Abducted By Styles [IN RE-EDITING]

• S I X T Y - F I V E •

SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER: SMALL BUMP by ED SHEERAN (Again sorry haha it just fucks me up)

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H A R R Y

"Ahhhh!" Caroline squeezes my hand painfully hard as she pushes in the hospital bed. After seeing Eleanor unexpectedly give birth on the floor of Lucy's living room, we decided to take extra precautions and booked multiple appointments at the private hospital Lucy's mum, Clara, works at.

It has been a hectic eight months. Lucy lent me Marcel's old parenting handbooks and shit so I was up all night for the past week highlighting and jotting down key information. I also asked Tucker to stitch my soon-to-arrive child a little jumper or something as a 'welcome to the outside world' gift. After Caroline would fall asleep, I would talk to her baby bump every night. I'm hoping she never noticed...

Even as a pregnant woman, Caroline Ann Weston is and always will be the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my whole life. I can say she's gotten even more beautiful; her body a bit more fleshier, her hips wider and her round stomach curving out. Sure, she's gotten moodier too but that's normal. She'd get upset over little things and have weird cravings. She even nagged me for whipped cream-dipped hot dogs at two am before...

"One last push, dear, just one more." Sweat is rolling down Caroline's tear-soaked red face as she glances at me. I stroke the top of her head and give her a kiss of reassurance on the forehead. My hand is latched firmly in hers as she pushes hard, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her grip on me loosens when another soft, high-pitched cry fills the air. Caroline falls back limply onto the bed, her chests rising and lowering as she closes her eyes.

I divert my stare to the foot of the bed where the doctor holds the tiny being up and smiles. "Congratulations, you have yourselves a baby boy." The room is swimming in my eyes, my vision clouding with tears. I look over to Caroline again with a single laugh of overwhelming joy but she is exhausted and halfway passed out. A tear slips down the side of her face as she smiles weakly.

I see the doctor's mouth moving but no words are audible to me at this time. A dazed and confused look crosses my face. "Pardon?"

"I said, sir, would you like to cut your son's umbilical cord?" The woman in the white coat speaks more loudly and clearly this time, still holding the squirming, dirty baby. For a second there, I dumbly shove my hands in my pockets with a blank mind but then blink furiously, reality fading into me again.

"Y-Yeah," I choke out, laughing awkwardly, "I'd love to." The doctor nods at Clara, who grabs a pair of small operation scissors and hands them to me. I lean over to gently snap the cord, still hearing the gasps and the cries of the baby.

I hand the scissors back to Clara and the doctor takes the baby away in a blanket. They disappear behind the bluish-green hospital curtains. Lucy's mum walks over to Caroline and adjusts the tubes attached to her arms, checking the heart monitor.

"Congratulations, Harry, you're a father now." She smiles at me, now in the process of changing the water bag.

"Thank you," I respond politely, "It's kind of hard to believe though."

"Don't worry, you'll get use to it." Clara laughs softly before yanking the curtains open and walking out. After she's gone, I breathe in and out heavily. So many doubts begin to fill my mind. Furrowing my eyebrows, I fist my hair and mutter under my breath.

"Harry?" I quickly look back to see Caroline speaking in barely a whisper. I'm surprised to see that she hasn't fallen asleep yet.

"I thought you would be tired, why are you still awake?"