The two entered the house, not paying attention to the boy trailing behind as they began talking animatedly. Their conversation followed the guidelines of any mediocre conversation simply because there were the little things to get out of the way before moving on to greater topics.
As they would speak, Harry would simply follow along quietly, glancing at Jo's stomach every now and again as the word 'baby' floated to his ears.
As they were sat in the living room -- Jo and her sister Melinda still speaking as little baby Emma would watch with big eyes -- their conversation would drown out as the ever numerous questions of the two children seemed to be more important.
"Marco and Jenna, please. I'm trying to have a conversation with your aunt."
Harry looked up from his hands, watching as Melinda scolded the two young children. Harry smiled slightly, not really thinking as he called over the older boy and his younger sister, pulling their attention away from their mother.
With hesitant movements and curious eyes the two slowly approached the stranger, stopping simply a few feet away from him.
"What do you guys say to a game of tag outside?" And that was all it took for two smiles to replace their frowns, sending the two kids and the 'older child' sprinting for the door, Marco and Jenna quickly shouting "not it".
Jo watched in bewilderment as Harry played with them, seeing a soft and tender side rather than his usual bratty boyband member self.
"So, you were saying?" Melinda interrupted Jo's thoughts as she turned back to her, blinking repeatedly as if waking from a daze.
"What was I saying?"
"Something about the baby...?"
"Oh, right... I was just saying that if you haven't guessed, Harry is technically the father of my baby and... I don't know I'm just not sure how I feel about everything."
Melinda saw the concern on her sister's face as Jo went back to staring out the window, watching as Harry would chase the two kids around the lawn, their friendly game of tag suddenly changing to Harry the Big Bad Wolf chasing after the two little piggies.
"What about it?"
"I just... I don't want to... grow dependent on having him around, ya know? I mean this arrangement is only temporary. I guess maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm kind of hostile towards him."
"Jo, it's not like he actually wanted the family in the first place."
"No, I know... it's just... nevermind, it's stupid." Jo sighed, playing with her fingers. You could say that at the moment she felt so alone, considering that her baby will grow up without a father and she doesn't have someone to rely on.
"Listen, Jo, the only advice I'm going to give you about him is that you shouldn't get too comfy. Popstars like him always leave; that's just how they always are. And I don't want to sound like the bad guy but he's not going to stick around. The second you have that baby he'll be out the door ready to go on living the high life. You need stability, Jo, especially with a baby on the way, not a child."
"I know... you're absolutely right."
Now that that conversation was over with, Jo could move on to what she really came here to ask her big sister.
"Melinda... do you think that I could babysit Emma and the kids for a weekend? You know, so I can have some experience with taking care of a child, and besides it looks like you and Brian could use a vacation anyway."
It took a lot of convincing but finally Melinda allowed her younger sister to take care of her kids for one weekend. Hopefully Jo can handle it.
____________
a/n.
omfg Jo has a lot of feelings and doubts and thoughts lmao cx
anywho, i know this chapter is kind of shit but please
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