The baby slept soundly afterward till almost 6 pm and it got Zayn worried, cause he didn't know if it was normal for a baby to sleep that long. He should feel relief that the baby wasn't fussing, however, he did not know why he felt this sense of foreboding.

He swiped the phone in his hand open and stared at the address, Ezra texted a few hours ago as he waits for 8 pm to clock, before they go and drop the baby off on the doorstep of the curly, so not be seen. He heaved a sigh and rose from his seat, making his way to the living room as the urge to check on the baby surge.

He stepped into the living room and moved closer to the convertible seat then the face of the sleeping baby greeted him and the corners of his mouth quirk slightly, as an unexplainable tenderness for the baby assailed him, and even though he saw the baby was alright, he still had this sinking feeling in his heart.

He inched his finger towards the baby's nose and realized the baby was still breathing however, as his finger comes in contact with the baby's skin he realized the baby was warm, too warm for his liking. Panic gripped him then hurriedly, he strode to Louis's bedroom, calling his name frantically.

Louis stirred in his sleep and let out a long groan, shoving his pillow over the back of his head, covering his ears tightly to tune the clopping of Zayn's voice out.

"Louis, get up it's an emergency" Zayn shouted, grabbing the pillow from Louis and threw it at the other side of the bed, nudging him on the shoulder.

Louis groaned again and opened his sleepy eyes, facing him "What fuck do you want?" He asked with an irritated voice.

"The baby is sick"

Louis stared at Zayn with a furrow running across his forehead. "What do you mean the baby is sick? He was fine a few hours ago"

"Yeah I know, but I checked on him just now and his skin feels too warm"

Louis rose from the bed and rushed to the living room with Zayn on his heels. He touched the baby's forehead and cursed under his breath. "Yeah you're right, I think he has a fever" He muttered, in a voice quaking worriedly.

"Should we take him to a hospital?"

Louis stared at Zayn like he'd lost his mind. "We can't take him to a hospital. The police are looking for him everywhere"

"So what do we do then?" Zayn asked, his voice containing the panic he was feeling.

"We can't wait till 8 pm before we take him to the curly's house, we have to go now. The longer he stays with us, the more likely his fever will go up and that will be a disastrous"

"Okay" Zayn agreed then Louis let out a loud breath. "Let me get dressed" He said and rushed out of the room.

Zayn ran his hand through his hair, teeth tugging his lower lip and crouched down to the level of the convertible seat, and gently stroke his finger across the baby's cheek. "You'll be alright buddy" He whispered as the baby opens its mouth slightly and turn its head toward the side where he had caressed, as if leaning to his touch.

Louis entered the room, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with jeans and gloves. He picked the car keys from the table and mumbled. "Let's go"

Zayn carefully picked up the convertible seat and followed Louis out of the room. Louis sat in the driver's seat and put in the curly's address in the GPS while Zayn sat in the backseat with the baby. They wasted no time getting on the road as the GPS showed the curly's location and voiced out how long it'll take before they get to their destination.

During the ride, the baby woke up and started making small fuzzy cries. Just as Zayn was about to pick the baby up, Louis reminded him to wear gloves so not to leave fingerprints.

Zayn nodded and wore gloves, before picking the baby up and took out the last bottle of milk in the warmer. He places the rubber nipple gently between the baby's lips, hoping he will suck. The baby began sucking ravenously, gazing at Zayn like he was trying to see his soul. Zayn smiled and started making funny noises through his nose, causing the baby to smile.

Louis peeked at them in the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes.

The GPS guided them for about thirty minutes to a quiet residential neighborhood with few people walking around.

"Are we in the right street?" Zayn asked while the baby's chubby little fingers clenched around a few strands of his beard, pulling them lightly.

Louis bobbed his head, glancing at the GPS. "Yeah, it's the sixth house down the street on the left"

Zayn heaved a sighed as the baby babbles something and tugged his nose ring. "Ouch, what the fuck!" He groaned, narrowing his eyes at the baby's abrupt behavior. The baby gaze innocently at him and giggled.

"Oh, you think this is funny, huh?"

A wave of slight anger showed on Zayn's face and the baby kept quiet, guilt crossing his face then he leaned his head down on Zayn's shoulder.

Zayn chuckled softly, sensing him pouting. "I'm not mad buddy, just playing with you" He said as he gently stroked the baby's back with his palm, coaxing him.

The baby peeped at him and Zayn peppered small kisses at the side of his cheek, causing him to squeal with giggles.

Louis kept glancing at them with an unreadable expression as he drove past the fourth house then suddenly, he noticed flashing lights in a distance and cussed under his breath when he saw a police car by the roadside and two police officers, standing outside the gate, in the front of the house they were supposed to drop the baby off.

He couldn't reverse back since the police officers have already spotted the car. Any attempt to do that will raise a sneaking suspicion.

"Get down" He croaked in a panic whisper.

Zayn averted his gaze to him, furrowing his brows. "Hm?"

"Get down, the police are ahead" He said hurriedly then swiftly, Zayn laid down flat on this back with the baby on his chest so the police wouldn't spot them. As the car passes in front of the house, the officers stared at the car while Louis remained calm, looking straight ahead and pretending to be nodding his head along to music.

The policemen disregarded him when they saw nothing suspicious and went back talking to each other.

After Louis drove passed the house, he breathes a huge sigh of relief and gave Zayn the signal that the coast is clear. Zayn sat up and glanced back at the house of the curly, fading in a distance. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and caught Louis's gaze in the rearview mirror, questioning him silently.

"We have no choice but to take him to a hospital," He uttered and sat the baby on his lap.

Louis didn't say anything and veered the car to a small random clinic in a nearby town an hour away. He packed the car in the parking lot and got out of the car. Zayn wrapped his jacket around the baby before getting out of the car, so no passerby would recognize the baby.

They entered the small clinic and went straight to the front desk and the nurse at the front desk led them to the OPD and told them to wait before walking out of the room.

After a minute, an older nurse walked into the room and greeted them. They nodded to acknowledge her, as she sat across them and gestured for them to sit, before clicking on the computer in front of her. "Have you been here before?" She asked.

"No, this is our first time" Zayn replied.

"So which one of you is sick?"

"The baby"

The nurse nodded, typing in the information on the computer before speaking. "Name, age, and birthdate of the baby?" She asked.

Zayn threw a nervous glance at Louis, unsure how to respond and gestures for him to answer the question.

Louis mouth hung opened, surprise at Zayn's cowardly act and pursued his lips. He averted his gaze to the nurse and cleared his throat. "The baby is nine months old" He murmured, hoping he got it right but the look on the nurse's face told him otherwise.

"Are you related to the baby?" She asked.

"No, that's the father" Louis quickly pointed to Zayn.

Zayn threw Louis a sharp look as the nurse stared at him with a raised brow.

"Why would you let him answer the question if you're the father?"

Zayn slowly realized the position he'd found himself and gave a short mirthless laugh in response to her question. He thought they would just come in here and the nurses will take the baby's temperature, diagnose the illness, and give them the baby's medicine and they'll be out of here. He never thought this would be complicated.

"He-he's my son's godfather and I thought he knew" He uttered, feeling prickling sensations like he was sitting on pins and needles.

The nurse gave him a skeptical look and asked. "Okay, so how old is your son?"

Zayn swallowed nervously and spoke. "Ten-month-old"

"Are you sure?" Cause your son looks much younger than a ten-month-old baby"

Zayn grew silent for a few seconds and let out a frustrated breath. "Look nurse, it's my wife who knows the accurate delivery date and birth date. I wasn't even there when the baby was born, I was on a trip. I'm babysitting my son for the first time"

The nurse flickered her eyes to Louis, who nodded to confirm what Zayn had said. "Yeah it's true, his work is very demanding" He murmured and the nurse pursed her lips."Okay, so what's your wife's name, and which hospital or clinic were you using before?" She asked, directing her question to Zayn.

"My wife's name-name is Rose and like I said, I wasn't there when the baby was born so I don't know which hospital my wife gave birth to my son"

There was a glimmer of doubt in the nurse's eyes, a clear indication that she doesn't believe what Zayn was saying.

"Can you at least remember the month your son was born?" She asked.

"August" Zayn guessed, without realizing his answer doesn't tally with the baby's age he had said earlier.

"August?" The nurse frowned. "We are in November and we if calculate your son's age, then he's supposed to be three-month-old but he looks older than a three-month-old baby" She uttered glancing at both men.

Louis decided to keep quiet and not ramble a different date in order to raise further suspicion.

Zayn shrugged his shoulders. "I told you I don't know cause I wasn't there when he was born"

"Okay, what's your son's name?"

"MJ" Zayn said without hesitation.

"Just MJ" The nurse asked, giving him a sharp glance.

"What has the questions got to do with the baby's health?" Louis asked, his features twisting in annoyance. "Can't you just give the poor baby some medicine for his fever so we can go home"

The nurse sighed and looked at Louis. "Sir the questions are important, they are for the baby's records so we can understand his medical history and know which medicine to give him"

Louis snorted at her answer and lean back his seat.

"So what's your wife's name again?" She asked, shifting her gaze to Zayn.

"Marie" Zayn answered and the nurse smiled. "Excuse me, I will be back" She said and rose from her seat.

"You're going to get his medicine?" Zayn asked with a hopeful look.

"Yeah, yeah sure give me few minutes"

Zayn sighed in relief and the nurse smiled warmly as she walked out of the room. Louis noticed her smile was fake and from all indications, she has detected they're lying.

He leaned slightly to Zayn and his voice dropped to a whisper. "We should leave, I think she's suspicious"

Zayn looked worriedly at Louis. "But-but what about the baby?" He asked.

"I don't know, get him some painkillers or something then early tomorrow morning we'll go and drop him in front of the curly's house. I'm out" Louis said and rose on his feet

Zayn maneuvers the baby to his right arm and grabs Louis arm to stop him from walking out. "Hold on, where the fuck are you going, we just can't leave without getting the baby's medicine"

"If you haven't noticed, the nurse knows we are lying and I bet she's calling the police as we speak" Louis whispered yelled.

"I can't leave, If anything happens to this baby I will never forgive myself."

"Then you're on your own" Louis murmured about to walk out but again, Zayn grabbed his arm stopping him.

"Look I know you're pissed for what happened, but by walking out, you're risking the life of an innocent baby who had nothing to do with my mistake. I'm responsible for him till I get him back home safely but until then, I will do everything for him to get well. But I can't do it on my own. I need your help. Please"

Louis stared at Zayn for a long moment, gritting his teeth in silent fury then glance at the baby sleeping on Zayn's shoulder and groaned. "I'm only doing this for the baby, not you" He said pointing at Zayn's chest.

Zayn breathes a sigh of relief. "Hold him, I will be back" He murmured, passing the baby to Louis.

"Where are you going?" Louis asked, taking the baby from Zayn.

"I will be back" He said, walking towards the door and easing it open. He looked around briefly before stepping into the waiting room and closed the door behind him. He walked straight to the front desk and leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk. "Hello beautiful" He whispered in a smooth tone with a charming smile.

The nurse looked up and blushed a little, a smile on her face. "Hi-hi can I help you with anything else again?"

"Yeah, I was hoping if you could tell me where the nurse we were talking to went, I forget a tiny detail of information to tell her"

"Second door on the left" She pointed towards the corridor.

Zayn glance over his shoulder, looking at where she was pointing to and averted his gaze back to her. "Thanks beautiful" He said, with a quiet wink matched with a sexy smile.

The nurse blush deepened then she lowered her gaze back to what she was writing. Zayn turned around, walking towards the corridor as his smile faded like a blink of an eye.

He halted in front of the door and looked around quickly before quietly opening the door and peeping inside. He sighted the nurse, dialing her phone with her back facing him. He stepped inside the room and silently shut the door behind him and just as she placed the phone to her ear and was about to speak, he quickly rushed behind her and clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her head back against his chest.

The nurse's first instinct was to bite the hand over her mouth, but then she felt the cold barrel of a gun pointed against her neck.

"Put the phone down"

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I hope you like it.😊

Thoughts on the Chapter

Thoughts on Zayn

Thoughts on Louis

Thoughts on the baby

Predictions

Thanks for reading, stay safe❤️