Louis frowns as his alarm clock blares in his ears. He glances across the room and notices that it's half-past six. Why was his alarm going off? He realizes, with a start, that today was Monday and his first day back to work.
Of course, Louis knows it's going to be hard. Charlie passed at his workplace and now he has to go back and act like nothing happened. He's not sure if he trusts himself enough to go back and not cry, but he knows that he must.
"Hmm, why is the alarm goin' off," Harry grumbles. Louis turns the alarm off and kisses the side of Harry's face before getting out of bed.
"I got work today, Gorgeous," Louis explains. Harry flops himself across the bed and groans loudly. Louis smiles as he remembers how clingy Harry gets when Louis has to go back to work.
The morning of the first day of school is always the hardest. Louis assumes it's because Harry must get used to going from a full house to an empty one. Harry does everything in his power to make Louis late or stay in bed for 'just a little longer'.
"Do you have to," Harry whines.
"Yes," Louis replies. He pulls out a pair of khakis and slides them on. Louis flicks through his shirts and frowns. He remembers having more button-ups. Shrugging, he grabs one of Harry's and buttons it up. Louis grins as Harry's familiar scent washes over him.
"Wearing one of my shirts?"
Louis turns and sees Harry standing at the entrance of their closet. Louis blushes lightly and rolls his eyes. "It smells like you," He answers simply. Harry wraps himself around Louis and kisses his husband's forehead lovingly.
"I'm making your favorite for dinner tonight," Harry says. Louis smiles and slowly unwraps himself from Harry's tight grasp. Harry makes grabby hands, but Louis shakes his head knowing he should leave soon.
"Sounds good. I may have to stay a little bit later today to catch up with all the work I've missed," Louis explains. Harry frowns. They walk to the kitchen together where Louis quickly packs his lunch and eats a bowl of cereal.
Ten minutes later, Louis' out the door. Everything is so different now. He's used to Charlie being with him, sitting in the back seat. They hadn't gotten rid of the car-seat yet and the remainder is like a stab in the heart for Louis. Thankfully, the drive to work isn't long and he's there in minutes.
He walks into school with his backpack slung across his shoulder. Louis mumbles quiet 'good mornings' to the teachers he passes on the way to his classroom. He purposefully goes out of his way so he doesn't have to walk down the kindergarten hallway.
When he gets to his door he quickly unlocks it and sighs as he sees his room hasn't been tampered with too badly. He has been out for over two weeks, so he assumes something would probably not be in the right place. Louis sets his things down and smiles at the pictures lined up along his desk.
There's a picture of Louis, Harry, and Charlie perched in the middle of the five picture frames. To the left, is a picture of Charlie when she was a baby. To the right of their family picture is another picture of Charlie, but this one is more recent. On the far right, is a picture of Louis and Harry on their wedding day and the to the far left is a picture of Harry from high school.
Louis and Harry are high school sweethearts. Louis was two grades above Harry, but neither of them cared about the age difference. Harry hates the picture, but it's one of Louis' favorites (admittedly all pictures of Harry were Louis' favorite, but this one is at the top of his list).
He hears a knock at his door and turns to see Eleanor. "Hey Louis," She mutters. Louis watches as her fingers tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. His stomach drops as his eyes scan over one of his best friends.
No. She looks too much like her. He looks into her eyes and he sees Charlie. Those were Charlie's eyes, not Eleanor's. He coughs and looks away quickly.
"Hey E, how's everything going? Are you feeling alright?"
Alright? Louis wants to laugh at himself. Of course, Eleanor wasn't alright. He knows that she feels like shit, but he also knows that nobody bothers asking her. Everyone's too focused on how Louis and Harry feel that nobody spares a thought for Eleanor.
"I could be better."
Louis agrees. Of course, Louis knows she can be better. The constant reminders are everywhere. It feels like everywhere Louis turns he's reminded of what happened. It must be worse for Eleanor. At least Louis and Harry get treated like it happened. Eleanor gets nothing. He feels bad for her.
Eleanor pulls out a large tub filled with stuff from the hallway. He can see from the top that most of it is toys, picture frames, some socks, and a few cups. All of it belongs to a child. She picks the box up and sets it on one of the desks and sighs loudly.
"I have no need for this anymore. Do what you want with it."
Louis stands and walks towards the box. He shuffles through it and realizes what it's filled with. Everything in the box belonged to Charlie. All the extra pictures they had given to Eleanor and the toys Eleanor had bought for her is stuffed in the tiny box. Louis wants to cry as he pulls out her kindergarten class photo.
"Are you sure?"
"Yea."
Louis picks the box up and slides it behind his desk. He figures he'll let Andrew sort through the box later this afternoon and take what he wants. Louis promised (before Charlie passed) to drive Andrew home every day after school, because Andrew's father couldn't pick him up. Andrew's dad tried to tell Louis that he didn't need to keep dropping him off, but Louis insisted. He had made a promise that he intended on sticking to.
Louis turns to Eleanor and watches as she leaves the classroom.
The woman who gave up on Charlie just because she's not physically with them anymore.
The woman who served as a third parent for Charlie.
The woman who went through nine hours of labor for Charlie to be born.
The woman who, six years ago, agreed to surrogate for Louis and Harry.
~_~_~
Hey guys! Bailey here! Thoughts? In case you didn't get it, Eleanor is Charlie's Bio mom. Harry and Louis went through the surrogate process for Charlie to be born. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B
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Charlie
Fanfiction"'Cause you were just a small child, alive for 6 years then torn from life. Maybe you were needed up there, but we're still unaware as why." Or The hardest thing Louis and Harry had to do was give their sweetest Charlie back to heaven
