Perrie's POV:

*a few days ago*

I sat in my car, deciding what to do. I'd just driven off without a plan or anywhere to go. Force of habit meant I'd headed towards London but if I was trying to find somewhere to stay then that wasn't my best option.

I used the hands-free phone in the car to call my mum and breathed a sigh of relief when she picked up straight away.

"Hi, are you alright babe?" She asked.
"Yeah. I'm just wondering if you're at home." I asked, making my voice sound as normal as possible.
"Aw no sorry hun, I'm visiting a friend. Why? Is everything okay?"
My heart sunk. What was I going to do now?
"Yep, everything's fine, I'm just on my way back home and thought I might pop in if you were there, but no worries. See you soon." I lied, holding back tears. We said our goodbyes before hanging up.

Jesy and Jade were both on holiday, Caitlin lived in Plymouth which was way too far of a drive, Jonnie was staying with her for a few days and I hadn't seen my dad in months so couldn't just turn up like this.

My only other option was Leigh-Anne as all my other friends lived all over the country and most were just as good friends with Alex as they were with me. Internally praying that she'd pick up, I called Leigh-Anne. It rang for a while before going straight to voicemail. Charlie chose that exact moment to start crying.

I was so overwhelmed at this point and couldn't cope at all. I pulled into a petrol station and took Charlie out of the back. Picking him up, I took him back into the front seat and attempted to calm him down. It was incredibly difficult though and I couldn't help but break down in tears. I was such a shit mum, taking my baby with me when I had nowhere to go and now I couldn't even make him stop crying.

Suddenly, there was a ringing noise and Leigh's name flashed up on the screen. I breathed a sigh of relief and answered the call.

"Hey babe, what's up?" She asked cheerfully.

I broke down and tearfully explained that I'd had a fight with Alex, had left with Charlie and now I had nowhere to go. As soon as I'd finished, she insisted that I came to hers right that minute.

"Will André mind?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, and anyway I'm not letting you drive around all night." She replied.

As soon as I arrived there, I collapsed into tears. However, after a box of tissues and a mug of tea, I could finally speak and retold the events to Leigh. Safe to say, she was shocked.

-

*Now*

Alex had tried to call me so many times that I'd had to block his number to prevent it from waking Charlie up.

He'd texted my friends too, as I'd been notified by many people, to see if they knew where I was, but he hadn't bothered them. He'd sent only one text to each of the girls and some of my other friends - he hadn't bombarded them with questions, demanding where I was. As much as I hated to admit it, he was a really good guy and wasn't trying to bring other people into our issue or spam them with annoying messages.

Well his mind would be put at ease today as I was going home. I felt like I'd been in Leigh's hair for too long and I needed to face Alex at some point.

By the time I'd driven home, it was around 6pm. Both the kids and Alex should be home, which meant that I would be able to see my babies but would also have to talk to the one person I did not want to see right now.

I unlocked the door and walked inside. As I placed my bags and Charlie, in his carrier, on the floor whilst I hung up my coat, I heard hesitant footsteps getting louder. Alex peeked his head into the room and his eyes widened when he saw me. He rushed over and hugged me. I didn't push away but also didn't hug back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to crush you." He said softly, after he'd finished hugging me.

"It's fine." I replied coldly. "Where are the kids?"

"In the living room, watching a movie."

I started to leave the room to head towards the kids, when Alex stopped me. "Wait Perrie, can we talk?"

I let out a small sigh. "Stay here. I'll go say hi to the kids and then we can talk."

With that, I left him and went into the living room. Opening the door, I saw Lillie and Tommy's heads turn towards me.

"Mummy!" They ran to me and I crouched down and pulled them into a hug.

"I've missed you two so much." I smiled, pulling them closely and kissing their cheeks.

"Did you win?" Lillie asked.

"Win what?" I replied, confused.

"The competition? Daddy said you were at a singing competition." She continued.

So that's what he told them. A pretty good lie, I had to admit. "Ohhh, yeah we did."

"Yayyyy!" They both cheered.

I grinned. "What did you do whilst I was gone?"

"We played football with daddy and Jordie and watched Jordie play his match." Lillie explained.

"That sounds great."

"Yeah, and I said I missed you so daddy took us out for pizza and ice cream because he said that you that's what you like to do." She added.

I frowned. "Daddy said that I like to eat pizza and ice cream?"

"No, he said mummy loves food." Lillie giggled.

"Well he's not wrong I guess." I laughed. "You finish watching your movie cause I need to speak to daddy, ok?"

"Ok." They chorused

"I love you, bye." I said before leaving the room.

I walked into the kitchen, where Alex was playing with Charlie. He was also speaking to him and I heard him say softly, "You've got to be on your best behaviour today mate, because mummy is mad and I don't think you throwing up will help. And I don't blame her for being upset and I'm going to try really hard to make her happy again because I love her very very much, so if you could help me out then that would be great." What a great dad he was.

"You took them out for pizza and ice cream?" I asked as I walked in.

He looked up, startled. "Yeah, they were missing you so I thought that food would cheer them up. They are your kids after all."

I tried to hold back a smile. "Yeah." I said, sitting down. "So about this situation..."

"Perrie, please let me explain." He said hurriedly, placing Charlie back in his baby carry.

I cut in. "I will, but can I first explain my point of view?"

He looked a little confused. "Sure?"

"Okay so I'd been at the studio all day working, I was tired and stressed out and I couldn't wait to get home to my family cause you're what reminds me that it's all worth it. So I got home, relieved, and I walk in to find my husband playing tongue tag with his ex-girlfriend."

He tried to protest but I interrupted him.

"Let me finish. Bear in mind that I've been cheated on before and you obviously know that. I've told you in great detail how horrible it was - how bad it makes you feel when you put that much effort into being with someone and seeing only their good qualities and being in love with them only to have them throw it back at you like you're worthless. So I've told you all of this before, and you told me that I'd never have to go through that again, that there is nothing and no one on this earth that could make you do that to me. You promised Alex, and that's what hurts the most, because I was stupid enough to believe you."

At this point, I was sobbing and when I'd finished, I threw my hands over face to hide the tears.

Without thinking, Alex pulled me into a hug and I let him, grateful for the comfort. Though I didn't wrap my arms around him, I sunk my face into his shoulder and breathed in his scent to calm me down. He squeezed me tightly, rubbing my back as it heaved up and down with every sob, and stroking my hair.

Once I'd calmed down a little, I began to push away from him a little and he kissed the side of my head before letting me go immediately. I attempted to wipe my tears and look at him. Immediately though, he pushed my hands away from my face and began to wipe away my tears himself. "You okay?" He asked.

I nodded and he took his hands away.

"Alright, I'm glad you've told me your side because it helps me understand. The only problem is I didn't kiss her." He said pleadingly.

I gave him a look.

"You've got to believe me Perrie, she kissed me." He said, exasperated.

"Even so, you kissed back. You were even grabbing her shirt. Who knows what would've happened if I hadn't walked in."

"I would've shoved her off of me and kicked her out of the house, for fuck's sake I did that anyway. I was grabbing her shirt to pull her off of me. She forced herself on me, I wasn't even looking at her when she did it. I was looking at the door because I could hear you coming in and I was relieved to see you. And even if I was a dickhead that would cheat on you, I'm not stupid so why would I do it in a place where you, our kids or even Jordie could walk in on us."

I stayed silent, considering what he was saying.

"Look," He sighed, taking my hands in his. "everything you've told me before, I listened to. You know I did. I know the pain it caused you, getting cheated on and I would never ever want to even risk replicating that. There is no one on this planet I would risk losing you for, especially not Vanessa, believe me." He clasped his hands around mine and kissed them. "I love you more than anyone else in the world and that will never change. When I married you, I told myself that if I ever let you go I would be the stupidest man on earth. You are everything to me - the sunshine that lights up my day, the laughter that lifts my mood and the smile that keeps me going, and the best part is you're mine and no other guy can say that. And I will never ever do anything that could put our relationship in jeopardy because I would never be able to forgive myself if my actions meant another guy got to say that he was lucky enough to get to love you."

This time I couldn't hold back my smile and it seemed to spur him on.

"So please don't let this get in the way of what we have, because I won't stop fighting for you, ever." He finished, his eyes twinkling.

I paused before speaking. "Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, I never knew you could be so romantic." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He smiled in reply and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his lap. We hugged tightly, our bodies radiating pure love and he buried his head in my neck.

"So am I forgiven? Do you love me again?" He asked timidly.

"Of course baby, and don't be stupid, I never stopped loving you." I mumbled into his shoulder.

We stayed wrapped in each other's arms for a while, just content with being with one another.

"You smell amazing." Alex broke the silence suddenly.

"I'll assume you do too." I joked.

We pulled out of the hug and Alex said thoughtfully, "That's something you don't notice."

"What?"

"When you're around someone all the time, you just get used to always smelling their perfume or their shampoo or whatever, so you kind of just forget about it and take it for granted, but when they're gone like you were, you start to really miss it. Maybe that's how you know you're in love." He said sweetly.

My smile grew even bigger and I pressed my lips against his, kissing him softly. "What's gotten into you today? Any more of this and I'll have to start ripping my clothes off." I chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'll do it for you." He winked. I giggled and we began to kiss with a little more heat.

Suddenly, I pulled away, looking around. "Wait, is Jordie still here?"

Alex's face fell in realisation. "Yeah."

"Okay plans cancelled." I said. He faked a frown as I climbed off of him.

I walked off to make some tea and he followed me moments later, his arms protectively draped around me.

"You're going to have to text all your friends now and tell them that I'm not actually a dickhead after all." Alex commented, sitting on the counter as I put the kettle on.

"Hmm, maybe I'll wait for a bit and let them send you some threatening texts. Y'know, along the lines of cutting your dick off and stuff." I replied.

"I don't know whether to laugh or be worried." He said semi-seriously.

"Oh, be very worried." I grinned.

"Oh well, the only girl whose opinion I care about is right here." He grinned, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind.

"Aww, don't tell your mum that."

"Don't talk about my mum when we're about to kiss." He said suggestively.

I bit my bottom lip. "Who said we're about to kiss?"

Inevitably, I turned around and we started kissing. We were enjoying the moment for a while before we were interrupted.

"Good to see you two have made up." Jordie quipped as he walked into the kitchen.

We pulled out of the kiss but don't move apart. I blushed and could see that Alex had gone red too.

"May I remind you that your child is in the room." Jordie warned, before grabbing an apple and walking back out the room.

"Wha... oh shit Charlie!"

I rushed over and picked the baby up out of his carry. He looked a little agitated at being left on his own for a few minutes so I pulled him into my chest and stroked his blonde curls.

"You should be careful Pez, you don't want his first word to be shit." Alex scolded me jokingly.

"No you're right, I would prefer it to be piss off Alex." I replied, wiping the smirk off his face.

With a smug look, I picked up my mug of tea and left the room, leaving Alex lost for words in the middle of the kitchen. As I walked out I could see his reflection behind me in the mirror; shaking his head, he grinned and I could only assume that he began to brainstorm a response that he would try to surprise me with later.

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Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Thank you all for 25k reads and also well over 900 votes. Trying to post every four days so the next update should hopefully be out on Saturday. As always, tysm for your support and don't forget to read, vote and comment xx