Harry: 17
Camryn: 17
Darcy: 4 weeks old
"Hi baby,"Harry rasps as he rubs his eyes, smushing his face down further into the pillow. His heart stops as he hears Camryn's sniffled cries through the phone, "what's wrong?"
"Baby, they hurt so bad,"Camryn sniffles. He can hear Darcy's muffled cries in the background and Camryn's hushed shushes.
"What? What hurts?"Harry asks in his groggy haze, putting the phone closer to his ear so that he doesn't wake up the boys.
"My boobs, remember?"Camryn whispers laying a fussy Darcy on her legs, "babe, they've gotten so much worse."
Camryn had been complaining about her breasts hurting ever since this morning, but she had brushed it off as them just being overfilled- the normal breastfeeding pains she had had for the past couple of weeks.
"What do they feel like, babe?"Harry whispers, turning his head over his shoulder to make sure Zayn, who's sleeping next to him in still asleep.
"They're like hot? I dunno. I think I have a fever. I'm sweating buckets,"Camryn explains as she rocks side to side cradling Darcy in her arms holding her lower than she normally would so she doesn't accidentally touch her breasts, with the phone between her ear and shoulder.
"A fever? Do you think you're sick, buggy?"Harry whispers and flinches as he hears Louis groan from the other bed next to his and Zayn's; he doesn't want to wake any of the boys up. They've had such a busy past couple of days.
"I dunno. I don't know what to do babe, like I almost have to scream every time Darcy sucks on them,"Camryn sighs rubbing at her tired eyes.
"Do they look the same?"Harry questions.
"You trying to get me to send you pictures?"Camryn jokes a bit, her smile reaching Harry through the phone.
Harry chuckles lightly, "I mean yes, but I also wanna make sure you're okay."
Zayn sits up from beside Harry in the bed, rubbing his eyes as he blinks over at Harry's back, who is clutching the phone to his ear. Zayn gently touches Harry's shoulder, "everything alright?"
Harry quickly turns his head over his shoulder and looks back at Zayn, "sorry, mate. I was trying to be quiet."
Zayn shakes his head, "it's alright, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."
Harry nods his head, sitting up with his back against the headboard of the bed, "it's just Cami."
Zayn is satisfied with this answer and closes his eyes again, trying to drift off to sleep.
"Can I FaceTime you? Maybe I'm just overreacting, but maybe you could try and figure out if there's something wrong with them."
"Sure, baby,"Harry agrees as Camryn hangs up the phone and immediately calls back, this time it's a FaceTime. Harry slips in headphones before answering.
"Okay, they're really red and inflamed,"Camryn cautions Harry as she lays Darcy, who is whimpering beginning to get hungry, down on the bed beside her legs. Then pulling up her shirt to expose her sore breasts. Harry looks through the phone at Camryn's breasts as he tries to decipher if they look different, the lighting is horrendous and makes it hard for him to really tell a difference.
"Mate, go to sleep,"Louis groans at the light from Harry's phone, getting up from his shared bed with Liam and Niall and walking towards the bathroom.
"I'm talking to Cami,"Harry whispers harshly as he throws a sock that was laying on his nightstand at Louis, trying to tell him to shut up. Louis catches it before it can collide with his chest.
"Ooo! Cami!"Louis smiles rushing over to try and get in the view of the camera to say hi to Camryn.
"No,"Harry hisses swatting Louis' grabbing hands away from his phone to the point where Louis is basically falling on top of Harry.
"I just wanna say hiiii,"Louis whines, knowing he's annoying Harry.
Harry blocks the phone from Louis' view, "mate, she doesn't have a shirt on."
Louis stops and smirks coyly at Harry raising his eyebrows up and down, "ohhhhh now I know why you're having a late night talk." Louis does quotation marks with his fingers as he says 'talk'. "You couldn't do that in the bathroom mate? Had to do that in front of all of us?"
Harry hears Camryn burst out laughing, she could hear the whole exchange between Louis and Harry and quickly put her shirt down in case Louis was successful in wrestling the phone out of Harry's hand.
"Cheeky,"Harry rolls his eyes at his best mate and shoves his shoulder a bit, "she's having problems breastfeeding. You know, adult stuff? You wouldn't understand."
Louis laughs as Harry smiles, "you know one of us is a legal adult, and let me give you a hint of who it is: it's the one who beat teen pregnancy." Harry hears the other three boys chuckle as their heads remain on their pillows, they were awoken by Harry and Louis' wrestling match.
"Oh piss off,"Harry rolls his eyes smirking at Louis.
"Have fun looking at Camryn's boobs. I'm sure they're lovely,"Louis jokes turning away from Harry and walking towards the bathroom, his original destination before he got distracted.
"You wanna take a look?"Harry jokes back, "you can help me decipher whether or not the yellow pus coming out of her boobs is a good sign or not."
"Tempting,"Louis smirks chuckling as he closes the bathroom door.
Harry looks back at Camryn and sees her giggling uncontrollably, "I miss you guys and your bickering."
Harry smirks and then continues, "show me again, babe. Can you turn on the light maybe? I can't really see that well."
"Go have phone sex somewhere else,"Niall groans, his voice muffled against his pillow. Harry reaches to the side of the bed where he discarded the extra pillows on the bed and throws one at Niall, directly hitting his head to shut him up.
Camryn gets off of Harry's childhood bed (she chose to stay with Anne while Harry was away this week so that she didn't have to be alone) and walks over to turn on the lights which makes Darcy cry even harder.
"Little miss is not too happy about the lights being on,"Harry chuckles as he hears Darcy's tiny high pitched wails.
"Yeah, she's super hungry too,"Camryn says sitting back down next to Darcy and pulling up her shirt again so Harry can take a better look, "I'm just scared to feed her incase there's something wrong with the milk."
He tries to mask his horror because he know it will only make Camryn freak out more, but his stomach churns as he looks at Camryn's inflamed breasts. They're extremely red and swollen, and her nipples have yellow pus coming out of them. "Ummm, babe, that doesn't look right. I think you should get my mum,"Harry swallows trying to hydrate his dry throat.
"I know,"Camryn sighs, that's exactly what she didn't want to hear, "I just don't want to wake her up. I feel bad."
"Baby, she won't mind, she'll just want to make sure you're okay,"Harry promises as Camryn pulls down her shirt and puts the phone back on her face. The past week of being a single parent are shown in the bags under her eyes and the red blemishes on her chin caused by stress. Harry's heart hurts as he looks into her eyes, they're so exhausted and concerned and he just wants to hug her so bad. He misses her more than he thought was possible. "You might have an infection or something."
Camryn nods, wiping a tired palm down her face, "okay, I'll go wake her up. I just feel so bad."
"Don't feel bad,"Harry assures Camryn, "call me when mum tells you what to do."
"Okay, I will,"Camryn promises.
"Can I see squish before you hang up?"Harry requests. Camryn smiles and turns the camera so that it's showing Darcy laying on the bed. She's in a pink onesie with her little diaper hanging out the sides. Her swirly brown hair is all messed up on the top of her head and she's found comfort in sucking on her knuckles. Her little legs kick as she looks up at the camera, gurgling at Camryn who's cooing down at her.
"Oh hi, lovely,"Harry coos. Darcy perks up and starts squirming more at the sound of her daddy's voice. Harry smiles as he watches Darcy get excited, "yeah hi, baby. Oh you look so big! Stop growing. I told you not to grow. I only leave you for one week and you're already so so big."
Camryn laughs as she tickles Darcy's tummy softly and puts on her best baby voice, "say 'daddy I miss you! I love you!'"
"I love you too, munches,"Harry grins as Camryn puts the camera closer to Darcy's face.
"Say, 'bye bye daddy'"Camryn coos as she takes one of Darcy's tiny wrists in between her fingers and makes her wave at the phone.
Harry giggles as he waves as Darcy, "bye bye, baby. Take care of mummy."
Camryn turns the camera back to her face and blows Harry a kiss, "I love you the mostest."
"I love you more than the mostest,"Harry promises which earns a gag from Niall to which Harry responds with a certain finger held up in his direction.
"Call me when you talk to mum,"Harry reminds Camryn.
"I will,"Camryn promises before blowing another kiss and hanging up the phone.
*******
Camryn taps her foot on the hardwood flooring outside of Anne's bedroom as she tries to gain the confidence to knock. Anne is like a mother to her and is the kindest lady she has every met, but it just makes her feel bad that she has to wake her up at 2 am.
Camryn softly raps two knuckles on the white door and waits for a response. She gets nothing, so she knocks a bit harder. To this, she gets a "one second" from Anne's groggy voice. The door slowly opens showing Anne in her robe, gently tying it around her middle as she looks at Camryn through her foggy glasses, "hi sweetheart. Everything alright?"
"I'm really sorry to wake you, mum, I didn't want to,"Camryn begins picking at the waistline of the plaid pajama pants she's wearing, "I think there's something wrong with my breasts. I think they're infected, and I don't know what to do."
Anne frowns and straightens her glasses, "oh darling, don't apologize about waking me up. Do you want me to take a look and see if I can tell what's going on? It might be mastitis."
Camryn nods and pulls up her shirt to expose her red swollen breast that are becoming worse by the second.
"Oh sweetie,"Anne frowns, just looking at Camryn's makes her own breasts throb in pain, "yeah I think that's definitely mastitis. Do they hurt when you feed Darcy or if you touch them?"
Camryn nods pulling down her shirt, "I almost scream every time Darcy sucks on them and even having the light touch of a shirt on them makes them throb."
"Okay, darling, I think we should go to a hospital and get this figured out, okay?"Anne suggests.
Camryn nods her head, "thank you mum. I'll go get Darcy."
"Of course, sweetheart, I'll meet you downstairs."Anne says beginning to untie her rob in a search for real clothes.
*******
"Hi, you must be Camryn,"a female doctor in her early 30s greets walking into the emergency room that Camryn is in, "I'm Dr. Melendez."
"I am,"Camryn nods shaking her hand, "nice to meet you."
"Oh and who is this little lady?"Dr. Melendez asks crouching down to gently caress Darcy's cheeks who's being held by Anne in a chair next to Camryn's hospital bed. Her bright blue eyes stare up at the doctor in curiosity and then she gets bored and decides to fuss trying to tell her mumma that she's hungry. "That's Darcy,"Camryn responds smiling at her little baby all curled up in her feety pajamas, "and that's my mum Anne."
"She's really hungry,"Camryn explains to the doctor as Darcy whimpers against Anne's chest trying to nuzzle, "I didn't know if my milk was safe or not to give her."
The doctor nods, "alright lovely, so it's your breasts that are the problem?"
"Yeah,"Camryn responds with a nod motioning towards her chest, "they're really inflamed and red and there's yellow puss coming out of my nipples."
"She also has a slight fever,"Anne adds, gently rocking Darcy in her arms.
"Hmmm, sounds like mastitis to me,"the doctor says sitting down next to Camryn and wheeling her chair with her feet closer to Camryn's bed, "have you ever had any breast pain since miss Darcy was born?"
"Not really,"Camryn says wincing as a sharp pain runs through her breast, "I mean sometimes they hurt when they get too filled up, but once Darcy eats they feel fine."
The doctor nods, tucking a piece of her brown hair behind her ears, "do you mind pulling your sweatshirt up, love, so I can have a look." Camryn obeys and pulls up her black hoodie as the doctor nods examining her breasts.
"I'm just going to feel them real gently, love,"the doctor explains snapping on some blue gloves, "it might hurt a bit just because of how sore they are." The doctor starts to gently feel around on Camryn's left boob causing Camryn to whimper and grip the sheets below her.
Dr. Melendez frowns at Camryn's pain sounds, "I know, love. I'm sorry I'm almost done."
Anne catches Camryn's eye and gives her a gentle motherly nod and encouraging smile that seems to say you got this, sweetheart.
The doctor pulls her hands away and snaps off her gloves as Camryn lowers her hoodie to cover herself.
"Alright, my love,"Dr. Melendez sighs writing something down on her clipboard and then looking up at Camryn, "you have a pretty severe case of mastitis. It's basically when one or more of your milk ducks become clogged. Because of how advanced yours is I'd say you have multiple milk ducks clogged."
Camryn nods, beginning to ask the most important question to her, "can I still feed Darcy? She's never taken a bottle or formula, I don't know if she would."
"Oh of course, lovely,"Dr. Melendez replies putting a soft hand on top of Camryn's, she can tell her nerves are rising a bit, "the antibiotics are made to be safe for the baby and your milk is completely normal."
Camryn sighs in relief and looks over at Darcy and Anne with a smile, which Anne returns freely.
"I'm going to give you some antibiotics before you leave here to hopefully help a bit with the pain and then in the morning you can go to the pharmacy and there will be a prescription waiting for you,"Dr. Melendez says tearing off a prescription form from her clipboard and handing it to Camryn, "a warm washcloth on top of your breasts will help, especially if you rest one there before you feed Darcy, that will help the milk flow, also massaging your breasts can help the milk flow and relieve a little pain."
Camryn nods, "thank you so so much, I really appreciate it."
"Oh of course, its my pleasure, you lot have a good rest of your night,"the doctor smiles and then turns to Anne, "and make sure that girl of yours" she points towards Camryn "gets a lot of rest in the next couple of days."
"Of course,"Anne smiles shaking the doctor's hand, "thank you so very much."
*******
"Thank you for taking me, mumma,"Camryn murmurs, her eyes almost closing as Anne helps her get comfortable in Harry's bed.
"Oh sweetheart, of course,"Anne says kissing her forehead gently and rubbing back her hair, "are you comfy? Have everything you need?" Anne looks over Camryn who has a warm washcloth over her breast, Darcy in her arms who she's about to attempt to feed and the blankets from Harry's bed across her lap.
Camryn nods, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall that the bed is pushed up against, "yeah, I'm good. Go get some sleep, I'm sorry for waking you."
"Never apologize, lovey,"Anne says kissing Camryn's forehead again, she can't help it, she just loves that little girl so much and is so proud of everything she's done in the past 10 months to step up to the plate of being a mumma, "I'm happy to help in anyway that I can."
"I love you,"Camryn whispers as Anne leans down to kiss Darcy's tiny cheek.
"I love you more,"Anne smiles as she turns off the lights, leaving the bedside lamp on and closing the door.
Harry hasn't gone back to sleep since Camryn called, he couldn't even if he tried, he's much to anxious. He's been texting Camryn almost nonstop begging for updates, so Camryn decides to FaceTime him.
Harry answers right away, he appears on the screen walking somewhere with a big smile on his face, "hi buggy, how are you?"
"Hi baby, I'm okay. Where are you going?"Camryn asks watching as he continues to walk.
Harry shuts a door behind him and then slides his back down a wall as he sits on the floor, "just outside the hotel room, the boys are all asleep and I didn't want to wake them up again. How was the hospital? Do they know what's wrong?"
"Yeah,"Camryn nods repositioning the cloth on her boob, "they said I have mastitis. Basically one or more of my milk ducts are clogged and they gave me antibiotics to help."
"Okay, okay,"Harry sighs in relief, "so it's not too serious right?"
"Nope,"Camryn shakes her head, "the doctor said it should clear up in about a week."
Harry smiles bringing the phone closer to his face, needing to feel closer to his girl, "Good good. I like your shirt."
"Oh this old thing,"Camryn jokes leaning her head down to look at a Pink Floyd t-shirt of Harry's that he gave to her before he left a week ago to wear whenever she missed him and needed his smell, "my boyfriend gave it to me. He's alright, I guess." Camryn winks at Harry as his dimples pop out in a smirk.
"Boyfriend? Wow! Is he handsome?"Harry plays along.
"Hmmm,"Camryn taps a finger to her chin and pretends to ponder his question, "I guess he's alright."
Harry chuckles shaking his head at Camryn, "I get the vibe that he's a douche."
Camryn exaggerates a big nod of her head and widens her eyes, "oh a big one. I don't know why I'm still with him honestly."
"Hmmm, sounds like you should break up with him,"Harry teases.
"Yeah, there's just one problem with that,"Camryn says.
"Oh really? And what's that,"Harry questions, trying to stifle his laughter.
"I'm kinda sorta really in love with him,"Camryn admits with a wink as Harry begins to blush uncontrollably.
"You know, I think he's kinda sorta really in love with you too,"Harry responds with a grin.
"You think?"
"Definitetly."
Camryn and Harry stare at each other for a second, just grinning at each other like goofballs. They've both missed each other more than they realize and today has made that very clear to them.
"Is it comfy?"Harry asks motioning towards the shirt.
"Very,"Camryn sighs taking in a deep breath of Harry's cologne that is clinging to the shirt, "it smells like you. Makes me want a cuddle."
Harry smiles slightly and holds up his wrist to show 2 black bracelets adorning it with Camryn and Darcy written on them, "I wear them all day. Sometimes I catch a glance of them when I'm on stage looking at the microphone and it makes me want to drop everything and call you guys right there on the stage."
Camryn pouts, looking at Harry and puckering her lips kissing the air in Harry's direction, "I miss you bubba."
"I miss you too. How's Darce?"
"She's good,"Camryn smiles down at Darcy who's being cradled in Camryn's left arm as she uses her right to hold up the phone, "we're going to try breastfeeding for the first time tonight. Poor thing is so hungry."
Harry grins widely as Camryn balances the phone in between her bent knees that are in front of her chest, allowing her to use both of her hands to help position Darcy and allowing Harry to get a full view of both of his girls.
Camryn gently takes her left boob in her hand and guides it towards a ravenous Darcy who immediately latches on and begins sucking. She hisses as Darcy sucks harder and her boob throbs.
"Okay?"Harry checks.
Camryn nods, her head is thrown agains the wall as she bites down on her lip, "it really hurts."
"I'm sorry, baby,"Harry frowns. His heart hurts. He should be there. He should be there to hold them both as they go through this, but he's not and he's never hated himself more than in this moment. Screw the concerts, this is his family, his girls, and they are so much more important. It's the first time he's ever had to leave them before and he promises to himself to never do it again, even though he knows he won't be able to keep that promise. It's the price he has to pay for his job.
"I wish I was there, I miss you,"Harry says beginning to get teary eyed as he watches the back of Darcy's head.
Camryn opens her eyes as soon as she realizes how tight Harry's voice has gotten, "baby, no no. Don't cry. It's okay, please don't cry."
Harry sniffles as tears roll down his cheeks, "I just miss you guys so much. I shouldn't be here. I don't want to be here. I only want to be here if you're here."
"Sweetheart, you'll be home in two days. It's alright, we get to see each other so soon!"Camryn smiles trying to evoke a bit of hope into Harry.
"But, I've already missed so much,"Harry says as he begins to cry harder looking at his baby girl who looks so much bigger than she was when he left her just 7 days ago. She's not noticeably bigger, in fact the only reason why Camryn knows she's grown in the past week is because Anne weighed her yesterday in an old scale that she dug out from when Harry and Gemma were babies. She's a whooping 6 pounds 9 ounces, a little thing who's only gained a pound and an ounce since she was born 5 weeks ago. However, Harry's mind doesn't see that. To him, it seems like she's gained 10 pounds since he left a week ago.
"Bub, you really haven't missed that much,"Camryn assures Harry, hopelessly trying to calm him down, "I promise. She's still the same Darcy as when you left. She sleeps a ton and eats and poops and that's about it."
"She hasn't smiled yet,"Harry checks. That was the main thing he was worried about missing while on this short week tour.
"Nope,"Camryn grins as she watches relief wash over Harry's face, "I think she's waiting for her daddy to pull some funny faces when he gets home."
"Deal,"Harry grins, his dimples appearing for a split second, "I still wish I was with you two, though."
"Harry,"Camryn frowns, the conversation helping to take her mind off of her breast that feels like its being chopped off, "you're living your dream, baby. I'm so proud of you. Remember? This is your dream."
"It is,"Harry nods, "but it's not my biggest dream. My biggest dream was made 10 months ago."
Camryn inhales sharply, her eyes immediately filling with tears as she looks at Harry as he whispers, "you guys are my biggest dream."
"I love you,"Camryn whispers back.
"Forever,"Harry replies kissing the screen.
Darcy unlatches from Camryn's boob, satisfied with how much she got from that one and blinks up at Camryn.
"Well hi, little missus,"Camryn coos running a finger down Darcy's downy cheek, "did you finish eating just in time to say bye bye to daddy so he can get some sleep?"
Darcy gurgles up at Camryn and Camryn picks her up from her under arms to position her so that she's sitting up towards the phone.
"Hi, squish,"Harry grins as wide as possible as his baby girl gurgles and reaches her hands towards the screen, "hi, babe. I miss you. Yeah, daddy misses you so much. I'm gonna be home to give you cuddles and loves so soon."
"Say 'I can't wait daddy!'"Camryn coos in a baby voice, pressing her cheek against Darcy's and smiling at Harry.
"I love you both,"Harry smiles at his two girls, his heart is fuller than it has been this whole week, "so so much."
"We love you too, daddy,"Camryn smiles.
"Mwah,"Harry says exaggerating a kiss and blowing it towards Darcy and Camryn.
Camryn brings Darcy's tiny palm to her milk covered lips, presses them together and then pulls them away also exaggerating a "mwah!"
They hang up and Harry sighs, dropping the phone in his lap as he rests the back of his head against the wall. He can't do this. This isn't what he signed up for. If Darcy wasn't in the picture then this would be no problem. He absolutely loves performing and being around the fans and being with the boys, but not if it comes at the price of missing his daughter's life. He realizes he needs to find a way to fix this because he's never leaving his two girls again. No matter what. He doesn't know if his heart could take it.
TO FOLLOW HARRY AND THE STYLES CHILDREN THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL HEAD OVER TO MY OTHER STORY "Family Forever Teenage Years"!!!!
FOR CAMRYN AND HARRY'S INSTAGRAM POSTS HEAD OVER TO MY OTHER STORY "Family Forever Instagram"
Okay tour Harry being away from baby Darcy and Camryn really got me in my feels!!
I hope you enjoyed!! Thank you for reading!! MWAH!!!