"Lou, love."

Louis looks up at Harry, sighing a little. He's in a bad mood, he can't help it. He's irritated. His mum basically just told him he shouldn't have gotten married, because he can't take care of his family. He's fine with her not giving them money, but she didn't have to be so harsh. She could've just said no.

"Your mum is here," Harry says softly, cautious. "She wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to her," Louis means to sound a little sterner, but his words just come out sad.

"I know," Harry gives Louis a small smile. "But you should."

Louis sighs again, but he nods, and Harry retreats back to the lounge. Jay appears a few moments later.

"Hi," She says quietly. Louis just looks at her. Jay sits down next to Louis at the table, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Louis, love, I'm sorry."

Louis softens a little. He can't help it, he loves his Mum, and he can tell she means it. "I know," He says.

"We can't give you money, pumpkin," Jay sighs softly. "It's not that we don't want to, we just can't."

"Why not?" Louis furrows his eyebrows. "Are you guys in trouble or something?"

"No, we're not in trouble," Jay looks down at her lap. "I'm...I'm pregnant. We're gonna need the money."

Louis' eyes widen, body freezing as he stares at her. "I-What?"

Jay nods, smiling sheepishly. "I'd just found out before you came over. I...I haven't even told Dan yet. That's why I reacted how I did. I was scared. I still am."

"Holy shit, Mum, don't worry about it," Louis gets up out of his chair to attack Jay in a hug, and Jay giggles into his shoulder. "This is crazy, what the fuck, congratulations."

"Thank you, love," Jay giggles again. "Congratulations to you too. How far along is Harry?"

"Uh, six weeks, I think?" Louis' cheeks flush as he sits back down, a huge grin on his face. "I wanna talk about you, though, holy shit. When are you gonna tell Dan?"

"I'm not sure," Jay sighs a little, but she's still smiling. "I'm nervous."

"He's gonna be so fucking psyched," Louis assures, practically bouncing in his seat. He's getting his own baby and a new sibling, what the fuck? "And if he's not, he'll have me to deal with." Jay lets out a laugh, and it makes Louis' whole body feel warm.

♛

"I feel like we haven't talked in ages," Jay sighs dramatically, and Louis grins as she slides a cuppa in front of him. Gracie wanted to play with Ernest and Doris, and Harry had an important conference call anyways, so Louis brought her over. "How're you, love?"

Louis realises in that moment that his Mum doesn't know anything that's going on. He's been so wrapped up in Harry and Gracie he forgot to fill her in, even about the miscarriage. There were a few times he wanted to call her about it, to crumble to the ground and cry to her about it, but Harry needed him. He didn't have the time.

"I'm...okay," He says, looking down into his cup of tea. "Um, Harry and I got a marriage counsellor."

"Really?" Jay raises her eyebrows, grinning. "How's that going?"

"It's actually really good," Louis admits softly. "As much as I hate to admit it, it's really helping."

"That's good," Jay's smile widens. "So you and Harry are...?"

"We're okay, yeah," Louis nods, smiling up at her. "We, um. We actually lost a baby a few months ago, and that's when Harry told me we had to start going."

"You...lost a baby?" Jay's face falls, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Like, Harry had a miscarriage?" Louis nods, exhaling shakily as Jay sets her cuppa down. "Lou, baby. I'm so sorry."

"We're doing okay," Louis gives her a small smile. "We've been talking about trying again, actually. Not right now, but at some point."

"That's wonderful, love," Jay smiles at him warmly. "How's Harry doing, though? Is he alright?"

"Um," Louis shrugs. "He's okay. Better than he was before. He was a mess at first, honestly, but I think the counsellor is helping."

"That's good," Jay tucks her hair behind her ear, her expression sympathetic.

"And," Louis licks his lips. "I might go to uni."

"Really?" Jay's face practically lights up. Louis knows how guilty she felt about not being able to send him to school, no matter how many times he assured her that it was fine. "That's great, Lou. You definitely should."

"Yeah?" Louis grins shyly, and Jay nods, giving him a huge smile. "I think I'm going to. I don't know what I'd study, though."

"I think you'd be good at anything you wanted to do, love," Jay says. She has to say that, though, she's his mum.

"You think?" Louis laughs.

"Of course," Jay says. "You're really good at English, you could do something with that! You could be teacher, you could be a lawyer like Harry..." Louis listens to his mum ramble, grinning to himself, chest light at the thought of finally going to uni and making her proud.

♛

"I think you could major in English for sure."

"Yeah?" Louis takes the glass of wine Harry hands him, staring at the list of universities near them on his laptop. Harry sits down next to him, running his fingers through Louis' hair soothingly. Louis closes his eyes, sighing softly. "What would I do with that, though?"

"You could teach," Harry says. "You could write a book, you could definitely write, like, the next bestselling novel," Louis gives Harry a wary look, and Harry giggles. "'S true! You could also be an editor, or a social worker, or a journalist," He leans over and kisses Louis' cheek. "I want you to do something that makes you happy, Lou."

"I have to think about it," Louis says softly, taking a sip of his wine.

"You can take your time," Harry assures. "You don't have to decide right now."

Louis looks over at Harry, who gives him a sweet smile, and he leans over to kiss him. "I love you, H," Louis mumbles against Harry's lips. "So much."

"I love you too," Harry smiles as they separate.

"Liam's birthday's this weekend, I think he's having a little party or summat," Louis says. "Do you wanna go?"

"Sure," Harry shrugs, taking a sip of his own wine. "My mum can probably watch Gracie."

"Sweet," Louis says. "You're designated driver, though."

"What? No way," Harry scoffs. "You still owe me for the nine months I couldn't drink and had to be designated driver every time."

"Harryyy," Louis whines. Harry raises an eyebrow at him, and Louis huffs. "Fine. I'll drive," Harry grins, leaning over and kissing Louis again. Louis doesn't remember when he became this whipped. "Does that mean we'll get some table dancing from you this weekend? Haven't seen that in a while."

"Shut up!" Harry huffs, but he can't help but giggle a little. "I'm gonna start bringing up how you called your mum when you were drunk and thought it was me."

Louis' cheeks become hot. He would really rather not talk about the time he told Harry all the things he wanted to do to him while his mother was ok the other line. "So, anyways," He clears his throat, and Harry laughs. "I think we should get Gracie a dog for her birthday."

"A dog?" Harry raises his eyebrows. "I don't know about that."

"Why not?" Louis pouts.

"We're never home during the day, we can't just leave a puppy alone in the house," Harry points out, running his fingers through Louis' hair again. Louis' pout deepens. "Her birthday's not for another two months, we can think about it, okay?"

Louis can't help but think about how four months ago they would've been tearing each other apart over this. That softens the blow a little. "Okay," Louis sighs. "Fine."

Gracie's little footsteps can be heard climbing down the stairs, so they stop talking about it. She pads into the kitchen, her arms crossed over her chest. "I hafta' talk to you," She says, her expression stern. It takes everything in Louis not to laugh.

"What's up, G?" He asks, setting his wine down on the table.

"I need money."

Harry raises his eyebrows at her. "You need money?" He asks. Gracie nods. "Okay. May I ask what you need money for?"

"No."

Louis snorts. Harry sighs a little, but he grins at her. "Fair enough. How much?"

"Um...how much money is the vase in your room?"

Harry blinks at her. "Gracie Mae, did you break the vase in our room?" Gracie doesn't say anything, but her lip wobbles. "Baby, it's okay. It was an accident, we're not mad at you," Harry elbows Louis a little. "Right, Daddy?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine, love," Louis holds his arms out to Gracie, and she crawls into his lap and starts crying, burying her face in his shoulder. "Oh, bub, you're okay. It's okay, yeah? 'S just a vase."

Gracie just sobs, and Louis looks over to Harry and furrows his eyebrows. This isn't the usual reaction she would have. "Hey, Gracie, pumpkin," Harry says softly, and Gracie peeks out at him, face still half-pressed into Louis' shirt. "Is something else bothering you? Or are you really upset about the vase?"

Gracie hiccups, and Louis kisses the top of her head. "Ernie told me you guys were havin' a baby," She sniffles. "B-But you already have me, why do you need anotha' one?"

"Gracie, darlin', we're not going to replace you just because you broke a vase," Louis says softly. "Where did Ernest even hear that?"

"He said you told Nana Jay today."

Obviously if Louis had realised Ernest was there, he wouldn't have said that. He sighs while Gracie cuddles into his chest, and he rubs her back. "Gracie, baby, we're not having another baby," Louis says.

"Ever?"

"If we did, that doesn't mean we're replacing you," Harry assures, tucking one of her little curls behind her ear. "Nana Jay had six babies after she had Daddy, you think that means she stopped loving him as much?" Gracie sniffles and shakes her head. "Exactly. And if we did have another baby, you'd be a big sister, just like Daddy's a big brother. Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Maybe," Gracie shrugs. Harry smiles fondly. "W-Would the baby grow in your belly like I did?"

"Yup," Louis says, leaning Gracie back so he can see her face. "Just like you did."

Gracie seemingly thinks about it for a second. "Okay," She says after a moment. "You can have anotha' baby. I give you p-per-miss-on."

Harry laughs, and Louis grins at him. "Well, thank you Gracie Mae," He says. "And if we were having a baby, you know you'd be the first person we tell, yeah?"

"Really?" Gracie smiles, eyes sparkling.

"Yup, because you're most important," Louis chuckles. "Now, why don't you go get your jammies on, and we can get you into bed? We promised two stories tonight, remember?"

"Okay!" Gracie climbs off of Louis' lap and runs towards the stairs. Harry starts to stand up out of his chair, leaning down and kissing the top of Louis' head.

"You think the next one will be this much of a handful?" He asks, taking the last sip of his wine and walking over to put the glass in the sink.

"If so, God help us all," Louis mumbles.