Zayn lies awake in bed two weeks later and has thoughts of colorful tattoos and curly hair and brown skin.

It's been two full weeks since he'd found out his fiancée's initials and it's been two full weeks since he had met with his friends and it's been two full weeks since Liam put together the irony of S.D. being the initials of not only Zayn's fiancée, but his first real love.

And that was making him rethink things.

Apparently she had said yes. S.D. Whoever she was was agreeing to be on television and she was agreeing to go through with their marriage.

But, if it was her...?

He couldn't.

He just wouldn't do it.

The television crews would be following him around for the first time starting the following morning, right when he and his friends would meet up and they would all buy tuxes for the big day.

Which, now that S.D. had also agreed to their union, was rapidly approaching.

The date had been set.

But those pre-wedding jitters had been masked now, overshadowed and overpowered by reminiscent thoughts of the girl who used to make his heart race with her laugh and her touch.

And Zayn thought he had forgotten all about her, long long ago.
___

"So, we're your bridesmaids?"

"We sure as hell are!"

"Okay, language, Jazz!"

"What? What's wrong with hell?" Exclaims the seven-year-old. "Katie says it all the time!"

There's a raspy laugh from across the bedroom, "'Cause I'm not some kid, remember?"

Stevie rolls her eyes. "Either way, you're too young. Don't cuss."

"But--"

"Stop," she grits, "cussing."

And she turns back to the blonde bouncing beside her. "But, you're getting married, Stevie. Why can't we come?"

"You're a little young for that, Luxe," Stevie laughs as she supervises the girls getting ready for bed.

"Flower girls then? No? Come on, Stevie! You gotta give me something to work with, here!"

And Stevie laughs. "Sorry, babe," she says, as the twelve-year-old stomps towards her bed.

"That blows, Stevie. God."

Stevie laughs again.

Bedtime was probably one of her favorite parts of her job, because at night when the girls were sleepiest, they were also the silliest and the funniest and the sassiest.

And she got to supervise this slumber party from Monday through Friday, right before she clocked out for the night.

"So, what's his name?"

"I don't know, Ella," she sighs with a head shake, because ever since the girls heard that she'd been chosen for the "Married" show that's all they wanted to ask. And she helps the girl into her top bunk. "I told you that already, girl."

"I know, but--"

"She ain't listenin," calls Katie from her closet, "She can't hear anything but her own mouth runnin'--"

"Shut up, Katie!"

The teenager rolls her eyes, grabbing a silk scarf for her long straightened hair, "Girl, bye."

"Alright, you two," Stevie interjects. "What's my rule?"

"No arguing," Carmen sings, platting her long hair into two, "You say it every day."

"So, why can't anyone listen?" Stevie exclaims as Katie rolls her eyes and Ella covers her head with blankets, "Why y'all two always breaking my rules?"

And there's a tug on her shirt, as a little four-year-old, Stevie's favorite, (if she had favorites, because she didn't, but still), looks up at her through big brown eyes, grinning a tiny-toothed grin.

Stevie grabs the girl beneath her arms and lifts her into the air, setting her on her hip. "Yes, Marley?"

She holds out her hand, a couple scrunchies looped between her chubby caramel fingers.

Marley lays her head against Stevie's shoulder, "Can you put my hair up?" She asks in a sleepy baby voice. And then she adds with a head-shake, as if forgetting her manners, "Please?"

Stevie nods. "Of course, baby," she replies, as she bounced the little sleepy girl on her hip, carrying her across the floor to her own bed. "Of course I can."

Stevie worked at a home -- an orphanage -- for girls. Lady Anne's, it was called, and yeah, Stevie knew the job was an unconventional one for a twenty-seven-year-old with a Master's in English Lit, but based on her life and her past, she knew that what she was doing was right. Care taking was her passion. She loved it; she'd been doing it since she was old enough to babysit her sisters, but she was getting tired of caring solely for others.

Stevie wondered what it would feel like for someone else to dote on her the way she doted on everyone else.

She wondered what it would feel like to love like that again.

"So you haven't even had sex with him!?"

"Chloe!"

"Girl, what? We're grown. Well," she tosses her long, red hair, "Katie and I are."

"So spill the tea," Katie adds. "You honestly don't know this man? Or you do and you just don't wanna tell us--"

"Girls," Stevie sighs with a tired chuckle, "I don't know him, and--"

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't be bridesmaids!"

"Luxe! The venue won't even be big enough for me to have bridesmaids, babe. I'm getting married in like, a week."

"A week!?" Carmen gasps, pausing her last braid. "That's so soon!"

And as Stevie nods for like, the fiftieth time she's had this conversation with the girls, Marley taps her leg with tiny, chubby fingers.

She looks up at her with big brown eyes and asks, "Are you nervous?"

And for some reason, Stevie debates whether or not she should be honest with the baby of the bunch, but the rest of the seven girls are all staring at her with the same wide-eyed anticipation.

Of all questions, this one stumps her.

Is she nervous?

Yes.

She nods. "Kinda. Yeah."

"You're too pretty for this, Stevie," sighs Chloe dramatically from her bed.

Katie agrees, nodding emphatically. "You can't catch on your own?"

Apparently not.

"You sound like my sisters, Kay."

"We are your voice of reason."

"We should be your bridesmaids, though!"

"Sorry," she grins, helping the four-year-old's tiny curls into two French braids. "Next time, you can take that up with the producers, Luxe."

"And say what? You really think they'd listen."

"No!"

"Nah, Luxie."

"Nice, try?"

"Fuck no!"

"Jazz!" Stevie's hands fly to Marley's ears, as shocked faces and laughter fill the room. "Okay, that's it. Everyone in the bed, now."

___

Ok enough intro Stevie works with little girls and Zayn's having second thoughts and yes.

I'm ready for this story lol.