Songs:
Never enough: One Direction
When A Man Loves A Woman: Percy Sledge
If This isn't Love: Jennifer Hudson
If I Ain't Got You: Alicia Keys
I Like The Way You Love Me: Brenton Wood
A.J.'s POV
The birth of Louis' baby was the happiest thing to happen to all of us, collectively. It had been almost a week since she was born and things seemed to be going smoothly for everyone. As if her birth breathed new life into all of us. Since we were exhausted, we decided against going to New York for fashion week and decided to come straight home. Harry and I had multiple appointments to look at potential homes for us to buy.
So far, the one's we had seen were not to my liking, or Harry's for that matter. In total, since we had started looking, we had looked at over thirsty two homes. You would think that at least one of them would have caught our eye, even in the slightest, but we had no such luck. I think the only thing that kept us from going insane was the constant pictures and updates of Alana that Louis kept sending us.
"Come on," Harry grumpily called out for me. "We're going to be late."
He was mad at me for not letting him take more pictures of the baby bump after his weekly photoshoot. I was now twelve weeks pregnant, or as Harry called it, plum week. I gave him crap about all the fuss he made, but I secretly found it endearing. The baby wasn't even born yet and he was already proving to be the best daddy he could possibly be for this little person.
"Stop being grumpy," I frowned. "It upsets the little creature." I huffed, grabbing my purse and scarf. "The appointment isn't for another half hour, chill."
He stopped in his tracks, turning on his heel before kneeling in front of me, placing both hands on my stomach, and putting his face only inches away from the raised bump under my shirt. "I'm sorry pretty baby, you're mummy is just mean to me." He smiled, kissing my stomach.
"Your daddy is just obsessive," I smiled down at him, stepping sideways to head out the door.
"Am not," he called out, tripping on something on his way out, probably his own feet. "Did you take your vitamins?" I nodded, making my way to the elevator. "How a the belly cream? Did you get some of that on?"
"Yes. Harold, I did everything on the checklist like I do every morning for the past six weeks." I kissed his pouting list. "Thank you for being so supportive and so caring," I complimented so he wouldn't feel like I was being mean. I swear he was so sensitive these days, sometimes I wondered if he was the pregnant one instead of me.
We made our way to his car, listening to him read off the checklist he made a few weeks ago, just in case. As much as I wanted to tell him to shut up, I knew this was for his sanity, so I went along with it. It wasn't like I was the one creating a human life or anything, my sanity must be in tip top shape.
"Babe, I need new clothes," I complained as I put on my seat belt "These loose fitting t-shirt and big sweaters are getting tighter and it's not going to be as easy to hide this growing belly."
"Maybe we shouldn't hide it anymore?" He suggested with a slight shoulder shrug. "I mean, not make a conscious effort to anyway. after this week, you're done with the first trimester?"
"I don't know or care, I just want some clothes that fit," I complained, wiggling around in my seat, trying to adjust the seat belt.
"We can go after the appointment?" He asked instead of saying. "And maybe we can get some baby stuff?" He threw out there a little more casually.
"Maternity clothes, yes. Baby shopping, no." I said, firmly, not wanting a repeat of last time.
"Why not?' He whined like a small child.
"Last time you were at a baby store, you wanted to get our baby a stroller and a car seat and a high chair and basically the entire store," I reminded him.
"I got excited, it was my first time shopping for my own baby." He defended himself.
I shook my head, preferring not to comment on his antics. I thought they were excessive, but still cute. We got to the deserted doctor's office with five minutes to spare. The nurse greeted us, asking me the normal question's while she took down my weight and all that good stuff. Once she was done, we were left alone to wait for the doctor. I felt bad for making him come in so early just so no one would see us walking in and out of the building.
"A.J., Harry. Good morning," Dr. Stephens greeted us as he walked in with a large smile.
"Good morning," we both greeted in unison.
"How is our young little friend today?"
I gave him all the information he asked for before, Harry busted out with his journal, giving him detailed information about crazy things I didn't even know he was keeping track of, asking if it was normal. I looked at him like he had finally gone off the rails, but the Doctor seemed to be at perfect ease with the entire situation. He even went as far as encouraging Harry to keep up with his diligent note taking. That bastard, I mean, no, I meant bastard.
"Harry, like I said over the phone yesterday, she is allowed to exercise." He arched an eyebrow. "In fact, I encourage it, just take it easy," he looked at me with a small smile. "I wrote down a few exercises that are good for you," he mentioned, handing me a piece of paper.
I took the paper, reading it over while the two men continued discussing who knows what. Harry was crazy and I was pretty sure the doctor just went along with him so he wouldn't flip out. I should have been concerned about the fact that he had been calling the doctor behind my back, but like most things where, Harry and the baby was concerned, I found it sort of cute and endearing. We continued the appointment. The doctor did everything he had to, taking an ultrasound of the little creature. He or she was so much bigger than the last time we had seen him or her a few weeks ago.
"Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" Dr. Stephens asked, making us both tense up. We looked at one another for a moment before we both nodded our heads. He moved the wand over my stomach a few times before finally settling on an image. "Looks like you're having a little... girl."
Harry and I both squeezed each other's hands, taking in the new information. The little baby we were having was going to be a little girl, a little baby girl. Images of a green eyed, curly haired baby girl flashed in my mind, much like I had imagined when I first accepted the fact that I wanted her. I looked back at Harry, his eyes were filled with tears, but the smile on his face was unmistakable. He leaned down, kissing my forehead, lingering there for a moment.
The two of us stayed there, mesmerized by the images on the monitor. Dr. Stephens explained everything that was going on in the grainy picture, pointing out the little features on the baby. He printed out the images before handing them over to us. It was crazy to see an actual face, or at least the silhouette of a face.
Once our little tear fest was over, I folded them up, handing them to Harry to put in my purse while I got ready again. We listened to the Doctor's instructions, Harry taking notes while he did. Everything seemed to be in order and our baby was perfectly healthy. That's all we could really ask for.
The moment we were alone in the parking garage, the both of us held each other, jumping around like two idiots. My feet lifted off the ground, my body twirling around in, Harry's arms.
"Put me down," I laughed, not failing to give his puckered lips a kiss.
"No, I'm, too happy," he laughed hysterically.
I decided to go along with him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. We kissed each other over and over, all over each other's face, not caring where the kisses landed. Once he settled me back on the ground, he kneeled in front of me, placing his hands on my stomach, pressing hard kisses all over it, letting the little creature inside of me how much he loved her.
I couldn't help the tears forming in my eyes at the sight of him professing his love for our baby. A little person that he and I made, together. I cupped his face, leaning down to kiss his lips, silently thanking him for the wonderful gift he was giving me. This life that I was living now, it wasn't something I would have ever picked for myself, but I was glad I had it. Sometimes it felt like, Harry was this stampede that trampled into my life
We spent the rest of the day going shopping. Harry only reminded me of why I hated it so much. By the time we got home, it was well past dinner time and we had over thirty shopping bags. About five of them were mine, the rest were filled with baby clothes and a bunch of other things we really didn't need, just yet. I was a little worried about somebody noticing all the baby things we bought, but Harry made a good point that it could easily be dismissed as us getting them for Alana.
Saturday was spent with the both of us catching up on some work. Harry spent almost the entire day at the studio, while I split my day at the office and going to meetings with my publisher and producers for a lunch date. They apparently had a screenwriter working on a screenplay. I honestly didn't know why I had to be here, I knew my opinion really didn't matter in this particular situation. They were going to do whatever they wanted with it anyway. The only way to have an actual say in this whole thing, was to become a producer myself.
James had suggested it last week when we had lunch with him and his wife. As tempting as it was, I don't think I could take on that roll, not at this moment anyway. Though, Harry seemed genuinely intrigued by the idea. I wouldn't mind if he took on that roll, and it would give him something else to do. No matter how much he insisted otherwise, being left with nothing to do was taking a toll on him. He was missing the scheduled travel plans and busy tour schedule, he probably even missed all the press they had to do.
It was now Sunday, February 14, 2016. Valentine's Day, our first one together. I hated this stupid holiday, and I was thanking God as every minute passed and Harry didn't mention the day. What he did do, was the same routine of every Sunday. He woke up before me, went to the flower shop he frequented, came back with a large arrangement of lotus and dahlia's and made us a waffle breakfast. The only holiday related thing we actually did was make red velvet cupcakes, only because they were my favorite and once he mentioned it, I found myself craving them.
"Um, babe, do you wa-" Harry caught my attention as he walked into the kitchen, interrupting me. "Are you eating the frosting?"
I popped the spoonful of leftover frosting we made in my mouth before he could stop me. "I am now," I smiled. "What do you want?' I asked, finishing off my frosting.
"Penny found another house, do you want to go look at it today or tomorrow?"
"Ugh, neither, she sucks at her job." I complained. "But, I have another meeting tomorrow so, we should go today."
"Alright, let's go," he smiled softly at me, wiping the corner of my mouth with his thumb before taking it between his lips and sucking off the frosting. I swear he enjoyed pulling little stunts like that, just to get a raise out of me.
I rolled my eyes, moving passed him to get ready. I heard him yell something, but I didn't hear him. Once I got ready, I headed back, finding Harry packing a few cupcakes in a plastic container.
"What are you doing?"
He turned around to look at me with a smile. "Just in case we want something sweet," he shrugged. Odd, he usually tried to keep sweets away from me.
I shrugged it off, following him down to the garage and into the car. He drove for about forty minutes, hand in hand, it didn't seem like we were even in London anymore. As we drove passed the city, it was hard not to notice all the red and pink flying about, all the couples out having a good time. Even though I hated the holiday, it was still cute to watch others enjoy it.
The car slowing down is what finally pulled me out of my little trance. I looked around, noticing the various homes lining the quiet neighborhood. Suddenly, Harry turned the car into a driveway, stopping at a large, black gate, rolling down his window. He took out a piece of paper, typing in the number into the little pad that stood a few inches from the car.
"Where are we exactly?" I asked, looking over his shoulder to see the rest of the street, but my vision was blocked by a few trees.
"Hempstead," he answered, still concentrating on his task at hand.
He finally punched in the correct number, which opened the large gates, letting Harry drive in. I looked around, noticing a large front yard with a few trees scattered around. When he drove a few more feet, the view was no longer hindered by the large trees. As I stepped out of the car, I couldn't believe my eyes. The large home was littered with numerous greenery and some flowers, even in the middle of winter, which I found odd, and impressive.
I felt his hand on my back, pushing me gently until my feet moved, following him up the steps that led to the front door. We pushed the door open, leading me inside, both of us taking off our winter gear and hanging it on the little bench that was sitting near the door. It was unfurnished and it looked almost brand new, another thing I found odd. This house looked like it was an older home.
The foyer was big, but not massive like at Max's place. It sort of felt a little more homey. I walked over to the left, where there was an open room, adorned at the entrance with two giant pillars and two steps down.
"This is the, uhh," Harry opened the folder, I hadn't noticed he had brought, along with the plastic container with the cupcakes, tucked under his arm. "Sitting room," he finished, once he deciphered the map of the layout.
I continued to look around, impressed by the high vaulted ceilings and the beautiful chandelier that hung above us, much like the one in the foyer and the smaller lights along the edges of the room. The massive window gave a perfect view to the, beautiful, front yard.
"Let's check out the basement."
"There's a basement?" I asked while he pulled me along. I hated basements.
He hummed a yes while continuing his way to the so called basement. Once he led me down some carpeted stairs, it was clear to see that it was no ordinary basement. It was more like another level of the house. There was a long hallway with a bunch of doors and entrances to other hallways.
We went to explore every room, one was a home theater room, or it was supposed to be, it was only half finished. Another room was used as a gym, but those were the only rooms that had a specific purpose. Every other room was empty, Harry suggested we could turn a few of them into useful rooms, like a studio, art room, dance studio, anything we wanted, basically. Which I suppose was a good idea, but I still didn't like the fact that there were so many rooms.
Once we finished the inspection of the basement, we made our way up the stairs. Besides the master bedroom, there were five other bedrooms on the top level and a few bathroom. The master bedroom, was about four times the size the room that we had now, the bathroom was also larger, with two sinks, just like we had discussed. The walk-in closet was equivalent to the size of our current bedroom, which included our closet and bathroom.
"Harry this place is too big," I complained as I joined him at the large window that overlooked the backyard.
It was easy, three times bigger than the front yard, which didn't include the guest house and the pool. What caught my attention was the set of willow trees in the way back of the yard. I watched as, Harry opened the sliding door, walking out, onto the terrace.
"Imagine, waking up in the summer, looking out and seeing our kids playing on the homemade swings, I'm going to make for them, maybe we can add a pond or something." He placed both hands on the balcony, leaning his full weight against it. "I can teach them how to play football, both of them, well you would probably be a way better teacher than me, but I'd try," he smiled, pulling me into his arms.
"How many kids do you want?" I asked mockingly, taking in all the information he was relaying to me.
He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe two or three?"
My eye went wide, that was a lot. I was barely on board with having this one. "How about we just get through this child first."
"Well, Darcy needs siblings to play with, otherwise she's going to get bored."
"Darcy?" I leaned away from him slightly, looking at him with a raised brow.
"I've always wanted to name my daughter that," he informed me, proudly. "Or Sydney, either one."
"How about neither."
"Hey, she's half mine, I want to name her.'
"Yeah, well I am the one popping her out, so I get the half that get's to pick out the name, you get the half that gets to change the diapers."
He smiled, kissing my lips. "Gladly."
We went through the rest of the house, taking in every room as we went through them. They were a nice size, not too big, but not so small either. They were about the size of my old bedroom. There was also a library and an office, which I was glad for, the only thing I would hate about moving was leaving behind the beautiful sanctuary, Harry created for me, but he promised to redo it once we moved. All in all, the house was a perfect mixture of a traditional home that I wanted with flares of the modern sleek look that, Harry wanted. It wasn't overwhelming, it was just a nice balance between the two.
The last thing to look at was the kitchen and family room, which, judging by the plans of the house, was an open space, just like I wanted. The kitchen was large, with tile flooring and a large kitchen island right in the middle of everything, but there was still a large amount of space to easily move around without being in anybody else's way. It was unfinished though, the cabinets were missing and there was no fridge or stove.
"Close your eyes," Harry commanded.
"Why?"
"Just do it," I felt his hand over my eyes, not moving them while his other hand took both of mine. "Whatever happens, keep them closed."
"What do y-"
All of the sudden, both of my feet left the ground and Harry had me scooped up in his arms. I clung to him as tight as I could, biting my bottom lip to concentrate on not opening my eyes. I felt him walking in a few quick strides before he stopped, settling me gently back on my feet.
"Okay, now open them, and don't get mad."
I peeled my eyes open, slowly, scared of what the hell he had up his sleeve this time. I was met with a large room filled with large arrangements of red and white roses all over the floor, not an inch was left uncovered, except for the giant teddy bear that was leaning up against the wall. I looked down and around me, noticing that behind us was a light pink sheet with candles set up in the center and what looked like a picnic basket. Tucked underneath it was a manila folder.
"What the hell?" I asked in surprise.
"Happy Valentine's Day." He shrugged with an innocent smile. "I know you're all anti celebrations, but, I couldn't help myself. And this day is about me not you, so, deal with it."
I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a kiss. "I love it, thank you." I knew he wasn't going to be able to help himself. I just didn't think he was going to take it to these extremes. Well, this is, Harry, of course he would take it to the extremes.
We sat on the sheet, careful not to move the candles. I offered to help him set up, but he insisted on doing it himself. He opened the basket, pulling out a plastic container and a plate covered in foil, along with two juice boxes.
"Alright, this isn't the most conventional dinner, and it looks like I forgot some plates, so we're going to have to eat out of here," he explained, raising the container before opening the lid.
The distinct scent of his lasagna he made yesterday filled my senses, I guess his insistence that we had lasagna yesterday was now very clear. He went around, uncovering everything, setting out the cupcakes and revealing chocolate covered strawberries.
"We can't drink champagne, but, I got us the next best thing," he smiled, waving the two juice boxes before he popped the straw into each one.
"It's perfect," I assured him, giving him another kiss. "You're perfect," I kissed him again, not fighting the smile that took over my face.
As we ate our dinner, Harry talked about the plans he had for the living room and the kitchen. Since we both liked to cook, he thought it was a good idea for us to have multiple ovens and a very large refrigerator. He also talked about making one of the rooms into a game room, which I couldn't say no to, he deserved to have his own sanctuary, even though I would probably spend a lot of time in there too. What go my attention was the fact that he had so many plans for this being the first time he had seen the house, or so he said.
"Harry," I cut him off mid sentence while he was talking about getting the home movie theater fixed up.
"Yes, love," he smiled, setting down the now empty, plastic container that held the lasagna.
"How long have you known about this place?" I looked at him curiously as he took a big gulp. "And be honest," I added, just as he was about to speak.
"Odette found it a week ago," he shrugged. "I had Penny show us bogus places that I knew you would hate until Odette worked her magic and found us the perfect place."
I scoffed, unknowingly, flabbergasted that he used my sister again, and slightly impressed that he did so behind my back. Even more impressed that they both were able to keep the secret for so long. "Why don't you just move her out here and make her your personal assistant, with an official title?" I laughed. He might as well, she was basically his little minion.
"Nah, she's too mean to me." He chuckled lightly. "So, if you love this place, maybe we can sign off on it?"
"I have a feeling that you had my little sister search every available home until she found the specific one that I would fall in love with, and we are in it, right now."
He shrugged innocently, biting his bottom lip. "I mean, she sort of knows what she's doing, so there wasn't that she had to do once she-"
"You guys are freaking crazy," I cut him off, kissing him, yet again. "I love this house, it's big, but other than that it is perfect, and who knows, if we do have more kids, we would need the space. Besides, we need all those guest rooms for when our family and friends come over." I smiled, looking around the room, imagining what it would be like to host a dinner party with our friends. Or have our family over for the holiday's.
"We can always stay at our house in L.A., if we ever decide to move out there."
I shook my head, "no, that's your place, not ours."
"Don't start, Katarina," he spoke gently, taking my chin between his fingers. "It's ours, all of it, it's ours. Mine and yours. Don't fight me on this."
"So that manila folder under the basket, is that for the house?" I questioned, already knowing the answer.
He nodded, pulling me into him, holding me against his chest. "Only if you absolutely love this and can picture us living here."
I nodded, moving out of his embrace to get the folder. "If I sign this, we are going to have to explain everything to Max, and once he tells Sarah, we're going to have to deal with her."
"I know, and that's my fault, I shouldn't have signed th-"
"Oh no, I didn't tell you, huh?"
"What?"
"Right after I told you about the baby, the morning I threw that baseball at you," I chuckled at the memory. "I had Max dissolve the contract."
"What? How did you pull that off?"
I laughed, shrugging. "I told him that if he didn't, once I came into the rest of my inheritance, I was going to donate every single penny and give away my seats on the board to Sarah or someone else I knew he couldn't trust."
He laughed, hysterically. "Oh, god, it makes it even more funny because you are crazy enough to do something like that."
"Not crazy, just determined." I corrected.
He hugged me, kissing the top of my head. "So, why do we have to worry about Max finding out."
"You think Odie keeps tabs on me, you should see Max."
"Wait, how did you know about Odette keeping tabs on you?"
"She's my sister, I know everything she does, the only reason I didn't find out about the mess with you was because I wasn't paying attention."
"You guys are so fucking weird," he shook his head.
"I know," I smiled. "Just think, our baby is half of me."
"Oh god, I'm never going to get any peace."
I laughed, shaking my head while I grabbed my pen from my purse. I opened the folder, reading every page before signing and initialing where ever I needed to, without hesitation or any reservations, whatsoever. Once I finished reading and signing, I handed the pen and folder over to, Harry. As I watched him sign away, I let the fact that we were now, in some sort of way, linked, sink in. Of course, it wasn't like we were getting married, but we were buying a home together, so we could have a place for us and our little girl to live. I never thought I would get to this point with him, but, here we were. Signing pieces of paper that were going to be the start of our lives as a solidified couple; as parents.