Chapter 3

                                    

                                          
Louis had to admit he was a little disappointed that of all the nights Perrie could have went into labour, she had to pick tonight to do so. He knew of course that it wasn't her choice but still, tonight was supposed to be spent at home with Liam, cuddled up in bed. It was not supposed to be spent at the hospital, curled up in a chair beside Harry who couldn't seem to sit still long enough for Louis to rest his head on the boy's shoulder. Louis was exhausted to say the least, he just wanted to go to sleep but these chairs were not comfortable at all and Harry's fidgeting was not helping. It's been about two hours since Perrie arrived and Louis had got Zayn all scrubbed up and into the delivery room. Louis didn't stay because technically only the husband was allowed in there and although he could probably get away with it if he helped out in some way, he figured it'd be best not to push his luck. That, and he didn't particularly want to see that much of Perrie.
                          
Louis had called Liam after getting Zayn into the delivery room, explaining what was going on. Liam of course wanted to rush down here and be here for Zayn and Perrie but Louis reminded him that Alex had to eat and that there wouldn't be any news for a few hours. They both agreed that Liam would feed Alex and get him to do his homework before they came down to the hospital, that way everything would be done and if they needed to they could go home a bit late. After that he called Harry and Niall, Harry had rushed down here immediately while Niall said he was still having problems with Natalie and that he didn't know if he could get away. Louis made a mental note to ask Niall about that later because this was kind of an important moment and if Natalie couldn't understand that, or if things were that bad between them, Niall would probably need someone to talk to.
                          
Since then Harry and him had been just sitting here, watching as people came and went. It was kind of odd being on this end of the situation. Usually Louis would be the one to come every hour and let the friends know that there weren't any changes and suggest they go home and come back. Now, Louis understood why people refused to. He'd be going mad at home, wondering if the baby had been born yet or if there were any problems. He was kind of going mad right now but at least here he got an update every hour. Harry had asked if there was any way Louis could get them in there but Louis reminded him that even if he could, they'd just be in the way because those rooms weren't that big.
                          
"God, I feel like I'm the father." Harry mumbled, chuckling slightly as he looked to Louis.
                          
"Yeah, I can tell Mr. Fidgetty." Louis replied, glancing to his fingers where they continued to pull at his jeans or at each other. Harry smiled sheepishly and stilled his fingers for all of two seconds before they were back to pulling at his jeans. "Calm down, Haz. She'll be fine, the baby will be fine and everything will be fine. It just takes time." Louis reminded him.
                          
"Yeah, but this long? She's been in there for forever." Harry complained, gesturing down the hall that led to the labour ward.
                          
"Some woman are in labour for over twelve hours. It's normal." Louis shrugged, attempting to rest his head on Harry's shoulder again. Louis could tell Harry had purposely stilled himself so Louis could maybe relax a bit but now it was just awkward because he could tell Harry wanted, no needed to move so he lifted his head again with a sigh. "I just wish Liam would get here already." Louis said, attempting to change the subject and maybe distract Harry.
                          
"He'll be here." Was his reply and then there was silence again. Louis searched his brain for something to talk about because he could tell Harry was thinking of all the different ways this could go wrong and normally, Louis would probably be right there with him because that's what Louis did, but Louis knew these things took time and rarely went wrong, he's helped with enough of them to know that.
                          
"So, what's new with you?" Louis asked. "We haven't talked in a while."
                          
"That's your fault." Harry teased. "You just had to go and get all mature and shit, getting a kid and then not letting me meet him."