edit by galaxyhs

"Did you check her nappy?" Louis asks, Harry bouncing baby Gracie up and down almost desperately. Harry sighs, pieces of hair falling out of his messy bun.

"Yeah, nothing," He looks up at Louis, eyes so tired. Louis can't remember the last time both of them were sleeping at the same time. It seems like Gracie just screams and screams, with one of them tending to her while letting the other get some rest. "What if something's wrong with her, Lou?"

"Nothing's wrong with her, babe," Louis assures, walking over and pressing their lips together. "Babies cry, it's normal."

"I'm so tired," Harry's face crumples, letting out a cry that breaks Louis' heart a little bit. "And she's upset, and I don't know why, and it's killing me, L."

"Hazza," Louis coos. "How about you give me the baby, and then go and take a nap?"

"W-What if she's hungry?" Harry holds Gracie tighter.

"I lift your shirt," Louis teases, shrugging. Harry glares at him, but let's him take Gracie and cradle her in his own arms. "C'mon, princess, lets give Papa a break."

"Come lay with me if you ever get her down for a nap," Harry mumbles sleepily, nuzzling his nose into Louis' neck before kissing his jaw and turning to go upstairs. Louis' entire body is warm from Harry's touch.

"Alright, Gracie girl," Louis sighs, rocking the crying baby gently. "What has got you so upset? You're breaking my heart here."

Gracie looks up at Louis with big, watery eyes. She looks up at Louis like he's her whole world, and it shakes Louis to his core. He's terrified looking at her, this tiny little thing that he and Harry made. He's so scared he's not gonna be a good dad, he feels like he has no idea what he's doing.

"You know me and Papa are going to be here if you need anything," Louis says softly, sitting down on the sofa and holding Gracie to his chest. "You don't have to cry to get our attention, you'll always have it, no matter what."

Louis takes a shaky breath. Gracie calms down a bit. "I'm never going to let anything hurt you, Gracie Mae," Louis touches his pinky finger to Gracie's. A pinky promise. Hers is so tiny he can't even wrap his around it. It makes him smile a little.

♛

"Good mornin'."

Harry turns around, cuppa in his hand. He's not dressed for work yet, still wearing flannel pyjama pants and a jumper. His eyelids are still droopy, he must not have woken up long before Louis did. "Oh, good morning. Gracie's not up yet?"

"No," Louis sighs, filling the electric kettle with water. "She woke up real early this morning because she had a nightmare. I had to lay with her until she fell back asleep."

"Oh," Harry says softly, clearly hurt Gracie went to Louis instead of him.

"Niall and Barbara invited us over for dinner tonight," Louis mentions. "But if you can't get out of work early enough, I can just take Gracie by myself."

"Um, no," Harry practically whispers. "No, I'll be there."

"Alright," Louis nods curtly.

"Okay, why're you being like this?" Harry says after a long sip of his coffee. "Is it because Gracie's not here? You don't feel the need to be nice to me as long as she's not here?"

"You give me no reason to be nice to you," Louis crosses his arms, finally looking away from the kettle and up at Harry. Harry closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath, leaning against the countertop, seemingly trying to process everything that's happening.

"The way you treat me is so inconsistent," He says softly. He's hurt, it's obvious. "You either completely ignore me, or you're cold and short with me, or you act like nothing is going on between us."

"Frankly, Harry, I'm not sure how to act around you because I don't know who you are," Louis admits.

"Stop saying that," Harry clenches his jaw. "You're always complaining that I've changed, and I always, always tell you. I've grown up. One of us has to."

"But your priorities are-"

"The same. They are the same," Harry interrupts, stepping closer to Louis and pointing his finger at him. "They have been you and Gracie since the beginning. They still are you and Gracie. That is why I work so hard. For you. I do it for both of you."

Louis swallows thickly. "If I were your top priority," He says slowly. "You would work harder towards our marriage."

"I never intended for things to be like this," Harry shrugs, his bottom lip quivering. Every one of Louis' instincts are telling him to hold Harry while he cries, to catch him before he falls, but he doesn't. He stands there in front of him, stone-faced. "Maybe your mother was right. Maybe we got married too young. Maybe we weren't ready. Maybe we're still not ready."

All of these maybes are making Louis uneasy. He'd much rather know, for sure, what should be done about this. "I am still as in love with you as I was the day I married you," Harry continues, eyes wet, but his voice stays steady. "But if we can't function as a couple, if we can't even say good morning to each other without it turning into an argument, then what are we doing here?"

"I don't know," Louis admits. "I don't know how to fix this, either. I...I used to look for you whenever something in my life needed an answer."

"And you don't anymore," Harry lets out a shaky breath. Louis can practically feel his heart breaking.

"I don't know how to anymore," Louis admits.

"I'm not the only one who's changed, you know," Harry looks down at the hardwood floor. "If this were happening to us three years ago, you would have laid down with me in our bed, and listened to everything I had to say, and told me you were sorry, and not let go of my hand until we had fixed it. Now you yell, and you swear at me, and rarely look me in the eye."

"I didn't know you wanted me to do stuff like that anymore," Louis admits. "I didn't think you were like that anymore."

"I'm the same person I used to be," Harry sniffles, biting his bottom lip. "I still love the same things about you I did three years ago. And, even if we're not even speaking to each other, I love you more and more everyday."

For the first time during one of their arguments, Louis leans his head back, inhales slowly, and starts to cry. He doesn't think Harry even notices that he should be leaving for work right about now. Louis is his top priority right now. Work isn't. Louis feels important to Harry for the first time in months, maybe even a year.

"Louis," Harry coos softly.

"What happened to us?" Louis sniffles, wiping the tears off his cheeks. He hates to cry in front of Harry like this, but he couldn't hold it together anymore. "Why can't we just be how we used to be?"

"I don't know," Harry admits, his whole body getting shakier just watching Louis like this. "We're getting old, I guess."

Louis can't help but let out a wet laugh, and even Harry smiles. "Oh, my God, we are," He shakes his head, sniffling again. "We're not twenty-one anymore."

"Twenty-six and twenty-four," Harry nods. "Pretty old."

"Practically geriatric," Louis runs his fingers through his hair, still messy from sleeping. They look at each other for a moment, both of them smiling before Harry puts his empty mug in the sink, walks over and kisses Louis, and squeezes his upper arm.

"I should get dressed," He says softly.

♛

"Hey," Harry says softly when Louis walks in, trying his best to be quiet as he didn't know whether or not Harry was sleeping. "Baby finally asleep?"

"Yeah," Louis whispers, bundle in his arms. "Figured you would be too."

"Couldn't sleep without you," Harry smiles at him. Louis smiles back at him, laying baby Gracie down in her cot before climbing into the bed with Harry, spooning him from the back and kissing the back of his neck. "Hey, L?"

"Yes, baby?" Louis whispers back.

"We'll be okay, right?"

"Of course we will," Louis nuzzles his nose into Harry's skin. "She's asleep, so I think we're doing pretty okay so far."

Harry giggles softly, and Louis grins to himself, his heart full.