I go into the kitchen to start lunch for when Hazel wakes up, keeping the baby monitor near.
A little over an hour later, I fear movement through the baby monitor.
"Daddy.....Daddy," I hear muffles through the baby monitor. A groggy Hazel calls out my name. It's not upset sounding, or giggly. This is odd behaviour. I go upstairs, still trying to determine what caused Hazel's weird behaviour.
When I enter the room, Hazel is standing up in her crib, holding her dummy in one hand while the other keeps her balanced by holding onto the railing of the crib.
"Daddy!" Hazel says happily.
"Hey, honey! What do you need?" Hazel woke up earlier than what time she usually wakes up from her nap, which worries me.
"Miss you." She mumbles as I lift her from the crib and hold her tightly.
"You missed me? Is that why you woke up?" I feel Hazel nodding from where her face is stuffed into the crook of my neck. "Well, do you think you could sleep a little longer?" I ask hopefully. Hazel shakes her head no. "What if I stayed in here with you?" Still a no. I sigh in defeat.
"How about some milk and cuddles then?" If I keep pushing the sleep, she'll just get more upset. Maybe with milk she'll be able to sleep again. Although, she hasn't been very talkative since she woke up. She nods her head yes so I start venturing downstairs.
"Are you okay, bub? You're not talking very much." I say in a concerned voice as we wait for Hazel's bottle to warm up.
"Head huwts." She complains, burying her head into my shoulder so I can't see her face. "S' bwight." She adds seconds later. I coo and rub her back.
"Aw, honey. I'm sorry your head feels icky. Do you feel like you're going to puke?" I ask worriedly, going to turn off the overhead kitchen light that seems to be bothering her. She shakes her head which I feel somewhat relieved about. Her headache is probably because she hasn't drunk enough water today. I eye the lunch sitting at the table. I'm not sure if she'll want to eat or not.
"I think that maybe you need to drink some more water. Can you drink some before your milk?"
"No! Milk!" Hazel pleads with her eyes that are a little droopy. I have a feeling that this afternoon is going to be rough. I also have to go to the recording studio. Apparently, they lost a whole track on the album, so I have to do it all over again. They called me while Hazel was sleeping. They said that it'll be 'quick' , but things like these are time consuming. I feel bad for putting this on Louis.
I'm a little miffed, but it has to be done so that it'll be completed by the deadline. But with Hazel in this state, it'll be a struggle to leave. Louis will be here though, he's good with her. I called him earlier and he said yes.
"If you drink the milk now, will you have water after?" I practically beg. Hazel nods rapidly, reaching her hands out for the bottle of warm, soothing milk. "Do you think you can do it by yourself?" I ask. I want to go get her some water, but I can't screw on the sippy cup lid with one hand. I'm hoping she'll cooperate as well as let me put her on the floor. Rather than replying, Hazel takes the bottle into her hands and starts drinking it. I smile. Now for the hard part.
I move her so that I can set her down on the floor by the kitchen, so I can still see her. She doesn't make any attempt to cling on as I move her, but once her bottom is on the floor and I'm in the kitchen, she wants me again.
I watch as she takes one more sip of milk before carelessly setting it on the floor on its side. She quickly walks over to me, not wanting to worsen the headache by running. When I look down, I see tears in her eyes. She makes grabby hands at me as she begins to cry, little tears dribbling down her face.
"Daddy, u-u-up!" She cries, pulling on my pants as if trying to pull herself up. "Up!" She repeats. I sigh.
"Hazel, love. I'm getting your water. I can't do it if you're in my arms. I'm almost finished, love." I try to get her to understand. But Hazel just continues crying and rapidly shaking her head.
"Nooo! You! Daddy w-wan-Daddy wan' you!" She yells, coughing between sobs. I sigh inwardly as I finish twisting the cap on. I lift Hazel up and then go over and pick up her bottle. Hazel cries are almost completely subsided, now just crying softly.
"Hey, it's okay now! I'm here. Sorry, love, but I had to get you some water. Shhh, don't cry!" I soothe, swaying from side to side. She's rested on my hip with her head laying sideways on my shoulder, looking across the room. She lazily brings her mouth to the bottle every few seconds, drinking the probably not-so-warm-now milk.
I carry her around the house as she drinks her milk, keeping to the first floor. As soon as she's finished, there's a knock. Louis. Oh boy, this isn't going to go well based on her clinginess from her nap. I give her the sippy cup of water as I walk to the door.
I open the door to see Louis standing there, holding a few things under his arm. He had a smile on his face as he saw Hazel cuddled into me.
"Hi, Hazel, Harry!" He greets, waving as he invites himself in from the cold, February air outside.
"Hi!" I greet as I rub Hazel head soothingly.
"How are we?" Louis asks, sitting down in an arm chair. I sigh.
"Hazel woke up from her nap early with a headache and a serious case of clinginess." I chuckle a little as I bounce a now fussy Hazel. "It's been a rough afternoon. Sorry to put this on you. But, how have you been?" I ask Louis who is frowning.
"Aw, I'm sorry you're not feeling well, kiddo. And don't worry about it, Harry! Believe me, I've dealt with worse," He assures me. "As for what I've done today, I babysat a kid this morning, got lunch at a café with a friend, took a nap, and then came here. So yeah, I've been good!" He informs. I nod.
Louis has never been very good around older people. He's not socially awkward, he just has a hard time communicating with people over about thirty. Louis' not sure if it's because he was the oldest in his family; meaning he spent a lot of time with young children, or if it's just the way he is. That's also part of the reason why he has this job.
He is, of course old enough to have a 9-5 job everyday of the week, if he wanted to. It's easier for him to communicate and socialize with children. He's also quite the childish man. His clothes are bright colored and have wording on it, and just his overall appearance is infantile. I'm not criticizing him, I think he's a wonderful man. I just worry about him for his future. He's also worried. We've had long conversations about things like these. We have a good bond, which I'm glad because Louis doesn't have a lot of friends.
Another sort of 'issue' Louis has is that he's never been comfortable around girl's. He's had a few relationships, but none have ever lasted more than two years; the longest and most serious being a year-and-a-half. He's not gay or bisexual, he knows that. He just has a few issues when it comes to dating. He's very ashamed of it, but I told him that someday he's going to find the perfect girl. The girl of his dreams.
"Well that sounds like fun!" I cheer, making him smile a little. I check my watch. Yikes, I better get going or Gordon will be fumed. He's been moody lately because he can't find a decent receptionist since Charlie quit, and it's getting to his over-sized head. "I gotta get going now." I say, starting to detach a sleepy Hazel from my grip, knowing what's about to happen. As soon as she hears my recent sentence, Hazel drowsy eyes fling open and her grip on me get's really tight. She's gripping my shirt so hard her small knuckles are white.
"N-NO, DADDY! NO GO-O-O!" Hazel screeches starting to sob tiredly. It'd sad to see her so upset and tired, especially when I'm the cause of it. I look at Louis, who is frozen in shock, unsure if he should help or not. I don't think he's seen her like this before. She's usually very calm and bubbly around.
"Hazel, my dear. I'll only be gone for an hour and a half, tops. But look, love, I think Louis brought over some fun stuff for the two of you to do." I soothe, still trying to detach Hazel's death grip as she sobs sadly into my neck, getting it soaked with tears and snot.
Hazel looks to Louis for a second, before turning to me and breaking into sobs again. I sigh. "Love, crying is only going to make your headache worse. C'mon, just stop your crying." (A/N- 😉) I try again. Hazel just keeps sobbing.
"B-bu' w-wa-n-wan' you-u-u!" Hazel cries out. I need to go! But I'm trying to make this easier for Louis.
"I know baby, I know." I sigh, sitting on my knees and hugging Hazel. Gordon doesn't matter at the moment. Work doesn't matter at the moment.
Hazel and I stay like this for a few minutes, her still clinging to my shirt. Louis, who I guess came out of shock, came over with lots of pads of stickers and sat next to us. Hazel, thankfully has stop sobbing and is now just crying unhappily.
"Look, Hazel, I brought over these stickers. I also brought over some little blank notebooks. I thought we could maybe make some sticker books?" He says in an intriguing voice, showing all the different types of stickers he had. There are a lot. Hazel has unlatched herself a little to get a closer look at some stickers.
Her face is red from crying and there are tears on her face as well as snot dripping from her nose. Her eyes are also red. During her nap, her pigtails came out so her hair is hanging loose, some of it sticking to her face of tears. I gently take each strand of hair and put it out of the way and kiss her cheek loudly.
I take a tissue and quickly wipe up her face. She's still clinging to me, but not as hard as before. I see this as my chance to unlatch her. I carefully take her little fisted hands a pull them away. Once she's unlatched, I breakaway and start moving towards the door.
Unfortunately, Hazel notices because in seconds, she's crying again and running towards me. I groan quietly in frustration. I'm ready to snap and tell her to stop, but I have to be gentle and understanding. She's not feeling well and she's tired.
I don't notice that I've stopped until I look down and see Hazel who is sitting on my foot, legs and arms wrapped around my shin and crying into it as if I'm trying to murder her or something.
"No leave me!" She cries, taking her face out of my leg to yell it, before bashing her head into it again. Okay, I really do have to go now. Let's try to make this quick and painless. Ah, who am I kidding? This is going to be a nightmare.
"Okay, Hazel, come on, no more tears! I really have to go now." I say softly, but sternly.
"NO!" She yells, trying to hold onto me with all of her strength. But of course, I'm stronger, and I'm able to pry her off with only a little bit difficulty, as her legs are wrapped and locked around me.
"Yes, love. I'll see you very soon though!" I bid goodbye to my little Hazel. Louis comes to pick her up so she won't run to me again.
"NO! PWEASE DADDY!" Hazel sobs to me, but I pretend to not pay attention.
"Bye, bugaboo!" I say, kissing her teary face. "Make sure she drinks a lot of water." I quickly note to Louis over Hazel's sobs. He nods. I slip on my shoes and open the door. As I'm about to close it, I pop my head back in to take one more look at Hazel, who is thrashing in Louis' arms and sobbing. "Love ya!" I say quickly and shut the door behind me, hearing piercing screams that say 'Daddy' over and over again.
Louis' POV
I'm not mad at Harry. But I'm not pleased with him either. I just wished he could have consoled and comforted Hazel a little bit more than he did. But, no matter what he did, I'm sure Hazel would still be sobbing as soon as he left, which is completely understandable. I think the best thing to do is put her down for a nap, as I'm sure that's what she needs. But she's in no state to be napping or left alone in that sense at the moment.
"Hazel, hey. How about we go over to the couch and cuddle up? You can drink your water while I read you a story and then maybe we can get a little," I pretend to cough. "A little N-A-P in before Daddy comes home." I suggest. She doesn't really have a response, too focused on crying and wiping her eyes which are probably blurry from all the tears.
"Aw, kiddo. I know, I know you miss your daddy. But he has some grown-up only things to do. But we're gonna have okay? How about you pick out a book, hm?" I try to soothe as I walk over to a little bookshelf that has books stacked in it, some spilling out and some crammed in because it's full of almost every children's book to man-kind.
I set Hazel down who, thankfully, is now only whimpering and sniffling. She inspects the bookshelf before pulling out an older-looking book.
"Dis' one." She demmands, sniffling as she hands me the book. I look at the cover. The Little Engine That Could.
(A/N- This is one version of the cover in case you don't know it. I used to watch a very old DVD of this. I'm not sure which came out first.)
Looks decent enough and it's not that long. Hazel walks over to the couch, holding my hand while she sucks her middle and ring finger in her mouth with the other hand. I quickly search the room for a dummy. I quickly find one on a table near by and slip it into Hazel's mouth after taking out her fingers.
When we get to the couch, I cover both of us with a blanket and turn off the overhead light as it seems to be a bother to Hazel. I turn on a lamp beside me on a table instead.
"Daddy..." Hazel whimpers after taking a long drink of water. She looks towards the door, as if hoping he'll burst through it there and then. Then , she looks at me with tired eyes, tears threatening to fall again. "He come back?" Hazel asks worriedly, her voice cracking a few times and I feel like my heart could burst. "Silly, nugget! Of course he'll come back!" I exclaim at her outrageous question. "Now, let's read." I say, opening the book to the copyright page. I smell the crispness and old smell of the book.
Hazel sips her water as I read. She also fiddles with the zipper on her onesie, which is quite adorable. I do different voices for the characters, earning small giggles from Hazel every once in a while.
By the time I'm finished, Hazel is asleep, the almost-empty sippy cup dangling from her mouth. I take the sippy cup away and pull the blanket over her. She'll be fine on the couch. I don't want to risk waking her up by bringing her to the crib. Besides, she'll probably want to see Harry right when he walks through the door.
I decide to use this time to get on my computer and play some online computer games with my friends. I quickly connect to his Wi-Fi and log into Minecraft. I see that over half of my friends on here are logged in too. I smile and start building.
**********
About an hour later, Hazel wakes up, first looking around, and then tearing up.
"Daddy's not back yet!" Hazel exclaims, whimpering. I pull her onto my lap, feeling her wet nappy, but I have other problems at the moment.
"Hazel, he should be back any minute now." I pray in my head as I say it, hoping it'll be true. "Should we get you changed?" I ask, already lifting her up. Before Hazel can protest, Harry opens the door.
Hazel's head perks up at she sees him taking his shoes and coat off, but then seems to realise something, and then scowls at him. She squirms in my arms to get down. She sits her bottom on the floor in front of Harry, crosses her arms over her chest, and scowls up at him.
WHAT?!
This is the little girl who freakin cried for like, half a freakin' hour, and this is her reaction to him getting home? I'm flabbergasted. I watch from the couch as she looks at her dad angrily.
Harry starts to walk towards Hazel, chuckling as he sees her face.
"What did I do?" He laughs pulling her into his lap, raising his eyebrows as he does so, probably feeling her wet nappy. "What's wrong?" Harry asks the upset child.
"Lefted me. An-An' didn' give me es'mo kisses!" Hazel says stubbornly, turning her body away from him. Harry chuckles as he pulls her into a hug.
"I'm sorry, love. Daddy must have forgotten. What if we do Eskimo kisses now, and then after we get you changed, we can cuddle." He says. Hazel nods and stands up so there noses are at the same height.
They press noses together and rub them back and forth, making Hazel giggle. It's quite adorable. This must be one of their rituals whenever one of them leaves the house.
"I'm sorry I had to leave you, love. But Daddy has to work so I can get you the things you want and need. But I was mean because you were icky." Harry apologies, hugging Hazel after their Eskimo kisses session.
"S'okay, Daddy." She reassures him, giving him a soft peck on the cheek.
"Thank you, love. Now, how about we say bye-bye to Louis and then we can go upstairs to get changed and get cuddles." Hazel nods and runs over to me. I crouch down to her level and we share a lovely hug.
"Bye-bye, Louis!" She says.
After Hazel and I say goodbye, Harry and I share a quick bro-hug.
"Thanks for that, mate. Sorry about that." Harry says, rubbing the back of his head. I scoff.
"Don't worry about it! Well, I better get going." I say, putting on my sneakers and coat.
"Okay. Oh! Here's your money." He says, handing me a bundle of cash. I thank him.
I head to my car and drive home for a much needed nap and some food.
Author's Notes-
Sucky ending! I need to get better at writing those.
I hope you enjoyed it! In the upcoming chapter's, crap is going to become real! So, get ready!
Let me know your thoughts about this chapter in the comments, and of course, vote!
Not sure when the next update will be since the first couple weeks if school will be pretty hectic.
Until the next update, just keep reading!
HSFanFicTion1994