May POV {3 years later}

I wake up to someone poking my cheek. My eyes flicker open and I see Finn looking at me. I yawn tiredly and wipe my eyes. "Good morning." Finn greets me.

"Good morning." I say with a smile.

"Daddy w-wanted me to uh tell you brunch is in 20 m-minutes."

Fuck I forgot Anne, Des, Gemma, Sadie, and Ellie are coming over for brunch.

"Thank you honey." I kiss his cheek. "Wanna cuddle for 5 minutes?" Finn grins and rests his head next to mine. "How did you sleep?" I ask him. My fingers stroke his curls.

"G-good." As he grows older and starts talking more, the more he starts to stutter on some words. I feel bad that he got that from me, but I never say anything to him about it.

But I do give him tips to help. Like take deep breaths and take time saying words. That seems to help him. I know sometimes he gets frustrated.

"When can I see Grandpa Nick and John?" Finn asks me while playing with my fingers.

A few months after Harry and I's honeymoon years back, I let Nick and my "father" meet Finn.

They're all pretty close which is nice to see. I haven't talked or seen my Mother though.

"I'll call them, okay?" He nods against me.

"Daddy wants you ready be-before they uh come over." Finn adds. "I forgot to," He pauses. "I forgot to mention that."

"It's okay." I kiss his small hands. "I love you."

"I love you too Mommy." He kisses my cheek.

***

"Don't you look stressed." I remark to Harry who is in the kitchen looking nervous.

"My Mom is making a pie and I did. It's a contest."

"I didn't know there was a contest going on." I say.

"It isn't a real one. But she and I know it's a contest." I laugh.

"Okay." I say.

"Is Finn dressed?"

"He is. He's in the living room playing with Baxter."

"Okay." Harry says. I kiss my husbands cheek and smile gently.

"Brunch is supposed to be a fun thing." I remind him. He looks very stressed over this pie.

"I will have fun, thank you very much." Harry remarks. I smile.

Finn walks into the kitchen. I picked out his clothes, which is a dark blue, green, and white coloured plaid long sleeve button up; with khaki shorts that are beige. He looks really cute. His brown curls are brushed nicely as well.

"What's up little man?" I say while picking up my son who smiles.

"Can I have some water?"

"I don't know, can you?" He huffs.

"M-may I please have some water?"

"Yes you may." I kiss his cheek and put him down. I grab him some water and give it him. He smiles warmly as a thank you and starts to slowly drink the water.

I watch him so he doesn't spill it on himself. He tends to do that a lot.

***

The house is noisy.

I guess I should expect that from many adults and 6 children.

Gemma has a daughter. Her name is Sydney and she's only a few months. She's very adorable. Ellie has two daughters. Macy and Kelsey. Kelsey is 1 and Macy is 3. Then Sadie had two girls. Bell is 6 now and her younger sister Clara is only a few months.

So, Finn is the only boy cousin. He likes it and doesn't. He's usually always stuck playing with dolls with them. It makes me laugh. He doesn't look the happiest playing with barbies but he does it for his cousins.

I'm in the kitchen currently helping Anne make food. It seems like our own little routine for us to cook together.

"Have you and Harry thought about having another baby?" Anne asks me while finishing off some things.

"No, we haven't talked about it." I say. "I want Finn and his siblings to be close in age, so maybe soon." I say with a slight smile.

What startles is me Anne coughing.

It's a deep, raspy cough that makes my eyebrows furrow.

"Are you setting sick?" I ask her. She sips some water.

"Eh, probably." She's smiles weakly.

"How long have you had it?"

"A few weeks." Her voice turns low. "Anyways, did we finish cooking everything?"

"We did." I say. My eyes look at Harry's Mom who is putting her hair up. I notice her hair looks thinner and her skin looks a bit paler as well. She clears her throat again and a pit forms in my stomach. "Are you sick, Anne?"

"Sick?"

"Yes, like--" Her hazel eyes look away from me and my eyes sting. "No."

"Don't say anything to Harry."

"H-how long? What is i-it?" I ask.

"Two years ago I was diagnosed with liver cancer." Oh god. "I had a rash and my skin was itchy. I went to the doctor, took tests, and they came back with that." Anne speaks. Her voice low. My heart burns.

"H-have you been taking chemo?" I ask.

"I did for two months." Her eyes look away from me. "Then I stopped."

"H-how much uh-" I can't even finish my sentence. My eyes well up.

"I have a little over a year depending."

"When are you going to tell Harry?" I ask timidly.

Oh god.

He's going to be heartbroken. My heart aches.

"Soon." Anne says softly. "Please don't tell him. I want too." I nod. She smiles gently.

"May I ask why you stopped chemo?"

"Growing up, you're meant to fall in love, have kids, watch them grow up and have their own families, and be a grandmother. I've fallen in love, I have two amazing kids, and now I'm a grandmother. I love Sydney, she's my daughters daughter. But she doesn't know me yet like Finn does. I didn't want him to see me without hair, or slowly dying like that. I wanted him to see me how I always am. Happy, and not hooked up to machines and what not."

Finn and Anne are really close.

Oh god.

"Does Gemma know?" I ask.

"No one knows besides Des." Anne smiles weakly. "I'm more nervous telling Harry."

"Telling me what?" Harry walks in.

"That your pie is going to suck. I'm nervous to tell you that." I wipe the corner of my eyes and pull off a smile even though now I know something that's going to break my husbands heart.

A://N

Hello

Sorry for the time jump :/

Comment goal: 40? That would mean a lot

Thoughts ?

~lauren