Harry's eyes were glued to the Horan man standing infront of him. He had just finished changing the wet nappy on his daughter when the door opened and he had been frozen since.
"I asked you a question." Bobby stated lowly and Harry gulped. At that moment, Janelle whimpered; probably hungry and Harry placed her on his shoulder as he started bouncing her, trying to stall answering as long as he could.
Suddenly, the door closed and the lock clicked, Harry looked up and Bobby turned around.
"Niall, you let him in?"
Niall glared at his father then he went to Harry and handed him the bottle before turning back to his father.
"Yeah, I did." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Any problem with that?" Niall raised a challenging eyebrow.
Bobby sighed, Niall had gotten his stubbornness, he just knew it.
"Look, I'm just looking out for you okay? I just want my son and granddaughter to be happy. I swear I don't mean any harm."
Niall's face softened just a tad, he glanced at Harry who was too involved in feeding Janelle then looked back at his father.
"I know daddy, and I really love you for it. But keeping Harry from us, won't make us happy." Niall said softly. "We are a family."
Bobby looked at Harry then, and for once didn't glare at him.
"You love him?" He asked, more like stated quietly and Niall nodded without hesitation. "But he hurt you, son. What if he does it again?"
Niall moved closer to his dad.
"What if he doesn't?" He asked. "Just please let me grow up. You are gonna have to let me make my own decisions if I'm gonna grow up." He said softly.
Bobby looked at his granddaughter. Almost done with her bottle and fisting the fabric of Harry's shirt as she fed.
"Can you not grow up for a while longer then?" He asked with a smile and Niall knew then that he had cracked. He was glad he could get through to his father.
Hilarious, he thought. He didn't even have to put up a fight just open his heart and tell his father what he really felt about their protectiveness.
"That would he hard, da. I have that little cutie to take care of now. So I gotta grow up." He grinned.
Bobby smiled, because of course.
"Well," Bobby pulled Niall into a hug just as Harry placed the baby on his shoulder to burp her. "no matter how many kids you have, you'll always he my little boy."
"You sound like mum." Niall teased but Bobby just hugged him tighter.
When they pulled away, Harry had placed Janelle back in the crib and was how stood up, looking at them.
"Come over here." Bobby motioned for him. "Bygones are bygones." They all shared a hug. "You lads sleepy or you want a drink?" Bobby asked and they nodded.
"Yeah, a cuppa is just what I need right now." Niall grinned and quickly set the baby monitor before they all left.
*
"Mr. Horan I-" Harry started to started to say but was interrupted by Bobby.
"Bobby, call me Bobby son."
"Alright, Bobby. As I was saying, I'm so sorry for hurting Niall. I was young and stupid and didn't know how to appreciate the things I was blessed with in my life. Deciding to focus on the one thing that hurt me everyday but I'm a grown up now and I promise I'll take care of your son and granddaughter to the best of my capabilities. I'll never hurt them."
Bobby grinned then, and Niall grabbed Harry's hand under the table as they were all in the kitchen having tea.
"Thank you, Harry. I'm sorry for how I acted when I found out. I was just looking out for them but I trust you." Bobby said with a smile.
That night, or rather, early morning, Niall, Harry and Bobby stayed in the kitchen and ended up having two cups of tea each before they decided it was time to go to sleep.
As Niall and Harry cuddled in bed, they talked about the new found freedom and happiness and boy were they glad. Surprisingly, Janelle only woke up twice that night which gave them both some time to rest.
****
Three weeks had gone by and little Janelle was now a month old.
"Harry do you think this is a good idea?" Louis asked as he and Harry walked from the airport to go find a taxi.
Harry had practically been living between London and Mullingar. He would be gone for the working days and would fly out on Friday nights to be with his family.
And this time around, he had brought Louis with him who had actually insisted on tagging along.
According to Louis, the pictures he saw of Janelle were too precious and he couldn't wait till Niall got to London to see her.
But now, he was weary, he and Niall were not exactly friends. He didn't know if it was okay to just show up at the Horan door step, wanting to see Niall's child.
Harry stopped walking and turned around to his friend. "Wait are you second guessing this? I thought you wanted to come."
Louis looked away from Harry's eyes for a brief moment.
"I mean I wanted to and I still wanna. But Niall's not very fond of me. What if he like kicks me out or something?" He asked and Harry almost cooed at how vulnerable he sounded. It was such a rare occurrence to see Louis Tomlinson like that.
"You have nothing to worry about, mate. I mean, have you met Niall, he would never throw you out, no matter what. Plus I'm with you." Harry assured him.
"He's done it before." Louis mumbled.
Harry's eyebrows furrowed but then he remembered how Niall had kicked Louis out of his flat back in London when the latter had gone to pick up Brendan from Niall's.
"That was his homes acting up because of the pregnancy. Trust me, he won't kick you out."
"Okay." Louis answered, still not convinced but letting go. He would find out soon enough. "Let's go then. And why isn't Niall or someone here to pick you up?"
"Because," Harry started walking again, "I'm trying to surprise them, they have no idea that I'm coming. I told Niall that I couldn't make it this week because of the album."
Harry flagged down a taxi and soon enough, they were both riding to Niall's home town.
"How long is the ride? Reckon I can have some shut eye?" Louis asked already making himself comfortable in the back seat of the car.
"Sure, knock yourself out. It's about an hour." Harry said and Louis nodded, putting earphones in and closing his eyes.
Harry made small talk with the driver to try and chase some of the silence that had settled behind the slow music playing, not that it was uncomfortable or anything.
And it seemed like time flew because soon enough he was giving the driver directions to the hotel closest to the Horan home.
"Lou, we are here, wake up." Harry shook his friend gently once they were parked in the hotel.
Louis opened his eyes and stretched then got out of the car.
The driver helped them grab their duffle bags and then they paid him and he was on his way.
"Why did you let him go, are you also staying here?" Louis asked as they made their way inside.
"No I'm not, Niall would murder me if I was in town and stayed in a hotel." Harry chuckled, trying to picture Niall lecturing him about it when they had enough space for him at his parents'. "The house is literally five minutes from here you and I will just walk there." Harry said and Louis nodded, the smile returning to his face because he was that excited to see the little angel.
*
"Harry! Hi, we had no idea you were flying in. We would have gone to get you." Harry was greeted by Maura after knocking on the door.
"Wanted to surprise you." He smiled and hugged her. That made her see Louis who had been standing behind Harry the entire time.
"Well, it's a pleasant surprise." She said after breaking the hug and turned to Louis. "Hello hun."
"Hi ma'am, I'm Louis Harry's friend." He introduced politely.
"Oh so nice to meet you, Louis. Please come in."
She stepped aside and ushered them inside.
In the living room, Harry laid eyes on Niall first who had Janelle on his lap as he fed her and his laptop was open infront of him.
"She loves you too, Nick." Niall smiled at the laptop, letting Harry know that he was talking to his best friend, then ended the call and looked up to find Harry smiling at him.
"Haz!" Niall said happily, apparently he was too loud because Janelle was startled and she let out a cry.
"Oh I'm so sorry, baby." Niall put down the bottle and tried to calm her down. "Here, look daddy's here."
"She's growing bigger everyday." Harry commented and immediately she stopped crying. "Come here baby girl." She opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"Such a daddy's girl." Niall commented fondly. "Here finish feeding her- Louis?"
"Hi." Louis waved awkwardly. "You have a beautiful baby."
Niall handed Harry the bottle and walked to Louis. "How are you?" He wrapped his arms around the Doncaster lad who was taken by surprise but hugged him back, nonetheless. "Thanks a lot and you are welcome. Please take a seat." He said after they broke the hug.
Harry was smiling and he winked at Louis because he had told him that Niall held no grudge against him.
"Thanks Niall, really. I mean I'll never stop saying sorry fo-" Louis sat down and started to say but Niall cut him off.
"Water under the bridge, really. This little angel has brought so much happiness in my life, I can't afford to be mad at anyone. " Niall smiled. "Well except at anyone who hurts her."
They all shared a laugh and Harry burped the baby.
"Wanna hold her?" Niall asked Louis who was looking at Harry as he made funny faces at Janelle.
"Please." Louis' smile was so wide, Niall thought his face would split in two.
He took the baby from Harry and placed her in Louis' awaiting hands.
"Oh my god, she's so pretty." Louis gushed and both parents smiled. "You did a wonderful job. Can I keep her?" He asked excitedly and Niall laughed because that's exactly what Gemma had told him when she was born and Harry sent them pictures.
"I mean if you like waking up every after two hours and if you like changing dirty nappies then by all means." Niall grinned and Louis looked Janelle who was looking at him with big bright eyes then back at Niall.
"Maybe when she's a little bit older." He joked.
Louis was lost in Janelle land and Niall turned to Harry.
"Well mister, why didn't you tell me that you'd be coming? Da would have gone to get you."
"Thought, I'd surprise you." He grinned and Niall pinched his cheek.
"I missed you." He cuddled into Harry's side. "We both did."
Harry then leaned down and placed a kiss to his forehead. "I missed you both so much. How has she been this week?"
Niall went on to tell him how she was waking up more often during the night and sleeping the day away.
"I'm gonna have a word with her." Harry deadpanned.
"What?" Niall bit his lip so that he wouldn't laugh because a word with a month old baby? Yeah right.
"Yeah, I'm gonna tell her not to wake up so often so that mummy could sleep some." Harry said and Niall gasped.
"Did you just- Harry! Call me mummy again and you are getting her everytime she wakes up today." He threatened and Harry pulled him closer.
"Sure, so mummy Nialler can rest." Harry said and laughed but groaned when Niall palmed him.
He didn't have the chance to say anything because Maura was out of the kitchen and calling them for dinner.
"Come on boys." She said and Niall was about to stand up but Harry held him back.
"You kinda caused a situation here." Harry gestured to his lower region. "Sit back down until we both wait it out."
Niall burst into a fit of giggles and Harry couldn't help but laugh along, leaving Louis and Maura looking at them quizzically.