4 Months Later
"Well Harry you're just over 4 months pregnant and everything is looking great. Now would you like to know the sex of the baby?" The doctor asked Harry as she looked at the ultrasound on the screen.
Harry glanced over at Louis who held Harry's hand firmly. Louis shrugged and left the decision to his husband.
"I think we want it to be a surprise." Harry said.
"Okay, well then I'll assume you guys want a copy of the ultrasound?"
"Yes, please." Louis said through a smile.
The doctor nodded happily and handed them the ultrasound as Louis helped Harry clean the clear gel off his rounding stomach.
"Thank you Sarah." Louis said to the doctor as he and Harry left the room.
"So a surprise huh?" Louis asked Harry as he opened the passenger door for him.
"Well yeah. We knew the genders off all the kids when they were born and I thought it would be fun if this one was a surprise." Harry explained as he climbed into the car.
Louis smiled at him before walking over to the drivers side of the car and climbing in himself. "You're right, it will be fun. We should sit the kids down after dinner and talk about names and how we want to decorate the nursery and everything." Louis offered as he smiled softly to himself
Louis and Harry made the drive home, hand in hand and singing along to the radio. When they pulled up to the home Louis hopped out of the car quickly and ran over to the passenger side, opening the door for Harry. Harry laughed to himself as Louis offered his hand to Louis like he was helping a princess out of her carriage.
"You know I can open the door and get out of the car by myself." Harry said through a chuckle.
"Never hurts to be a gentlemen." Louis said before leaning in and kissing Harry sweetly.
They made their way up the path to the front door fingers intertwined. When they pushed through the door and walked to the kitchen they were met with the twins and Rosie with flour on their faces and all over the kitchen.
"Alexis!" Louis yelled as he couldn't take his eyes off the mess.
He heard shuffling in the living room before their daughter appeared in the kitchen with the same shocked face Louis and Harry had.
"You were supposed to watch them, what the hell happened?" Louis asked as he walked over to the flour coated twins.
"W-we were watching a movie and I guess I fell asleep." Alexis said.
Harry huffed as he looked around his kitchen in complete disarray. "Rosie go upstairs and take a shower." He said sternly.
Rosie dropped her head knowing both of her dads were mad at her. She walked out of the kitchen with her eyes fixated on the ground, scared she would get yelled at for making a mess with her brothers.
"Boys go up to mine and your dads bathroom and I'll be up there in a minute to help you." Louis said angrily.
The twins nodded and just as Rosie did they bent their heads in shame, knowing they were in trouble.
"God what the hell were they doing?" Louis asked once the kids were out of the room.
"I think they were trying to make a cake... I told them we could after the movie." Alexis said quietly.
"You know when you watch them you need to actually be watching them right? Do you see this mess?" Louis asked as he looked around the kitchen with flour on the cabinets and all over the floor and walls as other ingredients were laying around the kitchen. "This was completely irresponsible. They're 8 and 4, did you expect them to able to do this by themselves!?" Louis scolded
"Dad I'm sorry okay?! I just fell asleep. It won't happen again." Alexis said.
"Lou it's fine." Harry breathed out. "Al can you just help me clean this up?" He asked.
Alexis nodded and immediately went over to the sink to grab a dishcloth.
"Lou calm down alright, it was an accident... She just fell asleep it wasn't her fault. If there's someone to be upset at it Rosie and the twins, okay?" Harry whispered to Louis.
Louis nodded and combed his fingers through his hair as he calmed down a bit. "Yeah, you're right." He said as Harry rubbed his back.
"I'll help the twins in the shower, why don't you relax or something." Harry offered.
"I need to do some paperwork for the team and go over some stuff so I'll just be in the office." Louis said.
Harry nodded and pecked Louis' lips before heading towards the stairs to help the twins.
*~*
A few hours later and clean kitchen later there was a knock at the door and Harry got up from the couch to answer it.
"Hey Hayden." Harry said through a smile as he let Hayden in. "Alexis is up in her room if you want to go up."
"I um... I actually wanted to talk to Louis before I told Alexis I was here." Hayden said quietly, not really meeting Harry's eye.
Harry looked at him surprised before nodding. "Alright he's in the office. You know where it is?" He asked.
Hayden nodded and turned to walk to the office before stopping and looking at Harry again. "Could you not tell Alexis I'm here?" He asked softly.
Harry couldn't help but wonder what was going on with him but he said 'okay' anyway.
Louis had his glasses perched on his nose as he shifted his gaze from the computer to the many sheets of paper scattered around his desk and then back to the computer, trying to figure out what to type into the system.
There was a light knock at the door and Louis glanced up before speaking. "Come in." He said.
The door opened slowly and he saw Hayden walking through the door.
"Hey mate, give me one second." Louis said as he typed something into the computer.
It was when Louis heard a soft sniffle that he looked up and abruptly stopped what he was doing as he saw tears coming from Hayden's eyes.
"Hey, what's going on?" Louis asked as he quickly stood up and walked over to Hayden, wrapping him in a hug.
Hayden quickly hugged back as more tears came to his eyes. "I don't know what to." Hayden barely whispered.
"C'mere, sit down." Louis said a he lead Hayden over to the leather sofa. "What's going on, what's wrong?"
Hayden covered his face in his hands and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
"I got accepted to this university on scholarship and my parents are pushing me to go... But I haven't told Alexis yet, and I-I just don't know what to do." Hayden said quietly.
"Okay, so what's wrong with just telling her?" Louis asked confused.
"It's in London." He stated before more tears threatened to fall.
"And you don't want to move away because you know she's going to uni here..." Louis said realizing the problem.
Hayden nodded and rubbed his hands over his face.
"So why'd you come in here and talk to me and not her?" Louis asked confused.
"I-I just wanted to talk to you first... I don't know what to do. I mean I got accepted too the same school she did, but this other school is offering me more and it's a bigger opportunity. I wanted to ask what you think.. I wanted an honest opinion and I knew you would give me one... I just... I don't want to leave. I can't leave knowing she's still going to be here" Hayden barely whispered.
Louis nodded unsure of what to say. It was definitely a difficult situation. "As much as I hate to say it... I agree with your parents. I think you should go to London."
Hayden looked at him a little wide eyed, unable to form words.
"Now here me out. If you got a scholarship to a great school you need to go for it. Take the risk. You know she's going to be here when you get back, and it's London... You can get really great connections there and that will set you up for your future." Louis said, trying to reason with him.
Hayden nodded in understandment and combed his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to leave."
"I get that, but you should really talk to Al about it." Louis said softly.
"Yeah... Uhm, thanks Louis. Sorry if I interrupted you working on something... I just wanted to talk to someone who wasn't my mum or dad, and I didn't want to talk to Alexis about it yet." Hayden said.
"Don't apologize, it's fine." Louis said as he offered a soft smile. "Talk to me anytime, alright?"
Hayden nodded and stood up as Louis did. "Thanks again Louis."
"Of course." Louis said as he opened his arms one more time to comfort the younger lad. "Now go talk to her, alright?"
"Okay... I'll see you later." Hayden said as he released the hug.
Louis nodded and clapped Hayden's back gently before he walked out of the room.
As Louis walked back over to his desk he pulled off his glasses and rubbed a hand over his face, knowing what was going to come when Hayden had to leave.
*~*
"Where are Al and Hayden?" Harry asked as he set the food on the dinning room table.
"They're just upstairs talking about something. I didn't want to interrupt." Louis said remembering walking to his daughter's door to tell them dinner was ready but before he knocked he heard hushed tones and soft sniffles.
"Alright, I'll save them both a plate then." Harry said.
"So kiddos." Louis said and signed after a couple moments of silence. "Your dad and I were thinking about baby names and how to decorate the nursery for when the baby comes. Any ideas?" He asked looking around the table at his kids.
"I like purple!" Rosie said.
"Okay, purple is a nice color. What about you boys? Any thoughts?" Louis asked.
"Do you know if it's a boy or girl?" Cody asked before shoveling some food into his mouth.
Not yet. We want it to be a surprise. Harry signed
Cody thought about what his dad signed and came up with something. "Why don't we decorate it in like a Winnie the Pooh theme? That way it fits a boy or girl and the colors are nice." Cody offered.
Louis looked at his son surprised before signing. And what colors are in this theme?
"You know like light oranges, yellows and greens." Cody said as if it was obvious.
Harry raised his eyebrows at Cody and looked at him quizzically.
"What?" Cody asked, looking between his confused dads.
What happened to my son? Louis asked with fake hurt.
Cody laughed before shrugging and returning to his food.
Louis and Harry shared a look of 'what the hell just happened?' and 'that was weird.'
"Well I like the idea. What about you guys? Winnie the Pooh?" Harry asked the younger kids.
"I like it!! It sounds cute!" Rosie said happily.
"How about you boys, what do you think?" Louis asked, nudging Rory gently.
They both shrugged and looked down at their food. Louis eyed them and then looked to Harry as they shared the same confused look.
"Hey... Cam, Ror what's up?" Louis asked.
"All you guys talk about is the baby." Rory said.
"And you got mad at us today for the kitchen." Cameron continued.
Louis realized what they were really upset about. They weren't the babies of the family anymore and they felt replaced.
"We got mad about the kitchen because you know better than that boys. You know you can't be in the kitchen without me, Alexis or Cody." Harry said to them.
"I can't be in the kitchen with them?" Louis asked.
Harry smiled at Louis before speaking. "Babe you'd make a bigger mess than they would."
"Fair enough." Louis said before he took a sip of his beer. "But boys we're just excited about the baby... You know when you get something new, like a new toy and you're so happy you have it you want to play with it all the time?" Louis asked and they both nodded. "It's like that, we're just excited for the baby to come." Louis explained softly.
"You guys are still our baby boys though. No matter what." Harry added in.
The twins smiled at that and Louis and Harry let out a sigh in relief that they handled that without any tears.
"What about baby names?" Cody asked as he completely missed the conversation that just happened.
Well do you have any ideas? Harry asked.
"I like Ella!!" Rosie said.
"That's a nice name sweetheart." Louis said through a smile.
Rosie smiled back at him proud that she came up with it.
"We can make a list of names a little later, I think Alexis should be with us when we talk about." Harry signed and said. "Where is she? They haven't come down and we're already done."
"Don't worry about it." Louis waved it off, looking at his empty plate.
Harry looked at him oddly, and when Louis looked back at him Harry gave him the 'we're talking about this later' look.
Louis was putting the left over food away as Harry was putting the dishes in the dishwasher. The younger kids were playing downstairs and Cody was in his room.
"So what happened?" Harry asked.
"What?" Louis looked over at him confused.
"Why did Hayden come over and asked looking for you, and then asked me not to tell Alexis he was here?"
"Oh, he got accepted to this university in London and his parents are pushing him to go, but he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to leave knowing Al is going to uni here... He just wanted to talk to me and get my opinion on it and everything. He's pretty broken up about it, and I told him he should go and talk to Al." Louis explained.
Harry looked over at his husband surprised.
"What?" Louis asked when he saw the look Harry was giving him.
"You really care about him." Harry said as a small smile played at his lips.
"What? No... I mean like he's dating our daughter and he's not an arse, so..." Louis trailed off.
Harry stopped what he was doing and turned completely to face Louis. "Just admit you actually really like him. You actually consider him as a friend." Harry said.
"He came to me for advice and I gave it to him." Louis stated.
Harry shook his head as he smiled to the ground. "Louis nothing bad is gonna happen if you just say that you like him." Harry said through a chuckle.
Louis rolled his eyes at Harry and walked over to the sink to wash his hands.
"Wait! You think that if you admit you actually like him, he won't be scared of you anymore! You think you won't be the 'intimidating, protective dad' anymore!!" Harry said like he had just discovered one of the world's greatest mysteries.
Louis stopped washing his hands and placed them in front of him, leaning on the sink and sagging his shoulders.
"That's it!!" I knew it!" Harry said.
"Shut up." Louis mumbled.
"Aw, babe." Harry said as he walked behind Louis and wrapped his arms around his waist. "No matter what you'll be the dad that scares the crap out of daughter's boyfriends, okay?"
Louis turned around in Harry's arms and leaned his back on the sink. "You think so?" Louis asked quietly.
"I know so." Harry said before kissing Louis sweetly. "Those boys don't stand a chance against you if they hurt one of our girls... So, do you admit you actually like Hayden?" Harry asked as he leaned his forehead against Louis'.
Louis let out a deep breath before nodding. "Yeah... I actually like him." Louis barely whispered. "If you tell him I'll kill you." Louis said completely serious.
"I won't tell him... Promise." Harry said before connecting their lips again.
Louis smiled into the kiss and moved his lips in sync with Harry's as they stood there in the kitchen.
They only broke apart after a couple of minutes when they heard hushed tones coming from the living room and walking towards them. The two men looked up to see Hayden and Alexis walking into the kitchen and Louis looked at Hayden trying to read his face. When Hayden caught Louis' eye the younger lad nodded softly at Louis and looked to the ground.
"Is there any food left?" Alexis asked quietly.
"Yeah sweetheart, I made you two plates. They're in the fridge. I can heat them up for you if you want to sit in the living room. Your dad or I will bring them to you when they're done." Harry offered, know knowing what they were talking about earlier.
Both Hayden and Alexis nodded, thanking Louis and Harry before going into the living room.
When Hayden and Alexis took a seat on the couch Hayden let out a sigh and immediately wrapped an arm around Alexis' waist.
"I don't leave until late August." Hayden said quietly.
Alexis shook her head and looked to her lap as she felt more tears come. "But it's the fact that you're leaving." She said.
"We still have four months... And I come home for break about every two or three months." Hayden said, trying to offer some sort of comfort.
Alexis looked up at Hayden with soft tears rolling down her cheeks. Hayden immediately wrapped his arms around her.
"Please stop crying." Hayden barely whispered to her as he felt tears threaten his own eyes.
"But you're leaving." Alexis said into his neck.
"No, not for awhile. And I'm always coming back... I'm always coming back to you." Hayden said before he kissed her head.
Hayden looked up and saw Louis in the doorway carrying their diner plates and Hayden gave him a pleading look to give them one more minute. Louis got the hint and nodded, retreating back into the kitchen.
"Shit this is gonna be hard." Louis said as he placed the dinner plates down on the breakfast bar.
"Why, what happened?" Harry asked.
Louis rubbed a hand over his face, never liking to see his daughter cry. "She's really broken up about it."
Harry nodded in understandment. "Well what else did you expect, you know? I remember being broken up when you had away games and would travel for a week or two, but he's leaving for a months at a time." Harry explained.
"Yeah, but we also had a kid." Louis said.
"True, but despite that it was hard. Not because I was a single parent for a little bit but because I just missed you." Harry said shrugging his shoulders.
"I missed you to Hazza." Louis said through a small frown remembering how hard it was to be away from Harry and Alexis.
"Ya see? Like it's not going to be easy in the slightest for them because they're going to be away from each other for much longer than we were."
Louis nodded and looked down to the ground before looking back at Harry. "I just hate that we can't like make her feel better or help her."
Harry walked over to Louis and placed his hands on his hips and pulled him in to his chest. "We can't completely make her feel better, but we can try our best to help her through it."
"Hey guys, can I grab those plates?" Hayden asked, walking into the kitchen.
Louis broke away from Harry and looked over to Hayden. "Sure mate. Here ya go." Louis said passing him the plates
"Thanks." Hayden quietly said as he grabbed the plates from Louis.
"Hey." Louis said grabbing Hayden's arm before he could walk out of the kitchen. "Everything okay?"
Hayden nodded slowly before he spoke. "Yeah... We're um... We're just talking about it."
"Alright... Remember what I said in the office?"
Hayden nodded again and looked to Louis with a grateful smile. "Yeah, thank you Louis." He said before exiting the room.
"What did you say to him in the office?" Harry asked once he was out of the room.
Louis shrugged. "I told him he could talk to me anytime he needed to." He said quietly.
Harry raised his eyebrow at Louis and a small smirk came onto his face.
"Shut up." Louis muttered before he pushed passed Harry and started walking towards his office.
Harry laughed to himself before grabbing Louis' hand so he would stop walking. "Where are you going?" Harry asked.
"I still have some stuff to do in the office. There's just been some stuff with the league that's taking up some more time. I have a conference call with the board in about an hour, so could you make sure the kids don't come in?" Louis asked.
"Oh, alright, yeah I can do that. I'll check on you later to see if you need anything before the kids go to bed, okay?" Harry asked.
Louis smiled up at Harry and pecked his lips quickly. "Thanks love."
"No problem. Is everything alright? You've never had a conference call before."
"Um, yeah everything is fine." Louis said slowly. "I just need some privacy is all."
Harry looked at him confused for a second before nodding. "Okay, well I'm here if you need me."
"I know." Louis said through a chuckle. "Thank you again." He said before he kissed Harry one more time and headed to the office.