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Chapter Twenty-Six

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Liam's POV

"Mom!" Harry cheers, almost like a two-year-old. Once they're done hugging, Harry pulls her inside.

Louis has got his hands behind his back, trying his best to put on a smile as he awaits for Anne to greet him.

"Hello, Louis," she says, returning his smile. She hugs him a second later, causing Louis to giggle a little.

Not much later, Anne turns around and faces me. I'm next to Zayn and Niall who's still on the couch. He's still half asleep and mumbling about his headache.

"And who are you?" Anne asks.

"Well, mom," Harry begins, moving to stand next to her. "These lads are the best friends we've ever had. They literally saved Louis and I and we wouldn't be anywhere without them,"

Anne smiles and squeezes Harry's arm. She looks as if she wants to cry.

"Niall," I whisper. "Niall, wake up,"

Anne's walking over to us. Niall needs to wake so he can meet her. I don't want to have Niall ruin this for Harry. It's important to him.

"For fucks sake," I mumble and try to pull Niall up by his arm. He needs to wake up so he can meet Anne.

"What's happenin'? he asks in confusion, one of his eyes still closed. He lets himself fall back on the couch again. But just before his bum touches the couch again, I pull him back up.

----"Harry's mom is here. You have to introduce yourself. In a normal way I mean. Not hungover like you are now. So please try your best" I begged him. I would be so embarrassed if Anne met a hungover Niall. Well, actually it would be hilarious, but Niall would forever be ashamed to face his best friend's mom.

"Yeah yeah, course Lium" Niall huffed as he needed to put all of his weight on me to keep standing up straight. Oh dear god...

Anne reached over to Zayn who stood next to me. "Hi" he said nervously. Both of them hesitated for a moment whether they should hug or just shake hands. Eventually Anne just pulled him in her arms like she did with Harry and Louis. Once they separated, Anne asked Zayn for his name. "I'm Zayn" he smiled. "I- euhm.. Gloria is- was my aunt... The woman Harry and Louis stayed with y'know?"

Zayn was clearly struggling with telling her this, but Anne smiled deeply into his eyes before she nod and hugged him again. "I've heard from Hazz and Louis. I'm so sorry. Your aunt was a beautiful woman" Zayn smiled softly as little tears formed in his eyes. His head rested on Anne's shoulder, while she stroked Zayn's back lightly.

After her moment with Zayn, she turned towards me. "And who is this muscled man?" she asked and I could practically feel Harry rolling his eyes at his mom's comment. Even Niall chuckled besides me.

"I'm Liam. I'm a police officer" I mentally slapped myself for saying that. I can't even imagine how stupid that must have sound to her.

"That's wonderful, Liam! Nice to meet you" she said as she smiled brightly at me.

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs...?" I hesitated before I said her last name. I didn't even know if her last name was 'Styles'.

"Cox. Mrs Cox, but please, call me Anne" she said, helping me out of the awkward situation. I laughed a little before we also hugged. Niall was making it a bit of a struggle to hug her back properly.

"Alright then" I mumbled as we separated. Now it was Niall's turn. By the look on Anne's face I knew she was mentally preparing herself for what kind of person she was about to meet.

The blonde bloke still rested his weight on me, his eyes were half closed, his hair a mess and he had loads of trouble keeping his head up. "Ello!" he cheered at Anne. His voice was raspy yet low and his Irish accent was, just like last night, way harder to understand. Normally Niall spoke a bit clearer.

"H-hello" Anne said softly. She laid her hand on Niall's shoulder and tried to make eye contact. "Are you okay?"

"Yesh! 'M terrific! Hows you? Good?" he asked the slightly scared woman in front of him. "Beautiful day, innit? Wot you doing here? 'm I supposed to kno yu?" Niall couldn't really speak and I think he wasn't even sure about his own actions anymore. Anne raised an eyebrow at Niall as he kept staring at her while pulling some idiotic faces.

"Niall has had a bit too much beer last night" Louis cut in as he walked over to Anne.

"Normally he's nothing like this" I added before I put Niall down on the couch again.

Louis went to get Niall some water to clear up the alcohol in his veins. Harry walked over to his mom to introduce Niall himself. "Mom, this is Niall. He's a pizza deliverer and a really great friend, though! You should see him when he's sober"

"Yeah, he might be even worse when he's sober. This is the first time in months that Niall is actually quiet" Zayn said kind of joking. Anne chuckled as she stared down at Niall. Suddenly this situation got her kind of amused.

Louis came back with two bottles of water and threw himself besides Niall. "Here buddy, drink up" he handed Niall the bottle, but Niall slapped it out of his hands.

"Wot yo doin' Loueh? Get away from meh" Louis sighed deeply as the rest of us laughed quietly. After multiply times of trying we finally got Niall to drink some water. Later we told Niall to sleep it off and the rest of us went outside to sit in the garden.

"Don't mind the spaghetti" Harry chuckled as he helped his mom around the table and got her a chair. All of us sat down and we started to chat a little. Me and Zayn knew about the horrible things Anne had done to Harry and Louis. I really wanted to just scold at her for being such an idiot, but I knew that would bring no good. Harry and his mom had a made a fresh start and finally everybody was happy. I didn't want to ruin that. Me, Zayn and Harry's mom actually had a nice chat and she really was a lovely lady. It was nice to get to know her.

After a while Harry went inside to get Noah out of bed so he could she his grandmother. Louis also got inside to get us some drinks. When Louis come back, he told me, Zayn and Harry's mom about his spaghetti accident since we were all wondering how the spaghetti actually got here.

After sharing a few more funny stories, Harry come back with the little Noah in his arms. Anne immediately teared up and for a split second I felt like I was going to cry as well.

We sat in the garden talking a bit more and handing Noah over to everyone of us who wanted to hold him. We were just about to get inside when Niall come strolling over to us. "Niall" we all said in harmony.

I got up to grab another chair before I helped Niall onto it. "You feeling better, babe?" I asked him curiously. Niall flashed me a big smile. His eyes were more open and the bags under his eyes had disappeared a little. I think Niall will be fine.

"Don't you guys have something to tell your mom?" Zayn suddenly asked Harry and Louis. Harry's head shut up within seconds and he looked kind of pissed.

"Oh what do you need to tell me?" Anne asked in surprise. She looked at Harry and Louis as she grew a little inpatient.

"Thanks Zayn" Harry mumbled. "We were planning to tell her later this day" Zayn's mouth formed a perfect shaped 'O' as he stared down at his hands afterwards.

Harry sighed, but chuckled the minute after. He smiled at Zayn to show him he wasn't mad or anything before he turned his attention towards his mom. He grabbed Louis hand in his' and Louis scooped a little closer towards his boyfriend or better to say; fiance.

"Me and Louis..." Harry began, giggling. I could see their nervousness grow and both of them started fiddling with each others fingers. "We- euh" Harry shook his head while laughing to himself. "Lou, please tell her. This is scarier than I imagined" Harry whispered, but it was still loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Okay" Louis answered quietly. He cleared his throat and took a deep breathe. "Me and Harry are-" Louis began after Harry passed him his turn to speak, but Louis also stopped. In some kind of way they couldn't bring themselves to say the word. Me and Zayn exchanged a few looks, but we decided to let Harry and Louis deal with it since it was their engagement. Anne waited patiently but I saw she was nervously playing with the bracelets and rings on her hands.

Louis inhaled some more air to speak. "Me and Harry...-"

"Just say you're engaged for god's sake" a loud, Irish voice shouted causing us all to turn to face Niall. Harry and Louis looked at the blonde idiot incomplete shock and me and Zayn were about to kill him. Niall sank as deeply as possible in his chair as ten eyes looked at him with mixed emotions. My eyebrows narrowed as I was about to slap Niall in the face, but high pitched screams stopped me in my actions.

Anne jumped up and down in her chair, while making sounds I had never heard before. She grabbed both Harry and Louis' hands an pulled them closer. She embraced them in the tightest hug I had ever seen. I knew Harry was terrified to tell his mom he got engaged. Even though they had a fresh start, he was still scared she would turn on him again. But honestly, I think his mom was the happiest person in the world.

Noah, who sat on Zayn's lap suddenly began crying. Probably because of the nonhuman sounds Anne was making or maybe he was just tired. "Maybe we should get him to bed. It's actually already time for his afternoon sleep" Harry said once his mom freed him out of her hold. "Would you like to put him to bed, mom? Then you can also see his baby room"

The smile on Anne's face grew bigger and bigger. Actually I think she really wanted to cry, because all of this was so overwhelming. Only none of us really gave her the time to... I'm just really glad all of them are happy. I've heard the stories about their past and just everything that had happened, so I think it's amazing to see how they picked up their lives again. They've proved there really is sunshine after rain.

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Anne's POV

I'd just put the beautiful Noah in his bed. I might have cried, but at the moment I don't care. It was weird yet scary to change him into another diaper and put him in pyjamas, but I managed to be just fine. Lots of flashbacks come rushing into my head. Putting Noah to bed reminded me of Tanner. Horrible visions of how Tanner died come rushing in, but I managed to put it away. I kept cool. I never gave Harry nor Gemma to love they deserved and I had never put them to bed like Harry does to Noah. I never read them fairy tails or sang to them. And seeing Harry and Louis do that to Noah, just makes my heart ache. In a good way, though.

My past is my past. Harry gave me a fresh start and helping him with Noah felt like a do-over. In this way I felt like I could show Harry I can love and that I really changed. Harry and Louis are amazing parents and I will do anything to keep it that way. History is not repeating itself.

Me, Harry and Louis sat around Noah's crib while watching him drift off to sleep. Once he was gone, we slowly got up. I never really looked at the room properly before, so I decided to do it now. The walls were a light colour of blue and butterflies and quotes were painted on the walls. The crib was placed in the corner of the room underneath the window. The dresser was placed against the other wall next to the door. The floor was covered with a soft yellow coloured carpet and lots of toys were spread all over it. A little, cute closet stood in another corner and it was filled with diapers and clothes. The ceiling held a much darker colour of blue compared to the walls and multiply stars were painted on it. A big lamp covered in flowers hung on the ceiling as well and lightened up the room. Also a baby-proof nightlight was plugged in next to Noah's crib. The room was colourful but also looked relaxing. It wasn't crowded and the room felt save. I almost didn't want to leave.

I gave Noah another peck on his forehead before me, my son and my almost son in law left the room. Once we reached downstairs, we discovered a cuddling Liam and Niall on the couch and Zayn was in the kitchen cleaning up a bit.

"Zayn, no! Don't clean up please, you don't have to do that!" Harry said as he went over to the kitchen and tugged Zayn away from there. Zayn chuckled a bit as Harry seemed to struggle to get the sponge out of Zayn's hands.

Both lads walked over to the living space and collapsed on the other couch. Louis placed his bum on top of Harry as Harry wrapped his arms around his fiance's waist. They all looked so adorable and as a mother I can say that children grow up way to fast. Niall and Liam were still cuddling. So were Harry and Louis whilst Zayn sat next to them. He was staring and smiling at his phone.

I told the boys I was about to leave and before I could turn around to grab my coat, Louis stood behind me, smiling brightly, as he held out my coat for me. I took it and seconds later I was pulled in a group hug. All five lads surrounded me and embraced each other with me in the middle. "We really like group hugs" an Irish accent said. "Yeah, we kind of made it our thing" another voice said, which I assumed to be Zayn's. I laughed and thanked them for being so nice to me.

I remembered I got here by taxi, so I needed to call one to pick me up. I grabbed my phone out of my bag, but a tanned hand tugged it away. "I'll give you a ride back to the hotel. I was about to leave myself too, actually" Zayn offered me as he kindly smiled. His beautiful brown eyes sparkled a little.

"No no, I can't asked you to do that" I said, only to sound polite. Honestly I really wanted him to give me a ride back to the hotel. Portuguese man and their taxi's kind of gave me the chills.

"No really, it's fine. It's not a problem" Zayn said and this time I agreed. Zayn and me said goodbye to the other lads and I promised to come back in two days since I leave the day after. I followed Zayn to his car and hopped in. He honked before we drove out of the street.

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Louis POV

It was already noon when I woke up. I was lying on the hard floor surounded by pillows and blankets. After Niall and Liam left, me and Harry finally had some alone time and let's just say we took advantage of that. Again. I think we did it throughout the whole house until we eventually collapsed on the couch. We lay there together, feeling exhausted, as we watched some stupid cartoons on the telly. Only to be interupted by a sweet, crying, little baby. I think we went upstairs to calm Noah down a hundred of times until we decided to take him downstairs with us. As me and Harry went to lay down on the couch again, Harry placed Noah on his stomach. Eventually Harry and Noah fell asleep and I turned of the television. I must have falling asleep the minute after as well and I think I fell of off the couch or something since I now woke up on the floor.

I quietly got up and walked over to the kitchen. I put some milk for Noah in the microwave and made me and Harry a cup of tea. I grabbed two croissants and put them in the oven. Once they were done I put everything on a tray and walked back to the living room.

I put the drinks and food on the saloon table and knelt down besides the couch. I caressed Noah's beautiful face and my other hand rested on Harry's hand that also held onto Noah tight. I waited patiently for my two loved ones to wake up.

I felt so happy and rich with everything I got. When I woke up today, I felt like my life is just about to start. I have a beautiful future ahead of me. So does my fiance, Harry. And Noah of course. Every story has a happy ending. This was our story. And even with loads of shit in it, we survived. We're okay. And from now on we will always be.

Life is good.

A/N: This is the end. NO NNONNONONO :((( I can't believe this is the actual end. No, wait! Of course there will be an epilogue, so this is not the real end.. But I'm so emotional right now... Okay.. wait.. Let me save my tears for after the epilogue. See ya there! :'( Oh and I put a picture of Harry and 'Noah' sleeping on the couch and Louis looking at them on the side! It's fan art and it's not mine, but credit to whoever made it or found it. It's super cute!