𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝙼𝚎 (𝙽𝚘𝚝) - 𝚉𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢

chapter xvi.

"Haz," Zayn says softly. Harry turns to him. "This is hard for everyone. But everyone's here to help you. Don't punish yourself and disregard your progress because you forgot something. You forgot a lot of things that used to be important, or still are. But that's what happened and you're not gonna change anything by being angry with yourself. Just ask me about things. You can't beat yourself up into remembering all the details."

Harry gulps. "Okay, yeah," he clears his throat. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me," Zayn says. He stands up after that and takes Noah out of his highchair. "I need to get started with the work I have but I'll take Noah with me so you and Sadie can wow us all with some culinary masterpiece, right Sadie?"

"Yep, dad!" Sadie says enthusiastically. "Can I get a kissy?"

"Of course you can," Zayn smiles a little and kisses Sadie. "Be good for daddy, okay?"

"I will," Sadie nods. "Bye-bye No, bye, dad."

"Bye, darling," Zayn kisses the top of her head before he leaves with Noah. And Harry's left there with Sadie and a lunch to make.

"So, what would you like for lunch today, strawberry?" Harry asks Sadie.

Sadie hums. "I want a kish."

"Kish?" Harry frowns.

Sadie nods with a grin. "Yes, daddy. It's like a pie but it's like a pie with scrambled eggs!"

"Oh," Harry leans back in his chair. "A quiche?"

Sadie nods again. Great, so now Harry has to learn how to make a fucking quiche. As if trying to be a good father again wasn't enough.

xxx

Harry ends up consulting the internet. He quickly finds a recipe that looks easy enough so he doesn't monumentally fuck it up. Right, a pasty, some eggs, vegetables. At least Sadie isn't a mini Gordon Ramsay and didn't ask for a bloody Wellington or something. That would've been more difficult.

He engages Sadie too because frankly, Harry has no idea how to watch her while also cooking so he will take a messy kitchen over a hurt child, thank you very much. They must bake together often because in one of the drawers, Harry finds a tiny rolling pin and other pastry tools. Sadie takes them all out with great enthusiasm so he has his answer alright. They make the pastry together and Harry gives some to Sadie to make whatever she wants out of it. Some tartlet pans were hiding in a drawer and Harry gives three to Sadie, along with total creative freedom. It does keep her occupied while he makes the filling and blind-bakes the pastry.

Sadie ends up making three wonky tartlets, or mini-quiches as she says, one for her, one for Noah and one for Paul. If the dinner the night before has told Harry something it's that their cat adores human food and nothing will stop him from getting it. Paul himself turns up in the kitchen just at the right time to entertain Sadie when Harry starts cleaning up. He wanted to maybe make dessert but he decides to take it easy. There must be ice cream in the freezer, it's summer. That should be enough.

Niall arrives just after 1 PM with a bottle of white wine and one of his bear hugs.

"It's good to see you here again, mate," Niall says after he squeezes all the air out of Harry. "Where's your man and kiddos?"

"Sadie's feeding Paul some meat tubes, Noah's with Zayn so they're both in the study," Harry replies. "Come on in, they're all gonna be here in a moment."

Niall follows Harry into the kitchen dutifully. "So how is it back home?"

Harry sighs deeply, his hands on his hips. "Um, good, yeah. I think."