"Louis I'm 100 percent sure our anniversary is today!"

"No Eleanor, it's tomorrow."

"Just say you don't want to hang out with me on our anniversary! You're ditching me for nobodies! Fuck you Louis!"

"Oooh ouch! You know what, that one actually hurt."

Eleanor groaned and stomped out of the bedroom, slamming the door shut. Louis snorted and cracked a smile as he fixed his blazer over his shirt.

He went very casual with his look with the blazer, purple dress shirt, black skinny's and vans. He sprayed one of his favorite colognes and with one final look in the mirror, he grabbed his wallet and keys, walking out of the bedroom.

Eleanor was in the kitchen, tapping furiously on her phone and Louis almost laughed.

"I'm leaving."

"Whatever."

Louis sighed comically and left the house. His first destination was obviously the asylum to get Travis, then the party and hopefully when he's taking Travis back, he can start digging on his new case.

He pulled up to the asylum, parking in his regular parking spot. He took out his pass and a signed document that let him take out the boy.

He walks down the familiar halls and goes to the front desk, handing the guy the document and waiting for him to go get it reviewed. As he waited, there was a small shriek and small feet advancing in his direction. He immediately went down on one knee with his arms wide open to welcome Ava into his embrace.

"Hi Avabear!"

"Papabear! I missed you."

"I missed you too."

He said eagerly, and started peppering kisses all over her face, making her squeal and squirm in delight. It had to be about a minute before someone cleared their throat. Louis pulled away from Ava, not loosening his grip on her and looked up to see the guard with the signed slip.

Louis stood up, carrying Ava in his arms, taking the form with a nod. Small patters sounded again and this time it was Travis, struggling to put his small backpack on his back.

"Hi Mr. Louis. Didn't mean to take so long. I'm just excited."

"No worries Travis. Let's head out shall we?"

Travis nods excitedly and Louis smiles. Louis sets Ava down with a kiss to her forehead then watches her run off. Travis latches onto Louis' back before he has a chance to stand up. Louis laughs, standing with the younger on his back and they made their way out of the building and into the car.

For a 13-year-old, he was light on his back, and so were a lot of the older kids here at the asylum. They didn't even feed the kids right and Louis really hated this place. He placed him in the passenger seat and then went to the driver's side.

"Where are we going Mr. Louis?"

"Well, I'm surprising you by surprising someone for their birthday. Can you guess who?"

"Is it you?"

Louis laughs, shaking his head and pulling onto the highway, as the GPS guided them to their destination.

Travis was sitting on his knees, belted, staring outside the window, watching the lights in the city.

"Is it Alex?"

He turns towards Louis, hope in his brown eyes. He was an adorable kid, with his brown hair falling over his eyebrows. Louis smiled, briefly turning to him and nodding, before turning back to the road.

"It's Alex's birthday?"

"Yup. And I have an idea so you make sure you have fun tonight ok?"

"Ok. Will you be there?"

"I'll be close by. Don't worry yeah? Alex will be with you the whole time."

Travis' eyes sparkle and he sits down, one leg under his bum. Louis parks in the parking lot of The Ledbury. It was currently 6:55pm and he still had some time to relax, and think through his idea.

"Mr. Louis?"

"Yes Travis?"

"I got a question."

"Shoot."

"So, I just wanna know, how come you won't take Ava home with you?"

"What?"

"You know, like adopt her. I feel like you're the best family for her. And she's already taken a strong bonding to you. I guess it just makes sense in my head."

Louis sat staring out of the windshield. He unbuckled his seatbelt and pondered over that. He would love to adopt Ava. More than anything. But with Eleanor in the picture, it felt like nothing would ever advance. He looked at Travis apologetically and sighed.

"It's so much more complicated."

"You know, if she stresses you out that much... might as well move on."

Travis breaks the serious mood immediately after that by giggling to himself, covering his mouth with his small delicate hands. Louis snorts and runs his hands through the younger's hair, causing Travis to swat it away.

They stayed there for another 15-20 minutes when Louis felt it was a good time for them to join the party. Taking Travis' hand, they walked into the restaurant.

"Hello. Do you have a reservation?"

"Actually we are here to surprise a family who have a reservation for 7pm."

"Ah! And their last name would be?"

"Jones."

"They just checked in. Right this way sir."

Louis told Travis to wait by the counter until he calls him so it's a surprise. The waiter leaves him once the family notices him walking over.

"Mr. Tomlinson?"

"Oh hey Alex. Fancy meeting you here. Mr. and Mrs. Jones, good evening."

"Ah! You must be Alex's Psychology teacher. He talks a whole lot about you."

"Mum..."

Alex whispers harshly with a blush on his cheeks. Louis smiles at them.

"I'm honored Alex. I don't mean to be a bother this evening but I felt the need to wish Alex a happy birthday and give him his present with the whole family present."

Alex's eyes lit up as his parents looked in confused. Was this teacher about to propose to their son or something? If so Alex would be moving universities immediately! But instead, Louis turned behind him and motioned someone over.

"Happy Birthday Alex!"

Travis jumped to a halt beside Louis and Alex gasped so loud, moving out of his seat to crouch down and hug the boy. As Travis begun to tell Alex how old he is now, Louis indulged himself with the parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jones, this is Travis Miller, a 13-year-old boy who currently resides at the Fort Montegry Mental Asylum. On one of our trips to the hospital, Alex and Travis just clicked."

"Oh wait! I recognize you from TV. You're that young cop who's finding homes for those kids."

"Yes ma'am that's me. But I'm not a cop. A professor? Yes. A consultant? Absolutely. A cop or a lawyer? Not a chance."

"This is very sweet of you Mr. Tomlinson."

"Please. Call me Louis. I'll be on my way now. Have a wonderful evening. See you later Travis. Alex."

The two waved at him and Travis immediately filled the table with chatter of how Louis took him to get his first haircut but then they almost gave him the Harry Potter scar because of how much he squirmed in the chair. Louis smiled heading out into his car and sat there.

He keyed in the address for the party into his GPS but he didn't start the ignition. First Lux and now Travis. Did Eleanor really make that bad of an impression the one time she went to the asylum? He ran his hands through his hair, fringe falling back on his face.

He didn't want to think about any of this right now. Maybe later. But for now, he needed to be in party-mode. And he started the car driving off.

* * *

"They're coming! Everybody hide!"

Julia whisper-shouted. The music came to an abrupt halt, the lights went off and people scrambled to find hiding spots. Before Louis even said anything his arm was grabbed and pulled behind the bar. Julia's giggles sounded beside him and he shook his head, taking a sip of his cola. He wasn't going to be drinking tonight for very obvious reasons.

The lock on the door twisted and it opened, a light ray shinning through. Travis' enthusiastic voice sounded through and was interrupted by the shrills of Alex's friends shouting 'surprise'.

And whether Alex let out a scream or not, it was classified information.

"What the! Oh my God! Jul! Sam! You guys! Thank you!"

And he was engulfed in a big hug from his best friends. Other people went up to him to wish him a happy birthday too. Louis was leaning on the counter when someone grabbed at his waist. He looked down to see Travis smiling brightly.

"What's got you smiling so wide little one?"

Before he could reply, Alex's voice could be heard shouting for Travis. Louis lifted the boy up onto the counter and Travis waved at him.

"Mr. Tomlinson? You knew about this too?"

"I am an expert at secret parties..."

"And getting not-so-anonymous tips about where a certain boy and his family will be having dinner."

Julia said, walking over with her hand hooked with Samantha's. Louis smirked, tipping his glass in her direction.

"Mr. Louis! You won't believe what happened after you left! Like way after you left!"

"Tell me please."

"So! Alex's Mum and Dad were paying and then before we left they said they wanted to adopt me!"

Louis smiled wide, knowing his plan had succeeded. He took a sip as the girls let out excited shrieks and Alex was hugging Travis.

"You had that planned, didn't you?"

"It was merely a glimmer of hope that they would catch onto my drift. I'm happy for you two."

"But what about when Alex moves out?"

Samantha asks. Louis, of course forgot about that, but Alex had already planned it out.

"Mum says I'll just get a 2-Bedroom instead so he can stay over and stuff. He will be going to high school so it's not such a big deal. And now that I'm 21, I can kind of take care of the two of us. Right Trav?"

Travis looks up to all the eyes watching him. He had zoned out of the conversation to drink the mango and pineapple blend Samantha had made for him. It had a small umbrella in it and a purple straw. He smiles sheepishly at everyone, causing them to burst out in laughter. After that, they scattered, but Travis was firmly attached to Alex's hand.

Louis stayed at the bar where different groups of students would come up to him and socialize, acting as though they wouldn't be seeing him on Monday morning in a different setting and with a different respect hierarchy.

But, towards the end of the night, something stirred in Louis' gut.

Not since the incident when he was still in college did he ever feel uncomfortable towards women or girls showing him affection. He thought maybe his lemonade was spiked because when they guys came over and they were in close-proximity, he felt, at peace?

One particular boy, Hilton, had come over to the bar alone and Louis was busy scrolling through his phone. He sat on the bar facing Louis and, throughout their conversation, would slowly spread his legs.

The sad thing was at the back of Louis' mind was, 'You straight piece of shit! You're a teacher and he's a student! And he's a HE!' But at the forefront of the argument, 'It's time to release the caged animal!'

Louis shook his thoughts away multiple times until Hilton gave up and left with a 'see you on Monday, Mr. Tomlinson.'

"Hey Mr. Tomlinson?"

Louis turned to see Alex carrying a dozing off Travis on his back. He smiled slightly at the sight and that calming sensation of another child rescued settled.

"How's about you stay with Travis tonight and I'll pick him up in the morning. Sound good?"

Alex opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. He smiled and nodded feverishly, giving Louis a hug and left upstairs to where a few rooms had been saved for Alex, Julia, Samantha and a few of their friends.

He decided to leave knowing Travis was ok and so was Alex.

"Are you not staying over Mr. T?"

Samantha slurred, walking over with a stumbling Julia. Louis smirked remembering his partying days. Gosh, when did he become an adult?

"Not tonight girls. But when you wake up, if you'll remember, make sure Travis is ok?"

The two girls nodded and saluted, giggling as Louis left them. He checked the time on the dashboard seeing it was going to 2am.

At least he wouldn't find Eleanor awake.

* * *

Boy, was he wrong.

He unlocked the door and slowly walked into the house, shutting the door. Before he could decide to do everything in the dark, the lamp beside the couch lit up, causing him to jump and sigh in relief.

"Wh-where were you?"

Her voice waivers as though she'd been crying for hours. Louis removes his shoes and places them on the shoe rack by the door to air them out before they went back into the closet.

"I told you, I was invited to Alex's party and I had to work a little."

"I'm sorry. You-you were right. About everything."

She walks slowly towards him and he opens his arms for a hug. She falls into his embrace and snuggles quietly.

This wasn't the first time Eleanor had cried in his chest. This wasn't the first time they had sex when she was sad.

But, fuck, this was the first time Louis had problems getting it up, without thinking of some random hot jock from his high school or college days.

What the hell was happening?

•~•~•

Merry Christmas 💕

Hope you're all fantastic! I hope your December was somewhat bearable and I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas.

This chapter turned out a little different than I wanted it to but as I edited it, I smiled a bit at how my imagination wanders as I type. Hope you like it. The book is slowly picking up and we're just about to get this party going!

(Picture of Travis on the side x)

Remember to spread love always and be kind to each other 💕

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-Linda✌️