After that missed call from Connor, Louis expected him to call again sometime during the same day, but he didn't.

He didn't call during the following days either, which Louis thought was strange.

If he wanted something, wouldn't he have called again?

Maybe it had been a butt dial?

Whatever the case, Louis had other things to keep his mind busy right now, because Harry had gone back to work, meaning he was now home alone with the twins all day.

And it was hard, very hard.

The first day was awful, and Louis even cried out of desperation at some point, and he was sure he was going to have a mental breakdown. The second day, though, things got better, as he learned how to manage the babies better on his own, so by the time Friday came, even though he was exhausted, he felt confident about being able to do this.

"Hi, mum" Tori said coming home that Friday afternoon.

"Hi, baby" Louis greeted her, he was bouncing Jamie in his arms, who had decided that's what he wanted in exchange of not crying "How did you do on the test you had today?".

"Fine, I think" Tori shrugged, as she went to the kitchen, and grabbed an apple "Where's Evie?".

"Sleeping in the bedroom" Louis replied "She cried for 2 hours non stop and ended up falling asleep from all the crying".

"Was there something wrong with her?" Tori frowned.

"No" Louis denied "She was just having a bad day".

"And Jamie?" Tori asked as she stroked her brother's cheek "Are you having a good or a bad day, baby?".

"He's having a clingy day" Louis explained with he kept bouncing him.

"Aww" Tori cooed, looking at be baby with adoring eyes, which was beautiful in Louis' opinion.

"Can we talk about something, love?" Louis suddenly asked.

"What?" Tori asked, and took another bite off her apple and sat down.

Louis would have sat down too, but he needed to be moving, or Jamie was going to cry.

"Your biological father called last week" Louis explained.

Tori's relaxed demeanor immediately changed, her jaw clenching as she set the apple down on the table.

"Did you pick up?" Tori asked.

"No, I didn't even realize he called until I saw the missed call" Louis explained.

"Good, because I don't want you to talk to him, mum" Tori said determinately.

"I know, you told me so last time we talked about this" Louis nodded "But if he calls again...".

"You won't pick up" Tori cut him off.

"I know you don't want me to, but I will so I can tell him you want nothing to do with him, so to stop calling" Louis explained.

"But why even give him that, mum? Just don't answer it" Tori insisted.

"Because I don't want to be dealing with him calling all the time" Louis replied.

"Then block his number" Tori rolled her eyes.

Louis didn't want to tell Tori that he thought Connor could show up at their house if he did that, so he went another way.

"Tori, I know you have your mind set on this, but I think the right choice is to pick up when he calls, that way we'll be sure he won't bother us again" Louis tried to reason.

"Fine" Tori accepted "But if he keeps calling even after that...".

"Then I won't pick up, I promise" Louis told her.

"Okay" Tori sighed, and looked at her hands for a moment.

"Are you okay, baby?" Louis questioned.

"Yeah..." Tori mumbled "I just hate that he thinks he has a right to call... I wish he didn't even exist, and that dad was my biological father".

"You know, I once told your dad that I wished he was your biological father, and you know what he said to me?" Louis asked.

"What?".

"That if he was your biological father, then you wouldn't be you, and he was right" Louis smiled "Because what would be of our lives without you being you?".

Tori smiled then, which was what Louis had wanted to accomplish.

"And also, don't worry about this at all, I'll handle it" Louis assured her.

"Thanks, mum" Tori smiled again, and got up, grabbing her half eaten apple "I'm gonna go change, I'm going to Lizzie's later, is it okay if I sleep over?".

"That's alright, baby girl" Louis allowed.

Tori walked away and went inside her room, leaving Louis alone with Jamie.

"That went well, right?" Louis asked the baby boy in his arms, who had his dark blue eyes open, and Louis kissed his head "Yeah, it went well".

Tori didn't come out of her room until an hour later, at which point she came out having changed out of her school uniform, and was wearing jeans, boots and a crop sweater, and was holding a backpack over her shoulder. She had also loosen her hair from the ponytail she had worn before, and she was also... wearing makeup?

"Are you wearing makeup, Tori?" Louis questioned.

"Just mascara" Tori brushed off.

"Why?" Louis wondered.

"Because I felt like it" Tori shrugged.

"Are you actually going to Lizzie's house or are you going somewhere else?" Louis asked suspiciously.

"Where else would I be going?" Tori frowned.

"I don't know, you tell me".

"I'm going to Lizzie's, mum" Tori insisted.

"For a sleepover?" Louis questioned.

"Yes" Tori confirmed as she grabbed her jacket from the entrance rack.

"So you're staying there all night?".

"Yes" Tori insisted while she put on said jacket, and then picked up her backpack.

"And Lizzie's parents will be there?" Louis decided to ask.

"Yes, mum" Tori rolled her eyes "Is the questionnaire over?".

"Yes" Louis confirmed "Have fun, and say hello to Lizzie's parents for me".

"Okay" Tori replied, and opened the door "Bye".

"Bye, I love you" Louis replied.

"Love you" Tori said back, and closed the door behind her.

But Louis was still suspicious that Tori was hiding something, because she never went to Lizzie's house looking so nice. Not that he normally went there looking like a homeless person, but it has been evident that she had made an effort to look nice.

So he decided to call Lizzie's mum to make sure that the girls were really having a sleepover at their house.

"Hi, Louis" Lizzie's mum picked up

"Hi, Chloe, how are you?" Louis replied.

"I'm well, and you? How are the babies?" Chloe asked happily.

"They're both doing great, thank you for asking" Louis replied "I'm sorry to bother you, I was only calling because Tori just left to go to your house... she said Lizzie and her are having a sleepover, and I wanted to check that that was okay with you?".

"Yes, of course, Lizzie already told me that Tori's coming, and you know she's always welcomed here" Chloe replied.

"Yes, thank you" Louis replied, feeling relieved that Tori had been telling the truth "Can I ask you something, though?".

"Sure".

"Would you let me know if they decide to go somewhere else?" Louis asked.

"They won't go anywhere, Lizzie's grounded and she's not suppose to see or go anywhere besides school, we just made an exception with Tori coming over" Chloe explained.

"Oh, okay" Louis said, feeling a lot better now.

Then he said thank you to Chloe, and they both said goodbye, and Louis went back to taking care of his babies, as both were ready for a meal.

As the weeks went by, Louis and Harry (and also Tori), adapted more and more to having the babies at home, and even though they were still barely sleeping (the adults, not Tori), they were getting used to functioning with little sleep, it was just part of their lives at this point.

What was also part of Louis' life was the constant worry that Connor was going to call again, because he was sure it was going to happen, he just knew it in his gut.

And his gut proved to be right, when on a Wednesday morning, during the first week of December, Louis' phone rang, and he saw 'SD' on the screen.

For a second he contemplated not answering, but in the end he knew he had to if he wanted to completely eliminate any possibility of Connor calling again and again.

"Hello?" Louis picked up.

"Hi, Louis, it's Connor" Connor spoke.

"I know, why are you calling me again?" Louis asked.

"I wanted to ask how Tori is, it's been a while since we spoke, and you didn't pick up when I called last month...".

"I was busy".

"I thought so, did you have your baby?" Connor wondered.

"How do you know...?" Louis frowned, thinking it was creepy.

"You were clearly pregnant when I saw you at the Indian restaurant" Connor explained.

"Oh..." Louis said, realizing that made sense.

"So you had the baby?" Connor insisted.

"I don't want to talk to you about that, Connor, we're not friends" Louis pointed out.

"Sorry, I was just trying to be friendly".

"That's not necessary" Louis said flatly "And you need to stop calling me".

"I'm only calling to know how Tori is" Connor explained.

"But Tori doesn't want me to tell you about her, she told me that explicitly after I told her about your call last time, she even asked me not to pick up the phone if you called again".

"Why would she ask you that?" Connor questioned.

"Why do you think, Connor?" Louis asked rhetorically, but Connor decided to answer anyway.

"It sounds like you poisoned her against me" Connor considered.

"I poisoned her? Seriously?" Louis scoffed, because the nerve of this man was just baffling "So you think it has nothing to do with the fact that you abandoned her before she was born and never expressed an interest in being in her life?".

"I expressed an interest when she was 2, but you didn't give me a chance to be in her life" Connor told him.

"What are you talking about? I gave you a chance even though you didn't deserve it, but you blew it" Louis reminded him, he was getting really angry at this point.

"You didn't give me a chance, you just let me see her, and she barely looked at me the entire time I was there" Connor replied.

"She was 2 and very shy, and you were a stranger, she wasn't going to run into your arms, you had to work to earn her trust, which wasn't going to happen in the 20 minutes you stayed" Louis pointed out.

"Please" Connor scoffed "You orchestrated everything so I would feel left out, or isn't that why you took your boyfriend? To show me that Tori didn't need me because she had him?".

"I took Harry to meet you because I didn't feel comfortable or safe with you, not after you took advantage of me and then left me pregnant and alone" Louis pointed out.

"That's ridiculous, I didn't take advantage of you, you knew what you were doing" Connor denied.

"I was 14 and I was drunk, and you were 17, and you convinced me to have sex with you even though you knew I didn't want to, and when I told you to stop, you didn't, which is basically rapė" Louis said knowingly.

He had come to that realization years ago after he had attended a sexual abuse seminary for a class at Uni, but he had never verbalized it, or even told anyone, not even Harry.

"Oh, come on! You can't be serious!" Connor exclaimed.

"I am, Connor, what you did to me is considered rapė" Louis said determinately.

"So that's what you tell Tori about me? That I'm a rapist? No wonder she wants nothing to do with me".

"Of course I didn't tell her that" Louis denied "Just the fact that you abandoned her is enough for her to make the decision".

"Louis, I'm her father" Connor told him.

"Harry is her father, you're just a sperm donor" Louis corrected.

"I have a right to see her and be in her life" Connor insisted.

"You don't" Louis denied.

The lawyer that had helped them when Harry adopted Tori had told them that once that was finished, Connor would have no rights.

"And you even promised me that you wouldn't try to be in her life again after you decided not to be" Louis added.

"I'm starting to realize I made a mistake" Connor said, and ended the call.

———————————
A.N. So that was intense...

What do you think about Louis' talk with Tori?

And what about the conversation with Connor?

Will he keep calling?

Thank you so much for reading!

Xoxo

P.S. I'm going to update The Lying Game next 😊