Night Changes

3.

"Dear god what took you so long?!" Liam asked rocking the crying baby back and forth just as Louis and I came stumbling in with all the supplies we had bought. Dropping it all on the floor as we entered, Liam approached me with the baby frantically crying. "Do something, it's your turn!"

"Hell no!" I backed away afraid of the tiny infant that was clearly in need of care. Tears streamed down his face, his screaming only getting louder the longer I waited to care for him.

"Harry! Take the damn baby!" Liam urged holding the baby out for me to grab. I could see from the light of the living room he was painted over with sweat from all the stress the loudness the baby was causing.

"Liam no I can't!" There was pressure weighing on me like a ton of bricks by this simple task. I watched as he kicked in the air in frustration the more I resisted to hold him, or for anyone of that matter.

"Harry yes you can. He is probably hungry, since you and Louis left me with the baby you get a turn while we figure out the bottle situation." Liam moved in closer to me to set the kicking baby into my arms, the volume not dropping from the screaming baby.

"Liam..." Becoming hesitant I stood still holding my arms out for Liam to hand off the baby. I had never been so utterly terrified in my entire life. "Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!" I worried once his weight was settled in my hands. Holding the baby away from my body I saw was still not calm from my lack of body contact with him.

"Just stay calm. Louis come over here and help me." Liam called over the noisy baby that I was supposed to calm in the meantime while Louis and Liam figured out the bottle situation.

"Liam I can't do this." I spoke over the loud crying still not bringing the baby into my body to comfort him.

"Harry man up mate!" Liam argued reading the instructions on the formula while Louis ripped open a packet of bottles. Squinting his eyes Liam began to read over the instructions carefully before calling for Louis to hand him a bottle like he was some chef.

"Bottle?" Liam asked putting his hand out to Louis who was to the side of him in the kitchen.

"Bottle." Louis nodded handing him a brand new bottle.

"Warm water?"

"Warm water." Louis switched on the facet as he was told and touched the running water with his hand until he nodded to Liam signaling that the water was of proper temperature.

"I would say that's about 6 ounces wouldn't you say?" Liam asked Louis' opinion before he nodded and continued into the formula part of it all.

"3 scoops of formula?" Liam asked as Louis peeled open the large container.

"1....2...3..." Louis poured in the scoops as Liam instructed him to do.

"God is that almost done?!" A lump in my throat was growing the louder the baby was getting. By this time I had him laying in my arms but, this didn't help him to calm down. I began to bounce him like Liam had the first time to calm him down but it only seemed he was more frustrated by the lack of food.

"Ooo you shake that!" Louis nodded his head to Liam as Liam shakes up the powder in the bottle. "Shake it, sha, sha, sha, shake it real good!" Louis danced a little causing Liam to shake the bottle more then necessary.

"Liam!" I called getting increasingly annoyed at how long it was taking for him to move over here with his dance moves Louis had provoked.

"Sorry, here mate." Liam handed the bottle off to me while I held it utterly unsure of how to start the process of feeding the baby. "How do I do this?" I whined.

"Just stick it in his mouth, are you dumb or some s**t?" Louis asked me wondering why I haven't calmed down the baby's high pitched screams yet.

"Okay baby... Look I got some food for you!" I smiled weakly and nervously as I took my free hand and moved the bottle towards the baby's mouth. Doing so his lips quickly attached to the bottle and began sucking, looking up at me with teary blue eyes.

Making sure to hold the bottle upright while he sat in my arms I rocked back and forth to make sure he was comfortable while eating. My heart beat and pumping adrenaline slowing down from the quiet the bottle had aided with. Walking over to the couch I kept my eyes on the baby that was staring straight at me with curiosity. Sitting down and letting the couch engulf me I picked the blanket out from the baby's car seat and covered him incase he became cold.

"You know when he's quiet, he's actually quite cute." Louis commented while looking at him gulp down his bottle. Seeing Louis come into view he quickly changed his gaze to look at the tired looking boy who stood over him.

"I think he likes you!" Liam beamed coming over to stand next to Louis who watched the baby eat.

"Take away the food and see if he likes you then, that's the true test." Louis laughed walking to sit next to me on the couch, slumping down into the seat.

"Look mate, we gotta figure out what we are doing. What are you wanting to do?" Liam asked sitting down next to Louis causing me to be in the middle of the two.

"I can't be a father." I said playing over the sentence from the moment the note was addressed to me. I wasn't ready to be a dad yet.

"So what does that mean?" Liam asked me while I moved my eyes from the baby to Liam.

"It means I can't do this. I'm not ready for all this." I noticed the baby's eyes were scanning me up and down just as he sucked the bottle dry. Pulling the n****e away from his mouth I began to hear him hiccup.

"Then what are you going to do with him?" Louis followed smiling at the little hiccuping noises the baby was making uncontrollably.

"I don't know. Can't child protective services do something? Can't I just hand him over to them?" My face was desperate for answers that they most likely didn't have.

"So I'm taking it, your not going to tell your parents." Liam looked at me with questionable eyes that painted me guilty.

I didn't want anyone to know about this, the less my family knew the better was how I saw it. If I could get out of this situation unscathed, that would be the most ideal. No one needed to know about this little mishap.

"Are you crazy? No of course I'm not telling them!" I shook my head as if what Liam has asked was utterly ridiculous.

Looking back down at the baby that was hiccuping away I saw him begin to scrunch up his face in frustration. "Oh no! Hey baby.... Hey it's okay..." I cooed wanting to avoid another crying session.

"Aren't you supposed to burp babies after they eat?" Liam asked me as if I knew the answer.

"I don't know are you?" I glanced at Liam then Louis for answers that again they didn't have.

"Let me Google it." Louis pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to speak to the phone. "Siri, do you burp babies after they eat?" After a few moments of scrolling through answers he nodded pressing his lips into a thin line, "Yeah you are, the baby swallows air."

"Here Louis, you're the expert you burp him." I heard his little hiccups begin to frustrate him slightly as I tried to hand the baby off to Louis.

"Hell no baby daddy! That's your baby." Louis shook his head raising his hands to signal he wasn't going to accept the baby.

Blowing out air while I looked at the frustrated baby I took the blanket off of him to sling over my shoulder. I knew what was going to erupt from his mouth and I didn't want it on me. Sitting him up carefully I laid him on my shoulder and began to pat his back lightly making sure that I was tapping his back softly. Hearing him hiccup and become frustrated he began to make sounds that conveyed he was irritated.

"Come on baby, you can do it. Just burp for me." I bounced while I patted his back softly to provoke a burp.

"Well whatever you decide to do, you need to figure it out." Liam spoke the obvious as I concentrated on getting Asher to burp.

"Aren't you the least bit curious about who the mum is?" Louis piped in remembering how the note didn't spell out the girls entire name.

"Yes because if I knew I would ship him right back off to her and forget this ever happened." I shook my head wanting to rid of it this terrifying nightmare.

"And you have no idea of who it might be?" Liam came back into the conversation just as the baby belched out a burp with spit up to follow it.

"That's disgusting." Louis stuck out his tongue seeing the spit up that I hadn't. Smell traveling to my nose I scrunched it up and pulled the baby down from my shoulder to see if he had made a mess of himself.

"You know, he kinda looks like you." Liam commented once I wiped away the remaining white liquid on the side of his lip. "He's got your mouth and nose."

Looking at me innocently I saw his eyes droop from his sleepy state he must be in from all the crying. Moving his arms over his eyes to block away the light he began to wiggle restlessly from being tired. Restless crying that was lower and softer I looked around to put him down somewhere. Taking him back into my arms he nuzzled himself into my arms.

"Where is he going to sleep?" I wondered looking around and only seeing a car seat to which he came in.

"Lay him in on your bed." Liam suggested getting up off the couch and standing waiting for me to follow suit.

"What if he falls off?"

"Put pillows around him." Liam suggested as I followed him to Liam and I's shared bedroom. Somehow Louis had acquired his own in this two bedroom apartment which I found unfair.

After barricading him a pillow fort I went to lay him down on the pillows. Throwing a blanket from my bed over him, to keep him warm since his had spit up all over it. Wiggling around until comfortable I watched him fall back into sleep while I turned off the lamp Liam had switched on.

"Well this isn't how I thought my night would turn out." I huffed slouching back down into the couch and feeling the same wave of exhaustion wash over me again. I checked my phone for the time and saw it read 2AM. "It looks like I'm duking it out on the couch tonight so get off." I pushed Louis lightly urging him to get off so I could get a few hours of sleep.

"I call dibs on not waking up with the baby!" Louis said walking down the short hall to his bedroom and flashing the peace sign.

"I'll leave the door open so you can hear him if he wakes up." Liam patted my shoulder before disappearing into our shared bedroom where the baby slept peacefully.

I had to do something about this in the morning.

note// thought I would update because I'm hyped up from my concert! I never thought something could be so miserable and so amazing at the same time! Anyways, thoughts?