Lachlan's P.O.V.
The first time I held one of my little boys in my arms, I knew everything would be okay. Despite everything that had just happened, her water breaking almost two months early, the bleeding that the doctors couldn't stop, the last breath she took right in front of me and my two little boys who were the only things I had left, I knew it would be fine.
Oliver Jackson Power, who arrived first, and Henry Brandon Power, the one who barely pulled through but made it after one hell of a fight, filling my heart with hope. If my boys could make it after going through so much then so could I. I could do it.
Soon after they were born and released from hospital I upped and disappeared from my old life, deciding to start anew. I couldn't do it alone so I moved in with my mum who knew much more than I did about taking care of children, but I couldn't bear to continue what I had been doing, not when it reminded me so much of what could have been.
I could still being doing YouTube with all of my close friends, she could still be here. But then I wouldn't have my two beautiful sons and the amazing support from my mum, and I wouldn't trade anything for that.
No one knew where I was, not even my closest friends. I didn't tell my fans, I didn't tell the Sidemen or the Pack, I didn't tell the Click crew or any of the other YouTubers I worked with. None of them knew about my sons or what I had been through. They didn't need to know.
I had enough funds saved from my years of YouTube and from selling my house and car that I knew I could get away with only working part time until the boys were old enough to go to kindergarten full time, at 3. I lived practically rent free as my mum owned the house and had paid off the mortgage years ago when it was cheaper, and I only paid for the boys things, food and chipped in on any other bills we had. I saved anything I could, preparing for the boys future.
The boys were 3 years old when I took them to London for the first time. It was the only time they had ever been out of Australia and there wasn't any reason for going, I just wanted to get out and go back over some things. It was mostly for memories sake.
At 3 they were very well behaved, they rarely cried and were quite content on the flight across, especially as they had unlimited screen time for 24 hours. The only time they were fussy was during take off, but they were quickly asleep and I was grateful.
In London we stayed in a hotel and I took them around the sights, some of the places I had been and stayed. I considered driving past the old Sidemen house but decided against it, after all, they still lived there. I didn't want to risk being spotted.
One day I brought them to the park, they were restless and needed to get some energy out, so I let them run around for a while. I sat on the park bench and watched them closely as they chased after some other kids and played, you know, like kids do.
I was engaged in watching them that I didn't noticed the group of boys coming up behind me, curious and shocked. I didn't notice the surprise and awe on their faces when Oliver ran over to me, climbed up onto my lap and asked me to come and play with him.
"Daddy! Come and play with Henry and me!" I stuffed my phone into my pocket and let him drag me over to the playground, feigning falling over, being overdramatic likes dads were supposed to. Oliver was giggling and laughing and soon Henry was climbing all over me too.
"Swings!" He cried. "Push the swings!"
I picked up both of them and secured both of them in the swings and began to push them, grinning when they squealed and threw their arms around. I still didn't notice the group of boys behind me, the swings were facing away from them, until one of them tapped on my shoulder and I whirled around.
"Wha-" I cut myself off. "Josh?"
"Lachlan?" He asked, looking over me and then my boys. I glanced behind him and saw all of the other Sidemen, including Vikk who seemed to be completely frozen, at least until I stepped forward and hugged him. He squeezed me tightly, almost crying.
"Daddy!!" Henry yelled, annoyed that I was ignoring him. I turned and pulled him out of the swing, setting him on the ground for a second and then pulled Oliver out of his. He screamed when I tried to put him on the ground so I held him up on my hip, making sure that Henry wasn't going to run off.
"Hey, stay here Henry, you can't run off." He pouted but reached up and took hold of the pocket of my jeans, occasionally poking his brothers leg. I turned back to the others, Oliver resting his head on my shoulder sleepily.
"Lachlan... do you... do you wanna come around to our house?" Vikk asked shyly, eyeing my boys curiously. With Oliver almost asleep on my shoulder, unusual because he was 3 and didn't really need naps anymore, and I trusted them, so I nodded.
"Yeah, Oli needs a nap I think." There was a bit of an awkward silence until I pointed towards my car in the carpark. "I'll take these two, meet you there?" The others nodded but then Vikk piped up again.
"Can I go with you? I'm gonna be stuck in the middle otherwise." I nodded.
"Sure." I waved goodbye to the others and lead Vikk over to the car, still carrying Oli with Henry hanging off my pocket and bouncing up and down.
Vikk stood behind me awkwardly as I strapped the two boys into their car seats, unsure of what to do but once everyone was in their seats and I started driving, he started talking.
"Is this why you left Lachy?" I nodded.
"Yeah. I wanted to start over so I just... left. I moved in with my mum cause she knew what to do and I just wanted to be there for them, I wanted to raise them. I only work part time so I can spend most of my time with them." Henry was babbling away behind us, playing with a toy crane that he had found.
"Why didn't you tell us? It's been 3 years Lachy, we would have loved to meet them, help you out." I shrugged.
"I couldn't. I can't really explain it, but I didn't want others to be involved. I just wanted to start over and to do that I had to get rid of any connections with, well... you guys. I know that sounds mean but I just couldn't stay." Vikk smiled, looking back over his shoulder as Henry started to get louder.
"It's okay, I might not understand why you did it, but it's okay." I turned the music up a little to calm the boys down, they liked the music and as I looked back I saw that Oli was actually asleep.
"Hey Henry, remember to use your inside voice, we're inside." He was singing away happily, random words that didn't even make any sense, but Vikk was grinning and Henry was a happy chappy, so I didn't care.
We made it to the Sidemen house first and Vikk got out to unlock the front door, before coming back to get Henry out of the car. I asked him to, I had to get the sleeping Oliver out of the back without waking him and that was a challenge in himself.
I held him close to my shoulder, cradling him in gently, shushing him when he started to whine in his sleep. Vikk had gotten Henry out of the car seat and he was bouncing up and down beside the car, wanting me to pay attention to him.
"Hey Henry, we can play once we get inside okay, I need to put your brother down."
The house hadn't changed a bit since I had last been there, 3 years earlier. There were still a pile of shoes inside the front door, random things strewn around and it was exactly how I remembered it, a mess, but it was home.
"Do you wanna put him upstairs?" I shook my head.
"Nah he's not gonna sleep without me, I'll just keep him with me." Vikk took me into the lounge and I settled onto one of the chair with Oli still in my arms. Henry was quite content to play on the carpet with the crane, making little racing car noises to go along with it.
We sat in a more comfortable silence until the rest of the boys got home, about 10 minutes later. I leaned back on the chair to make sure the Oli was comfortable, keeping my eyes on Henry, but eventually they started asking me questions. They were clearly uncertain and not wanting to offend me and it mostly just came off as awkward, but I did answer what they asked.
"Yes, this is why I decided to leave. I wanted to focus more on them and I had enough saved to do so, so I moved in with my mum." Henry crawled up the side of the chair and sat beside me, running the little crane up and down my arm to entertain himself.
"But... why? You loved YouTube and you could have worked from home, hell you could have been with them more often and you would have made more? Why did you decide against it?" I sighed.
"Because that would force my boys online and I just don't want that. I want them to live a normal life and that won't come with me being on YouTube. It's also not really a stable job and I can't risk that, not when I'm the one whose got to take care of them."
Henry was climbing all over the other boys by now, he was bored because there were no toys for him to play with and I was "ignoring him", not really because I had Oli.
"Dadddddy!" He whined, climbing on top of me to get my attention.
"Hey! Watch your brother Henry!" Oli started to cry when Henry stepped on him and I had to stand up and pull him off me before Oliver really started to have a fit. "You've gotta be careful when he's sleeping okay, you know that."
He was whining and I pretty quickly realised that he was hungry, I knew that cry.
"Do you want something to eat?" He nodded, sniffling. "Alright, you choose something. I've got stuff in the car."
"Juice!" I took his hand, leaving Oli on the chair. He was back asleep again. I picked Henry up and took him outside.
"Can you keep an eye on Oli for a sec? I've got food for the boys in the car." Vikk and the others nodded, leaving me reassured that he would be okay for a few minutes. I didn't like leaving them alone but nothing much could happen in those few minutes, so I didn't mind.
In the car boot there was a bag of all the things that the boys could need, spare clothes, nappies because they weren't completely toilet trained but it was close, bottles of water and little ones of juice, some toys and of course, some food.
Henry went straight for a little bottle of juice and I gave it to him, digging around in the bag and brought out a handful of toys and some crackers for him to eat. He ran inside ahead of me, this time with a juice bottle and firetruck in hand.
I gently picked Oli up and pulled him back into my lap, running my hand through his hair. It wasn't often that he was this calm, this silent, so I made the most of it and Henry was content playing on the floor, so even without realising it, my eyes slipped closed. It wasn't easy dealing with 3 year old twins on your own.
"Oh my god he's asleep." Simon whispered. "That's so freaking cute- oof! Wait which is this one?"
"Uhhh Henry? I think Lachlan's got Oliver."
"Alright Henry, why are you climbing on me?" Henry was giggling softly.
"You're a jungle gym! Like daddy!" JJ snorted.
"Hey look at that Simon, even the children are acknowledging that you're tall and lanky!!" There was a lot of giggling and then Henry's little footsteps pattered over to me, the chair shaking as he climbed up beside me. It was Josh who rescued me.
"Alright, leave dad alone kiddo, he's tired." Henry squealed but didn't much protest to being picked up, even when I heard him being set back down in front of the toys. It only took two minutes before he was climbing back up onto me, crawling onto the chair and lying down beside me.
When Vikk went to pick him up and waved him away, letting Henry settle down on my chest next to his brother.
"He's fine." I mumbled. "He just wants cuddles."
I blinked and opened my eyes again, knowing I probably wouldn't be able to sleep. It was mid afternoon and although I was exhausted I had to stay up until at least 7, when the boys would go to bed and I could relax for a while.
"I think I'm gonna back to the hotel, these two need sleep." Vikk shook his head.
"Stay here Lachy, you don't need to go. We've got space and we've finally found you again, just... don't go." I sighed and ran my hand through Henry's hair, he was already fast asleep.
"I suppose... I'm here for another week so we've got some time to catch up." I knew I would be stuck for a little while, I couldn't move while being trapped under both boys so I just listened to the boys conversations. I noticed that they were avoiding swearing even though the boys were asleep, which made me smile.
"You good there Lachlan?" I hummed in reply. I really was dropping off but as much as I didn't want to fall asleep, I couldn't help it.
"Yeah I'm just tired." I yawned.
"Do you wanna go up into the guest room?" I paused for a second.
"I'm gonna need my stuff if I'm staying here-" I yawned again, "but nah, cause otherwise I'll wake up at 4 in the morning and I could use the two extra hours."
"You get up at 6?" Simon sounded almost disgusted at the thought of getting up that early every morning.
"Of course. They're kids, they don't have much understanding of time." Vikk lead me up to the guest room, gently carrying Henry as I couldn't take both of them.
"See you in the morning?" I nodded.
"Of course." He smiled, gently stroking Henry's head.
"They're such beautiful boys." I smiled at his compliment, Oliver tucked safely in my arms.
"They're my beautiful boys."