I breathe a huge sigh of relief as the sound of the basketball thumping on the wall of the house finally stops. It feels like Mac has been out there for hours rather than the forty-five minutes that have actually passed. My fingers rub against my temples and I turn my attention back to the computer screen. 

"Job allocations," I murmur to myself, trying to get my brain to focus on the job at hand. I quickly pair up the assignments where a client has requested a specific photographer and then highlight the remaining ones so I can see them more clearly. I divide the modelling portfolio jobs equally between them both and scan over what is left as the door to my office creaks open. Assuming it's Madison, she hasn't been far from my side in the few days since Harry left, I continue with my work. Hopefully, she can sit quietly until I can at least get this task completed. 

The wheels on my husband's office chair rattle and my eyes snap in that direction when I hear my son breathe out a loud sigh as he sinks into it, sending it sliding along the tiled floor. "I miss Dad," he groans. His feet push against the floor as he sends himself gliding around the room. 

"In general or is there something specific bothering you?" I ask as my fingers grasp the arm of the chair and pull him back towards the desk. "Be still please, I can't concentrate when you're slipping and sliding across the floor." 

"Both?"  He glances up at me as if waiting for me to tell him it's the right answer. He tucks himself under the desk at Harry's side, "I was trying to practice but nobody can help me. You can't cause of the babies and my sisters and cousins suck," he scoffs. 

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I can drop you off at Taylor's in a little while, if you want?" 

"Nah. Can I call Dad?" His little body swivels towards me and I can't help but giggle when I realise he's slid his feet into a pair of pale pink loafers Harry must have abandoned under the desk. I wonder how long it'll be before my baby will be able to physically fill those shoes, probably way too soon and then my heart twists at the weight my son places on his shoulders of trying to live up to the man whose feet do fill those shoes. I wish I could make him see that as far as me or his Dad is concerned he already fills them easily.

"You know, they look good on you, do you like them?" I roll my seat across the floor and wrap him in a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. 

"They're actually comfy, do you think I can have purple ones? Metallic purple! or maybe lilac! I'm gonna ask Dad." He grins as I turn on Harry's computer. I watch as he signs himself into FaceTime and as he brings up his list of contacts I quickly scan it to make sure it still consists of only the people Harry set up for him. 

I try to get back to my work as the annoying chirping tone starts and my son begins tapping his feet off the floor. 

"BUD!" My husband answers with a yell. "Everything okay?" 

"Hi Dad! Are you busy?" 

"Never too busy for you, you okay?" I can't stop my eyes from drifting towards the screen, Madison and I had facetimed him this morning but I am already missing his pretty face. My lips curl up into a smile the screen as I catch my husband waving off whoever is trying to get his attention and it makes my heart inflate. I love that the kids always come first. 

"I'm fine. Just missing you. Is the stage all set up properly? Everything safe?" Mac pulls his feet up to tuck them under his body and the loafers fall to the floor with a clatter. 

"What was that noise? Yeah. Everything is good, bud. Working as it should." 

I watch as he stares at his Dad in confusion for a second, his brows knitted together and his lips in a tight pout. "THE SHOES!" he exhales. My heart jumps into my throat as he almost smacks his head against the edge of the desk. "Do you think you can find me purple shoes like these? Like exactly the same, I want the fringes, just purple. Metallic purple ones would look awesome or maybe lilac, what do you think?" His words hurtle out at a million miles an hour as he waves his Dad's shoe in front of the camera. 

"You want some purple loafers?" I catch the smile on my husbands face before I reluctantly turn my attention back to my own screen. I really need to assign these jobs. 

"Yes, please." The excitement in his voice makes me smile. 

"Okay. I'm sure Uncle Harry can find you options -"

"No! I want you to find them, Dad. I want ones that you like, please?" My son whines and once again I abandon my task to catch my husbands wide grin. 

"Okay. I'll look. Maybe I can even sort it so they're here on Saturday, yeah?" 

"YOU CAN? Thanks Dad! You're the best!" 

"Harry!" River's voice makes my body freeze. "I fixed you a drink." 

"I'm busy, River." He groans but that doesn't answer any of the questions swirling in my head. Where are they? Why is she with him? And why the fuck is she making my husband drinks? 

I force myself to take a deep breath and again turn my attention back to my own screen. I trust my husband. Implicitly. 

"I'll be waiting." The flirty tone in her voice is nauseatingly obvious and I smile at the thought that no matter how hard she tries Harry will never be hers. Not even if I was out of the picture. She is so not Harry's type. My smile widens as I assign three more jobs, leaving just four remaining. 

"What did she want?" Mac scoffs. 

"I arranged some drinks and stuff for the band and crew, to celebrate the start of tour." 

"Is that why you're all dressed up?" My son's words cause my eyes to drift yet again. He does look nice, his hair is styled, rings adorn the fingers of his hand that I can see and his sky blue shirt sits neatly underneath a mustard velvet blazer that looks like it's Gucci. 

"Nah. Not really. Just plan to pop in for a few minutes. I'm taking your Grandma out for dinner." I find myself grinning to match Harry. Anne will love that. Some time to fuss over her baby.

"Mummy! I too hot!" Madison gripes and I swivel in my chair to find her in nothing but a bright pink pair of tights. 

"Oh, no, are you getting sick?" I ask as I hold out my arms for her. 

"Fink so." She taps at her head repeatedly. I know it's a ploy to get attention but I pull her into my arms and rest the back of my hand against her forehead anyway. 

"Is that true? Is my princess sick?" Harry's voice startles her and I notice Mac frown before he fixes a smile on his face. It isn't easy to get some one on one attention in this house but Harry and I try our best. 

"Daddy?" She looks at me, confusion clouding her furrowed brows. 

"Over here!" Harry chuckles and she whips her body towards the sound of his voice.

"DADDY!" She scrambles off my lap and into the chair with her brother. Her "sickness" long forgotten. 

"Why are you naked, angel?" 

"I not. See!" She exclaims as she scrambles up onto her feet, making the seat swivel and I reach out to stop her falling over as Mac grips the table to stop the chair spinning. 

"Careful." Her brother mumbles. 

"Ah. So pink tights is the look we're going for today, is it?" Harry laughs. 

Her mane of hair shakes as she rapidly nods her head. " I a nigma. Dat's wot Robi says." And my husband breaks into a loud belly laugh. An enigma is one way of describing her. When I realise my son isn't laughing I turn off my computer screen and scoop Madison out of the chair. 

"Since you're feeling better, how about we let your brother have some time with Daddy and go find you a snack? I think there's still some of that peanut butter ice cream you love in the freezer." 

She lets out an earth shattering scream right into my ear and my patience dwindles straight to zero. 

"HEY! Enough of that!" Harry's loud voice beats me to any sort of reply and her scream rapidly becomes wailing. Full blown temper tantrum wailing. Her flailing limbs beat against my body, including bump.

"Madison Pamela Styles, I swear to god if you -" 

"Mum, it's fine. Just let her talk to him. I'm gonna go play in the garden," Mac sighs. He slumps off the chair and ignores both mine and Harry's pleas for him to come back. The office door slams closed and there's nothing but the sound of Madison sniffling softly. Little madam.

She tries to wriggle down but I hold her tight. 

"H, I'll call you back later," I breathe out, anxious to go make sure Mac is okay. 

"Don't go, baby. Sit down for a second, let me talk to her, yeah?" He pleads. 

"Pwease, Mummy?" Madison begs, thinking she's won and that's the reason I sit my bum in the chair where my son had been sitting. 

"Madison!" Her full name sounds strange coming from his lips, she's always Madi, princess or angel. It's a sure fire sign that he's upset with her. 

"Daddy?" She threads her fingers in the hem of my shirt, unsure what to make of this new development. " I wuv you," she whispers. 

"I love you too but I'm disappointed in you," his voice is restrained and I watch as our daughter licks her snot before jutting her bottom lip out in a pout. "Throwing a temper tantrum is not the way to get what you want. You upset your brother and you were screaming and kicking at Mummy -"

"But I -" she interupts. 

"But nothing, Madi. It was naughty and completely uncalled for. Your brother just wanted some time to talk to me like you had this morning, remember? We spoke for nearly an hour," Harry explains. 

She nods and sniffles, her fingers still playing with my shirt. "Madi, need t'share."

"Yes, angel. Exactly." I catch the corners of my husband's mouth twitch, proud that she understood what she did wrong.

"I sowwy, Daddy," she mumbles. Her body twists and she hugs me while apologising to me too. A loud giggle bursts from her mouth as the twins start wriggling. "Pay nice," she whispers while her pudgy little fingers slide against the cotton of my shirt as she pats my bump. I automatically cup my hand over hers as her voice soothes her rowdy younger siblings. 

"I go polly-gise to Mac?" Her head swivels to the computer screen and Harry nods. 

"Yeah, Madi. I think you should. Can you send him back in here for me?" 

"O-kay, Daddy!" I watch as she clambers down from the chair and rushes out the room. 

"Baby?" Harry's voice sounds so soft that every nerve in my body immediately yearns for him, it makes my stomachs craving for the ice cream I'd promised Madison seem insignificant in comparison. 

"Hmm?" I hum as he brushes his fingers through his hair, igniting the fire burning within me even further. 

"You okay?" 

"Huh? Oh, uhm yeah," I stutter, dragging my thoughts back to what had just happened. "She actually seems to be coping better than a few weeks ago. Weirdly I think it helps that you're properly far away, she knows it's not possible to see you, you know?" 

"Suppose so. Still... what I wouldn't give to just be at the studio right now. I'd drive home this very second so I could wrap my arms around you. You look so pretty today, did I tell you that?" His finger pokes at the screen. 

"Once or twice." I can feel the warmth in my cheeks. "You do too. Anne is going to have the most handsome date." 

"Fuck! I wish I was taking you to dinner instead," he groans.

"You better not let your Mum hear you saying that," I chuckle and my husbands laugh booms from the speakers too. 

"I'm pretty sure she'd rather be going to dinner with you too, hasn't stopped bombarding me with questions about you and the twins since I got here -" 

"Can we pay baskets after you talk wiv Daddy?" Madison's voice interupts whatever Harry was going to say. 

"Okay. But you have to listen to what I'm telling you." Mac says sternly but the smile on his face gives away the fact that he's happy one of his sisters is taking an interest in basketball. 

"I po-miss," she grins before patting my knee. "We have pb ice cweam now?" Her bright hazel eyes immediately have me under their spell the same way her Dad's green ones do. 

"Yeah." I smile as I switch places with her brother. 

"Bye Daddy! Me and Mummy are going to have ice cweam!" She waves at the screen over her shoulder as she grips my hand and tries her best to drag me from the room. 

"Bye! Love you guys!" Harry's voice yells after us and we both yell our love yous back at him. Unlike a few moments ago our youngest daughter now seems quite eager to get to her frozen snack. 

-----

"Jessi?" Jeffrey's panicked voice rings through the house as I place Madisons empty bowl into the dishwasher. 

"In the kitchen. Is everything okay?" I answer as thoughts of what might have him so worried swim through my head. 

"No. Not even close," he blurts out and one look at the pained expression on his face makes me shudder. 

"Okay, sit down. Tell me what's happened." 

"No time," he grips my hand and starts to pull me from the room. "Glenne has to be in the hospital in forty minutes and you have to come with me, Jessi. I'm not prepared for this. I need help." 

"Jeffrey, stop." I pull my hand from his grasp. "Take a deep breathe. You can do this, just stick to your plan." I'm pretty sure he knew Glenne's birthing plan inside out and back to front, for months now. 

"Please, Jess?" He grabs my arm again. "I'm completely out of my depth here. I need back up, please?" 

"Jeffrey, I can't just leave - the kids - Gem can't -" 

"Hey go. I'll be fine. The teens will help me look after the little ones. I don't want to be responsible for Jeffrey having a heart attack," Gemma laughs as she appears behind me. 

"Okay... let me grab my bag and explain to Madison where I'm going otherwise she's going to have a fit," I sigh. I hope she's still in a good mood from her ice cream. 

-----

"So how was your flight? Did you get any sleep last night? I bet you were just rattling around that big house, you can always come stay with me until Jess and the kids get here?" My Mum rambles as we walk to our table. 

"The flight was okay. River spent most of it incesantly talking so I stuck in my headphones." I reply to her first question as I pull out her chair for her. 

"That girl gives me a bad feeling, Harry," she says as I tuck the seat in behind her before taking my own. She gives me a bad feeling too but I don't want to talk about her right now so I move onto her next question.

"How'd you know I didn't sleep? And I'm a grown man, Mum I can't just run home to you because I don't like being home by myself." 

"You always sleep terribly when Jess isn't with you. And of course you can, you're my baby. Are you telling me the kids are gonna get too old to come home to you guys one day?" She smirks when I shake my head in response. 

"Never." 

"Exactly! So that's settled then, you can stay with me until Jess and the kids get here," she grins as the waitress brings over the menu. 

"Sorry," I mumble as my phone rings in my trouser pocket. My fingers fumble and almost drop the device when I see my wifes picture lighting up the screen.  At least ten scenarios fly through my head about why she'd be calling, right now. She knew I was heading out for dinner. My hand is shaking so I place the phone on the table and swipe to answer her facetime call. 

"Hey baby, is everything okay?" 

"Great, I have somebody who'd like to meet you," she gushes. She tilts the camera and as the face of a newborn comes into view I immediately jump up from the table, snatching up the phone. 

"Jess! The twins are coming - are here - why didn't you -" I pause as my Mum isn't moving. 

"Harry sit!" Jessi's voice commands and I glance back towards the screen. "This is your god daughter, you nitwit. You think I wouldn't call you if I went into labour?" She laughs as I slump back into the chair. My heart is still thumping at a million miles an hour. 

"Glenne had the baby?" the words tumble out as my brain slowly catches up to reality. 

"Yes, meet Willow Azoff. Isn't she pretty?" My wife's voice coos and I take a better look at the little bundle on the screen. She is indeed pretty.  I tilt the phone so my Mum can see. 

"She looks like Jeffrey," she smiles.

"God, baby, you scared the shit out of me there," I breathe.

"Sorry, H. I really didn't mean to. Just wanted to share this with you," the soft tone to Jessi's voice calms my still thumping heart. "Besides, you'll know before anyone else if I go into labour, that's a promise."

"I better," I tease. "Give our god daughter a hug from me and Jeff and Glenne. I love you so much, baby. I'll call you later."

"I love you more. Call me before you go to bed, I want to talk to you until you fall asleep, okay?"

"Okay."