. She had originally tried to get a place of her own but I quickly talked her out of it.

My flat wasn't very big, not for three kids all under the age of four and I was thinking about talking to Nora about getting a real house together. We had known each other for about eight months and had been dating for five, because I waited until I knew that I was sure that Nora (and Mason and Aurora) was what I wanted for Xara and I, and it was.

"Good morning." I whispered making her look up at me and smiled softly. I bent down and kissed her gently, "I have something that I want to talk to you about."

"What's that?" She asked running her fingers through my messy hair.

"Would you, uh would you want to get like house together? Like a real house?" I asked shyly suddenly afraid of her answer.

Her eyes widened, "Wow. I was not expecting that." She said sitting up. "Zayn, I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Just hear me out okay?" I said sitting up next to her and she nodded, "Okay so you don't want to live at your sister's anymore, correct?" She nodded. "And my flat isn't nearly big enough for the five us. I want Aurora and Mason to have a bedroom, a place that is theirs. They don't get that here. They're just sleeping in random rooms. Plus I already have two houses in mind, for us to look at. It's right near Lou, Liam, and Niall. It's not that big of a deal for us to go check out those two houses. Come one, Nora. Please? We could have so much fun decorating the kids' bedrooms."

"Did you just redecorate your entire flat, Zayn that's a lot of work. And money, too. I just don't want you to have to do something this unnecessary for us. If space is the issue I can get my own place, Zayn."

"Money is not object, Nora. You know that. And as for the work, well my mum can come down and visit and bring my sisters and a lot of cousins, and we can see if the boys are available to help. Nora, I want this with you, and our kids. I don't want you to get your own place. This isn't unnecessary at all. I love living with you and the kids."

"Zayn do you really think that Xara would be okay with this?"

"She's two Nora, she'll get over it. Besides yesterday she asked me why Mason and Aurora don't have bedrooms like she does."

"Talk to her about first, please?" Nora asked. I nodded and she gave me a look, "Like now?"

"Okay, okay." I said kissing her forehead and sliding out of the bed. I checked on Mason in the game room and saw him still asleep on the couch. Aurora was in a playpen in my music room, we had put her in there because she was less likely to get into the stuff that I kept in there. Xara was sitting up in her bed playing with one of her dolls and singing to herself like she usually did whenever she played by herself. "Morning baby girl." I said walking into the room.

Her head shot up and she grinned, "Hi daddy. Cuddle me?" She asked holding her arms up. I laughed and picked her up and crawled under her blanket. Her little fingers were lightly tracing my tattoos, "What's this one say?" She asked poking the tattoo that was above my heart. She had a fascination with my tattoos always asking me what they said and what they were. Ironically that was the first time she had ever asked about that one.

"Xara Allison Malik."

She gasped, "That's my name!"

I laughed, "I know. I got it right above my heart because you're my whole world, and I never wanted anyone to question that."

"Love you, daddy."

"I love you too, baby. I have a question to ask you."

"What?"

"How would you feel about moving to a new house? With Nora, Mason, and Aurora? Mason and Aurora would have bedrooms."

"Why won't Nora?"

"Nora and I are going to share a room."

"Oh..." She paused running her hand over her name on my chest. "Can I bring my toys?"

"Of course, baby. Everything will go with us. And we'll be closer to Uncle Niall, Lou, and Liam too."

"And mumma?"

I sighed, "Baby, I don't think should call Kiersten mumma anymore."

"She don't love me no more?" She asked tears welling up in her eyes.

"No, no baby. She loves you so much. It's just..." I sighed not knowing what to tell her. I took a minute to think about it, but just gave up, "Okay, you can still call her mumma." I said getting up and setting her down on her bed and picking out three outfits for her to choose from. "So what do you think baby? A new house?"

"Okay daddy." She said with a shrug before turning back to her dolly.

"Pick out an outfit, and then I'll be back in a minute to help you change." I said kissing the top of her head and leaving her room.

"What did she say?" Nora asked walking up to me as soon as I was out of Xara's room. Aurora was awake and perched on Nora's hip. She waved at me making me grin.

"Good morning pretty girl." I said kissing her cheek before looking at Nora, "Her biggest concern was whether or not she got to bring her toys. I knew she wouldn't care."

"I know I just want to make sure that everyone is happy." She said kissing my cheek before hauling Aurora off to a bath.

I grabbed my phone and called the relator and talked to her while I headed into Xara's room to get her dressed. When I got there she had switched a bunch of her clothes around and made her own outfit which didn't surprise me at all. "That wansn't an outfit option there, princess,"

"This is better daddy." She said looking up at me with her big green as challenging me.

I looked at it and decided she would be warm enough in it as long as she put on a jacket and a hat. I picked her up and hung her upside down, "Tell daddy you love him and then you can wear it." I said tickling her.

"Daddy!" She squealed giggling wiggling around. "Daddy! Love you!"

I laughed and set her down and then sat down on the floor and helped her get dressed, before brushing out her hair and some back with a hair clip so it would stay out of her face. "I love you too baby girl. Now let's go see what everyone else is doing. "

We walked out and laughed when we saw Mason struggling to get his shirt on. "Help!" He cried from inside the shirt making me laugh harder.

"You need some help, bud?" I asked helping him pull his shirt down. "There you go."

"Thanks, Z." He said before taking off down the hallway to where Nora was. While we were on tour Mason heard Kiersten call me Z and he asked if he could call me that too.

Xara and I followed after him and found Nora getting Aurora ready in my bedroom. "So, I was thinking we could go get breakfast before we head to meet the relator?" I asked kissing Aurora's cheek making her giggle her funny little giggle that made everyone else laugh too.

"Okay. That's sounds good. Let's get going everyone." She said picking Aurora up and walking towards the door.

"Um, mummy?" Mason said from where he hadn't moved from his spot on the bed.

"Yeah?"

"You and Z are still in jammies." He said with a worried expression.

Nora and I looked down and started laughing. I was just wearing a pair of pajama pants and Nora had on one of my t-shirts and a pair of leggings. "Thank you Mason." I said as Nora and I quickly changed into some regular clothes and then we all left.

We were standing in the kitchen of the second house we looked at talking it all over while the relator gave us some time to think it over. "What do you think babe?" I asked Nora as I pulled her closer to me by her belt loops, "Which one do you like the best? It's up to you, completely. I like them both, so it doesn't matter to me."

"They're both so big." She said resting her forehead against my collarbone. She was that much shorter than me. "I never even pictured my kids and I ever being able to live in a house like this. Thank you so much, Zayn." She said wrapping her arms around my middle.

"Don't thank me. I'm doing this because I love you and want the best for all three of the kids. It makes me happy to be able to do this for all of us, as a family."

"I love you, Zayn." Nora whispered.

"I love you too, Nora. So much," I kissed the top of her head, "So which house do you pick?"

"I really like the layout of the first house. Inside and out, I think that the backyard would be great for the kids. There's that room that's just off the kitchen and living room that would make a great play room. I really like that one."

"The first one it is." I grinned bending my head down to kiss her. We headed into the living room where the kids were sitting on the floor playing with the toy that they were allowed to bring.

After we signed for the house everything became about the house. My family and some of Nora's family came to London to help us move, paint, and plan the house out. We recruited Kiersten to help us out and we were really happy with how it was turning out. The house was furnished and we were keeping some of it, but we still needed help figuring out what went together and stuff and Kiersten was good at it.

We decided that we would finish the bedrooms first, so the kids would have beds and then we made our way through the rest of the house since it was still completely able to be stayed in while we worked on it.

Nora and I were painting the playroom late one night when neither of us could sleep. Everyone else had gone to bed long before, "If I ask you a question will you answer it without getting mad?" She asked out of the blue.

"Uh...yes?" I said setting the brush down in the tray and turning my body towards her to give her my full attention.

"You don't have to stop painting." She said and nodded back to my brush. I grabbed it and kept painting the mural that Nora and I had designed for the room. "Why are you so against Xara calling Kiersten mum?"

"Because she's not her mum?" I asked raising my eyebrow at her. The question didn't really surprise me, though. I had been talking to Nora bout how I didn't want Xara calling Kiersten mum anymore a lot because it had really been bugging me.

"Well not biologically but emotionally she's like Xara's mum. I guess I just don't understand why it's such a big deal."

"Kiersten is pregnant. She's having a kid of her own. I just don't want Xara to get hurt again."

"Do you really think that would happen? Kiersten loves her like her own daughter. I really don't think that would happen. In fact I think that Kiersten would be offended by you thinking that about her."

"I'm not trying to offend her. I know Kiersten loves Xara like a daughter, but she's not her daughter. I'm just trying to look out for Xara, who is actually my daughter." I said clenching my jaw a bit angry.

I felt soft arms wrap around me from behind and I relaxed her touch. I felt Nora's forehead rest between my shoulder blades. "You are such a good dad, Zayn, but I think that you should let this go until Xara is old enough to understand everything. Then she can make her own decisions about Kiersten and what she wants to call her. But for now, don't worry so much about it. Kiersten isn't going anywhere. She's your best friend, you call her your fourth sister, she's married to your Irish brother, and she is emotionally Xara's mum. But, if you are still worried about it, just talk to Kiersten about it, and I'm sure that she will make sure that she is still spending a lot of time with Xara."

"Thank you for beings so understanding." I said setting my brush down and turning around to hold her closer. "I hate comparing you to her or any of my exes really, but Perrie absolutely hated that Xara called Kiersten that."

"Why? It had nothing to do with her." Nora said giving me a funny look.

"I guess she just didn't understand it. She didn't really understand the whole situation. She didn't' understand it all, actually. But you do and I'm so, so happy that you do. I mean I'm not happy that, that happened to you. But I'm glad that it's just something else that we have in common, and another reason that we understand each other so much." I said kissing her forehead.

She lifted her head up and kissed me gently. I slipped my hands under my tank top that she was wearing and rubbed my thumbs on the smooth skin of her hip bones. "Enough painting for tonight, yeah?" I asked against her lips.

"Yeah, but we have to put the paint back in the can." She said pulling away from me. I groaned but quickly put the paint can back in the can and then rushed Nora up the stairs to our bedroom as quickly as possible, making sure not to wake the kids up.

A few days later we finished the entire house. It was exactly what we wanted and we were all really happy about it. We were sitting in the kids' play room hanging out as a family. Nora was holding Aurora up so she was standing up and bouncing up and down while holding onto Nora's fingers. We had been trying to get her to walk for a while but she would just laugh at us and fall down on her butt and then start chewing on her fingers. "Are you going to walk today baby girl?" Nora asked her as she watched her daughter bounce up and down.

Mason stood up from where he had all of his trains set up and walked over to Aurora bending down so his face was at the same level as hers. "You can do it, Rora." He grinned at her. Mason was a really good kid, he was a great big brother to Aurora, and one to Xara too, even though Xara didn't always want him to be her big brother.

Mason held Aurora's hand with his and started walking across the room towards me where I was sitting next to Xara who was looking at books. She loved books, she was constantly reading them, well looking at the pictures. She liked to make up what they said, her stories were much more interesting than the real books anyway.

Aurora happily wobbled next to Mason as they walked across the room. She was completely capable of walking she just preferred to do it with someone holding on to her or furniture for support. When there were only a few steps away from me Nora quietly told Mason to drop Aurora's hand. When Mason dropped it Aurora kept wobbling right into my open arms. "You did it, Aurora!" I cheered scooping her up as everyone rushed over to us.

"Yay!" Xara cheered kissing Aurora's cheek. She jumped up and down cheering, "She walked! She walked!"

And Aurora never stopped walking either. She was constantly on the move and was suddenly into everything, which meant a lot of reorganization of things and constant cleaning. She was quick too. I'd set her down on the floor in her bedroom and then go to the bathroom to get her lotion which was just across the hall and when I'd get back her stuffed animals would be all over the floor along with the contents of her bottom drawer and half of the second to the bottom. But we happily cleaned them up, she was too cute to stay mad at.

Aurora was walking and Xara was starting to be potty trained. She was getting a hang of it quickly, mostly because it upset her when she peed in her princess underwear. She also wanted to be like Mason, who only had to wear PullUps when he went to bed and she was all about the pink ones that they made.

We were talking about them one night when Nora said, "They're going to be in Uni before we know it." She said climbing into our bed next to me.

"Shhh, don't say that." I said making her laugh. "Let's just get them all with a decent vocabulary so we can understand them, completely potty trained, and able to walk a reasonable distance without falling over. Then they can just stay right there and never grow up."

Nora laughed and kissed my cheek, "Keep dreaming, babe. I heard her and Mason planning their weddings earlier. Mason is going to marry Elise, and Xara is going to marry baby Horan. Or that's what they decided anyway."

"Absolutely not. If Kiersten and Niall have a boy he'll probably be a spitting image of Niall. And I'm not letting my little girl anywhere near someone like Niall. I love him but he's disgusting."

Nora laughed, "Kiersten's dad let her."

"Yeah, well he doesn't know Niall as well as I do, obviously. She is not marrying a Horan if I have anything to say about it. And I'm her father."

"Okay, now you're just being over dramatic. They're just kids, and you know that if they have a boy he will be very respectable and worthy of any girl, including Xara."

"I hate it when you're right."

She laughed, "Well you should probably get over that because I'm usually right." She said kissing me, "I love you Zayn."

"I love you too, Nora." I said kissing her again before we shut our lights off and went to sleep.

Nora had to take Mason to the doctor for a checkup and Xara was with Kiersten, who after I talked to her promised to make sure to have lots of just Kiersten and Xara days. So it was just Aurora and I at home. I was laying on the couch watching the football game and Aurora was sitting on the floor right in front of the couch playing with her toys. She looked up at me rubbing her eyes and lifted her arms up so I would pick her up. "Are you tired, baby girl?" I asked pulling her up off the floor and onto the couch so she was sitting on my stomach.

"Dada." She cooed cuddling in to my chest.

My body froze not knowing if I heard her right. She babbled a lot so I didn't know if that's what she was doing. "Did you say something, pretty girl?" I asked.

"Dada." She said patting my cheek.