A/N: hey guys! Thanks as always for the love, patience and support for this book. I really read every comment so watching you guys interact with it means the world

I love it so much in fact that I have a Twitter account now where i post sneak peeks, update info and perhaps a spoiler or two

https://twitter.com/scarwattpad

@scarwattpad

And also! In honour of the instagrams that I made getting shut down (still pissed about that btw)

I MADE ELENA A TWITTER ACCOUNT !

It's been a lot of fun reliving sugar baby as Elena through tweets and photos. Soon enough the Twitter will be all caught up to where it is now and she can perhaps post cryptic clues about what will be in future updatesssss or Just cute pics or messages.

give it a follow ! https://twitter.com/elenarosegraham

@elenarosegraham

Harry's P.O.V

"Everything okay?" I half chuckle while rubbing Elena's back as she continues to hug herself close to me. Does she not like the banner? I thought she'd like me making a big deal about her moving back in, it's a pretty big deal to me.

"Yeah I'm fine, it's just been a really long day" She assures me with a small sigh, pulling herself away only slightly before leaning her forehead against my chest.

"How'd it go at school?" I ask instead, giving the top of her head a small kiss before she steps back completely and takes a sip of her wine before peeling off her denim jacket.

"It was fine, they invited me out to get a drink after we were done but I said no and now I'm just paranoid that I'll be left out. Like they'll all get super close and then it will just be me on the outside" She sighs defeated as she sits down on the couch, one of her legs folded up underneath her and the other stretched out in front of her. I sit down on the opposite end and listen.

"I'm sure there will be more opportunities to go out with them in the future, you have the rest of the semester to befriend them" I tell her. She props her head up with one of her hands and nods along as I speak. Always so self conscious, so paranoid, I don't know if there's even a lot I can do about that at this point it's so engraved into her personality.

"You're right, and you'll be happy to know that I used the boyfriend excuse so they know that I have a boyfriend" Her lips quirk up into a small smile as she states her excuse proudly. Brilliant, now all interested parties in her study group know that she's off limits. Maybe this will go smoother than it did with Ryan and Luke, perhaps I don't need to be the overbearing boyfriend and step in for her.

"Well done darling" I tell her, a small grin appearing on my lips. "But surely it's not an excuse if it's the truth?" I ask. She bites down on her bottom lip for half a second before she shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly.

"I was due at my therapists office instead" She tells me rather quietly before taking another sip of the wine in her hand. Oh, am I allowed to ask about that? Or is that intruding?

"How was that?" I ask after taking a small breath.

"It was fine, we talked a bit about my mum" She shrugs her shoulders. Claudia being released will be a really great thing, but I can imagine it will also be stressful for Elena considering all that she's gone through with her mum.

"Did you talk about your panic attacks?" I inquire, watching as she circles her fingertip around the rim of the wine glass.

"Yeah we did, that was a fucking intense conversation" She sighs and puts her glass down on the coffee table, suddenly looking very exhausted as she runs a hand through her hair.

"What did she say?" I ask.

"She doesn't think they're completely related to my schoolwork. That although the increased stress may have triggered them to start happening, they might not go away once I get on top of my work" She replies with a heavy sigh, lifting up her head to look at me. I don't know if I've ever seen her look so distraught and exhausted at the same time. What does this mean? That she's going to have these panic attacks for the rest of her life? No fucking way.

"What does she recommend you do about them?" I ask softly, running a hand over the top of her lower leg, it's the nearest part of her to me. Elena leans over the side of the couch and pulls out a small bottle of pills, handing them to me.

XANAX

"She gave me a prescription for it and if I feel one coming on I should take one and see how it makes me feel. I got it filled on the way here" She responds, her voice flat and heavy as I examine the bottle in my hand. How am I supposed to react to this? Do I say 'fuck yeah medication!' Or do I try and convince her not to take them? I don't know how she feels about it, I don't even know how I feel about it.

"Do you want to do that?" I ask as I hand the bottle back to her, she reluctantly takes it and puts it beside her wine glass and shrugs her shoulders.

"I really don't know. I've heard of Xanax before, but the way she talked about me needing them was different. I googled this, they give these to people with anxiety disorders. You know, people who are afraid of pretty much everything in life. That's not me" She says defensively, eyeing the bottle out of the corner of her eye.

"I don't disagree" I tell her gently. "But I do think that you have experienced a lot more than most other people have, and that's given you a bit of anxiety" I continue as gently as I can. I'd say that's probably a huge understatement, and I used to think that Elena had handled it really well. She considers my words and nods slightly, swallowing a small lump in her throat.

"I don't want to be one of those people" She states rather sadly, pointing to the medicine bottle. "I don't want to be completely dependent on something to feel normal, or to get addicted to them and not be myself anymore" Her eyes are beginning to become glassy, and she's looking everywhere but at me.

"Hey, come on" I say as I lean forward and take a hold of her arm, pulling her up off of the sofa. She sits up and crawls over to my end, laying her head flat against my chest as I wrap one of my arms around her waist and gently stroke her hair. "It's going to be okay bub" I tell her softly.

"You don't know that" She replies, her tone uneven and upset. My first instinct is to tell her to drop out of her university course to see if that helps it go away on its own. But I can't do that. She's committed, and she's so close. I can't let her run from this kind of shit, I need to help her go through it instead.

"No maybe I don't, but I'm not going anywhere if that helps" I say quietly, giving the top of her head a soft kiss.

"It does help" She tells me with a small sniffle, I swear I can hear a small smile in her words.

"You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. If you want to try this pill route then you should do it, if you don't then go back to your therapist and tell her to give you some other options." I tell her as I stroke her hair. She nods her head slowly and hugs herself tighter against me.

"I love you" She mumbles into my chest.

"I love you too baby" I tell her. "What do you say we order in and watch a movie, your choice for both" I say as I rub her back. Elena nods and sits up slightly, her eyes slightly bloodshot and her cheeks a soft pink.

"I really feel like Chinese" She says somewhat shyly, her smile slowly returning as she leans forward to pick up the remote for the TV. I take my phone out of my pocket and find the Uber eats app and hand it to her once she finishes scrolling through Netflix. Apparently we're going to watch a TV show with quite an interesting name.

"I promise it's really funny, you'll like it" She says with a small upbeat reassurance, leaning over to kiss my cheek before handing my phone back to me. I order myself some food before placing my phone back down on the coffee table and turning my attention back to Elena.

Her head is laid across my chest, her arms stretched out and hugging me around the waist. She's anchored herself to me like I'm a life raft and she's adrift in the middle of the sea. I brush my fingers through her hair, hoping to soothe her mind and calm her thoughts.

I know unboxing all of this stuff that she has had locked away for years can't be much fun, but I also know that this is necessary for her to do. If she left it all in the box, eventually it would all spill out everywhere and who knows what the fall out would be. It happened once, and she left me, so I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure she doesn't feel like that's her only option again.

She thinks that all this stuff really bothers me, like her mental health is something that will make her seem less attractive or desirable in my eyes. She couldn't be more wrong. I'm in this for all of it; home stretch, long haul, white picket fence, happy ending. So whatever it is she is dealing with and needs my help with I'm in, I'm 1000% in.

"I love that you got me a banner" Elena mumbles some time later, her head tucked away under my chin as we continue watching this series. It's actually quite funny, and she really seems to enjoy it. The food has come and gone, the leftovers sitting on the coffee table in front of us. Neither of us have really made any moves to clear it up or sit differently. She needs the comfort, and I enjoy comforting her, and sometimes I think I might need it more than she does.

"I thought it was something that should be celebrated" I tell her in response. My girl came home for good, I should have done a lot more than a fucking banner but I thought best not to over do it.

"It should be, and I came in here all doom and gloom. I was in a good mood before my appointment" Elena says rather sullenly.

"But you need to tell me when you feel like that. That's what we're doing, when something is bothering us we talk about it rather than keeping it to ourselves" I remind her. We could have avoided a lot of angry conversations and all that time spent apart if we had just talked more about what was going on.

"Don't you sound like an after school special" She giggles softly as her fingertips drift over the back of my hand.

"Tune in next week where I tell you all about the dangers of drugs" I say sarcastically. My chest rattles as she lets out a small laugh, turning her chin up to look up at me. From this angle I could pinpoint all the freckles on her cheeks.

"It's all going to be okay" I tell her reassuringly, lifting my hand up to brush away some of her hair that hangs across her face. She deeply sighs, the corners of her lips slowly lifting upwards.

"Thank you" She quietly whispers to me.

————————————————————————

"Long time no talk H!" Mitch says after I answer the phone, I saw I had missed a call from him earlier in the day and hadn't had the chance to get back to him yet.

"We talked a few weeks ago, what's up?" I say as I exit the Arcadia corporate offices and walk out towards where John has parked the car.

"Just wanted to check if you were going to that Save the Children thing tonight? Sarah and I are in town and it would be great if we knew someone else who was going. Plus Sarah is dying to see Elena again" Mitch replies. I check my watch and curse to myself, I'd completely forgotten about this event tonight, and it starts in a couple of hours.

"Shit we are supposed to be there but I only just remembered, it's been a hectic couple of weeks" I respond as I climb into the back of the car and hold my hand up to John, telling him to wait before I put my phone on speaker and start a text to Elena:

'Where are you right now? X'

I hit send as Mitch finishes speaking.

"You forgetting things, that's not like you, think you'll make it?" He asks.

"We're going to try" I reply before ending the conversation with Mitch. The speech bubble on Elena's side of the screen appears. I hate putting my name down for an event and then not attending, especially when it's some kind of auction or fundraiser. It makes you look cheap and uncharitable, which is not a rumour I would like to be spread around town.

Elena 🌻💖

'The library, studying with some friends. How's your day going ? X'

"University of London library" I tell John, who immediately nods and switches the car back on before seamlessly pulling into traffic.

It's not a long drive by any standards, but it is when we're now under a time crunch. I could get Elena to cut her study group short and come to meet me out front, but I'm eager to meet some of these people she's hanging out with all the time. It's not a jealousy or a possessive thing, it's just me wanting to know who my girlfriend is spending a large amount of her time with.

John pulls up out front and I walk quickly through the main entrance, finding the heavy oak doors leading into the library with great ease thanks to a lot of rather helpful signage.

I can imagine how finding a girl with brown hair would be hard to do in a packed university library but not for me, I can spot my bub anywhere. She and a guy with short black hair almost completely shaven are huddled together at a couple of desks near the edge of the room. Her new laptop is open in front of her as she appears to be reading something aloud from the screen, while he is staring intently at her lips, mother fucker, we better not have another Luke or Ryan on our hands. Also she said she was studying with friends, there's only one other person sitting at the table with her. I'm not trying to jump to conclusions but if she was just studying with one person why wouldn't she just tell me?

As I approach the set of desks, she registers me and stops talking, a look of shock immediately present before a wide grin sweeps across her features, fucking hell I'd do just about anything for that smile.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asks me with quiet enthusiasm as she climbs out of her chair and walks around the desks and stands up on her toes to press a kiss to my lips.

"Just coming to pick you up" I tell her with a soft smirk. I can feel the pricks eyeballs on me as her arms wrap around my waist, hugging herself to my side. She's so wrapped up in me that she hasn't even introduced me to whoever this prick is, which just means that I get to.

"I'm Harry, the boyfriend" I tell him with a smug grin, not bothering to extend my hand before I kiss the top of her head.

"Matt, study partner. We were actually in the middle of some work and our friends are coming to join us, do you mind waiting?" He says as he leans backwards in his chair, the ghost of a smirk on his face. Matt the Twat thinks I'm going to wait around until he's 'done' hanging out with my girlfriend....wonder how this will work out for him.

"Actually no, we have some dinner plans that we need to get ready for" I tell him, giving him a cursory glance before I focus my attention back on my girl. Elena raises an eyebrow at me, the smile still brightly lighting up her face.

"I'll get packed up, sorry Matt, you guys can just go on without me" Elena turns out of my grasp and walks back over to her side of the desk, picking up her black bag and beginning to place books and her laptop back into it. Just as she's about cleared up, a shorter girl with frizzy blonde hair appears by our group of desks.

"Sorry I'm late, shoot are you both leaving?" She asks in a breathy voice as she looks between both Elena and the Twat.

"No just me I'm sorry, but you and Matt can study together. Jess this is my boyfriend Harry, Harry this is Jess" Elena points between the two of us as she pulls her bag onto her shoulder and collects up the denim jacket from the back of her chair. Jess looks up at me slightly frazzled and swallows a lump in her throat before tucking some hair behind her ear and giving me her best smile.

"Nice to meet you, although I feel like I know you from somewhere, have we met before?" She asks in a calm and silky voice as Elena reappears by my side and takes my hand. I get this sort of thing a lot, I'm in the society pages quite often so people think that they have seen me somewhere but can't quite place me, I always have the same answer.

"No, I just have one of those faces. Ready to go bub?" I tell her matter-of-factly before I turn my attention back to Elena, who nods and waves to her friends as we walk back out towards the exit. I risk one glance back and am rewarded to see a now sullen looking Matt nodding as an excited Jess takes the now empty seat directly next to him.

"What are these dinner plans we have to rush off for?" Elena asks as I push open the door with my free hand and retrace my steps back out to where I've left John with the car.

"Some charity event I completely forgot about, sorry about pulling you away from your friends" I say in response, it only just dawning on me now that I deprived my stressed out girlfriend of valuable study time.

"No it's fine, I was more helping him than he was helping me so I'm kind of happy to be out of there. Besides, I would always rather be spending time with you anyway" She tells me quietly as we walk out into the fresh afternoon air. What a wonderful couple of sentences; Matt is stupid and she likes being with me more than anyone else, lucky me. Uphead, John must see us coming as he has climbed out of the car and is now standing by the back passenger door ready to open it for Elena to get in.

"John!" Elena warmly greets John as we get closer to the awaiting car. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever" She wraps him in a hug, one that I don't think he was expecting. He looks quite caught off guard before shooting me a look, I shrug my shoulders and give him a small smile and before long he's hugging her back.

"Yes it has been a while Miss Graham, it's lovely to see you" he mumbles politely as she climbs into the car. He gives me a curt nod before closing the door after her and climbing into the drivers seat.

"You never answered my text earlier, how was your day?" Elena asks after she puts on her seatbelt and sits her bag down on the floor by her feet.

"Boring, the usual stuff just with more incompetent people" I tell her with a small shrug. Construction is well underway for our new hotel in Shanghai, but aside from that there's nothing very new or exciting to report. I spend my days getting told about minor problems like unmotivated staff or debates about renegotiating the rates of our rooms.

"How come it's boring?" Elena asks with concern.

"It's a well established business, there doesn't need to be a whole lot of creativity or change. So much so that I've started trying to find problems just so I can fix them like changing our menu in the restaurants or ripping out the downstairs bar to start it from scratch" I vent in slight frustration. I used to have so much fun with this sort of thing. I can be a competitive person sometimes and I like improving on myself

"Well if you're not enjoying it then maybe there's something else within the business that you could get involved in?" Elena replies, sweetly brushing her fingertips over my hand.

"Like what? Work as a bellboy?" I turn my head and smirk at her. She giggles and shakes her head, yes I can imagine that picturing me in a uniform running around other people would be rather amusing.

"Now that would be funny. I don't know anything about running a hotel, but surely there's something else you could be doing to make it fun" She suggests as John turns around a corner.

"It's not always as simple as that" I say with a shrug.

"It should be, you have more money than you'll ever need, if you want to do something with the hotels that you're interested in doing who cares if it loses money" Elena's tone remains upbeat.

"I should take you to a shareholder meeting, it would be fun to watch the other partners turn red when you say things like 'who cares if it loses money'" I say with a small chuckle I'm unable to hold back. Her eyes roll upwards as we pull up to the hotel.

"Just saying, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a little fun" She tells me with a smile before we both climb out of the car, effectively ending the conversation.

————————————————————————

"So what event is this exactly?" Elena asks from the depths of the closet as I finish shaving my chin.

"It's a charity auction for Save The Children, there will be a bunch of items we can bid on" I call back to her before I wash my face and walk back into the bedroom, taking my suit off it's hanger and laying it on the bed.

"Sounds like a good excuse to spend some of your money" I hear her gleefully exclaim as I pull on my pants.

"Exactly, please do" I respond with a slight chuckle as I pull on a shirt. "Oh, and guess who will be joining us" I say with glee. A small silence fills the room before the faint sound of heels starts to grow louder. Elena suddenly appears in the doorway of the closet, a long dress of lilac purple silk hugging her frame as her hands raise up to fasten a pair of golden earrings to her earlobes.

"Who?" She asks, oblivious to how radiant she looks, her forehead creased with slightly concern. My eyes trail down her body, fucking hell i'm a lucky son of a bitch. She follows my eyes and rolls her own. "Come on quit leaving me in suspense, who's joining us?"

"Mitch and Sarah. They're in the middle of their move back to London and are in town for a couple of weeks" I tell her, watching as the smile lifts up her cheek bones. I'm glad her and Sarah have gotten on so well, I trust her a lot more than I do some of the other socialites she seems to be surrounded by.

"Yay! It will be good to catch up with them!" Elena exclaims excitedly as she holds on to the wall with one hand and attaches a pair of silver heels to each of her feet.

"Nearly ready?" I ask with a nod as I fasten the pair of cuff links to my wrist and pick up my jacket off of the bed. Elena runs her fingers through her hair, having spent an inordinate amount of time curling it so that it falls in soft waves down her back.

"Ready as I'll ever be" She says as she turns to me.

"You look exquisite" I tell her, placing my hands on her hips and allowing my eyes to wander down her figure. She lifts her hand up and readjusts my tie, straightening it out against my chest. Her cheeks flush at my words, I like that I can still make her blush.

"And you look very handsome. I do miss your stubble already" She pouts playfully, brushing her fingertips softly against my freshly shaved jaw line.

"It'll grow back. Now come on we don't want to show up late" I tell her as I take her hand, leading her out of the bedroom, down the stairs and into the elevator.

————————————————————————

"Elena!" A loud voice booms to our left after we enter the ballroom. Sarah and Mitch are standing at the bar with drinks in hand, both of them dressed in their formal attire. Mitch is in a black suit and a bow tie while Sarah's long red dress skims across the floor as she walks over to Elena, wrapping her in a tight hug.

"I've missed you girl!" Sarah claims as she wraps her arms around Elena and tightly hugs her. I think the only person who might be more excited to see Elena than Sarah would be Charlie, well my whole family actually, and me.

"Missed you too! Good to see you too Mitch" Elena responds just as excitedly after breaking off from her hug from Sarah and hugging Mitch just as tightly.

"Good to see you mate" I tell Mitch as I shake his hand after giving Sarah a quick hug.

"Glad you two could make it. Should we go check out what's up for auction?" Mitch suggests to all of us. The ballroom is split into two sections; the upstairs area houses all of the auction items and overlooks the downstairs area where tables are set out along with an open area for dancing. I just know that at some point Elena's going to drag me out onto that dance floor, the thought makes me smile.

"Absolutely, time to drop some serious money" Sarah says as she threads an arm through Elena's and begins to lead us all towards the items.

"All in the name of charity of course" Elena adds with a hint of sarcasm.

"One thousand percent, all about the kids" Sarah giggles as she and Elena hurry off ahead, leaving Mitch and I to trail behind.

"How was the rest of the States?" Mitch asks as we make a quick stop by the bar to get a drink for myself.

"It was great, really relaxing apart from doing all the touristy stuff" I say as the waiter sets the drink up on the bar for me to collect.

"Shit, tourist attractions in the summertime? You poor son of a bitch" Mitch mutters with a hint of humour.

"It wasn't so bad. It was Elena's first time so you kind of have to do all the obligatory tourist sights. She loved it" I respond as I take a small sip of my whiskey. Mitch cocks his head to the side and smirks gently.

"It's so weird seeing you this way" He states before taking a quick look at a weekend on a boat up for sale.

"What kind of way?" I ask, slightly perplexed.

"Like a guy going through a regular relationship. I mean, you dated your way around in high school, but Elena is kind of your first serious girlfriend" Mitch states, as though it couldn't be more obvious. It only then dawns on me in that moment that Elena is my first serious relationship. Here I was thinking that I was the one in the relationship who was more developed in this area, but I guess we are both relatively new to the relationship game.

"Guess your right. But how is it weird?" I ask after giving him a slight shrug. I don't know if weird would have been the word that I would have used.

"I just didn't think I'd ever see you get to this place, or if you did it would be when you were in your 50's. Like George Clooney. But I'm so glad that you're here now, and that you've done it with Elena" Mitch says with a tone of delight that we don't usually talk with.

"As am I, and I'd hope you'd stop me from settling down with someone who wasn't completely genuine" I tell him. I crane my head up to see Elena and Sarah across the room, gazing intently at a series of artworks hung a makeshift white wall. Elena's picked up a glass of wine from somewhere, holding it delicately as she focuses in on a large canvas. To me it just looks like splatters, something that Charlie could probably do given the right tools, but I can only imagine how Elena would be seeing it. Knowing her, my clever and creative bub, she sees a whole world on that canvas that I couldn't imagine even in my wildest dreams.

"I'm sorry I nearly choked on my beer did you just use the phrase 'settling down with'?" Mitch's words bring my attention back to the conversation at hand. It seems to always be such a shock to those around me that I've actually become serious with Elena, probably because for the last decade I've just jumped from girl to girl when things get boring or threaten to become more serious. But with Elena the whole thing has been flipped in reverse

"That's what we're ultimately heading towards" I say with a nod as I have a quick read through of a weekend in Edinburgh up for auction.

"Well I'm glad to hear it. Just promise me you won't get married before me and Sarah, because she is one step away from marching me up the aisle" He says with a slight chuckle. I think I've lost count of just how long they have been engaged, every time I look through my mail I'm expecting to find a save the date.

"Why have you two just not done it yet?" I ask. He gives me a half arsed shrug.

"Because that's not really how weddings work mate" He answers sheepishly. This is the thing about Mitch, he's not super big on following through.

"Why not? Like I get that they're supposed to be a really special day and you and Sarah have very different tastes but surely there are somethings you could just agree on?" I try my hand at encouraging him. If he's not careful Sarah could get tired of waiting, and Sarah's awesome, he'll never find another girl like her.

"At this point we can't even decide on the location let alone everything else" Mitch replies with a huff.

"Don't do a destination wedding people hate destination weddings. Unless you want to seriously cut down on the guest list by weeding out all of those who are too cheap to buy flights and book accomodation" I groan and keep circling around the room with him. I can hear him slightly laugh before he speaks again.

"And how do you know all of this?"

"When my sister was planning her wedding she considered doing a destination wedding for about half a second, those were mums points" I recall. Gemma was always pretty set on the little church, but Gemma is a planner and likes to explore other solutions or scenarios before making a decision.

"So you're telling me to just bite the bullet and do it?" Mitch asks before taking one big sip of his beer. Surely I'm not the first person to talk him through planning his wedding, I would imagine Sarah's family trying to hurry the two of them down the aisle.

"Yes, if you want to get married then just fucking get married. Hell, round up your closest relatives and stick them in the backyard or take them down to city hall to act as witnesses. Throw a party later" I tell him firmly. Sometimes he just needs a kick up the arse to get him moving.

"I can't actually believe that you are having such a calm and rational conversation about marriage. No talk about running for the hills or jokes of bidding farewell to my happiness and joy." He says with a chuckle. For a split second I consider telling him about my recent thoughts of proposing to Elena, but there's a risk he might mention it to Sarah and she can be such a loose canon with information sometimes.

"I've finally matured" I respond with a small chuckle just as Elena and Sarah join us at the top of the stairs.

"Got your eye on a few things bub?" I ask as we begin to ascend down the stairs in search of our table.

"Perhaps, I'll give your hand a squeeze when I find something you can get me for my birthday" She grins up at me as she wraps her hand around my upper arm. I know she's probably joking, but I would love if she actually did that. Sarah and Mitch carry on ahead of us and reach the table first, settling into their seats as Elena and I weave our way around mingling guests and clusters of tables.

"Mate, I've got a proposition for you and I've been wanting to talk to you about it all night but I think I just have to do it" Mitch announces as I arrive at the round table with Elena by my side. I settle into the seat beside Elena as she sits between myself and Sarah.

"Oh boy, what?" I ask with a half chuckle. Mitch is kind of a loose cannon when it comes to investments and business plans. And by that, I mean he doesn't do any research or planning whatsoever, just throws money and people at whatever he's interested in and crosses his fingers. I couldn't work more in the opposite direction; I look at data, trends, markets, growth potential, and yes it's boring but it's necessary if you want to make money.

"You and me, setting up a label in London" He states with remarkable confidence. Sarah looks enthusiastically impressed with him, Elena just looks somewhat confused.

"A record label?" I clarify with disbelief. He's been very successful in the States, he shouldn't need my financial backing in this.

"No, a printshop where we make labels." He says as his eyes roll and his words drip with sarcasm. "Yes a record label! Equal partnership, 50/50"

"Why do you want me in on this?" I ask, genuinely confused. I used to love making music, I used it more as a way to blow off steam whereas Mitch figured out a way to make money with it. I gave him financial backing years ago to help him get started in LA because I believed in him, I knew how good he was. He's pitched this to me a few times, but not quite with the determination I'm seeing right now.

"Because we're the dream team! You're the business head and I'm the creative genius. You keep me responsible and I help you to take a few risks, we've always been like that. Plus you love music, and you're bloody good at it" Mitch beams at me before he turns to Elena.

"Did you know that we were in a band together all through high school? Wrote our own music, played gigs, the school even had a little fan club for us" He tells her with glee. Elena turns to me in utter surprise, a grin quickly sweeping across her features.

"How has this never come up!?" She asks. I shrug my shoulders, I figured my mum would have told her at some point but she's been very preoccupied trying to convince Elena to marry me and give her more grandbabies.

"Not sure, with all the snooping of my childhood bedroom I figured you would have found my Battle of the Bands trophy" I tell her with a smirk.

"You won Battle of the Bands?" She gasps.

"Twice" Mitch answers her question before taking a sip of his beer.

"Band name?" Elena begins to speed round questions directed at Mitch, who is all too pleased to be answering them.

"White Eskimo, don't ask why neither of us can remember" He tells her with a grin. It's true, we've talked about it a few times, it's like one day we just had a band name and we couldn't remember who came up with it or what it means.

"Who else was in the band?" She asks.

"Max, this guy named Rex that moved to Bristol in our final year of high school and Dave, you heard from Dave?" Mitch aims the last half of the question to me.

"No, not since we left school. And before you ask yes it is the Max that you've met" I tell Elena. Max and Elena have met a few times, he's responsible for most of the artwork I have in my possession, including a piece Elena picked herself last year.

"This is blowing my mind right now" Elena tells me with a small grin. "Please tell me you sung" Her eyes go slightly wide, I shrug my shoulders and give her a small smirk.

"We all sung a little" I tell her as her mouth falls open slightly in shock and awe.

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One auction and a pretty decent dinner later, the band has begun to pick up steam. I purchased a few items; a weekend stay at a castle in Edinburgh (Elena mentioned that she had never been before) and a spa weekend package that I thought Elena and Heather could maybe use. Even Elena bought a couple of things including an exclusive golfing package. I was very confused when she started bidding on it, only for her to remind me that I had promised to teach her how to play. It seems we both spent the whole time competing with the others in the room to buy each other stuff.

More people join the small but growing crowd on the dance floor. I hear Elena gently sigh before she rests her head delicately on my shoulder.

"One dannncceeeeee?" She asks with a soft whine, it's so sweet and delicate, and she expects me to say no to her?

"Alright, one dance" I say, much to her surprise as she quickly gets to her feet and waits for me to stand. Mitch breaks off his conversation with Sarah and raises his hands.

"That's all it took? I would have expected more of a fight from you Styles" He muses as Elena takes my hand and begins to try and drag me towards the dance floor, evidently afraid I'll change my mind.

"Why fight it" I reply with a shrug and a small smile. Mitch too, shrugs his shoulders and waves me off.

"Guess you're right, happy wife happy life" He calls out as Elena continues to lead me to the dance floor by my hand. Happy wife? I haven't told him about buying Elena a ring, does he know something or am I reading too much into this? Fuck I hope she can't feel my palms beginning to sweat.

We stop at the edge of the other dancers and begin to slowly sway as I hold her close to my chest, I used to hate dancing, now it's not so bad.

"You've been a little quiet" I state as I intertwine my fingers with one of her hands, the other resting on my shoulder.

"Just been thinking" She replies with a small smile, angling her chin upwards to look directly at me. I only really notice our difference in height when we stand close together like this, she is short my bub.

"What about?" I ask curiously. She hesitates for a moment before answering, breaking off eye contact momentarily to glance around the ballroom before directing her attention back up to me.

"Don't you think it's a little weird that I didn't know about you being in a band?" She asks me quietly.

"No, why would it be weird?" I ask, I never brought it up and my family must not have mentioned it, it doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

"Because as close as we are there still seems to be a lot about each other that we don't know." She answers. We are close, there are many moments that I think that she knows me the best out of everyone I've ever known. But she doesn't know everything about me. I don't think anyone can know everything about a person, everyone has their little secrets they keep or stories they just haven't gotten around to telling yet.

"But isn't that a good thing? That we learn new things about each other often. You have to agree it would be pretty boring if we knew everything about one another" I reply, pulling her closer still against my chest.

"I guess so" She replies quietly. "That just seems like something important. I'm always talking about my childhood stuff, you should open up more about yours" She says, a slight pleading look in her eyes.

"Uh oh time to spin" I say with a grin as I lift up her hand and encourage her to spin under my arm. She laughs softly.

"Harry Styles you cannot spin me to escape a conversation" She tries to reprimand me, unable to stop the giggling. I pull her back in close to me.

"Fine, I'll talk more" I say, my lips pressed against her temple before I give her a soft kiss on the forehead. She sighs happily in my arms and we continue to sway, until she breaks the silence with her quiet words.

"So, what kind of music did White Eskimo make?" She inquires.

"Rock'n'Roll baby, and whatever they requested we sing at weddings or birthday parties." I tell her, to which she grins up at me and squeezes the hand that grasps her own.

"Please tell me there are video tapes"

"Burned and buried" I reply flatly. I know full well that mum has some tapes downstairs at her house, I'll have to somehow destroy them before we go up there next time and Elena asks for herself.

"Can I have a White Eskimo reunion for my birthday?" She asks with a wide cheeky grin.

"Not a chance" I say before I place a kiss on the bridge of her nose. I didn't know that there was a limit to what I would do for Elena's birthday, but now we've found it, public singing is a big no for me.

"Fine then, what do you think of Mitch's proposition?" She asks, changing the subject swiftly.

"Mitch is a dreamer, I am a realist." I tell her with a sigh, hoping that it answers her question enough without us having to go into it. Unfortunately, I know that's not how Elena works.

"But don't you think it might be fun?" Her eyes sparkle up at me as she asks the question.

"Fun?" I ask.

"Yeah, fun. You know, that thing that people try to have from time to time that brings forth feelings of enjoyment and happiness" She jokes slightly, little goofball. I play along, I never used to be good at doing that.

"Ah yes, fun. It could be fun, it could also be a spectacular disaster both in business and our friendship" I tell her as the song ends, a new one starting quickly thereafter. Technically, I've fulfilled my promise of one dance, but I find myself still swaying, no desire to go back to our seats anytime soon.

"Do you really think you'd fall out over it?" She asks, her forehead slightly creased. Mitch and I falling out would be pretty devastating, but our friendship has been so long standing I struggle to think of what would cause us to severely clash like that.

"No I doubt that, I just mean that all of our conversations would be about work. There'd be no separation of the two" I reply. You see it all the time; two friends going into business to ultimately lose their friendship to the numbers and the meetings.

"But then on the other hand, you could be going into business with one of your best friends to create something really amazing for the both of you. Like what we were talking about today" Elena replies, always the optimist.

"You really want me to do this? I thought all this time you had been telling me to scale back the amount of work I do." She's been harping on about scaling back my workload since pretty much the day I met her.

"I want you to at least consider it if you think it would make you happy. Because that's all I want for you. Filthy rich or dirt poor , if you're happy then I'm on board" She tells me sweetly and softly, her words confirming what I always feel is true. If my fortune fell away not many people would stick around, but I know for sure she'd be there.

"I will consider it." I tell her with a small sigh and a nod, holding her close against my chest as another song ends and a new one begins to play. We keep dancing.

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The next morning I'm reading the paper at the kitchen island when I see some pictures from the photographers at the event last night have ended up in the paper, including one of Elena and I with a small section of writing attached:

Billionaire and Hotel Mogul Harry Styles with longtime girlfriend Elena Graham were in attendance last night. Sources close to the couple have said that they're "very serious" and are reportedly "planning a future together". Styles, who was once considered to be one of London's most eligible bachelors, has dated many young women during his time in the London social scene but is rarely seen with the same woman more than once. Graham, a business student at the university of London seen here in a Gucci lilac satin gown, has become quite a fixture of Styles' life.

I'm about to bring the paper in to show Elena while she works on an assignment when my phone starts to ring.

Gemma Styles

"Hello" I answer the call after a few rings. I can hear some chaos on the other side of the phone before my sisters voice begins to speak.

"Harry I need to ask you a huge massive favour" She sounds slightly puffed as she speaks.

"What's happened?" I immediately answer. Gemma is normally very in control, when she needs help she really does need it.

"Michael and I were planning to have a weekend away and mum was going to look after Charlie and Theo but she and Peter now both have the flu. Is there any chance you and Elena can look after them?" She asks. I look around my apartment and realise that it's a thousand percent not child friendly; there's wooden floors, glass tables, sharp edges and nothing for a child to play with in sight.

"You have been to my apartment before right?" I ask her as I open the fridge and take out a carton of orange juice as Elena walks into the room.

"Yes I know it's the ultimate bachelor pad and not suited for kids, we would bring down all of their stuff tonight and help set it all up. Pleeeeeassseee Harry I need this weekend" Gemma replies quickly. Elena raises an eyebrow and sits down at the kitchen counter. I bring the phone away from my mouth.

"Gemma wants us to take the kids for the weekend so she and Michael can get away" I whisper to her. Elena nods and holds her hand out, signalling for the phone. I hand it to her, unsure of what she's about to do.

"Hey Gem, of course we'll take the kids. Do you need us to drive up and get them or-" She cut off by what I can hear are the enthusiastic 'hoorays' of my sister at the other end of the phone, the response making Elena practically giddy.

"Alright perfect, see you then" Elena nods her head before the call disconnects and she slides the phone across the counter top towards me. "They'll be here in a couple of hours with all their stuff" She tells me casually.

"How are you so calm right now? You just signed us up for a full weekend of babysitting?" I ask her, genuinely perplexed. I would have thought that with all of her recent stress and anxiety that the last thing she would want is to spend the whole weekend running around after a toddler and a baby.

"What were you going to do, deprive your sister of what is probably a much needed vacation? She clearly trusts us to look after them, it might be fun" Elena answers with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"You really think we can do it?" I ask, I'm not trying to prompt any thoughts of doubt I'm just genuinely curious. Elena didn't have any siblings growing up and doesn't have any relatives or friend with kids yet so she's not got a whole lot of experience to explain this newfound confidence.

"I think we can keep two small humans alive and relatively happy for 48 hours. It's not going to be easy but it's totally possible, and this is kind of what we're supposed to do now that we're god parents right? Actually spend time with the kids?" She says with a soft smile.

"Guess so, just means that our relaxing weekend has gone out the window" I say with a small shrug. I guess we didn't really have anything planned so it's not that big of deal, plus at least this means she'll have to take a break from studying and working on assignments.

"We'll relax some other time" Elena replies with a small grin.

————————————————————————

"Thank you again so much for doing this you two, you have no idea how badly we both need this" Gemma says once more as Michael is playing with Charlie and Theo on some kind of bright play mat on the floor. Being the nerd that she is, Elena has been taking copious notes of all of Gemma's suggestions and instructions on feeding, bathing, sleep routines and playtime, it's at least three pages long.

"Of course, we are godparents after all" Elena tells her, finally looking up from her set of notes.

"You do realise that you're throwing us way into the deep end here?" I tell Gemma. I've looked after Charlie before, but never for this long and never on my own. Once when Charlie was around 5 months old, mum went to the store while Gemma was at work and left me alone with her. I accidentally burnt her milk and lost her favourite toy so she wouldn't stop crying until mum came back home. Needless to say that I've only become a 'reliable childcarer' since Elena and I started dating.

"Literally just keep them alive and in somewhat of the same condition as they're currently in for the next 48 hours. I don't care if Charlie sits and watches TV for nine hours straight everyday or if Theo is miserable the whole time. Just do what you have to do" Gemma reassures us both, giving me complete permission to sit with Charlie and watch mind numbing cartoons while Elena handles all the baby stuff, perfect.

"And if we have any problems we will call you or Anne, try and enjoy yourselves" Elena tells her sweetly. Gemma rushes over to say goodbye to both of the kids, snuggling her whole face into Theo's belly and hugging a mildly interested Charlie who has now acquired a colouring book and several markers from one of the multiple bags stacked against the wall.

"Thanks a lot you guys, call us if there's any issue" Michael says as he gives Elena a hug before shaking my hand.

"Have a good time Gem" I tell her as I wrap her in a hug. Honestly if anybody needs a vacation it's her and if I can help in some way then I should, and I will.

"Thank you both of you, you're the absolute best" Gemma praises us both before giving Elena the same tight hug she gave me, blowing one last kiss to both of the kids before joining Michael at the elevator. Elena walks over to the mat where Theo has been playing with a small rattle while lying on his back and gently scoops him up off of the floor.

"So TV all weekend!" I say with glee after the elevator whisks Gemma and Michael away on their weekend. Elena gently rocks Theo as he sits comfortably on her hip and shakes her head.

"Nope no way, the kids never spend any time in London we should take them to do some kid friendly sight seeing stuff" She tells me, watching as Charlie lies down on her stomach with an open colouring book and a series of markers. Is she out of her mind? She wants to leave the house with them?

"They brought us the car seats, doesn't mean we have to use them" I reply, watching as she quickly gathers her hair over one shoulder and out of Theo's grasp.

"Come on it will be fun, plus Gemma will love that we weren't total deadbeat babysitters" Elena smiles at Charlie and gives her a thumbs up as Charlie turns the colouring book around and shows her a terribly coloured in Disney princess.

"How about we ask Charlie?" I say with a smirk as I walk over to Charlie and crouch down beside her. "Charlie, do you want to watch TV all weekend or go out and do stuff?" I ask, giving her a small nod and a wink. I believe in this kid; Gemma doesn't give her a lot of TV time, she knows a good deal when she sees one.

"We could go to the aquarium, the museum, the playground..." Elena chimes in, igniting the sparkle in Charlie's eyes. Fuck, I've been bested.

"Playgwound!!!" Charlie squeals happily, sitting up on her knees. I turn to see Elena smugly smiling at me as Theo pulls at the necklace around her neck.

"Nice try Styles, Charlie has spoken" Her lips curl up into a smirk before she turns back to Charlie. "We'll go to the park tomorrow, right now Uncle Harry is going to make us all some dinner while we watch a movie" She tells her before walking over to the couch and sitting down on it. Charlie excitedly pulls herself up onto the couch and settles in next to her.

"I don't get to watch the movie?!" I ask with a chuckle, completely flabbergasted. Charlie giggles and so does Elena before she tilts her head to the side and smiles back at me.

"You can, once you get us some dinner" She says sweetly, puckering her lips out towards me. I shake my head, trying to stop myself from grinning but completely and utterly fail as I walk over to her and kiss her softly. I ruffle Charlie's hair and turn back to the kitchen, ready to make something kid friendly and palatable by the adults, this is going to be a long fucking weekend.

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"Unkie?" Charlie says as I try to leave the room after tucking her into the bed of one of the spare rooms. I sigh before turning around.

"Yeah kid?" I ask. Her tiny frame is completely dwarfed by the massive bed surrounding her, all that can be seen is her little head and the top of one of her stuffed animals tucked away under her arm.

"When's mummy coming back?" Her tiny voice squeaks out just above a whisper. There's really no need for it, Theo is down the hall where Elena put him to sleep hours ago and I swear that kid could sleep through a bus crash. I walk back over to the bed and sit down on the edge of it.

"Like we said earlier, mum and dad are away for the weekend so you and your brother are staying with Elena and I until they get back. Okay?" I say quite matter-of-factly. Gemma warned me that this is something Charlie has recently started doing, talking constantly so that she can stay up later, but it's not working on me.

"I love Elena" Charlie smiles as me as she speaks in a soft whisper. I can't help but smile, the kid is cute.

"Me too, now go to sleep" I say before her little hand snakes out from under the covers and holds onto my arm.

"Check for monsters" Her voice flips from sweet to demanding in an instant.

"I've already checked for monsters" I remind her of only minutes ago when I was opening the closet doors and pretending to look under the bed.

"Besides, monsters can't fly" Elena's voice suddenly sounds from the doorway. I turn to see her leaning against the doorframe with a soft grin on her lips as she walks over to the both of us.

"We're up way too high for any monsters to even get close up here. Plus your mum gave us some of that monster spray that she uses at home so we sprayed the whole house with it earlier" She reassures Elena, spouting off a bunch of brilliant lies at a rate that I've never seen before. Now that she mentions it I can kind of recall Gemma telling us about Charlie's new 'monster fear' and about a bottle of water that she used as 'monster repellent'.

"No monsters here?" Charlie asks with wide eyes and a shake of her head, completely in the palm of Elena's hand.

"No monsters here Charlie, but we're right down the hall if you need us" Elena smiles reassuringly. At that, Charlie snuggles down under the covers and begins to look rather sleepy.

"Night kid, see you in the morning" I say before I lean over to give her a kiss on the forehead. I stand to the side and let Elena in, watching as she gives Charlie a kiss on the cheek and readjusts the blankets. Per Charlie's request, we leave a small lamp in the corner on and turn off the main lights, leaving the door half open as we walk back down the hallway until we reach our room.

"Oh my god this is exhausting, no wonder Gemma and Michael need a break" Elena exclaims with a soft grin as she wanders into the bathroom and ties her hair up.

"What are you talking about? You're incredible with them, and you make it look so easy" I tell her as I get ready for bed, changing out of my T-shirt and jeans and pulling on a new pair of boxers and sweatpants.

"Are you kidding? I was completely just copying what I wrote down from Gemma's instructions, absolutely none of that was instinct" Elena laughs softly as I hear her run the water.

"Well now we've promised Charlie a trip to a playground tomorrow, I don't even think there's one nearby" I say, frowning slightly as I try to remember ever seeing one as I drive up to the hotel.

"There's one a couple of blocks away, I've seen it when I've come to yours on the bus" Elena calls out from the bathroom as I put my phone on charge and climb into bed. I have a text from Gemma and one from mum, both obviously wanting an update.

Gemma Styles

'Arrived at the hotel, thanks for this H. How are my babies?'

Mum

'It was so sweet of you and Elena to babysit the kids this weekend, very proud of you. If you need anything call me day of night. Love you x'

I shoot off a couple of texts updating them both as Elena walks out of the bathroom, having just finished washing all the makeup off of her face.

"I'm assuming that sex is off the table?" I ask with a smirk as I watch Elena get dressed into her pyjamas, a pair of silk shorts and a singlet. When she turns back around to me she rolls her eyes as she turns off the light and pads back towards the bed.

"Consider there is a three year old down the hall who's probably going to want to climb into bed with us at some point then yeah I would say that sex is off the table" She replies with a small giggle, climbing up into bed and crawling under the covers.

"I figured as much" I say in response as Elena lays her body beside mine, resting one of her legs over mine and curling her head under my chin.

"Don't you be getting grumpy" She mumbles against my skin with a soft smile.

"I'm not grumpy" I chuckle. "It's just amusing that kids are intruding on our sex life and they aren't even our kids" Is this what it would be like having kids? Because I have to say, i enjoyed this evening a lot more than I thought I would.

"It's only this weekend, plus it's nice that we've been able to see them more often these last few months. It's such a long drive up there and it's hard to find the time to go up and see them" I hear her tell me in a soft mumble. I run a hand gently through her hair as she obviously begins to fall asleep.

"You're right" Is all I say. I do hate the distance between London and Manchester, especially now that we've been spending more time with my family. London is where we both need to be, but that doesn't mean that we have to be directly in London.

"Anyways, big day tomorrow. Love you" Elena says quietly before lifting her head slightly to kiss my chin.

"Love you bub" I tell her as I close my eyes and allow the heaviness of them to take me.

In what feels like mere minutes later, I hear soft whispers next to me.

"Lena, sleep here" Charlie quietly whispers on Elena's side of the bed.

"Alright little one" I hear Elena softly whisper in response before I feel soft movement in the bed. I squint open my eyes to find Charlie settling down in between Elena and I, draping one of her blankets that she brought with her around herself, her back facing me as she curls up next to Elena.

"Luff you Lena" Charlie whispers quietly to her. Elena smiles softly and brushes some of Charlie's hair out of her face.

"Love you too Charlie" She whispers in response.

"Stay foreva" Charlie states back to her in a whisper.

"I'm staying forever Charlie, don't you worry. Now get some sleep" Elena replies sweetly. I hear no more words, just two sets of calm breathing as the two fall back to sleep. The peaceful rhythm is enough to eventually lull me back to sleep as well.