Ashton's PoV:
I woke up with Gracie's bony knees moving over my side and opened my eyes to see Michael standing next to me.
"Dude we gotta go in like ten minutes." He said and I sat up to see the alarm saying 5:50 am.
"Shit." I muttered under my breath and leaped out of the bed. "Gracie go brush your teeth." I scooted her towards the bathroom.
She stepped up onto her stool to reach the sink and began to brush her teeth while I scrambled around to find us both clothes and get our bags together.
I rushed to get dressed, brush my teeth and hair and spray on some cologne while Michael helped me get Gracie dressed and put her hair in a pony tail.
Today we were going on a morning show to do a television interview and we'd be getting our hair and outfits chosen once we got to the studio but I still needed to look like a dad and have my daughter in real clothes.
"Okay, come on baby let's go." I ushered Gracie along, her blankey and Mr. Carrots in her hands.
I got her into her car seat in the SUV downstairs and then we were off towards the station.
"You look like hell." Calum commented.
"I didn't sleep." I grumbled.
"Why?"
"Because I'm used to falling asleep with Carter and when she's not here I can't sleep." I sighed. "And then I have bony knees over here kicking me all night." I nodded towards Gracie who just grinned causing Calum to laugh.
"Silly." I tweaked Gracie's nose.
When we got to the studio I held Gracie's hand and walked her inside after waving at fans who were waiting outside.
We went to the dressing rooms where Becca was waiting and Gracie ran to give her a hug.
"Do you want to help me pick out your dress?" Becca asked Gracie who jumped up and down excitedly and the two went to look at Gracie's wardrobe choices while I went to the coffee.
I downed a cup in three seconds flat and then poured myself another before sitting down on the sofa, taking out my phone and seeing that Carter had been on our twitter and her Instagram.
One photo she posted was of Ender tying one of the ropes on the boat with the caption 'Back at work this week for spring holiday. Ready to be back on the water and give people the experience of a lifetime seeing some of the most beautiful reefs in the world.'
The next one was of her taken from the side while she had her wet suit hanging down from her waist, a bikini top covering her breasts and exposing her bruised up arms and legs that I had seen her with all the time during the summer. You could see her tattoo and it made me smile.
'Battered and bruised but having a blast.'
Then I got to the third one to see it was one of me and Gracie from a while back when we were playing at a park, me catching Gracie as she went down a slide.
'Missing these two dorks really bad. Wish they were home with us.'
I liked all of the photos and then went to twitter coming across a selfie posted by a fan account of Carter and Joey, her friend who worked at the pizza place.
'Carter and her childhood friend Joey.'
There was also a zoomed in photo of Carters tattoo.
'Carter has a red A tattoo on her side which stands for Ashton!'
I smiled at this and then went to my Instagram to share the video of Carter getting her tattoo and me laying in the chair getting mine.
'Got tattoos with my baby! C & A, taking on the world!'
It was now my turn to get ready after Gracie came back dressed in a light blue dress with white tights and shoes.
Becca curled her hair and put it in a better ponytail than I had done. She then went to work on my hair and chose a solid black tee and skinny jeans for me and a blue jean jacket to go over it.
Gracie got oatmeal and strawberry yogurt for breakfast which she smiled cheekily about.
I pulled my phone out and turned on the camera, recording her.
"What are you doing, Gray?" I asked her as she played with her spoon in her oatmeal.
"Eat breakfast." She said.
"Yeah? Whatcha got there? Some oatmeal and yogurt?"
She nodded, her eyes on her oatmeal bowl.
"Give me a smile." I said and she looked up at me with a grin.
Calum came up behind her and kissed her cheek making her giggle and then she wanted cuddles so I set the phone down and held her.
When it was time for us to go on I had Gracie hold blankey in her hands while I held her up in my arms. We walked backstage until we got to the sound stage where we waited until it was our cue to go out onto the sound stage, the fans and other audience members applauding and cheering for us.
I waved with a free hand and smiled, Gracie moving her thumb to her mouth as she looked about her.
When we got to the hosts, the blonde woman Linda and the man named Kevin, they hugged us, me awkwardly hugging because I had Gracie clinging to me.
"How are you guys?" The co-host Linda asked us and we all answered something around
the word good. "So we have Michael, Luke, Ashton, and Calum, and another little guest is joining us today because Ashton brought his beautiful four-year-old daughter Gracie."
I made a gasping face at Gracie when Linda said her name and Gracie grinned at me.
"I see she's got her blanket with her." Kevin commented.
"Yeah." I smiled and picked up a corner of the blue fabric, touching it to Gracie's nose. "Gotta have blankey."
"Daddy's baby blankey." She said to everyone with a wide grin and I chuckled.
"Yeah, my mom came to visit and brought my old baby blanket and gave it to Gracie, so now it's her cuddle buddy." I smiled and touched the blanket to Gracie's cheek before she leaned her head on my chest.
"Well she is absolutely adorable." Linda smiled. "So are any of you good cooks?"
"I can kind of cook." I shrugged and Gracie looked up at me with a 'no you don't' look causing the guys to bust into laughter.
"Daddy you no cook."
"Yes I do! I've made you food many times!"
She blinked and then smiled.
"Mhmm." She then nodded and I shook my head with a laugh.
"Silly girl."
"Ashton can cook the best out of all of us." Calum said.
"So did you win your fiancé over with your cooking skills?" Kevin asked me.
"No. I wish." I laughed. "She cooks way better than me."
"Mommy food yummy." Gracie said and everyone laughed.
"Well then you'll be able to wow her with knowing how to cook when she gets back. She's in Sydney right?"
"She's actually on an island off the coast of Sydney called Haven Harbour, and that's where she and Ender grew up and now we have a house there together so." I answered as we walked to the stage kitchen.
"So you bought a house? That's exciting." Linda smiled.
"Yeah! Well Carter had a house and it's like connected to the family business so I just signed on as a co-owner. But I get to pay the mortgage and bills with her so that's pretty exciting."
"I think you are the only person in the world who gets excited to pay bills." Luke snorted.
"I am! I'm excited to own a house with her." I laughed.
"So we are going to be making a chicken pasta bake today." Linda said. "So first, Michael would you mind cutting those chicken breasts into little pieces."
There was a cutting board in front of Michael and he began to do as such while a worker came by a brought a stool for Gracie to stand on.
I set her down and she held her blankey in one arm before pointing at the chicken on the cutting board.
Linda and Kevin were talking to Luke and Calum and I noticed Gracie get her finger a bit too close for my liking to the knife and I pulled her hand away.
"Don't get close to the knife, please." I said and she pouted up at me.
"I try." She said.
"No, you're not old enough to try the knife, and I'd like for you to be in one piece when your Mommy comes back so she doesn't kill me."
Gracie laughed at this.
"You silly, Daddy."
"I may be silly but i'm serious." I said and Michael laughed.
"I try!" Gracie whined and pointed at Calum who was mixing something."
Calum brought the bowl over to Gracie and held it still while Gracie mixed the ingredients around inside.
I then held her and let her watch people cook the chicken and pasta and then placed her back on her stool while I mixed the pasta and chicken together, Gracie looking in the bowl.
They had a dish pre-made and we got to try it and I had a fork with some on it and held it up to Gracie.
"Do you want to try?" I asked and she nodded before taking a bite and after she got wide eyes and smiled. "You like it?" I laughed and she nodded eagerly.
"It yummy." She said and everyone laughed.
After the show I was sitting in the dressing room with the guys waiting for Gracie to come back from changing clothes with Becca.
"So how do you feel about Carter modelling?" Calum asked.
"I don't know." I shrugged. "She's excited about it."
"She never brought up modelling before now?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"No? I think Harry gave her the idea."
"Aren't you worried about Carter spending so much time with Harry? I know if I was dating her I wouldn't want her around any other guy without me being there, and besides, it's Harry."
"She likes spending time with him, and I don't want to be the guy who tells his partner that she can't hang out or talk to other guys besides him."
"But still, aren't you worried he's going to try and like take her away from you. I mean he follows her around everywhere."
"He's her manager, they're going to be spending a lot of time together."
"He's her manager?!" His eyes went wide as he sat forward.
"Yes."
"Dude! Don't you see what is happening here?!"
"It's not my place to tell Carter what to do or who to hang out with. I won't be that guy. She's finally happy and so even if I don't agree with it or wish she wasn't doing the things she is doing I'm not going to ruin her happiness."
"But I thought one of the reasons you fell for Carter was because she wasn't a model or famous and stuff like that." Luke added.
"Okay. You know what Carter did for fun when she was a kid? She sat in her room practicing tying different knots with rope. For the first time in her life she's doing something that could give her confidence or just a change, and I won't take that away from her. Yes, do I prefer she not be involved with modelling? Yes. But it's not my place to tell her she can't do it."
"She's your fiancé!" Michael exclaimed.
"Yes, and id like to keep it that way." I snapped and they backed off. "Besides, Carter and Harry might not be friends for much longer, he's dating Jenna and Carter is really mad at him."
"I knew it." Michael muttered but I pretended to ignore it.
Gracie came out of the dressing room and ran over to me so I picked her up and we left the television studio.
The rest of our afternoon was spent at the recording studio and then I was able to take Gracie out to dinner without the guys tagging along before going back to the hotel to get her in a bath.
After I had put her in her pyjamas she was sitting on the bed playing hide and seek under her blankey when she asked me a question.
"Daddy, does Mommy miss me?"
"Yes, she misses you very much, she told you today."
"Mhmm." She then smiled. "I miss Mommy."
"I know you do, but she will be back soon to give you kisses and cuddles and play with you." I tweaked her nose and she laughed.
"No, Daddy!" She pinched my nose back.
"Hey!" I said and she laughed again.
I took my phone from the nightstand and began to video her as I reached over to lightly pinch her nose again and then she reached up and squeezed my nose hard.
"Ouch!" I said and she laughed. "Be nice to me, I made you."
"No you didn't."
"Yes I did." I retaliated.
"Mommy made me." She replied.
"But I had to help Mommy."
"No."
"Yes."
"No, because I go in Mommy's tummy."
"I know you did, but I had to help put you in Mommy's tummy."
"Because you love Mommy."
"Mhmm. Here I'll send this video to Mommy, say I love you to her."
"I love you Mommy!" Gracie bounced on the bed and grinned and I laughed before posting the video and then texting it to Carter.
Finally I turned off the lamp and laid down with Gracie, wrapping her up in my arms.
I had only had my eyes closed for a few minutes when suddenly my phone began to ring and I picked it up, squinting at the light to see it was Ender calling me.
"Hey." I answered the phone, yawning as I pressed it up to my ear.
"Dad, Car is sick and I don't know what to do." He said like he was panicked and I sat up.
"She's sick?"
"Yeah. She's been throwing up all morning and Harry gave her medicine but I don't know what to do. Do I have to cancel all of our tours?"
"Harry?" I asked, really confused.
"Yeah, he showed up last night and he and Carter had this big fight but now they're friends again and he spent the night. I wasn't happy about it but he's helping Carter and I don't know what to do Dad. I'm scared."
Harry was at my house? With my fiancé? While I was halfway across the world?
That made me mad but Carter was sick and I needed to concentrate on her.
"Okay. Um, what did Harry give her?"
"I don't know."
"Can you put him or your sister on the phone?"
"Yeah." He said and then I heard him run upstairs. "Car, Ashton wants to talk to you. Okay, I'm putting you on speaker."
"Car?" I asked and I heard her sniffle. "Hey, what's going on baby?"
"I'm fine."
"Ender said you were throwing up all morning. Do you have a fever?"
"No."
"Did you just wake up feeling sick?"
"Mhmm." I heard her whimper.
"Okay. I can call Ari and Jason to come and be with you."
"Harry is here."
"Yes, but if you need to go to the doctor then Ari has all of your information."
"Ashton I have to work."
"Car, you can't work if you're sick." Ender said.
"I can't cancel!" She said louder and I knew she was upset.
"Carter. Is there someone who can work the tours besides Ender?"
"Mr. Riley knows how."
"Okay. Then ask Mr. Riley if he can help out and if not then i'm sorry but you'll have to cancel. You can't work if you're sick baby."
"Okay." She sniffled again.
"I'm sorry you don't feel good." I frowned.
"It's okay. I just wish you were here."
"I know love. I wish I was there too." I said and heard her sniffle again. "Now get some rest and I'll call and check up on you."
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you too. I hope you feel better."
"Thank you."
The phone was then taken off speaker and Ender came back.
"I want you to text me every hour and tell me how she is doing, let me know what ends up happening with the tours, and I'll send Ari and Jason over to help take care of Carter."
"Okay."
"Alright. I'll talk to you later. I love you."
"Love you too."
As soon as we hung up I called Ari, telling her what was going on and she said she and Jason would get there as soon as they could.
It wasn't that I didn't trust Harry to look after my fiancé, it was that I didn't want to trust Harry to look after my fiancé.
After I had gotten off the phone with Ari I went to my messages and sent a text to Harry.
'Please just help Ari and Jason look after Carter. She is very precious to me and I worry pabout her when I am not there. Please let me know if anything changes with her health. Please.'
I had said some of what I was thinking...
But what I didn't say was: Please don't try to take the love of my life away from me. Please.
--
Ooooooo
So does Ashton think Harry is up to something or is it just him being paranoid because of what the boys said and because Carter is far away?
Is Harry even up to something?
Guess you'll have to read to find out!
Much love xx -M